the boxer at 20 weeks...

We got to see the little Peanut again today! He/She is really moving around. You might assume our child will have some innate soccer instincts (and it might!) but today it showed its boxing or martial arts potential with its active arms. In fact, we saw a couple very distinct upper cuts and jabs. The baby's feet were crossed, it was turning around, its hands were close to its face & in fact, the tech told us that it looked like a little thumb was being sucked (cute.)

I had some nerves going into the morning. For some reason I was really concerned that the technician was going to spill the beans about the sex of our child. She respected our wishes and not a single pronoun slipped from her mouth. It is kinda weird that she knows if its a boy or girl and we don't but we're in for a fun surprise!

Note: My Mom sent me the tank top and I thought today was an appropriate day to sport a picture in it. Gracias Mammer.

My favorite quote of the day from Josh: "Our baby has the best spine I've ever seen." Now that's a proud Dad.

gear

Check out what's sitting in our front hallway! I'm sorry, is someone having a baby?

We were lucky enough to inherit a couple key items this weekend; a My Breast Friend (evidently, a very key item for feeding) and a car seat (which happens to have orange in it- my favorite "neutral" color) It's a little odd to walk into the house and see these items sitting there but I guess we should get used to it...more gear to come, for sure!

mammoth camping aug '08

Josh and I made the trek to Mammoth this past weekend for a fun weekend of camping, hiking, fishing (I'm not much of a fisher-woman but everyone else seemed to have a nice time with it) and good ol' hanging out with some of his family. Richard & Sandy got there before us and got the camp ground all set up (so nice!) and his Aunt Donna, Uncle Roger and cousins Kelly and Taylor were staying in a condo in town. It was a great time with the family and so nice to get out from under the Bay Area fog and drizzle to the sunshine and summer fun. Here are a couple pics (hello mid section!)...and in a few days I'll post some more once I see the other photos people took.

Week #19 is under way and I am feeling good. A few back aches and sleeping issues seemed to arrive with this past weekend (or maybe it was just b/c we were camping) but I'm piling on the pillows for sleep and continuing with yoga. We have our 2nd tri-mester ultrasound on the 26th and it will be fun to see the Peanut again! I read that at this time, if our little one is going to have hair, it is starting to grow!

starting to nest...

While planting herbs for our kitchen garden window and getting a tree for our front porch wasn't isn't exactly on our to-do list in terms of "nesting" in the house, it felt nice to add these additions to the condo this weekend. I just hope the tree (which I think I might affectionately call Lilith) holds up to the So.SF fog and wind. I am also crossing my fingers that our new pals; basil, cilantro, thyme & peppermint can hang in the garden window (nothing has actually survived there yet.)

heading into 18 weeks

So, I have read that our little Peanut is somewhere between 5.5 and 7.5 inches which, evidently is "about the length of a bell pepper." Now, are we talking red, yellow, orange or green? And I have to say, bell peppers come in all squat and long variations. I am not sure if the imagery really satisfies my desire to know how big our Little Wonder is, but it's worth a try. I picked the red pepper picture- I like the taste of those best.

We are heading into 18 weeks of pregnancy this weekend! For the most part, I am feeling better (although as you read earlier this week, plenty tired) but I've been walking more and doing a couple days of yoga a week which has felt really nice. Josh & I have some fun things coming up in the next weeks; a trip to Mammoth, out of town friends will be visiting, and a vacation to Hawaii! Plus, I'll be heading with girlfriends to Seattle to visit and help with Sarah's new little baby, Parker Olivia, who, I am just so excited about!

a few items.....

1. I think its worth mentioning that I went to bed last night at 7:45. Yes, you read the right -7:45. Feeling a bit tired, I thought I would just lay down and "relax" for a bit. I did wake up about 11:00, had a bowl of cereal, watched some of Pulp Fiction for about an hour and then went promptly back to sleep. I would have like to keep sleeping but forced myself out of bed at 7:30 this morning. I never was a nap taker- as a child or even in college when all of my pals took naps. I have, until now, existed on 6 or 7 hours of sleep a night pretty comfortably. I mean, getting more sleep is one thing but who goes to bed at 7:45?

2. Work has been somewhat stressful these days. No need, though, to even write about that. What is worth writing about, though, is today's journey with 4 of my pals here to Yogurt Park. It really made the day....no, I think I can safely say- my work week! While I mostly have had food aversions I have had a real liking for frozen yogurt lately. Yum! For $3.50 I had a chocolate and vanilla swirl delight!

3. Sarah is about to have her baby! My dear dear friend is on the journey to having her little lady today and I am so excited she will finally be here. 08/06/08 is a great sunny summery day for Sarah to give birth to her little sunshine girl. While they live in Seattle, I already feel so close to her little girl who is about to come into this world. Sarah and Garett, we are thinking about you and sending all sorts of love your way....

grow

I tried to get a picture in full length to completely show my t-shirt but I didn't like any of them. The shirt on the bottom left corner has the word "grow" on it. But since the traditional stand-to-the-side picture didn't seems to work for me today, I am picking one I took with Buckley, who is one of my favorite dogs at Clif Bar (don't worry, I love you too Janie Sparkles.) He sits right next to me in the office and every day I look forward to his whole-body & tail wagging greeting. When things get a little stressful here he seems to be right at my side with a smile. I love taking a break to play and pet him. Its good office therapy!

We are at 16.5 weeks with the growth of little Peanut and I read that he/she is probably the size of an avocado! I also read that in this tri-mester I will probably gain 12-15 pounds! That is some serious growth.

At about 20 weeks we will have another ultrasound and at that point will be able to know the gender. While we still have a few weeks to change our mind, at this point we've decided to keep it a surprise, which feels exciting. We'll just have to be patient and wait a while (20+ more weeks) to find out if it's a boy or girl growing inside there!

Till next time.....