23.5 and Christmas

In all my glorious laziness last week I didn't post so today will be 23 weeks plus some pictures from Christmas. We had a fabulous Christmas! This evening we're heading to Houston for a few days.Turn on the radio and sway to the music. With her sense of movement well developed by now, your baby can feel you dance. And now that she's more than 11 inches long and weighs just over a pound (about as much as a large mango), you may be able to see her squirm underneath your clothes. Blood vessels in her lungs are developing to prepare for breathing, and the sounds that your baby's increasingly keen ears pick up are preparing her for entry into the outside world. Loud noises that become familiar now — such as your dog barking or the roar of the vacuum cleaner — probably won't faze her when she hears them outside the womb.

Blurry...Christmas Eve

He knows there's something in there

23 Weeks

Arthur with his Christmas toy

Happy New Year!!

Merry Christmas

We have a fake tree, so Arthur doesn't get to enjoy the woodsy taste of tree stand water. Anyway, he much prefers being where he's not supposed to be...

Happy Holidays to all!!!!

22 Weeks

At 11 inches (the length of a spaghetti squash) and almost 1 pound, your baby is starting to look like a miniature newborn. His lips, eyelids, and eyebrows are becoming more distinct, and he's even developing tiny tooth buds beneath his gums. His eyes have formed, but his irises (the colored part of the eye) still lack pigment. If you could see inside your womb, you'd be able to spot the fine hair (lanugo) that covers his body and the deep wrinkles on his skin, which he'll sport until he adds a padding of fat to fill them in. Inside his belly, his pancreas — essential for the production of some important hormones — is developing steadily.

According to most sources week 22 marks the beginning of the sixth month, the last month of the second trimester. I'm doing the 22 week update a day early because I'm off tomorrow. Back to the mall one last time! But first I'll be sleeping in a little bit. This week has been so cold and dreary it's been hard to get up in the mornings. Hope everyone has a safe and warm weekend. ONE WEEK UNTIL CHRISTMAS!

Crib

Rob's grandparents offered to purchase the crib (and mattress!) for us, which was so nice of them. It came in on Saturday and Rob put it together yesterday. I love it. It is convertible which means it goes from a crib to a toddler bed to a full-size headboard.

21 Weeks

Your baby now weighs about three-quarters of a pound and is approximately 10 1/2 inches long — the length of a carrot. You may soon feel like she's practicing martial arts as her initial fluttering movements turn into full-fledged kicks and nudges. You may also discover a pattern to her activity as you get to know her better. In other developments, your baby's eyebrows and lids are present now, and if you're having a girl, her vagina has begun to form as well.

I am off tomorrow so I decided to do the 21 week post a day early. Nothing new to report! Fit as a fiddle, knock on wood. I'm going to use tomorrow to do some Christmas shopping. I'll have to wear tennis shoes because my feet and back start to hurt pretty quickly now!

Still...

Pat.
Baby was moving around too much this morning for the doctor to determine anything. Everything from the anatomy scan looked normal, which is good! She said she'd try again at the next appointment. I'm thinking about one of the 3/4D ultrasounds before then...probably won't end up spending the money this time of year though! So, hopefully, maybe (again), we'll know at the next appointment. Once the baby gets too big it becomes harder to determine because they have less room to move around and are more squished (medical term) but that won't be for a little while longer. So unfortunately the shopping hiatus will continue for a little longer.
We have switched the office and started making room for baby. Everything is a mess right now. You would think we owned a small corporation with all the receipts, paperwork, stubs, statements and everything that Rob keeps. Thankfully it is being thinned out. Seriously, the shredder got overloaded and hot last night.

20 Weeks

Your baby weighs about 10 1/2 ounces now. He's also around 6 1/2 inches long from head to bottom and about 10 inches from head to heel — the length of a banana. (For the first 20 weeks, when a baby's legs are curled up against his torso and hard to measure, measurements are taken from the top of his head to his bottom — the "crown to rump" measurement. After 20 weeks, he's measured from head to toe.)
Baby's digestive system is busy creating meconium (a tarry black substance made of swallowed amniotic fluid, digestive secretion and dead cells), which will fill the first diaper after birth. And, speaking of the diaper situation... baby's genitals are now fully formed!

