29 Weeks

These days, when people ask how far along I am, I get a lot of “wow! already? your pregnancy is flying by!” and also “jeez, still? this is sort of dragging for me.” My perspective is that the weeks-that-start-with-a-two have genuinely started to drag a little. I mean, 20 weeks was when we found out the grub is a boy. And that was AGES ago. Also, speaking of my perspective, it came to my attention this week that, when looking straight down, I can no longer see my toes. And I have no idea when that happened! I can still shave my legs, and bend over to pick things up, and tie my own shoes, so I am not quite in the league of entirely comical proportions. But surely I am getting there! Oh, and my belly is somewhat more comical due to the fact that there is more baby on the right side than on the left. So, I’m quite uneven. Anyway, I know some of you are here for the produce report... This week, Baby Halekas is a SERIOUS vegetable. A butternut squash!

 

And let me tell you, this is not surprising to me at all. The little guy feels like quite the beefcake these days. I may have once compared him to a fish, flopping and squirming about in my abdomen. Now, he is much more akin to a labrador puppy. And if you have never spent any time in the company of a labrador puppy, you totally should! They are the most adorable in the whole world.

See:

 

That particular lab puppy lives in Virginia, with my parents. His name is Beau. When my mom found out we were having boy, they had just recently acquired and named Beau, and she was afraid they might have stolen our baby name. (They hadn’t.) I thought her concern was very sweet, though it was also obvious that she wasn’t offering to rename the puppy, even if they had stolen our baby name. So, there’s that.

And for those of you who are here for the belly shot... Well, we were on vacation this weekend, and so you get the rare and surely not to be repeated BATHING SUIT belly shot:

 

I know. Could I possibly get any more shameless in the name of journalistic honesty? (I assure you I could, but I will try to restrain myself.)

According to one of my weekly pregnancy emails, Baby H might be making his way into exit position (so early!), which would be upside down, facing my back. In my non-medical opinion, he actually isn’t far off. I think he’s diagonal, head-down, and back-facing. I base my theories on the fact that he is currently pummeling both my left hip bone and my right ribs. He hits harder at rib level, however, so I’m calling those kicks. And I think my belly is uneven because of his cute tush sticking out. (He gets that from his father.) So, yes, not quite locked and loaded, but honestly? I don’t really want him to figure out the exit plan yet. If he did, he’d probably go for it, since he seems to find my uterus so very boring.

Number of strangers who spoke to me this week, secure in the knowledge that I was pregnant: 2
Amount this surprised me: a lot! (I figured people would think I might just be fat)
Amount this surprised Jasper: not at all! (he says I’m way past “could be chubby”)

Baby H’s favorite foods this week: red grapes, ice cream, and blackberries that his dad forged a freezing cold river to pick for him
Baby H’s favorite songs this week: “Snow (Hey Oh)” -- Red Hot Chili Peppers (way more mellow than his usual faves!) and anything with a decent dance beat

Number of times I was not offered a seat on BART this week: 2 (that hasn’t happened in months!)
Number of times this week I slept through the night: 1 (that also hasn’t happened in months!)


Squash photo: Baby Center