10 weeks... only about 208 days left to go!

My Baby The embryo reaches a developmental milestone at the end of this week--it has achieved its basic structural form, and will be known as a fetus (Latin for "offspring") from now until it reaches full term. Because the fetus is still curled up in a snug position in the uterus, it's hard to measure an exact length including the legs. For this reason, health professionals use the crown-to-rump measurement, or the distance from the top of the head to the buttocks. Your baby's crown-to-rump length is now about 1 1/4 inches, and she weighs less than half an ounce. Baby's Size: Grape Baby's Length:1.25-1.75 in. Baby's Weight: <.25 oz. How your baby's growing: Though he's barely the size of a kumquat — a little over an inch or so long, crown to bottom — and weighs less than a quarter of an ounce, your baby has now completed the most critical portion of his development. This is the beginning of the so-called fetal period, a time when the tissues and organs in his body rapidly grow and mature. He's swallowing fluid and kicking up a storm. Vital organs — including his kidneys, intestines, brain, and liver (now making red blood cells in place of the disappearing yolk sac) — are in place and starting to function, though they'll continue to develop throughout your pregnancy. If you could take a peek inside your womb, you'd spot minute details, like tiny nails forming on fingers and toes (no more webbing) and peach-fuzz hair beginning to grow on tender skin. In other developments: Your baby's limbs can bend now. His hands are flexed at the wrist and meet over his heart, and his feet may be long enough to meet in front of his body. The outline of his spine is clearly visible through translucent skin, and spinal nerves are beginning to stretch out from his spinal cord. Your baby's forehead temporarily bulges with his developing brain and sits very high on his head, which measures half the length of his body. From crown to rump, he's about 1 1/4 inches long. In the coming weeks, your baby will again double in size — to nearly 3 inches.

A few pictures through the week...

The week started off with the Presidential Inauguration, the first one I've ever watched also the first one I ever voted in! :) A picture I took of the screen while giving his speech... I think I took this waiting for one of the other interns I give a ride to in the evening... I'm so impatient! Another day waiting for the same person! This is looking through the van in the following picture... So pretty... I know I'm silly...

The ticket to get I got to go to the Presidential Inauguration Celebration: spaghetti dinner. It was good!

My mentor took me on a tour of the control room...

My mentor walking in front of me... these are just taken with my phone so they're not the best.

Looking down from the viewing area.

Again, looking down from the viewing area... I was in awe... it's not as big as the one at Kennedy or Johnson but still... cool!

A plane in a hanger near by that we walked to after the control room... John, my office mate, and I walked here later in the week as well. (Thursday... he could tell me more)

Afterward, my mentor took me to the Visitor Center. This is a picture looking down from the viewing area on the roof... it was a little chilly out!

My part of the office! Messy already... hee hee... :)

Me at my desk... I look silly...

Friday, January 23rd, John and I went on another walk and he took me on a tour of a few other places... buildings... it was very beautiful today. Wish I could have enjoyed it more. Hopefully tomorrow.

A model of one of the balloons. These links can tell you more than I can remember... LOL... http://www.nasa.gov/centers/wallops/news/superpressure_balloon.html

http://sites.wff.nasa.gov/code820/

Another type of balloon... a picture of info in the next picture if you can click on it and make it large enough to read... good luck!

Info on the previous balloon.

A model of how the balloon is inflated and then released... a little hard to see...

Another building had model rockets!

Another model rocket...

Finally, on the way home today I had to pull over and take a picture of the sunset. This is only a few miles away from Chincoteague Island. Isn't it beautiful??

So that's that for now... I'm sure I'll have more after tomorrow. It's suppose to be nice again tomorrow (not as nice as today) but I'm looking forward to finally getting the chance to explore.

*HUGS* :)

9 weeks...

How your baby's growing: Your new resident is nearly an inch long — about the size of a grape — and weighs just a fraction of an ounce. She's starting to look more and more human. Her essential body parts are accounted for, though they'll go through plenty of fine-tuning in the coming months. Other changes abound: Your baby's heart finishes dividing into four chambers, and the valves start to form — as do her tiny teeth. The embryonic "tail" is completely gone. Your baby's organs, muscles, and nerves are kicking into gear. The external sex organs are there but won't be distinguishable as male or female for another few weeks. Her eyes are fully formed, but her eyelids are fused shut and won't open until 27 weeks. She has tiny earlobes, and her mouth, nose, and nostrils are more distinct. The placenta is developed enough now to take over most of the critical job of producing hormones. Now that your baby's basic physiology is in place, she's poised for rapid weight gain. My Baby By now, your baby is being nourished through the placenta, a flat, spongy organ covered with wavy masses of capillary-filled tissue called chorionic villi. Nutrients pass through this tissue to the embryo, while wastes are carried away. The placenta and chorionic villi are made up of the same genetic material as the baby, and can offer important information about birth defects such as Down syndrome, Tay-Sachs disease, and cystic fibrosis Week 9 Trimester 1 Baby's Size: Peppermint Candy Baby's Length: 1-1.25 in. Baby's Weight: <.25 oz. About 213 days to go! Till later! :)

Trip to Pocomoke, MD... or not!!

Was going to post pictures but some how I lost them all... I'm a little irked!! Have no idea how it happened. Oh well... another time I'll take pictures again... err...

Anyway... here are a few old pictures of Gary and I.

This was taken at Mark and Theresa's but I'm not sure exactly when

We stopped in to visit Mark and Theresa after Braydon's baptism and we had to take a few pictures outside... it was so beautiful!

Fooling around... looking like dorks. LOL...

