Fun Baby Facts at Seven Weeks

To keep myself focused I like to read up on what's happening to the baby and myself during this miraculous creation. Here are some more fun facts, this time at seven weeks preggo:

- He/she has doubled in size since last week!
- The baby is now about the size of a blueberry.
- Eyelid folds are partially covering the baby's eyes.
- Both hemispheres of the brain are developing (and he/she can already multiply 2 x 2, of course!).
- The ridges on the hand plates now clearly show where each finger will be!
- The baby now displays a reflex response to touch.
- The baby's arms at this point are only as long as this printed 1. Crazy, huh?

"Bleh..."

The nausea is here, and I think it's here to stay awhile. It tends to come in waves, and on some days I'm spared more than others.

Tonight, though, the smell of McDonald's about knocked me out. My mouth used to water at the thought of a greasy Mickey D's burger. Tonight....not so much.

Fun "Bun in the Oven" Facts at Six Weeks

Thought I'd change it up a bit and clue you in as to how our little one is developing. We bought The Pregnancy Journal when I was pregnant for Ava. And it's coming in handy for this pregnancy, too. It gives you a day-by-day snapshot of what's taking place as the baby grows. There's some really interesting stuff. Check it out:

- Pigment is beginning to form in the retina of the eye.
- The lower limbs are developing into foot plates.
- He/She now measures .3 to .43 inches long. In other words, one baby the size of ours can fit on a dime (altogether now, "awwwww..."). According to Babycenter.com, the baby is now the size of a lentil bean. Dime...lentil bean. Yeah, it's the same size I guess.
- The baby is growing at a phenomenal rate. If he/she grew as fast right after birth as it is growing right now, it would measure 15 feet tall by the time he/she was one month old! Whoa!

One Hot Mama

I feel for meonpausal women. These hot flashes are killer!

I thought I would escape those since the majority of my pregnancy will be in cooler weather this time (thank you, God!). But it looks like I get them even six weeks preggo.

Whewwweeee!

Pee-yoo!

Smells are beginning to get to me. And my stomach takes a little lurch the stronger the smell.

Today, for example, Ava and I decided to head to the mall to walk around and do some shopping. I'm pretty sure I inhaled--and immediately despised--all perfumes and colognes ever made. And, my gosh, does anyone really honestly like the smell that surrounds Ambercrombie and Fitch?!? Eeew! I didn't like the smell before I was pregnant. Now it's just about unbearable.

But on a happy note, I'm still not super nauseated. Crossing my fingers that it stays that way...

Craving #1: Chinese Food

Not really sure if cravings make an appearance quite yet. It could just be my new mindset of "well I'm pregnant, so I can have that if I want it."

Whatever it was, I seriously needed an egg roll today. And I was not going to rest easy till I ingested one of those!

Anyway, I got my fix from the new Chinese restaurant that just opened up by our house. We'll be regular customers for sure, at least for the next eight months!

And to top it off, my fortune sure was an interesting one. See below and especially note the one-word Chinese lesson. Hmmm...could that be an accurate prediction? Regardless, it was quite comical that such a fortune ended up in my hands at this point!

It's My Hormones and I'll Cry If I Want To

Yep....the early signs of pregnancy have surely set in. I find myself crying at the most ridiculous things, things I wouldn't have even thought about shedding a tear over just two months ago! I don't remember being quite this emotional this early in my pregnancy for Ava.

I also find myself getting moody at times. God bless John for being the one who gets the brunt of it. Good thing he loves me as much as he does and for his patience. I'm very thankful for that!

And other than all of that, I'm experiencing some extra fatigue and a bit of nauseousness, but nothing I can't handle. Thank goodness for naps and snacks to settle the stomach.

That's it for now! I gotta go grab a tissue....*sniff*

A Little Shopping

It's true. With each passing day we get more and more excited about our new addition to the family that will be here before we know it!

So on Saturday we headed to Babies R Us as a family to pick out an outfit especially for the baby. We got a little girl one AND a little boy one. We'll get good use out of one of them for sure--unless, of course, we have twins waiting to be identified on my first ultrasound. Eeek! It could happen, I suppose.

We shopped around Target a bit, too, and Big Sis picked out a special toy just for her little brother or sister.

I have a feeling this will be the first shopping trip of many. What better excuse than a brand-new baby to stock up on a new wardrobe, right?

Sharing the News with the Grandparents

Of course we couldn't dream of waiting another day to share the news with the grandparents! So we arranged to have them all join us for dinner Tuesday evening at Parrain's Restaurant in Baton Rouge (thanks again, Uncle Bub, for rearranging your dinner plans with Dad!).

The plan was to have an extra high chair waiting at our table to represent the new baby. Ava would, of course, sit in a booster seat. Then I was to fake a "diaper change" and instead dress Ava in her "I'm Going to be A Big Sister" t-shirt.

Well.....it seems as though the grandmothers were onto our reason for having them all together for dinner. I could see those two just chit chatting away, even behind their menus! They knew what was up for sure. So it was time to put the plan in action...and fast!

We did the "diaper change" and Ava, who apparently goes with whatever flow is thrown upon her, runs up to my Dad (aka, "Papere"). He picked her up and didn't even notice the shirt. But those grandmothers....they figured it all out! Needless to say, within a matter of seconds, everyone was giggling with excitement about the announcement!

Turns out Ms. Linda (aka, "Maw Maw") was so certain of her theory that she bet Mr. Vernon (aka, "Paw Paw") on the way to the restaurant $1.00 that we would announce the pregnancy!

What a great evening to celebrate!

An unknowing Papere...


MiMi and Maw Maw figure it out!


Happy family...


Paw Paw paying off Maw Maw...

Sharing the News with Big Sis

For months now we've asked Ava if she'd like to have a baby brother or sister. And to that she would reply "waaaa" with a big smile on her face. That's her way of telling us what a baby says! It's really cute.

So Tuesday afternoon we wrapped up a bunch of little shirts I've been collecting for her that say "big sister" on them along with a "big sister" book. She was thrilled to get a present and even held up each shirt for me to take a picture. She also had to try on every single shirt and read her new book about ten times.

This is a great sign! Of course we already know she's going to be an amazing big sister. She's such the motherly type already, so she'll be a big help.

It's Official....We're Pregnant!

Bright and early Tuesday morning, say around 5:30 am, I woke up and took a pregnancy test. I tried and tried to hold out telling John till he woke up an hour later, but the excitement got the best of me!

I shared the news and we were chatterboxes for most of the morning, completely filled with pure elation!

The tentative due date is March 15th. I go for my first doctor's appointment August 10th where I'll do all the preliminary bloodwork and get the first ultrasound! Wahoo!

I have a feeling we'll be hanging out on Cloud 9 for awhile!

Yet Another Blog?

For those of you dedicated followers of Ava's blog, Diary of a Russell Sprout, I welcome you to yet another one!

This one will be quite different though. It will document my pregnancy of Russell Sprout #2!

Looking back I wish I would've done something similar for my pregnancy with Ava. It would've been a good reference tool as I begin to experience different feelings, emotions, etc. through this pregnancy as compared to my first one.

You might wonder what will happen when Baby Russell will arrive...will I create his/her own blog? Well that's a big NO! And the reason is because it would be too difficult to keep separate blogs when it's easier (and more meaningful) to combine our children's blogs as a memory for the both of them.

I thought it would be neat to create one for the pregnancy in order to keep everyone in the loop and to document my progress so that I'll have something to reflect back on in years to come.

So welcome to the new Growing Another Russell Sprout blog! I'm glad to have you join me! :)