So if pregnancy was a marathon, I'd be on mile 13. Can I get a Gatorade? Maybe an energy bar? Still feeling great. I'll enjoy it while I can because if legend proves true miles 20-26 may not be so fun.
Last Friday I was in a turkey coma and didn't post, but the food of the week was a large heirloom tomato!

Doctor's appointment on Monday...hopefully those fully formed genitals will makes themselves known. Please! I'm having shopping withdrawals! I need to get this ball rolling.

Tagged

I've been tagged by Summer. So here it goes... 6 things you may or may not know about me. As all of my faithful readers (all two of you) and anyone else who reads this already knows me, I'm not sure I can (or will-haha) tell you anything you don't already know, but here goes:

1. I can't stand mustard or mayonnaise.

2. I am not religious at all but love Christmas. Yes, I fully realize the irony and contradiction in this and no, I don't need you to explain it to me. It just makes me happy, ok?

3. Prank calls on the radio make me extremely uncomfortable. I have to change the station.

4. I despise toothpicks and the look and sound of people sucking on them and twirling them around in their mouth makes me want to scream.

5. I appreciate people who are brutally honest but tend to hold back on others unless they ask for brutal honesty in which case I am more than happy to oblige.

6. I have an odd sense of humor and think most things and people that the general public is amused by are not at all funny.

Thanksgiving

The holidays are upon us! Thanksgiving is great for so many reasons, a few of which I'll detail below:

1. The food
2. It is the official kickoff to the holiday season-which I love
3. None of the stress or pressure of Christmas gift-giving (for the record, I don't find this stressful but many do)
4. Seeing friends and family
5. Black Friday-searching the ads! the sales and bargains! I could do without the crowds but that is irrelevant.
6. Rob's birthday
7. The food
8. Decorating for Christmas (i.e. my husband on a ladder grumbling and cussing as he hands boxes of "crap" down to me from the attic)
9. OU killing OSU
10. No work for five days (I am off Monday)

Tonight I am making two pumpkins cheesecakes, one for each parent's house. This will be the first time (as far as I can recall, I may have actually done this before but it's been a long time) making actual real cheesecakes with the spring form pan and everything. Hopefully they turn out!! I am looking forward to gorging, er, I mean eating responsibly tomorrow and doing some shopping on Friday. No crazy 4 a.m. stuff for me though. I'll leave that to the crazies (yes, Summer, I'm talking to you).
Hope everyone has a great holiday weekend. If you're traveling be safe!

18 Weeks

Your baby is as big as a bell pepper and weighs almost 7 ounces. (Length: 5 1/2 inches, head to bottom.)
Your fetus has become amazingly mobile (at least compared to you), passing the hours yawning, hiccuping, rolling, twisting, kicking, punching, sucking and swallowing. And, baby's finally big enough that you'll be able to feel those movements soon. Wednesday we went to the hospital for the growth ultrasound, where they take important measurements of the baby. Turns out this boy might be a girl. The ultrasound technician said if she had to guess, she would say it was a girl although she didn't have a great view because the baby's legs were together. Ahhhhhh. So back to not knowing again. We are a little disappointed because we thought we knew for a week or so, only to go back to not knowing again. So all shopping is halted for the time being. Back to the doctor December 8th. At that appointment she'll go over the results of the ultrasound and maybe we'll find out the sex for sure at that appointment! We don't care either way. Truly all we want is for the baby to be healthy. That is of course the most important thing. But we'd also love to know what he or she is, so we can resume shopping and planning!! Here is a picture of the little girl or guy.

17 Weeks

Your baby weighs 5 ounces this week -- about as much as a turnip. (Length: 5 inches, head to bottom.) Baby's skeleton is hardening, changing from rubbery cartilage to bone, and fat is finally accumulating around it. The umbilical cord is getting thicker and stronger, and those little fingers and toes are now topped by one-of-a-kind prints.

