24 weeks

Baby Heartbeat is about 1 1/4 pounds now, and almost a foot long from head to toe! I still don't really know where body parts are, but think I can feel feet on my upper right side and hands on my lower left side most of the time. It moves around though. Last night at about 1am it started kicking up a storm. It was great, but I really do need sleep. :) Silly baby.

On Monday I went in for my prenatal massage gifted to me by my boss/friend Janna. It was wonderful and amazing! She had these pillows that have room for your belly, so I was able to lay on my stomach and on my back. It was absolutely lovely, and my shoulders definitely needed it. They're still tight and have knots though. I'm not sure those will ever go away without consistent massages.

I'm going into the midwife this Wednesday for my 24 week appointment. It feels like we're really making progress now. Only 16-ish weeks to go. We're currently waiting to hear news from my cousin Carla who is about 5 days overdue with her baby boy at this point. Can't wait! There are lots of new babies in my family coming this winter and spring. Our little one will have tons of second cousins his/her age.

I think we're narrowing down baby names. Nothing is set yet though. We still have time. I got lots of comments today at church about how big I'm getting. I have a friend due 6 weeks before me with her first, and I am way bigger. Oh well. I feel like my stomach muscles may be spreading further apart, which is not a good thing though. Not sure if there's anything I can do about it. I may have to get some kind of support band before the end. That wouldn't be too bad though.

Changes this week: Stomach muscles spreading. My skin is super dry, but I think that's weather related. It's been dry and foggy lately which makes my hands crack and bleed. No fun.

Cravings this week: Anything chocolate, although I've been really good at not indulging very often.

Link to Ruby's 24 week post

Baking and other fun things

We had fun this week. We did lots of baking and indoor activities while it was pouring rain. It's been nicer the last few days, but still cold. Ruby has gotten a little cold this week too, but so far it's not too bad. Hopefully she'll get better quickly. It's made her a little more tired and cranky, but sleeping has been fine. She sometimes wakes up in the night but usually puts herself back to sleep. One night she was crying so I went in there, and she said, "Ruby wake up."

Ruby's been learning her colors lately and is getting really good at a few of them, especially orange, green, blue, black and brown. She thinks purple is pink and has no clue what yellow is. She's been talking in longer sentences too. At dinner tonight she said the longest one yet (I think), "I need more sour cream on my tortilla." Plain as day. We're so proud. :) 

One of my favorite things, though, is that she says "actually" all the time. For example, "Dif one Mommy's. Actually, dif one Daddy's." I must say that a lot or something. She's also been saying, "We should do play play dough," and, "We should do color." So funny.

I've been having so much fun with Ruby lately. She's always wanting to do activities like coloring, playing legos, play dough, cooking, going on walks, etc. I love being her Mommy!

 We went over to our friends' house on Friday, and Ruby wanted to hold baby Malachi. He's almost as big as she is at 8 months, and so cute. That's Josiah in there too.

 Playing cars with Daddy.

 Doing Mommy's pregnancy exercises with Daddy.

 Cutie playing legos in the morning.

 Playing cards with Daddy.

 Bouncing on the ball.

 Making some soup.

 Kiss <3

 We baked bread on Tuesday. It was really yummy. Ruby had tons of fun and got flour everywhere. My Mom tells me I used to do the same thing. :) I'm so glad she loves being in the kitchen. Future Foodie!

 Putting her monkeys (Jean-Philippe and Pierre) to bed.

 Playing around with Mommy.

 Rolling out cracker dough...

 Oops!

 She tried. I had to fix it a little bit. When this happens she says, "Oh deaw. Mommy fix it."

 She came in the shower with me yesterday morning because she got yogurt in her hair at breakfast. When it was drying this is what happened. Looks like she may get some curly hair in the future!

 Eating some snacks. Daddy dressed her, so cute.

 Playing on the laundry pile. She's been loving necklaces and skirts.

 Doing pregnancy exercises with Mommy today. She has her own little band and loves it.

 She took this picture of herself. I do the same thing with my tongue when I'm concentrating.

Sometimes we go to the beginning of youth group, which is lots of fun. Tonight Ruby was talking to Grandma on her phone (the remote). She loves the laser pointer too.

