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.