Week 29 and doing fine

Little one, 

It's hard to imagine, and hard to recall when exactly this happened, but we are well into the third trimester. That means you are almost here...a little over two months from being here, to be exact. '

Your Mom continues to grow bigger and bigger as you continue to grow larger in her belly.

We can feel you moving all the time, simply by placing a hand on the belly. And last night we even saw you rippling under your mother's skin. It sounds creepy, but it's not. It was actually quite amazing, to see you subtly moving just under the surface.

It seems just like yesterday that you were barely on your way....

and now look at you, your mother and brother a mere 13 weeks later.

But a lot truly has changed in 13 weeks. For the better. You've got some girly clothes hanging in the closet, and pink sheets on your crib waiting for you. And you've got a name. Actually, that's been settled for a long time, but now your brother fully knows it, and even has a song about it.

You are: Julia Sekina Weinstein!


We're still ironing out the spelling of your middle name. Julia means youthful, and Sekina means serenity. Both are blessings. The J in Julia is to honor your Mimi, Joy; and Sekina was the name of your Mom's Mama Bizorg (Baba's mother). I never got to meet her, but from all I've heard she was an incredible, gentle, kind woman. So that's another two blessings, to be named in the fashion of such strong women.

'Julia' itself is a really beautiful Beatles song (one which sparked our interest in your name); but Aidan developed an even more beautiful song for you. The song "Hallelujah" is one that Aunt Rebekka and I recorded for our CD for Mimi's 70th birthday. Aidan listens to it a lot. At first he called the song "looya"...then it evolved thusly:

Looya...loooah...loooiah....jooooya....julia

Aidan also knows that your Mom's name is Holly. So he put the two together: "Holly Julia."

So whenever I hear "Hallelujah" from now on, I will think of you, Julia, your big brother and what a blessing you all are in our lives already.

The Fattening (part II)

Well, your Mother had her turn at the fattener. Now it's yours.

At 29 weeks you are now officially done growing. Height-wise that is. You're probably right now as tall as you're gonna be when you're born, somewhere around 16 inches long. But, as of last week, you were only 2 pounds, 11 oz. (which is well within the norm for your age).

But, you see, in the coming weeks you are going to at least DOUBLE, and more likely TRIPLE your weight. In fact, that's just about all you're going to be doing from now: packing on the pounds and getting stronger and stronger!

You kind of need to do the Subway diet, but in reverse.

So, as your Mom is supposed to be gaining one pound a week from here on out, so too are you going to be gaining weight every week, every day until you finally come out!

And, to comemmorate the growth you and your mother will be experiencing for the rest of the pregnancy, you've been officially upgraded from eggplant size to squash sized! Way to go! You're really moving up that produce aisle!

And you're going to be here sooner than we realize: you could be here (and be full term) in as little as 8 weeks!