Happy Thoughts.

So many things to be happy about today...

• I am 21 weeks pregnant with a healthy Baby Cute.
• Baby Cute is squirmy, making me know she/he is doing ok all day long.
• David is enjoying his new position and excelling at his new responsibilities.
• I may have to travel across campus construction for meetings, but they are usually in Anthony Hall, home of the MSU Dairy Store and my FAVORITE chocolate ice cream ever.
• A story I wrote is getting picked up tonight on the 6 o'clock news, thrilling the researcher and my boss(es).
• One of my wires came loose in my braces yesterday, but I got it fixed in under 15 minutes today--a world record for my pokey orthodontist.
• Getting my wire fixed made my mouth feel better, not worse, allowing me to eat normally today.
• We bought a beautiful house in a fabulous neighborhood that has CENTRAL air conditioning that works well.
• I met another one of my neighbors yesterday--mother of four and preschool teacher at a local Catholic school. She complimented my snapdragons.
• My yard continues to bloom and bloom and bloom. New this week--PEONIES!
• My co-workers are being very considerate in making the air conditioning flow from their small offices to me.
• It's 85+ degrees outside, and I am not puffy.
• David and I got the majority of things OUT of the nursery last night, leaving us just two bookshelves and the desk to move out. Then we can rip up carpet and prepare for bamboo!
• I get to see my good friend Anne win a very important alumni award next week, giving me an excuse to go to Mt. Pleasant and see many of my favorite CMU peeps.
• I remembered to take David's dry-cleaning in today. The local dry cleaner is a little shady, but reasonably priced. She also suggested that they fold David's dress shirts, making packing them a lot easier.
• My June to-do list is two pages long, and there is minimal rollover from May. Being pregnant apparently = being productive!

Now for the 21 week updates!

BabyCenter: Your baby now weighs about three-quarters of a pound and is approximately 10 1/2 inches long. His eyebrows and eyelids are fully developed. And you can certainly feel him move. He's oblivious to your schedule, though, so don't be surprised if he starts working out just when you're settling down for the night. If you're having a girl, her vagina is formed now, though it will continue to develop until birth. You're probably feeling pretty comfortable these days. You're not too big yet, and the usual aches and pains associated with early pregnancy are, for the most part, gone. Relax and enjoy it while you can — the third trimester will bring some mild discomfort from carrying a baby who is nearly full-term.

BabyGaga: Your beautiful little miracle-gro baby will be putting on a full ounce and a half this week (up to 16.5 oz), but that’s just the beginning! Within the next five weeks, they’ll really be packin’ it on! For now, we’re pleased to report the addition of rapid eye movement (REM) a key component to any baby’s healthy sleep schedule. And in the dermatology department: their thin soft skin is very red, fairly translucent, and a bit wrinkled. Not to worry, it’s not a premature aging disease. It's just their clever little body setting them up with extra space that will smooth out once your little one starts packing on the baby-fat. That won’t be for a few more weeks, though. So for the time being, your munchkin is still a little lean mean growing machine! The beginnings of what is commonly called “brown fat” is just starting to fill in to help your baby retain some body heat, which is crucial as they’re not yet capable of regulating their own body temperature.

Cool news.

Great news, our central air conditioning system fired up like a champ this morning. In preparation for today's 89 degree forecast, Dave set the programmable system so we may actually be able to sleep tonight. Heat, ugh.

What a cool weekend. Cousin Michael's graduation party was a lot of fun, even though Michelle's baby Tayden peed on me. Just goes to show that no matter how prepared you are and how much air you wave on a baby boy pee pee, he may still aim and fire when you change his diaper. At least it was to the side and not right in my face. In that case I would be poking Baby Cute more often encouraging her/him to be a girl.

We caught the Michigan City train without incident and got to take the L with Meredith back to her condo. If I haven't already mentioned it, Dave and I love mass transit. We ate delicious Italian food (including fresh tomato/mozzarella salad with balsamic vinaigrette-delish!) and I got to sleep under my favorite Japanese blanket. I also discovered that sleeping on an air mattress allows me to sleep on my stomach (hooray!). Monday we had a brief visit to the Art Institute, where it took us far too long to realize that our friends Monet, Van Gogh, Picasso and Renoir were just beyond the seemingly endless rooms of religious art. By that time, we were tired and I felt woozy from missing lunch, so we headed back to Meredith and Jerry's where we ate delicious BBQ'd food and strawberries. There was other food, too, but I mainly remember the hamburger and the strawberries.

