twenty-first week

Now we're getting somewhere.

The rough stuff is easing up around here, and although it rears its head at some of the most inopportune moments, for the most part its becoming a thing of the past. Definite growth and changes going on here. This baby is a mover and a shaker, and I wake now in the wee hours of the morning when the baby wakes and goes for a little swim. According to our daily pregnancy journal and the report from the ultrasound last week, the baby should be about 9" all stretched out from head to foot, and getting close to, if not already at, one pound. All I have to say is, don't underestimate the power of a quick left jab from a one-pounder. It's nothing to sneeze at.

a little stroll

This week E's had her second shot at being "person of the week". This time, instead of completing a project about herself, she had to bring in some baby photos to share with the class. So we've brought down all the albums and enjoyed looking through them all week long. It's really fun to look at those early ones and answer all the questions about her own birth in anticipation of the next one. A lot of the photos are funny ones - and even after we've moved onto other things we'll hear her cracking up as she looks through them yet another time. I will admit, it's making my already surging hormones take it up another notch or two. You forget just how funny and just how chubby and just how yummy they are when they are so little.

I mean, look at that face, look at those cheeks. And there's another one of those kickin' around inside me right now. If we know how to do one thing in my family - it's making some good cheeks.

And of course Mr. Wigglesworth got to spend another weekend home with us just like last time. He likes to get a bit of those cheeks himself when she's fast asleep.

** side note - since I had the albums out I just had to scan this one to. This is that photo I referred to in this post. Those dimples. Sigh. **

they know what they are doing

dwr, newest catalog

This arrived in the mailbox as the February snow was swirling outside and the Mardi Gras revellers were pouring down the sidewalks all bundled up and beaded. I love our tall skinny house with its postage stamp urban backyard, but sometimes I still like to dream of that one-story modern little gem with huge banks of floor to ceiling glass surrounding one of these California beauties. Especially in the middle of February.

the great switcheroo

It's nearing that time to face facts.

Belts are about to be replaced by elastic. Lots and lots of elastic.

Luckily, my sister has a group of friends who like to collectively give birth to a new child every 6 months or so (for the past four or five years) and they've hit a lull and graciously shared their stash with me. And one of our best friends in Dallas sent a whole box full of really great work clothes - she must have looked terrific - the clothes are really fabulous. It was a tad bit overwhelming at first with all the boxes and tubs and crates and piles. But I did a pile a night, trying them on, sorting through what would work and what wouldn't, what needed ironing and what was ready to go. It's tricky to try on clothes meant for a belly before you have much of one, but just as I was thinking to myself that I would never possibly need this item or that one, I would find one of my own from six years ago and remember, ah yes... there will come a time. So I mostly kept.

Here are the piles in progress.

...and the new closet with a whole new wardrobe.

A few more to sort / iron / try on.

...and the tubs and stacks to say goodbye to for awhile. I'll miss you belt loops, I'll miss you zippers. We'll see you on the other side.

twentieth week: downhill slide!

I thought I'd take a break this week from the external belly shots (which were frankly getting a bit dull) and share some internal ones. Here's the little boxer in one of the few shots where he/she wasn't flailing its arms around trying to find its own mouth. Once the vital measurements were all taken and the organs accounted for, the three of us got to watch the show. Baby M's arms would move around, wave to the camera, and then open its mouth and try to put its thumb (or in one case, its whole fist) into its mouth. Then there was a bit of peek-a-boo going on, which reminded us of watching E during one of her ultrasounds. She was a coy thing, always trying to hide behind her hands. This little one wasn't really shy, just hungry for some fingers. The baby was declared the cutest baby ever on the way home by E and her dad, and when I stare at the photos on my desk all day long, I'd have to say that I agree.


Profile Shot

Snacking on the hand

Foot

Thumb sucking, some peek-a-boo, and a little smile

Little cutie - 12 ounces and 6" from head to bum - quite a bit of growth since the avocado!

warning: baby picture!

He's not ours of course, but he's so cute who wouldn't want to claim him? So even though we're nowhere near this point on our latest baby journey, I've at least been catching up on some of the baby gifts for other babies lately. Baby S is six months old, and here's the latest addition to his nursery. It's been awhile since I did one of these names, but it was nice to do one again, and for such good friends. He looks relatively pleased with his name, and this way his parents will always remember what to call him when they wake him up each morning.

perfect gifts

I'm not sure which is more romantic...

Dozens of tulips, hand made cards...

...or new drywall.

