33 Weeks!

This week's update comes a day late-- we just didn't get around to taking a belly pic yesterday-- Rob was working late and I was hard at work on some projects for the nursery, which isn't quite finished yet, but should be in a few weeks. I want to wait and post pics when it's completely done!

This week, baby is the size of a pearl necklace:

And looks like this:

Baking Baby Blakely

"The big news this week is lung development—baby's respiratory system is almost completely mature. That means if your baby was born this week, odds are he'd be a healthy bouncing baby with a just a little help from his friends (aka, the NICU).

Some of the specifics are:

Your baby can now detect light and tell the difference between night and day (of course that ability will miraculously disappear once he's born and up all night screaming). His pupils will constrict and dilate in response to light. If you shine a flashlight on your belly, your baby may shy away from the light as if to say, "Cut it out, Ma. You're soooo annoying."

The bones in your baby's skull are soft and are not yet fused together. In other words, now is not the time to teach him how to do a headspin while breakdancing. This pliability allows the bones to overlap; making that trip down the tight birth canal possible (and resulting in that surprising cone head look your baby will sport for the first few days post-birth. Don't worry, it's totally normal and that's what hats are for.)

Your baby will continue to pack on the pounds gaining around ½ pound a week from here on out.Your baby weighs about 4½ pounds, as much as a grownup duck, and is approximately 17.5 inches long, about the same as a collarbone-length pearl necklace. (Did somebody say push present?)"

33 Week Belly Pics

There's a lot of stuff that we've put off for 33 weeks-- But with only seven weeks to go, we've really started doing a lot to prepare. My mom delivered my brother and I almost two weeks early, and although this doesn't indicate that Liam will be born early, I know that we need to be prepared before we hit 40 weeks.

There's laundry to do-- Between blankets, diapers, washcloths, towels, clothes, burp cloths, sheets, mattress covers, changing pad covers, etc. I'll be washing for a while.

There's sterilizing to do-- pump parts, bottles (which we don't plan on using until breastfeeding is established) and pacifiers (ditto).

There's packing to do-- I'm making lists of what we need to take to the hospital and what we need to stock in the diaper bags.

There's shopping to do-- We made a list several months ago of all of the things that we need before he arrives and we've checked off so many things! The problem is that we keep adding things to the list-- just last night, I realized that we don't have any health/hygiene stuff! We need a thermometer, nail clippers, a nasal aspirator, baby Tylenol, gas drops, a comb/brush, diaper rash cream, vaseline, medicine dispenser, etc. None of these are a huge expense-- they're just things that we can't forget to buy!

There's cooking to do-- As of now, I have the beginning of my freezer stash: 4 casseroles, 2 containers of fresh green beans, 6 containers of soup/chili and 3 loaves of banana bread. I hope to (at least) double this before he gets here.

I'm so thankful that I'm not working-- there's plenty to do around here!