18 Weeks!

Today is 18 weeks, and the short stranger is the size of a sweet pepper! I'm having a little trouble differentiating the sizes of peppers, avocados, and turnips in my head, but apparently, peppers are larger. In any case, what's even more interesting is that my uterus is the size of a cantaloupe.

According to babycenter:

Head to rump, your baby is about 5 1/2 inches long (about the length of a bell pepper) and he weighs almost 7 ounces. He's busy flexing his arms and legs — movements that you'll start noticing more and more in the weeks ahead. His blood vessels are visible through his thin skin, and his ears are now in their final position, although they're still standing out from his head a bit. A protective covering of myelin is beginning to form around his nerves, a process that will continue for a year after he's born. If you're having a girl, her uterus and fallopian tubes are formed and in place. If you're having a boy, his genitals are noticeable now, but he may hide them from you during an ultrasound.

Short Stranger: World Traveler

Tomorrow I leave for Washington, DC. This will be the Short Stranger's fifth trip, the second to the capitol. So far, the Short Stranger has traveled to:

1) Washington, DC, before we knew about him/her

2) Italy (Rome, Naples, Pompeii, and Capri) at around 6 weeks

3) Philadelphia, at 10 weeks
4) Indianapolis, at 16.5 weeks
5) Tomorrow to DC again, at 18 weeks

Not only has the Short Stranger been a jet setter, but she/he has already visited more art than I did in my first 18 years of life, including the Sistine Chapel and Ancient Pompeii. We'd better pace ourselves. At this rate, she/he will be sick of art by age two.

The Short Stranger and Bryna, Capri, Italy, at around 6 weeks:

Maternity Closet at Gap (Galleria)

We finally made it to the Gap at Galleria to look at their maternity clothes for Bryna (not me). It was at the back of the "baby" Gap shop area, and I think it used to be a storage closet or something -- needless to say, it was tiny.

While waiting for Bryna to try on some shirts and pants -- which never takes very long at all ; ) -- I had some time to waste, so I perused the visual signs/symbols for their maternity-styled jeans. Here's one describing the jeans for a pregnant woman with little or no bump:

Here's what she must have looked like before she got pregnant (according to Gap.com):

When you gotta go...

A perfect website for pregnant women who enjoy their summer flicks. I haven't checked it's suggestions yet, but I think its a great idea.

Are Art Cradles as Comfortable as Art Chairs?

OK, so follow my logic here. This past Thursday, I went with the Saint Louis Art Museum docents to several local art collectors' pads. In them were some great pieces of "high-design" furniture -- you know, the kind no one would ever sit on for fear of piercing its aura. Well, when you're at a collector's house, you can often just go right ahead and sit down (with permission, of course). So I did. And they were quite cozy (chairs by Zaha Hadid, Frank Gehry, Eero Saarinen, Charles and Ray Eames, etc.).


So I wonder if "high-design" art cradle or cribs are also cozy as well as collectable. I doubt it, but here a link to some priceless examples (that you will NOT find in our house, when the Saint Louis Art Museum docents visit next year to see our "collection" . . . . psych).

DaddyTypes: Some Crazy Avant-Garde Cradles from the Past!

The Great N/A Beer Competition

Summer is the time for an ice cold beer, and since I can't have any for the next 5 or so months, I am searching for the next best thing. So to help those beer fans who may be--or may become--pregnant and face the same predicament, I'm bravely trying out and reviewing the options. Technically, these beers have a wee bit of alcohol in it, less than 0.5%, if we want to be picky.

So this week we have Gerstel, a German non-alcoholic lager that can be found at Trader Joe's.  The beer is light in color, fairly hoppy, with a slightly skunky smell. Though it's not nearly as good as a regular German lager, it does fair slightly better than N/A Becks, the only other non-alcoholic beer I've tried.

On the beer-rating website, beeradvocate.com, the beer gets the grade of a C. Highest rating: B+. Lowest: D+.  

To quote one of the funnier reviewers on the website: "If I was forced to drink this, I wouldn't be contemplating suicide. Is that a compliment? It'll have to do." 

My Final Grade: C+.

My question is . . .

. . . can you tell if it's a boy or a girl by looking at the Turnip??

