eighteen weeks!

with a cameo from Kaiser

   

bump watch: with the exception of a few loose-fitting clothes, i'm in maternity wear and loving every comfy minute of it. i was particularly excited last week to find side-panel shorts instead of the full-panel monstrosities i wore with Greta. and i'm beginning to wonder if my belly button is just lower than average, since the midwife felt my uterus "at the umbilicus" at 14 weeks (the typical benchmark for 20 weeks), and i can feel it now at least 3 finger-breadths above. Little Peanut is growing right on track and that's all that matters! 

little peanut: is five and a half inches long, weighing five ounces. the size of a sweet potato! pretty crazy. this week, baby can yawn and hiccup. and truly amazing: our little one's unique fingerprints are already forming. 

image credit from What to Expect When You're Expecting

best moment: there have been some really great ones this week! Greta has been very sweet when we talk about the baby. (in fact, when our neighbor came over to watch her last weekend, the first words out of her mouth were "Mommy has a baby in her belly! A sister and a brother!" we did set the record straight that there's only one in there!)  she loves to lift up my shirt, kiss my belly, and talk to the baby. one day last week she smooshed my belly between her hands and said "wibble wobble, wibble wobble!" which wasn't quite so touching, but ... it's true! 

we also celebrated Amelia's little one (due next month) with a virtual baby shower. i'm so excited for Ryan and her to meet their baby. there's just nothing like it! 

symptoms: the movement continues to be sporadic, and i actually panicked this morning realizing that i hadn't felt anything for the past two days. (probably because the weekend was super busy between work, Amelia's shower, and the beautiful celebration of Father Aron's 10th anniversary of ordination!) just when i was thinking about calling the midwives to schedule a doppler check, i felt a few unmistakable kicks, and there have been a few more flutters throughout the day today. otherwise, i'm feeling full faster, and having occasional heartburn. 

cravings: lemon iced tea, chili dogs, and pistachio fluff (that Cool Whip concoction with mini marshmallows).  

what i miss: this sounds crazy, but i kind of miss all the planning and research that i was doing around this time with Greta. i keep feeling like i should be doing more or reading more or buying more, but we're pretty much set in terms of baby equipment. the only thing i do want to pick up is a Sit'n'Stand stroller. and we had such a great experience with Greta's birth that we're basically planning to do it again (hopefully this time without the induction) -- a hospital birth attended by a midwife and doula. 

looking forward to: one week from today, we get to see Little Peanut again ... and if he or she cooperates, we'll find out the sex! (my soapbox moment: people always refer to it as finding out the gender. really what you're finding out about is the sex organs, which is NOT the same as gender, but i think people are squeamish about using the word "sex" or it just feels more polite to say "gender", or they just truly don't know the difference. i generally refer to it that way too if i'm talking to strangers or coworkers, since i don't want to get into that whole discussion, but it drives me up the wall!) i still have a gut feeling that it's a boy (although maybe that's just laziness because i love the boy name options we've picked out, and we haven't agreed on a girl name yet).