24 weeks: Oh that sweet August buttery goodness

It's hard to believe that in 2 weeks and 6 days, I will be in the third trimester. Scaaary.

Anyway, Raina is now the size of an ear of corn. She gained about 4 ounces since last week, which puts her just over 1 pound. She's almost a foot long. Her body is pretty lean (although I hope not as skinny as an actual ear of corn), but she's filling out and she'll soon start to plump up. Her brain is growing quickly, and her taste buds are still developing. Her lungs are developing branches of the respiratory tree as well as cells that produce surfactant, which is a substance that will help her air sacs inflate once she hits the outside world. Her skin is still thin and translucent, but that will start to change soon.

My uterus is about an inch above my belly button, and is the size of a soccer ball. See?



In other news, we think we've decided on a boy's name. We have not decided on a girl's first name yet. This is another indicator that indeed this little one is a girl. I have a long list of girls' names, but Kevin's not so sure about most of them. We have 3 that we agreed on, but I'm not sure I love any of them enough. The middle name is pretty much decided on, unless the first name ends up not going with it. I know you're intrigued :)

Kevin put his ear to my belly the other day. Jen told me at our high school get together that her husband heard their little girl's heartbeat by doing this. Kevin didn't hear the heartbeat, but he did hear Raina moving around, and even a thunk. Hearing her is one thing he can do that I can't, which is cool for him. Last night, Raina was kicking pretty hard, so I told Kevin to come watch and maybe he'd see a bump from the outside. At long last, he did. We'd been trying to get him to see it since I saw it...was that 1 or 2 weeks ago?

And I guess I should've given my readers time to cross their everything (see post below), because 10 minutes after publishing the post, I called the auto body shop about my Escape. Not. Done. Freakin' A. They close today at 12, and aren't open again until Monday. If the dude who is fixing my dearly beloved decides he wants to work on Friday (please, please work on Friday--maybe even just a half day), he might have it done by early next week. I don't believe this though, because when we called on Monday, Dec. 15, he said it might be done by the 19th. Then I called on the 22nd and he said, "I'd tell you it would be done by Christmas, but I'd be lying to you, so I'm going to try for New Years." So I'm thinking, "Sweet, as long as I have it back before I go back to school, it's all good." Nada. Granted, there have been some holidays in this span, and it had to go away to get frame work done, and the parts weren't arriving in a timely manner. He admitted it had been a little neglected with the weather we're having. And he said that the insurance company is on him to get it done as well. Well, yeah! They're paying for my rental car! So far, I've had the dang thing for 42 days. I can't imagine how much that is going to cost the insurance company. It's costing me $756 so far in the $18/day insurance alone! But I dare take it off because of the morons that I can't trust not to follow me so darn closely in horrible weather quite yet. *sigh* Needless to say, I had a hormone-induced temper tantrum in the car on the way to the chiropractor after I hung up the phone with the auto body guy. I bawled my eyes out, and I called Kevin to pout to him too. I just want my car back! I want the world to revolve around me and my Escape! :)

Catching up in pictures

I know, I've been a bad blogger. I feel bad, I really do. But here's a post in pictures to catch you up with what has happened over the last few days.

In short, Christmas Eve was spent at Kev's Grandma L's. We saw Kev's cousin's son Tyler, who used to be a baby, but is now 3. We only see them at Christmas, and to see that he was a kiddo who was talking and playing with monster trucks on the floor was a real change from the 2 year old we saw last year.

Christmas day was spent at Kev's Grandma F's. Here we saw another cousin's kiddo, Mason, who is 2, I think. This is was also a crazy change from last Christmas.

On Saturday morning, we headed down to Roch to visit my family. We arrived and opened presents immediately. I got a new camera. Now I don't have to rely on Kev to bring his home so I can update my blog. So I practiced using the camera.


The camera has a color tagging function where you can choose a color to tag, and it makes the rest of the picture black and white except for everything that is the color you tagged. For instance: Study of greens:


It was a good time, and even baby got some Christmas presents; a couple pack of onesies and some books to add to the book collection. Baby thanks Grandma :)

Later that night, I went to the local (smoke-free. i heart smoking bans) pub. I invited a bunch of facebook friends I graduated with. About 20-25 showed up throughout the night. It was a lot of fun catching up with everybody. We didn't have a 5 year reunion, so this 9.5 year get together was a good time. Here are some snippets of our good times.




Then Jen and I took a belly picture together. But unfortunately blogger isn't letting me upload it. Boo.

Yesterday, I braved the wintery weather and met up with K mom, L Dawg, and the engaged Sarah and Grant at the Olive Garden. We indulged in soup, salad, and breadsticks and good conversation.


We also found out where the OG stores their cheese graters.


