My Morning 3

Wow, I sure am pregnant.

Just because you are pregnant doesn't mean you can't wear cute shoes.
In fact if you are like me, they might be the only thing that fits.

Looking for 1200-ish square feet in North Austin? Then have I got a deal for you!

Very Strong Opinions About Sports

I'm sure it's shocking to anyone reading this that I have very strong opinions about something. Today's edition: sports.

1. A championship series should not be won in a sweep. Two teams that make it that far should be better matched...and should give the fans a more interesting series.
2. The MLB season should be shortened by a month. Ross and I have had numerous conversations on this. The MLB season should finish at the end of August and play-offs should be in September. It would make each regular season game more important and reduce the conflict with football, both of which we are sure would be valuable to MLB.
3. California, Florida and New York should not all have more football teams than Texas. Seriously. We are the capitol of football.
4. Austin-San Antonio should have an NFL team. Again, Ross and I have discussed this at length. The stadium should be in the Buda-Kyle-San Marcos area so as to pull fans/employees from both metropolis areas. The team should be the Mustangs which we think could be translated into Spanish as Los Caballos and thus nicely meeting Texas' bilingual citizenship. And obviously we should be the team's owners and thus obscenely wealthy.
5. Coaches should dress nicely on game day. I'm not a basketball or NBA lover but the way their coaches' attire should be imitated. And if arguably a suit isn't appropriate for outdoor MLB/NFL venues, at least reach a golfer's standard. MLB coaches look ridiculous in their tight pants. And Bill Belichick, quit it with the torn sweatshirts man; they pay you better than that.
6. Congress should stay out of pro sports. I know they have better things to do than investigate this pro sport scandal or that pro sport scandal. I wish they would start doing those better things and let the leagues, and where appropriate local law enforcement, do the policing.

Speaking of politics, though it's not one of my strong opinions, I do like the idea that the Presidential election be settled by a sporting event. What if the Lions and the Bears could square off to pick this year's winner? Likely a much more flattering method for both sides.

It's tough being a girl

A story on the local news tonight highlighted the height/size requirements for San Antonio's Fashion Week. While I can't find the story online yet to quote the exact requirements, I know it was at least 5'9" and size 0-something small. Many are arguing that plus size models should be included.

Interestingly enough, the story didn't mention anyone fighting for just a regular size 6 or 8, average height girl to be in the runway show.

This made me think about how tough it is to be a girl. Girls are given such conflicting body image messages both directly and implied. You must be skin and bones to model. But big is beautiful. Every body is great. As long as you are a size two.

Personally it is my hope that one day magazines, fashion shows, TV, etc will depict girls and women at healthy weights more than either end of the spectrum. How great would it be for "healthy BMI" to be the target of model recruitment? Because really at the end of the day, isn't achieving a healthy lifestyle what we want to teach girls?

Moms, Dads, teachers and other mentors can have an incredible impact but a little more help from pop culture on the importance of health wouldn't hurt.

October 25, 2012 - A Milestone Day

Today is a milestone day for Team Black.

First, at 20 weeks preggers, we're halfway there! Baby Cade is the length of a banana and instead of being measured head to tush, he's now measured head to toe. BabyCenter.com says I've likely gained 10 pounds...not so. I've gained 2. No complaints here!

Second, my sweet hubby and I celebrate three years of married awesomeness today. On our wedding day, I loved him more than anyone else. Somehow after three years, a house, job changes, 20 weeks of pregnancy and a whole lot more, I love him even more than I did on that beautiful day in South Austin. His strengths are my weaknesses and it is immeasurably wonderful to have him as my other half.

Wiggley Baby

During last week's ultrasound the tech asked me if I was able to feel Baby Cade yet. Yes, I told her a little. She said she wasn't surprised; this kid was a mover.

Today in my regular check-up with my OBGYN my doc asked the same thing and again I told her yes. Also that it felt less like flutters and more like somersaults, not very airy and not very graceful.

