She Who Must Not Be Named, 26 weeks

How far along? 26 weeks 

Best moment this week?  I'm not sure if I should classify this as the best but we will at least say the most amusing.  Sunday I wore a pair of dress pants that fit under the belly.  Apparently these invaded the personal space of She Who Must Not Be Named because all morning I received kicks to the bladder.  

Movement?  Last night I enjoyed watching the tv remote bounce around on my belly as she wiggled.

Food cravings?  In honor of thanksgiving, my mom's dressing.  Fortunately, I talked her into making some for me.  Thanks, mom.

What I love?  I think that I'm starting to look pregnant rather than just pudgy around the middle.  And I like feeling her more often.  These things, along with the baby stuff we are slowly accruing, make the whole thing seem more real.  

What I miss?  Umm...let's just say normal bladder habits and functions.  Yeah, we'll leave it at that.

What I'm looking forward to?  Making it to the third trimester and, although not pregnancy related, Derek defending and having free time.

Milestones?  We reached double digits, as of today (Friday) only 98 days until my due date.  Also, we had our first baby shower on Sunday.  It was a "surprise" shower given by my advisor and coworkers.  

Shower loot.

She Who Must Not Be Named, 25 weeks

How far along? 25 weeks 

Best moment this week?  Derek getting to feel her move.

Movement?  She likes to squirm around but not too many kicks.  She seems pretty laid-back, and I'm hoping she's still this way when she's on the outside.  I like the movement; however, today I wish she would layoff the bladder.  

Food cravings?  Nothing specific this week.  I did buy frozen yogurt and ice cream because I couldn't decide which sounded better.  And that was the same day I made fried pickles.  Derek was amused by the stereotypicalness of it.  I also seem to have impulse cravings when grocery shopping.  This resulted in a bag of gingerbread marshmallows most recently.  

What I love?  Feeling her move.  It still feels a little weird but it's nice to have reassurance that she's alive in there.

What I miss?  Nothing really this week.

What I'm looking forward to?  Neither of these are really pregnancy related but I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving (both the food and hopefully seeing family) and Derek being finished with his thesis.

Milestones?  I've been able to feel her for a few weeks but every time Derek would try she would stop moving.  Saturday night she was pretty active and Derek finally got to feel her squirming around.  Also this week I saw my belly moving around.  And apparently, I'm starting to show more because I was victim of a random belly grope this week.  Is that a milestone?  

She Who Must Not Be Named, 24 weeks

How far along? 24 weeks 

Best moment this week?  Hearing her heartbeat on Thursday (and an uneventful OB appointment).

Movement?  I'm feeling movement several times every day now.  Tuesday was a particularly active day with frequent kicks to the bladder and a kick or two in the side hard enough to startle me.  The following days she was pretty inactive, which was almost worrisome after Tuesday's shenanigans.   She had a nice strong heartbeat though so maybe she's just generally laid back.   

Food cravings?  Nothing really this week.

What I miss?  Sleep uninterrupted by bathroom breaks, leg cramps, and hip pain (yes, I am aware that uninterrupted sleep is not likely in my future for quite a while).  Clothes that fit.  Eggs over easy.

What I'm looking forward to?  Derek getting to feel her move.

Milestones?  Reaching 24 weeks.  She Who Must Not Be Named is now considered viable.  That being said, hopefully she will stay put for at least 14 more weeks.

She Who Must Not Be Named, 23 weeks

Status of She Who Must Not Be Named.  I'll try to do these every Friday so check back next week.

How far along? 23 weeks

Best moment this week?  Finding out She Who Must Not Be Named doesn't like noise.  We apparently live a quiet life.  We went to a Halloween party with loud music/talking and she was kicking up a storm.  Yesterday I was shopping near a crying toddler and again with the kicking.

Movement? Feeling movement fairly consistently this week.  One night she was pushing off of my left side with her feet and hitting her head on my right side.  We have an ultrasound video of her doing this same thing.  I think she's flipped over in the last few days.  I haven't been feeling kicks to the front and side like I was before.  But still feel her moving around in there.

Food cravings?  Maybe frozen blueberries with milk this week.  Still have some aversions hanging around from the first trimester, no Chinese food and no ground meat unless its in soup or something.

What I miss?  Not having to worry about if what I'm eating or doing is safe while growing a little one.

What I'm looking forward to?  My OB appointment on Thursday and being 24 weeks soon.

Milestones?  No major pregnancy milestones this week.  But we did make our first purchase of baby stuff yesterday.

Naming a blog is more difficult than naming a child

It's counterintuitive, but true. A good blog name should either be descriptive of its topic or, failing that, be reflective of the personalities of its author(s), ideally work on more than one level, be clever and/or funny, and of course it has to be unique or you can't register it.

For kids, it doesn't need to be any of those things; you really only need something that won't get them beat up early in life, mocked in adolescence, or pitied in old age.

Having said all that, we still don't have any ideas for She Who Must Not Be Named.