23 Weeks

Today marks 23 weeks pregnant with Baby Cheese. It's going by so quickly, which is great! The developmental information for this week says he should be about 11 inches long and weigh just over a pound. He's getting big!

I already have a bond with this baby, just as I did with Cooper before he was born. I know the approximate times of day that he'll be awake and moving, and I find myself looking forward to those times when I can feel him. His most active time is about 10 pm. That's when he usually gets to kicking. Since he's still head up, it's hard for others to feel him kick or move, but last night Nate felt him move for the first time.

When I was pregnant with Cooper, his little bottom was right where I'd naturally rest my hands on my belly, and when he was frantically kicking, I used to pat my belly right there, as if patting his bottom. This usually calmed him and stopped the kicking.

Baby Cheese finally turned around, and now his kicks are more at my back, but that also means I can feel his back on my belly. I can't find his bottom, so for now when his soccer practice gets out of hand, or I'm trying to sleep, I rub my belly right along his back, and it calms him. I wonder if after he's born whether he'll like to have his back rubbed just as Cooper liked to have his bottom patted whe he was fussy.

Tonight at dinner Nate made the comment about having two boys at the table soon. He was coming at it from an overwhelmed perspective. I agreed, but also shared how ready I am for our family to grow. I feel ready for another child, in a very calm way. I'm excited to have another personality added to our mix, and to see what Cheese is like. I'm also interested to see what he'll look like. Seems with our genes that there's lots of possibilities, seeing as Coop is blonde haired, and blue eyed, yet neither of us has either of those traits.

On a different pregnancy subject, I keep forgetting that I want to record some of the strange/ funny food cravings/ aversions I've had this time around. So far:

First trimester: Couldn't look at meat; could hardly even open my freezer for other things because I'd see or smell the meat. Eating or cooking it was out of the question. I did however eat an entire jar of pickles in one sitting. That was at my parents' house back in Oct, and my dad said, "Boy, you ARE pregnant, aren't you." Also couldn't get enough cheese, and craved grape koolaid once for a few days like nobody's business.
Second Trimester (after morning sickness went away at 17 weeks): Ham, ham and more ham. We've eaten so much pork in the last month or so. One week every dinner and lunch had pork except for two. Still love cheese. Do not like salad much.
Have gone to Olive Garden three times and eaten little or no salad, but polished off an entire appetizer plate of calamari by myself as my dinner entree. Wow that sounds good right now! I also went through a 2-week period where I couldn't get enough of Taco Bell's Nacho Bell Grande with no refried beans, and extra meat. This past week or so has been all about carrots--not the already peeled baby kind, but the peel on, long, fresh kind. I eat them raw as snacks and at dinner. One day I'd eaten 4 whole carrots throughout the day, before dinner. Every night before bed I have to eat, or I wake up at 2-3 am starving. So I wait until 11 pm and eat a bowl of Corn Flakes or Special K with sliced bananas piled so high they nearly fall off. I also can't get enough strawberries, which has been with me from the beginning of this pregnancy. Would love to eat Pralines and Cream ice cream every night, but I know that's not healthy, and so only allow myself that luxury every so often. Have also craved orange soda a time or two, but after a swig or two, that was enough, and I didn't want any more. Still don't really like to eat chicken.

It fascinates me that pregnant or not, your body will tell you what it needs. Someimes I need a banana like it's the last thing on earth, and the carrot craving has seemed to coincide with the baby's eyes developing (according to my pregnancy book). I am amazed that my body can grow another human being with little or no active participation from me. Creation of life is such a miracle, and I can't wait for the next 16 weeks to fly by so I can meet our little Cheese.