21 weeks

Sorry I'm late. I've been slacking on my picture taking. Plus iPhoto was being naughty. Now I'm good to go. So here you are...
21 weeks, 3 days Snowflake vs. 21 weeks Colin in words and in belly pictures.
How far along? 21 weeks 3 days

Total weight gain/loss: +13 lbs

Size: Banana, or 10.5 inches and 12 ounces (baby is measured from crown to foot now instead of crown to rump)
Baby Development: "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." (From babycenter.com)

Best moment this week: Last Saturday night, Kevin felt the baby kick :) Also, this Saturday Colin patted my belly and gave it a kiss, then lay his head on it. :)

Movement: Snowflake moves around a little bit every day. Sometimes I can see it a tiny bit, sometimes I can just feel it.

Food cravings: Meat, I guess. Fruit, I guess. Oh yeah, and cinnamon crêpes from The Magic Pan Crêpe Stand in the Mall of America. Omg. When will this magical reunion happen?

Food aversions: Rich sweets like cupcakes and brownies

What I miss: Sub sandwiches (more than ever), comfortable jeans/shorts, alcohol
Stretch marks?: None.
Maternity clothes?: I busted out the maternity shorts a couple of days. Otherwise I've been wearing mesh Champion shorts and most of my regular shorts/capris. I'm still wearing non-maternity shirts. I also scored a new pair of pants on clearance that can be snapped up to become capris today at Old Navy today.
Sleep?: I sleep as well as Colin sleeps. Lately he has been waking up and he's half out of it and saying "Mommy! I want you!" I wonder if it's a night terror or a bad dream or something.
Gender?: We won't be finding out.
Belly button?: It's very circular and the top part is getting shallower.
What are you looking forward to this week?: Just enjoying my summer until I have to start working in 3 weeks :(

Sidenote: I also started taking Omega-3 supplements this week. Our chiropractor says it helps with, among other things, Post-Partum blues/depression and also helps the baby sleep better. When I heard that last part, I said, "Sign me up!" and now I slurp a tiny bit of orange sherbet-tasting goo once a day :) Cheers to it working when baby's out!

Simply Music

I've been teaching piano lessons for about 6 years now. Boring, traditional piano lessons. After co-teaching a group piano lesson class during summer school, I looked into changing up my methods a little more, moving away from private lessons and towards group lessons. I "researched" group lessons on google to try to find ideas of how it worked. Now, I put researched in quotations because it last all of a half hour before I stumbled upon Simply Music.

In a nutshell, Simply Music is a non-traditional way of teaching piano lessons. We teach our children how to talk before we teach them the ABCS, spelling, and sentence structure. But when we teach piano lessons, we jump right into reading music instead of just letting students play.

Look at this:
There's a lot going on there. Straight lines, curved lines, and each line has a different letter, and oh by the way the lines on the top and the lines on the bottom don't have the same letters, symbols, numbers, notes that look different, letters... A lot to learn! And students learn all of that in the first 6 months or so in traditional lessons.

In the first year of Simply Music piano lessons (which are in a group setting), students don't even learn how to read music. They just play it! In the first 3 months, they have a dozen songs from various genres that they can play by memory. They even leave the first lesson knowing how to play a song. And that's what they really want to do. They want to play, not learn!

Simply Music is not sold in stores (infomercial alert!). You have to sign up on their website to be trained, send them a bunch of money, and then you get the training materials to learn how to play and teach the Simply Music way.

Through the website, I found a local Simply Music piano teacher and attended a free information session she held in her in-home "studio." I was hooked on the program. I knew I would be. She told me I'd definitely have to raise my rates by about $10 per lesson per student. This scares the crap out of me, but she reassured me that it will work because 1) students in group settings get a longer lesson 2) students get books and DVDs to practice with at home (which is an additional fee) 3) students will progress so much faster than students learning traditionally, which makes students and parents very happy 4) students will be motivated to play. Instead of that fight to go practice, there's a fight to STOP practicing, which, again, makes parents very happy.

Needless to say, I'm very excited about starting the process. I sent in my application and my money today and look forward to receiving a package in the mail soon. I am ready to use my time more efficiently and make more money to supplement our incomes. In turn, hopefully I can push our DMP payments to the max because every penny of what I earn teaching piano lessons will be going towards that.

The Belly: Inside and Outside Views

20 weeks with Snowflake vs. 20 weeks with Colin
I finally feel like I've evened out. As in, my belly at 20 weeks with Colin is very similar to my belly at 20 weeks with Snowflake.

Speaking of whom, introducing...Snowflake!

Snowflake was very cooperative at our ultrasound yesterday. The ultrasound technician easily got all of the necessary measurements, which all turned out completely normal. Snowflake was situated breech facing my right side. S/he was playing pat-a-cake with closed fists, which was super cute. We also saw him/her drinking amniotic fluid. Not gonna lie, tears slid down my face as I watched a healthy Snowflake bop around in my belly. Each time the amazing ultrasound technician said "this is normal," relief spread throughout my body. This little one is part of our family and, just like after hearing the heartbeat, after seeing the ultrasound, it feels even more real.

After our ultrasound, I buzzed up to see my midwife for my appointment which was quick and non-eventful.