21 weeks and to cut or not to cut?

el bebe length of a carrot.

here's a few pics from the 20 week sonogram:

the leg and feet one totally crack me up. and then i start crying because oh my god, hi baby, i just saw your little feet. ah, pregnancy hormones, gotta love em. the last one, if i'm looking at it correctly, is like if baby alfie were sitting on a glass table and you're looking up at him. i think that's his little butt on the left and then HEEELLO! boy parts! :)

i found it interesting that as soon as the doctor came in to okay everything she hands us a form on circumcision. c'mon, we JUST found out he's a little boy and they already want to cut a part of him off? there is no information on the sheet about alternatives either - i don't know - maybe a brochure on pluses and minuses? that would be cool. not just: call here to make an appointment and how much it costs and follow up procedures. thankyouverymuch. i've been told by several new parents now (esp if they delivered in a hospital) that circumcision was just considered part of the birthing process and snip! there's the umbilical chord and snip! there's the circumcision. ....i think you can read into the fact that i'm hesitating quite a bit on this topic and i'm not sure it's something we want to do. my husband is circumcised but "being the same as daddy" isn't necessarily a check in the plus column. physical appearance just isn't that important to us on the subject and how often is junior going to see daddy's penis anyway? neither one of us has any strong religious leanings. the cleanliness factor is really just a matter of teaching him proper hygiene, isn't it? sexual sensitivity later in life? - both sides debate their way is better. and then there's the ever popular: (please excuse the heterosexism) "what ever will the young ladies think?" well, from personal experience i've dated several uncircumcised men and while the first one may have puzzled me for a few brief moments i was never shocked or put off by it. people's bodies are just different - i should hope that if my son were to engage in sex with someone who thought his penis was "icky" that he would quickly reevaluate the situation. if someone were shallow enough to judge you by that very small "extra" (yet completely natural) piece of skin then you probably shouldn't take that relationship any farther. hell, maybe by choosing to not circumcise i'm allowing my son a little extra clue into the personality of the people he dates. (i'm way over thinking this now, aren't i?)

in any case, this article claims that western states only have a 32% rate of circumcised boys:
us news: circumcision (midwest being almost 80% - interesting).

and i found this to be a good article that took a fair point/counterpoint stance:
the art of manliness: clip-the-tip-pointcounterpoint-on-male-circumcision

ironically, the baby update email for 21 weeks is saying that baby right now is the length of a carrot and this happens to be the photo from the circumcision article:

ouch!!!

that's enough to make any parent hesitate, right? i'm just not really seeing why it's necessary. he's going to be born with a foreskin like every single other boy in the whole world - it's not like it's a freak extra toe or nipple or something - so why cut it off?

i guess right now i can say i'm far more worried about picking out a good name for him than what his penis looks like.

20 weeks and cupcakes

le bebe length of a banana.

and so it is...snips and snails and puppy dog tails for this mama to be. :)

it wasn't a big surprise, we had been calling "him" a "him" for the better part of a few weeks due in a large part to this chart: gender-selection-and-family-dynamics/chinese-chart.

you're supposed to take the age of the mother at time of conception along with the month of conception ...and presto-chango - girl or boy. certainly takes the whole "family planning" thing to a new level. i wonder if anyone's had any success trying to conceive either a girl or boy deliberately this way.

we called my dad after the appointment since it was his birthday (how perfect) and i was just dying to tell him: "happy birthday, poppy, it's a boy!" and dad, jokester that he is, started suggesting names already - he liked "the sound" of ralph alf. i told him i preferred "ralphalfa" and we'd gel a little hair spike on the top of his head. apparently he loved that so much he's been telling coworkers about his new grandson, ralphalfa. so funny.

ND and i celebrated by hitting up a baby gap and checking out their cute skull stuff and made a few small purchases. (seriously, i am in no way affiliated with this company nor are they paying me to say these things but this girl could go a little spend happy in that place - i can't believe i was able to contain myself to the sale racks).

tell me the shark and red monster hat aren't the cutest things you've ever seen? those are some stylin' bebes. hey, just let me be that photographer's assistant for the day. i want to throw fake snow up in the air and make silly faces and noises at the cute little fashion models. and i'll try very hard not to smuggle a few home with me at the end of the shoot.

here's the loot:

 

 

 

i told ND if i wasn't already pregnant i just might have started pushing along the whole married/babies process had i seen these before. oh, and the little black monster onesie glows in the dark! seriously, i could just die from cuteness overload. plus, we're going to be getting hand-me-downs from my cousin and friends who have all had little boys. not to mention a nana and bumpa who are happy as all get-out to be having another grandchild. this little peanut is going to be set for quite some time.

the next day i brought in cupcakes to work from the fantastic cupcake royale bakery with blue frosting announcing our little boy:

motherhood is sweet.

and health wise - so far so good. :)