Updated (and current) belly - Week 22

I give you another photo of my ever-growing belly. This time you'll notice that the background looks a little different than last time. The baby's room has been painted! It's starting to feel like a room that we might actually use. Weird, it's like we're really going to have another member of the family soon.

Noteworthy Thursday #28

Dear Baby,

Hi. I’m your mom. Since we’ve been spending so much time together, I thought I ought to introduce myself. I suppose some might say that we’ve already been getting to know each other for the last few months, but I still can’t wait to meet you.

I’m fairly certain that you’re going to be amazing. But don’t just take it from me. Your daddy thinks so, too. You know him? That guy that talks and sings to you sometimes? He loves you a lot. A whole lot. I know your daddy pretty well, so trust me when I tell you that he is so happy and excited to get to know you. It makes me happy to see him so happy. But back to my point—you’re going to be amazing. You’re already pretty amazing.

I don’t even know your name, but I already know that I love you. And I know when you’re hungry. And I know when you’re sleepy. And I know that you have an incredible future in front of you. Maybe you’ll play the guitar like Daddy. Maybe you’ll love to write stories like me. You might be an excellent dancer or you might love to sing. Maybe you’ll be a scientist or an actor or a poet or a zookeeper. Maybe you’ll be the kid who eats paste. The possibilities are endless. I love imagining who you will become.

I can hardly believe that it is only a few more months until I will hold you in my arms. I will snuggle you and kiss you and rock you back and forth. I will sing to you and tell you stories. I will even let you in on all my secrets because I know you won’t tell anybody. (I know this all must sound very enticing, but please don’t try to show up to the party early. You need to stay in there and cook a little bit longer.)

I love you, Baby. I’m so glad I get to be your momma.

Love,
Momma

It's true!

I'm now 21 weeks pregnant. One of the pregnancy calendar-type things I read told me that at 21 weeks, I should be able to not only easily feel the baby move from outside, but I should be able to visually see my belly moving. Because "cynical" is my middle name, I obviously did not believe this for one gosh-darn minute.

Also, Andrew has actually only felt the baby move one time. Not one series of movements, just one little kick. It was last Thursday, and it was kind of magical. Our little guy mostly moves around mid-morning and mid-afternoon. Not so much moving at times when Andrew and I are in the same zip code. So it was very awesome for him to get to feel it. He said, "So he just pokes you like that all day?" Yeah, sort of.

Back to my original point. I have been feeling sort of behind, pregnancy-wise, because it seems that my belly might be smaller than average for this stage of the game. (Of course, the people who think this probably don't know shit about shit, but there it is, all the same.) I figured no way could my teeny baby's teeny kicks with his teeny feet possibly be SEEN from the outside, but this afternoon I felt some movements, and since the mandatory training session I was at was less than helpful, I decided to watch my belly for awhile.

And it moved. (Bet you didn't see THAT one coming, eh?) It visibly popped a little when he kicked. So weird. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. He is supposedly sort of huge right now. Do you have a standard sheet of paper nearby? Hold it up in front of you vertically. That is basically how long the baby is (minus one itty bitty half inch). Think about that for a second, I'll wait.

Yeah. I KNOW.

One lame excuse after another

Remember how I used to post occasionally? I thought I might even show you pictures of my ever-expanding belly, perhaps even on a weekly basis. But clearly that hasn't happened. I sat down last night to post the most recent belly picture, only to find (or rather NOT find) that the camera's transfer-upload-picture-moving cord thing was not in its usual location. (I blame Andrew.) Alas, I could not upload the most recent belly pics to the computer.

But! I could not just leave with you nothing. (And without a picture, I have nothing.) However, I do have a belly picture that is now nearly two weeks old. Honestly, though, I pretty much look the same way. Without further ado, here is me at 19 weeks.

Our Very First Baby Pictures

Now that we’ve shared it with family and friends, I can finally share it with the internet. We had our first sonogram nearly two weeks ago, and I’m happy to report that everything is growing as it should be and that our baby appears to be healthy.

And, it’s . . . a BOY! Can you even believe it? I’m going to have a son. I was stunned. I was so convinced that we were having a girl, that for a moment I was sure there was some sort of mistake. But nope. I’m no sonogram expert, but as you’ll see below, he is for sure a boy. Slowly but surely I’m adjusting to this news. I almost believe it.

Since we found out the sex, this whole thing has become much more real. I am able to imagine what our lives will be like, and think about the future in a much more concrete way. We can focus on names better, and we can buy cute little clothes when we see them. It’s kind of amazing, really, how much of a difference it’s made. My dad recommended that we wait until delivery to find out, but I wholeheartedly endorse finding out ahead of time. Knowing whether the little person in there is a boy or a girl has made it much easier to get started on that whole bonding thing. And I only have twenty weeks left to really get to know this little guy.

Isn’t he just the cutest thing you’ve ever seen?