A fun and busy week

Work is getting busier, and a mid-week night out is rare for us. But when I got an email saying one of my favorite bands, JJ Grey & Mofro, would be in town I bought tickets right away. They performed Wednesday night at the "World Famous" Buckingham Blues Bar. 

It was their first show this far south "on the left coast" as they said. It's an unlikely but awesome venue with a great outdoor area out back complete with a beer-drinking mule. Yeah, it's a redneck kinda place. We enjoyed sitting on the deck and taking in the show. They sounded GREAT. They are from Jacksonville and sing a lot about old Florida. Kinda southern rock-blues-funk.

We did make it down front for the last song. I needed to dance a little. And the baby loved it, too. He was kicking almost the whole time. I feel him moving and kicking a lot now, mostly in the afternoon and evening.

There were no "pro cameras" allowed, so this is the best I cold do with the iPhone.

Here's a little YouTube video of their music in case you don't know........This song is called "Georgia Warhorse," like those crazy big grasshoppers, and it is apparently inspired by JJ Grey's grandma, who was one tough lady.....

and another song for good measure......"The Sweetest Thing."

Last Saturday we went to our eight-year-old niece Faith's first swim meet. She did great. She is always full of energy and constantly in the pool when we have family gatherings, so swimming is a natural choice for her. Unfortunately we could only stay for two of her four races. She did the 25-yard swim in all four strokes. Here's a few photos. 

Finally, on Thursday, Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan came to town. It was a long hot day of waiting outside, but the photos turned out nice. And I think the bosses were pleased with the coverage. I sent a couple of photo galleries and several iPhone videos with supporters, Lee Greenwood singing "Proud to be an American," and comedian Dennis Miller speaking warming up the crowd before Ryan took the stage. Here's a link to the main photo gallery.

Here's a link to the news-press.com election page. If you scroll down and look on the right, you can see the videos from the event if you're interested.

And finally the obligatory weekly belly shots: 21 weeks!

As you can see, it was a busy week. Included in that was a 5-hour eye doctor's appointment (grrrrr) on Monday and four other long days of work. I'm now not only doing my job, but also part of another guy's job who just left. Not that I'm complaining..........it's just a lot.

I haven't been able to be home for dinner all week. So I'm looking forward to cooking dinner and catching up on TV tomorrow night. Tonight we're going out to check out the zombies and Zombicon in downtown Fort Myers after I get off work. And tomorrow my good friend Lindi is helping me register for BABY STUFF!

20 weeks

Tuesday officially marked the halfway point of my pregnancy!

 I'm still feeling great, but starting to get a little limited. I now have to put my knee out to the side while putting on my pants otherwise it hits my growing belly. And bending over to put on socks and shoes is getting more uncomfortable, too. But hey, I can't complain. It's been pretty easy so far.

We had another ultrasound on Tuesday also. It was so cool to see him moving around in there. We think he was trying to suck his thumb. And once again, he was eager to show us his boy parts. The doctor wanted to measure his femur, but he just wanted us to know he was a boy. By the way, he is the size he is supposed to be. He is measuring right on with the due date or just a few days over.

boy

kicking me

foot - our little tarheel

facial profile

facial profile

probably sucking his thumb

And I've been pretty good about keeping up with my weekly shots........

14 weeks                                          15.5 weeks                                       17 weeks                       

18 weeks                                             19weeks                                         20 weeks                                 

 And here's two photos from Sarah Coward, one of our fabulous new photographers at the paper. I always volunteer to model for her lighting tests before someone comes in for a portrait. That way I get some extra photos of myself taken without having to use the self-timer.

20 weeks

19 weeks