We are, right now, in the middle of the twenty-first week of pregnancy. This is the halfway point: twenty more weeks, on average, and then we're parents. We can't say that much of note has happened with Olive: she kicks when she feels like it, and otherwise seems to be quite content to nap, and grow.

It's hard to know how to feel about Olive's size right now: she's just passed 10 inches and roughly a pound. Compared to even just a few weeks ago, she's enormous. As someone who is residing within my wife, she's huge. At the same time, compared to an average newborn, she's still half-sized¹. Given Christina's gravidity right now, it's hard to imagine how she'll fare when Olive is twice as large! Still, this is doll-sized, too small to be real.

The real news these days is more to do with Christina and I, as we grow into new roles as parents. We have a huge spreadsheet going as we try to work out what kind of family car we're going to get. We're starting to get into details of practical kid things: strollers, furniture, etc. Each of us, independently, has come close to impulse-buying cute kid clothes (though neither of us has so far given in to that temptation). The nesting instinct, essentially, is finally starting to kick in.

According to our books, Olive's senses are all online now. She can distinguish when Christina's in a brightly-lit place or a dim one; she can taste and smell the amniotic fluid, which is itself influenced by Christina's diet; she spends lots of her time simply feeling herself, her umbilical cord, her area. Still, the sense which connects her most clearly to the outside world right now is hearing: sound doesn't lose much clarity at all on its way to her.

As such, we're thinking of trying to establish good habits right away, by reading a little out loud each night before going to bed. Fetuses spend some 90% of their time at this stage sleeping, so the chance of us actually catching her awake as we read is somewhat low. On the other hand, it would be really nice if she recognized my voice at birth, not just Christina's.