Belly update...

So, I have been told by several people recently that I need to start posting belly photos now that LBP is really taking over my body. I am definitely still small compared to most women due my week, but it sure feels big to me somedays. My most recent "realization of the belly" moments include hitting my belly on a door as I open it because I don't have the clearance I'm used to and my favorite, getting my shirt wet every time I wash dishes now because I don't realize that its overhanging the edge of the sink. So much fun.

We actually are in the most fun stage of LBP movement right now. Apparently the most activity for the baby happens between weeks 28 and 32, when the baby is strong and able to kick and punch with much more power than before, but before it gets so big that it doesn't have enough room to move around. I definitely feel like there are times when its getting a running start and launching itself into one side of my body. It makes me laugh every time though. Bev has been reading bedtime books to LBP every night now and although it has not been a properly controlled study, we do think it has a real preference for "Goodnight Moon" (thanks to Mike and Ella for that one). LBP is usually very active just before bed anyway, but it goes nuts when she reads that book. Its a noticable difference. (Bev won't let me do the real scientific experiment of trying to test our theory by using different voices or changing the words, etc...she wants to just enjoy the moment of it. I suppose she's got a point, but don't we get to experiment on our kids? Isn't that part of what they are for?). I feel like with every kick I get a little more of an idea of who this little baby is somehow. Though I can't really define what its saying, the movements feel like some sort of communication. I like to think its telling me things like "hey, we should eat more chocolate today" or "maybe we should sleep in instead of going to work" or sometimes "hey, I'm stuck in here...can I get a little help?!".

Of course, we still have 9 weeks to wait for that point, which is also a crazy realization of the week. We are down to single digits in 'weeks until my due date'. So exciting and a tiny bit scary. I'm not sure we're entirely ready yet, but we are so excited to meet this little one. I'm sure then next 2 months are going to fly by.

Side note...I haven't acknowledged the 3 wonderful showers that have been a part of our last 2 weeks because I want to get some of the photos sorted out to post when I write about them. Coming soon...

Baby's First Spring Hike

Mt. Doublehead in Jackson, NH. It was about a 3.5 mile hike round trip up to a peak with beautiful scenery. I was a little nervous about it at first, but we took it slow and managed to get up the whole mountain without raising my heartrate too much and without losing my breath. It probably doesn't hurt that at 6 months into my pregnancy, I have basically double the red blood cells that my body normally has (at least, that's what I've read...I haven't actually counted). We had a wonderful day and judging from the kicking and moving around, I think LBP liked it too. Well, I suppose this kid is always kicking and moving around these days, so perhaps it doesn't mean that, but I like to think we all enjoyed the hike this weekend. Thanks to Bev for finding me a perfect walking stick and to Imani and Kate for initiating the idea. Look at that belly!!

Practice, practice, practice...

The first weekend of May we had a bbq at our house to celebrate Bev's sister Lesley's graduation from her masters program. Yippee!!! Luckily, the family visit offered Bev the chance to do some practicing on all the fun tasks she'll get to be a part of once LBP finally joins us on the outside (makes it sound like the little one is in prison, huh?!). Meet Odin, Bev's nephew, who was very cooperative in letting Bev polish her long lost baby skills on him. We determined that the last time Bev changed a diaper was probably when her sister Kim (Odin's mom) was a baby over 20 years ago. Aside from a little struggle with getting his shirt over head, I think she did alright.

The zucchini belly

So, I'm a little late in posting, but apparently the baby was recently the size of a zucchini, and the day we read that, we happened to be having zucchini for dinner that night. As you can see from the photo, the zucchini would most definitely fit inside my belly right now (and I mean that in reference to the size of the baby, not to the fact that I did eat the whole zucchini that night for dinner and it did indeed end up in my belly). We are now at about the size of a papaya, in case anyone is wondering. Funny thing though about the fruit from here on out...depending on where you're getting it and what season it is, many of these things can come in very different sizes. According to this website, a lemon is bigger than a peach and an avocado is bigger than an orange. I think I'd order them differently if I were thinking about the fruits I see in our grocery stores. Oh well. Its still fun to picture.

I can't believe we are over halfway there and I just noticed on my ticker that we only have 125 days to go. That seems like a very short amount of time. All of a sudden it feels like we have a lot to do. We did have an amazing appointment with a pediatrician this week who shares in my philosophies about health and illness and whose practice is very holistic and nature-based. That's one huge decision off my plate that I feel really good about. I walked away feeling completely confident that I could trust her with my baby and not anticipating that I'm going to have to research every decision on my own to be sure I agree (which I know I would do with most other doctors and which really takes up a lot of time and causes unnecessary worry).

Next big decision - daycare providers. I'm suddenly fascinated by how anyone finds someone they trust enough to spend that much time with their children. There are some open houses this weekend, which sound promising, so I'm not going to worry too much about it until after then.

Ultrasound photos

I don't have time at work to write too much now, but the quick and simple is...Costa Rica was wonderful. Details and photos will be up sometime in the near future. The ultrasound was this morning and went great. All parts are in good shape on our little baby and it cooperated well with getting some good photos. Here's a quick sneak peak at the little Pigeon. More details to come later when I'm not trying to catch up on 2 weeks of emails at work. :)