very. far. behind.

very busy. very tired. will catch up eventually, i promise.

roo-2: 12 weeks

i remember this one from last time around. i think this is where we started these with roo-1. from babycenter.com: The most dramatic development this week: reflexes. Your baby's fingers will soon begin to open and close, his toes will curl, his eye muscles will clench, and his mouth will make sucking movements. In fact, if you prod your abdomen, your baby will squirm in response, although you won't be able to feel it. His intestines, which have grown so fast that they protrude into the umbilical cord, will start to move into his abdominal cavity about now, and his kidneys will begin excreting urine into his bladder.Meanwhile, nerve cells are multiplying rapidly, and in your baby's brain, synapses are forming furiously. His face looks unquestionably human: His eyes have moved from the sides to the front of his head, and his ears are right where they should be. From crown to rump, your baby-to-be is just over 2 inches long (about the size of a lime) and weighs half an ounce.

winter wonderland

attempt #2 to play in the snow was much more successful than attempt #1 a few weeks ago. quentin was very interested in the snow and wanted to take his mittens off to touch it.

disappointment

quentin normally goes to his gym class on saturdays, but given that there is ~ a foot of snow on the ground and it is STILL snowing we assumed that class would be canceled. we called when we got up this morning and learned that class was still on! jeremy went out and shoveled enough of the driveway so that we could get out. i got Q dressed and ready to go. the roads were pretty horrendous but we made it to the gym just fine. but we saw the gym director getting in to his car. he came over and told us that he had to close after all because none of the staff could get in and the roads were a lot worse than he thought. despite not speaking much english, quentin knew exactly what mr. dave just said and started screaming and crying. he knew exactly where he was and he wanted to go to his gym. poor little guy. we felt so bad. he looked heartbroken. but i guess it is a feeling he should get used to, growing up in a wake forest family. i mean, we'll all be disappointed in just a matter of hours when the deacs lose to navy in the lamest bowl game there is.

roo-2: 11 weeks

another week down, still tired and nauseous. i'm hoping we're nearly done with both. we went out to a nice lunch yesterday at work and i had to order plain pasta. really classy. i'll also admit that i am wearing a pair of maternity pants today. i only have three pairs of regular pants that still fit and they're all in the wash. the maternity pants are loose, but way more comfortable than a waistband digging in to me all day.

from babycenter.com:

Your baby, just over 1 1/2 inches long and about the size of a fig, is now almost fully formed. Her hands will soon open and close into fists, tiny tooth buds are beginning to appear under her gums, and some of her bones are beginning to harden. She's already busy kicking and stretching, and her tiny movements are so effortless they look like water ballet. These movements will become more frequent as her body grows and becomes more developed and functional. You won't feel your baby's acrobatics for another month or two — nor will you notice the hiccupping that may be happening now that her diaphragm is forming.

in other news, they started putting up our fence yesterday (finally!), though the first part they did is all wrong and will have to be redone. oh well. actual fence will be done soon, maybe as early as monday depending how this snow goes...

and about that... there's already a ton on the ground (6+ inches? it's hard to tell because of the wind) and it's still going. and there's another storm coming sunday. good times.

santa's lap: take two

since the first attempt at santa's lap did not succeed we took Q to the mall this past saturday to try again. again he was tired and cranky and hadn't napped. don't know why we thought we'd get better results this time :)

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mall santa place at least does digital photos rather than polaroids so she did take three pics - and sadly this was the best one. we had the honor of paying $20 for this gem.

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santa's lap: take two = FAIL

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3rd time's a charm?

santa's lap: take 1

last week my office had a holiday party for the kids. i was on the planning committee so poor Q got there 4 hours early to help set up. needless to say, by the time it was santa time, Q wanted out. he was so tired and cranky. he wasn't screaming or crying, just not interested. santa's lap: take 1 = FAIL.

