24 Weeks

Today's date: Feb 28, 2012

How far along: 24 weeks

Total weight gain: 4? pounds

Size and Growth of Baby:Your baby is now so fully formed that he would be capable of living outside the womb if an emergency arose. His lungs, though still very immature, could breathe air if need be. Though the brain is much more formed now, the cerebral cortex--the place in the brain responsible for the most sophisticated mental activity (thoughts, consciousness, memory, language)--is not yet functional. The complex human brain, which makes us so different from other primates and mammals, takes much longer to come out of the embryonic stage than any other part of the fetus. In fact, a baby's brain will not be fully formed until after cooking for nine months in the womb and living outside the womb for about a year, during which time it will nearly triple in size!

Gender: we don't know!

Maternity clothes: yes!

Sleep: I find side sleeping and back sleeping where I am usually the most comfortable. With a couple pillows tucked around my side.

Best moment(s) of the week: Watching the boys play in the snow!

Movement: Baby likes orange juice. :) Moving a lot now and kicking in all directions.

Food cravings/aversions: Cheese sticks

Morning sickness: I swear its going the wrong way! and I can't eat cereal for breakfast or we will be revisiting in no time!

Labor signs: none

What I miss: sleep, but that is more from the other boys than this baby

What I'm looking forward to: Dr appointment on Tuesday (next week) again to hear baby heart beat.

22 Weeks

Today's date: Feb 14, 2012

How far along: 22 weeks

Total weight gain: 2 pounds

Size and growth of the baby:Baby can hear now: the gurgle of your digestion, the muffled, watery sound of your voice, and your strong and reassuring heartbeat that has been its constant companion. There are teeth buds under the gums, and hair sprouting on baby's head. Baby's tiny fingers are strong enough to grip things now, and fetuses at this age are often spotted holding the umbilical cord. Though baby practices breathing movements all the time now, the lungs aren't mature enough to breathe on their own. The complicated brain-to-eye wiring that will allow the baby to see is working like crazy this week, though it may be more than a month before its fused eyelids open.

Your baby is... 10.94 inches long 15.17 ounces about the size of a sweet potato

Gender: we don't know!

Maternity clothes: yes!

Sleep: I find side sleeping and back sleeping where I am usually the most comfortable. With a couple pillows tucked around my side.

Best moment(s) of the week: Planing games for a baby shower and looking through my baby stuff. So cute how tiny everything is!

Movement: Getting stronger, baby likes to kick down low and on my bladder.

Food cravings/aversions: chocolate this week

Morning sickness: dwindling! YAY! But still present every few days.

Labor signs: none

What I miss: not having to pee every 30 seconds...hopefully the baby moves away from my bladder soon! Its not a trampoline!

What I'm looking forward to: feeling the baby being more active, and for a good friend to have her baby very soon!

Week 21

Today's date: Feb 7, 2012

How far along: 21 weeks

Total weight gain: 2 pounds

Size and growth of the baby:A lot is going on for Baby this week. Fat, for one thing. The little one is finally putting on some chub, a process that will continue for the rest of gestation. With fat underneath it, its skin no longer looks so translucent. Baby's fingernails cover the nail beds completely (and may even need cutting when it's born!) and baby's eyelids and eyebrows are fully formed. But it's brain development that's really taking off: This week, the sensory neurons (the nerves that communicate the sense of touch) are starting to connect to the brain, so the baby is beginning to feel touch. Touch is one of the most important senses at birth and the sensory neurons will continue to hook up to the brain for the rest of the pregnancy. Researchers believe that those nonstop kicks and all that squirming help to program the brain.

Our little baby at 20 weeks (taken Jan 31, 2012)

Gender: we don't know!

Maternity clothes: yes!

Sleep: On the side starting more on the back...this is no fun! I'm a tummy sleeper!

Best moment(s) of the week: ...Eli Can't decide what the baby is...its either a boy baby or a grill baby! lol

Movement: Getting stronger.

Food cravings/aversions: Carrots and dip! yumm

Morning sickness: only about 2-3 times a week!

Labor signs: none

What I miss: energy

What I'm looking forward to: feeling the baby being more active.

Stuck inside

The boys love to play outside. Whether it be spring, summer, winter or fall, they love them all. So this winter (with the lack of snow and over abundance of rain) we have haven't had a lot of chances to go out to play. Usually David is the one to take them out. I like going out but by the time I get the boys dress (which takes forever) I am way to tired to want to go out and figure I could use a few minutes of quite time to myself. The boys love building snow forts and being pulled on the sled. So much fun.

So what do we do when its raining out all the time instead of snowing or the temperature is way to cold to be safe enough to play outside in? We entertain ourselves inside with lots of fun activities.

The boys got a few boxes of Trios for Christmas so they love to get those out to play. Eli love the farm set. He actually got this one for his birthday but its his favorite. Ezekiel has an airplane. I try to pick the strongest thing I can to build for him because he just likes to destroy them and I get sick of rebuilding them 20 times just so he can go and break them again. But they are really fun and cool building blocks.
Or next favorite thing to do is play in our toy bins...yeah we have that cool shelf with removable plastic toy bins which is a really nice toy self. But the bins are usually empty so we take the empty bins and make use of them...Zekes favorite is to fill them with water which is a HUGE HUGE mess so its done either in the kitchen or bathroom with about 8 towels laid out all over the floor. Today we decided to use something else. Eli wanted to 'push' stuff so I grabbed the stale cheerios from the cupboard.
SCORE they thought it was great! They each have their trucks in their bins to do the work of pushing and digging and loading...such boys! lol

I think Zeke liked eating them the most...



We also make a weekly trip to the library for our Laptime Session. Its basically story time with the kids. We also pick out about 6-8 new books a week to bring home and read. The boys love it. Eli is always asking it its Laptime Day. Here are the boys reading their books before bed...all on there own. We didn't make them they just love to read!