This week Jorge and I are out of town. We are on our little Baby-moon in Canada! Jorge and I drove from Long Island, NY to Niagara Falls. Then we'll be visiting Toronto, Canada and then to Hyde Park, NY.
Niagara Falls has been great! A little chilly (especially compared to Florida weather) and a bit overcast, but it's been very nice! We stayed at a Hampton Inn not too far from the falls and when we got into town, we drove past the falls at night. They were all lit up! It was gorgeous!
The following morning we went to see the Falls... they were enormous! It's amazing how big they are! We took a tour on a boat called "The Maid of the Mist" and it takes you close to the falls. They gave us ponchos to wear, which is perfect because we were able to use them later in the day when it got rainy.
We also went on a tour that took us behind the falls, to some tunnels where you can see the falls from behind going past right in front of you!
Our last tour was a 4D video of how the Niagara was formed and the history behind it. Here are some fascinating facts!
•Over 12,000 years ago, Niagara Falls extended seven miles down river at what is now Lewiston, New York and Queenston, Ontario. Over the years, the brink has eroded to its present site. The erosion is controlled and where it would once erode 10 feet per year, it now only erodes 1 foot every 10 years.
•In 1869, a 63-year-old school teacher was the first person to survive going over the falls. She did it in an oak barrel.
•In the "Miracle at Niagara," Roger Woodward, a seven-year-old American boy, was swept over the Horseshoe Falls protected only by a life vest on July 9, 1960, as two tourists pulled his 17-year-old sister Deanne from the river only 20 feet from the lip of the Horseshoe Falls at Goat Island. Minutes later, Woodward was plucked from the roiling plunge pool beneath the Horseshoe Falls after grabbing a life ring thrown to him by the crew of the Maid of the Mist boat.
•In March of 1848, the waters stopped flowing over Niagara's famous cliff when the Niagara River was plugged temporarily at the mouth of the river in Fort Erie, Ontario.
Head to heels, your baby now measures about 13 1/2 inches. Her weight — a pound and a half — isn't much more than an average rutabaga, but she's beginning to exchange her long, lean look for some baby fat. As she does, her wrinkled skin will begin to smooth out and she'll start to look more and more like a newborn. She's also growing more hair — and if you could see it, you'd now be able to discern its color and texture.
Your baby's growing steadily, having gained about 4 ounces since last week. That puts her at just over a pound. Since she's almost a foot long (picture an ear of corn), she cuts a pretty lean figure at this point, but her body is filling out proportionally and she'll soon start to plump up. Her brain is also growing quickly now, and her taste buds are continuing to develop. Her lungs are developing "branches" of the respiratory "tree" as well as cells that produce surfactant, a substance that will help her air sacs inflate once she hits the outside world. Her skin is still thin and translucent, but that will start to change soon.
Turn on the radio and sway to the music. With her sense of movement well developed by now, your baby can feel you dance. And now that she's more than 11 inches long and weighs just over a pound (about as much as a large mango), you may be able to see her squirm underneath your clothes. Blood vessels in her lungs are developing to prepare for breathing, and the sounds that your baby's increasingly keen ears pick up are preparing her for entry into the outside world. Loud noises that become familiar now — such as your dog barking or the roar of the vacuum cleaner — probably won't faze her when she hears them outside the womb. 
At 11 inches (the length of a spaghetti squash) and almost 1 pound, your baby is starting to look like a miniature newborn. Her lips, eyelids, and eyebrows are becoming more distinct, and she's even developing tiny tooth buds beneath her gums. Her eyes have formed, but her irises (the colored part of the eye) still lack pigment. 
Your baby now weighs about three-quarters of a pound and is approximately 10 1/2 inches long — the length of a carrot. You may soon feel like she's practicing martial arts as her initial fluttering movements turn into full-fledged kicks and nudges. You may also discover a pattern to her activity as you get to know her better. In other developments, your baby's eyebrows and lids are present now.
