23 Weeks.

Turn on the radio and sway to the music. With her sense of movement well developed by now, your baby can feel you dance. And now that she's more than 11 inches long and weighs just over a pound (about as much as a large mango), you may be able to see her squirm underneath your clothes. Blood vessels in her lungs are developing to prepare for breathing, and the sounds that your baby's increasingly keen ears pick up are preparing her for entry into the outside world. Loud noises that become familiar now — such as your dog barking or the roar of the vacuum cleaner — probably won't faze her when she hears them outside the womb.

Walls and trusses and a roof, oh my!

It looks like a house!


This is the view from across the street looking at our house. Garage on the left side, porch in the middle and bedrooms on the right side. And lovely machinery in front. No shingles yet, but it's finally starting to look like an actual house.












The view from the back of the house. That's me waddling over on the side. We've got both floors up now. Workshop and guest bedroom are in the basement, while the master bedroom and bathroom are the windows upstairs.












The pictures from inside are just really confusing at this point with the support beams all over the place. This view is from the corner of the living room looking west towards the master bedroom. One of the other bedrooms is the window on the fair right side. Stairs to the basement are on the left side of the picture.











Another view from the back of the house, this time from the opposite side. I'm standing there to give you some sense of scale. How about the scaffolding that's been erected to install stuff up high? Anybody ready to climb on that?

The opening on the bottom floor comes from a family room in the basement. Upstairs are the doors in the living room, along with large windows as well.

You can see our neighbor's house in the background. He works for the construction company building our house, and in his free time he works on his house. We're finally catching up to him in terms of progress. He's out there a lot!

Ah, Welcome to Kansas

There's nothing particularly interesting to report. However, my brain is done for the day, so I decided to hop on here and attempt to entertain the 3 people who read this!

Heat. Let's talk about heat. Or more appropriately, how much fun does not happen when you are pregnant when it's 99 degrees outside every day. I went to lunch at Harry's today, which is a whopping block from my office. And guess what, I was all fun and sweaty by the time we got there. That's awesome (note the sarcasm)! I can always pray for a mild August, but I seriously doubt that will happen. In the meantime, I do love me som air conditioning and fans. Bless those great inventions.

I'll probably post another belly update in the next couple of weeks as Little Man continues to keep on growing. I feel him moving around all the time now. He seems to enjoy hanging out down low, though occasionally I'll get a swift kick up by the stomach area. Those are not so fun. I'm still teaching 2 Spinning classes per week along with 1 Step class. So far so good on that front.

My friend Karla had her baby girl last week. Beautiful little Emmaly was born on July 15th at 6:51 a.m. She is quite cute and precious. And very cute (at least when I'm around). Karla is a complete stud--delivers baby on Tuesday, works on Friday, and works out again on Tuesday. I hope that behavior is contagious and she can pass it along to me.

Well, have a great Thursday. We'll report more later.

22 Weeks

At 11 inches (the length of a spaghetti squash) and almost 1 pound, your baby is starting to look like a miniature newborn. His lips, eyelids, and eyebrows are becoming more distinct, and he's even developing tiny tooth buds beneath his gums. His eyes have formed, but his irises (the colored part of the eye) still lack pigment. If you could see inside your womb, you'd be able to spot the fine hair (lanugo) that covers his body and the deep wrinkles on his skin, which he'll sport until he adds a padding of fat to fill them in. Inside his belly, his pancreas — essential for the production of some important hormones — is developing steadily.

House Update

The framing on our house started last week and we're already seeing a lot of changes. It's exciting to see everything as it goes up and it's encouraging to see the progress. We met with the builder on Monday and Sept. 15 is our revised completion date. We're hoping for a stretch of dry weather this week and next so they don't have any problems with the framing or the roof trusses.


Below is a view of the house from the back. To the left side are the double doors for Brian's workshop. Next is the guest bedroom and then on the right side is a family room/play room.



Another view of the basement. This view is from behind the garage looking at the lower family room/play room area next to the stairs.

And a view from the opposite side. Again, the doors on the left are the double doors to the workshop area.

The view below is from the upper level family room looking out towards the back of the house. There will be a very large window to let in a lot of light. And there's also a door next to it out on to a small patio area.

And, this is what the main level looks like so far. This view is from the southwest corner of the house. The framing for the rear walls looks to be complete, it just needs to be lifted up and put in place. Most of the interior walls are already marked out on the floor, so we're getting a better idea of the size of everything.

21 Weeks

Your baby now weighs about three-quarters of a pound and is approximately 10 1/2 inches long — the length of a carrot. You may soon feel like she's practicing martial arts as her initial fluttering movements turn into full-fledged kicks and nudges. You may also discover a pattern to her activity as you get to know her better. In other developments, your baby's eyebrows and lids are present now, and if you're having a girl, her vagina has begun to form as well.

It's . . . A . . .

Boy!!

We had our 20-week checkup yesterday along with an ultrasound. The ultrasound showed we are expecting a healthy baby boy right around Thanksgiving. Everything looks perfect so far. The little guy was extremely active, moving all around and making it difficult for the technician to get a good picture. But she was able to find the boy parts even with all of his movement.

Belly at 20 weeks

Here's an updated picture of the ever-growing belly. This was taken right at 20 weeks. It doesn't look much bigger than the earlier one, but it is. I feel like we've gone through a growth spurt in the last couple of weeks.

Will it be a girl? Or a boy?

Tomorrow is the big day! We have an appointment tomorrow afternoon for a regular checup and to find out whether it's a boy or it's a girl. We'll keep you updated with the big news.

20 Weeks

You're at the halfway mark — congratulations! Your baby weighs about 10 1/2 ounces now. He's also around 6 1/2 inches long from head to bottom and about 10 inches from head to heel — the length of a banana. (The way your baby is measured changes now.) He's swallowing more these days, which is good practice for his digestive system. He's also producing meconium, a black, sticky by-product of digestion. This gooey substance will accumulate in his bowels, and you'll see it in his first soiled diaper (although some babies pass meconium in the womb or during delivery).

Thursday, July 10 is our next appointment. It's the big day to find out whether we're having a boy or a girl!