Sixteen Weeks

I hit the sixteen-week mark on Saturday, and though I thought I felt movement earlier, I know without a doubt that I was feeling the little one pressing on my lower abdomen during my discipleship group last night. So cool!

According to BabyCenter, I should get ready for a growth spurt. In the next few weeks, the baby will double its weight and add inches to its length. Right now, it is about the size of an avocado (it just seems so wrong now that I have been eating so many of those lately!). Its legs are much more developed, its head is more erect than it has been, and its eyes have moved closer to the front of its head. The baby's ears are close to their final position, too. The patterning of its scalp has begun, though its locks are not yet recognizable. He/she has even started growing toenails. And there is a lot happening inside as well. For example, its heart is now pumping about 25 quarts of blood each day, and this amount will continue to increase as the baby continues to develop.

We got the results of Jarrett's blood draw, and his blood type is A-positive, which means I definitely need to get the Rh immunoglobulin injection (Rhogam) at one of my next appointments. Oh well, at least we now actually know what his blood type is, which is nice. Now I just wish I knew what Elsa's is. You would think they would tell you that at the birth, but I do not remember them doing so, which is kind of strange since I should have received another injection after her birth had she been positive, and I certainly do not remember a shot of any type. But, again, I could have just been delusional. They probably even told me her blood type... who knows.

I am certainly not as wrapped up in this pregnancy as I was with the first. I am sure that has something to do with the fact that I am already chasing a two-and-a-half-year old around most days, and we already have all of the stuff, so there is not that excitement of getting to register for all of the baby items the first time around. I am still enjoying it, though, and now that I am actually feeling the baby every now and again, it makes things much more real. And I cannot wait to find out the gender.

Other excitement surrounds some plans for child-free weekends with Jarrett in the near future. The official "babymoon," if you want to call it that, is a trip we have scheduled for June to go to Jamaica. We are going to spend four nights at a rental house in Silver Sands, where we have stayed before (different house, but same location). We plan on lazing around on the beach together for most all of that time, aside from a little guided bamboo rafting trip we have planned for one-half of one day. The fact that the houses there come with staff who cook and clean for you makes the ability to really relax much more feasible. I cannot wait. Aside from that, though, my wonderful parents decided they are willing to drive halfway our direction to meet us in Greenville, South Carolina, and take Elsa home with them for three nights, the weekend after next. Jarrett and I were originally thinking we might go to Savannah since he has never been, or even head to the Asheville area again, but in the end we decided we are just going to turn right back around and drive home. There are so many restaurants here around Atlanta that we have yet to try, and many museums and activities that we have yet to experience. So it is going to be a total foodie/cultural weekend, just the two of us. And it is going to be fabulous. We have already started making restaurant reservations.

Other than that, we are just kind of taking each day as it comes. We are working on getting the exterior of our house painted, gutters replaced, and some yard cleanup underway. We are enjoying Elsa, and trying to imagine what things will be like with yet another. And we are excited to find out.