The Neglected Room

(more to follow...)

note from a friend

At E's school they skip the regular classroom festivities of cupcakes and kool-aid for the holidays, while still managing to find a way to celebrate some of the traditions and the history of each occasion. For the kindergartners this meant spending some time doing the things they've been working on and working towards all year... writing and composing letters to one another, thinking of all the others in their community and highlighting something positive that they see in each friend. She came home with a handmade mailbox and the letters she'd received from the other thirteen kids in her class. Each kid brought in craft supplies from their own collections at home - stickers and ribbons and glitter and tape. They were all really special, and she read, and re-read them over and over again. She said she liked knowing her friends thought she was kind, that she was funny, that she was a good friend. She really enjoyed the one that said "Yea Yea E!" I can't say we missed the licensed cartoon characters one bit. And we reaped the rewards of the Valentine spirit at school around the house. It's been a terrific week for each of us taking a little extra time out to write and say just how much we love one another. Here are a few samples (of the less glittery!) from her stash...

happy valentine's day

From our family (to-be) to yours.

nineteenth week

Enjoying some hand-me-down maternity clothes this week. I should take a photograph of myself in this shirt in about ten more weeks. I'm sure those stripes will be getting a better workout then. Next week brings the big ultrasound and the halfway point!

100 + 5.5 = a pretty great day

To celebrate the 100th day of school, E got to wear her pj's to school.

Then, as we do each year, the three of us went out for dinner at a place of her choosing to celebrate becoming five-and-a-half.

She got some quarters and an assistant for the gas pedal of her race car arcade game.

And when she got home she modeled her centipede hat with one hundred legs and one hundred decorations on it... and her new sign for her new age.

She shares her half birthday with Lincoln and Darwin...not bad company... She'll enjoy saying that she's five-and-a-half for awhile now, til one day it suddenly becomes "nearly six".

she's well on her way...

...towards becoming what she dreams of being when she grows up, as announced to us last week. Drum roll please.

"I am going to be a famous international tape artist from space."

Upon further explanation we discovered what this really means. She plans to collect recycled items, join the bits and pieces together with scotch tape to form enormously large sculptures and then she will fly into space as an artist/astronaut and release these sculptures back to earth where everyone can view them from below.

Interesting.

She points out that this is a perfect career path for her because she gets to use her scientific mind and her creative mind, and she gets to use tape. Lots of it. She doesn't yet realize that she'll have to use some sort of uber-tape that can withstand re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere, and not what she picks up in a three pack at Office Max, but details, details... I think the concept is swell.

So tonight we finished up our Valentines for mailing, and she had to move to my desk because her table is perpetually covered with her creations-in-progress. Nothing is safe from tape around here. Her grandfather gave her a "tapler" - part tape dispenser and part stapler - last weekend and we are hardly sleeping anymore for the sheer joyfulness of being able to attach materials with two different types of connections - and from one source. We've been banned from touching it, unless it's to aid in the replenishment of supplies.

No surface is safe from the tape. This is her door, with added Valentine's Day adornments and individual envelopes for the three of us to leave sweet little notes for one another. She certainly has us beat on the quantity side of this. And, come to think of it, the quality side as well. I remember to sneak in a post-it note at the last second with X's and O's on it. She cuts out hand-drawn hearts inscribed with messages like "I love you, my to sweet valentines", a message made all the dearer with her spelling tries.

Even the doorknob is not safe from adornment. If it can have scotch tape applied to it, it's fair game. I have to keep these photos because - who knows? One day when she sprinkles her sensational sculptures from the heavens, I can say "Hey - it all started with a little paper and a bit of tape."

on the walls

I thought you might enjoy seeing the work-in-progress at school - the coral reef. The different types of coral made out of recycled materials are really creative. And there's a key beside the sculptures to help you figure out each type. I took these photos this morning and there was still more added today. Pretty impressive.

And here is something that's been up for a few weeks - one of E's classmates brought in a book and then a model volcano and the kids made predictions based on what they had read, and then wrote about the process and illustrated it. Each step was written by a different student - E's is number five. I love all the best-guess spelling and how each kid used the spelling of a difficult word in earlier sentences again in their own. It's remarkably clear what they wrote, but here's a translation if you need the help.

Our volcano

1. We made predictions.

2. We put color tablets in 1.00 ml vinegar.

3. We put baking soda (1 tsp) in the volcano.

4. We poured vinegar in the volcano.

5. The acid (vinegar) mixed with the base (baking soda) to make carbon dioxide.

6. Carbon dioxide bubbled over the volcano.

It's funny how excited a person can get over seeing their kid write a sentence like number five. Plus - volcanoes just rock.

cheeks or thighs - which do you want to pinch first?

We're back in town from a nice, relaxing weekend spent with family, and in honor of E's cousin's baby dedication at his church. He's getting quite big and personable, and E announced on the way home that she'd like a brother or sister "just like him". She's completely smitten. And no one can take their hands off of him.

recycled art

E and I sorted through some recycled materials that I had on hand from our recent office clean out. We've been donating the majority of it to her school's art studio, but since we hadn't been to school in days, we still had a few boxes of our own. We were getting a bit stir crazy on Wednesday afternoon so we thought this might be a fun project. We sorted and arranged and then glued for three hours. With the different textures and patterns it looks more like a quilt in person. It didn't get me any further on the project to-do list that I need to do, but it sure was a lot of fun.

star coral: part two

We finished up the star coral last night.

All the pieces were glued onto a piece of insulation that dad sanded into an interesting shape.

We spray painted it orange and added a few more beads.

Not bad, huh?