Hmmm, maybe I shouldn't be wearing horizontal stripes.

Glamour Shots

Both are profile pics. Pretty neat!

It's a...

Probably. Most likely. Not 100%, but from what the doctor could tell.

Yay!! Rob is so very excited, as am I. I didn't care either way, as I'd love to have both a boy and a girl. I will go back in about two weeks for a growth ("big") ultrasound at the hospital so hopefully we'll get confirmation then, but she seemed pretty sure (although she said she won't reimburse for paint, bedding, or other costs:). She said everything looked good. I have some u/s pictures so tomorrow at work I'll see if I can find a way to scan them in and post them.

16 Weeks

Your baby measures up to an avocado, now, and weighs 3 1/2 ounces. (Length: 4 1/2 inches, head to bottom.) Watch what you say... tiny bones forming in baby's ears mean the little one can now pick up your voice. Eyebrows, lashes and hair are starting to fill in, and taste buds are forming. And, if you're interested, an ultrasound might be able to determine gender.
Doctor's appointment on Monday!

And now, I leave you with a poem about wine. I just want wine to know I've been thinking about it a lot lately, and look forward to the future when we can enjoy each other again. Have a great weekend!

W.B. Yeats
A DRINKING SONG

Wine comes in at the mouth

And love comes in at the eye;

That's all we shall know for truth

Before we grow old and die.

Ilift the glass to my mouth,

I look at you, and I sigh.

>

Pat the Bunny

Introducing Pat the Bunny:
Pat the Bunny is an interactive book for babies and toddlers. They can pat the fur, look in the mirror, etc. Apparently this was Rob's most favorite book when he was little. He loved it so much he pretty much wore out the fur (awwww). Rob's mom wanted our little one to have a copy of Pat the Bunny, so she found it online and ordered us one. So sweet!
Hope everyone likes the new look. I wanted a third column to bring you even more exciting baby things you absolutely cannot live without! Hope everyone had good Halloween!

15 Weeks-Halloween

Your growing baby now measures about 4 inches long, crown to rump, and weighs in at about 2 1/2 ounces (about the size of an apple). She's busy moving amniotic fluid through her nose and upper respiratory tract, which helps the primitive air sacs in her lungs begin to develop. Her legs are growing longer than her arms now, and she can move all of her joints and limbs. Although her eyelids are still fused shut, she can sense light.

No news to report really! I feel fine aside from the allergies/sinus/cold whatever is causing my runny nose and sneezing and overall congestion.

Happy Halloween! Rob and I are going to a party tonight but as of now we have no costumes. Anyone have any ideas for us?

14 Weeks and the (de)Evolution of my Waistline: Part 1

Your adorable little fetus is busy with thumb sucking, toe wiggling, and (not so cute but equally amazing) making urine and breathing amniotic fluid as the liver, kidneys and spleen continue to develop. Lanugo (thin, downy hair) is growing all over the body for warmth.

13 Weeks

Your baby has reached the size of a medium shrimp and weighs nearly an ounce. (Length: almost 3 inches, head to bottom). Your fetus is forming teeth and vocal cords... savor this, their non-functional phase. Baby is approaching normal proportions, with a head now only one third the size of the body. Intestines are in the process of moving from the umbilical cord to baby's tummy. (Much more convenient.)

Every week I listen to Rob complain about the vague size of our baby. "A lime?? That is ridiculous. Limes greatly vary in size" or "A blueberry? What size blueberry exactly?" and I have to explain to him that this is just for fun, to give you a general idea. But...a shrimp? And not even a prawn, a medium shrimp. I have seen a lot of shrimps in my life and I have seen a lot of limes...but I don't think I've ever seen a shrimp that is larger than a lime. Unless you're talking about a key lime, which it doesn't appear that way. So I'm going to go with another website this week, which is using a peach. Much better, don't you think?

