Dinner and playing with more Chicago relatives

Lily realized she could make a funny noise if she squeezed her hands together after she got some sweet potato puree in them. She thought it was really funny. Excuse her messy face, she really gets into her dinner, especially now that she can eat a lot of things on her own.



Everyone knows that Lily loves her blanket. This was a sarong that I started using as a nursing cover up while we were in Maui since it's more lightweight than a regular blanket and it was really hot in Maui. Ever since then she's been attached to it. After the trip I cut it up into 3 different blankets for her. She always sleeps with one of them. She likes to squeeze it in her hands, shove it in her face and chew on it. She'll often carry it around in her mouth like a puppy. This particular evening we had come home after work and daycare and she was a little tired. I gave her one of the blankets and she was laying on the floor with it. I thought the couch was a better place to lay so I put her up there and she was rolling around with the blanket. That is until she got distracted trying to get to something on the table.

On Valentine's Day we went over to cousin Harriet and Kay's house for a family barbecue. The Zagorin family and Lily great-great aunt and uncle Beverly and Jake were in town from Chicago. They had never met Lily and we actually had never met the two Zagorin boys, Alex and Zack (even though they were 5 and 3). Much of the afternoon was spent with Lily crawling around on the ground after the dogs and Zack crawling around after Lily. The kids were quite fond of each other--the dogs, not so much.
You can kind of see Krissy (the dog) behind Lily.

Zack must be explaining something to Lily. They raced across the floor.

Lily made this face un-prompted after she saw I had the camera.

6 weeks

How your baby's growing: The cells that will make up all of your baby's body parts and systems are dividing furiously as her body begins to take shape. Right now she's about the size of a small lentil bean (4 to 5 millimeters across). If you could see through your uterine wall, you'd find an overlarge head and dark spots where her eyes and nostrils are beginning to take shape. Shallow pits on the sides of her head mark her developing ears, and her arms and legs appear as protruding buds. Her hands and feet look like paddles, with thick webbing between the developing digits, but her fingers and toes will soon become more distinct. Below the opening that will later be your baby's mouth, there are small folds where her neck and lower jaw will eventually develop. (Inside, her tongue and vocal cords are just beginning to form.)

Your baby's heart (which is starting to divide into the right and left chambers) is beating about 100 to 130 beats per minute — almost twice as fast as yours — and blood is beginning to circulate through her body. Her intestines are developing and tiny breathing passages are beginning to appear where her lungs will be. She's also starting to build muscle fibers and, halfway through this week, she'll likely start moving her tiny limbs. Unfortunately, you'll probably have to wait until you're several weeks into your second trimester before you get to enjoy feeling your baby's calisthenics.

How your life's changing: If you haven't already, you may soon find yourself riding pregnancy's emotional roller coaster, feeling moody one day and joyful the next. Disturbing as this may be — especially if you pride yourself on being in control — what you're going through is completely normal and will probably continue throughout your pregnancy. Up-and-down emotions are partly caused by fluctuating and (in many cases) very high levels of hormones. But hormones aside, your entire life is about to change — and who wouldn't feel emotional about that?

Spotting (finding spots of blood on your underpants or toilet tissue after urinating) or bleeding is common in early pregnancy, but sometimes it can be the first sign of miscarriage. If you have any spotting or bleeding, call your doctor or midwife right away so she can determine whether your spotting indicates a potential problem.


How I'm doing:I spent the entire 6th week in on vacation in Chicago and Madison, WI. It was a nice break from work but unfortunately morning sickness set in midway through the week and right on schedule. Queasiness was off and on the starting the 2nd half of the week. So far it's hard to pinpoint a rhyme or reason to it.

Our first prenatal appointment has been rescheduled to September 25th. We also have decided against getting an ultrasound at this appointment since it is unnecessary for low risk pregnancies (and not routinely performed by our provider) and might be associated with changes in brain development (male babies who received ultrasounds early in development are more likely to be left-handed).

We got a little practice while we were in Chicago with our new cousin Willow Rivka; only 6 weeks old.