How far along? 26 weeks

*Total weight gain: 8 lbs.
*How big is baby?: Our Little Pea is the still size of an eggplant!

Let your spouse put an ear to your belly -- he might be able to pick up baby's heartbeat (no stethoscope required). Inside the womb, the formation of tiny capillaries is giving baby a healthy pink glow. Baby's also soaking up your antibodies, getting the immune system ready for life outside the womb. Eyes are forming, and baby will soon perfect the blink -- perfect for batting those freshly grown lashes.

From www.thebump.com

*Maternity clothes? Pretty much everything

*Sleep? I would say 90% good. 

*Best moment this week?:  Making it to double digits until my due date!  As of today, its 97 days until Erbse Day!  That and Joern FINALLY felt a real, strong kick!  Hooray!


*Movement?: Lots and lots of movement!  Erbse has been kicking really strong the past few days, and now, my stomach moves when he kicks hard. It is so cool, even though it does seem like something out of a movie about aliens!

*Food cravings?: not really craving anything

*Labor signs?: Too early!

*Belly button in or out?: My scar from my surgery is now halfway inside and halfway outside.  There isn't much more belly button left there.

*What I miss: Coffee

*What I'm looking forward to: More kicks from my little guy, my upcoming doctor's appointment in two weeks. 

*Milestone: Most definitely hitting double digits!  I know that time will really fly anyway.  I just checked the calendar for October, and was shocked to see that Oct. 10th is already two weeks away!

*Other Erbse related news:  Erbse and I had a brief sick-leave last week, due to a case of scarlet fever at work.  We enjoyed our time home though, if I wasn't busy with the laundry and packing, I was sitting on the couch staring at my stomach.  Its amazing how interesting it can be to watch your stomach bulge out :)  I also ordered Erbse's mattress over the weekend.  The only thing I have left to order for the container is the changing pad, and then Erbse's room will be all ordered.  Wahoo!  I only have to wait till October 13th for the chair to be delivered, and shipment is on the 26th of October. 
I also found a ton of pop / rock based lullabies on I-Tunes.  Erbse and I now are enjoying lullaby versions of Coldplay and Eternal Flame, by the Bangles.  He seems to especially enjoy "Eternal Flame," and "Clocks."  He kicks quite a bit when I sing :)

25 weeks!

How far along? 25 weeks, sorry, I missed last week!

*Total weight gain:8 lbs.
*How big is baby?: Our Little Pea is the size of an eggplant!

Let your spouse put an ear to your belly -- he might be able to pick up baby's heartbeat (no stethoscope required). Inside the womb, the formation of tiny capillaries is giving baby a healthy pink glow. Baby's also soaking up your antibodies, getting the immune system ready for life outside the womb. Eyes are forming, and baby will soon perfect the blink -- perfect for batting those freshly grown lashes. 

From www.thebump.com

 *Maternity clothes?:Most all of my clotes now are maternity clothes.  But I did wear a non-maternity shirt today.  Its one of myz favorites, and I'm not sure how much more time I have with it.

*Sleep?: Pretty good! 

*Best moment this week?:  Well,a lot has happened over the past two weeks!  First off, we passed the glucose tolerance test!  It was only very entertaining to have the Erbse get super-active about 10 minutes after I had to drink the glucose syrup!  No one can tell me that there is no correlation between sugar and activity!
We also had a great doctor's appointment last week Monday!  Little Erbse is measuring right on target.  Of course, what was cutest of all was seeing Little Erbse with his entire hand stuffed in his mouth.  That's when we realized, we're going to have a healthy eater!  But he really knows how to make your heart melt!

*Movement?: Erbse is quite busy, often.  Joern thinks he felt a kick the other day.  Tonight, he kicked, or punched really high up, and it was so strong, it really took me off guard.  He also started kicking at 6:00 this morning, just as I rolled over to try to get 20 more minutes sleep.

*Food cravings?: fruit

*Labor signs?: Too early!

*Belly button in or out?:Getting more shallow.

*What I miss: not much these past few weeks, I'm enjoying the pregnancy right now.

*What I'm looking forward to: Erbse getting stronger and stronger with his kicks!

*Milestone: 25 weeks today!  We only have a few more days to go before we're into double digits until Erbse's birthday!

*Other Erbse related news:  I am having trouble with iron.  My blood work in August came back that I'm anemic.  The iron tablets my doctor perscribed had a really negative impact on my arthritis, and for a week or so, I was barely able to walk.  I've tried a few other iron supplements, and we may have found a good one, that I can tolerate.  I also turned in my paperwork from the doctor for maternity leave.  The HR lady at work is on vacation until next week, so I am looking forward to meeting with her when she returns to find out how this whole maternity leave thing works.

