A Pregnancy Update

I'm at 13 Weeks and in maternity clothes already! I love stretchy pants. They are so dang comfortable. I have no idea why we as women don't find a way to make these stylish with or without a baby in the belly. Of course, since I've always carried my weight around my midsection it is lovely to go to a store and shop where everything in the place is made for you to have a large belly! While it does feel like I'm early to maternity clothes, when considering the belly band many women use - isn't that basically the same thing as wearing the stretchy part of the pants on maternity clothes anyways? Maybe it's different if the maternity clothes don't fit your body style as well as they fit mine.

There are quite a few Fun Facts for this stage of the pregnancy:
This week the baby is the size of a peach!
Fingerprints have already formed on the tiny little fingers.
Plus, according to the book my Aunt Diane sent me in the mail, the baby is already practicing the basic reflexes that "are essential to a baby's survival." Right now there is still plenty of room for the baby to move around in the womb. This won't be the case a few months down the road. So the baby is already trying to bounce or leap by using the walls of the womb as a spring board. This is the "stepping reflex" apparently; which explains why babies jump and try to move forward when you hold them upright on your lap as an infant. Isn't that pretty amazing?

So as the first trimester is coming to an end, so is morning sickness from what I can tell. I think I'm starting to get more energy back, although it is not uncommon to find me asleep at 8:30 pm these days. Apparently now I'm headed into the time of gaining about a pound a week. So soon there will be a real belly to rub verses one that just looks like I've gained a few. At this point I am most looking forward to being able to feel the baby move and the 20 week ultrasound where we'll hopefully learn the gender.

This week we also checked one other big thing off the agenda. I'm very happy to say that daycare is now reserved for our baby starting in September 2011! We will have the only infant 3 day a week slot at KinderCare. This daycare is located right around the corner from where we live and work. I have to say that the ladies that run this daycare are by far the most accommodating and customer service focused of all the places I spoke with. Right now we're expecting for Calvin to be able to keep the baby on Mondays, daycare will cover the middle of the week, and we'll get to see my Mom every Friday as she helps with the 5th day of the week. It's perfect really. It will save us so much money to only go part time, and since I get off a little early on Fridays Mom won't have to miss date night with Dad!

As a side note: I've had several people ask if Rascal can tell that I'm expecting. My response is that I definitely think so. Most of the time now he is sleeping right under me on the floor instead of laying on the floor closer to my feet or at the foot of the bed. I can't get up now without him moving for me. When he jumps up to snuggle with his front paws on the couch, he has not jumped directly onto my belly since the very beginning of the pregnancy. Also as I type this he is cuddling with us in the bed. His head is on my lap which in the past would have never happened while I was doing something else.

Today one of my goals is to take my Aunt Sissy's advice. I'm hoping to get Calvin to video tape me twirling around in the same place wearing the same outfit over the course of the pregnancy. Hopefully at the end we'll be able to edit it together as a progression of time experiment!