5 1/2 months - 22 weeks - 154 days

Spaghetti squash.  If you haven't tried this delish veggie, you must.  Use it in place of noodles.

Bryan has been traveling a lot for work lately so I've been trying my best to keep busy so that my days don't look like the following:  summer school, many naps, possible gym time, dinner, TV, bed, then repeat.  This past week I had dinner and saw the Gin Blossoms with LC and then decided last minute to head back home to visit with my family for a long weekend.  Up there I went on a sober bar crawl and hit the gym for a solid two hours with my workout buddy AR, hung with my sister, went to the community pool, saw Horrible Bosses, and did some shopping before heading back home Sunday night.

Word to the pregnant wise: pack snacks if you are planning on being in the car for 3+ hours.  Your will power becomes weak and vulnerable if you start to get hungry.  On the way up I was still strong so I stopped at Subway.  On the way back I was very, very weak in the will power department so I stopped for a mini Blizzard (Georgia Mud Fudge, yum) and a double cheeseburger and small fry from McDonald's.  Ack!  I can tell you the last time I had McDonald's.  It was when we were heading up to Atlantic City the January of 2007.  I can also tell you that I had a ham, egg, and cheese breakfast bagel.  That's how often I don't go to McDonald's.   That double cheeseburger and small fry was as succulent as I remember.  I call this falling off of the food wagon.

My Future Boy Band Lover

She will be attending her first concert this weekend!  My favorite Phi's and I are road trippin' it down to Greensboro, NC to see the one and only NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK!!  And Backstreet Boys, but who really cares about them anyway?  Now if this were NKOTB and N'Sync that would be a whole other fanatical story.  I told Bryan that I was going to get a giant funnel to stick in my belly button during the concert so that the sweet musical waves could be collected and shot straight into her little bubble.  Sigh... it's going to be amazing.

Baby Stats:

• Weight = about 1 lb.
• Length = about 1 ft.
• tooth buds are forming under the gums
• eyes are formed but the irises are not colored (that's another debate - will they be green or blue?)

Her pancreas is starting to produce digestive enzymes and hormones for her own little body.  Her inner ear is also almost fully developed, which will give her the sense of balance (hopefully, will not give her multiple ear infections). So, now that's she's able to balance herself a little in her floaty sack she is able to explore what's in there a little easier.  I guess she's doing that Look Who's Talking montage where the baby is flashing his hand in front of his face and checking out his "third arm".  Because besides that I don't know what else she would be checking out in there.  Maybe now that she can move with purpose she'll start to fight me back when I push on her to make her move.  

Speaking of moving, I'm starting to be able to feel her from the outside!  At first I wasn't sure if I was imagining the feeling since I knew she was moving about, but I confirmed it the other night when I was laying in bed.  I thought I was feeling her when I put my hand on my stomach but wasn't sure so I lifted up my shirt to watch my belly.  Sure enough I saw it jump just a little when she moved.  It was pretty cool.  Since Bryan was out of town I tried to record the belly jumps with  my phone.  I thought I was able to catch some of her movements, but when I watched it back I figured out that without being able to feel the movement, I wasn't able to see it on the video.

The Bun Warmer (Me)

The bump is becoming a bit more noticeable especially to those who know I'm pregnant.  What is nice is that I can still hide it very easily if I wear the right clothes.  I had an interview last Thursday.  I felt like it went well but I spent the days before debating with myself on whether or not to tell them about the situation.  In the end I decided to keep it to myself.  I can't risk not getting a job because of the baby.  While it is illegal to not hire someone because they are pregnant, how the hell would I ever be able to prove it?  I couldn't so I chose to keep it to myself that way if I do or don't get a job I will know it was for my talents and knowledge and not because of the little lady.  I can't stop thinking that this has already happened to me.  That I didn't get a job because I'm pregnant.  I hope that it's not true, but that thought will be in the back of my mind because I can't prove it either way.

On a lighter bump note, you're starting to be able to see it better in my workout clothes.  So, when I went to my kettlebell class this morning the girls in my group asked when I was due and we talked babies for a little bit.  It did take them the entire class to get the question out.  I think what gave me away was when I kept calling the instructor over to modify my stations.

*This picture happened while I was blogging. Bryan about died laughing when he realized my boob/belly combo could successfully hold the remote.

I've still been on a serious watermelon kick.  I think in total I have eaten 5 whole watermelons by myself in the past few weeks.  These are the normal sized watermelons, not the "personal" ones.  They are SO good!!  My current record is two in one week.  Other than watermelon I don't really have a taste for much else, which is a pain in the ass when I'm trying to think of something to make as a meal.  Eh, I guess I have been wanting soup too but it's barely worth mentioning. 

I have also noticed that I have trouble breathing when I'm in certain positions.  It's weird because it takes me a few minutes to realize that I have to try harder to breathe.  Kind of a pain.

Touching the bump is still very awkward for me.  My stomach is not "hard" so I still feel self-conscious when people touch it. Now, I have figured out how I would like my stomach touched:

• Use four fingers to place on it
• Poke it
• Push lightly on it

DO NOT:

• Caress the bump with a full palm.  That is very awkward for me.
• Use two hands.  You can't feel her - I promise.
• Place a full palm on my stomach for any reason

Baby "T" Forever?

I never thought that naming a baby would be so difficult and frustrating.  I created this problem for myself as I'm sure all of you ladies have done as well.  We make lists of names that we like even when we're not dating anyone.  Those names get stuck in your mind as the end all, be all of names and we forget that there is someone else who has a 50/50 say.  Argh!!  If you haven't guessed, she doesn't have a name yet.  We have however made a master list of 7 names.  Don't ask what they are because I'm not telling you.  It's hard enough debating with B about which name works best.  I plan on avoiding judgement eyes and wavering tones if someone doesn't particularly like the name that we chose or the ones we are thinking about.  Just don't ask.  We'll tell you when we're ready.  Right now I just hope that she has a name before she is breathing air and seeing daylight.  Anyway, now we are stuck with these seven names, many opinions, and no clue where to go from here.  How do we pick this damn name?  These are strategic ideas we tossed around tonight:

• Choose one out of a hat - this one will most likely NOT be happening
• Set up a "playoff" bracket and have our names go head-to-head
• Trading lists and narrowing each others down to two names, which leaves us with four instead of seven to choose from.
• Calling her one name from our list every day and once we've gotten through all of the choices, eliminate the ones that don't work.  Bryan vetoed that idea before I could even get it all the way out.  

What I did do was type up and print out each full name so that we could see what they look like written out.  I think I'm going to hang them up in the house somewhere for us to think about.  For some reason I doubt that this is going to get us any closer to a name.

22 weeks

Finally!  I have a full bodied, head included, picture!  What sucks is that the damn camera battery was dead so Bryan had to take this with his phone.  End result; blurry.