And, lastly, take a good look. This is the baby's room "Before" picture. Although, this is not in it's original state. This is our paint color of choice (as mentioned in previous post, "Swimming" by Sherwinn Williams). We've removed the carpet and trim to make room for the white trim tomorrow and the "wren" colored carpet on Friday. I shall post pictures when those two projects are completed.




And now I must be off to the chiropractor. Cross your everything that I get my Escape back today. I will be back later to post the weekly update, with belly pictures this time :)

23 weeks: Merry Christmas

My primary source of produce-comparisons slacks when it gets this late. A papaya=weeks 22-24. Thus, I rely on my secondary source for a few weeks. A little overlap here, with an adjective placed in front of it. This week, Rain is a large mango. He's just over 11 inches long and weighs just over a pound. His sense of movement is well developed now, and if I dance around, he can feel it. Guess I'll have to hit the nightclub this weekend and shake my groove thing. Blood vessels in his lungs are developing to prepare for breathing, and the sounds that he's hearing are preparing him for entry into the outside world. Loud noises that become familiar now--me yelling at students :), Rocket barking, loud piano music--probably won't faze him when he hears them when he's out here with us.

No belly pic available. Kev's camera is not dans la maison. It's not here to capture memories of my girth, nor memories of Rocket opening his Christmas presents this morning. We got him a stuffed animal dog wrapped with a treat to coax him to tear open the wrapping paper. It didn't exactly work. We're interested to see whether he'll rip the dog to shreds like he did with his elephant when he was a pup:

Or be nice to him and keep him in one piece. And he also got a new tennis ball. Traditionally (and by tradition, I mean the last 2 Christmases because that is the extent of his existence), we get him a can of 3 tennis balls on Christmas, and give him 1. When he bites a hole in it, we throw it away and give him the next, and then the next. Then he doesn't get another can until next Christmas.

What did I get for Christmas? 1 of 2 things I asked for. I got Kevin's completed baby name list! We compared name lists today. There was 1 common boy name and 3 common girl names. From there, we came up with a list of 6 boy names and 5 girl names. Now we need to try them out and see which ones we love and which ones we don't. Wanna know what the names are? Too bad. We're not telling. You'll know in April, though. Muhahahaha! And what did I not get? My fixed Escape. The auto body shop said perhaps by the new year. Good gravy, I hope so.

And can't forget Kevin. What did he get? He gets the privilege of not having to carry his child. And a happy wife. A happy wife is a happy life, so that's a perfect give in and of itself.

Tagged again

and on a cop-out! This one's similar to the one below. 4th picture folder, 4th picture. See, my mac organizes photos based on year, so "picture folders" are labeled as years, and well, sometimes that's not very exciting. This is one of those cases. Hence, this picture is a boring one. A master bathroom "before" picture.


Oh, and the washing machine does work. Let's just say "operator error" and leave it at that.

The reason I don't clean these days

I hosted a piano recital at my home for my 5 lovely lady students. Thus, I cleaned my house for about 5 hours. BUT not the entire 5 hours, you see, because I couldn't stand for very long! I'd sweep a bit of the floor and my right hip would hurt. I'd sit down. Then I'd get up and sweep some more and then sit down. Then I had to mop up Rocket's paw prints. So I'd do a little bit, then sit down. Then I dusted, and washed dishes, and cleaned the bathroom. It has never been such a painful job before. Now that the recital is over (it went well, the students had fun, the families were appreciative, they loved my punch), all I'm going to do is sit the entire rest of the night. My house does look quite lovely, though. Cleanest it's been at least all week. Maybe even longer than that.

Oh, and our washing machine doesn't work. At least it didn't 5 hours ago when I tried. There's no way I'm walking down the stairs to the basement to check if it works now. Because, you know, that means I'll have to walk back up. The only reason I'm hoping it doesn't work is so that I can get a new washer. But that costs money. Money that ideally should be used towards other things. But if the cosmos want me to get a new washing machine, let the cosmos speak.

Off to sit on the couch. If you need me, you'll find me there. And bring a snack while you're up... :)

I've been tagged

I was getting kind of jealous of all of the blogs I read and people were getting tagged except me. I wanted to have a little bit of fun! Now a high school friend, Jen E. let me in on the action. Thanks Jen!

Here are the Rules: go to Your Pictures file go to the 5th folder open up the 5th picture and post it then tag 5 people when you are done.



This was Rocket's first birthday. I bought him a party hat and put it on him, because I'm cruel like that. Here he is trying to get it off. Two more pictures into this file (the 2008 file), and he's happily enjoying his Frosty Paws ice cream WITH his hat back on, so he found out that wearing the hat wasn't so bad if you get a treat for doing so.

Now I'm tagging: Kristin S., Liz S., Laura D., Leah F., and sweetpea.

