25 weeks

Wow. The 2nd trimester is flying by! I can't believe I'm only 3 weeks away from the 3rd trimester. Which happens to start on my birthday. :)

This week baby is about pound and a half and 13.5 inches long. Babycenter.com tells me this is as large as an average rutabaga. Obviously. Don't you know the average size of a rutabaga? I had one for breakfast.

Other developmental milestones my incredibly talented rutabaga-sized child is doing this week includes putting on some baby fat and growing more hair. For Baby's sake, I hope he or she is growing some hair on their head so they aren't a baldy like me (until the age of 3!!).

This week I feel particularly large. And I'm pretty sure it's just a feeling because I don't think I look all that different from last week. I wouldn't even call my belly huge yet but I feel like baby has had a growth spurt over the last two weeks. I'm getting to the point where normal things are starting to get harder. I can still do basically everything but by the end of the day (when I'm tired) it's more difficult to bend over, put my shoes on and take Pais for a walk. Last night I went to my Zumba class (so fun!) and I had to take it a little easier than the week before. No bouncing up and down for this lady. The belly just felt tight and not up for the bouncing. So while others were jumping up and down, I was just moving side to side on my feet. I like to think I look awesome when I dance in class but I'm fairly sure this is not true. There is a reason I don't stand in front of a mirror when I exercise. I do still love going to Zumba class- it really is so much fun, you forget you're working out. Though I keep hoping baby doesn't come out singing Flo Rider or Beyonce. Apple bottom jeans anyone?

I have also been experiencing some acid/heartburn recently. I wouldn't really call it heartburn (yet) but I've noticed that after I eat something spicy (like Indian) I have this uncomfortable acid-y feeling in the back of my throat. This makes me sad because I have really been on an Indian kick as of late. Give me some Chicken Tikka Masala and some naan! However, I've also noticed the acid feeling on days when I haven't eaten anything very spicy so maybe it doesn't matter? I have read that if you eat a variety of foods while pregnant the same foods shouldn't irritate your baby when you're breastfeeding later because they are used to the taste. Who knows if this is true but obviously women in India, Thailand and Mexico breastfeed their babies and eat a traditional diet of spicier foods so I'm hoping I can continue my love of these types of foods later on!

One other thing I've experienced this week is a slight reoccurance of some first trimester symptoms. I say slight because it has been nothing compared to the first tri but they are still there. Yesterday I felt icky in the morning and thought I might lose my breakfast (I did not). I also felt unusually tired and wanted a nap so bad I could taste it. I didn't have time to nap but I did make it bed at 9:30 and gloriously slept (with one pee wake up) until 7am when Charlie's alarm went off. I've also been having trouble swallowing my prenatal vitamins this week, leading to a bit of the "icky" feeling mentioned earlier.

Baby is moving a bunch now! I feel him or her many times throughout the day and some of the kicks can be felt from the outside. Although, whenever Charlie puts his hand on my belly it seems I can only feel them on the inside. Our kiddo is already messing with him! ;) We learned in our Bradley class recently that when babies come out they not only recognize the mom's voice but it's often obvious that they recognize dad's as well. I just think that is so cool!

This week I took my belly pictures by myself because Charlie had a meeting at work until 9pm and I wanted  to get pictures outside.

Well, not totally by myself. Behold, my trusty assistant:

A little to the right Mom. Yeah, that looks good.

I'm not sure that's your best angle.

See? Very helpful. Her only fees are belly rubs and peanut butter. Anyway, I am not super skilled at setting up our camera on the self timer and getting shots. I was also having a bit of a hair crisis as I took these. See, I didn't blow dry my hair on Thursday because it was humid and my hair has become fuzzier during pregnancy. Not curlier. Just fuzzier. (I am tempted to blame my Dad as he is who I get the kink in my hair from anyway. Despite not having hair now, he had quite the wave going on in his 20s.) So I let it dry naturally and then wore it up all day. The result was fro-tastic. So after much hair related fussing and a couple test shots, I determined that my hair had a bad side and a decent side.  So all these pictures are taken showing my left side. Although the picture below not only shows off my SUBERB photography skills but it takes care of the hair situation real nicely. My fees are pedicures and ice cream. Peanut butter is optional.

I'm pretty sure my neighbors now think I'm super vain and my only hobby is taking self portraits while talking to my dog. (This would not be wholly inaccurate).

Week 25

Weight Gain: around 17 to 18 pounds. I'm sure some of you think I'm crazy for posting this but I want to have SOME sort of accountability to lay off the sweets every now and then and be satisfied with a banana.

Nursery Progress this past week: None :(

Trips taken: One to Williamsburg to see my childhood friend Jen get married. The weekend was beautiful!

Baby-related purchases: None, though I did pop into a couple children's clothing stores at the Williamsburg outlets. Not knowing the sex has been good for my wallet when it comes to clothes because I've only bought two gender neutral Christmas onesies I found on sale in December. Just remembered I purchased two maternity tops at Target, one I'm wearing in the above pictures. Duh.