Week 18 – The Chocolate St. Nick

This week has been quite busy with both a midwife and an OB appointment this week, plus lead testing because there may be a very slim chance that the water line at my office is contaminated with lead. Don’t think it will be an issue, but as I’m pregnant, we thought it best to have the blood work done.

The baby is much more active than last week, and it was so great to be able to see him/her for a couple of minutes today! 🙂 Much more active than DD was, at least I don’t remember such vivid activity from the ultrasounds. DD always seemed to be sleeping or at least comfortably chillaxing in my belly, while this one is quite the little gymnast. Not that I mind. 😉

No exciting news on the gender question though, just as I was about to excitedly cry out “Oh, it’s a ..:” my OB stopped me and said, “No, might as well be a girl if you look from this angle.” Oh. Well then. 😀 I guess we’ll have to wait for the next appointment.

DD is already earning high marks on the big sister score card. The other day she had a chocolate cupcake that I really wasn’t against sharing. 😉 I asked her if I could share with her, and she nodded, smiled, and handed me this 0.5 mm sized chocolate morsel. Of course, grown-up that I am, I smiled and thanked her, and just as I was about to turn away, she calls me back so the baby can have some. About 3 cm worth of chocolate cupcake! Ha! That’s sisterly love. I made sure it enters my body through my mouth, as she sometimes tends to feed the baby by squishing food into my bellybutton. Yummy. 🙂

Speaking of yummy, food-of-the-week is a chocolate St. Nick (no, not a Santa – we ARE in Germany, and in a very Roman Catholic part at that 😀 ), who is only short by about 1 mm of the suggested 14 cm the baby has this week!

Before we head on to this week’s pictures, I have to apologize for the quality – we are entering a very busy stage (who isn’t, with Christmas coming up), and had about 4.3 minutes to take these pictures. Let’s hope next week we’ll have more time. 😉

Week 14 – The Yes Törtchen

Second trimester, yay! ♥

I can’t believe it, but I am absolutely positive that I can feel the little one. I think I may have already felt it last week, but I’ve decided it only counts when I’m actually sure it’s not just bubbles floating around in my belly. What a great feeling though, like a little fish flitting around inside, or a butterfly fluttering its wings, or a little kick by a 8.5 cm ninja. 😀 I read that baby’s first movements are called “quickening” in English, which is awesome if you ask me. Germans don’t even have a word for this sensation. What Germany does have is Yes Törtchen (read: “Yes Cakes” in English. Seriously, that sounds ridiculous. Oh well.). They were around when my husband and I were little, and always held a tremendous amount of excitement when eating them because they were a) really sweet, b) largely made of chocolate, and -most importantly- c) contained a tiny bit of alcohol which made buying it as an 8-year old ever so thrilling. Yes, I remember some pretending to be drunk after eating two of these. No names named here. 😉
Anyway, a while back the Yes Törtchen disappeared from the shelves with no explanation, leaving a rectangular hole about 8.5 cm long in many a life, which just happens to be the size of a baby in Week 14. At least, the size of my baby in Week 14, seeing as how we got to take a quick peek inside at my check-up just now. A while ago, the Yes Törtchen came back, setting bloggers buzzing and friends in real life storming the stores to hoard loads and loads of these while supplies lasted. At least, my friends did. 😉 So, why was the Yes Törtchen chosen for this week as opposed to the suggested lemon?
Weeeeeeell, a while ago – and I swear this story is true – I came back from putting DD to bed. My husband was telling me about this new commercial where a woman tells her husband that she is pregnant by sticking a paper stork into…can you guess? 😉 Yes, a Yes Törtchen! So, while waiting at the doctor’s office on the very same day of shock-testing positive, I decided this would be the way to go. Walked to the only store that carries these, unwrapped it after dinner, had DD carry it over on a little plate, watched him munch it down. He didn’t get it. That’s because – and he swears this is true 😉 – he has NO IDEA what commercial I am talking about. Well. At least they tasted yummy. 😀
Wow, a long rambling post about Yes Törtchen. 😉 On to pictures!

I have to say, I think my belly actually shrunk again. I can button my jeans just fine, and it also looks a lot smaller. Then again, if you saw me at midnight you’d probably ask if I’m due in three weeks. 😀