Before we move all the furniture from Ben's old office to his new office we wanted to do a bit of painting which we will get started on this weekend. The guest room (a.k.a. Ben's new office) never got painted and is still sporting white walls. We picked out a nice taupe-y color to warm it up, but kept it light enough that it won't look "harsh" with the slanted ceilings that come down low on the walls. While my office is staying put, the current color is not. I picked out a light green color when we moved in and it's safe to say it didn't exactly turn out as I expected. It's not horrible, but at night it does have a certain "glow" and Ben sweetly refers to it as "Alien Autopsy Green". haha This time around I consulted Ben in choosing a color (he's good at that sort of thing) and I am going with a grayish blue. Ben's current office (the baby's room) is already painted a tan-ish color. For now, our plan is to leave that paint color as-is and decorate with other colors but we may change our minds.
It's not safe for me to be around the paint fumes since I'm pregnant so unfortunately Ben is going to do the brunt of the work alone. I'll be able to tape everything off and may do some edging since it would be limited exposure to the paint (just a little bit poured in a cup versus big pans of paint and lots of wet paint on the walls). Ben will come in and use the roller at a different time (window open and fan on!) and I'll either leave or stay downstairs to avoid the fumes. We certainly don't want our baby to come out with an extra arm or something! (Though, we would love it anyway and cut an extra hole in its shirts to accommodate the extra limb.) Once we finish all our painting and furniture moving I'll post some before and after pictures. :-)
Our fun purchase of the week is a used glider and ottoman! We got an email through the neighborhood listserve that a family was selling theirs and we hopped right on the deal. It's in great condition, very comfortable, and the cushion covers can all be removed and washed. This particular brand retails for $300 - $400 and we got it for $40!
At the moment it's sitting in the corner of our living room until we move the furniture out of Ben's current office. We like to take turns pretending to rock the baby to sleep (usually cradling the television remote or a water bottle). haha
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Here's what the baby is up to this week:
Your baby's sensory development is exploding! Her brain is designating specialized areas for smell, taste, hearing, vision, and touch. Some research suggests that she may be able to hear your voice now, so don't be shy about reading aloud, talking to her, or singing a happy tune if the mood strikes you.
Your baby weighs about 8 1/2 ounces and measures 6 inches, head to bottom — about the size of a large heirloom tomato. Her arms and legs are in the right proportions to each other and the rest of her body now. Her kidneys continue to make urine and the hair on her scalp is sprouting. A waxy protective coating called the vernix caseosa is forming on her skin to prevent it from pickling in the amniotic fluid.
Now that the baby's hearing is starting to develop, Ben will come over and yell at my belly every once and a while. It's pretty funny. I'm looking forward to when the baby will be big enough that I can feel it respond to his voice! When I sit or lay very still I still feel an occasional tap from the baby and have even felt a few solid thumps and maybe a roll or two. It's pretty neat! Unfortunately they are few and far between and are so soft that even if I could predict when it was going to happen, I don't know that Ben would be able to feel it from the outside. It is reassuring to feel the baby move, though. Since I've had a fairly symptom-free pregnancy it's nice to have a little evidence that a person is growing inside me and I'm not just getting a bigger belly. :-)
Speaking of my belly, here is the photo of the week!
Even though it's still small compared to what it will become over the next few months, it certainly has done a lot of growing! Check out this side-by-side comparison from just ten weeks ago:
I didn't think to measure my waist right when we found out I am pregnant, but if I base it off my usual waist size I've grown a good five or six inches around! My belly button is starting to change shape, too. Instead of being completely round it is becoming a little flatter and the top "rim" sort of curves downward like a sad face. Maybe it's the beginning of an "outie" belly button!
As I mentioned in the Week 18 post, we'll be finding out if the baby is a boy or a girl very soon! According to our little poll on the blog it looks like most of you think there is a little boy in my belly. We'll find out next Thursday! You can still vote in the poll if you haven't had a chance to do so. If you're reading this in your email click here to go to the blog and the poll is on the top right side.
I'll pop in next Thursday to announce if it's a boy or girl, then I'll be back with a usual post over the weekend. Can't wait!!
