12 Weeks

The first trimester is coming to a close, and everything is continuing smoothly. This past Saturday, we enjoyed the annual Pape whiffle ball tournament, where we got to share the exciting news with all the Ribeiros. Mike was excited that he was finally able to share the news with his family, but I think Liz was even more excited to proclaim her future title of grandmother! I was also able to spend some time chatting with Kate Pape, wife of cousin Fred, who is expecting her third baby in January, just a few weeks before our new addition will be arriving. It was fun to have a chance to compare stories and talk with another expectant mother, especially one who's an old pro by now and has all sorts of advice to share!

While all that pasta I consumed in Italy is now gone, the baby (and the belly) still remain. I'm now wearing most pants with a hair band through the button hole and around to the button to keep them up. I think it's about time to go do some shopping, but I've been relying on my summer dresses and drawstring shorts in the meantime. The only thing that makes me wonder is when people tell me that I don't even look pregnant. I know it's meant in the most compassionate way, but really? Did I always have such a round belly? I don't remember it that way! In any case, you can judge for yourself just how pregnant I look! :-) The baby is now just over 2 inchese long, weighs about 1/2 an ounce, and has reached the size of a large lime. The big development this week is the development of reflexes. The baby is squirming, sucking, curling his/her toes, and opening and closing his/her hands. Of course, we can't feel any of this going on yet, but it's still exciting to know there's all sorts of movement going on in there.

And as if the baby were not enough excitement around here, we have more excitement to share! Mike has a new job, which he'll be starting in about two weeks. He'll be working for Brainshark, a company based in Waltham that creates online presentations for companies such as AT&T, BlueCross BlueShield, Bose, and many, many others. He'll be a Senior Programmer, helping to expand the software capabilities that already exist. He's very excited about this new opportunity, as it's certainly going to be a big step for his career and really allows him to pursue his passions more fully.

11 Weeks

We've just returned home from a week full of food, fun, and amazing sites in Tuscany with the full Pape clan! The eight (and a half) of us spent the first half of the week in the rural villages of Tuscany, touring through the little towns built onto the hilltops. We visited an authentic Tuscan winery, where we were able to get a private tour of all the inner workings of the winery and taste some wines right out of the vats. Of course, while I was not able to taste the wines, I enjoyed the fruity, deep aromas. We had to keep our energy up for all of that walking around the villages, so of course, we also ate a great deal of amazing food, including fresh-made Pecorino cheese from the village of Pienza. Midweek, we shifted our homebase to Florence. Our hotel was perfectly located in the city, so we were able to spend the second half of the week walking right out our front door to all of the amazing gems housed in Florence. We visited the Accademia (home to Michaelangelo's David), the Uffizi (home to many famous artistic works), the Duomo, the Basilica di Santa Croce (where both Michaelangelo and Galileo are buried), the Ponte Vecchio, and many other awe-inspiring sites.


The baby loved Tuscany, including all of the fabulous food, which helped spur a bit of a growth spurt! While in Florence, we hit the 11-week mark and entered the 12th week. At 11 weeks, the baby has reached over an inch and a half long and nearly all organs have begun forming. The baby is now about the size of a fig. That equates to a growing uterus, and thus, a growing belly. More and more pants are becoming difficult to wear, and you can see why in the 11 week belly shot below.

How big is the baby?

There's a baby website that equates the size of the baby each week to a different fruit or vegetable. Fruits and vegetables are something people really know and understand, so it helps them be able to envision just how big (or small!) the baby is. So far, the baby has grown from a poppy seed to a sesame seed to a lentil to a blueberry to a kidney bean to a grape, and finally, this week, the baby is the size of...

... a kumquat!

The First Belly Shot - 9 weeks

Many people have asked how my clothes are fitting and whether I have any sort of belly yet. It's still small, and you couldn't tell through my clothes, but there is a little something there. Still no need for maternity clothes anytime soon, but there's definitely a need for my looser, roomier clothes!

Our First Doctor Visit

This morning, we had our first visit to the doctor's office and got our first look at the new baby! Everything is right where it should be. Based upon the crown to rump measurements (the distance between the two plus signs on the picture below), the computer figures that the baby is 8 weeks, 6 days old today. This also gives us a better due date: 2/6/2009. The baby is just about one inch long at this point. You can see the head on the right and the body to the left, with the umbilical cord attached to the forming placenta. We also got to hear the baby's heartbeat - a healthy 170 beats per minute.