A few minutes later she had the doppler-thing on my belly listening for his heart beat. She then scowled and said "sorry I'm having a little trouble..." I asked if the heart beat I heard was mine and not the baby's (after all my heart is bigger, stronger and louder). She replied with no, that was the baby's but he was just moving so much she couldn't get a good read for very long at a time.

Dear Cade, you are one wiggley baby. What are you doing in there?

Bricks!

We have bricks! On our new house!

We've been behind schedule on the new house specifically because of a lack of masons in Austin. But yesterday when I drove by I saw a crew of masons laying the bricks on the front of our house. I have  never been so excited by bricks in my entire life.

Today I went inside for a second and saw that in addition to bricks on the outside, we now have light fixtures on the inside. Coming right along!

I'm hoping we get a closing date before the week is over and can start really planning our move.

The Godfather

Announcing Baby Cade's godfather....drum roll please...Ryan!

So as you know we had godparents picked out before we even knew if we were having a boy baby or a girl baby. And once we found out on Tuesday, I was itching to ask the potential godparents. Since Ryan lives so close, I wanted to ask him in person. Unfortunately he wasn't available to go to dinner Tuesday night but he called us yesterday to see if we wanted to go on a double date. Perfecto!

When we got to the restaurant, here's how the conversation went

Ryan: Congrats on having a boy, Roscoe and Cheryl!
Me: Thanks Ryan
Ryan: So I'm the godfather right?
Me: Well, actually, we wanted to ask you about that...
Ross: Ryan, put these sugar packets under your leg of the table, it's wobbley.
Me (ignoring Ross): Yeah, we'd like you to be his godfather
Ryan: Really? Cool man. What's a godfather do?
Ross: Ryan, damn it, fix the table.
Me: Ross, we're having a moment!

And with that, Baby Cade got his godfather Ryan.

After fixing the wobbley table leg - because you know, first things first - we told Ryan what being a godfather means to us: being at Cade's baptism, showing up for birthday parties and just in general being a really good uncle.

Then Ryan started practicing his lines "Sorry boss, I need time off. My godson has his baptism" and "I gotta go to my godson's baseball game."

Later in the evening Ryan asked about my work/baby stuff and I said yes, I planned to work right up until Cade arrives. Ryan was a little concerned/confused on what would happen if I went into labor while Ross was at the station. We told him duh - we call the godfather! He started to say he could work from our kitchen on those days to be on call so to speak but in the middle of that was overcome by a look of fear and said "I am NOT delivering the baby!" God, Ryan, when your godson needs you, you gotta man up! (We'll not ask Ryan to deliver Baby Cade but it is kinda fun to mess with him.)

I'm really happy Ryan is Cade's godfather. He's the most kind-hearted person I know, not a mean bone in his body, and I think that's a great type of person to have in my kiddo's life.

My Baby Godmama

In addition to having a name now, Cade also has godparents! I am very pleased to announce Baby Cade's amazing godmama, drum roll please...Val!

We'd been discussing godparents for months, maybe even before we knew we were pregnant honestly. Since Val lives half a country away, I wanted to do something fun to ask her to be our baby godmama. So I decided to ask her via video which led to...

Baby (God)Mama Drama

Tuesday once we knew we were having a Baby Boy Cade, I finished up my video for Val by adding in an ultrasound pic. I uploaded it to YouTube and emailed her the link. After several hours of waiting to hear back from her (and carrying my phone around obsessively because I just knew as soon as she saw it she'd call me) (also thinking what the hell Val, when I send you something look at it damn it), here's the email exchange that followed

Val: Copyright blocked :(
Me: well that was really anti-climatic. Let's try again and if this doesn't work I'll just email you the file
Val: It's still blocked.
Me: OMG this is hysterical. I'll email it to you in a few
Val: Stop breaking copyright laws, Cheryl. I'm doing a research project on copyright infringement right now - those penalties can be steep.
Me: Take 2 (file attached)
Val: I need to convert the file - the .wmv won't play on my computer. I don't have time to do it now, but I'll try to get around to it during class tomorrow.
Me: Last attempt because now this is a challenge, one I will not back down from

Apparently Flickr has looser copyright regulations because finally it worked and she received this




And then just as I knew she would, she immediately called. I believe the first thing she said was "I'm glad I didn't try to convert that in class because I would have been crying."

