Night owl

Stewart just admitted that when comes to bed after I've gone to sleep, he feels my belly to see if the baby is kicking (how cute is that??) Apparently last night he was kicking like crazy for daddy! I'm just thankful that it doesn't wake me up....I guess the little guy is letting me get my sleep now while I can...

By the way, isn't that owl adorable? Pattern available here on etsy.

22 Weeks

Hi from week 22! I'm officially 5 months pregnant, no matter how you break down the months/weeks (it really depends on what book I'm looking at.) Only 4 months to go! For the next month the baby is about the size of a papaya (which I've actually never eaten), and several sources say that he's probably weighing about a pound this week. He continues to be very active, kicking much higher than before, and Stewart gets to feel him moving almost daily now. Typically he moves most when I'm sitting quietly at the end of the workday, but sometimes he surprises me. Once this week he started doing some major karate while I was washing my hands at school (which I do a lot these days,) and it was so unexpected that it literally brought tears to my eyes. I love to feel him move!

We attempted to register at Target yesterday, since that's really the only place in town that people could go to buy gifts. We'll probably also register online at BabiesRUs, and I'm trying to figure out a way to set up something through etsy.com. The Target experience was pretty overwhelming, despite all the advice I've gotten, and my trusty Baby Bargains book. Take bottles, for example. I've heard several recommendations for two types of bottles, Avent and Dr. Browns. But how do I know which one the baby will do better with? And how many do I need? So we went ahead and registered for one set of both types, but then the issue becomes that you have to get different nipples for each type. I'm afraid people are going to look at our registry and think I've gone overboard. (By the way, Target is currently having some technical difficulties getting the in-store registries linked to their website, so you can't pull up our registry yet.) Our other issue is that Stewart thinks I'm going to make our baby boring, because I always gravitate towards neutrals, solids, and stripes, and he thinks the baby needs some more bright colors, patterns, etc. It doesn't help that we're not really designing a nursery at this point (we'll do that when we move mid-year next year), so we don't have a color scheme or anything to guide our choices. I don't want a whole lot of extra "stuff", especially in our current small apartment, but I know that comes with the territory of having a baby. I am really excited for my baby showers. I'll have one shower at work, and then another one thrown by a co-worker and friend at her house. I think both of those will be in November, so I have a little bit more time to get the registering under control.

In terms of belly growth, I think I still look about the same as the last few weeks. While we were registering yesterday, a woman shopping in the baby aisles didn't believe that I was the one having a baby. Obviously the T-shirt in this week's photo doesn't really show off my belly, but it was a game day, so I had to represent my Gators!

Sweet kids

Look at the sweet pictures I've recently received.

The first one is from a student at my school. She is not one of my students but she knows me from being in her classroom. (Obviously there's some confusion with "for" and "from").


The next two are from my old roommate Heather's two nieces (age 4 and 2, I think!) Apparently she has been showing them the pictures of my growing belly....how cute is the little drawing of me (blond hair and all!?) Love it. :-)

Baby's first Gator game

Stewart's dad got us some last minute tickets to the UF-TN game on Saturday, and we were thrilled since we had thought we weren't going to get to go to a game at all this season. I was a little bit worried about whether the noise would bother the baby, since I had just read that a noise as loud as a jackhammer can be upsetting to a baby at this point in pregnancy. I'm pretty sure that 90,000 screaming fans in The Swamp is louder than a jackhammer, but I figured since Angie is a pediatrician and went to the FL-GA game while pregnant with Anna, it wouldn't really do any damage.

I did hit what I consider a pregnancy low once we arrived in Gainesville. We'd been searching for a parking spot forever, and finally managed to snag the last spot in the front yard of some college guys' house. I had to go to the bathroom so bad and didn't think I could make it all the way to the stadium, so I asked the guys if I could use their bathroom. "Sure, go ahead in and just ask anyone where it is," he said. It was such the stereotypical college guy's house, and I felt SO old walking in there. And the bathroom was NASTY! But my bladder could not be ignored. I'm still amused that I actually went in to that house....

