Another New Beginning

Today marks the start of my 2nd Trimester. WHOOO HOOOO! I'm really excited to start this new chapter in my pregnancy. This trimester, we will get to find out if we're having a boy or a girl, and we're super excited about that. We already have names picked out...Harrison Glen for a boy, and Riley (still working on a middle name) for a girl.

Also this trimester, we will get to see my belly start to grow, and as crazy as it sounds, I'm ready for it! It's so hard being at this in between stage...I feel like people look at me and question if I'm just heavier or if I'm pregnant. Jeff and I are definitely seeing a very small little bump, but underneath clothes, you can't really tell.

I've been receiving weekly e-mail updates from BabyCenter, which is the coolest website ever for moms. It gives me a weekly peek at what is going on with our little one, and I have to say that I look so forward to that e-mail every Sunday.

Listen to this...
This week your baby is 14 weeks along, and can now squint, frown, grimace, pee, and possibly suck his thumb! Thanks to brain impulses, his facial muscles are getting a workout as his tiny features form one expression after another. His kidneys are producing urine, which he releases into the amniotic fluid around him — a process he'll keep up until birth. He can grasp, too, and if you're having an ultrasound now, you may even catch him sucking his thumb.

In other news: Your baby's stretching out. From head to bottom, he measures 3 1/2 inches - the size of a lemon - and he weighs 1 1/2 ounces. His body's growing faster than his head, which now sits upon a more distinct neck. By the end of this week, his arms will have grown to a length that's in proportion to the rest of his body. (His legs still have some lengthening to do.) He's starting to develop an ultra-fine, downy covering of hair, called lanugo, all over his body. Your baby's liver starts making bile this week — a sign that it's doing its job right — and his spleen starts helping in the production of red blood cells. Though you can't feel his tiny punches and kicks yet, your little pugilist's hands and feet (which now measure about 1/2 inch long) are more flexible and active.

Well, I just don't know what to say after that other than WOW! God and His love are so amazing, and I am so thankful that He has blessed us with this baby. We can't wait to meet him/her!