Bump

25 weeks 1 day bump:






No hiding it anymore! Yesterday someone even offered me their seat on the metro...Today, however, no such luck.

25 weeks!

Baby Lamont(from BabyCenter): Head to heels, your baby now measures about 13 1/2 inches. Her weight — a pound and a half — isn't much more than an average eggplant, but she's beginning to exchange her long, lean look for some baby fat. As she does, her wrinkled skin will begin to smooth out and she'll start to look more and more like a newborn. She's also growing more hair — and if you could see it, you'd now be able to discern its color and texture.

I can't believe that Baby L is now longer than the ruler I had been marking his/her growth on--OR that something that long fits in my belly!

Here's a pregnancy update:

Sleep: Getting worse. The pee breaks are waking me up 3-4 times a night and I'm having trouble falling back to sleep. On Sunday, my solution was to go to bed at 9:30....and then I was wide awake at 4am. But I think going to bed earlier still has the potential to help.

Gender: Still unknown, but (as you'll see tomorrow when we get pics), my bump is straight out in front and low, so I'm thinking it's a boy. I re-tried the online quiz and it said 67% boy, 33% girl.

Feeling: Great! I got tired spells and definitely get out of breath a lot easier, but other than that I'm happy :-). The blood flow to my face has definitely increased so I'm truly glowing now.

Health/Exercise: We're slower and walking more, but Mueller and I are still running! 45mins with walk breaks at 20 mins and whenever I need after that, but still going strong. The one day it rained I did a Jillian Michaels 30-Day Shred video on On Demand and even though it was only 20 mins, it kicked my butt!

Movement/Kicks: Lots of kicks on a daily basis. In fact, the baby is now kicking me on the lower right side of the bump. I can sometimes tell where the baby's head is because I feel it and then I'll look down and my bump will be lopsided! And Stephen and I can feel my bump and usually find a harder part where the baby's trunk or head must be. Today the baby was especially active in the morning between breakfast and lunch, but mostly doing a dance on my bladder.

Maternity Clothes: Ugh, I don't want to talk about them. Can someone please design a line of moderately-priced, attractive maternity clothes? I can still wear some tight tops (thanks to a straight-out-in-front bump), which is good, but I don't know what I'm going to do when they don't fit anymore. Most maternity clothes are NOT cute, and the ones that are halfway decent are expensive. There's a huge niche that needs to be filled.

Belly Button: Still in, but getting shallow.

Highlight of the week: Spending Sunday afternoon with Veronica & Josh and Jen & Brendan and their baby girl, Delaney. We caught up and talked babies a lot, and it was so nice to just hang out with old friends.

Upcoming milestones: 26 week appointment next Wednesday. And only 15 weeks to go!

Genes?

I've given a lot of thought to what the baby will look like. Of course it will be red and puffy for the first few days (Stephen did not know this was the case and is still a perturbed that babies are not cute the instant they are born--or for about 2 weeks after that), but will he/she have hair? Will it be dark? Will his/her eyes be big like Stephen's or small like mine? Whose nose will he or she have?

Instead of just wondering, I decided to use the clues we have to make some guesses. And then I got a little carried away with watching us change as we grew up.

Here we are as infants:

So my guess is that our baby will pretty much be bald, and any hair that he or she has will be blonde. Baby L will also probably have giant cheeks. And, if she/he inherits Stephen's lips, I think the baby will look like Shiloh Jolie-Pitt.

Stephen & Helen as toddlers:

At this point the eyes could go either way, but Baby L should still be blonde. And the preference for presents/candy will apparently come from one of us.

Stephen & Helen in nursery school:

Some physical traits will start to become apparent by nursery school- Baby L's hair could be blonde or brunette, but either way his or her eyes should be bigger. Talkativeness and studiousness may start to become apparent.

Stephen & Helen in elementary school:

Blue-eyed with brown or blonde hair.

The middle school years were tough for both of us. We're considering home schooling our children during these years if they start to show some of our awkwardness.

Then again, some contacts, a brow waxing, better fashion, and Noxema might do the trick.

And now it's just fun to see us grow up. High school:


College:


Our first date:


Married!


And, in 15 1/2 weeks: Parents.