It's official! Anna is going to be a big sister!

Our news is officially official. We went Facebook public with the announcement of our growing family on May 22nd.  Our little blog did such a great job of keeping loved ones informed on the coming of our little Anna-bug. So now, of course - we're back to blogging! (Aren't you excited?!)

See the newsworthy announcement here...

And for those of you not on Facebook, this was Don's latest update on the newest member of our clan: The deets: Amanda is due Nov 28th, she just hit 13 wks so we should be smooth sailing into the 2nd tri and baby is the size of a shrimp. Just a normal shrimp, not one of those gigantic shrimp cocktail. Anyway we are starting up the old blog soon and will keep everyone posted! (wasn't it nice of him to warn everyone about the blog? Yeah - I thought so too.)

As of today, I'm officially 14 weeks along and new Baby is about the size of a lemon. Which is probably just a coincidence, but I've been craving tart things lately. One of the first questions people ask when they discover/uncover/reveal that you're preggers - besides 'when are you due?' is 'have you had any cravings?'. Well - first trimester all I could think about was donuts. I think I did a pretty good job limiting my time at Dunkin Donuts and I may have even made it past that there's-no-way-they-can-actually-be-what-my-body-needs craving. Although, admittedly, I am familiar with their Men in Black 3 products and think that entire partnership is kind of genius (and delicious - picture below)

Crave-worthy

Yummy, right? But thankfully, my unstoppable cravings have started to focus more on things like lemonade, salt and vinegar potato chips, pickles, relish & mustard (on hotdogs) - really, just anything tart. And soft serve ice cream (unrelated). This is not a typical pickles & ice cream preggo story. Although - I really wouldn't be surprised if that comes in about a week or two.

And really - that's all the news and updates we have for the moment. Maybe even more than you really wanted to know - but thanks a bunch for tuning in with us and caring enough about us Bratschies to read our blog. We have some of the best friends in the whole world!  :)

Love and hugs!

just a little longer...

we're officially at 31 weeks now.  Just a few more days and we'll be at 32 weeks - or 8 months for those of you that don't want to do the math...

here's a picture (courtesy of babycenter.com) showing what Baby is up to now - it's kind of cool to see that Baby actually looks more like a baby now.  :)

No wonder my belly is getting so big that I waddle!  And Baby weighs about the same as 4 naval oranges (3 lbs. 3 oz.).  Again - here's a picture for reference:

I feel like we're in the home stretch now - only a couple more months - 10 weeks tops and we'll be welcoming our bundle of joy into this world.  I CAN'T WAIT!  :)

25 Weeks! What's a Rutabaga?

As of Friday, Baby is roughly the weight of a rutabaga - or 1.5 lbs.  I know, I know - what exactly is a rutabaga anyway?  Although it's interesting to say/write - I'm not exactly sure anyway.

But I did score a cool picture from that babycenter slideshow.  Here it is:

So - we know it's big.  And in the family of turnips.  And for anyone who has some extra time on their hands, I even found some recipes online for rutabaga.

ENJOY! :)

Weeks 21 and 22

So - it looks like weeks 21 and 22 have flown by without me posting the produce pics!  I can't believe what a bad preggo-blogger I am!  Let's blame this one on momnesia, shall we?

Here's the info for week 21:

Your baby has grown as big as a banana. (Length: about 6 1/2 inches from head to bottom, and 10 inches from head to heel.)

And here's the info for week 22:

Your baby -- currently the length of a carrot -- weighs about 3/4 of a pound. (Length: 10 1/2 inches, head to heel.)

We'll know what the next magical produce item is on Friday or Saturday - so stay tuned.  ;)

19 Weeks!

As of yesterday, Baby is at 19 weeks.  WOW.  I can't believe it's already 19!  One more week and we'll be at 5 months!  This seems like it's going by so quickly!

According to our babycenter.com email, Baby is approximately 8.5 ounces and measure about 6 inches from head to rump - or, in produce terms, is as long as a large heirloom tomato.  Because "large heirloom tomato" is quite vague, I'm including the official picture again.  Here it goes:

Again - use the quarter for comparison.   Because of the latest produce comparison, Don has enlightened me that a heirloom tomato merely means that the tomato is not a hybrid, but a pure tomato.  So - the quarter is even more helpful than I thought... (here's the wikipedia article for anyone that might be a doubter out there: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heirloom_tomato).

Week 18! - Bell Pepper

Baby is about the length of a bell pepper this week (5.5 inches long).  Wow!  This little one is growing FAST!  The gender organs are also developed at this point too - but no, we're still not going to find out if it's a Brat-he or a Brat-she. (HA!  Get it?  A play on our last name?!  I'm so funny!)

Anyway - I included this babycenter.com picture to help anyone who may not know what size bell pepper these peeps are comparing Baby to.  It might help to use the quarter for comparison...

Enjoy!

17 Weeks - TURNIPS!

As of yesterday, Baby is 17 weeks and  I still haven't felt any kicks or flutters (although I wasn't sure if maybe I felt it last night... could've been indigestion).

According to my weekly babycenter email, Baby's skeleton is changing from soft cartilage to hard bone.  Seems like good timing for Halloween, no?  ;)   And now Baby weighs roughly 5 ounces - the size of a turnip.  YAY for turnips!

 I don't even know of what we can make with a turnip though - anyone got any good turnip recipes?

16 Weeks! And Babies are Really Just Produce...

Baby is 16 weeks (4 months) as of yesterday.  Wow.  We're almost halfway through this pregnancy thing.

According to our Babycenter email - Baby is roughly the size of an avocado and is growing toenails, among other things.  The first thing I thought when I read that was, "Getting toenails is the first step to pedicures - YAY!"  (If Baby is a girl, that is - not that boys don't get pedicures, but they don't usually talk about it).

The second thing I thought was "what size avocado?"  Out of pure coincidence, we made guacamole last night - yeah, I guess that's a little sick in retrospect but take heart in knowing that it wasn't planned.  Of course, now we might actually try to work whatever produce item Baby is currently the size of into our menu.  I kind of think that would be funny.  Anyway - we used 5 avocadoes and they were all such different sizes!

So - back to this idea of Baby being the size of produce - Babycenter has this slideshow that compares Baby's development every week to a 'common' produce item - to help give people a better idea of how big their baby is getting.  (As if a giant belly wasn't enough of an idea)...
They have everything from a sesame seed to a pumpkin.  That's right - a pumpkin.  

The key to note here is that the growing baby is like this produce item in some way, usually weight or length.  Otherwise, some of these don't make sense - like an ear of corn at week 24?  I can hear it now "What?  My baby is like an ear of corn right now?  NO WONDER I'm uncomfortable!"