21 Weeks

We've passed the half-way point, and things are looking better and better every day!

We had another ultrasound with the specialist today. She said everything looked just perfect, and that she won't have to see us again. Hooray! As Eric said, although we are amused by and like this extremely nerdy doctor, we'll be happy to not ever see her again in our lives!

We also got a better picture of baby this time.



Isn't her little face adorable?? I think she looks like Linus from Charlie Brown.

She wiggled her arm around a lot during the ultrasound which was cool because I could feel her moving while I was watching her move on the screen.

So, now I'm on a baby high and have spent my entire day looking at baby clothes and cribs online. I even settled on the crib from Babies R Us and ordered it online today. I hope it looks as great in person as it does online....fingers crossed!

P.S. I'm also glad to get a new photo of baby because Eric says the one from 13 weeks (see sidebar) looks like she's giving us the finger. I don't think our baby would do such a thing, but ever since he said it, that's all I think of when I see it.

Come Mr. Tally Man

We're over the hump at week 21, and Baby is the size of a....

Banana!



I'm assuming they mean in terms of length because just last week she was a cantaloupe, and I don't see much resemblance between a banana and a round melon.

Meanwhile, I'm continuing to grow by leaps and bounds because I'm the size of a....

The Girl is Crafty Like Ice is Cold

I saw this butterfly mobile at Pottery Barn Kids a few weeks ago and fell in love with it. I was not willing to shell out $60 for it though.

I then turned to Etsy to see if I could find something similar, which I did. There were lots of beautiful, colorful paper butterfly mobiles.

Such as...

This One


And...
This One



After seeing all those fabulous hand-crafted mobiles, I thought...I can do that!!

So I did! I'm very happy with how it turned out, and it cost me $25 for suppplies instead of the $50-$60 if I had bought one.




It may have taken up a significant chunk of my Saturday night and Sunday afternoon to put the thing together, but at least I had something to distract me while I was waiting for Lost.

20 Weeks!

Baby, we're half way there!

I had a doc's appointment today. Everything is still looking good and normal. The only problem is that I've become more like Fudgie the Whale than ever. Doctor asked if I was staying active. I said no because you told me not to do anything active. Ah well, C'est La Vie.

I'm feeling baby moving around more and more frequently. It's a mixed blessing because it's very cool to feel her turning somersaults in there, but on the other hand, if I go a couple of hours without feeling anything, I start to get nervous.

I have another fancy ultrasound next week. I'm hoping we get pictures other than just her hands and toes this time.

I think the vivid dreams while pregnant things is true. I had a dream last night that two students secretly installed a mini-fridge under my desk. The mini-fridge caused a fire, and I got fired. I was so relieved to wake up and realize it was only a dream. It's a sure sign that it's time for summer vacation! I also had another dream that I was having dinner in Taiwan with my entire family.... How do you say Fudgie the Whale in Mandarin?

Why did the cantaloupe jump in the lake?

It wanted to be a watermelon!

Baby isn't quite a watermelon yet, but she's well on her way.
This week baby is the size of a...

Cantaloupe!


And I'm the size of a...

Crib Notes

We went and browsed for cribs last weekend. I know we still have 20 weeks left, but it will probably take us another month or two before we finally settle on one. Besides, the earlier we set it up, the more time we'll have to train the cat to stay away from it!

Let me just say, baby stores are extremely overwhelming. There are so many choices! There were two entire rows of breast-feeding equipment alone! And does our baby need a dehumidifier shaped like a little pink pig? I don't know...I just don't know. Don't even get me started on the car seat/ stroller options. I think we just stood and stared at them for a good fifteen minutes like trout with our mouths hanging open.

Luckily, I feel like the crib options were pretty straight forward. They all looked exactly the same to me. Sure, some had squared edges and some round. Some had solid headboards, and some had slated, but they were still all just very nice cribs.

But, me being me, I've got my heart set on a bright, shiny, colorful crib. All the cribs at the store were brown...not that there's anything wrong with that, but everything in our apartment is already brown or white. Since we can't paint the walls in Baby's room, I really want to get a crib in a color. Hence, the epic search begins.

Babies R Us has a green crib...

But, it's online only. I'm not sure if I want to buy a crib I've never seen in person, and it looks really small.

Then, there's a company called Young America that sells children's furniture in every color of the rainbow...







Aren't they just beautiful??

But, do I really want to pay almost twice as much for a crib just because it's sea grass green or surf blue or flamingo pink or sunflower yellow? There are some retailers in the area that sell those cribs, so we'll have to go and see them in person in the near future.

I've toyed with the idea of just painting one ourselves, but I've heard that's annoying. Plus, Eric would have to probably do that project alone since stripping wood and inhaling paint fumes is probably not good for Baby. I also have a fear that we'll do it wrong and all the paint will rub off on the child. Imagine my horror upon finding a sea grass green baby in the morning!