And with that Baby Cade got his Godmama Val.

I'm thrilled to pieces to have Val play a part in Baby Cade's life and just know he'll learn so many good lessons from her. She's a great example for him to have around and I am so so so happy that she's accepted and is excited for her role.

Toe-may-toe toe-maht-toe

19 weeks down and Baby Cade is apparently the size of a large heirloom tomato.

I'm going to say BabyCenter.com and my little one aren't exactly on par though since the website says about 8.5 oz and the ultrasound technician told us 10 oz just Tuesday. So let's say Baby Cade is a really really large heirloom tomato, like the kind you see at state fairs.*

In other news, arms and legs are about proportionate to the rest of his body and he can probably hear me now. If that's the truth then he's received some early training on cheering for the home team (including a terribly unsportsmanlike response to their loss) and binders full of women (including my full [and passionate] opinion on gender inequality in the workplace).

From a mom-centric stance, I came home tonight, looked in the mirror and said "wow, you shouldn't have worn that top; you look big." Then as I undressed for my shower I realized it had very little to do with the top and very much to do with, well, just being big. Also I have only one more week of belly-laying and then the doc says I have to flip to my side 100%. I'm not doing much belly-laying now but knowing it's about to be taken away for 20 weeks, I'm kind of tempted.

*I've never been to a state fair but I assume that all the produce there is large and award winning.

And we shall call him...

Now that we know we are having a baby boy, it's lovely to start calling baby "he" and "him instead of "it." And even better than gender-specific pronouns is his actual name.

We're naming our son

Cade Daniel Black

Cade is a name that during the random name shoot-out ("Michael!" "Duke!" "McLean!") we both stopped on and really liked. We discussed "Caden" too but realized we would always call him Cade and Ross especially liked the shorter version much better. And so it was decided: Cade.

Daniel is my brother's middle name. In addition to liking the subtle family connection (we had a family middle name selected for a girl too), I really like that it has softer sounds since both "Cade" and "Black" have very hard consonant sounds. I think it provides nice balance.

And that, friends, is our little boy's name! Let the monogramming begin!

It's a boy!

That's right! We're having a boy!

Today we had our big ultrasound, the anatomy scan where they check blood flow, heart stuff (143 beats per minute), bones, weight (10 oz) and yes, boy-or-girl parts. Confirming what the tech thought she saw 6 weeks ago, we saw little boy parts!

 

I realize my son will probably hate that this picture is being shared but oh well. I may go on to share it with the first girl he brings home, at his high school graduation and on his wedding day. Maybe more occasions if I can think of them.

Also I am very glad the technician labeled these things for me because honestly, I had no idea what I was looking at. Ross says he saw it clear as day; maybe it's a guy thing.

The Belly & Pumpkin Bread

1. The Belly: I think you'll all agree, I'm looking pregnant. While I'm all about making Ross take these as his contribution the documentation, he's at work tonight and I think I am looking especially pregnant. As a lover of other people's pregnant bellies, I didn't want to cheat you of a photo opp. So here it is, my 18 weeks and 4 days pregnant belly, in its full end-of-day and thus larger glory. I think pregnant lady yoga pants may have to be on my shopping list in the near-ish future.
2. Pumpkin Bread: I heard somewhere that what mama eats while she's prego can influence what Baby likes to eat down the road. And I want someone else in this house to enjoy the deliciousness of pumpkin bread with me so I'm eating it this fall in hopes that it will rub off on Baby. Note: I never would have even considered that I might have a child who doesn't like pumpkin bread. But since I am married to the only man in America who does not like it, I can't take any thing for granted. I'm starting the training and conditioning that fall = pumpkin bread now, lest we take any chances on this very serious subject.

