16 Weeks!!!

Our little Maple sapling is 114 days old and only 166 days left!!! My official due date is January 20th!
I have to laugh because Jonathan reads my part of the blog before it gets posted because the first draft has some serious typos...What can I say most of my blood volume and energy is going someplace other than my brain. The thing he always says is "Babe, there are a lot of exclamation points in your blog, how about a period or two?!" BUT I just can't help it, I AM SO EXCITED!
Baby Maple is the size of an avocado this week.  4 1/2 inches long and weighs about 3 1/2 ounces. Also in the next few weeks there should be a baby growth spurt, baby will double his/her weight and add inches to his/her length. Now that is seriously exciting news, not to mention the added inches to the baby bump!

Baby's legs are much more developed, his/her head is more upright than it has been, and his eyes have moved closer to the front of his/her head, less alien more baby.  Baby's ears are close to their final position and baby now has a hair pattern, although none of that can be seen yet. Baby even has toenails! And there's a lot happening inside as well, baby's heart is now pumping about 25 quarts of blood each day.





 --Jonathan here:  While my lovely little baby mama is busy humming away the tunes of baby love and development, I am left humming away the aches and pains that come with growing a life.  And by humming I mean, massaging, listening, icing, squeezing, driving, serving, cooling, heating and in general trying to create some level of maintainable comfort for my bride.  There is a lot that is changing with her.  Guys, the first time she shows you maternity shorts that have a 6 inch elastic waist band...don't do the "where in the hell does that go" look.  You'll upset her and have to back peddle.  Pro tip - girls don't like to wear elastic...they like clothes to fit and you will spend a great amount of time listening and discovering the various ways that clothes do and do not fit.  And when clothes do not fit, it is bad.  It is as if they have some primordial connection with their body and something is out of sorts.  The levels of anxiety that this causes is probably unmeasurable to most guys and for most girls, a plan of corrective action must be initiated immediately.  However, if this realization happens because oh, say a baby in the middle of the 2nd trimester is growing, there is absolutely nothing that the baby mama can do.  I have found this is my time to shine and do some of the heavy lifting.  Do I like maternity clothes shopping?  Hell no, but I don't like regular clothes shopping either.  If I could get away with only buying online I would.   But I am amazed at how much I like seeing Tara in baby mama clothes!  She just looks super sexy and it is amazing what her body is going through.  Despite all of the crazy changes that she talks about, many of them quite strange...like I don't know, as if I grew a third nut...I just have to listen.  I focus on the neat things (bigger boobs, the glow, bigger boobs, the *look* she has when touching her belly, the belly, bigger bo... I mean etc.) and then give lots of foot, leg, back, neck, arm and hand massages. Even when short, those all seem to help tremendously.  Just finding ways to be supportive is a tremendous help...even when the effort doesn't always pan out as I had hoped.

I have been talking to our baby a lot.  I make a microphone out of my hands and place it on Tara's belly.  Mainly, I ask that the baby kindly refrain from nocturnal activities so my bride can sleep through the night. The results have been... mixed...but we have been reading a lot to our baby.  While we are not diving in to Cujo and the Seven Killer Dwarfs just yet.  In fact, we have really been enjoying starting our collection of Baby books and we have some really good ones!  Lot's of people say that babies change your life forever.  Sometimes there is a wistfulness in their voice, recalling "the good old days."  I dunno, my good old days were great but I'm so excited for my family days.  I mean, what else gives such an amazing return of love, humor, happiness, excitement and more?  If it's a boy or a girl, I'll be happy and they will learn the ways of love in this world.  And on those *ahem* rare occasions where that doesn't cut it I'm lookin' forward to openin' my whoop ass can of parenting skills:  Gel Glossing the Showers, Hand Digging A Pond (with Garden Shovels),  Weeding the Garden, Stirring the compost, Picking up dog poo and then, where many of my favorite memories came from - shipping them off to visit family and loved ones for a bit in the Summer!  There just isn't anything better than family...and you can take that to the bank.  

In the comments - leave your favorite baby book!  We love getting suggestions and will be adding them to our collection.  So whether it's the Adventures of Frog and toad or Strega Nona share you books with us and the family!