Blimey! The Bean is 24-weeks-old today!

The Bean is beginning to train for the the 2012 Summer Olympics in London (hence the use of the word "blimey" in the title; trust me, "blimey" is not part of my regular vocabulary). Do they even let 4-year-olds compete? Based upon her recent movements, she seems to be a strong contender for the floor exercises. Seriously though, I can literally see Tiffany's stomach moving as The Bean practices her routine. It's pretty amazing.

The Bean has probably gained a quarter of a pound and is about the size of decent-sized largemouth bass (about a foot). She'll soon start putting on that adorable baby fat that makes baby cheeks so hard to resist from squeezing. Acccording to Baby Center, "her lungs are developing 'branches' of the respiratory 'tree' and cells that produce surfactant, a substance that helps the air sacs inflate easily."

So that's it for this week. For all three of our readers, we'll be back next week!

Week 23

The Bean is a big girl now--she is just over 11 inches long and she finally weighs in at 1 pound!! She is also a very active girl--it feels like she's doing somersaults at times. She looks red and wrinkly and the big developmental happening of the week is that the blood vessels in her lungs are developing in preparation for breathing. I've been sick this week with a cold that Adam was kind enough to pass on to me, so the Bean has been getting bounced around with all of my coughing. Here is a picture of the Bean and I hanging out at Niagara Falls a couple of weeks ago--see, I told you she's a big girl.

Bean Counter!

It's a bonus post! Thanks to my (Adam) Aunt Beth, we were pointed to a site where you can actually set up a countdown for your Bean. While it does feature an eerily floating bean in a womb, it's still cool to see how many days until Bean Fest 2007 (The Bean's Birthday). It's over there on the right side of the blog.

Happy Week 22, Bean!

Don't worry, The Bean is still around and so is her blog. We have no excuse other than laziness for not updating the blog lately, but here we go again!

The Bean has now passed the state of being compared to various food products, and is, according to BabyCenter, beginning to look the miniature version of a full-grown newborn! She is probably about 10.9 inches long and weighs almost a pound. Her skin is wrinkled, but will fill out as she puts on more weight. The lanugo (fine hair) is now visible all over her body. Her eyes are fully developed, yet lack the pigment that determines her eye color (which is probably brown since both her parents have brown eyes).

The Mother of The Bean has felt her moving for some time now, but the Father of The Bean can also now feel her movements as well. It's really amazing to think that there is an active Bean inside the mother! Just a few more months until The Bean makes her earthly debut!

19 Weeks: The Small Zucchini

It's been a fun few days since discovering that the Bean is a she-Bean. Adam made a space in the closet for the Bean's clothes (still the one pair of feet pajamas). From my ultrasound, I got a better picture of the size of the Bean than from comparing it to a piece of produce. The Bean's head was positioned in my lower abdomen and a foot was somewhere slightly above my belly button. I've posted the pictures from the ultrasound. There is one footprint and a couple profiles of her head and upper torso. The one where her mouth is open makes us laugh. It's a little creepy because it is so skeletal and even looks like she has some jagged teeth, but we think it's funny--it's like she's grinning for the camera! We've decided it will have to be a blackmail picture. The Bean's legs and arms are now in their right proportions to each other and the rest of her body. The Bean is starting to sprout hair on her scalp and there is quite a bit of activity going on in her brain--it is starting to develop areas for all of her senses--smell, taste, sight, hearing, and touch. Another fun happening of the week is that I've finally started feeling the Bean move around. The Bean is usually active after I eat. It might not be possible, but I swear I saw my stomach move one time during one of these periods of activity. As for me, my clothes keep getting tighter as my belly expands. I foresee a necessary shopping trip on the horizon.

Breaking News: It's a Girl!!

Hi everybody. Well, we had our ultrasound today and were a little perturbed at first because the Bean was lying face down, toward my back, so the tech couldn't see as much. She had me walk around, go to the bathroom, she jiggled my stomach and started poking it with the ultrasound sensor, trying to get the Bean to roll over, but the Bean was being stubborn. While Adam and I were on our 5 minute walk to hopefully get the Bean moving, he said, "I knew it! We're not going to find out the sex!!" I was surprisingly the calm one and thought it odd that he was so put out by it since he was the one who wanted to wait to find out the sex. Well, the nurses said it looked like the Bean was asleep. In spite of the Bean's unchanging position, the nurse asked if we wanted to know the sex, and after looking for just a second she informed us we were having a little girl! We were both surprised since we were sure it would be a boy. Finally when the nurse was about to give up, the Bean rolled over and started moving around more. We got to see her yawn, stretch out her legs and move her fingers around--it looked like she was giving us the peace sign. Adam and I are both very excited. We went to dinner and then went to buy a little girl outfit. I'll scan some of the ultrasound pictures and post them in a few days.

18 Weeks: the Sweet Potato

First the really exciting news: we will hopefully know the sex of the Bean this week--I go in for my ultrasound on Wednesday, so I'll be sure to post the news, providing that the Bean cooperates. Now we're talking--a sweet potato! The Bean is approximately 5 1/2 inches long and weighs about 7 ounces. The Bean entertain his/herself by flexing his/her arms and legs throughout the day, which I know is true--though I haven't detected any movements myself, my doctor said she heard a lot of movement on the Doppler monitor while trying to listen to the Bean's heartbeat. She said I should start noticing movements in the next week or so. The Bean's skin is still kind of transparent and his/her blood vessels are noticeable through it. The Bean's ears have moved into the final position on his/her head and stand out from it. If the Bean is a girl, her uterus and Fallopian tubes are already formed and in place--that's kind of cool. We're very excited to see how everything turns out on Wednesday--I'm really impatient and just want it to get here, but I guess I'll have to handle the suspense for a couple more days.