Gender predictors

These are kind of fun:

Just mommies gender quiz
75% chance: Girl

Ancient Chinese Gender Predictor
Boy

Babyman
Boy

Sex Ratio
90% chance: Girl

The Bump Chinese Gender Calendar
Girl

Baby Gender Predictor
70% chance: Girl

Old Wives Tales
73% chance: Girl

Wedding Ring
Boy

Childbirth.org quiz
86% chance: Girl

In summary: 6 out of 9 (66%) predict girl, 3 out of 9 (33%) predict boy.

Two interesting points to mention:
1. Not sure why, but most of the websites that picked girl gave me a percent chance. The websites that predicted boy never gave me a percentage.
2. The last few mentioned orange juice. Oranges are my newest "must-have." Not so sure I'd call it a craving, but I just love them so much right now. I eat one every day, and now that we have OJ in our fridge, I drink that in the morning. Shhh don't tell my midwife though. She doesn't want me drinking juice, the silly lady.

A happening

I saw the baby kicking today! She was kicking pretty hard, so I looked down, and within a few seconds a little bump rose and fell. It was super cool. Hopefully she'll do it more tonight so Kevin can see. He felt her kicking again last night. Lovin' it!

I'm feeling the itch to register soon. Within the next month, at least. I spent some of the snowy morning today researching cribs, mattresses, and rockers/gliders in my Baby Bargains book. It was a bit overwhelming, but made me change my mind about our previously made-up minds regarding the crib. At first, we were turned off by the selection at Babies R Us. Cheaply made furniture does not float our boat. We considered going the Amish route, which was WAY too expensive. Then we considered the homemade route by asking my dad to build the crib, which after today, I realized wasn't a good idea because of safety concerns. Not that I think my dad would build a deathtrap, but because the cribs you buy have to pass certain safety standards. I realized today that there's so much more to it than having a crib made in the brown maple we love. Even down to the nitty gritty things like hardware, it's better to have something that I know has passed safety standards. So, we will buck it up and buy a decent-quality crib at Babies R Us and be happy.

We braved the snow this evening to go to Wal-Mart for groceries. As usual, I wandered the produce looking for the food item that represents my baby this week. I had never paid much attention to papayas or spaghetti squash before, but holy moly they are big. I held it up to my stomach (and when I do this, I wonder if people are wondering what the heck I'm doing), and I told Kevin I was unsure about pushing something that size out. He was so kind to remind me that Raina has many more weeks to grow, and she'll only get bigger. I weighed the produce, too, and was semi-comforted that they weighed a hefty 3 pounds, which was 2 pounds heavier than Raina is right now.

22 weeks: Mama Paquita

Mama Paquita
Mama Paquita buy your baby a banana,
A ripe banana, and a papaya.
A ripe papaya that your baby will enjoy!

Rain is the size of a papaya (or a spaghetti squash) these days, which is the equivalent of 11 inches, and we know he weighs at least 15 oz. His nipples are sprouting, and his cute little face is fully formed, including his eyes. He has lanugo (fine hair) that covers his body and deep wrinkles, which will fill in when he adds a padding of fat. His pancreas is developing steadily. He can now hear outside noises. Last night Kevin and I read "10 Little Monkey's Jumping on the Bed" to him. The book was a gift from a friend. I was the narrator, and Kevin was unenthusiastically the doctor. A very annoyed one, to say the least, even though he had the easiest part. Hopefully the baby enjoyed it, though. Rain is starting to settle into sleep cycles, snoozing about 12-14 hours a day.

I may start noticing stretch marks at this point. Let's hope I've kept them at bay. I've been using Jafra's Royal Almond Body Oil religiously lately, as I've heard that it works to keep stretch marks away. I also notice I lose less hair, which makes my already thick hair thicker. After baby's born, I might lose the excess in clumps. Scary! My rings are getting harder and harder to take off each night. I'm not sure what I'm going to do--wear them as a necklace, or buy an inexpensive, plain band in a size bigger to wear until my rings fit again. I just don't want people staring at me--pregnant, no rings--wondering if I'm an unwed mother.

Ultrasound update and more

'Ello there! Just wanted to stop in and tell you about our ultrasound we had on Friday.

First up, I only gained 1 pound since my last visit. Grand total: 11 pounds. The baby is measuring right where she should be. She weighs 15 ounces. I'm not sure on the length. Her heartbeat was 124 bpm. We saw the four-chamber heart pumping, the stomach, the kidneys, the spine, and all sorts of other cool stuff. It was amazing to see her in there moving around. At that moment, she was head down with her legs up and around my belly button. The doctor seemed to deem everything as normal and working beautifully. We didn't get to see Raina's face because she was facing towards my back, but that's okay.

My favorite part was when we saw her little hand waving at us.

