23 weeks!

Today marks 23 weeks!  4 more weeks remaining in the second trimester.  If you're comfortable imagining my uterus,  it is now the size of a soccer ball.  It's come a long way considering that it started out the size of a tightly closed fist!  Last night when I laid down in bed, Tyler and I got a pretty good feel for how big our baby girl is.  She must have turned a somersault front to back because suddenly, I felt a tightness as I felt  her move and when I reached down to touch my stomach, it felt like I had a 16 inch softball one one side.  It was so weird!  Within a couple seconds, she moved out of whatever crazy position she was in and went back to her normal movements.   It was certainly a strange feeling!

One major milestone in baby's development is that she now has a good sense of movement and orientation.  Tyler and I are going to do some dancing next weekend!  Someone has actually done a study that found that if a mother listens to music in 3/4 time, like a polka or waltz, while pregnant, the newborn baby will respond more favorably to music with the same beat.  Same goes for a woman who listens to music with 4 beats per measure.  Maybe we'll aim for variety.  So far, baby girl must be wondering what is going on when I am at work, dancing to the music with the kids each day.  Every time we play a jumping song, I think of her wondering what Mama is doing.  Even with my adapted "teacher jump," in which I bounce on my toes rather than jumping, it must be quite a sensation.  Baby girl had a nice treat tonight, though- a nice long prenatal yoga session.  The baby is supposed to benefit from increased abdominal space during stretches and increased oxygen in the blood stream.  My little one also seems to be most active when I am least active and relaxing.  Needless to say, she kicked throughout.  Maybe she'll be a soccer player.