Nursery Murals Part 2

Below and here are the completed murals in our sunny yellow nursery. They came out just as i wanted and of course look even better in person instead of with a picture taken by a camera held by my crack shakes hand.

The nursery murals are done! Part 1

Something funny

Our friend Marge sent this to us with the note "this looks/sounds like something your future child will do"...knowing our luck/karma it's probably true

Week 20 begins

You've got a baby the size of a small cantaloupe in your melon sized belly this week, about 10 ounces and 6.5 inches (crown to rump) your ultrasound this month should be able to detect - if you want to know - whether your baby is a boy or girl. And oh boy - or oh girl - has that baby been busy. If you're having girl her uterus is fully formed, her ovaries are holding about 7 million primitive eggs (though at birth, the number of eggs will be closer to 2 million), and her vaginal canal is starting to develop. If you're having a boy, his testicles have begun their decent from the abdomen. In a few months, they will drop into the scrotum (which is still under construction). Luckily for your baby, he or she still has plenty of room in your womb, which means that there is plenty of space for twisting, turning, kicking, punching, and even an occasional somersault. If you ha vent felt these acrobatics yet, you almost certainly will in the coming weeks.

Eek!

Tonight whilst I was sitting in the tub (where i conduct all important matters) making a mental list of who we will need to send announcements to (yes, in four and a half months) i felt the first fluttering kicks of our baby! I looked it up and it's called a "quickening" which is a creepy alien sounding term that i refuse to use. So, since the wee one felt the need to make itself known when i was making one of my unnecessarily early lists it must mean that the tyke takes after it's mama...and grandmother (my mom is as anal retentive as I am)and loves loves loves a well laid plan and preparation more than most anything. After weeks of thinking we have a boy on our hands I am back to thinking we have a girl...like me...and my mom...lord help us!

Things are going...

Ugh, this week I have a super awesome (please not the heavy sarcasm) sinus infection that has been draining into my lungs while i sleep and causing me to cough super hard and now i basically hurt from the chest up from it.
From the chest down i hurt thanks to my always darling baby (again...sarcasm). My hip bones hurt like none other. I have been begging my poor husband to break my bones (sounds crazy to you sure, but to me the cracking of them sounds heavenly...could that be my first "craving"?) he totally refuses (like a nancy girl) so i have to just suffer. Luckily my sweet friend Holly is going to be giving me a full body massage this Sunday before football starts.
The muralist started on the nursery today and it looks super cute so far, i'll post pictures this coming week when it's all painted...maybe i'll even be convinced to post a picture of my growing belly...

Week 19 begins - The Mango

This week your baby is hitting the growth charts at 6 inches long and half a pound in weight. What fruit is it this week? Your baby's about the size of a large mango. A mango dipped in greasy cheese, actually. Vernix caseosa - a greasy white protective substance (it resembles cheese) - now covers your baby's entire skin, protecting it from the surrounding amniotic fluid. Without that protection your baby would look very wrinkled at birth. The coating sheds as delivery approaches, but some babies born early are still covered with vernix at delivery.

New post

Since it's been a while. It turns out that everyone was correct and the second trimester really is kind of just nice and mellow. I'm rarely throwing up anymore (though i did have an Oktober Fest related "situation") although i still cannot keep cereal in any form down to save my life. I've been eating tons and tons of fruit, it's my go to whenever my tummy is feeling a bit out of whack and it keeps me full of fiber which seems to be the most important thing on planet Earth that a pregnant woman can do according to any hemorrhoid related article...i refuse to get one, i want no damn part of it thankyouverymuch.
Otherwise it seems to be smooth sailing for now. We have the muralist coming out to work on the nursery next week and we have another ultrasound and check-up on October 2.

Week 18 begins

At 5.5 inches long and 5 ounces in weight (as mush as the chicken breast that you are having for dinner, but a lot cuter) your baby is filling out nicely and getting large enough that you might even be feeling those twists, rolls, kicks, and punches that he or she is perfecting. Another set of skills that your baby is mastering now is yawning and hiccuping (you might even begin to feel those hiccups soon!). And your one-of-a-kind baby baby is truly one of a kind, complete with unique fingerprints on his or her toes.

