Halfway there!!

well, technically, last week was halfway at 20 weeks, but as the recent move from chicago to milwaukee usurped all our free time and energy (along with my surreptitious speedreading of the twilight series), i am writing this as i start my 21st week. BT (baby tony's blog nickname, because tony must not stick) weighs about three-quarters of a pound and is approximately 10.5 inches long — the length of a carrot. he was a poppy seed at 4 weeks, a kidney bean at 8 weeks, a lime at 12 weeks and an avocado at 16 weeks. and now he's a carrot. i guess food is the universal standard of measurement, even in medicine (cherry hemangiomas, adam's apples, popcorn calcifications, cauliflower ears--you get the picture).

he is a real kicker, too. just this year i got into the world cup, despite living in manchester, england in 1999 when manchester united won the european cup. let me just say, this boy is going to be a striker. i received dubious looks when i said i could feel him kick at 14 weeks, but he seriously is practicing to be a soccer player already. rups felt him kick for the first time last week, and just like with rani, his whole face just lit up. even rani runs over to my stomach and says "baby kick". of course i exaggerate the kick immensely (or even sometimes make them up) for her pleasure. just like rani, he also likes to kick mostly at night. i was afraid after the first pregnancy that she'd have day-night confusion and be up all night, but she's been a fantastic sleeper, so i don't think kicking habits are that predictive of sleeping patterns.

right on cue, this is the time in my pregnancies that i forget i'm pregnant. there are no more weird cravings, no food or smell aversions, no midday exhaustion, i'm not big enough to need help getting off the couch, and i can still carry rani easily. people are becoming slightly more comfortable asking if i'm pregnant, but there's still that hesitant pause right before they ask while they think, "but what if she's not? then i'm just an ass." there's still some difficulty finding a good position to sleep in, but i've dug up the enormous cinnamon bun pregnancy pillow that oddly enough contorts my body into a comfortable position long enough for me at get at least 4 hours straight.

one thing we've been thinking about more are names. girl names were so easy, but we are stumped on boy names. we have one tentative name picked out, but this is my invitation to you guys to send in recommendations. nothing outlandish, and nothing that will mark my son as a laughing stock as soon as the name is said by an english speaker (eg, viral, hardik, aanal, etc). sadly, we all know the sorrows of people with those names. it has to be original since his last name will be patel, so don't offer names like amit or sameer! it doesn't have to be indian, but i'm thinking it shouldn't really be bob or harry, either (and we've got tony covered, thanks).

so now i've got a lot of free time on my hands. we just finished our move to milwaukee a couple days ago so rani and i just hang out all day. i do have to admit, moving back to milwaukee was much more pleasant than i thought it would be. i forgot what a large city it is, and how much there is to do here. just taking a walk with rups and rani yesterday evening, we ran into a few different people we'd known in our past lives here, and they were so happy we were moving back. we were genuinely happy to see them, too, and already have a playdate lined up with another baby and a puppy. to be honest, it does get a bit boring for rani and me during the day, especially as we don't know many people for playdates or pool parties, it's too hot to spend much time at the park or beach, and all her toys are in storage in rups' parents' basement. she's getting more attached to me, i can tell, and actually wants to hold my hand now instead of wanting to do everything on her own. i bet it's just a phase.

i'm trying to post some pics, but this website is being diffult. i'll keep trying.