21 weeks

(From babycenter.com)

You're gaining weight and your pregnancy is showing!

Your Baby:Your baby now weighs about three-quarters of a pound and is approximately 10 1/2 inches long — the length of a carrot. You may soon feel like she's practicing martial arts as her initial fluttering movements turn into full-fledged kicks and nudges. You may also discover a pattern to her activity as you get to know her better. In other developments, your baby's eyebrows and lids are present now, and if you're having a girl, her vagina has begun to form as well.

first bikini outing

I finally got to the pool today. It felt SO good to swim. And somehow I managed to walk around in a bikini. The baby liked the swimming - there was a lot of flipping around afterward :)

today's playlist

Baby has been LOVING the music lately. Usually I get big kicks when I put the speakers on. It was a slow day.

There were big kicks this morning right after breakfast, though. This morning I knitted and we listened to:

Mozart Effect:Music for Babies Vol. 3 - Flute concerto No. 2 in D major, III, K. 314 = 2 kicks
Baby Einstein Lullaby Classics - Carmen Suite by George Bizet = 0 kicks
Mozart Effect: Music for Children Vol. 2 - Andante, Symphony No. 6, K. 43 = 0 kicks
Mozart Effect: Music for Newborns - Serenade No. 10 in B major "Gran Partita", K.361 = 3 kicks
Mozart Effect: Music for Newborns - Serenade No. 4 in D major, K.203: 2. Andante = 3 kicks
Baby Einstein: Playtime Music Box - Snow Maiden: Dance of the Birds = 0 kicks
Mozart Effect: Music for Babies Vol. 1 - Excerpts from 12 Variations on Ah, Vous Dirai-Je = 0 kicks

I guess Music for Newborns is the big winner. Seems appropriate.

I listened with the stethoscope and heard faint echoing noises, but nothing that sounds like a real heartbeat. But at least I am starting to hear more than just gut noise.

Nilla chef

Donavon is in charge of introducing the Nilla wafer food group to our child. He has a slew of recipes including this favorite - 'Mini Bananilla Sandwiches'. I think most of you understand why I will be in charge of the more traditional food pyramid.

belly stereo

About a week ago I got my Bellysonic speakers. It's basically a fuzzy fleece fanny pack with built in speakers. The iPod goes in the pocket and plugs into the speakers. A splitter allows me to listen along. Here I am rocking out to Baby Einstein's Brandenburg Concerto.I started using it at 19 weeks. We have a ton of baby music loaded on the iPod. I listen an hour a day, either in the afternoon or at night before bedtime.

What you don't see is that even though I look huge, this thing is still too loose. I am using an industrial strength rubber band (like the ones on a stalk of broccoli) to make a pony tail out of the belt in back, to shorten it.

Overall, I like the contraption. It freaks me out that the iPod gets really warm in there and fries the baby for an hour. So, I take it out of the pocket when I am sitting still.

Merle likes to listen, too.

Quinny Buzz

We went baby shopping and ended up with this, the Quinny Buzz. It's awesome.

Confirmation

After weeks of being told to place my hand on Alyssa’s belly and weeks of “Did you feel that"?”, “No”, “Did you feel that?”, “No”, last night I finally confirmed that there is indeed a baby moving around down there. And it was unprompted. That is to say that I felt the baby move without the “Did you feel that?”.