23 weeks

The baby is about 11 1/2 inches long now and weighs more than a pound. I was at Story Time at the Library with Ruby on Thursday, and I saw the baby kick from the outside! That was pretty exciting.  I think that's just about exactly how far along I was when I saw Ruby kick. Andy has been feeling it move a lot more now too. I keep trying to get Ruby to feel it, but she will only hold her hand there for about 1 second. I think she'll be excited when she does feel it.

I went to the midwife this week for my appointment (finally :)). I was measuring right on track, 22 cm, and there was only one heartbeat at 140 bpm. So it looks like there's only one baby in there. I've been thinking the same thing because of how it's been moving around. I'll feel kicks on both sides of my stomach at the same time, like it's stretching. They couldn't really feel where body parts are yet, it's still very small. I'm gaining weight a little faster now than I was at the beginning, but I'm still about on track to gain 35-ish pounds. I gained 36 with Ruby.

Changes this week: Sleep has not been good. I've been waking up for either hip pain/numbness or having to pee. :(

Cravings this week: I've been into vegetables, which is nice. Of course, I always like yummy baked goods too.

Link to Ruby's 23 week post

Photo shoot

We got out our nice camera this week, and Ruby and I did a little photo shoot. It was lots of fun, and she's way too cute. So photogenic. We've been having lots of fun. It's nice to have a little bit of wind down time after the craziness of Christmas. We've gone to the library, shopping, etc. All the things we needed to catch up on.

Ruby has actually started eating some vegetables that aren't pureed! I'm so excited about that. She likes sweet potatoes a lot, and carrots and salad. She doesn't mind asparagus, but she still hates broccoli and cauliflower. We'll keep working on those. I'm just glad she's eating some and I don't have to puree them. She really likes "vinegar" (balsamic and olive oil) or "dip" (Ranch) on her salad.

It's so fun to see what she's going to say or do next. Last night Andy gave her a bath, and I was in the kitchen. I heard little feet running my way, and a very naked Ruby came around the corner and said, "Ruby naked!"So funny. She loves helping me in the kitchen and says, "I need a chair" any time I'm doing anything in there. Then she proceeds to push it around the kitchen following me to whatever counter I'm working at. I love it.

 Sweet girl. These are some of the photos from our shoot.

 I love her little teeth and her gray eyes.

 Pretending to sleep.

 Ruby and Mommy (and baby).

 Happy girl.

 We met some friends at the park the other day since it was sunny. It was still cold, but fun. One of Ruby's shoes came off at one point, and she walked through the mud in her sock to me to help her out. I had to take off the sock and she just wore her shoe without a sock. Poor girl.

 Taking Lupe's temperature.

 Reading in her rocking chair.

 Trying on Mommy's cardigan. She loves looking in that mirror when she has something fun on.

 Eating peanut butter crackers with Daddy.

 Playing with Mommy's hair.

 And putting on some make-up on Sunday morning.

 She had this little remote and was pretending it was an iPhone. Too funny.

 Eating a muffin. I love how she uses her hands.

 She proceeded to peel all of her crayons.

 Mommy's weekly belly photo shoot... Ruby wanted to be a part of it. She likes to kiss the baby, and says, "Hi baby" in a very sweet voice.

 Love.

 Reading stories in a tunnel with Daddy.

 It was too dark for a good photo, but it was cute anyway.

 Silly girl.

 Playing the violin at Motion Monday.

 Then she walked around and showed off her pink boots to just about every adult in the room, and it was packed.

 We went up to Portland on Monday afternoon to see Andy's Aunt Doris. Ruby liked playing puzzles with Grandpa.

 Reading in bed with Daddy.

 She likes to watch me let the chickens out.

 Apparently the vacuum was dirty and needed cleaning.

 I've been putting her to bed and nap with these little blanket ducky and bear so maybe she'll get more attached to them and less attached to her paci's. We'll see how it goes.

 She put on a little makeup. Hah.

 Trying on her underwear for about 30 minutes. She did pretty good in them.

 Making risotto with Daddy.

 She was putting letters on the dish washer and said it spelled "I love Mommy."

 Reading Mommy's old journal with her milk this morning while I was trying to make the bed.

 Getting ready to go out to feed the chickens.

And then she wanted to go on a walk, so we walked around the park.