El Weekend

Saturday was the annual Mustache Party for the UT-OU game. The game itself was a bust but per the usual, Nick and Kristy hosted an excellent party. There were a couple less mustaches this year (Ross bowed out knowing that Movember starts in a few short weeks). I think Stacy's was my favorite though. His took him right back to 1980. Pretty awesome

And due to the losing of a bet, Cason had to sport Ross' Bears shirt all day long. It filled Ross with joy and I think broke Cason's heart a little.

Today was a day of yuppie indulgences for me. It started with yoga class, then a quick stop at the jeweler to have my rings checked and cleaned and finally off for a massage. A prenatal massage was a little different of an experience but hey a massage is a massage. Also the spa, Woodhouse Day Spa, had the BEST ROBE I have ever worn, even beating the ones at Lake Austin Spa and the Ritz Carlton in NYC.

Though I've been going back and forth on sharing this part, in the spirit of honestly sharing my pregnancy (which I assume you are interested in because I was always interested in my friends' experiences), this weekend I'm not really feeling the magic of pregnancy. I mean it is pretty amazing that my body is just humming along creating a new human. And I've been very lucky to have an easy pregnancy so far. But this weekend I've felt very limited by it. I feel great (yay!) so all the things I can't do just seem...annoying I guess. People ask if its hard to not drink (yes some days) but lately it has been harder to keep my heart rate down at the gym, or not take a hot bath, or simply find a comfortable way to sleep. I feel great and I want to do things but I know its important for Baby that I don't push any limits so I won't. But like I've said, I've had this pregnancy thing pretty easy and its for a baby I very much want with a hubby who I very much love so with that this whine is over.

Finally, dear God I hope the Houston Texans start playing decently in the second half of this game. I think I read somewhere that Baby can hear now and assuming that is true, he/she is learning quite the vocabulary as a result of this losing score. Prep for its future as a football fan I guess.

Bell Pepper Baby

Well, I'm one day late on the baby-as-a-food update. I guess this officially begins the extended phase of Baby-induced tardiness.

I was 18 weeks along as of yesterday and Baby is the length of a bell pepper and about 7 ounces in weight.

I'd like to pause here to say that the team at babycenter.com and I must shop at different grocery stores. Just two weeks ago Baby was avocado-sized and before that apple-sized. Maybe we have some freakishly sized produce here in the Lone Star State, but my avocados and apples are normally at least the size of a bell pepper and often bigger. Though I guess sometimes I do see weirdly long red bell peppers so maybe those are more common in non-Texas places and that's what I should be mentally comparing by growing Baby to?

In other news, the couple prego readings I've done lately (ie the 2 paragraphs from babycenter.com and 3 pages in a book) say I should avoid chips and eat more fruit. Have they ever been pregnant? (Baked) Cheetos and popcorn sound so good...all the time. Sigh, I did have a glass of V8 with my 94% fat free popcorn so I guess that ain't so bad. Also since I am still hovering around my pre-prego weight, I'm not too worried about gaining too much yet. But if/when that changes then, Girl Scout's Honor, I will reduce my Cheeto intake.

Limping Lexi

Usually she is leaping Lexi but on Monday she became limping Lexi. After some squirrel chasing, she developed a limp. She walked around on 3 legs, giving her back right leg a break. We called the vet and they suggested just keeping an eye on her for the remainder of the night to see if it appeared to improve.

It did not.

Tuesday morning I took our sweet little girl to the vet and thankfully someone was able to see us within 30 minutes. Dr. Mendoza, our wonderful wonderful vet, examined Lexi and determined it was her knee. Without an x-ray though we wouldn't know if it was just an irritated muscle or if she tore her puppy ACL or meniscus. Dr. Mendoza prescribed some pain killers, 5-6 days of lots of rest and no horse-playing, jumping or fun adventures. If it healed itself, great. If not, schedule x-ray for Monday and cross our fingers she doesn't need surgery.

