Dear Baby Helland: (Of 26 weeks)

Dear Baby Helland:
Once again, not too much has changed so I'll apologize in advance if this post isn't that exciting!
Our next Doc appointment isn't for another two weeks, so no news to report there. At this next one we have to do the glucose test which I hear is not too much fun. Daddy and I are already planning on eating a very healthy supper the night before, and an egg if anything for breakfast. Mommy really likes her chocolate, so we have to be extra careful with this test to be sure we pass!
You are quite the mover still. I feel you moving every day. It doesn't hurt like it did before when I thought you were trying to kick your way out. :) One night you were moving so much, Daddy even got to feel for a while.
The most common question I get asked is whether or not we know what gender you are. We still don't plan on finding out until you're actually born. Some people say it's better to find out the gender to get to know you better or bond with you. That may be the case for some people, but since you're growing inside me, I think I know you pretty well. Whether or not you are a boy or a girl doesn't change what I think about you or how I talk to you. With that being said, I've been thinking about all the myths people have about gender. If we look at the Chinese gender chart, you're a girl. If we go by how much food I like to eat, you're a boy. If we go by how fast my hair is growing, you're a girl. I want to try to remember some of these to see what was true for us. Maybe there will be some more signs later.
This last weekend, Daddy and I visited some college friends. We met Leo, Jake's greyhound. What a giantly sweet puppy. (He's really sweet, but he also is really huge.) You'll love him. On Friday night, we ate at an Indian restaurant. I read somewhere that if I don't want you to be a picky eater, I should try to eat a lot of different kinds of food to get you accustomed to it. Who knows if it's true, but Daddy and I like to try different foods anyway. We also watched Tralle jump in Lake Calhoun for charity. Your Daddy took some pictures with Tralle's fancy camera, which was nice because we still plan on buying a nice one before you're born. I love pictures. Your cousin Rhyan once counted all the photos on the wall on the top floor of our townhome. It was something like 150. And that's not counting all the pictures in scrapbooks. Get used to the camera. Daddy likes to be creative with photos and mommy likes to put them up. You'll end up looking at yourself a lot!
People have been commenting that I've really "popped" lately. I'm not sure how I feel about that. Part of me is still self conscious about having a big belly. It's pretty obvious that it's a baby belly now, but it's weird to wear clothes that actually allows it's shape to been seen.
On Friday I'm going to check out a possible day care for you in the fall. I've heard many good things about this daycare lady and you would be the only baby. I like that you'd be the only tiny one. I'm also happy that this lady was really supportive of the part time option. School is going to allow me to alter my schedule so I can cram my hours into three days instead of a few hours each day. That means I get two full days, and part of another morning home with you. That excites me.
I feel like I'm getting a bit of a cough so I'm going to load up on some OJ and hummus. Who knows if hummus will help anything, but it's the healthiest dip I have in the house. And mommy loves her dips!
More later!