18wks (6ds)

Prepare for this to be a long post, since I'm almost a week late. Oops. Anyways, it's been a busy time! I had my step-sisters and brother-in-law visit this past weekend and my two sisters and my mom visit the weekend before! I went to Wekiwa Springs and felt Bebe move for the FIRST TIME. Barely. It felt like two tiny kernels or popcorn popping. And then nothing for two days. And then a little every day. Just small movements. Twitches at first, like a finger against the inside of my stomach. And now I can feel bumping a few times a day and I know she is moving about. I'm actually feeling her while writing this. It's fascinating!! And I can't wait until I can put my hand on my stomach and feel her kicking from the outside. Not quite as exciting as baby movements, but still exciting, I went to Epcot this past weekend and managed to spend all day there without dying of exhaustion. Keep in mind it is the midst of Florida summer, so, it's miserable being outside for a few minutes - let alone for a while. But we had a really great time and I got to have my ham and cheese croissant in France so I was very happy. I am already salivating in anticipation for Food & Wine Festival starting at the end of September. I just want to eat. It's not too much to ask. Especially since I cannot partake of delicious fruity beverages. I will get my kicks in Belgian Waffles and Cheddar Cheese Soup and Pork Potstickers, dammit.

In other news, I am borderline ready to change Bebe's moniker to 'The Childlike Empress'. Because she is small and regal? No. No no. Because Jason and I are incapable of actually naming her. This morning as we debated the spelling of our first choice (yet again) and added another name to our growing list of contenders I finally burst out with "Bastian! Give me a name!" This, of course, distracted from the naming conversation at hand and disintegrated into me explaining the ending of The Neverending Story to him since he'd never understood it and resulted in us adding it to our Netflix queue. But the point remains! I am half convinced we are never actually going to have a name for her. She's going to be born and we will only have a middle and last name because we are incapable of making a decision. For those who haven't heard, Bebe's middle name is going to be Quinn. It's the only unanimous decision we have both happily agreed upon regarding names. Aside from our Boy name which was so much less complicated deciding on. But Bebe is a girl, not a boy, and naming her is haaaaard. Especially because Jason and I have vastly different tastes and opinions when it comes to things like names. He'd be happy with something common and simple, while I want it to be more unique and interesting. We'll get there. Maybe. Possibly.

As for me! My stomach as seriously popped over the past few weeks. While before I felt like I looked as if I just needed to lay off the brownies, these days I look in the mirror and go "Holy Hell, I have a baby in there!" It's AMAZING I look down and my stomach is round and high and so stereotypically girl. The only sad part of this is I had to say goodbye to a very close companion of mine that I have held close for half my life. My navel ring. I was 13 when my cousin and I convinced our mother's to take us to get it done and were allowed on the condition that we wouldn't pierce any other part of our body as long as we lived in the house. We promised and went to a shop called Grateful Jay's where I was pierced with a silver hoop. I dealt with the infections and I changed it periodically to bars with dangling pieces or hopes with glow-in-the-dark beads all through middle and high school. It was winter of 2003 that I bought the last navel ring I'd ever wear, the one in the side picture: 24k gold with a small diamond chip in the middle of a love knot. I haven't changed it since. This little navel bar went through college with me, went through FA training, and has been all over the world. For thirteen years I have had some sort of metal in my navel. I'm 26 now. And for the first time my navel is empty. Just in time too. Two days after taking it out the hole went from small and round to straight line as my uterus has continued to move up. But I will dearly miss it.

Bebe (The Childlike Empress) is now 5.5" long and 7 oz. Making her the size of one of my favorite things: a sweet potato! Her skin is still thin and her blood vessels are visible beneath it. Her ears are in their final position, but sticking out a bit from her head (and if she has her daddy's ears they'll stay that way). The big news this week is that her fallopian tubes and uterus is fully formed and in place! She's supposedly moving like crazy, which I can believe, even if I am only feeling a fraction of her movements.