26 Weeks

How your baby's growing?

The network of nerves in your baby's ears is better developed and more sensitive than before. He may now be able to hear both your voice and your partner's as you chat with each other. He's inhaling and exhaling small amounts of amniotic fluid, which is essential for the development of his lungs. These so-called breathing movements are also good practice for when he's born and takes that first gulp of air. And he's continuing to put on baby fat. He now weighs about a pound and two-thirds and measures 14 inches (an English hothouse cucumber . . . seriously? who picks these items) from head to heel. If you're having a boy, his testicles are beginning to descend into his scrotum — a trip that will take about two to three days.

What your baby looks like this week:

Comments for Colleen:

We have a doctor's appointment tomorrow afternoon and then our repeat ultrasound in about two weeks. Yes, I made another onesie . . .

And, Patrick's Valentine's present finally arrived. The gist of what we learned: Babies do very little for a long time. Babies can do math. Gravity's a b%*&. Babies like shiny red balls. Got it.

Things to do:

1. Sign up for a birthing/childcare class: (Patrick insists that this is unnecessarily, and it might be; however, after this little episode, I think it might be a good idea. Although Patrick insists he is good under pressure, I think most people who actually know him might agree that his abilities in this particular type of situation are limited (another example - Cutting his finger ='d running out front door, no bandage, me in PJ's, the back door open, raw meat on the counter, the dogs running around in anticipation).

2. Sign up for an Infant CPR Class: I'm already certified, but I think the above comments once again apply

3. Pick a paint color and fabric for recovering rocker: probably light blue (crazy choice i know). We can do this now because we have almost all of our bedding - thanks to grandma and grandpa (aka Papi and Mami) going a little crazy on the Pottery Barn registry.

4. Pick a crib (and changing table)

5. Pick a pediatrician

Hiding

Dagny's Version of "Hiding"You can stand 2 feet away from her and call her name. If she thinks the reason MIGHT be that you are trying to make her do something AWFUL (aka go outside), she will stay perfectly still. Of course, if you say the word "treat," she pops right up:
"Here I am!"

Isn't this cool?!

I found it on the the Babble List of Best Kid Toys for 2011, but it is nowhere to be found, even for pre-order! Lots of things like it from the manufacturer, but not this one, so if anyone sees it, let me know!

Here is the description:

"A baby registry must-have for 2011: the innovative Gymini Move and Play, a souped-up play mat with more playtime options for baby that’s also more convenient for mom and dad. What sets this mat apart from others is a unique arch connector that slides along the bars, allowing you to adjust the height of the arch above your baby. Lower the arch for tummy time or make it higher so your little one can play on his back (and you have more room to squeeze in next to him!). Sliding rings on the bars let you hang toys at different heights as baby grows.
Ages: 0+
Price: $80
Available: Fall 2011"

Apparently "tummy time" makes babies smarter . . .
Of course, my in-laws and I have already discussed possibly NOT doing anything to make this child any smarter as a plan worth considering (due to their trials with the soon to be Daddy).

Tummy Time in Babyhood Linked to Fitness and Smarts in Teenagehood

Tummy Time: Why babies need more of it than they're getting

Rainy Day Onesies

Size: 3 - 6 Months

25 Weeks

How your baby's growing?
Head to heels, your baby now measures about 13 1/2 inches. His weight — a pound and a half — isn't much more than an average rutabaga, but he's beginning to exchange his long, lean look for some baby fat . . . P.S. What is a rutabaga?
As he does, his wrinkled skin will begin to smooth out and he'll start to look more and more like a newborn. He's also growing more hair — and if you could see it, you'd now be able to discern its color and texture.

See what your baby looks like this week:

How your life's changing?

Your baby's not the only one with more hair — your locks may look more full and lustrous than ever. It's not that you're growing more hair, but thanks to hormonal changes, the hair that you'd normally shed is sticking around longer than usual. Enjoy the fullness while you can — the extra hair will fall out after you give birth. You may also notice that you can't move around as gracefully as before. Unless your caregiver has advised you otherwise, it's fine to continue to exercise, but follow a few safety rules: Don't work out when you're feeling overly tired and stop if you feel any pain, dizziness, or shortness of breath. Don't lie flat on your back and avoid contact sports as well as any exercise where you're apt to lose your balance. Be sure to drink plenty of water, and make time for both warm-up and cool-down periods. When you have your glucose-screening test at 24 to 28 weeks, a second tube of blood may be taken at the same time to check for anemia. If blood tests show that you have iron-deficiency anemia (the most common type of anemia), your caregiver will probably recommend that you take an iron supplement.