Or, I could just suck it up and settle for an average brown crib...I don't think Baby will know the difference.

Kids Say the Darndest Things!

On Friday, I finally told my students that I'm having a baby. After a week of whispers and side-long glances, I felt it was time to explain that my large, round tummy is the result of a baby and not too many donuts.

Best comments I received:

"I know, Dylan told me." (This is funny because I never told Dylan.)

"I hope your baby has red hair like you!"

"And Francis said, 'It all makes sense! She's growing a belly, her ankles have been swollen, she's had mood swings! She has to be pregnant!"

When I told Eric the last one, his response was, "Listen kids, I coulda told you that her ankles are always big, and she's always moody. That doesn't prove a thing."

I'll be telling the classes I didn't see last week today. We'll see what they say.

19 Weeks

We're now cruising along at 19 weeks, and I'm excited to be reaching the half-way point.

There were no doctor's appointments this week. I have one next week followed by an ultrasound the week after that.

I'm feeling well, and baby girl seems to be doing well. I am continuing to feel her move around from time to time, but it's still very faint and inconsistent.

The baby bump has come out in full force. My students are all eyeing me suspiciously though none of them have dared to ask anything about it yet. I should amend that to say the girl students are noticing. They judge everything down to your toenail polish color. I'll have to be standing in the room with a wailing infant before any the boys notice what's going on.

Eric got me an Ipad for my birthday!
(Notice both iPad and cat tail)


There are lots of baby-related apps on the iPad. I've downloaded a pregnancy book, a chart that shows the baby growing, and a baby girl name generator. All for free!

The baby name generator is useful since our original list has changed a lot since we found out we're having a girl. The only problem is that it spurts out really odd names...not like January or Tuesday odd...I mean like odd, odd. Some examples: Floor, Joke, Noortje, Juul, Pleun, and Aukje.

Our favorites (as of the moment) are:
Harper
Madeline
Alice
Audrey

How big is baby?

It's week 19, and so far baby is the size of....

A Mango!



Mangoes are much cuter than sweet potatoes. But saying "Look at the little mang-oooohhhh" doesn't have quite the same ring to it as "sweet pohh-tate-ohhh," does it?

And I'm the size of a....



(I think it's starting to look like there's three or four mangoes in there, but they assure me there's only one.)

Sweet Pohh-tate-ohhh!

y

Baby is eighteen weeks, and currently the size of (Yup, you guessed it) a....

Sweet Potato!!!



Hopefully baby is a little cuter than that picture, but JUST as sweet! P.S. It's a GIRL sweet potato!

I'm currently the size of a....




Let me try to explain why I have a video of Oprah with a sweet potato.

We sometimes watch The Soup on E, which has been making fun of Oprah and her love for sweet potatoes for years. (Eric has irrational man hatred for all things Oprah.) Now, whenever I hear the word "sweet potato" I can't help picturing sweeeet poohh-tate-ohhh in my head.

Observe: "The baby is the size of a sweet poohh-tate-ohhh." "The sweet poohhh-tate-ohhh is a girl!" "Don't you love our little sweet poohh-tate-ohhh?" The fun never ends. Although, honestly, it probably won't be funny to anyone else.


For the record, I enjoy both sweet potatoes and Oprah.

18 Weeks

It's a girl! Obviously the old wives' tales are not a trusted source.

I basically had two ultrasound scans today. I had one with the ultrasound technician, and then one with the doctor. They saw everything they needed to see, and they said everything looks good. The doctor paid close attention to the hands and toes since Ellis had some problems with her fingers and toes when she was born, but they seemed to be normal. The baby was on her stomach with her hands and arms over her face the entire time. They kept nudging me to get her to roll over, but baby was not having any of it. Lots of wiggling, but no flipping. Therefore, the pictures we got aren't very interesting. You could see the curve of her head and spine a lot, but we only saw her face briefly, and in an ultrasound, it just looks like a skull of an alien anyhow.

So, we have a picture of a foot...



And, baby giving a peace sign!



Baby's face is somewhere behind her hand, but you can't really see it in the photo. I'm glad she's a peace-loving baby though.

The blood clot is also gone! Hooray! She saw a tiny bit of fluid where the blood clot had been, but otherwise, nothing.

We're going to meet with this doctor again at the end of the month. She said she saw everything she needed to see, and that everything looks good so far, but that if it makes me feel better she'd see me again. Peace of mind is good. Plus, maybe we'll get a better photo shoot next time.

We've already started to narrow down the names. Our original list is basically scrapped. We keep changing our minds. Nothing has really grabbed us yet. Esme is out...Eric won. In the meantime, we'll continue to keep baby safe, and start buying a whole load of pink stuff!