The word is out!

It felt so good to tell my sibs and co-workers about Baby Cute! What a wonderful weekend, although I have to say my hostessing skills have taken a serious nosedive.

Melanie and Rob arrived first, on Friday night. Melanie brought me a few little gifts (scone mix, a travel coffee mug, and tampons (ironically)). That was a perfect segue to give her my "I love my aunt" frame. She looked at it for a solid minute before I had to say, "well, I'm giving this to you because we're having a baby." She was excited and hugged me well.

Nate and LaRissa arrived later that night. Trying to decide where to eat dinner (although I had already eaten...) Rob says "Well, you are eating for two now." Nathan looked at me like, "baroo?" And I said, "Oh yeah, you're going to be an uncle." Nate a.k.a. Hummy, also thrilled. Hooray!

Saturday I dragged Melanie and LaRissa to Dave's cousin Michelle's baby shower in South Haven. It was a fun drive and we had nice chatter. It was VERY hard for my mother-in-law (MIL) Carolyn and I to keep quiet, but we want Michelle and Baby Boy Bachman to have as much attention as they want before we announce Baby Cute's arrival to that side of the family. It was very fun to see all of the wonderful gifts Michelle received, it's amazing how generous people are! Aunt Patty also made Michelle a "ready-to-go" scrapbook. All she has to do is insert pics of the new baby. That's my kind of scrapbook!

Meredith got to Lansing late and enjoyed the Old Town Winter Beer Festival with the boys. Melanie, LaRissa and I got home and I got to give Meredith her own "I love my aunt" frame. She, like my Mom, held it and said "Really? Really?" as if the baby-centric item meant anything but! It was charming, as Meredith is the first person who's really cried when they heard the news. Mer was just calming down when my parents arrived to join us for dinner. Rob shouted "Hey Grandpa and Grandma Ebig!" which just made Meredith dissolve into tears again!

We shared a delicious Dave-cooked meal of pulled pork, floor potatoes (a.k.a. augratins), green beans and delicious bread from our favorite Saginaw bakery. Having my whole family around my kitchen table felt SO GOOD! I looked around and sighed. I just love our house. The way it's set up makes it easy to have visitors and our kitchen is set up perfect for Ebig-family buffet style meals. Wonderful! I wish I would have taken photos!

My siblings were already discussing how they might win the first-ever "coolest aunt" and "coolest uncle" awards and their intentions to corrupt Baby Cute. Luckily, I know my siblings pretty well, and I know their tendencies to terrorize me even better, so I'll relax for now.

So, about my hostess skills, on Sunday we just sort of chilled. We sat on the couch and chatted. The next thing I knew, it was 2 p.m. and Meredith was leaving! Wow. Baby Cute must have been doing some serious growing, because that was a heck of a nap to have in the middle of a conversation! Melanie, Rob, Dave and I eventually ventured out for Olive Garden (Yum!) and settled back in to watch the Oscars. It's sad, but I didn't make it much past Best Supporting Actress!

I met with my boss and supervisor on Friday to go over my annual review. It just seemed like the right time to tell them, so I did. My boss is prime Grandpa material, he is thrilled. He encouraged me to take care of myself and not to worry about flexing my schedule to make pregnancy easier on me. I really appreciate that a lot. My supervisor has a 3-year-old and has been trying for her second for a while now, so she had lots to share about her experience. I could have done without the miscarriage story, but Baby Cute and I agreed that if I don't worry about her/him too much, she/he will keep growing just fine.

Telling the rest of my co-workers has been fun, too. Leslie, our editor and resident craftswoman, asked "How long do I have to weave something?!" That made me laugh a lot. Leslie collects looms and is a master weaver. I'm excited that Baby Cute might have one of her pieces of art already!

It's nice not to feel like I'm hiding how crappy I feel and that there's an explanation why I'm constantly in the kitchen toasting bread or cutting up an apple. My favorite food of late has been peanut butter. I love peanut butter. On toast, on apples, on bananas. My fruit cravings aren't as strong, but my appetite has really taken a dive in general. I feel so shitty. Oh well, like I said, feeling sick makes me feel like Baby Cute is growing and just needs more from me, so I will survive.

Here is my latest BabyCenter update. The most important note to me--Baby Cute is losing her/his tail. Whew!

Your baby is now 5/8 of an inch long, about the size of a kidney bean. She's constantly moving and shifting, although you won't be able to feel these womb wiggles for several weeks yet. Her embryonic tail is disappearing, and her eyelids practically cover her eyes. Still slightly webbed, her fingers and toes are growing longer. Her arms have lengthened, too, and her hands are now flexed at the wrist. Her knee and elbow joints have formed so she can now bend both, and her feet may be long enough to meet in front of her body. With her trunk straightening out, her head is more erect. Breathing tubes extend from her throat to the branches of her developing lungs. The nerve cells in her brain are also branching out to connect with one another, forming primitive neural pathways. Though you may be daydreaming about your baby as one gender or another, the external genitals still haven't developed enough to reveal whether you're having a boy or a girl.