Genius Baby

I started my first BabyPlus lesson. It turns out that even after walking the Earth outside of my mother's womb for the last 27.5 years I am still lulled into naptime by simulated heartbeat and have no idea how I am expected to stay awake for the 1 hour twice a day that I am to wear this thing. Lets keep our fingers crossed that it works though!

Happenings

First of all football season is officially upon us (WOO HOO) and the first game of the season was between the most wonderful team on planet Earth (The Steelers of course) and the vile and awful Titans (first of all, who are you kidding? You're the Oilers and we know it. Second, "titans"? Really? You know that the people of Tennessee have no understanding of Greek mythology). We won in overtime and the whole thing made me so excited and stressed out (and yes folks, at one point i actually cried)that the wee got all fussy and made me most uncomfortable for the rest of the night in retaliation...i can only assume that this means one thing...My baby is a 49er's fan like it's father (curses)! Good grief.
Next weekend we (myself and the 2 49ers fans) get to enjoy my three very favorite things about the fall: Oktoberfest (I've purchased a maternity shirt that says "sometimes I'm a sour Kraut" on the belly), Pirate Fest (we even live in St Johns - home of the pirate fest - now!), and the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure (4th year in a row for me)! Excitement!

Week 17 begin

Take a look at your hand. Your baby is about palm size now, with a crown to rump length of 5 inches and an approximate weight of 5 ounces. Body fat is beginning to form (baby's fat, that is, though yours is probably forming pretty quickly these days, too), but your little one is still quite skinny, with skin that is practically translucent. this week, your baby is all about practice, practice, practice, in preparation for birth. One important skill now: sucking and swallowing to get ready for that first (and second...and third...) suckle at breast. Your baby's heartbeat is regulated by the brain (no more spontaneous beats) and clocks in at 140-150 beats per minute (roughly twice your own heartbeat).

Sketches are in

Here are the muralist's sketches for the nursery. The airplane mural is on the same wall where the crib will be (the mural is right above the crib), the mural with the 1 little elephant in the hot air balloon is in the same corner as the rocking chair will go, and the mural with Babar and his lady friend in the hot air balloon is on the same wall as the changing table (right above it - same as the crib mural) and is "floating" towards the door to the room. The pictures were taken before we painted so it looks as though the walls are taupe but they have been painted to a sunny yellow which will look very nice against the colors of the mural.

First appointment with the new doc

We had our first OB appointment since i switched doctors today and ya know what? I really like her (and so did Chey which is good). The wee one was very active and kept squirming away from the heartbeat monitor thingy but she was able to get the squirmy little devil clocked at 150-157 beats per minute which is good and healthy. Everything seems well and healthy and she gave us info on a class taught by a doula to give us tips and such on natural childbirth - it's said the the more knowledge you have about the process the more likely you are to not needs meds -. The next appointment is in a month and we'll have another ultrasound with it (if we were finding out the sex - we arent so stop asking - this would be the ultrasound where they would do that.

In fun news we got the sketches from the muralist and they are P-E-R-F-E-C-T and exactly what I wanted. Our baby will have one sweet a** nursery and (thank goodness) it'll be a one of a kind and not a Babies R Us cookie cutter nightmare - shudder -
I'll scan and upload the sketches tomorrow so you can see them.

Week 16 begins...

Week 16

Your baby weighs about 2.8 ounces (79 grams) and is about 4 1/2 inches from crown to rump—roughly the size of a small gerbil. At any time, you will begin to feel fetal movement as your baby's bones harden, and she starts a big growth spurt. Your baby has plenty of room: At this point, she could fit in the palm of your hand. This is a great time to be a fetus. At any given time, she might be playing with the umbilical cord (which she's now able to grasp), putting her thumb in her mouth, or kicking at the amniotic sac.