BANANAS over Chickie ;)

One week into the second half of our pregnancy, and Chicken Fry is measuring in somewhere around 10.5 inches long ... the size of your average banana. I pretty much eat this fruit every morning, and now it's almost like our little Chickie is more like our little Chiquita(o) banana. I guess the saying, "You Are What You Eat" somewhat applies here. In fact, the book I am reading mentioned that Chicken Fry should be starting to actually taste the foods that I'm eating through the amniotic fluid, so I better start making more of an effort to consume my fair share of fruits and veggies each day if I want to promote a healthy lifestyle early on.

Chickie's Nursery (Part 2)

Despite the lovely little winter snow storm we had on Friday (which adjusted my typical 25 minute commute home from work to just under 3 hours!), the contractor remained totally professional and came over to work on installing the french doors/wall we've been wanting to separate Chickie's nursery from the kitchen. He has a little more work to do on Monday (i.e. put knobs on the doors, finish the trim, install the new hallway door, etc.), but I was totally impressed by how much work he got done already. I was a little worried that the wall would make the kitchen area look smaller - considering there used to be more of an open floor plan between the kitchen and what used to be the tv/sitting room - but it SO doesn't. After the wall is completely finished on Monday, we can finish up some painting in both the nursery (our color is Christopher Robin Spring ... a light green) and kitchen (Dark Ash ... a dark gray). We'll also need to paint the door white, before we can finally order some fresh carpet for Chickie's nursery. Here are a few pics of the doors/wall in progress ...

A View from Chickie's Room to the Kitchen

Dry Wall Up!

A Dark Shot of Chickie's Nursery ... the French Doors are on the Left

A View from the Kitchen to Chickie's Room

CANTaloupe?! CAN'T Believe it

Oh my goodness.

I was shocked to learn this morning that our little Chicken Fry is now the size of a whole cantaloupe. Even the smallest cantaloupes seem ginormous to me ... especially when I think of them inside my belly. We are officially half way through now, and Chicken Fry is measuring in at more than half the size of a regular ruler.

Also, I really think I might be starting to feel a little somethin' somethin' in there. There's definitely a little action going on that I've never felt before. It's hard to describe exactly how it feels ... not unlike the slightest flutter ;)

Winter Photo Shoot

Today marks a HUGE milestone in Chicken Fry's development ... 20 weeks down and 20 to go ... the half way point is finally here! We had our 20 week ultrasound this morning, and were happy to hear the following info:

• Chickie's heartbeat is perfectly normal ... 154 bpm
• Chickie's heart has 4 chambers
• Chickie's mouth has formed without a cleft lip
• Chickie is swallowing (and sucking his/her little thumb like crazy!)
• All of Chickie's organs are present and accounted for ... YAY!

The woman who scheduled our appointment told us that the ultrasound technician was going to burn us a video of today's visit ... what she really meant was that the ultrasound tech was going to burn a bunch of still pictures onto a cd and call it a day. So, here are a few updated pics of Chickie. After our November visit, I was convinced that Chicken Fry looked exactly like Chris ... now, I'm not so sure ... I definitely see a little of me in the nose area. The ultrasound tech reminded us that the baby's features may look very sharp now, because he/she is still mostly bones. When we go for our next ultrasound at 32 weeks (2 months from now), Chickie should have a little more meat to show off.

Chickie's Nursery

Over the past few weeks, we've started to put a lot of thought into Chicken Fry's new nursery, and are so appreciative of all the help we've already had in putting those thoughts into motion. The room used to be a tv room. It had a red and blue border along the top, which Chris and I worked to scrape off. Since Chickie and I can't really do any painting, Kevin came over and helped Chris prime the room. From there, my dad jumped in and the three worked to paint the first coat. Since we are not going to find out if Chicken Fry is a boy or a girl, and my favorite color is green anyways, I selected a pretty pale shade called Christopher Robin Spring (a Disney Behr paint). Then Chris' dad came over and helped Chris apply the second coat to make sure every inch was covered for our little Chickie. My dad came back and put on a fresh coat of white in the closet. The tv room opens up to the kitchen area, so our next step is to put up a wall with french doors to make the nursery more of its own room while still allowing easy access between the two areas. Once the wall/door is up we plan on putting in some beige carpet to complete the look (right now it's kind of a reddish color). From there, I'll finally be able to get to work thinking of cute things for the walls and whatnot ... looking forward to showcasing our complete masterpiece once it's all done (hopefully before June :) ).

Here are a few shots of the room after the first coat. They don't really do the color justice (it's darker than it looks), but you get the general idea ... 

It's a Mango Kinda Morning

1 week left until we finally get to see our little Chickie again! Still no noticeable kicking, but I'm sure something's going on in there. At 19 weeks Chicken Fry is approximately 6 inches long and the size of a mango.

Our half way check-up is next Thursday, January 19th. Apparently they are going to make a little video of our babe, so stay tuned ... ;)

1.5

It's hard to believe ...
... but Chris and I have been married a year and a half today!

SWEET Baby

2 - the number of weeks left to go before we finally reach the half way mark! Today Chicken Fry is exactly 18 weeks and about the size of a 5.6 inch sweet potato. According to this book I've been browsing through - What to Expect When You're Expecting (which incidentally is being brought to the big screen this May and stars Cameron Diaz) - most pregnant women first begin to feel their baby kick between weeks 18 and 22. I haven't felt any movement in there yet, but I'm sure eager for it to start ... any day now Chickie ;) The book also mentioned that research suggests that women who work out regularly throughout their pregnancy tend to give birth to "smarter children". What they mean by that is that babies born to active mothers tend to have a lower birth rate (although I'm pretty sure genetics has something to do with this too), an easier birthing process overall, a leaner muscle mass (again, genetics??), and start doing things a little bit quicker such as rolling over, crawling, etc. So, after reading this and after spending the past two weeks of my winter vacation NOT at the gym, but at Kentucky Fried Chicken, Barnaby's Pizza, Olive Garden, ordering in Chinese, etc., I forced myself to go workout Tuesday and Wednesday. I had to work a basketball game last night after work, but am hoping to return to the gym again this afternoon - that might be kind of tough considering it's the first Friday after a lllooonnnggg first week back after break, but here's hoping to a SWEET, "smart" baby Chicken :)

Here's what Chicken Fry is up to this week ...

• Can you believe she's yawning, hiccuping, sucking and swallowing?
• And she's twisting, rolling, punching and kicking, too -- and she's big enough that you might be able to feel her doing it!