Comments for Colleen:

• Knees hurt
• I still have not picked a crib
  
• Baby shower back home in the works!
• New Favorite Website: Babble.com
  
• Learned NOT to do the p90-x stretching video right before bed because apparently Trey loves it! He was up partying all night and then slept all day. Very inconsiderate.
  
• Dagny and I had a "girls' day out" for Valentine's Day: She (I) picked out a new Sheepie at the pet store. Then, as a reward for me, she pooped in the middle of the running trail. I did not have a baggie, and it looked like she had not gone in about 2 days. I'm sure it was pretty humorous for all the people driving down one the biggest roads in the city to see a pregnant gal holding a dog lease in one hand and carrying/dropping a palm frond piled with poop in the other. Thanks, Dags.

Saturday Night Dinner

We got together with some friends for dinner last weekend.

A and I got to compare bellies.

Happy Valentine's Day!

24 Weeks

How your baby's growing?

Your baby's growing steadily, having gained about 4 ounces since last week. That puts him at just over a pound (Trey was over 1 pound 3 weeks ago at the ultrasound). Since he's almost a foot long (picture an ear of corn), he cuts a pretty lean figure at this point, but his body is filling out proportionally and he'll soon start to plump up.

I couldn't decide between these two corn pix:

His brain is also growing quickly now, and his taste buds are continuing to develop. His lungs are developing "branches" of the respiratory "tree" as well as cells that produce surfactant, a substance that will help his air sacs inflate once he hits the outside world. His skin is still thin and translucent, but that will start to change soon. See what your baby looks like this week:

How your life's changing?

In the past few weeks, the top of your uterus has risen above your belly button and is now about the size of a soccer ball. Most women have a glucose screening test (also called a glucose challenge test or GCT) between now and 28 weeks. This test checks for gestational diabetes, a pregnancy-related high-blood-sugar condition. Untreated diabetes increases your risk of having a difficult vaginal delivery or needing a cesarean section because it causes your baby to grow too large, especially in his upper body. It also raises your baby's odds for other complications like low blood sugar right after birth. A positive result on your GCT doesn't mean you have gestational diabetes, but it does mean that you'll need to take the glucose tolerance test (GTT) to find out for sure.

Update for Colleen:

The pups now realize that something is different. I think it took this long because they have a TERRIBLE sense of smell. I know it sounds kinda cooky, but I was putting Dagny’s paw on my stomach the other day, and she felt the angry moth inside of me kick. Baby kicked right where her paw was; then, Dagny jumped a little, looked up at me with that shocked dog look, doggie smiled, starting feverishly licking right where the kick was, and then starting bouncing around (and stepped on the bump - oops). Hank, on the other hand, is now terrified to come anywhere near the belly and does not like it when I put his paw on it. He is, however, very into smelling my bellybutton. I'm not sure if it just spells interesting because there is lint in there or if he really thinks it is the magical portal to this new thing.

One More Onesie (for now):

Another Onesie

Lookie What I Made!

I used one of my Gerber Organic Onesies, two appliques from Joann's Fabric, and my sewing machine to make this!

I'm very happy with how the one above turned out!
However, I also ruined a onesie in the process:

Apparently Iron-On-Transfer images and I are not friends . . .

Patrick's Freakout

I have recently started being able to watch baby move around. Yesterday, I laid down and looked at my stomach only to see a gigantic bulge out to one side. Here is a summary of the conversation:

Katie (in living room): Whoa!!!
Patrick (from office): What?! What?! (worried)
Katie (in living room): Whoa! The baby is way over to one side!
Patrick (from office): Katie! Don't do that! (annoyed)
Katie (in living room): No really! Come see!
Patrick (from office): (Sigh) Okay.

Patrick: Oh my god!!!
Katie: (laughing)
Patrick (panicked): Don't laugh!
Katie: (laughing)
Patrick (yelling): Stop! Stop laughing! This is isn't right!!!
Katie (trying not to laugh): It's okay . . . (laugh)
Patrick (yelling): Stop it! Don't laugh!
Katie (trying not to laugh): Patrick, it's OKAY . . . (laugh)
Patrick (yelling): You're going to hurt it!
Katie: No I'm not. (laughing)
Patric: Stop!!!
Katie (trying not to laugh): It's okay. It's okay . . . (laugh)
Patrick (yelling): It's not funny! This is NOT okay!
Katie (trying not to laugh): Patrick, it's fine . . . (laugh)
Patrick: No it isn't!
Katie: (prodding the bump; laughing)
Patrick (yelling): Stop!!! You're going to swish its brains!
Katie: (laugh)
Patrick (yelling): Stop!!!