Sprinting to the "finish" line

Well friends, faithful readers, as of yesterday, we began the "end phase!"  Yes, the "end phase."  The house has come from a hole in the ground to the point where everything being done now is the interior finishing. 
"Cute Tile Guy," began yesterday.  From here, we are looking at 2-3 weeks of tiling, 2 weeks of plaster work/ painting, plumbing fixture installation, 1 week of wood floors, and the kitchen.  Kitchen is the last thing to go in before us.  We're looking at about 3 more months total.  But this is the exciting stuff!  From here on out, the house is coming together, the accumulation of all of our hard work and stressful decisions.  We're obviously freaking out excited!
Yesterday's job by cute tile guy was all prep work.  He installed water barriers underneath the tiled floor master shower and the bathtub. 

He also installed drywall along the back of the vanity and behind the bathtub.

We also now have in our possession the majority of tiles!

Our cellar tiles that Joern had to pick up and offload.  That was a lot of lifting!

And the rest of the tiles, from the tile showroom, that were definitely offloaded with a crane:







Although, I do believe that we have not yet received the tiles for the floor in the master bath.

Besides the tile flooring, our salesman from the floor company stopped by yesterday.  He needed to make measurments and to check that the floor is indeed dry enough to lay the parquet. 

The guys who laid the "Estrich," that concreteish material on top of the radiant heating tubes put little "markers" in the floor, marking easy places for the flooring companies to come and remove a section to measure the humidity level in the floor. 

They removed a small section on the first floor and a small section on the second floor, and put each section into a special instrument that measures how much humidity is in the concrete.





The good news is that the floor is pretty much dry now, so it will be fine at the beginning of October, the tentative begin date for the floors.

The salesman also spoke with us about a solution for our hearth.  Joern was vehemently against tiling the hearth in front of the fireplace, insisiting on a glass plate.  The only thing that the salesman warned against the glass plate is that we will be forever bumping into a raised surface and stubbing our toes.  For someone with arthritis in their toes, the act of stubbing my toes usually ends up with me in crying jags because the pain is just unbearable.  He suggested a solution of removing one of the bottom layers of parquet in the area surrounding the fireplace, this would take about 6 mm off the height of the parquet.  Then, we will install a 6 mm thick glass plate in the lowered section, which will give us a seamless, glass-covered hearth.  Genius, I tell you!

The floor was officially ordered today, although we still haven't made a final decsion on the stairs.  Really, stairs aren't a big deal though, and we could even move in before the stairs are covered.  And part of me would prefer to move in first, just so no one drops any of our lovely, very heavy furniture on our stairs.  The stairs are ultra-expensive, and we're now considering only putting parquet on the stairs heading up to the bedrooms, and using tile instead on the stairs heading up from the basement.  I am also undecided as to whether I would like wood only on top of each step, and painting the concrete a high-gloss white on the rise, or if it is better to completely cover the rise and steps.  I'm not going to stress about this decision, nor do we want to rush the decision.  Here, we have time.

Well, that's it.  The beginning of the end.  Of course, the house will be nowhere near complete when we move in either, but this is the beginning of the end of the uninhabited time in our house's story!

How far along?: 23 weeks

*Total weight gain: I will probably find out tomorrow
*How big is baby?: The baby is still the size of a papaya

Watch what you say -- baby is now able to hear outside noise from down in the womb. Studies show that baby finds gentle music and your own voice most soothing. Nipples are starting to sprout, and that little face is fully formed. And, baby's starting to settle into sleep cycles, snoozing about 12 to 14 hours a day. It shouldn't be hard to figure out when -- just pay attention to those kicks as they start and stop.  from www.thebump.com

 *Maternity clothes?: All I can say is "yoga pants at work." 

*Sleep?:  Sleeping pretty well. 

*Best moment this week?:  Comparing my pictures from last week and this week.  The bump grew!

*Movement?: Erbse has been wiggling around at work and at home.  He's busiest in the morning, from about 8-12, and then again around 5:00.  I get a few kicks when I am getting ready to sleep too.

*Food cravings?: fruit, veggies

*Labor signs?: Too early!

*Belly button in or out?: Still an innie, and still rather painful!

*What I miss: sleeping on my right side

*What I'm looking forward to: more Erbse kicks!

*Milestone: Two weeks till 25!  17 more to go!

*Other Erbse related news:  Tomorrow is my glucose tolerance test.  I'm super nervous, but know that it is the right decision.  No name yet.  Oh, and my goal for this week is to order a mattress.