Besides the obvious challenge of keeping our very bouncy puppy-baby from being so bouncy, I quickly realized another challenge: getting her home. Ross was at work and Lexi needed to not jump into or out of the car and prego me cannot lift her. The vet's office could lift her into the car but they how would I get her out when we got home? And I needed to go to work so how could I keep her from running around the house and jumping on furniture all day? Add into that pregnancy hormones and the pre-8 a.m. hour and I was overwhelmed pretty damn fast.

Lexi ended up spending the day at the vet's office where they could kennel her and Stacy and Megan met me up there after work so Stacy could take on the Lexi lifting duties. Even just after one day of resting, she was already looking better.

"At least I got a new bed out of the deal."

Since then Ross and I have been vigilant about monitoring her. No puppy door, no walks, no runs, no jumping on the furniture. We even take her into the front yard to go potty because there are steps off our back porch and bought her a new puppy bed so she would have something soft to sit/lay on during her furniture barring.

She's not been terribly enthusiastic about her imposed near-bed-rest and she seems really confused about the sudden lack of walks but it does seem to be working. This afternoon she looks like she's at 90%, maybe even better. Knock on wood, but we may have dodged the puppy surgery bullet.

Dressing Prego

Yesterday was the first day I could not button my pants. Thank you hair-tie through the button hole trick.

Today, though I could obviously pull the hair-tie trick, I thought I would give my beband a trial run. (I'm off work and going to a half-day volunteer meeting so if I'm wicked uncomfortable [which so far do not anticipate] at least it isn't for a full day at work.)

Those two things in mind, today I am thankful that

1. I was born at the turn of this century and not last. Because while this beband thing is pretty good so far (4 minutes in), it did take several attempts to get it on right-side out and got me thinking about corsets. God, I am glad I never had those forced upon me. I don't even like pantyhose. I would have been a 19th century lady fail.
2. I'm pregnant in the fall/winter and NOT summer. This thing isn't thick but let's be honest. When it is 106 out, you don't want any extra layers, thick or not. In fact if you could walk around half-naked and not get stared at, that would be preferable during the Texas summer.

Good news

In the perfect world, my workday is bookended by ABC News. Today was a day in that perfect world. And on two of the newscasts I watched, I got some news that pleased me.

1. Sam Champion is engaged! Sam Champion is publicly taking advantage of New York's same-sex marriage laws and getting hitched. Three cheers to Sam, his fiance and ABC News for publicly celebrating the upcoming nuptials.
2. Pflugerville ISD is set to offer domestic partner benefits. Now I give Pville a lot of crap for its overuse of "Pf" and my opinion of that stands but I'm a little prouder to live in the Pville area today because these domestic partner benefits include heterosexual and same-sex partners. I dig it.

There's a slew of things in the world that aren't exactly as we would all like them but happy news like today's makes me optimistic that things are going in the right direction.

Inside the New House

In the past week the inside of the new house has really been coming along. In fact just since when I went up there yesterday morning and when Ross and I went together today, tile was laid downstairs. Here are a few pictures of where we are at so far.

Fancy stair railing

Freshly laid tile, same tile also in entryway

Master bath and shower

The accent tiles are "Murano glass" so of course we asked if they were really from Murano. The sales girl looked at us like we had 3 heads. We explained that we recently visited Murano while in Italy...at which point we realized what tools we sounded like... And no, she did not think the tile was actually from Italy.

Prego Victory!

For the past month I haven't been craving food so much as totally uninterested in it. I eat because I have to but few and far between are the meals that sound REALLY good. (This is sad because I vaguely remember really liking food in my pre-pregnancy life.)

This disinterest in food and meals made grocery shopping incredibly ineffective. Pre-prego I would spend about $80-$100 per week at the grocery store. In this anti-food phase, it dropped to about $50 per week and there was no telling what I had in my cart. The only thing guaranteed was it probably didn't make a reasonable meal.

Two weeks ago I realized my shopping failure while still at the store and so bought fresh french bread (one of Ross' fav things ever). I came home and gave it to him as a peace offering saying "I have no idea what I bought at the store but I'm pretty sure it is a useless combination. I bought you bread though so you would know its not because I hate you."