(gigantic bulge "magically" disappears)

Katie: See. It moved. It's okay.
Patrick: Oh. Well I don't think it's supposed to do that.

Later at El Charro . . .

Katie: What exactly did you think was gonna happen?
Patrick: I don't know. It looked like it was about to bust out the side of your stomach.
Katie: Patrick, it isn't a vampire baby. It really can't just bust out the side of my stomach. It's not that strong, . . . and my skin is pretty strong.
Patrick: Yeah, I guess. That is just what it looked like.
Katie: Unless it has a little tiny scalpel in there, there's really only one way out.

23 Weeks

How your baby's growing?

Turn on the radio and sway to the music. With her sense of movement well developed by now, your baby can feel you dance. And now that she's more than 11 inches long and weighs just over a pound (about as much as a large mango), you may be able to see her squirm underneath your clothes. Blood vessels in her lungs are developing to prepare for breathing, and the sounds that your baby's increasingly keen ears pick up are preparing her for entry into the outside world. Loud noises that become familiar now — such as your dog barking or the roar of the vacuum cleaner — probably won't faze her when she hears them outside the womb.

See what your baby looks like this week:

Comments for Colleen:

I went through all my clothes this week to see what still fits. About half are now in a box in the garage awaiting a new home several months from now. Where exactly that new home will be is to be determined as my "walk-in closet" is now becoming the baby's room.
P.S. The pups have been acting very weird lately, although this is a pretty standard Hank face. It was about 30 degrees outside on this day and a pipe had burst filling the yard with water, so they couldn't be outside and they were pretty bored in addition to the general weirdness.

The Dogs are Still Here 2

Example #3 (for Allison) -

Miss Allison suggested getting a baby gate to keep the dogs away from the baby items, and it is an item I considered . . . for about 30 seconds. However, after ingraining this behavior into them when we lived in Georgia, I'm pretty sure the items below might just be confused with . . . . . . this item!

Look at that good dog, just lying there. That is not our dog. I'm pretty sure dogs would LOVE a baby gates almost as much as a shaggy rug, and I don't know if I see the redeeming value.

The Dogs are Still Here

As you can tell from the last post, the pups are still here, and in response to a common question, "no, they do not sense that anything is different." This is evident from Hank's frequent attempts to pounce on and/or punch my bump. Nevertheless, as I pick out items to add to the baby registry, I do wonder if anyone puts as much thought into their dogs' feelings about the potential items.

Example #1)
One of their favorite things to do is rolling on the bathmat, or if the bathmat is not available (because it's hung high enough that they can't reach it to pull it down), the living room rug is a distant second, but still acceptable, alternative as a back scratcher. Either way, carpets rock, the shaggier the better. So, it worries me that the rug I've always wanted for a baby's room is this texture (Doesn't it look so great to crawl around on and grab with little baby hands!?):Example #2)
How cute is this guy?! . . . but there are two potential issues:
One, Dagny could think it is her new lounge chair (likely).
Two, Hank could think it is terrifying (yes, he is afraid of cows . . . and baby goats and shadows), leading to (1) barking followed by (2) quick, jabbing bites followed by (3) tearing out the stuffing (1 = very likely; 2 = somewhat probable; 3 = unlikely but not impossible).

P.S. I just "introduced" the pups to P's childhood stuffed cat that we brought back from Nevada. Dagny bit it in the face.

Puppy Love: Introducing . . .

Dagny's New Puppy!

. . . Not really.
This is our friends' new puppy, Moose (Moose is a chocolate lab, and he is about 6 weeks old right here). But, Dagny really does think he is hers. She loves Moose so much, but she has very strict rules that Moose must follow or he gets a "grrrrrowl."
Learning "The Rules According to Dagny"

Waiting for her puppy to wake up:

Supervising playtime:

Acceptable Play: Swatting!

Unacceptable Play: Biting!

We finally had to put Dags outside to give Baby Moosey a chance to sleep

"The Rules According to Dagny"

1. No chewing on furniture
2. No chewing on rugs
3. No ripping, tearing, or playing to roughly with toys
4. No biting other dogs' (aka her) tails
5. No sleeping when others (aka her) want to play
6. No walking around the house unsupervised
7. No going potty in the house

P.S. Hank got one chance and blew it, so he spent the evening outside slamming himself against the back door. No worries. Give the puppy a few months, and it might just be as big as HP.