Curtis, a Crib, and a Camera!

First things first, I'm happy to say that Curt is finally back (one day early!) from 5 long weeks at SOS in Alabama. I wish I could say that time went quickly while he was away and although I have done my best to keep busy, some days were just longer than others. I have missed him! So, even though he has only been back for about 24 hours now he has already felt the baby move and kick many, many times and he just can't seem to get enough of it. His hand is constantly on my belly just waiting for...well, anything! I think one of his responses to the first move he felt was simply, "What was that?!?" accompanied with a look of utter confusion!!! Curt is also doing his best to "talk" to the baby. I think he will get more comfortable in a few days, but today for example, he wanted to talk to her so he picked up the brochure from Stoke-on-Trent and started to read about the many places to buy pottery. Hmmm... I think it's time I get them a book that they can share. :) She is moving a lot more, or, I am feeling more as she gets bigger, and the feelings are becoming more intense. I think she's starting to get into a routine where she's pretty calm during the day and loves to bop around first thing in the morning and right before I go to sleep. I actually kind of like it mainly because I can take the time to actually enjoy what's going on.



Finally, we have received our FIRST big baby present in the mail today from my sister Mariel and her boyfriend Joe!!! We have our CRIB (or, what we will be our crib until we move stateside...) and we were just so excited that we immediately came home and assembled it. For this short amount of time we have left in the U.K., this sleeper is just perfect until we can buy some actual nursery furniture. It fits so snug next to my side of the bed, and it is just perfect! I took a few pictures of Curt doing the "hard labor" as well as it's final placement in our itty-bitty British bedroom. Her real bedroom that she will move into after a few weeks of all night feedings currently looks like a cyclone hit it, so those pictures will have to wait!



Finally, as you can see from the foggy and unclear pictures I just posted, Curt and I are searching for a new camera! Granted our good digital camera had no batteries so I used the ancient one we've had for about 5 years now, but still! We are looking for a new camera to buy before the baby arrives. Any suggestions? Not that they aren't great, but we've moved on from the small, hand held digital. We're talking about those cameras that have a shoulder bag camera case, detachable lens, high mega pixel quality...ya know, a "grown-up" camera. Consumer Reports has been helpful so far but any suggestions would be much appreciated!