Ok here it is, 27 weeks and 44″ around!

I occasionally wonder if there is actually a baby growing inside of me, or just a series of large worms, (remember the sandworms in Beetlejuice?? Ya, think thier babies or something, maybe the worms from Tremors). They crawl and squirm around in what used to be my intestines and is now just some giant anti-baby-void. Then they randomly EXPLODE! This is what it feels like when my little girl does somersaults & then kicks.

I was laughing with Jess about it earlier. I compared it to a tapeworm. A LARGE Tapeworm. A large Anorexic tapeworm. Sound odd? Here ya go: It must be anorexic seeing as how I am not losing any weight. which means the “tapeworm” is eating all the celery, carrots and apples, and leaving me with the chocolate cake and pasta. Ok, ok, so really nothing like a tapeworm at all, but it was the only worm I could think of that would reside in my belly.

Keep your eyes peeled… another belly pic coming soon!

How your baby’s growing:This week your baby weighs almost 2 pounds (like a head of cauliflower) and is about 14.4 inches long with his legs extended. He can now open and close his eyes, and he sleeps and wakes at regular intervals. He may suck his fingers, and although his lungs are still immature, they would be capable of functioning — with assistance — if he were to be born prematurely. Chalk up any rhythmic movement you may be feeling to a case of baby hiccups, which may be common from now on. Each episode usually lasts only a few moments, and isn’t bothersome to him, so enjoy the tickle. With more brain tissue developing, your baby’s brain is very active now. Wonder what he’s thinking?

Milestone:

This week I was doing homework on my new Laptop lap top table thing. Thanks Ali It was resting on my knees and belly, when all the sudden my laptop bounced. Then it bounced again!
She was kicking me so hard she was actually moving the laptop! Amazing. Just a week ago Jess was having a hard time feeling her move, and now she is responding to touch. We wanted to videotape it… but unfortunately the video camera and digital camera were stolen. Hopefully we will have them replaced before too long and be able to post a video. We watched her move my laptop for about 2 minutes in awe of the amazing feat. I even admit I cried a little bit as Jess’s face lit up watching it happen. Now, I am just beginning to understand why all this is so worth it.

26 Weeks from BabyCenter.com:
How your baby’s growing:Your baby now weighs about a pound and two-thirds and measures 14 inches (an English hothouse cucumber), from head to heel. The nerve pathways in her ears are developing, which means her response to sounds is growing more consistent. Her lungs are developing now, too, as she continues to take small breaths of amniotic fluid — good practice for when she’s born and takes that first breath of air.

Kick my butt! I guess that is a good thing though.. Since my butt seems to be getting so much bigger. Also, the feeling of being weighltess in the water is awesome! However, getting out of the water and remembering how much I really weigh… not so awesome.

This week has proven very stressful for Jess, myself and the baby. On Thursday 2/29/08 we were robbed. Our house was broken into (fortunately no one was home) and it was a MESS!!! What that meant for us, was lots of eating at restraunts over the weekend and LOTS & LOTS of laundry.
In the nature of Jess and I and home invasion, we went shooting on Saturday. I familiarized myself with Ryans gun again (thanks Ry) and Jess taught me how to “panic shoot”. I am now ok and between the shotgun sitting next to the bed and the .45 I keep close by, I should be ok… all this assuiming that Jess for some reason is not around. Jess, of course, is already confident with guns and all that jazz, so this is almost second nature for him. Here comes the fun part… you ready?
Shooting with the Baby in Utero. She did well at first, slept through the whole first 15 minutes. Then started kicking… then started kicking and rolling… then started kicking and punching and rolling and summersaulting and being a super-secret ninja. I have never felt her so active. Pure Bliss (despite the sticky sweet gunpowder taste in my mouth when we left).
On Sunday Morning we met Travis and Beckie for breakfast at Marie Calndars all you can eat Brunch (this should come with a warning for pregnant women… Enough is ENOUGH!!). But between my full bladder and over-stuffed stomach, our little one had next to no room, and I was well aware. I grabbed Jess’ hand and he felt the baby kick for sure, (he has had a few times he thought he felt the baby, but was not sure). So she really is getting stronger.
Our young grasshopper (or glasshopper as I like to say… can you hear the accent??) is learning to defend herself well. If Mom eats too much.. .HI-YA! Karate Chop to the Kidney. If Mom makes too much noise with guns KA-POW! Kick to the ribs… this kid has it all figured out and she can’t even smell yet. But as we learned in the previous post, she can taste. Once she is a complete package, watch out world! It’s a baby me (hahaha!) Which also means its a baby Grandma Bobbi and a baby Great Grandma Roaslie. Like I said… WATCH OUT!

So I have been nesting something fierce lately. Poor Jess, he handles it all so well. For some odd reason, I feel the need to start getting things ready. Karl and Dao are sending baby packages soon, and I know that will really help, but for the time being… I am going insane.

My Dad bought us a CRIB!!! Can you believe it? He is the best. He and my mom delivered it today at about noon. It is still in the box and I plan on keeping it that way as long as possible, but just knowing the box is in the nursery-to-be makes me feel a lot better. He also bought us a swing, it’s super cute and I promise to post pictures as soon as we have it put together. It goes right along with the Winnie the Pooh Theme.

So now we have the crib, a swing, 2 cradles, some toys, a carseat, and some baby clothes (which by the way I cleared a space for in my closet and hung up, seeing them there helps me as well). So in all this craziness Jess has kept his head on straight. He appeases me by kissing my belly and talking to the baby. It’s the little things like that that confirm he will be a GREAT dad! (and anybody who disagrees can deal with me!)

Jess and I went to regsiter at Babies R Us this weekend. It was a bit awkward as the store girl followed us around the whole time just in case we had questions. But it made it difficult to discuss things and joke the way Jess and I like to. On top of that, this morning I got on to check out the registry and see what we had registered for, and there was nothing there!!! The girl had forgotten to upload our list! Oooohhhhhh was I mad! When we finished at Toys R Us, she had to call someone to ask how to upload it, and just kind of sat there. Then told us we could leave and she would handle it. Did she honestly think we wouldn’t find out? Come on. She had our phone number, she could have called us. But to avoid ripping her face off (which, by they way, I am totally capable of right now) I just spend an hour and half registering online trying to remember all the things we requested.

The next step is WalMart, that one should hopefully go better… Hopefully. Keep your fingers crossed.

We will be cleaning up the “office” and turning it into a nursery over the next month. Pictures will eventually follow.

On a side note, Dogs+Poprocks= not as much fun as you might think. We got bored the other night and were trying to take our minds off everything thats been going on. I ran down to Walgreens, picked up some PopRocks and Jess poured a few into the dogs mouths. Their reaction? Nothing, they licked their lips a lot and shook their heads a few times. Not nearly as much fun as we had hoped for. I have a video… I guess I should upload it. But don’t bother tormenting your dogs with PopRocks. It’s not as cool as you think.

Waist: 42″

Your baby now looks like a miniature newborn, checking in at 10.9 inches (the length of a spaghetti squash) and almost 1 pound. Her skin will continue to appear wrinkled until she gains enough weight to fill it out. Your baby’s eyes are developed, though the iris (the colored part of the eye) still lacks some pigment. Her lips are becoming more distinct, and the first signs of teeth are appearing as buds beneath her gum line. Her eyes are developed, though the iris (the colored part of the eye) still lacks pigment. Eyelids and eyebrows are in place, and her pancreas, essential for hormone production, is developing steadily.