Introducing Snowflake!

We (okay, mostly I) are calling this baby Snowflake. Colin was called Rain, and at the time it was just because it was funny coupled with our last name. But since then, I've realized that Rain was an appropriate name because he was an April baby. With this baby due the first week of December, Snowflake is only fitting.

I have so much to catch you up on, but we'll start with some belly pictures taken this evening.
And then we'll move on to a variety of questions taken from fellow pregnant friends Laura and Leah's blogs. You'll see these weekly.

How far along? 14 weeks 6 days

Total weight gain/loss: +7 pounds (Good LORD!)

Size: Lemon or 3 1/2 inches and weighs 1 1/2 ounces

Baby Development: "His body's growing faster than his head, which now sits upon a more distinct neck. By the end of this week, his arms will have grown to a length that's in proportion to the rest of his body. (His legs still have some lengthening to do.) He's starting to develop an ultra-fine, downy covering of hair, called lanugo, all over his body. Your baby's liver starts making bile this week — a sign that it's doing its job right — and his spleen starts helping in the production of red blood cells. Though you can't feel his tiny punches and kicks yet, your little pugilist's hands and feet (which now measure about 1/2 inch long) are more flexible and active." (From babycenter.com)

Best moment this week: Seeing my beloved midwife and hearing the heart beat at my appointment yesterday; 148 bpm.

Movement: I think I'm feeling a little bit of movement, but it's more like somersaults and not kicks.

Food cravings: Meat--Hot dogs, cheeseburgers; and fruit

Food aversions: Sweets like cupcakes and brownies

What I miss: Sub sandwiches, comfortable jeans/shorts
Stretch marks?: None yet. I'm going to try my best to avoid them again by using Jafra's Royal Almond Body Oil. It worked at keeping the stretch marks away with Colin, so hopefully it will work magically again!
Maternity clothes?: I bought some stretchy tank tops and t-shirts when I went shopping with my girls a few weekends ago. I'm hoping they will get me through the summer. My mom scored me a great deal on some denim maternity shorts at Kohls yesterday. I may have to buy one more pair of shorts, but I plan on spending quite a bit of time wearing some old school Champion mesh shorts this summer as well.
Sleep?: I'm sleeping great, aside from the occasional middle of the night wake up call we get when Colin has to go to the bathroom. And if that happens any time after 4 am, it's hard to get back to sleep.
Gender?: We won't be finding out. We didn't find out with Colin, so all of the gear we have is gender neutral. At this point, my hunch is this little one's a girl. I've had a few dreams starring a newly born baby girl.
Belly button?: It's very circular and not very deep.
What are you looking forward to this week?: Being done with my first week of summer school (1 down, 4 to go!), getting family pictures taken in Stillwater with Leah on Saturday morning, Fathers Day/my brother's birthday on Sunday.

More posts to come about telling our family and friends and other fun facts.