17 Weeks!

We're at 17 weeks today, and the short stranger is the size of a. . . turnip? Or at least that's what babycenter.com tells us. Since I rarely eat turnips, I'm having a little trouble picturing this. But in any case, I am now at the stage that I *think* I can feel the baby moving--or at least I can feel something going on below my belly button. 

Babycenter.com states this about week 17:

Your baby's skeleton is changing from soft cartilage to bone, and the umbilical cord — her lifeline to the placenta — is growing stronger and thicker. Your baby weighs 5 ounces now (about as much as a turnip), and she's around 5 inches long from head to bottom. She can move her joints, and her sweat glands are starting to develop.

The short stranger will be able to sweat soon! Just in time for summer.

Almost at 17 weeks...

and we've been making THE LIST of everything we need to get, think about, ask about, and freak out about. It's long. Hoping to begin getting the Short Stranger's room in order some this weekend, or at least start the cleaning out process (I don't think he/she will need all those books on the Italian Renaissance, early modern gender studies, and Greek mythology . . . just a hunch). Out goes the futon (does anyone buy those anymore these days), and we've GOT to get rid of the shelf of VHS tapes in that room's closet -- yes, VHS tapes (any historians interested in them? maybe they need a trip to Antiques Roadshow).

Seriously?

I found this on the internet and had to share. This is for the pregnant women out there who normally sleep on their stomach. I don't, but have to wonder what woman would prefer to sleep on an air mattress with their belly wedged into a hole than sleep on their side. Is it one size fits all? Can you get stuck?

Only $145, and its yours.

Expectant Parents and the Now Ubiquitous "Tweet"

I can't help but make a quick comment on the rise of Twitter . . . for babies and expectant parents. I guess the popularity of this new "social" network combined with young, tech-saavy parents-to-be (PTB) means just hundreds a new ways to waste perfectly good time. Here are a couple ways that Twitter/Tweets have invaded the PTB world:

1. The award for nerdiest invention in this category goes to NYU grad. student Corey Menscher who created Kickabee, which supposedly allows your baby to Twitter from the womb. Every time the baby kicks, a strap registers it and sends out a Tweet (I feel so sorry for his wife, who sits at home all day wearing a wired strap so he can simply get kick Tweets). Here's the Kickabee Twitter feed.

2. OK, I'm not sure how I feel about new dads video taping their child's birth (must get a release from the mother, right?), but new dads are now posting immediate updates on Facebook . . . and now live updates on Twitter. I get wanting to be the first person to do this, but does anyone need to follow in those steps?

3. My vote goes here: an actually useful baby Twitter feed: @BabyNameWizard.

4. Finally, there are babies on Twitter.

New Baby Building Project #1 (out of 87)

Well, creating a baby blog isn't the only thing we've been late in getting done. We also have a lot of work to do on our old house before another human being can live here permanently. And that includes fixing our 103-year-old closets (hey, at least they built closet in our house back then during the era when you might as well be a Communist if you have large closets).



So I was hard at work last week cutting, painting, and installing shelves for Bryna's office closet (which will allow room for us to free up the Short Stranger's eventual closet for baby-like stuff). After a couple goofs on measuring the wood (which can be such a pain in an old house where not a single wall or floor line is straight), I think it turned out pretty good (just remember, function over form!!!).

16 Weeks!

Welcome to our belatedly begun blog about our little one due sometime around Halloween. Between the the anxiety of the first trimester and the stress of grad school at the end of the semester, we failed to get this started until now. But, better late than never!

Today, we're 16 weeks along, almost half way to the 40 week finale! The short stranger's the size of an avocado, apparently, which kind of makes me crave guacamole and margaritas. Babycenter.com tells us this: 

Get ready for a growth spurt. In the next few weeks, your baby will double his weight and add inches to his length. Right now, he's about the size of an avocado: 4 1/2 inches long (head to rump) and 3 1/2 ounces. His legs are much more developed, his head is more erect than it has been, and his eyes have moved closer to the front of his head. His ears are close to their final position, too. The patterning of his scalp has begun, though his locks aren't recognizable yet. He's even started growing toenails. And there's a lot happening inside as well. For example, his heart is now pumping about 25 quarts of blood each day, and this amount will continue to increase as your baby continues to develop.

Why do I think this means a growth spurt for me too?