Week 25: "Rutabaga"

Head to heels, your baby now measures about 13 1/2 inches. Her weight — a pound and a half — isn't much more than an average rutabaga, but she's beginning to exchange her long, lean look for some baby fat. As she does, her wrinkled skin will begin to smooth out and she'll start to look more and more like a newborn. She's also growing more hair — and if you could see it, you'd now be able to discern its color and texture. (www.babycenter.com)

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I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Ours was nice, but very busy. The Friday after Thanksgiving I left to go to the Cities with my parents for a cousin's wedding. It was great to be able to spend some quality time with some of my cousins I haven't seen in years. Teirney had stayed in Marshfield to spend the rest of the weekend with his family. I came back to Marshfield on Sunday and will stay through the rest of the week. Teirney went back to Milwaukee on Sunday. I feel so blessed that I'm not working and have been able to be flexible to do all this traveling. However, I miss Teirney very much, who says he also misses me...so sad! Everyone together now say, "awww, how cute!"

So I'm 25 weeks today! I'm continually amazed at how fast the weeks are flying by. Here is my 25 week belly pic (I have officially retired the gray tank top).

One of the biggest things that has replaced my morning sickness is my lack of sleep. Typically, that isn't supposed to get bad until later on in the pregnancy, but apparently Bebita wants me to be fully prepared for her arrival. I suspect lack of sleep will continue as long as I'm a parent. There was one night in the Cities that I didn't sleep the entire night until about 5:00 a.m.-6:30 a.m. Bebita was doing acrobats all night long (I think it was due to the hot chocolate I drank at 9:00 p.m. that night -- lesson learned). We spent the next day at the Mall of America...probably not the best idea in the world. But it was fun regardless of how tired I was, and at least I was able to sleep that night.

Another factor in my lack of sleep has been heartburn. I had it pretty bad early on in the first trimester and then it disappeared. It has officially reappeared in full force now. I'm able to take Tums and that has helped tremendously.

I feel extremely blessed and grateful that aside from the common aches and pains pregnancy brings, I have had no complications and Bebita seems to be growing healthy, which is the most important thing.

My mom and I have been doing some Christmas baking this week and I plan on helping putting up the Christmas tree with her later this week. I have decided not to decorate for Christmas at our apartment this year. Anyone who knows me, knows that I love to decorate, especially for Christmas. But with the apartment still not completely in order and me being pregnant, I decided to give Teirney the best Christmas he's ever had...a Christmas with no decorations! He dreads the whole decorating process every year and since this will probably be the only year we can skip it, I figured there was no better time. So I'm glad I can get my "Christmas fix" at my parents house this year. I'm actually quite relieved I don't need to worry about it at our house.

Since it's late and I still need to say goodnight to my cute hubby, I should sign off.

Dear, sweet Bebita -- you are precious, you are a gift, and we are so grateful for your little life. I hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving meal the other day. Stay healthy and strong -- and may God hold your little hand through your entire journey into this world. Please know your daddy loves you very much, even though you haven't heard his voice around too much these last couple weeks. We both love you so very, very much! Goodnight little angel!