It's hard to believe I've been pregnant for 24 weeks (well, really 22 weeks)! Definitely over halfway there! According to a book I have called Secrets of the Baby Whisperer, by Tracy Hogg, if William was born now he'd have a 30-70% chance of surviving. Every day that percentage increases by 3-4%, and there's a >90% chance that he would survive after week 28.

A couple of days ago, William was kicking rather strongly while Darryl and I were in bed, so I pulled back the covers and we both looked at my stomach: we could actually see William kicking! I think Darryl thought that was even more amazing than just feeling William move. We tried to see him again, but sometimes when William's kicking hard and I want Darryl to feel or see him, William decides to stop being cooperative. :-)

Yesterday we went to Home Depot to get the paint for William's room. The colour is "Ribbon Yellow" in eggshell finish from Glidden paints. I wanted to put a little photo on here of the colour, but after going to Glidden's website and finding it, the computerized "Ribbon Yellow" looks horribly unlike the pigmented version. Essentially, it's a light, bright yellow. We chose this colour because we wanted a bright and cheerful room, and also I want it to match with the trim ("Coconut Milk" in semi-gloss, which we used in our guest/family room and will use in our guest bathroom), and with our prospective guest bathroom colour ("Shakespeare green"--a sort of light olive green). We also bought caulking (for the outside of the windows), painter's tape, and all the other supplies we'll need to paint William's room. I'm very excited and wish I could paint too! I can't wait once it's painted and we can put on a border and get all the furniture and everything set up so it's just ready and waiting for William's big day! The border I'm referring to there is an alphabet border I found online:

Please click on it for a larger view. Originally, we were thinking about putting removable Winnie-the-Pooh stick-ups on the walls, but at work one day I just got to thinking and I really wanted an alphabet border. I had ABCs on the wall when I was a kid, and I thought it would not be as babyish to have the ABCs. Plus, it would be fun to help William learn his alphabet, and I like the little pictures that go with each letter.

Yesterday I also bought 4 maternity tops. Three of them are fairly low-cut, which seems to be a popular style in maternity clothing. I like them because they're fitted, so I look pregnant and I don't look like I'm just wearing a tent.

Apart from getting the paint, our chief reason for going shopping yesterday was to look at strollers. My parents wanted to get us a travel system (stroller + infant car seat) for our baby shower in March, but they couldn't find any good ones (ie. that met my specifications) in person, so they thought I should perhaps buy it down here and they would pay for it. We had previously looked at all sorts of stores and I thought there was a good selection of travel systems out there (specifically: Graco, with SnugRide seat with EPS energy-absorbing foam). However, when we went to look yesterday (4 stores!), the selection was much poorer than I'd remembered. So we wound up ordering the stroller online. This is the model that we ordered:

http://www.gracobaby.com/catalog/product.aspx?modelNumber=7260BAN3&productID=727&tab=features&CategoryID=12&subCatID=

You can click on the link to read a description of the travel system and see the features, dimensions, etc. It should arrive in 3-7 business days, and I'm looking forward to setting it up and trying the car seat out in my car. **Thanks, Mom & Pap!!**

Week 24

"Your baby's growing steadily, gaining about a quarter of a pound since last week, when she was just over a pound. Since she's almost a foot long, that makes for a pretty lean figure, but her body is filling out proportionally. Your baby's skin is thin, translucent, and wrinkled, her brain is growing rapidly, and her taste buds may be working now. Her lungs are developing "branches" of the respiratory "tree" and cells that produce surfactant, a substance that helps the air sacs inflate easily.

Your baby can hear more and more now, and you may even notice her startle at loud, sudden noises. But she's probably getting used to the regular noises she hears around the house, such as your dog barking or the roar of a vacuum cleaner. Many new parents are surprised by how unfazed their newborns seem by sounds like these, but if you think about it, they've had months to get accustomed to them. "

- from www.babycenter.com