23 weeks preggo.

Hello, October! My favorite month of the year!

The baby is showing my Iowa roots this week by being the size of an ear of corn! He should be approximately 8.5" and 1.5lbs! Getting close to a foot! It's crazy, I remember when I thought it was so neat when he was a whoppin .64cm! The little guy is growing, as is my love and the amount I miss feeling him move when he is having a quiet day.

There is some real sense of comfort that he provides to me at times. On days when I am having a bad day, or just having a bad moment in my day, he never fails to kick me, move or just let me know he is there. I'll be honest and say that I have my moments when I doubt my ability to be a great mom or to let go of life as it is, to welcome a big change and new person into our lives. But, during times like that, he lets me know he is there and I feel so much better. Last Tuesday I woke up and did not want to get up early to make it to class in time. He decided to break out in a breakdance and I was again reminded how important it is for me to finish these two classes before his arrival as it will be much harder to finish once he is here. It's just the little things. Last Thursday he was really quiet all day and had been quiet on Wednesday and I began to worry that something was wrong. I drank some soda, ate some sugar and pushed around on my belly but was not able to get him moving. Being as paranoid and erratic as I can be, I immediately thought something was wrong and stressed about it. I talked to a few coworkers about how I was worried and he moved to let me know he was ok. It is bizarre how there seems to be that neat connection there.

I've continued to have contractions on and off. I still only really get them in the evenings and usually only 1 or 2. I read some (probably untrue) wives tales that if you contract early, you'll have an easier labor. Im hoping it is true and hoping that your labor is similar to that of your mother's. Mine went to the hospital at 11 with me and I was born at 11:57 and she was only at the hospital for 5 hours before my older brother was born. I know, I know, wishful thinking!

Assuming that I go on time, we are less than 4 months away from baby's birthday! Pretty crazy to think about, but also really exciting. I feel really good having the crib and changing table together even if we jumped the gun on it. I just like to plan and get things done as early as I can, so it worked for us. Janine is going to throw my shower on December 4 so after that we can go buy whatever else we need and have most of January to relax and wait for his arrival. Speaking of my shower, my mom told me today that she is going to come out for it, so I am really excited about that :) She will be able to be a part of that special day and help Janine out with hosting (and planning, as much as she can being 800 miles away). So, that will be great, I am still very hopeful that we are going to be able to make the trek to Iowa over Thanksgiving so I will see my family then, see my mom a week or so later for my shower and then see my family again when baby comes. Morgan's family plans to come out to Denver after my family leaves. I can't wait to have family out here. I wish both of them could be out here at the same time but it will be nice to have company for longer with separating their visits.

We tried listening to the baby's heartbeat through a stethoscope this past week but had no luck. Hopefully in the coming weeks we will be able to. I'm sure that positioning has a lot to do with it. I have a feeling he is sitting up with his feet hanging low because my "kicks" that I feel are always pretty low and to the left. Hoping this doesn't mean that he is breach!

Well, that's about all I have to report this week.

See you next week.

xo, mommy to be.