fifteen weeks

Another week has flown by! Because I didn't get a decent picture last week for 14 I'm including a quick self-portrait of my belly that I sent to a friend. It will have to do.

14 weeks

Wow, I'm five weeks away from the ultrasound - and from halfway! Crazy! It's funny how sometimes it seems like I'm not even very pregnant and everyone around me is finding out genders and having babies and I'm not making very good progress. And then I realize that I'm almost halfway through. Wow. Funny pregnant times.

Here are some week 15 stats:

-The baby can hear this week! It's time to start music lessons . . . do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-ti-do!

-The baby's bones are strengthening and growing this week - especially in the backbone - so he/she will be straightening out a bit more this week.

-The baby is between 4 and 5 inches long and is a whopping three ounces.

Good work, baby!

-The baby's skin is nearly translucent right now so if we could take a peek, we could see all the tiny blood vessels at work! Cool.

-And finally, if the baby is thumb-sucker, he/she will find that thumb this week! This week's illustration from "Your Pregnancy Week by Week" shows that possibility!

A couple of mom stats:

-I can feel the top of my uterus under my bellybutton (if you are interested in that kind of thing).

-It's day 105 of pregnancy. I thought about doing something cool for day 100 - but I didn't think of it until after it passed. Oh well. I can probably think of 100 reasons why I'm excited and 100 more reasons why I'm scared, but no one would want to read that. So just imagine it.

Well, once I shower I'll post my 15 week picture. I promise this time. No backing out.

14 weeks!

I am 14 weeks and the baby is the size of an orange - 4.5 inches!! Pictures forthcoming.

I woke up in a weird mood today. So I'm watching The Office before I shower and clean the house. Then I'm going to Michelle's house to hang out and watch School of Rock before I teach piano.

Bye

trimester two!!

I'm officially 13 weeks today!! Hello second trimester, so long first 33% of pregnancy! I hear the second trimester is the best, so I'm ready - with high expectations - to love my life for the next few months!

I'll post another picture soon - when I'm not in my pajamas!

Apparently the baby is moving a lot these days - like a graceful ballerina. But I won't feel it for several weeks still. That is a moment I'm pretty excited about. Hearing the heartbeat was definitely the highlight of trimester one and I look forward to feeling my little tyke swimming around in there soon!

Another bit of good news is that we have a few more names on our girl list (and still have plenty on our boy list). The names Haley and Kate have joined Millie - and Haley may have bumped Millie out of first place. Who knows what will happen in the next 6 months but that's the decision of the week!

As for boys we really like last names of church figures (just like daddy - named after David O. McKay). On our top 3 list we have Maxwell, Holland, and Rockwell (we'll call him Rock or Rocky . . . he'll be a tough guy!) with a bunch of other last names coming and going regularly!

It will be exciting to find out in June which list to start focusing on! McKay and I have our guess . . . and we're pretty confident about it. We'll see how good our instincts are!

a call for vegetable help!

Alright, friends. I know there are budding/full fledged chefs out there. I need your help.

I

hate

vegetables

right now.

I am awesome at getting fruit in my diet. Peaches, pears, blueberries, strawberries, apples. Check. Check. But vegetables are another story. Even corn - which is a sissy veggie, and my most common veggie friend - has been absent from my diet recently.

I blame it on the baby. Nothing sounds good to me right now. I need a solution.

Here are the stipulations:

-it needs to be cheap

-I'm anti-Mexican spices right now, so don't even think about it

-quick/easy would be nice, but isn't required

(I coud also use some quinoa suggestions as I recently inherited a box)

So grab those cook books and help a sister out! I'll give a grand prize blog shout-out to the person with the best suggestions! Ready. Go!

12 and a half week pictures

Here's a pic of me at 12.5 weeks - do I look like a graduate?

getting a bit of a bump!

Baby stats for this week:

The baby is roughly the size of a peach - about 3 inches long

He/she weighs somewhere between 1/2 and 3/4 of an ounce

The baby's head is about half the size of its body!

The gender is distinguishable by now (though the ultrasound won't be until June).

The baby's vocal chords are developing this week and the intestines are moving from the umbilical chord into the abdomen (crazy, huh?!)

Today I'm very grateful for my health and for naps.

I'm grateful that the baby is growing as it should be.

I'm grateful to be happily married to the father of my child - we're just over a month away from our first anniversary!

I'm grateful for my blessings.

12 weeks and a heartbeat!

This week has been the best! I hit my 12 week mark on Wednesday, heard the heartbeat on Thursday and got my college diploma on Friday!

Hearing the heartbeat was a great moment - up until now I've just trusted that everything is growing like it should in there (because my belly and rear end are sure growing!). It was amazing to hear that little assurance that he/she is alive and well. Here is a clip taken on McKay's iPhone.

11 weeks!

Wow! I'm closing in on the end of my first trimester. 6 days until the heartbeat. 6 days until graduation. 60 something days til we find out the gender.

It's time for the weekly picture updates, but McKay has the camera in Boston. Since I missed last week's picture I couldn't miss this week so I did my best with my iPhone at arm's length. Here is me at 11 weeks.

And in response to my crazy hunger post I went to the store in between studying ribosomes and cytokineses. I stocked up on a few of my unhealthy cravings. I cooked up the Scooby-Doo shaped noodles while I watched half of a couple lame movies on Netflix.

Week 11 Baby stats

length: 2.5 inches - the size of a "large" plum

weight: .5 ounces (about how much Rachel and Greg's wedding announcements weigh)

This week the baby is working on hair follicles, fingernails, a "tongue palate", normal-looking ears and gender specific organs!