The latest baby dream went a little something like this: It was our first day home with the baby, who was a boy (again). He needed his diaper changed, and it was the first poopy one, so I called Kevin over to come and help me so he could learn. I set the baby on the floor in this tiny, wood-paneled room, and looked up to see if Kevin was coming. When I looked down, the baby was a white piece of paper cut out like a gingerbread man. He had brownish yellow stains on him, which was the poop. We got him all cleaned up (at least I assume, because I don't remember this part of the dream), and put him down for a nap. Then the next thing I remember about the dream is sitting around a table talking to people, and all of a sudden thinking, "Oh my gosh! I have a baby! I can't just sit here! I need to go make sure he's okay!"

My parents came up on Friday night and stayed until just about an hour ago. My mom and I spent almost all of yesterday baking cookies (and this is after reducing our numbers from last year). Meanwhile, Kev and my dad worked on the baby's room. They tore the carpet out, and tried to find a way to put an overhead light in the ceiling. The ugliness and uselessness of the room in its present state is more than enough to motivate us to get the new trim and carpet installed ASAP. Maybe (just maybe) over Christmas break I'll spend some time painting the trim, since it should arrive by then. Then all we need is some carpet, a closet organization system of some sort, and we're ready to move in!

Today, my brother, Kathy, and Zach came up to celebrate my dad's and my birthday. We had quite the feast (ribs, mashed potatoes, corn, broccoli, fruit salad, bread), and now we have quite the leftovers! 'Twas grand times.

Just say it.

There's no doubt I'm showing.

Week 21: Bananarama

Raina is the size of a banana this week! Up until this point, the produce measurements were taken from crown to rump. This week starts the head to toe measurements. She's about 10.5 inches long and weighs about 12.7 ounces. We'll find out for sure on Friday at our REAL ultrasound how she's measuring up compared to her peers and bananas. She's busy gulping several ounces of amniotic fluid every day, both for hydration and nutrition and to practice swallowing and digesting. Her taste buds are actually working now. Apparently, some studies show that after birth, babies are most interested in tastes they've already experienced through amniotic fluid. Do you think it's true or they're just saying that so it makes me feel guilty for not eating enough vegetables?

Kevin felt Raina move for the first time last night! She was kicking away, so I put my hand on my belly where the kicks were, and felt one on the outside (as I have felt before), so I called Kevin over, and he finally felt it too! It was just one little tap, but he was pretty excited about it, in his own little way.

My dear friend Jessica, who is 28 weeks pg, and I got a chance to meet up this past weekend. We hit up Babies R Us and the Mall of America for some baby and maternity shopping. Mostly, we discussed the essentials. She found a crib she liked and ordered. Then we moved on to strollers and infant car seats and made a big decision together in those aisles. Nothing big--just what we plan on using for the stroller. We're both pretty excited about it, though. She bought me the book Baby Bargains for my birthday/Christmas/congrats, you're having a baby! gift. Surprisingly, when I got home and read the section on strollers, the authors agreed with us! We are so smart. Our plan is:
This:

Plus this (or something like it, you get the idea):

Equals this, being used by Naomi Watts. Click on the picture to see the whole thing.:

We figured that since we'll have infants in the summer time, what's the use for the big, heavy travel system when the baby is just a bitty thing? This is the compact way to go.

We also took some time out and paused by her Christmas tree to take a picture together. Me=20.5 weeks, Her=28 weeks. She knows how to turn her body to be flattering, and she's wearing black, which is why you can't see her cute, cute belly.

21 week belly pictures to come soon!

Fo reals?

A parent of one of my students told me today that I've popped. I have noticed that my stomach is noticeably hard. Every week my belly button gets shallower and shallower, rounder and rounder. I had a dream a few nights ago that my belly button popped out and looked like a mushroom. Scary thought.

20 weeks: Halfway there!

Knock knock!
Who's there?
Cantaloupe.
Cantaloupe who?
Cantaloupe with you tonight!

Yeah, dumb. I know.
Rain is the size of a cantaloupe now. The size of a melon you'd definitely share with others. One you can't eat all by yourself (at least in one sitting). His digestive system is making meconium. That's baby poop made out of the amniotic fluid he's drinking, digestive secretions, and dead cells. This black, tarry poo is going to show up in his first diaper. Can't wait! He's measuring in at 6.5 inches and 10.6 ounces.

How am I feeling? In general, I guess you could say better. There are some times that I need a snack and I need it NOW because I feel sick, but those urgencies are decreasing.

Rain is definitely moving around in there. I feel him more and more every day, mostly once my students have left the building and he can have some peace and quiet. Then he continues bouncing around on and off for the rest of the evening.

I seriously can't believe I'm halfway done incubating this little being. The time has flown by! In celebration of the halfway point, here are a few dorky full-body shots.



And the one where I look like a sasquatch: