Cherry Pie, Being Seen, Toddler Beds, Feeling Green

Children,

Your mother's cravings continue to amaze. The other night she took a big breath in and said 'MMM...cherry pie!' I have no clue what she was smelling because I was making noodles. The good news is though, even though the first trimester blues has your Mom feeling a little green, she's feeling a little better.

She actually went to the store to get her own late-night craving. Also, the instructions were too complicated for me to follow: "cherry pie that is like flaky on top but not too thick and is ready instantly."

She found Mrs. Smith.

And Mrs. Smith treated your Mommy very well.
You might be wondering where your Mom is putting all this food...well, it's a lot of effort to build a new little Weinstein, so that's where it's headed.

And I do declare, your Mom is 'showing' already! Check it out: Here is the last picture of her - at week 10.5 - with her long hair.

This is going to be a rough summer. We're already in the high 80s and your Mom just couldn't take the heat anymore. So she chopped her hair off. I couldn't be a posed picture for the "after" view, but you'll notice in the following pictures that her hair is much shorter. I'm working on getting your Mom to pose for the belly pictures we did during Aidan's pregnancy. But every time I ask her to take a picture, she gets a little more green...you'll understand more later. But don't worry: we're starting tonight, with Week 11.



Okay, I'm going on the record here: I'm thinking that you, little one, are going to be Aidan's little SISTER. I'm officially thinking that you're going to be a girl. The cravings, the nausea, the way she's carrying you are all so much different that with you, Aidan.

Plus the Chinese Gender calculator predictor nonsense says you're a girl, little one. But it also predicted Aidan would be a girl. And he's definitely not. He's a boy.

And in fact, this weekend, Aidan, you got to take another big step toward being a big boy!

We did some re-arranging and bed trading and wound up with a toddler bed. You were super excited by this development and, after you got over being upset that we weren't going to let you just play on the wooden frame and that you couldn't lift the mattress off yourself (and no one was going to help you do it, despite your multiple requests for "halp...halp"), you really liked your bed. You stand on it to look out the window, you crawl up on it to sit. You brought some snacks up on it to eat while relaxing. And you called it "bed."

With this kind of reaction to the toddler bed, we thought we'd give napping in it a try.

So we tucked you in and sang to you as usual, and you were just really excited to be in the toddler bed.

I gotta be honest, I had my doubts that you, such an excited little boy, would fall asleep on the toddler bed. But, low and behold, you took a good, long 1.5 hour nap on your big boy bed.
Your Mom and I were so proud of you. But, of course, not being caged in a crib makes for an eventful time when you woke up. Your Mom was napping while I was outside doing yard work with Pops. Your Mom said she awoke with a start when she heard your familiar loud-stomping through the house. You just got up, crawled out of bed and decided to go to the living room and check out what was going on out the window. I guess you had places to go! You're getting so grown up, Aidan; but it's a good thing you've still go lots of room to grow.

And speaking of growth, little one, you are now 11 weeks along and you're the size of a LIME! (no wonder your Mom's feeling green!) I can hardly remember when it was lime time for you, Aidan!

Your head is the same size as you body, and your fingers and toes are no longer webbed. You're working on growing hair follicles, tooth buds, and nail beds. That sounds like a lot of work indeed. No wonder your Mom's a bit soured on making lime-ade out of these limes. She's feeling better, but sometimes, Pregnant Mommy feels so green that she says hilarious things.

The best line of the pregnancy thus far happened in our kitchen. I'm trying to have a conversation with your Mom, asking her question after question...with no response. Finally I stop and realize I'm talking to myself and say..."hello?"

Your mom looks up at me, lookin' pretty green and says "answering questions makes me sick."

We eventually had a great laugh over that one, and a great weekend playing outside with you Aidan, and watching you grow inside, Little One.

So, a week of hair cuts, cherry pies, new beds, new aversions (questions...who knew?) were just what the doctor ordered.

We've got a big boy and a bitty baby bump on our hands; and we're loving every second of it. As long as pie or strawberries and nutella or mangos or almond milk are readily and as long as no body ends a sentence with a question mark.

Any questions?

Roger Dodger- Hiding from the Doctor

First of all, don't worry- you're not going to be named Roger.

But, apparently, you are really good at hiding (hence the "dodger")! Which is pretty amazing, considering that -now at 20 weeks in utero- you are the size of a cantaloupe!

Your Mom went to see Dr. Hagood today for the standard heartbeat-hearing-only examination. But, at first, the Doctor couldn't find you!

She said you wouldn't hold still and she was having to chase you all over your Mom's tummy with her Doppler device to hear your heartbeat.

That takes some skill, son, because a cantaloupe is pretty hard to miss!

But, after you gave your Mom a brief scare, Dr. Hagood pinned you in a corner and was able to find your heartbeat: 154 bpm!

You are consistent, for sure, with your heart rate; but this whole experience shows that you may be a crafty little guy: Playing games and hiding from the Doctor!

But there's no real hiding from you now: your Mom's belly is most definitely showing (and still growing). The belly bump is getting in the way more often, your Mom feels you kick all the time and she has gained 4 pounds! The Doctor said that Holly's gaining the right amount of weight, but - as for now - the weight gained is "all baby weight," meaning there's not much extra fat on your Mom.

It's not for lack of effort, though: we basically spent the weekend eating. I think I probably gained more than 4 pounds at the Texas State Fair alone!

4 pounds is pretty good, though; and Dr. Hagood is really happy with the way you're growing. With the added weight, growing belly and a cantaloupe-sized you, though, there's no missing that your Mom is pregnant! You may be able to hide from the doctor, but you're not hiding from anyone else!

p.s. We're officially halfway through the pregnancy! March will be here before you know it!

28, part I : Sand Dollar

Today is your Mother's 28th birthday! What does that mean to you? Well, it's pretty cool because

a) that's the age she'll be when you're born!

b) she will be eating lots of cake!

It turns out that both you and I got your Mother birthday presents!

I gave your Mother a silver Sand Dollar on a necklace for her birthday. Back in the summer (early June, actually), we went on a trip to the beach down in Padre Island, Texas (don't worry, you'll get to go there too). On our very last day, your mother found a WHOLE Sand Dollar! She'd never found a sand dollar before in her life!

Here's the sand dollar in question:On the drive home, we put the sand dollar in a very safe place in the car. Or, at least, we thought it was a very safe place. Turns out NOWHERE is safe from me! It seems that the weight of a simple I-pod is more than enough to split a sand dollar in half.

When we found out the sand dollar was broken, we were both upset. Your Mother was more upset than I was. In fact, she looked like she was going to cry and didn't talk to me for a long while after that, no matter how many times I apologized. I promised her that I would get her another sand dollar.

Later on the drive, she started talking to me again, and when we got home, she successfully glued the sand dollar back together.

But I kept my word: I got her another sand dollar. And I gave it to her today! She loved the necklace, but loves it even more than I could have guessed.

Your mom told me this story today:

You see, back in the summer, we had been trying to make you for such a long time. Your mom was trying everything: temperature taking, special medicine, special diets, etc. And just before that trip, your Mom thought she was pregnant, but the EPT said that we weren't. So, we were both dejected. Your Mother more so than me (which is odd, because in this duo, I'm normally the pessimist, and she's normally the optimist).

So, at the end of that vacation, when your Mom found that sand dollar washed up on the shore- her first WHOLE sand dollar- she subconsciously took it as a sign, took it to mean that you would arrive one day! And I think she even made a wish on that sand dollar that you would come sooner than later.

So no wonder she was pissed at me when I broke it!

But, as it turns out, the EPT test was wrong, and the sand dollar was right: we were pregnant with you already (very very very early). (That explains the extra "emotions"!) So, the power of the sand dollar works; and the present that you have given your mother for her birthday is you, yourself! She wished on a sand dollar back in June that you would be here, and here- on her birthday- you are! And your mother's now wearing a silver sand dollar around her neck!

How cool is that? I wish "sand dollar" was acceptable as a baby name...but it's not. Totally not. Don't worry!

She felt you kicking today during her Birthday Burrito Lunch (weird cravings, man) and just couldn't stop smiling. How many ladies get exactly what they want for their birthdays: a growing baby kicking her tummy like mad AND a burrito!

Oh, and you're giving her another cool birthday present too: a rapidly growing belly! Check it out!

Week 18

Subject seems to have developed a growth on her back.

Holy Guacamole!

I can't believe it! You're already 16 weeks old! According to the ever-increasing fruit-scale, you are the size of an Avocado! Whoa!

That doesn't surprise me too much because your Mom's tummy is REALLY starting to show now. Forget all that stuff I said before about her showing; comparatively, that was just a little Root Beer Belly. Now she's legitimately beginning to show!

In fact, her belly has grown so much that your Mom is constantly marveling about the changing (read "shrinking") depth of her belly button.

"Aaron, look, I can see the bottom of my belly button!"

The belly button is definitely becoming more and more shallow. Without a flashlight or anything, we can see the bottom of that little button. And when your Mom's about ready to pop, just like a pop-up turkey thermometer, her belly button may unceremoniously turn from an inny into an outie.

You may have also noticed that this week your eyelashes, eyebrows and hair are starting to fill in. On an even cooler note, your taste buds are forming! That means, for the first time, you might actually care which fruit you are equatable to in size. And it's a good week for that. Avocados are among your Mom's favorite foods!

But, what I think is the coolest, is that teeny tiny versions of the teeniest tinyest bones in the human body are now forming...creating the inner workings of your ears!



That means that you can probably pick up your Mother's voice this week, and possibly mine too. I'll try to sing on key!

Hopefully you didn't hear us on Sunday. In an attempt to get a coupon at Babies R Us so that we could get a discount on your Mom's body pillow, we signed up to register at that superstore.

It was overwhelming to say the least. How does one chose items to buy for a challenge they've never faced before? We didn't know what was what...what kind of breast pump, diaper genie, stroller or anything to get! Holy Guacamole, talk about shopping for someone else being difficult! This was downright stressful! AND they didn't even have the right body pillow in the store anyway, so your Mom wound up ordering it off Amazon today.

A good visual representation of how I felt in Babies R Us. Minus the Latina baby Girl, of course. They made me give her back.

But about 2o minutes in to the registering, you would have heard me whine and basically throw in the towel on the whole deal. Not the pregnancy; just the registering. It was not my finest moment, so I'm glad your ear bones weren't fully developed yet to hear that miserable excuse for a power shopper.

We did see lots of cool stuff that we want to get for you (and for us for you); but most of it seemed foreign. Stacks and stacks of stuff that we didn't know if we needed or absolutely didn't need.

We've never done this before, so we're gonna have to seek some advice from some of your Uncles and Aunts and some other key advisors.

Maybe by the time you CAN hear me from inside your Mom's tummy, we'll be better prepared to make a decent show of registering for Baby gear. And then you'll hear that cash register ding and be a little less stressed about the whole deal.

But for now, you've got all the gear you need: umbilical cord, amniotic fluid, a growing womb in which to play less cluttered by an intrusive belly button and (this is news) a likely candidate for your Name!

That's right...we may have decided on your name! More on this later though!

Showin' and Growin'

Well, you continue to grow in your Mom's belly day after day! We can't wait to feel your kicks and hear your heartbeat again. In fact, next Tuesday we're going to see Dr. Hagood again to have your picture taken again! Hopefully we'll be able to see how much you've grown in more detail: non-webbed fingers and toes, misplaced ears, transparent skin, heart pumping blood and all!

In the meantime, though, we must look at you from the outside only. I posted this picture, showing off how much our garden is growing, and your Aunt Rebekka commented, "I think Holly is starting to show!"So, maybe our secret is out of the bag now! Are your eyes drawn to the delicious, fresh green bean or toward the baby bump?

PS. Your first concert was AMAZING! You're now officially poised to be a good Beatles-maniac. You didn't cause your Mom any pain or fussiness during the entire show! I even think I heard you singing along during "Hey Jude!"

Bumper Art

So, as you can see, because your Mom is so tiny, she's actually starting to show a little bit! Holly can't wait until she's properly showing; at this nebulous "kinda showing" stage she's afraid people will just think that she's been eating too many sweets or partaking in too many brewskies. But soon enough that little belly will be a big baby bump! And since the pants are already not fitting, we think we're in for a big bump! Us Weinsteins are big babies when we're born. Depending on who you ask, they might say that we're big babies when we're adults too. But those people are hardly worth listening to.

Your dog Toby (that's the white one [don't worry, you can learn their names later]) really wanted to be in these pictures too, but I cropped him out, as he didn't really fit in the frame. But here are his cameos:
It'll be really fun to spot him when there are like 50 pictures that he's darting in and out of. Well, maybe your definition of "fun" isn't the same as mine; but you'll understand when you get older that fun has to be had in small doses.

Speaking of your dogs, though, I think it's time we tell them that you're on the way. They might not react too well, they're not to used to sharing your Mom. Me they could probably do without.

On a side note, with each passing day the nausea seems a little less and less severe; we're almost to the point where your mother is enjoying life again! But the cravings continue...whenever I hear a little "crinkle crinkle crinkle" coming from the kitchen late at night, I know that it's your Mom hitting those Rice Krispies one more time before bed.

We may wind up having to name you "Snap," "Crackle" or "Pop." Well, "Pop" is taken already (my dad is your "Pops" (see picture)). But "Crackle" is pretty nice!

Jean Genie

We all knew this was going to happen. It's supposed to happen. But this weekend, we're gonna go shopping for some new pants for Holly.

Her pants don't fit her anymore!

As much as I know she's been enjoying the forced-casual look (ahem...leaving pants unbuttoned under her body band), when I saw her struggling to get in to her britches this morning I said, "Why don't we just go buy you some bigger pants?"

This line of questioning was met with great support from Holly, her belly and, of course, her pants.

Holly in her favorite jeans atop my shoulders. Please note, my face doesn't usually look like that. Please also note that we will not be assuming this formation for approximately 7 months.

On a separate note, the prune test from yesterday was a failure. I ate three prunes right in front of your Mom, but she wanted nothing of it.

Her eating habits appear to have nothing to do with the weekly fruit that you are comprarable in size to. Example: yesterday she ate both almonds (you in week 8) AND mango (you in week 19). So I think we have nothing to fear on that front!

But, I must say, prunes are pretty big. Dramatically larger than a green olive. You've grown a lot in the past week! It was very weird to hold a prune and think that you are actually that size right now in your Mom's belly.

I put my hand on her tummy every night; she is really starting to grow! Your mother, of course, was worried that it was "all fat." But that tummy's tight-- that's you growing in there. Prune and onward!

Don't worry, by the time you're the size of a lime, we'll have your Mom in some better britches!

Now Showing!

Today is picture day! "What's picture day," you might ask? Well, your Mom and I are going to document your growth by taking a picture once a week of your Mom's belly. When we're all done, we're gonna make a time lapse movie of it and put sappy music behind it! It'll be really cool, and we'll probably show it at key points during your life to embarrass you: Graduation, Wedding, First Date, Every subsequent date. Don't worry; we do it because we love you!

But, looking at your Mom without even the side-by-side pictures, it's easy to see that she's already showing!

Now, I really thought this was a "food baby" (or distended bowel, if you want to get technical...and gross); but apparently, as I'm told, this visual change in your Mom's physique is NOT, I repeat, NOT a food baby! It's actually you! It's a legitimate BABY BUMP!

You're growing so much! And that makes sense, because on Sunday, you'll be 10 weeks along!

Everyone's so excited you're coming to live with us, by the way. The Grandmas and Grandpas are ecstatic, and so are all your Aunts and Uncles!

Some of your cousins don't quite know what to make of this development, though, as Uncle Aaron and Aunt Holly will have to be shared now!

Your cousin Kathryn seems the most confused: she told Holly, "that boy has a baby in his belly!" So, not only did she think I was the one who was pregnant, but she also seemed to have misplaced my identity. Perhaps I was just some stranger who let myself in to the room. But, we quickly reminded her that I am "Unkie A" (although she calls me "Aaron"). But you, you can call me "Dad!" (Or whatever you want...as long as it's G-rated)

P.S. Your Mom's battle with food has continued. We went to Japanese food, and your Mom ordered Beef Teriyaki, which is basically a steak (I don't know why I'm explaining that, because as of now, you don't really like to eat anything except for amniotic fluid or something). But, I digress, she could only take one bite of it, and then couldn't touch the rest. Needless to say, my lunch the next day was awesome. I mean, who eats steak for lunch!? But, on a sadder note, the aversion to my odor continues. Even though I wear a car-freshener around my neck.