Lobster Tails & Baby Feet

We celebrated Valentine's Day in style and a little early. Tate left town for the week Monday before V-Day so he surprised me with a fancy dinner out before he left town. We went to The Melting Pot where neither of us had been before but had heard for a while it that it was AMAZING. It was awesome and the perfect special date night spot. 

 We dined on a number of yummy treats and I cheated on a few things in the "do not eat" category, but it was totally worth it. :)  We didn't realize it at the time, but we were celebrating Baby Bean's size in the up coming week (week 18) by feasting on lobster tail as part of our main course. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of that course but it was beautiful and delicious. Below is dessert, always my favorite part of a meal. This happened to be dark chocolate turtle fondue which I am now going to have to figure out how to replicate at home because it was amazing!

Middle of week 18 we got to take another peek at our little bean. We knew baby was growing this whole time but it was amazing to see our little bean show up on the screen as a fully formed baby within seconds of the technician turning on the monitor. Baby bean was in there looking straight at the camera for its glamour shots.

Face looking straight at you with fist by chin. You can also see all the tiny little ribs protecting baby's heart (which looks great with all 4 chambers) and diaphragm (no hernias).

Baby's side view of his or her beautiful cervical spine.

A little arm waving hello. So amazing to see those little fingers in such detail and the radius and ulna! 

Our little rower already showing off his/her beautiful, strong rower's back :) 

We did not want to know the gender and stated this going into the ultrasound. Turns out Bean has a mind of his/her own and we weren't supposed to find out anyway. Baby had its legs crossed, and was in breech position sitting on its crossed legs on top of my bladder. The ultrasound technician said it would have been pretty difficult to see during that visit even if we had wanted to. She also didn't even try to hesitate around that area to get a peek for herself because someone (me...) was watching the screen like a hawk and would have figured it out if she got the right shot. 

The ultrasound technician did give us her un-official guess as to what I am carrying. She says that baby girls have their hands by their head talking on their cell phones, and baby boys have their hands in their crotch. So  she snagged the above picture for us just in case she is right :)

And one of my favorites. The little toes that we will love on so much. Also the little toes I now feel kicking my stomach and at the most inopportune times my bladder. Thank you little one for reminding me you exist. Baby is getting much stronger and the kicks are real kicks. He/She also likes the music at church and was moving like crazy this morning :) 

And finally Baby gave us a great profile shot right at the end. Hi baby, we are excited to meet you in 22 weeks and kiss those sweet little cheeks!

The technician was great and went through all the details for me putting our minds at ease and explaining things for Tate, who was speechless for most of the visit. He did pipe up during the question time with our doctor to ask "Is it normal that she is getting moody...?" with a mischievous grin on his face. His concerns were validated and the doctor got a good chuckle for the day out of him.

18 weeks and counting. Thankfully the "Honeymoon" Phase of pregnancy is treating me well and I am having very few pregnancy woes at this point, which Tate is very thankful for. :)