A One Pound Package of Oreos

This week the little guy weighs a whole pound and is as long as a package of oreos!  I can't believe how much he has grown in the past 23 weeks.  In all my baby research, I found an article that said that babies born at 23 weeks have a 10-70% chance of survival.  That seems like a pretty big range to me.  Once the baby makes it to 26 weeks he has an 80-90% chance.  It's crazy to think that some people have a baby that soon...we are definitely not ready...but it's nice to know that we're getting close to the safe zone. 

We went on a "Babymoon" last weekend...one last get-away before the baby comes.  Jared surprised me with train tickets to San Antonio for my birthday, so we went down for a long weekend.  Neither of us had been on a train before so it was definitely a neat experience.  Since it was my birthday, Jared went all out and got the sleeper car tickets.  It was nice to have our own little area.  We also got to eat in the dining car which was fun.  The train ride took about 12 hours with all the stops, so by the time we got there we were ready to be on solid ground. 

 We went to the San Antonio zoo which we had heard was a really good zoo.  We were kind of proud of ourselves because we figured out the public transportation system all by ourselves.  The zoo was definitely nice.  It was little, but all the animals were out.  In the past when I have gone to the OKC zoo there are usually a ton of empty cages, so this was a pleasant surprise. 

 Here is my 22-week baby bump...and also a huge snake.

 We ate at a lot of neat restaurants, saw the Alamo, and shopped on the River Walk.  I don't have all my energy back, but I definitely have a lot more than I had during the first trimester.  When we walked long distances, I could tell that my center-of-balance has shifted and I am carrying a lot more weight.  By the end of the trip, my whole body was so tired. 

 It was weird that the temperature got up to about 65 each day, but they already had the huge Christmas tree up on the River Walk.

This weekend Tabatha came up from Texas to visit and we really enjoyed seeing her.  She brought us a basket of baby stuff and a loaf of homemade pumpkin bread, so obviously it was a successful visit.  I was feeling a little overwhelmed with all of the nursery planning so it was great to go shopping with her and get things planned out.  She has the best decorating sense.  She had a lot of ideas for pretty easy things I could make for the nursery so that it would have some personal touches.  I'm definitely not the craftiest or most artistic person in the world, but I really want to try them! 

~Caitlynne

The Name Game

I'm not sure that I've gone a day since we found out the sex of someone not asking what his name is going to be.    We've considered our celebrity name which is Caired, or some cool one syllable name like Cage or Tex.

People are getting pretty persistent about asking, but we just don't know.  We may or may not have it narrowed down to a few.  I'm not telling.  In fact, if we do tell you a couple that we are choosing from, chances are that we are giving you decoys, not serious considerations.

So who knows where we will go.  Will it be something out of left field like Pep, or it could be after a president.  It could be after some city, or Stoops after Coach Bob.  Who knows, because we sure don't.  Looks like everyone's going to have to wait until after its born, except us.  Maybe... who knows, we sure don't.

-Jared

More than Half-way!! This is Bananas!

We are officially more than half-way through this pregnancy!  Twenty-one weeks down and 19 to go.  To be honest, I am a little overwhelmed by everything we have left to do...we have been baby shopping several times but all we really have is a closet-full of diapers and some onesies.  We found a crib we really like but haven't made the commitment yet.

Little Baby Miller is the size of a banana this week and weighs about 11 ounces.  He's almost up to a full pound, and I am feeling it!  He moves around all the time, especially during the music at church and during loud parts of movies.  The first time I knew for sure I was feeling him move was last weekend.  Jared and I went and saw the Social Network and there's one part where some of the characters are at a club.  There was loud music and I guess it woke the little guy up.  He kept moving the whole time they were in the club.  I think I had felt him move a couple times before, but I wasn't sure.  Now I can definitely tell when he's moving around in there.

Jared had to go to North Carolina for work this week.  It was definitely rough having him gone, but as soon as he got in the car at the airport and started talking, the baby started moving around.  It was crazy!  I think he missed his daddy as much as I did.  And he got a souvenir:

Hopefully this is the last time he will have to travel for awhile.

~Caitlynne