Second trimester!

I have made it to the second trimester (okay, it officially begins tomorrow), and this baby sure is growing! Sometimes I can't get over how big it is already! Still, we have many months to go. Lately I've spent a lot of time researching baby stuff - cloth diapers, high chairs, diaper bags, strollers, etc. I know it's kind of early to do that, but working on that has made this baby real to me and helped me get excited. The cloth diapers make me more excited than anything and I know everybody thinks that's strange! I've read lots of information and reviews on them, and it seems like it really just comes down to doing an extra load of laundry every couple of days. (I do plan to get the flushable rice paper inserts so I don't have to dunk the poopy ones in the toilet.) It will keep human waste and lots of plastic that will never disintegrate out of our landfills, so I'm all for it. Plus, it could save us several thousand dollars, assuming that we can use the same diapers for the next baby. Anyway, I just had to get that out there because I'm so excited about them!

We have also been discussing names - girl names, really. We have two boy names that I love (including the middle names) and I would really have a hard time choosing between them. So, I'm just focusing on the girl names for now. Hopefully we'll get to find out what this baby is in a month or so!

Casper

This picture is Hunter's fault. I think it's really funny though! They both even have their left hands held up! Maybe we should name the baby Casper...?

Our little penguin

I am 12 weeks today and I went back to the doctor. She was nice enough to do another ultrasound - partly because they didn't have any film last time and partly for my peace of mind since I'm "at risk". Everything looks good. We saw the heartbeat, the spine, the umbilical cord and the forming placenta. It also waved at us a little bit. Hunter says that the baby looks like a penguin! Oh, and it measures 6.5 cm, which is just right about where it should be or maybe slightly longer. It is still too early to tell the gender, but when I go back in 4 weeks we might be able to tell if we do an ultrasound. (I kind of doubt that we'll have the option, though.)

You're seeing the head, the torso, and the knees - the baby's legs are crossed.

Here's a better shot of the legs:

Obama's Inauguration

Today I got to watch the inauguration with my class of 28 7th and 8th grade Spanish students and it was a pretty fun experience. I sat in the back of the room and didn't say too much (I don't think public school teachers should share their political opinions), but I did make sure they all understood what was happening. For example, I pointed out Nancy Pelosi to them and not a single student knew who she was. I explained her job and also that she is next in line for the presidency after Joe Biden; that got their attention.

The kids seemed to enjoy everything and they really paid attention. They got very anxious when it was 11:59 and Obama still had not been sworn in, and they complained loudly that the Constitution was being broken. I promised them that everything would be okay. When Diane Feinstein told everybody to stand up for the swearing in, they asked me if they had to stand up. I told them that they didn't have to, but they could if they wanted, and several of them did. They all - even the ones that I know come from very Republican families - cheered after Obama took the oath. He was about halfway through his speech when the bell rang for them to go to lunch, but I even had a few stay behind to watch part of the remainder with me. I thought it was pretty impressive that 8th grade girls gave up their lunch/social time to watch a politician.

I enjoyed the inauguration and Obama's speech, but I also really enjoyed the opportunity to share this experience with my students. I remember the class that I was in when I watched Clinton's first inauguration, and I hope that these kids will remember this experience years from now.

On a side note, Reagan was inaugurated for the first time 28 years ago from today, which also happened to be the day that my mother found out she was pregnant with me. I called her to remind her of that and she thought that was pretty funny.

Registries

As you may have noticed, I added a link to our registries on the right. I realize it is really early for this, but I was already registered at both of these places with Ada so I just updated them a little bit. The only reason I'm posting them so early is that I've already had people asking about what kind of stuff we want, so I figured I may as well put it out there!

Is it possible?

This morning I woke up at 5:30 and tried to go back to sleep, but I lay there awake for about 15 minutes. As I was lying there, I thought I felt a little flutter in my belly - and then another one! And another one! I felt it maybe 3 or 4 times. I'm really not positive about this, but I think I might have felt the baby for the first time! It's so early though (11 weeks, 3 days) that I just kind of don't believe it. I didn't feel Ada until 20 weeks, which I thought was kind of late, but then again I didn't know what I was feeling for either.

I could tell Hunter was half awake, so I told him about the fluttering. He woke up all the way and put his hand on the baby, although there's no way he could have felt anything. I told him that if it is the baby, it's up way too early and that I better get used to it being awake before I'm ready to get up. I just wish I knew for sure if that's what I actually felt! I want to believe it, but I'm not convinced.

Growing baby

I'm almost embarrassed to put these pictures up because I realize that the baby does not make up 100% of what you see since I never lost all of my pregnancy weight from Ada - but it is definitely growing! What's interesting, though, is that I actually lost about 2 pounds between these two pictures. It's definitely true what they say about women filling out faster with their second pregnancy. I didn't need maternity clothes last time until 13 or 14 weeks, but this time I started needing them around 8 or 9 weeks. I still haven't told my students yet (I'm trying to wait until Jan. 22, the day after my next appointment), but I have to wonder if they're starting to catch on! Maybe they just think I ate too much at Christmas!

Our August baby at 7 weeks (Dec. 17)

Our August baby at 10 weeks (Jan 9)