Lady Be Good

Whew! What a week! First and foremost let me get to the REALLY big news. We finally got to catch a glimpse at Awesome! Amos and I went for our 20-week ultrasound this week and not only got to check Awesome out, but found out Awesome is a girl! Here is a sweet picture of her. My favorite part of this picture is her sweet little nose and lips. Amos likes her "chubby" cheeks:

And, she is quite an acrobat! Here's a shot of her scratching her forehead with her foot:

She's so talented already! Oh, and in other exciting news, I started to feel her kicking and punching around. Its usually just a little *blip* now and then, and sometimes she seems to really be bouncing around. It is so wonderful to feel her move! In fact I can feel her moving around as I write this post. Now I am counting the days until Amos can feel her move in my belly.

Here is a picture of what I look like at 20 weeks:


According to thebump.com, Awesome is the size of a cantaloupe:


According to the Dad's Pregnancy Guide: "This week your baby is now the size of one nice-sized boob." This is the picture that accompanied this description (Note: These are NOT my boobs):


Okay, so I don't really think "nice sized boobs" are the size of cantaloupes. Boobs the size of cantaloupes are in the "Gazunga" size category. According to my midwife, Awesome is about ten ounces and 6-7 inches in length, so I'm going with thebump.com's size comparison on this one. I think the Dad's Pregnancy Guide just wanted to put some pictures of some boobs up there for good measure....

In other news...Awesome is draining my brain! So much so that I almost typed "braining my drain." I feel like my brain has left the building and left Elvis in its place, and all Elvis wants is gummy worms. Here are just a few examples of my brain blips this week:

A short collection of work related emails that looked like this:

"Dear Mrs. Roberts, Attached you will find the list of U of L students who will be visiting Young Elementary."

5 seconds later:

"Dear Mrs. Smith, Please forgive me for referring to you as Mrs. Roberts. My mistake. My previous email was intended for you."

"Dear Students, Attached you will find a list of teachers from Hawthorne Elementary, whose classrooms you will visit."

8 minutes later:

"Dear Students, You will actually be visiting Apple Elementary, NOT Hawthorne. My mistake."

2 hours later:

"Dear Mrs. Smith, I have just now realized that I named the spreadsheet that I previously sent to you as an attachment as "King Elementary", when it should be named "Young Elementary". I did send you the correct spreadsheet, I just named it incorrectly. My mistake."

And that's just the emails. Don't get me started on the phone calls. Later in the week, I decided to get a head start on some homework for a class I had the next day. I could not, FOR THE LIFE OF ME, visualize what my notebook for this class looked like. It was nowhere on my desk at work, I looked through everything I had, even though I had no idea what I was looking for. Now usually (meaning, pre-pregnancy) I can remember what something I've misplaced looks like and then picture in my mind where it is. No such luck. I tried to put myself in the classroom where I take this particular class and imagine myself with my notebook, but I could not think, for the life of me, what it looked like. I wracked my brain for 20 minutes trying to figure out where this mystery notebook was, beginning to panic, as my homework was in the notebook. I then told my friend Angela, who isn't even in my class, about my notebook, and she knew IMMEDIATELY where it was and what it looked like! Thank God for friends who will be my brain for me when my brain seems to be out to lunch. Of course this is the semester that I chose to take multivariate statistics and intellectual assessment (you know, the really easy, simple classes). I then read an article from the American Psychological Association Monitor about research on the "pregnant brain." Apparently, my ability to follow through on tasks with multiple steps- shot. Keeping facts straight- hah! And my working memory- Sayanora! Not to mention that according to the article, by the time I give birth to Awesome, my hormone levels will be ONE THOUSAND TIMES their normal levels. God help me. God help Amos.

Dear Little Bear,

This was such a great week for Papa and me! We finally got a chance to see you this week. You are so perfect and beautiful. Even you spine is gorgeous! I can't wait to kiss those little fingers and toes. Papa and I were very impressed by your flexibility. When I was born, people called me Nadia Comaneci, who was an Olympic gymnast at the time. Looks like you might be another gymnast! Not to mention all the flips and handstands I can now feel you doing inside my belly! I really appreciate you letting me know you are in there. I am sorry about drinking that chai. I think that may have made you go a little bonkers. It felt like you were doing the Macarena.

Oh, and Little Bear, I hope all those brain cells I seem to be missing have made their way down to your noggin' to make you smart smart smart!

Papa and I love you very much.

Love,
Mama