roo-2: 10 weeks

roo 2 is a kumquat, though i admit, i wasn't exactly sure what a kumquat was! no big changes this week. still nauseous most of the time. i was stuck at the richmond airport for a while yesterday and we decided to eat at applebee's. there was nothing on their menu that even remotely appealed to me but i had to eat so i went with chicken tenders. oh boy did i regret that. it definitely didn't help that it was wicked rainy and windy so our flight was bumpy. i was this close to having to use the barf bag. ugh. and it is never a good thing when your pilot comes on the speaker to say, "sorry about that folks, we're going to have to make another attempt at landing. air traffic control got us a little bit too close to the plane in front of us." nice. from babycenter.com: Though he's barely the size of a kumquat — a little over an inch or so long, crown to bottom — and weighs less than a quarter of an ounce, your baby has now completed the most critical portion of his development. This is the beginning of the so-called fetal period, a time when the tissues and organs in his body rapidly grow and mature. He's swallowing fluid and kicking up a storm. Vital organs — including his kidneys, intestines, brain, and liver (now making red blood cells in place of the disappearing yolk sac) — are in place and starting to function, though they'll continue to develop throughout your pregnancy. If you could take a peek inside your womb, you'd spot minute details, like tiny nails forming on fingers and toes (no more webbing) and peach-fuzz hair beginning to grow on tender skin. In other developments: Your baby's limbs can bend now. His hands are flexed at the wrist and meet over his heart, and his feet may be long enough to meet in front of his body. The outline of his spine is clearly visible through translucent skin, and spinal nerves are beginning to stretch out from his spinal cord. Your baby's forehead temporarily bulges with his developing brain and sits very high on his head, which measures half the length of his body. From crown to rump, he's about 1 1/4 inches long. In the coming weeks, your baby will again double in size — to nearly 3 inches. At your next prenatal visit, you may be able to hear your baby's rapid heartbeat with the help of a Doppler stethoscope, a handheld ultrasound device that your practitioner places on your belly. Many women say that the beating of their baby's tiny heart sounded like the thunder of galloping horses and hearing it for the first time was very moving. Before you got pregnant, your uterus was the size of a small pear. By this week, it's as big as a grapefruit. You may or may not be ready for maternity wear now. Even if you're not there yet, your regular clothes are probably feeling uncomfortably tight and your blossoming breasts are straining the seams of your bra. The thickening in your midsection is most likely due to slight weight gain and bloating. If you're between regular and maternity clothes, pants and skirts with forgiving elastic waistbands (or low-rise waistlines that sit below your belly) will provide some much-needed comfort.

Check-out my mohawk

Quentin decided if everyone else is getting a mohawk, why can't I? Despite the fact he still mostly bald, the hair he does have is growing long enough to style. I think I'll give him the mohawk when he goes to see Santa :)

snow bunny

the first snow of the year is here! there's a few inches on the ground, so i HAD to dress quentin up in his little snow ensemble and take him out. i thought he would love it, but i guess it was too close to nap time because he was not amused. we stayed out long enough to snap a few pics of a pissed off toddler and then came back in. maybe we'll try again later.

roo-2: 9 weeks

a grape! my ultrasound appointment went fine today. i waited in the waiting area for over an hour, because despite the fact that i checked in when i got there, they never put me on the list for ultrasound. but once i inquired, they got me right in there. tracking right at 9 weeks, where i should be, so our due date was not changed. i couldn't get photos though, because both of their ultrasound printers were busted. i go back on the 29th and should be able to get copies then.

from babycenter.com:

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. The external sex organs are there but won't be distinguishable as male or female for another few weeks. 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.

coming attraction

in theaters near you july 10, 2009

Fun at the Gym

Thursday is one of the days Q's "gym" has free play where the kids can just do whatever they want. Luckily I was post-call today and had the afternoon free. Q had a great time especially in the ball pit. You can also see he has a nice cut under his right eye. He fell into the wall today at daycare :(

Happy Holidays

Hope everyone had a nice thanksgiving. Quentin made this at daycare last week. I think they used pudding or something. The other kids did not quite get into it as much as my son did. He loves to make a mess!

first appointment

my first appointment took forever, but went well. mass general does not do ultrasounds until 18-20 weeks - weird. but we did the whole medical history, physical exam, etc, as well as the pee in a cup, step on the scale, and check my blood pressure thing that will be the regular routine. blood pressure is good so far - yeah! doctor said i'm measuring big based on the physical exam. she tried to get the heartbeat with the doppler thingy but couldn't (usually can't until 10 or 11 weeks.) so now she wants to do an ultrasound on friday to get a better due date reading. so i go back for a second time this week. ugh - they also took 8 vials of blood. but fortunately the blood guy listened to me about my trusty hand vein being way better than my arm veins so it went relatively painlessly.