Shalom

These folks don't mess around with the hard sell!  ;)

The preschool Lulu attended was part of a larger national corporate entity which decided to consolidate their operations in Sacramento.  Unfortunately, that meant closing the location that Lulu attended and the next closest one is in downtown Sacramento which isn't convenient for us at all.  So, we have been investigating other options for 2.0.  Technically *I* have been investigating other options for 2.0.

The option that I/we decided upon is the Shalom School, the preschool and daycare facilities run by the Jewish private school here in Sacramento.  They take children from practically birth, but we wouldn't need to enroll 2.0 until he's almost a year old.  They have quite a high demand, so we ended up putting down a sizable deposit to reserve his place for over a year from now.  A little scary writing a check that big for someone who's technically not even here yet!

By the time he reaches kindergarten, he will be versed in Shabbat on Fridays and have learned a little Hebrew as well as German and English at home.  But most importantly, the care is top-notch (I have heard nothing but good things about them from LOTS of people whose opinions I value) and it's not far from Lulu's elementary school or my work, so I can be there quickly if I need to.

Eating with Lulu...

Random meals I've shared with Lulu this summer.  Yes, there is an abnormal amount of ice cream and chocolate cake, but if you can't vicariously enjoy your mother's pregnancy with her, then what good is it to have a baby brother, right?

Apologies for photo quality--these were all spontaneous shots with my cell phone's camera.

afternoon sundaes at Farrell's Ice Cream Parlor

chocolate cake at IKEA

fruit cup after summer camp

watching the Germany World Cup game over tacos

lunch at Panera, the tomato soup is a deviation from her usual PB&J

ice cream cone at SuzyBurger

SuzyBurger, take two

"special" breakfast at IHOP with Mama
while Daddy is getting his Class F coaching license for soccer

geschmortes Kraut for dinner--YUM!

Week 28.

So, dividing the 40 weeks of pregnancy (as dated from the last menstrual period) by 3 doesn't work out to an even number, so the third trimester starts somewhere between week 27 and week 28.  To mark the occasion, here are two photos from weeks 27 and 28 to show how 2.0 is growing.

This is Week 27.

Like Lulu reading in the background?  This is Week 28.

Supposedly, he is over two pounds and about 15 inches long (or thereabouts).  Several people have remarked on how much I've "popped" lately, but I don't feel like I really have (??), nor do I think he's any bigger than normal really.  The weight I've gained is still within the range that my OB/Gyn is wanting and I've been very careful about trying to watch what I eat and not gain too much weight (knowing now how hard it is to get it back off!).

At our 22 week ultrasound, I was 22 weeks and 1 day and the baby was measuring 22 weeks and 3 days big.  So, I think we're fine, size-wise.  He's definitely entering what I refer to as the Loch Ness Monster Phase when he's big enough that I can not only feel him, but other people can actually see him move--kind of like Nessie coming up for air!  He gets the hiccups a lot and has definite periods of waking and sleeping now.  Supposedly, his eyes are open and he can detect light and loud noises, but I haven't really felt evidence of that....other than at the concert we went to last Friday in San Francisco to celebrate our anniversary!  He was really jumping around to La Roux and pretty quiet during New Order...so I guess he's got musical preferences already, too?

Personally, I am feeling good--my back aches occasionally if I'm sitting in  a way that doesn't support my back for long(er) periods of time.  I have found regular prenatal massages and prenatal yoga classes to be really helpful in keeping me feeling good.  So far, I haven't really had the wake up a bazillion times at night to go pee which is nice but has me wondering if I'm drinking enough water??  (I drink at least 2L of water a day)  But the heartburn is EVIL.  I have definitely noticed a connection between experiencing heartburn and being emotionally upset, so I'm trying to maintain a steady state of relative calmness.  I've also noticed that it seems to be better when I eat more fruits and vegetables, so we've been cooking out of Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian a lot lately...and I think that's helped with the weight gain issue, too.

Supposedly, I will gain about a pound a week from here on out and most of that is baby fat for the little guy.  Vive l'ice cream!

Whirling Dervish

Week 25: Small Update

Just a note to report that as of this week, 2.0 is officially big enough that other people can feel him move around and last night Walter even managed to see him as he was bouncing around in there.  I've officially entered that weird phase when you feel like there's a little alien inside your belly, squirming and ready to get out....but not ready to get out just yet!  The big developments right now are lung development and putting on fat rolls, but the lungs won't be fully operational for at least a couple of weeks.  Ditto for eyes.