Free Lance Photographer

The other day I went over to take some pictures of little Jane, Eleanor's new best friend, for one of my best friend's, Jen. Jane is just so cute that I had to share a few. If anyone else needs a baby photographer, I like to be paid in old maternity clothes. :)

9 Week Update

While this isn't the highest quality picture ever, I'm thrilled with it. I don't often get pictures of Eleanor and I, and I'm happy my hand made this shot - my leg did too for that matter, but I cropped that pale thing out.

Speaking of pale things, I haven't taken any belly pics yet of me and #2 - there isn't much there to see. In fact, my stomach looks very similar to my 10 week pic posted with Eleanor. But #2 is doing quite well:

9 weeks: Your new resident is nearly an inch long — about the size of a grape — and weighs just a fraction of an ounce. She's starting to look more and more human. Her essential body parts are accounted for, though they'll go through plenty of fine-tuning in the coming months. Other changes abound: Your baby's heart finishes dividing into four chambers, and the valves start to form — as do her tiny teeth. The embryonic "tail" is completely gone. Your baby's organs, muscles, and nerves are kicking into gear. Her eyes are fully formed, but her eyelids are fused shut and won't open until 27 weeks. She has tiny earlobes, and her mouth, nose, and nostrils are more distinct. The placenta is developed enough now to take over most of the critical job of producing hormones. Now that your baby's basic physiology is in place, she's poised for rapid weight gain.

Little Swimmer

Perhaps her favorite thing in the whole wide world, THE POOL:

And just so that you can get a full view of the "still a chubby baby" tummy:

And speaking of little swimmers, here is what #2 is up to:

New this week: Webbed fingers and toes are poking out from your baby's hands and feet, his eyelids practically cover his eyes, breathing tubes extend from his throat to the branches of his developing lungs, and his "tail" is just about gone. In his brain, nerve cells are branching out to connect with one another, forming primitive neural pathways. You may be daydreaming about your baby as one sex or the other, but the external genitals still haven't developed enough to reveal whether you're having a boy or a girl. Either way, your baby — about the size of a kidney bean — is constantly moving and shifting, though you still can't feel it.

Typical Morning

Every morning, Eleanor and I hang out at the park (which is luckily about 20 yards from the house) for about an hour. Since it's been so hot, it is sometimes her only real outside play time, and I think she enjoys this hour more than any other during the day.

Let the Bedlam Begin!

So here is my official excuse for neglecting the blog:

And because everyone loves ultrasound pictures:

So, I'm definitely not out of the first trimester, the time that many people wait until to share pregnancy news, but I've seen the heart beat and haven't had any problems before (even though we thought we did), and I don't believe in "jinxing" things, so I'm announcing to my many, many blog followers that we are pregnant with baby #2 (which 9/10 of you know already). It was just hard to put anything up on the blog because this is the ONLY THING I can imagine talking about right now. I was first given a due date of February 14, but after this ultrasound, the date was changed to February 29. Leap Year Baby! That means I'm only 7 weeks along, which means I've got a baby blueberry in there.

Baby's now the size of a blueberry!
Baby's brain -- both hemispheres! -- is growing fast, generating about one hundred new cells every minute. Arms and legs are emerging as joints start to form, and a permanent set of kidneys (baby's third!) is now in place.

I am really excited, though slightly terrified. The kiddos will be only 2 years apart, which I think will make the first year difficult, though I imagine in the long run it will be nice to have them so close in age. I'm also quite tired and feeling pretty nauseous and obviously still taking care of a 17-month old (who is now down to one nap a day).

I will try and be better about updating though, now that I've gotten the big news out of the way!

Yay!

We are all sorts of excited today;
we are headed to the beach tomorrow for a whole week!

Fun With Food

Meal time is always an adventure with Eleanor. She loves food, but is very, very bored when just sitting in a chair - she really needs to be constantly entertained. Enter, the clothespin: a great way to eat your bread and play at the same time.