First Photos

Here are the long awaited ultrasound photos. We are so happy to know that our little baby is growing just like he's supposed to, and everything looks good so far.

We saved the best one for last - look at his little face. And you can see his arm, too. During the ultrasound he was mostly napping, but he took a small break to play with his feet. Babies are so flexible! He had his feet right in front of his face and was grabbing them with both hands :)

Playlist for the Littlest Hare

Andrew here.  Now that baby has ears, it is time to share our music with him!  As mentioned in the last post I got to play for baby for the first time, and found out that we are having a healthy boy all in the last couple of days.  Right now I am feeling overwhelmed with gratitude and love, and to celebrate I wanted to share some highlights from the playlist I put together for the builder.  I tried not to over-think the list, and instead just filled it with music that is so meaningful to me that I couldn't wait to share until baby is born. 

Some Highlights From Builder Jams

Ahmad Jamal: "But Not For Me" from "Live at the Pershing"

This song seems to bury itself into your imagination the more you listen to it.  I love the hypnotic groove of this trio, and could imagine baby bouncing his big head along to it.

Art Blakey and Thelonious Monk: "Blue Monk" from "Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers With Thelonious Monk"

Two of my all-time favorite musicians playing one of my favorite songs = baby needs to hear!  Also, the sooner my son gets Blakey's press roll down, the better prepared for our drum lessons he will be (just kidding). 

Much more to come, enjoy!

Is That a Banana in Your Pocket?

Well, we've hit the 20 week mark as of tomorrow. Halfway done. We went to the big ultrasound today to check the baby's anatomy. I was really worried that we may have a little mutant, because we opted to forgo any genetic testing and I lost so much weight. Okay, just medium worried. But still, what a relief! Everything is normal.

The big news that everyone is most eager to hear is the baby's sex. We were excited to know, ourselves. Here we go:

We have some great images from the ultrasound that show our little guy in more detail, some in 3D even. I will post those once I can get to a scanner.

Baby is the length of a banana this week, and moving around a lot. I can feel him stretching, flipping, and kicking. If I'm sitting still, Andrew can feel too. Baby can also hear now. I went to a jazz club last night with some friends to hear Andrew play - the first jazz show for our little one! I'm sure that concerts will be more interesting when the baby doesn't have to listen underwater.

Holy Guacamole! It's Avocado Week!

Evening stroll along the Grand River, Grand Rapids, MI, after dinner with my grandparents.

I didn't post for a while, as you can see, because I didn't have much to say. I blew right through lemon week and orange week. It's hard being as sick as I was. But there's good news. The nausea seems to be done for the most part, and I'm eating again. All in all, I lost 20 lbs. I've been eating pumpkin cream cheese dip, soy chai lattes, and lots of avocado to try to gain some weight back.

It's fitting that I would be enjoying avocado so much right now, because that's about how big the baby is this week. She or he is starting to grow hair follicles and toe nails. Baby's kidneys have been working for a couple of weeks now, which means that baby can pee. In preparation, we bought some g diapers from a very nice family on Craigslist - just a few to try. Here's hoping they live up to the hype and work equally well with cloth or disposable inserts.

We did some traveling over the last two months that I haven't written much about. We took one long car trip to Michigan, and a short one to Connecticut. In Michigan, we met our friends' new baby, toured another friend's organic farm, ate some of my favorite Michigan foods, and visited with my family. All in all, it was a wonderful time. In Connecticut, we caught up with Andrew's family, shared lots of gross pregnancy news, and put together a showroom's worth of IKEA furniture, which made for another successful trip.

Andrew and Dee making their way to the shore at Saugatuck State Park, MI, after a nice walk through the woods.

Josh @ Soil Power Farm showing off his tomatillos. They were delicious! Hopefully the baby likes fruits and veggies as much as we do. We got to try Josh's potatoes, tomatoes, fancy lettuce, watermelon, yellow cucumbers, and lots more.

One last thing, if you want to make that delicious pumpkin cream cheese dip, here's the recipe. I gave it out a few years ago, but I don't expect people to hang on to things for that long. I know I don't.

Lindsy's Spectacular Pumpkin Dip

1 brick of cream cheese (full or reduced fat), softened

1/2 cup of canned pumpkin 

1/3 cup of brown sugar

Nutmeg to taste (a few shakes)

Maple (flavored) syrup to taste

- Dump everything in a mixing bowl and mix. I use a stand mixer every time.

- Start the mixer on slow and then build up to a medium high speed until smooth

- Add nutmeg and syrup to taste and blend on slow speed

- Dump in a bowl and refrigerate. Lick the spoon, the mixer attachment, and the bowl

- Use for dipping apples and pears, smear on bagels or pancakes, what ever you want

** Do not use Trader Joe's cream cheese. I don't know why, but it sucks. It will make your dip really runny. You want it to be almost mousse or pudding like when it's done.

It's Facebook Official

Well, we finally posted the good news on Facebook. That's the photo, at the bottom. For anyone under 30, that's when things get really serious.

Some highlights from the last few weeks: hearing the baby's heart beat at my most recent appointment (Andrew was there, too!), getting some gently used cloth diapers from another young family, and a lovely trip back to Michigan. I will post more about our trip and add some photos later.

For anyone who was wondering, I am slowly feeling better. I'm no longer coughing/sneezing/dripping from my nose and the nausea has gotten a little better each day. I'm really looking forward to feeling less "green" and doing a lot of serious eating. Gotta gain some weight!

The controversy about the baby's size continues again this week. Depending on which website I'm reading, the baby is either the size of a peach or a jumbo shrimp. That's even more disgusting than kidney bean. Here's a little chart of disgustingness: shrimp > kidney bean > lentil > any fruit ever. As usual, I'm going with the fruit option. Peach it is! Everyone please enjoy a fuzzy navel for me.

Week 11- Fig Week

It's been a little while since my last substantive post - mostly because I've been sick. I've been suffering from morning (and afternoon and night) sickness, and I'm also just getting over an awful sinus infection. I've lost 12 lbs during this trimester so far!

Desperate to cure my constant queasiness, I tried community acupuncture two weeks ago. Overall, it was really pleasant and relaxing. I met a friend there for moral support. We both chatted with the acupuncturist for a couple of minutes, got our needles, and then lounged on special zero gravity chairs in the community room. I didn't freak out about the needles at all (they're very small and thin), and I did feel better for a couple of days. I will probably go again.

As you can see, I've also been experimenting with my new camera. Andrew got it for me for my birthday, but we knew we would use it mostly for the little one. It's been fun following Fig around the house. He's very photogenic!

Speaking of figs, the baby is the size of a Fig this week. That seems huge compared to a lentil! The baby can move all around now that its arms and legs are developed - like underwater ballet - though I can't feel it. All of the baby's major organs are developed and his or her bones are starting to harden. Now it's time to grow. Hopefully that means I'll be hungry again soon. I'm still eating a lot of fruit, but I have to say one of the best things I've eaten in a while were some delicious pickles from Eastern Market during week 10. Look how happy I am!

Share Away!

The most recent appointment went just fine. For anyone who already knows, feel free to share. We're saving the all-important Facebook announcement for later, just fyi. I'm putting together a more detailed update, but I've been really sick, so it's taking some time.