My sister Melanie is quite an amazing artist, and very thoughtful. She put both of these talents to work and painted Baby Cute some adorable Gerber onesies, including a sunshine, a mushroom, a baby dinosaur and yes, a zucchini. Calling Baby Cute the zucchini just sort of fits... and it's better than Baby Pat as my co-workers have taken to calling my shy baby. SO cute. Meredith even did that silly thing where you put baby clothing on the preggo lady belly and say 'awwwww.' Yep, it's official--we're those people.

Frankly, I'm not feeling very good. Nothing really wrong, but I feel "off." I don't need to call the doc, but my ankles are puffing up more and more at night and I have pretty much lost my appetite. I have to force myself to eat, and then I feel significantly better after a meal--go figure. My cravings have almost totally subsided--I am eating based on time of day now rather than hunger. Humph, I got nuthin'.

My coworker Sara told me fans are like pain medications, you can't wait until you NEED them. So I'm going to fire mine up and check a LOT of things off my list today. I am meeting-free, so no excuses.

21 weeks today and it's almost JUNE. Whoa.

mmmm, weeeekend.

So Dave is snoring loudly upstairs and I am sitting at my dining room table enjoying the mysterious free wireless internet that has found its way into my house. Hooray for technology.

Today was a monumental day in Baby Cute's life, and he/she doesn't even know it yet. Baby Cute got his/her official pair of Osh Kosh B'Gosh overalls. Dave's wardrobe needed a little spiffing up for his Minnesota trip, so we headed to the Howell outlets where they not only have a Casual Male outlet, but also a Lane Bryant outlet, a Motherhood Maternity outlet, a Carter's outlet and an Osh Kosh B'Gosh outlet. I thought the $7.99 overall sale was a joke, but it WAS NOT. So Baby Cute got adorable jean overalls--0/3 months and 12 months for under $20--a bargain at twice the price at Dave would say.

We held back otherwise (perhaps Baby Cute was hiding his/her genitals from us because he/she knew we would have trouble not buying him/her adorable clothing.... Our Baby Cute is obnoxiously smart of course), but picked up a few $5 sleepers at the Carters outlet and a couple lovely items at the Motherhood Maternity store. Dave's wardrobe got the spiffing it needed and he is the proud owner of a new sports coat from the Casual Male clearance rack, a new polo shirt, two new ties and a button down shirt. He is SO easy to shop for.

Dave worked until almost 7pm yesterday. Poor thing, he is up to 130+ hours for the last two weeks. His schedule was rather convenient for me, as it gave me time to have a manicure, pedicure AND Cold Stone Creamery cake batter ice cream with my favorite co-workers Beth and Michelle. The JCPenney salon has woefully inadequate pedicure facilities, but my fingers and toes were painted Pompeii Purple for less than the price of some pedicures I've had-including tip-so it was worth it.

So it's midnight and I'm still awake... Sad but true, we went to sleep just after 9pm yesterday and were up by 7am. After a long day of shopping and a delicious plate of garden nachos at Buddies in Okemos, I was tuckered out. Dave apparently tried to wake me up after 2 hours of napping, but I was having none of it. So perhaps the 4-hour nap could be why it is midnight and I am not tired. Funny how that works...

Tomorrow we see some of my favorite people--MomCarolyn, Dave, Aunt Patti, Grandma Wiacek, and my SEESTERS. I love weekends!

Halfway there, halfway ready.

Oh Baby Cute. I'm so glad you're growing nice and big and strong. It makes me happy to look at your little skeleton face waving at me from your ultrasound photo session on Tuesday. However, a few suggestions:

• Please grow slow and steady. Pushing on my uterus with your little baby arms and legs doesn't feel good to Mommy.


• Learn to love sugar. Mommy loves sugar, so you're going to have to stay calm when she drinks her morning cranberry juice. If you roll all around and go nuts you're going to make Mommy mad and she will poke you.


• Feel free to aim high. I'd rather have you near my belly button than my bladder. Mommy's bathroom at work isn't fabulous, and someone on her floor has a bad habit of stinking up the small room with no ventilation, so I'd like to spend as little time in there as possible.


• You are just a visitor in Mommy's body. Please exercise caution when batting at her organs, or you will wear out your welcome. See the note above on poking.

Good news from our family--Daddy Cute a.k.a. Dave got a promotion! He was hand-picked to be assistant scoring director on his next project. For those who don't know, Dave scores standardized tests on a project basis for a variety of states. The new position is more responsibility, higher pay and he is traveling to Minnesota for a week to work with the education peeps there on how to score their test. He is SO excited, I am SO proud. His work is still project-based, but being a director extends the work out a lot longer on either end of the project AND he works an hour or more of overtime each day. He will also be more likely to supervise upcoming projects and be called on to serve as assistant scoring director again from time to time. SUCH good news!