8 Weeks!

My Baby Go, baby, go! Your talented child has doubled in size in the past two weeks, and is now approximately three-quarters of an inch long. Body parts that formed in the first few weeks are growing more complex and specialized, including the eyes, limbs, mouth, heart, and brain. Fingers and toes are taking shape, along with the palate and pituitary gland. The eyelids are also forming--until they're complete, the eyes appear open. Ten tiny fingers and toes are forming now, and your baby's eyelids are beginning to cover his peepers -- which, by the way, now have pigment in them. And everything that started developing weeks ago (arms and legs, heart, and brain) continues to become more refined and specialized! The baby is the size of a blueberry... is that bigger than a coffee bean? LOL She's <.50-.75 inches in length and weights < .25 oz. But at least she's growing! She's also making me very tired!! I don't have 8 week pictures yet... I'm too tired to take them tonight. I haven't changed much anyway. LOL... I'll hopefully feel more like it tomorrow night... I'm going to bed way early tonight.

HUGS*

P.S. 221 days to go!!

A picture I got from babycenter.com

Another picture I found on WebMD... awww...

First day at NASA!!

My first day was pretty relaxed! But also a little on the boring side... I have to read the software assurance and safety standards and the guidebooks... take a gander and see what I have to go through... LOL... http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/codeq/software/docs.htm I met a lot of people today and everyone was wonderful!! I look forward to the challenge of reading the documents, setting up the diagram to help the software developers make sure their program is assured and safe... I know, hard to understand... Anyhow... I think the next 15 weeks are going to very interesting and fun! Now the fun part... pictures... My NASA badge!! Yes... they gave me a badge... hope I get to keep it in the end! First picture wearing the badge... shortly after this we went and met Keith Koehler, the coordinator... we have IT training tomorrow! Fun fun... So after 8 hours of laying back... I of course, had to stop and take pictures. This is at the entrance near security.

I think it turned out pretty good considering the sun was setting and a little chilly... but nothing like back home! No snow!! :)

Mark, a fellow USRP intern took this picture for me... after lots of instruction. LOL... he's great!

Just an up close picture of the sign...

The sign turning off of US- 175

Have to do the self-portrait!!

And finally... I got Mark to take another picture of me in front of this sign... hee hee... Rachel (my roommate) and I plan on going back this weekend and taking more pictures! She loves pictures I think almost as much as I do! hee hee...

I hope you enjoyed my first day with me. I'll have more to come! *HUGS*

NASA here I come!!!

Ok... so I start at NASA early tomorrow morning! Here are a few pictures from my phone that I took... We were in upper Maryland. Becky... she doesn't look very happy! Raining really hard... Doesn't look much better... Trying to show all the ice on the trees... It was very beautiful!!! Can't tell from these pictures though. Me... getting ready to take a nap... I look horrible but oh well... we've been in a car for 3 days!

There's sun!!! After not seeing it for 2 days almost... it was nice to see.

Very beautiful!! Sunset from the front yard!!

I'll finish uploading pictures sometime this week... I'll post them as I get them up. I'll have pictures of NASA and the such to come as well!

VA... at last...

Ok... so we made it in around 5pm on Wednesday night and I've come down with a head cold. Thus... I've stayed in doors most of the last few days... sleeping! I hope I'll be feeling better by Monday for my first day at NASA!!! I've come across a little ice cream / coffee shop just a few blocks away and they have free internet!! Yah!!! (well besides buying a hot chocolate or an ice cream cone... I have a feeling I'll be here often.) :o) So... the highlight of our adventure to VA... Beck and I stopped at a rest stop somewhere in IL.... I come out of the womens bathroom and start walking toward a few vending machines... and then across the way I see Beck walking out... of the MEN's bathroom!! LOL... She's like... I was wondering where you were!! She was wondering why there were urnials in the womens bathroom... She saw them as she was walking out... Oh man did I laugh and I'm still laughing everytime I think of it and tell the story. I think it would have been much funnier if she would have walked out behind a man... thankfully she was alone. I laughed so hard I almost had to go to the bathroom again. Then during the rest of the drive I would just start laughing and Beck would asked what... I would say you walked out of the mens bathroom! :) Got to love your sisters... they make life interesting. I took a few pictures toward the end but I don't have them on my computer yet. As soon as I get them on here I'll post them. In the mean time... take care!! Baby note: I got an email from Parents.com that I subscribed to... the wee one is the size of a coffee bean, weights <.25oz and in <.25-.33in in length... wow!!

Week 7

I've decided to keep you updated on what's going on with the wee one so here' the information that I got from Parents.com... I thought it was interesting and thought some of you out there might be interested to know what's going on as well. :) (227 days to go!!) My Baby Although she still resembles a tiny alien, your baby's facial features are starting to form. Arms, legs, hands, and feet are taking shape, although they don't yet have fingers and toes. The brain is growing more complex; if you looked through a microscope, it would be clearly visible through the transparent skull. The embryo has started to move in small jerks, although you won't feel these until the fourth month. On the other hand... my travels have brought us to Triadelphia, WV. We only have a little over 7 hours left to go to reach my desination of Chincoteague, VA... it's taken longer than expected but my sister and I will both be glad when we get there!! Well... I'm off to sleep. Beck's already snoring up a storm... LOL... we plan on getting up early so we don't lose as much daylight as we did today! *HUGS*

And I'm off!!

Catch up when I have internet access again! Will miss you all! *HUGS*

Wallops here I come!!

My adventure will begin on Monday morning. My sister, Becky, and I are heading off to VA for my NASA Internship. Wahoo... it's finally here. So, even though I'll hopefully have email access on a regular basis if anyone would like to send me some snail mail and make me feel loved here is my address:

6185 Poplar St. Apt. A, Chincoteague, VA 23336

Can't wait to take pictures... I just spoke with the manager and she said it's snowing right now but not sticking! :) I'm excited for warmer weather!

Found this t-shirt at Kohls... too bad they only had them in small sizes! :)