Today I am proud to announce that I seem to have overcome my grocery shopping paralysis. I spent $85, bought nutritious food and even have a few meals in mind. VICTORY!

Also, I've never seen Ross so happy to unload groceries from the car as he was this morning.

Just Another Night in the 'Hood

Last night a little after 9 or so our doorbell rang, very unusual for us. Ross was enjoying his bubble bath so I checked through the peephole and saw our 16 year old-ish Neighbor Girl. When I opened the door, something was clearly bothering her and she quickly asked to borrow a flashlight because her dog had puppies and they managed to let one of the puppies fall down a sewer pipe.

Yes, a sewer pipe.

I got her a flashlight, alerted my bubble-covered firefighter of the situation and followed Neighbor Girl across the street to her front yard. With the flashlight down the pipe we could see the wiggly butt of the puppy (it was start to walk down the pipe which turned parallel to the ground). This pipe was at least 5 feet deep and about 8 inches wide.

Ross came out a minute later and a couple minutes after that our neighbors/friends Chris and Carly bolted out of their house with flashlights. And cooking tongs. Carly was a woman with a plan, a plan to use cooking tongs to rescue the pup.

While Ross went back to poke around our garage for some appropriate tools, we started discussing who we should call. We're not actually in the city limits so the city fire and police departments didn't sound like the right fit. And it wasn't an emergency-emergency so 911 felt a little over the top. By the time Ross got back, we had all settled on 311 and Neighbor Girl was calling.

At this juncture I started to wonder where the hell her parents were.

As Neighbor Girl talks to 311 a sheriff's car pulls up, apparently sent by 311. We give him the scoop and he points his flashlight down the pipe. Yes, he confirms, there is a puppy down that pipe. Then he proceeds to stand there.

Next a pick-up comes howling down the street and screeches to a halt in front of the house. Neighbor Dad jumps out of the passenger side and practically leaps over one of his kid's friends to get to the scene. Down on all fours he sticks his head into the pipe the way a kid glues his face to the candy store window. Then Neighbor Dad awkwardly gets up (everything this guy does is pretty awkward) and starts muttering about needing a coat hanger. It quickly becomes clear that he's a little buzzed from where ever he's been during all this.

Meanwhile Chris, who is bald, with a beard and tatted-up, and Ross, who is sweating from his scalding hot bath, are discussing who has the better wet-dry vac for the situation. Maybe we can just suck the puppy out of the pipe; after all Ross saw it done to a cat once. And Carly and I are just standing there; me pregnant, barefoot and in my PJs and her holding a flashlight in one hand and  cooking tongs in the other. (It hadn't taken long to realize the tongs were not going to solve the issue but as an official flashlight holder, Carly had not had the luxury of returning them to her kitchen.)

Neighbor Dad, who owns a carpet cleaning company, hears the boys continuing on about the wet-dry vacs and chimes in that he can go get his work truck and we can use the suction on those hoses too. Note: this is a newborn wierner dog puppy. Industrial size hoses are hardly necessary.

Instead of going to get the work truck though, Neighbor Dad commences to building some kind of bent coat hanger on a broom stick contraption.

As if on cue, around the corner comes the Pflugerville Fire Dept in what I swear must be the biggest truck they own. Lights flashing it rolls up to the scene and off jump four firefighters.

At this point Carly and I nearly double over laughing...silently of course. We don't want to seem rude but looking around us we have distressed Neighbor Girl, her 2 friends, slightly drunk Neighbor Dad, the sheriff's deputy (who continues to do nothing), sweaty, tatted-up Chris, pregnant me, tong-toting Carly, 4 firefighters and some chick from down the street who has recently showed up in what is clearly her going out outfit.

There's not much we can do (other than laugh) so Ross and I head home, leaving this in the very capable hands of the local FD. Right before going to sleep, I peered out the blinds and it appeared the firefighters were unloading equipment off the truck to tackle the issue.

