Catching Up on Quite a Bit...

Hello, Dear Readers!!

It has been far too long since my last update (told you I wasn't very good at keeping these types of things up)! Sorry for the delay. I have now resolved that I will post at least once per week in the interest of keeping those reading up-to-date. I am 25 weeks pregnant as of yesterday, (that's more than halfway through!) and I am closing in quickly on the third trimester, which will begin in just two short weeks. It is hard to believe how time has flown.

This will be a longer post, seeing as I am so delinquent in updating. Here we go.

First movement!

I felt Bean moving around - little wiggles only every so often - for the first time around 16 weeks and 6 days. Before that, I had felt little flutters, almost like what it might feel like when carbonation bubbles float to the top of a glass of soda, if it were happening inside of your body. The first time I really knew it was the baby, I was in my mother's kitchen on the phone with Joe, and it almost felt like there was a little guppy moving around in there.

Those little guppy flutters have progressed into full-blown kicks and rolls now. One of Bean's favorite times for heavy activity these days is, of course, when I lie down and try to fall asleep at night. When I lay on either side, little hands or feet start kicking and punching away at whichever side I lay on, followed lately by some barrel rolls and good square kicks to the abdomen. It is just now starting to get strong and constant enough to keep me awake, but it's all worth it. I figure that soon enough, I will be up every couple of hours anyway, so this is good practice.

Belly Size

Looking back at my previous post, I now find the fact that I thought I was "showing" a bit laughable. I also find it funny that I thought I was feeling huge. I am sure all of you Mamas out there read that post with a knowing grin and thought, "she has no idea", to yourselves, so I am here to vindicate you all. Because now, I have a real baby bump. A bump that makes rolling over in bed somewhat cumbersome, and moving about with any sense of grace fairly amusing. I am beginning to wonder if perhaps the most frustrating thing about pregnancy is looking down and wondering, "how much bigger could it really get??", only to look at belly pictures of myself a few weeks later, and sighing at the fact that I thought my belly was large then. Surely in a few weeks I will once again look back and laugh at myself. Here are a couple of more recent pictures.

Bean Bump, 20 Weeks. Those were the days ;-)

 

Bean Bump, 25 weeks, 2 days. Sorry for looking so haggard. In the interest of getting this published before I leave for the gym I had to sacrifice makeup.

Amazing how things progress, eh?

And, Finally...

Our Bean is a BOY!!!

In order to save him some embarrassment later on in life, I will not post the pictures of his anatomy here. That seems cruel. But, maybe he wouldn't mind, because I will say that he wasn't shy about letting us know that he was a he. We are excited, and it has been feeling more and more real since we found out.

But even though I won't post those pictures, I am more than happy to share these, of his cute little face. It is somewhat distorted because he refused to totally sit still, but you can still make it out. Forgive the blown out nature of these scans, as well... it is time for a new scanner!

Hello, World. (For those who might not be able to make it out, the round object in the top center is his face/head. He kept his little hand up by it for most of the time, and kept trying to hide behind his umbilical cord - I would label this, but I am not fancy enough to figure out how to do that).

 

Face, from the front, with wiggles.

 

 

Hiding behind my cord, hand up by my face.

Shy Guy.

This should bring you all up-to-date on the most recent happenings, baby and bump-wise. Stay tuned as I overload you through the day, however, I am committed to getting at least two more posts up by tonight!