23 Weeks

Dear Lil Boop,

It's Week 23, and you are still in papaya stage at around 11.5 inches in length and 1 pound in weight (I saw this on a website comparing you to the size to a Harry Potter book!). This week you are sucking amniotic fluid in and out of your lungs as a way to practice for breathing. And now you are going to be getting your FATTY on, because in the next month you are going to double in weight! Your skin is becoming less transparent, you are forming nipples, and you are able to hear loud noises (like the dogs barking, or when I blast Foo Fighters in my car in the morning - sorry about that, it helps me wake up!).

My belly has been huge lately because this past Thursday was Thanksgiving! I have worked the past couple Thanksgivings, so this year I was off and went with AJ and his mom to Nevada, MO to his great-grandmother's Thanksgiving extravaganza. It was a 3 hour drive, which was rough because I kept having to pee or was getting motion sick - which I NEVER do. When we made it there it was nice out so we ate outside. It was 81 degrees in great-grandma's house, plus the oven had heated things up as well, so I spent a lot of time outside.We played BINGO and AJ and I won around $15. It was a long day and I crashed at my dad's that night while AJ went back to the house because he had to work Friday.

Friday night dad had a fish fry and my Aunt Catherine, Uncle Bob, cousin Cassandra, and Aunt Diane were there. We had to have it in the shed because it was so windy outside. Usually dad has a lot of fish fries in the summer - which are a blast when it is warm and you have a nice cold beer!

Jessica, Biscuit, and Gravy on Grandpa's Couch in Fulton (The day after Thanksgiving = full belly!)

Dad frying fish, fries, and mozzarella sticks. Biscuit and Gravy are observing.

Your Daddy and Gravy at the fish fry

It was nice to visit with everyone, but my tummy was still full from turkey, cranberry sauce, and Miracle Whip sandwiches I loaded up on that day, so I didn't eat too much. 

On Saturday we went to his Nan-Nan's dinner in Fulton. We got to visit with Melanie and Mike, as well as AJ's dad this time. After the dinner we went over to Steve's and visited for a couple more hours. So we pretty much got to visit most of our families, except my mom's side. They had a small get-together that Thursday while we were in Nevada, but that side of my family doesn't really have big get-togethers since a lot of people live out of town or don't get along. We'll probably see them around Christmas.

On Sunday, AJ and I went and picked out a crib and dresser/changing table from Babies R Us. We hauled them home and put the crib together that night. The dresser/changing table was already assembled. AJ did most of the work because like I said my tummy felt huge and I couldn't move around very well. He had me hold some things and do little stuff here and there, otherwise I just listened to the Christmas music on my phone and stayed out of his way.

The crib with the Baby Cocoa bedding set!

The dresser/changing table and crib

Inside of the crib

AJ found that giraffe poster at Hobby Lobby when we went to buy the wooden letters and I had to have it. The changing pad also has a little monkey on it and there was a strap that hooks it to the dresser so it doesn't slide off. After we got the nursery put together we just kept going in and looking at it the rest of the night. Yesterday I caught AJ showing the nursery to his friend Dustin. It was cute :)

Love,