Little Princess

You're a girl!!! When we went to Peek-a-Belly they told us they were about 80% sure you were, but invited us back for a follow-up appointment a couple weeks later just to double check. In between those two appointments we also had another regular check-up with the doctor. They couldn't find your heartbeat with the doppler because you were standing on your head again so we got ANOTHER ultrasound! We didn't complain... ;) We gave you a name so we have finally been able to stop calling you "baby" - Your name is Sophie Elise Blackwell.

Daddy wasn't able to go to the second Peek-a-Belly session with me - which, of course, is when you decided to do something really cute. You lifted your hand as if you were going for your eyes but you ran into your nose... You had this reaction of "WHAT... IS... THAT?!?!" and played with it for a good 30 seconds. Even the ultrasound tech was giggling at you. When you felt confident that your nose was probably supposed to be there you continued upwards to rub your eyes. You rubbed them sleepily before streeeeeeetching out and rolling back over to go to sleep. I know you're a real baby already, but it still always amazes me how human you act even now. You're the cutest thing ever!

You're 19 weeks old now... Almost halfway through "baking" in there! You're about 10 inches long and starting to make your presence more and more known. I swear someone gave you a flame-thrower because the heartburn you give me is pretty incredible. I have to be careful about eating spicy foods or even laying in certain ways or else I end up living on Tums the rest of the day. You're a night owl just like your Daddy and are starting to keep me up pretty late by squirming around so much I have trouble getting to sleep. You like to sleep in to make up for it though... You don't start bouncing the next day until around 10 in the morning. Silly girl...

You can hear now (although probably not very well yet) so we talk to you so you can get to know our voices. Sometimes I sing "You Are My Sunshine" to you and replace "sunshine" with "Sophie". Maybe if I sing it enough it'll be familiar when you come out and can help to calm you down when you cry. Or maybe it'll just make you cry harder since Mommy doesn't have a very good singing voice ;) Guess we'll see, huh? You are also starting to be able to smell which is absolutely amazing to me. Daddy and I went to Red Lobster for a date the other night and you started bouncing like crazy almost the second we walked in the door. What's even more strange about this is that I have always hated seafood. I can't stand the smell, texture, or anything else about it. You're definitely taking after your Daddy in food choices though because I wanted to smell the crab legs he ordered like they were flowers. I even had to eat some of them. What are you doing to me?! I held a cheese biscuit down to my tummy to see if you would get excited about that too, and sure enough, you did! I wasn't upset about having to eat those though...

Last night was an exciting night because I felt you move from the outside for the very first time. I was listening to your heart and your movements with the doppler and all of the sudden you kicked it away... Twice! It bounced up and surprised me so I stopped listening just in case you really, really didn't like it. I spent the next hour trying to feel you with my hand and could only feel very faint thumps that were few and far between. Daddy is really excited that you're getting big enough to feel from the outside because he's feeling a little left out in that area. I'm sure before long you'll start kicking him constantly and telling him "I love you" in Morse Code. You're such a smart baby I bet I could teach you how to do that even while you're still in there.

We've started working on setting up your nursery too. We want to go with a brown and pink polka dot theme and found the cutest bedding set for it! We used to have a ferret, Jack, who stayed in your room... But we gave him away to a very loving family so that he wouldn't have to stay in a cage once you're born. Now that he's gone we can start painting and setting things up. We bought your crib with some Christmas money and are still waiting for it to be delivered. I think your Daddy is more excited about decorating than I am - That may or may not have to do with the fact that I'm still completely exhausted all the time... I've been fighting a nasty cold/sinus infection for the past couple of weeks so that hasn't helped either. My fever got so high a couple of days that I was putting ice packs on myself to cool down and keep you safe. It's tough business being a baby bakery! Tough, but totally worth it :)

Your 20-week anatomy scan (verifying 10 fingers, 10 toes, etc.) is next Monday and we're really excited about it. Not only do we get to see you again (for an extended session) but I'm pretty sure we get to bring home a video of you too! So far we've only been able to show people your adorable pictures, so it'll be lots of fun to be able to let them see you moving around too. It's at 3 in the afternoon so I'll make sure I eat something sweet that morning (or smell some seafood) to get you all bouncy and ready for it. I know you'll do great! In the meantime, punch me really hard the next time you hear Daddy's voice so he can finally experience you the way I am :)

I love you always!

Love,

Mommy