Today I texted with Carly and learned that pup was saved, in fact by Chris using the coat hanger broom stick contraption which Neighbor Dad was experienced with from his raccooning experiences.

Just another night in the 'hood.

Maternity Clothes #Fail

First, this is not a rant about being fat or achey or hating maternity cloths.

Second, as a chick and marketing gal, I'm not someone who is horribly opposed to pretty models. I would appreciate they don't be totally emaciated but I get that clothing ads are selling you an image. "Wear this bra and you too can look like Tyra Banks or Heidi Klum." I get it, whatever, no big deal.

I have however found the exception to the rule.

Actual image from site

I was just online shopping Motherhood Maternity and the "lingerie" link piqued my curiosity. (Pretty nighties that flatter my belly? Sign me up!)

The first page of this section was much more boring: bras. Plain white or nude colored bras, basic, functional, practical. OK, that's fine. Then while browsing these less than exciting bras, it dawned on me - I could see the models' abs. ABS. Do you know what pregnant ladies do not have? ABS!

I'm offended because 1) how dare you try to sell me the image of having a set of flat washboard abs while I am PREGNANT and 2) do your job better marketing and advertising team! This is an embarrassment to your industry. You should know your audience better than this!

Now I can just hear the argument: "Oh well these bras are also for nursing so those women wouldn't be pregnant any more."

True. But how many women who are still nursing have beautiful flat abs? Very few I tell you, very few. Nice try but you fail.

The one or two models who were not flaunting their abs were the models featured in the plus size section so not so much pregnant as just a different size and shape.

Motherhood Maternity, you suck. I'm hereby waging (social media) war on you.

Turnip?

Well the BabyCenter app/website let me down today. I'm 17 weeks and all I got in terms of a food comparison was "Your baby weighs 5 ounces now (about as much as a turnip)," which does not tell me bigness, just fatness. And maybe it is a sign that I don't eat enough vegetables but I have no idea what size a turnip is.

However some other interesting bits where BabyCenter did come through is that Baby is about 5 inches head to booty and getting more of a traditional skeleton.

On the Mom-front, this belly is here. At our client conference last week I had a couple people say "I just heard you are pregnant! I was wondering when I saw you." And where before it was only the odd outfit that I looked pregnant in, now it is only the odd outfit I do not look pregnant in.

Also, when laying on my stomach in yoga class I can definitely feel Baby. The best way to describe it is it feels like I'm laying on a small nerf football. It is definitely a new feeling and definitely in the right spot in my belly so I am sure it is Baby. No noticeable moving yet though.

And finally, holy hips. I thought my hips were just killing me from traveling and a lack of yoga. But last night after yoga, though they felt better, it was not by much. According to the Google, hip pain in the second and third trimester is normal; everything is getting ready for the big day. Usually it is later in the second trimester but I'm guessing mine is starting early since my hips are so narrow (seriously, I am built like a boy when it comes to curves...and lack thereof). Fingers crossed that I'm not looking down the tunnel at 23 weeks of hip pain.

Today I'm excited about...

1. Get Babied! Infant Survival Class - A no-frills new mom at the office recommended this class as one she and her hubby did and loved. She, like me, has been around kids plenty but still thought this class was good. I immediately checked it out. It sounds great! It includes all kinds of things that you don't learn from caring for other people's kids like vaccinations, umbilical cord care and even postpartum depression symptoms. Since I'm not feeling the books and tons of research, this one-time 2.5 hour class feels like just the right amount of baby prep. And it is called a "survival" class which makes me grin and feels fitting. I've already signed us up for their mid-February class.
2. Yoga! - My favorite yoga teacher randomly has a class on the schedule tonight. I cannot wait! Fingers crossed that Wednesday night classes are about to become a regular thing.
3. Baby Rowan - She was born Friday and tomorrow night we are going to meet her. Yay!

A sandwich, cookie and flowers

A sandwich, cookie and flowers, that is what my hubby greeted his hungry pregnant wife at the airport with last night. HE WINS.