the kid (and other news)

in a few days I'll be 7 lunar months pregnant, and in the 3rd trimester. How odd.

This week at american baby:
Your frisky fetus is on another growth spurt, shooting up half an inch this week to measure about 14 inches from head to toe. He weighs roughly 2 1/2 pounds, and will gain approximately half a pound each week for the next 10 weeks. The average full-term baby weighs about 7 1/2 pounds and measures from 18 to 20 1/2 inches, but many normal, healthy babies fall outside this range. Unless your practitioner has told you of a potential problem, it's safe to assume that your little one is right on track.
and from babycenter: Your baby can now open and close his eyes, and he sleeps and wakes at regular intervals. He may suck his fingers, and although his lungs are still immature, they would be capable of functioning — with assistance — if he were to be born prematurely. Chalk up any rhythmic movement you may be feeling to a case of baby hiccups, which may be common from now on. Each episode usually lasts only a few moments, and isn't bothersome to him, so enjoy the tickle. With more brain tissue developing, your baby's brain is very active now. Wonder what he's thinking?

In more personal--but related--news, my niece T stuck her fingers in my belly button yesterday, and said "I think I feel his foot kicking me." I hadn't felt anything, so I didn't believe her, but she put my fingers in the right place, and, sure enough, I could feel what we think was a heel pressing right up against my belly button. The kid usually moves when I push back, but this time he let us explore the shape of his heel for quite awhile before moving on. How neat :) Then, last night, D was shining his new LED flashlight on various spots on my belly, to see if he could get a response. I was about to tell him that the kid was probably asleep, as he wasn't moving at all, when my whole tummy shifted. I think D got him right by his eyes or something, because all of a sudden the kid was pressing his whole back against one side of my belly (that side was HARD, the other side was squishy). I'm pretty sure we could be accused of some kind of kid abuse at this point, what with all the poking and prodding and belly thumping and flashlight shining. (and we're not even talking about the music and...gasp...singing that I may or may not subject him to).
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In other news, all of the MA's rotated shifts this weekend. Consequently, D stayed up almost all night last night (apparently he got really far on his video game) in preparation for tonight. He's looking forward to working in the cooler nights (appx. 8:30 p.m. to 5:00 a.m.), and having a lot less responsibility. He's also going to try to get shift commander qualified while he's on mids, so that would definitely be a feather in the proverbial cap. The motorcycle safety course went well, from what I hear, and the rumor is that Sicily is a great place for an afternoon of riding (no comment).
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We're also considering taking on a companion for the cat. The couple we've been friends with since we got here--I babysit their kid on occasion, and the men talk about cars and music and such--have a cat that had two kittens a couple of days ago (making them and our cat almost exactly 2 years apart). After we find out how much exactly it will take to get the feline we do "own" transported across the ocean, I'll consider whether it's worth it to double that. The idea is that our cat would have a non-threatening companion to play with (as opposed to, say, the kid), and perhaps learn to be a little more tolerant of other living things in general. H is inclined towards the kitten, and I am inclined against, for practical reasons. Can we see the pattern emerging?!
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Since we now have a hard copy of D's orders, he has applied for a sponsor, and we can go to the PSD (personnel support detatchment) office and get the checklist of everything that needs to happen before, during, and after our now impending move. Apparantly, the medical screenings come first, and once we pass those everything else can be arranged. An interesting quote from the middle of his orders:

"Dependents acquired on or prior to the effective date of orders are authorized travel allowances from the place at which acquired to the new PDS (duty station), up to the transportation entitlement for travel from old PDS to the new PDS...Questionable cases should be referred to PERS-40CC for resolution."

Now, I think the said "effective date" means the date the orders were issued, which means that our kid will be a "questionable case" and not authorized to travel with us until we get a special piece of paper for him. Interesting.