Omnivore's 100

British blogger and food writer Andrew Wheeler came up with the Omnivore's 100: 100 foods he believes everyone should try at least once in their life.

Hmmm, I think I need to get out more!!!

Here’s what I want you to do:

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold (italicize) all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush

11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream

21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda

31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O (jell-o shots???)
39. Gumbo

40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat's milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth $60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut

50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald's Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine

60. Carob chips
61. S'mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs' legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain

70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini

81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate

91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

http://www.verygoodtaste.co.uk/uncategorised/the-omnivores-hundred/

Show and Tell

Back at work today after a nice 3-day weekend! Despite the obvious disappointment on Saturday, it was otherwise good! Lynn and Drew put us up for the weekend. We got to meet the newest addition to the Brown family: Ethan. He is cute as a button.See? Told you he was cute. And his brother is adorable too. Caiden and Rob chillin' on the porch.We had a wonderful anniversary yesterday. We left the house for our spa treatments and noticed a gift on our front porch. My mom had made us a "Year Two Survival Package" complete with several baby and parenting books including What to Expect the First Year, Happiest Baby on the Block, The Expectant Father, The New Father, and Baby 411. Great reading over the next several months and reference tools for the future not to mention very thoughtful. And a cute basket that can be used for diapers or something in the baby's room.
Later when we arrived at dinner there was a card waiting on the table for us. Bob and Terri had gotten us a generous Fleming's gift card. Again, so thoughtful and the meal was wonderful. Because it was our anniversary they gave us these to take home:
The meal was wonderful and I would tell you all we ate but that would be embarrassing. Let's just say we were so full we couldn't even eat these strawberries.
We couldn't believe how our family went out of their way to make our first anniversary so special. We great appreciate the generosity and thoughtfulness. Thanks for all the anniversary wishes too.

1 Year

One year ago today. My how time flies! It doesn't seem like a year at all to me. We took the day off work and we're going to get a massage (Rob) and a manicure (me) and later we're going to dinner.

12 Weeks & Doctor

As you move into the second trimester, baby shifts into the growth and maturation stage. After weeks in the critical development stage, almost all of baby's systems are fully formed. The most dramatic development this week: reflexes. Your baby's fingers will soon begin to open and close, his toes will curl, his eye muscles will clench, and his mouth will make sucking movements.

We went to the doctor this morning for a quick checkup. We heard the heartbeat again. 171 bpm. In about six weeks we'll be finding out if this little lime is a boy or a girl!

Have a great weekend everyone! Oh yeah, and:

The Tragedy Maker

I'm sure Rob would agree with this! Going to the doctor tomorrow morning. I'll update after I get to work!

11 Weeks

Your baby is now about as big as a fig. (Length: just over 1 1/2 inches, head
to bottom.) Your fetus currently enjoys a 1:1 ratio between body and head, and has skin so transparent that blood vessels show right through. But, fingers and toes are no longer webbed, and hair follicles, tooth buds and nail beds are forming -- setting up a significantly more attractive future.

So that's what's going on with the fig this week. As for me, I'm doing well. Still very tired, but I guess that gives me an excuse to lie on the couch. A week from today is my next doctor's appointment which I'm looking forward to. The appointments seem to buy a little "peace of mind" time. Those who know me know I'm not a worrier by nature so this is all new to me. I guess this is just preparing me for a lifetime of worry, huh?!
Have a great weekend, everyone!

Happy Birthday weekend to my friend and fellow pregnant lady, Lauren Adams!

10 Weeks

Your baby, now barely the size of a kumquat, weighs less than a quarter of an ounce. With bones and cartilage starting to form and vital organs beginning to function, baby is making major progress. Body length will almost double in the next three weeks, and arm joints are now working. (Soon, legs will too.)

9 Weeks

Your little embryo has now officially graduated to fetus-hood. Adding to the excitement, a Doppler ultrasound device might be able to pick up the beating heart. With basic physical structures in place and increasingly distinct facial features, baby is kind of starting to look like... well... a baby!