22 Weeks

So the government decided to shut down and I thought, why not partake? And just like that a blog furlough commences. Joking aside, we've been very busy the past couple weeks. But do not fret, we have bumpdates galore. 

At 20 weeks, Baby Brez was the size of a banana, and then he became a pomegranate, but now he's the size of a papaya! I'd never seen a papaya before, but I spotted some at Publix and they were pretty huge. 

21 Weeks: 

The four of us were headed out to watch the Redskins lose, as we enjoy doing on Sundays, and sometimes Mondays. Here is the Shanimal on the same day:

BTW, happy birthday Shanna Banana!!!

Aaaand 22.5 Weeks (taken yesterday):

Those astute readers will notice the change in scenery/climate between the two photos. Yep, we took to I-95 and came up to Maryland to stay with my parents for a short visit.

"We love riding in the car!"

Surprisingly, our dogs are rock stars in the car. They just sleep and look out the window the whole time. It makes 14-hour road trips doable, and it makes dorky pictures of said road trips doable. (I'll stop using the word doable now.)

Total Weight Gain: Yes. I've gained almost 20 pounds so far. Wondering what 19 pounds over 19 weeks looks like? This:

Derp. 

Wondering what 1,404 weeks (ex utero) versus 23 weeks (in utero) looks like? This:

Will 1 (left) & Will 2 (right)

Exercise: I've been doing lots of walking with the dogs, squats (motivated by my first pee-sneeze about a week ago - WOW), and even some wogging (mostly walking with light jogging mixed in). Nothing too exciting.

Highlights: 

• The kid is a rager. He is moving around a lot and getting stronger and stronger! We can now see and feel the kicks from the outside, and I think we have an active one. Maybe he'll be a great athlete (before he becomes a pilot and then enters the seminary, obvi).

• Strangers officially have no problem pinpointing my gestational situation and asking me all sorts of questions. "When are you due?" "Is it a boy or a girl?" etc. and offering all sorts of information about their own children! I love it! People are definitely a lot nicer to the pregnant lady.

• We are out of our apartment now and livin' on the streets! Just kidding, sort of. We put our belongings in storage and are crashing with our parents until Will goes active duty, whenever that will be. We were originally told November 1 (ha!), but we still have no base assignment (government bureaucracy at its finest), so who knows. Our lack of nest hasn't stopped me from nesting . . . . We recently purchased this crib (mostly with gift cards - thanks Nan and Ned!): 

I always wanted a white crib, but I figured this one was a little more fun and unique. Plus it had great reviews and was ohhhh $100+ cheaper than the white crib we were considering. I love that we'll have it ready to set up in our new place right when we move. We are doing a a vintage airplane-themed nursery (I am thinking something like this). I picked this for the main fabric of William's quilt that Will's mom is going to make:

We already have a ton of Air Force stuff (flight maps, airplane art, and a really cool model plane) to use in the nursery accumulated by the fam over the years, so it's an easy theme.

• My mom also gave us a ton of baby stuff she got second-hand, though most of it is new. (Thank you, Big Momma D!) Let's just see how much stuff we can accumulate and fit into our storage space . . . . 

Now that we are back on track and up to date on current events, I'll be sure to update more often! We have fun stuff planned here in Maryland and my camera is charged and ready. 

20 Weeks

After some travel and recovering from the plague known as the "common cold," I am back for a 20 weeks post. HALFWAY there, give or take! (Have you ever ran with Nike+? You know, with the old school chip in your shoe? Well, the man or woman robot always says "Halfway point! X miles to go." I can't stop thinking of the robot voice. Get out of my head!) According to the fruit charts, Baby Bill is the size of a banana this week, but we know from our anatomy scan that Baby Bill is more of a genetically modified giant banana if a banana at all. More on that later. The bell-shot:

We are in the process of moving and the ol' chalkboard is the only piece of decor that continues to hang in our apartment, so I thought, let's get a shot displaying my madd chalk skillz. (Pun intended, as I am sort of a mother against drunk driving.) Why are we congratulating Will? Well, he passed the NC bar, so he officially commissioned into the Air Force and swore in to the North Carolina bar (necessitating the aforementioned travel). Also, Daisy just loves Ace.

Overall Weight Gain: For comparison, my last belly shot was a few weeks ago (17 weeks) when I looked like this . . .

Such a svelte young thing. Lately, every time I look at myself in a picture, I have to ask Will, "Do I really look that pregnant? . . . Are you sure it's not just the way I'm standing? The angle of the photograph?" When I look in the mirror, I still see myself around 16-17 weeks. I do not see the protruding belly that much. But WHOA it's there. Needless to say, I experienced quite the growth spurt over the past few weeks. I've gained six pounds the past three weeks for a total weight gain now of ~16 pounds. That's a lot for 20 weeks I guess, but the baby is measuring a week and a half ahead so I am just going to embrace it. Rock them curves. If you've got it, flaunt it. {Insert cliche saying here.}

Exercise: Over the past two weeks, I've only worked out twice, and that was before I got sick. I tried going for some long walks otherwise, but I've had to pause in the shade for breaks. I felt like one of those sickly children from a Bronte novel. Anyway, I'm feeling a lot better lately so I'll be back at it this week!

Cravings: I was unable to stop myself from diving head first into the giant bag of Halloween candy at my friend Katie's house last night. I usually never eat candy! (Just not my thing. Give me a pastry or some ice cream . . . .) 

Strange Observations:

• During the absurd growth spurt, my hanger attacks were at full force like I'd never before known. It peaked in NC, so Rach and Chris, sorry (again) for eating all of your food. I did have the last piece of bread pudding. However, I've found the past few days that I am getting full very quickly and don't have much of an appetite. It could be from the cold from Hell, but it could just be my body putting the breaks on the weight gain. I've found that I gain a lot a couple weeks, then barely gain at all a couple weeks, etc. et al. and on and on. 

• My belly is very itchy! Very itchy. And my belly button is becoming even more W I D E and shallow. Very weird to observe.

Recent Highlights:

• An obvious highlight is Will officially becoming a licensed attorney. HIYO!

Will at his swearing-in with his attorney sponsor, a fellow BAC grad and baseball alum!

We drove up to Charlotte for the swearing-in and then on to Will's brother's to meet our new nephew! A preview:

He's the best. THE BEST I TELL YOU. More on that trip later this week!

• We still don't know our base assignment, which we believe is attributable to the government shutdown. Let's pray for a resolution to this nonsense this week. But we're moving anyway! Luckily, Will's commissioning paperwork was enough to get us out of our lease, so we are moving our things into storage and mooching off visiting with our parents until we move on to our base assignment. We are still expecting him to go active duty November 1, as he was told a few weeks ago, but obviously our faith in that estimate is wavering.

• We had our big anatomy scan on Monday. Everything looked great! I was (LMP) 19 weeks, 1 day, but Bill was measuring 20 weeks, 3 days, and 12 ounces according to the ultrasound tech, "with a full beard" according to his father. He was not in the mood to take photographs, hiding his face with his man hands . . .

"No photos please."

• We got the best gifts from Will's aunt and uncle . . .

After 10 hours of driving, 3 to go, btw.

Just so we can reenact this legendary photograph of Will . . .

Consider it done.

• My sister Shannon is 100% (rather than 80%) having a baby GIRL! Big Momma D is PUMPED she gets "ONE OF EACH!!!" Shannon likens herself to a "#hippo" . . . 

If I could just direct your attention to the photograph featured at the top of this post, Shanna Banana. Thank you and good day!