ChickenJunior: HALFWAY THERE!!!!!!!

Wow. I am 50% through this pregnancy. Unbelievable. It's absolutely flown by and been super easy about 90% of the time. I feel really fortunate.

We actually have a name for our little boy - LIAM! We're still working on the middle name, but that is his first name and we couldn't be more pleased. He's named for my mother, Linda, who passed away in 1996. The middle name we're deciding between is Fionn (pronounced "Finn") and Henry. Fionn is a name we both love, but Henry is B's middle name, his late father's middle name, and his late grandfather's first name. I have no problem with it except for the fact that his sister has used it for one of my nephew's middle names. So, it almost seems more appropriate to let Kai (my nephew) pass it down. Liam Henry, Liam Fionn (our last name begins with Mac). What do you all think??

We're having a huge BBQ today (40 people!) so I expect to be quite busy in the next few hours. There are tons of people here today who haven't seen me since I've been pregnant (or never met me at all for that matter) so this should be interesting.

Here's an update on Liam from Babycenter:
Your baby weighs about 10 1/2 ounces now. He's also around 6 1/2 inches long from head to bottom and about 10 inches from head to heel — the length of a banana. (For the first 20 weeks, when a baby's legs are curled up against his torso and hard to measure, measurements are taken from the top of his head to his bottom — the "crown to rump" measurement. After 20 weeks, he's measured from head to toe.)

He's swallowing more these days, which is good practice for his digestive system. He's also producing meconium, a black, sticky by-product of digestion. This gooey substance will accumulate in his bowels, and you'll see it in his first soiled diaper (some babies pass meconium in the womb or during delivery).

How far along? 20 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: Around 10lbs (haven't gained since last week, woohoo!)

Maternity clothes? 80% of the time (I wore a non-maternity shirt yesterday and I probably can't do that for much longer)
Stretch marks? not yet! Wondering when I start applying anti-stretch mark cream to pretend that it's going to help?

Sleep: Not bad this week
Best moment this week: Feeling a couple more outside kicks

Movement: See above
Food cravings: Nothing in particular (I'm waiting for the moment that I just HAVE to have pickles and ice cream together)

Gender: BOY

Labor Signs: nope!

Belly Button in or out? It's nearly on par with the rest of my stomach, it's only sunken in about 3mm probably.

What I miss: sushi (although I had 3 pieces of raw salmon this week and we survived!) I typically make an entire meal of salmon sashimi about once a week.

What I am looking forward to: the BBQ today

Milestone: Making it halfway through this pregnancy