16 Weeks
Get ready for a growth spurt. In the next few weeks ,your baby will double his weight and add inches to his length. Right now, he's about the size of an avocado: 4 1/2 inches long (head to rump) and 3 1/2 ounces. His legs are much more developed, his head is more erect than it has been, and his eyes have moved closer to the front of his head. His ears are close to their final position, too. The patterning of his scalp has begun, though his locks aren't recognizable yet. He's even started growing toenails. And there's a lot happening inside as well. For example, his heart is now pumping about 25 quarts of blood each day, and this amount will continue to increase as your baby continues to develop.
17 weeks
Your baby's skeleton is changing from soft cartilage to bone, and the umbilical cord — her lifeline to the placenta — is growing stronger and thicker. Your baby weighs 5 ounces now (about as much as a turnip), and she's around 5 inches long from head to bottom. She can move her joints, and her sweat glands are starting to develop.
18 Weeks
Head to rump, your baby is about 5 1/2 inches long (about the length of a bell pepper) and he weighs almost 7 ounces. He's busy flexing his arms and legs — movements that you'll start noticing more and more in the weeks ahead. His blood vessels are visible through his thin skin, and his ears are now in their final position, although they're still standing out from his head a bit. A protective covering of myelin is beginning to form around his nerves, a process that will continue for a year after he's born. If you're having a girl, her uterus and fallopian tubes are formed and in place. If you're having a boy, his genitals are noticeable now, but he may hide them from you during an ultrasound.
We have been really busy lately. It is amazing how time flies.
Let me go back about a month ago. Ginger (my mother-in-law) called and asked for me to meet her at Dillards. I met her there during lunch one day. She told me her and Larry wanted to buy me some maternity clothes. Dillards does not have a maternity sections so we went to Motherhood's Maternity. We found a beautiful purple dress that has been perfect for the summer. It is so cute. We also found two sweaters for the fall. One is a grey cowlneck and gathers up the sides and the other is a black sweater that ties in the front. Both of them will be so cute when it gets cooler. Thanks again Ginger for taking me shopping.
My sister has already been scrapbooking for the babies. She did their first two pages. One is my 1st Mothers day and Greg's 1st father's day and the other is our baby announcement and a picture of the balloons and little bear I sent Tara to her work to announce she could start telling everyone she is going to be an aunt. Take a look....they are so CUTE!! (if you click on the pictures you can see them bigger.)
Mom and Dad closed on their house on the 24th. Last weekend they came to Amarillo to start working on it. There is not a lot to do except paint. Greg painted one of the spare bedrooms and we moved our guest room furniture to there. Mom was going to order new furniture but we need a place to "store" our furniture until we build in order to make room for the babies so they are going to use it until then. They got the living room painted too. Their house is going to be so cute when they get it all painted to their colors and their stuff moved in. Mom and Dad will not move until their house in Hereford sells. They have had a lot of lookers and today they had an Open House. I know it won't take long. This has really worked out perfect because they can get the house here all done before they have to move all of the big stuff in. Dad came over Friday and he brought everything in his shop and moved it into his new shop. Each time they come over they are bringing stuff that they are able to put up right away. Mom came over Friday night. My sister came over Saturday and helped them paint the dining room, kitchen and breakfast area. I am not a lot of help. I went over yesterday morning but as soon as they started painting I left. I was going to get some stuff done at my house but instead I slept all afternoon. (I have been doing a lot of that lately) Last night Mom made pork tenderloin, squash casserole, fresh corn on the cob and cucumber salad. YUMMY! Tara's birthday was last weekend but she went to the lake so we celebrated last night. Some of Mom and Dad's friend Danny, Linda, Dave and Patti stopped by to see the house and then Jamie, Steven and Parker came by. We had fun watching Parker. He is sooooo busy. I can't believe we will have 2 of those soon, our life is going to be busy! I got home about 10:30.
I have been feeling really good! I am growing, growing, growing........Tuesday I went to Childress and did a lunch. My boss was in town so he went with me. While I was there Lupe the sonographer offered to do a sono. I will never turn that down. I just love being able to see the babies. Both babies looked good, they are getting so big. We definitely have a little thumb sucker. During the past two sonograms Baby B has not let that thumb go. They were both very active and their hearts were just beating away. Here are a few pics. These are a little harder to see.
Baby B with his thumb headed towards his mouth!
One of the babies foot. Look at those cute toes!!
Looking down on both of the babies heads. Baby B is on the left with his thumb in his mouth.
Baby A profile. Look at his nose!!!
Greg left for Casper,Wyoming last Monday. They had to take an 8 hour safety course Tuesday and then they were able to start working on Wednesday. When they got to the job site Wednesday all of the material was wrong and all of it was not there. They are now just waiting for material.....Since they can't work yet they all decided to go to Yellowstone for the weekend. They left out early yesterday morning. They went to Old Faithful and drove all the way through the park. There was not a place to stay anywhere around there so they stayed in Big Sky, Montana. They got up early again this morning and drove back through Yellowstone. Greg called about 5 and they made it back to Casper. Hopefully if everything goes as planned they will fly home on the 21st for a long weekend. I am already ready for him to be home.
I will have my sister take pictures this week and get them posted. I have lots more to write but I will go ahead and post this and then start a new one to post this week.
Keep praying for a LONG, healthy pregnancy!!