I had a great meeting with the leader of the animal side of my job today. He is a cool guy, and much more accessible than my previous contact. He also has great ideas and feedback. Hooray for good supervisors and clear direction!

I also spent time chillin' with my animal peeps for a while. One of the graduate students delivered last night at Sparrow, where Baby Cute will be born. The graduate student coordinator actually attended the birth and was "in charge of holding the left leg." She had WONDERFUL things to say--about the birth, about Sparrow's facilities, about Sparrow's nurses, about the food, about her postpartum care. Let me tell you, other than my Mom, there have been very few positive birth stories for me to hear, so I was so happy to have taken the time to chat with the coordinator.

It has been a helluva week. Dave's current project is running behind, so he's been working 7am-5:30pm all week. With the car-sharing situation, that puts me at work 7:15am-5:15pm. I only worked 6-10pm at the baby store one night, but I feel like I could sleep for DAYS. Dave feels the same way. As he said this morning, this three-day weekend CAN NOT come at a better time.

We made sure to plan NOTHING to do on Saturday. Sunday we are heading to Bangor for cousin Michael's graduation party. From Bangor we'll hit Michigan City and hop on the train to Chicago. We're going to just skip the tolls and traffic and ride the commuter train to see Meredith and Jerry. Great news is that Melanie, Rob, Nate and Larry are all coming too! Hooray for Sibling-Fest Weekend!!

And if you're still reading, here is Baby Cute's 20 week status report. Can you believe we are half way???

BabyCenter: Your baby weighs about 10 1/2 ounces now. She's also around 6 1/2 inches long from head to bottom, and about 10 inches from head to heel. (For the first 20 weeks, we use measurements taken from the top of the baby's head to her bottom — known as the "crown to rump" measurement. After that, we use measurements from head to toe. This is because a baby's legs are curled up against her torso during the first half of pregnancy and are very hard to measure.)A greasy white substance called vernix caseosa coats her entire body to protect her skin during its long submersion in amniotic fluid. (This slick coating also eases the journey down the birth canal.)Your baby is swallowing more, which is good practice for her digestive system. She's also producing meconium, a black, sticky substance that's the result of cell loss, digestive secretion, and swallowed amniotic fluid. This meconium will accumulate in her bowels, and you'll see it in her first messy diaper (although a few babies pass it in utero or during delivery).

BabyGaga: you’ve got about 10.5 inches and approximately 10.5 oz of solid baby-miracle-goodness! Their little delicate bones continue to ossify and toughen while their itsy bitsy finger and toe pads are finishing up. Your little monkey now has teeth buds, although they’re hidden beneath the gum line. And finally! Their limbs have reached their relative proportions—no more alien baby! Their cute pink lips are more defined, and might be helping out in a bit of prenatal thumb-sucking. If you have a little boy, then their tiny testes are descending, though they have not yet passed the abdominal wall. What’s more, eyelashes and eyebrows are also visible. At this point, your little one really looks like a miniature baby—and we do mean miniature as your little swimmer currently weighs a mere eighth of their final birth weight. With half the pregnancy behind you, the most significant gains are yet to come!

It's a(n)...

INDIAN.

My baby likes to sit Indian Style. Cross-legged. With his/her back toward the nice ultrasound lady. My baby is apparently both modest and stubborn.

Baby Cute's gender is still a mystery.

Baby Cute does have two kidneys, a well-developed four-chamber heart pumping at 141 beats/minute, ten fingers, a cute little alien face and a host of other fully functioning parts. The baby is measuring right on for 10/10/06 and weighs 11 ounces. Baby Cute had the hiccups during the ultrasound and waved at us, too. It was very fun. Oh, and I gained a pound. That puts me at negative 5 pounds so far.

So there is lots of good news, and just a small piece of disappointing news. No running out to buy pink or blue clothes.

The doc we saw today said our primary doc may order another look because the ultrasound tech couldn't QUITE get a good look at all that she wanted to, but he wasn't sure. I told him to pass on the message that I would be more than willing to fill my bladder to capacity again and hold it for another look at Baby Cute. But Baby Cute's gender may also remain a mystery until the leaves change colors, the weather grows colder and I do my darndest to push my stubborn Indian Baby Cute out. Only time will tell.

Ode to David.

I love David so very much. All of the cliches about love growing over time and a baby being a true culmination of your love... They're all true. Or at least, it's how I feel in this haze of pregnancy hormones.