So the game was fun, and the baby didn't seem to be bothered by the noise. In fact, I think he was probably even doing a little baby gator chomp in there...


And since we figured it would be several years before he's old enough to take his first real trip to a Gator game, we should document this as his first visit to The Swamp. Stewart and I are sharing responsibility for the poor composition of this photo....me because I plunked my purse down right in front of the gator, and Stewart because he cut off half the gator's head.


And for the record, I don't usually wear dresses to football games (that's just too Georgia sorority girl for me), but my wardrobe options are currently pretty limited at the moment. Don't judge me.

21 weeks

21 weeks, and the baby's about as long as a banana. Measurements are different now...instead of being given from crown to rump, the average measurements are from head to heel. Apparently taste buds are starting to work, and he's doing lots of swallowing. Hopefully he doesn't have any difficulty with that, since his momma blocked out everything she was supposed to learn in grad school about swallowing.

The big excitement this week was that Stewart finally felt the baby kick! I had been pretty convinced that I was feeling movement from the outside all week, but Stewart had spent quite a bit of time hanging out with his hand on my belly to no avail. Finally last night the baby was kicking up a storm, and Stewart was able to feel him twice. They weren't even his biggest kicks, so I definitely know that we'll be feeling much more in the weeks to come.

OK, belly shot time. Is this the "popping" that I keep hearing about? The last two weeks have definitely been the biggest weeks for belly growth. Am I carrying abnormally low, or is this normal for 21 weeks?

20 weeks

20 weeks! We're halfway there, yippee! This week I learned the perils of overdoing it. After babysitting for a friend on Friday night and not getting home until 1:15 am, I spent all day Saturday cleaning and baking. Here's the result...

This is at our friends' house Saturday evening, after enjoying some homemade pizzas and board games. It took me all of 5 minutes once we started watching football to pass out (Stewart must have followed soon after, but he doesn't have the pregnancy excuse like me.) I didn't even know that Brian and Krisita took this picture until I went to upload the belly picture a few minutes ago! Don't we look like a fun pair to have over on a Saturday night?? :-)

So I've been reflecting on the first half of the pregnancy, and what is/isn't what I expected. I definitely think overall the symptoms have been much milder than I was anticipating. The morning sickness wasn't as bad as I thought, I haven't had major cravings or food aversions, I'm not too sensitive to smells, etc. I thought I'd have a bigger belly by now. I'm starting to get aches and pains that I didn't think I would get until much later (lower back pain, sore hips when I sleep, etc.) In terms of things that are what I anticipated, I would say my emotions in general are what I thought they would be. I knew I would probably be a nervous wreck in the beginning, and I was. I knew I'd feel more confident once we got out of the first trimester, and I did. I knew I would start to feel a stronger connection to the baby once I knew the gender and could feel him start to move, and I do. Overall, I would say that I am really enjoying being pregnant, while at the same time wishing I could fast forward the next 20 weeks. I hope the second half of the pregnancy goes as smoothly as the first half!

I know certain readers (hi mom!) are anxious to see the latest belly picture. I can tell a pretty significant difference compared to last week, what do you think?

Dear co-worker,

Dear co-worker,
I appreciate you being excited about my pregnancy, really I do. But let's get a couple things straight. First of all, it is still WAY too early to be patting or rubbing my belly. Maybe when I'm 8 months along and have a hugely obvious pregnant belly, I won't mind. But for right now, let's continue to respect each others' personal space, m'kay? Also, announcing that you are going to pat my belly does not excuse the actual act of patting, because I'm too nice to a) swat your approaching hand away or b) say "Hold it, sister!!" Please, let's just keep our hands to ourselves for a few more months.

Second, I have no objection to you commenting on my growing belly. Comments like "Oh, you look like you're starting to show!" or "Look at your cute belly!" are a-ok. But let's refrain from things like "You're starting to pudge out now, aren't you?" Really, that doesn't make anyone feel good.

Respectfully,
Your moody pregnant speech-therapist