Our baby now weighs 3.75 pounds, which is like lifting a large jicama. After last week‘s Eat Yo Baby orange overload (and after I threatened to find a jicama dessert of some kind), we took it easy with a salad topped with sliced jicama. Nora has since informed me approximately 1000 times that she doesn’t like jicama–I can only hope she will like the actual baby more.

The bad news: the best BabyCenter could come up with for a 3.3-pound equivalent was four navel oranges. The good news: recipes with oranges are really easy to come by. Since potluck this week was a double-whammy of Easter Sunday (with my parents as special guests) and Eat Yo Baby, we had an unprecedented FOUR orange-themed dishes. I made orange herb roasted chicken (my first whole chicken experience ever) and orange rolls, Jeffrey made a salad with cranberries, apples, almonds, and oranges, and Sarah made a cake (in the shape of an ampersand) with orange-flavored frosting. E and my mom made awesome (non-orangey) contributions as well, and we all ate ourselves silly.

This week, our baby weighs three pounds, which is apparently as much as a head of cabbage. After a certain amount of “not cabbage again!” moaning, Jeff unearthed a crazy-sounding recipe for Cabbage Quickbread, and Blake had the brilliant idea to bring spring rolls. The baby must be eaten, no matter the cost.

This week, our favorite delicious baby weighs as much as a butternut squash (2 1/2 pounds). Jeff included cubes of squash on some of his marinated steak and chicken kebabs, and Sarah baked up some yummy squash with honey, olive oil, and chili powder. Everybody tried to be really careful and not let the squash touch any of the other food, but unfortunately this Eat Yo Baby session almost killed Blake. Thank goodness for Benadryl.
Bonus belly shot! Clearly, I have been putting all these great Eat Yo Baby meals to very good use.

Since the baby now weighs as much as a Chinese cabbage (2 1/4 pounds) I made a stir-fry with chicken, veggies (including cabbage) and rice for our Eat Yo Baby potluck main dish. So far this fetus (and this project) has been tasty AND fun.

At two pounds, the baby now weighs as much as a head of cauliflower! Jeff made cauliflower soup with ham for our potluck main dish, and steamed mixed vegetables (including cauliflower florets) was my Eat Yo Baby contribution.

The baby is now 14 inches long–as long as an English hothouse cucumber–and Jeff made a salad with cucumbers on it for Eat Yo Baby. I know it seems like Jeff is really carrying us on this project, but I told you he stole my turn! Oh, well. I guess if the baby likes him best I will understand.

This week the baby weighs a pound and a half, as much as a rutabaga. Since none of us had ever eaten a rutabaga before (and were confused as to why someone would try to cross a turnip and a cabbage), we were excited (afraid?) for this week’s Eat Yo Baby. Jeff in particular was so excited that even though it was my turn, he bought rutabaga at the store and found a recipe before asking me if we could swap potluck dishes. His rutabaga and carrots with a lime dill glaze were so tasty that all was forgiven.

The baby is as long as an ear of corn now (almost a FOOT, if you can believe it!) and Nora and I made some cornbread muffins for Eat Yo Baby potluck. I know it’s only loosely related, but sometimes you do the best you can. The fetus understands.
BONUS: here’s my belly at 24 weeks. Trust me, it doesn’t look as huge as it feels.