I told David about the baby developing its sense of hearing yesterday during a fantastic Grey's Anatomy finale, so he took the initiative to lay directly next to my belly and talk to Baby Cute throughout the show. Everyone tells me that Baby Cute is going to be brilliant, and my little fetus is well on its way. Whenever Dave would talk to Baby Cute, I felt all of my flip flops and bubble pops and butterfly wing flapping or whatever this "quickening" business is. About the third time it happened I realized that Baby Cute was responding to Daddy Cute!

It also touched me yesterday when David shared that he is not only working overtime at the testing center on Saturday, he's also working Sunday. AND he's already scheduled to do a wedding on Saturday night. I told him he should think about not working THAT much and he told me he was looking forward to it. It would pad our savings account enough that he hopes I'll be able to stop worrying.

What a man.

So while I'm on this "love" kick, let me also give a shout-out to my co-workers. Of their own volition, they've set up our whiteboard with a "Boy or Girl?" survey and are standing out in the main area of my office daydreaming about buying little boy or little girl clothes. I'm just sitting here smiling.

I'm a lucky gal.

I LOVE my secretary.

My secretary Barb is amazing. She is very much like a surrogate mother to me (and most of the other adult women in my office), and has been amazing throughout this pregnancy. In fact, I no more than mentioned that I didn't feel good the day after I found out about Baby Cute and Barb looked me right in the eye and said "You're pregnant, aren't you?" I was so taken aback, I flubbed up my answer and then passed her a note later in the day that said "ssssssshhhhh--not telling anyone yet!"

Anyway, I gave Dave my last dollar today for a morning cranberry juice craving. I don't know what's worse--not having money, or having money, but not wanting to spend it. I don't want to pull from our savings for spending money, but it's hard not to have any cash in my wallet when I'm used to my weekly allowance. Things are just a little tighter this month. So basically, I'm broke. (I promise, there's a point to this story)

So my delightful secretary Barb decides to order from Jimmy John's for lunch. If Baby Cute comes out with three eyes or six toes, we can blame Jimmy John's. All of the books tell you not to eat lunch meat, so technically subs are not allowed. Basically, if you get tainted lunch meat you can get listeria and that can harm the baby. I trusted Jimmy John's twice when my cravings have gotten the best of me and I have indulged in delicious ham subs. So I have no money, I love Barb, and she is ordering from Jimmy John's--are you still with me?

Barb bought me a pickle. A huge, delicious, salty Jimmy John's deli pickle. I had to cut it into small pieces so it didn't hurt, but it was AMAZING. Barb was already high on my list of people I love and admire, but she just shot herself up in the rankings. It was SO good.

I'm officially 19 weeks along now. I like that Baby Cute is the size of a small zucchini. This makes me think of fried zucchini that my Grandma Ebig makes. Yum.

This weekend is the East Lansing Art Festival. I'm pretty excited because my friend (and honorary little sister) Sarah was selected to exhibit as an up and coming artist with her butterfly jewelry. It's gorgeous, and she is currently living in Marquette working on her medical residency so I haven't seen her for several months. This is also a great excuse to go to the Art Fair, which is a great way to spend a Saturday. I will be on the lookout for baby crafts and sunshine things.

Time for the 19-week updates... T-minus 5 days until our big ultrasound!

BabyCenter: Your baby weighs about 8 1/2 ounces, and he measures 6 inches, head to bottom — about the length of a small zucchini. The hair on his scalp is sprouting. If your baby is a girl, she already has 6 million eggs in her ovaries. This is a crucial time for sensory development: Your baby's brain is designating specialized areas for smell, taste, hearing, vision, and touch. He may be able to hear you as you talk. Research shows that he's learning to distinguish your voice from others, and he'll soon show a preference for it. Let Dad get in on the act, too — encourage him to talk to your baby.

Dave definitely talks to my belly. It's adorable.

And Baby-Gaga: Your amazing little baby is now around 10 inches in length! If this seems a bit shocking, you’ll be relieved to know they’ve not actually grown over 3 inches, but that their little legs are now straight enough to be measured. This is when doctors begin measuring fetal growth from head to toe, (no longer “crown to rump” or CR). Lanugo (little hairs) covers the whole body now, trapping that charming cheese-like vernix caseosa to the surface to the skin. This week your lil’ fetus will start on an appetizing diet of amniotic fluid which they are now capable of swallowing, digesting, and passing the fluid as far as their tiny “large” intestines. Fortunately for you, this nice little lump of baby-poop won’t be coming out while they’re still in your womb. Some time shortly after they’re born, this fun lump will become the first in a long line of baby poops. (What finally comes out— commonly known as “meconium” to the science world, will be black and sticky, and you’ll be very glad it happens only once!)

In honor of my lunchmeat craving faux pas confession, here is a funny cartoon.