18 Weeks

Well I must finally have made it to the second trimester that I kept hearing about.  I have had a lot of energy (was able to spend a full day in Hong Kong, a full day in Shenzhen and a full day in Guangzhou, then spend a day and a half cooking and cleaning and was still a good hostess at our Halloween party.  Friday I woke up and didn’t feel great.  I wasn’t able to eat much and well, the nausea mixed with the empty stomach, mixed with a long car ride meant having the driver stop the car and throwing up all the water I drank that day.  I have to say I can deal with one bad day every two weeks, especially when I have had some really good days.  As of this morning I still haven’t gained an ounce since the doctor…BUT I haven’t lost anything. 

The big change this week is I realized that those little bubbles I have been feeling in my belly aren’t gas (I love that being pregnant means you can talk about things like your gas issues) but they are little baby movements.  The little stinker stops every time I have Adam touch my belly, but he is moving more and more.  I like to think that his daddy’s touch is soothing and relaxes him. 

I have been coming up with things about his personality a lot lately.  I think he is playful (like with the doctor) but totally subdue and relaxed (like his daddy) because he isn’t overly active.  I try to picture what he will look like as a toddler.  Will he have little blonde curls (I used to have them) like his mommy or straight brown hair like his daddy, will he have brown eyes like mommy or (crossing my fingers) blue eyes like his daddy?  Will he be an obsessive compulsive control freak like his mother or easy going like his father?  Will he struggle in school and earn every grade with blood sweat and tears like his mother, or will school come easy to him like his father?  Will he love to sing and make crafts and become a kindergarten teacher like his mother, or will he be really good at math and science and be an Engineer like his father?  Our child is a total toss up; Adam and I are different in so many ways.  I do know one thing this child will be loved (BIG TIME) and hopefully he will get the drive we both have and the work ethic we both have. 

I don’t know why but I have a feeling this child is going to grow up to be just like his daddy, he is going to get excited about technology, he is going to tell jokes I don’t understand but other Engineers will thing are hilarious, he is going to have to explain things in a kindergarten way (but not condescending) so that I understand.  I think he may go to State like his daddy and become an Engineer.  This could be a mother’s intuition or just me hoping that I am able to raise a little boy who is a good man like his father.  I am truly blessed to have my son grow up with some great male role models (my husband, my father, Adam’s father, my Grandpa Dalland, and the stories he will hear of the great grandparents that he won’t meet on earth).  I would be happy if he took after any of them. 

*****Cool Week 18 Fact: My uterus is the size of a cantaloupe…WOW!