Ben's 25 Week Update

I'm tardy, yet again...I have good reason, I promise!

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

Ben's 24 Week Update

I figured I'd better post his 24 week update before his 25th week starts!

Here's what babycenter.com has to say about him:

Your baby's growing steadily, having gained about 4 ounces since last week. That puts him at just over a pound. Since he's almost a foot long (picture an ear of corn), he cuts a pretty lean figure at this point, but his body is filling out proportionally and he'll soon start to plump up. His brain is also growing quickly now, and his taste buds are continuing to develop. His lungs are developing "branches" of the respiratory "tree" as well as cells that produce surfactant, a substance that will help his air sacs inflate once he hits the outside world. His skin is still thin and translucent, but that will start to change soon.

I also read on here (in a different spot) that at this point, my uterus is the size of a soccer ball. Ben is hanging in there, nice and low. I really am glad that I have carried him (so far) like I did Kaylynn. Sure, using my bladder as a punching bag isn't always fun, but I'd rather that than having him karate chop my ribs all day. Just a personal preference. :)

Final Exams - It's In The Game!

Last night was my first final exam of the summer - Payment Systems. As with all final exams, I try to be as prepared as possible with the short amount of study time that I have. This exam was going to be particularly difficult because it was a "code" exam. That is, it was based on Articles 3 and 4 of the Uniform Commercial Code.

In my other "code" classes (Wills & Trusts, Tax, Corporations, Agency & Partnerships), we were allowed to bring the code into the exam because of the amount of information. Having the code is marginally beneficial - it lets us glance at the requirements of a given section and then discuss those elements as they relate to the fact pattern. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to bring the code to this exam.

So I wasn't surprised to show up to the exam and have people freaking out. I wasn't freaking out because I was tired of thinking about it (not a good place to be before the exam). I had read ALL of Article 3, ALL of Article 4, the official UCC comments, and the commentary that my professor wrote for each section. I did what I could do to prepare.

There was one person (other than me) that wasn't freaking out. He was...less than prepared. He wasn't concerned about the grade he was going to get. He hadn't read any of the chapters in our book (which basically just cite the UCC). He hadn't read any of the UCC sections. His study time consisted of spending 30 minutes before the exam reading an outline someone prepared 4 years ago.

So what was he doing the past few days since class ended?

NCAA Football 2010. Yep, he was playing video games. And he gave the new game a glowing review. He was especially excited that the University of Houston was good in the game. He played the game enough the night before to get UH to the national championship game. He explained to me that his first game was against the Aggies and that he whooped up on them.

I found this very amusing. He was super excited about the game. And he did a great job of comforting everyone else. Not only did people forget that they were about to take an exam, but they came to realize 2 things about the exam itself. First, the curve was going to be good (thanks to this guy). Second, there was at least one person that they were going to do better than.

Thanks EA Sports!

Ben's 23 Week Update

I'm a bit behind in posting this (as if you read it...) but here's what babycenter.com has to say about Ben:

Turn on the radio and sway to the music. With his sense of movement well developed by now, your baby can feel you dance. And now that he's more than 11 inches long and weighs just over a pound (about as much as a large mango), you may be able to see him squirm underneath your clothes. Blood vessels in his lungs are developing to prepare for breathing, and the sounds that your baby's increasingly keen ears pick up are preparing him for entry into the outside world. Loud noises that become familiar now — such as your dog barking or the roar of the vacuum cleaner — probably won't faze him when he hears them outside the womb.

Reading that last part, about the noises...that's a good thing. Because he'll be used to Kaylynn running around screaming "Kick the ball!" or "Zoe GET DOWN!" I've also decided that this fact might be why Kaylynn isn't afraid of my "mean" voice. She heard it with my students while in utero. Great. I'm going to have two kids who aren't afraid of me. :)

Other than that, there isn't anything new to update. Brian is in finals mode, so Kaylynn and I hit the road up to E. Tex for a week. Mom and I made plans a while back for me to come and go through all my junk from my growing up years. We thought it'd take us a while, but we knocked it out on the first day. That just means we get to play all week. Kaylynn has enjoyed two evenings in the pool without freaking out. I think the warmer water was just what she needed.

Bored?

Bored on a Friday night? Not Kaylynn. She kept herself entertained by trying to bite her father's toes. I know. I'm shaking my head, too.

Don't worry, his feet were clean (he only took like 40 showers today...thus the life of "studying Brian".)

The part we like best is Gus. Just watch him. Watch him sit. And stare. Like he's thinking "Heeey, Guys. When's it my turn?" Those two. Kaylynn and Gus. They are two peas in a pod.

Subtle Word Choice

Our plan worked. We wanted to see if anyone would catch our subtle word choice. If you didn't catch it, we dropped our name in the last post: Ben.

The boy's name is officially Benjamin Edward Frink. Oddly enough, all 2 (well, I guess all 3) names were picked by Brian! Our game didn't quite work as we planned, as "Sam" won 3 of the 4 draws, but Brian (and my father, who got absolutely no say in the matter) made it fairly obvious just how much they liked the name Ben. I didn't have the heart to make him stick to the game. :)

In case any are wondering, no, Edward is not after my dad. My dad is just a plain ole, Eddie. Edward comes from my PawPaw's middle name. Benjamin was just a name that we liked. And yes, we're doing that annoying thing that people hate so much, when you name a kid something, then call him by the nickname. We're not opposed to calling him Benjamin, we just like/and are going to call him Ben.

I'm glad we got this all settled. I hated calling him "The Boy." Well, I didn't hate it, I just hated not being able to refer to him as anything.

Happy 4th of July (& 22 Weeks!)

Our Little Star Spangled Beauty!




We've been hanging out in Frankston this weekend with friends. It has been a nice, relaxing weekend, full of pool volleyball, shuffleboard, and finally today, some sun! No "wa-wa" time for Kaylynn though. She's still not a fan.

And for the 22 week update, here's what babycenter.com has to say about Ben:

At 11 inches (the length of a spaghetti squash) and almost 1 pound, your baby is starting to look like a miniature newborn. His lips, eyelids, and eyebrows are becoming more distinct, and he's even developing tiny tooth buds beneath his gums. His eyes have formed, but his irises (the colored part of the eye) still lack pigment. If you could see inside your womb, you'd be able to spot the fine hair (lanugo) that covers his body and the deep wrinkles on his skin, which he'll sport until he adds a padding of fat to fill them in. Inside his belly, his pancreas — essential for the production of some important hormones — is developing steadily

Name Game

Tonight we decided to play a little game. It's called Best 2 out of 3. These were the rules:

It consisted of writing 2 names on 2 pieces of paper each (for a total of 4.) We placed them into a bag. A non-related party would draw a name, then put it back, and repeat 2 more times. The name that won 2 out of 3 times would be The Boy's name.

It was a pretty fun game.

**to clarify...yes, he is named!***