Pregnancy Update

I am disappointed to announce that I have a B-shaped belly.

I was so excited to have a reason to love my belly, but instead of my belly button popping straight out (which would be shaped more like a "D")and having a nice round bump, my belly is pretty much the shape it was before (thinner around the belly button with a nice little roll above and a nice little roll below) just bigger. I am definitely not as bad as it could be, and most people tell me that I am being crazy when I point it out. People constantly say "You aren't even SHOWING!! You don't even LOOK pregnant!" At first, I thought this was awesome, now I am starting to be paranoid, like the rest of that statement is "You don't even LOOK pregnant!! You just look like you have gained WEIGHT!! How lucky are YOU?!?"  I mean, I knew that I wasn't going to look like pregnant Heidi Klum in a bikini when I was pregnant, but I was hoping to not look like myself, just fatter. From what I have read there is no way of knowing if I will eventually have a D shape, or if I will just get bigger like this until he comes.

**None of the above pictures are me, but I am working on blog series to be titled "Obligatory Belly Pics" that will show my progress so far. **

Other than that bummer, everything else has been great. I am 26 weeks this week, and he is the size of a hothouse cucumber. I pretty much feel him all the time, but he is most active when I wake up in the morning. I am really curious if how he is now is a prediction of how he will be when he is here. Like, every time we travel (for Christmas and when we went to SLO) he scares me because he starts moving less. Then as soon as I am home in my own bed he starts moving again like normal. I really wonder if these means he can tell we are home? Is that silly? Or is it my stress level of packing and being in traffic and not being in my own bed that he can feel? Part of me hopes it means he will just be really well behaved and calm when we are out and about, and not that he is agoraphobic... I am also really crossing my fingers that he will be a good sleeper because he hasn't woken me up at night yet. I figure putting positive vibes out there can only help, right?

There are still times that I forget I am pregnant, but I am starting to feel uncomfortable from time to time. I am not supposed to sleep on my back, but I always start out on my side and wake up choking and coughing sleeping on my back. My lower back is starting to ache, and as I think I mentioned earlier, this is the very first time in my life that I have wanted to do housework and have felt like I can't. John is not too pleased that everyday when he comes home I have a list of things for him to do that I wasn't able to do by myself.

Overall, I really have very few complaints. I dreamed he came the other night (magically, with no blood or pain. This part was AWESOME.) and I could see him and hold him. Knowing his name and imagining myself with him makes me love him for reals. (As opposed to imaginarily.)

Speaking of his name, I am so happy that everyone knows. I am also really surprised that I am so happy about it. I thought for sure that I would want to keep it a secret, but as soon as we decided for sure, I just felt like I wanted to tell everyone. Really the motivation came when I thought about how I felt when I would ask other people about names and they would say "We're not telling" or "It's a surprise." I didn't like how it felt to hear that (even though I respect their right to say it) so I just thought I didn't want to make anyone feel like that. I don't use his name a lot, though, just because I still want it to feel special when he comes. We haven't decided on his middle name, so that will be a surprise.

What else?

He has already gotten some really cute gifts (future post: "Things for our Little Lovin") and I think this is part of the reason I ahve been working so hard on the house: I want to display them in his room.

I am ADDICTED to pinterest, and have enjoyed exploring ideas for baby rooms, maternity/newborn photoshoots and other fun ideas. I am excited mostly to be able to use my camera with him as a subject.

I am really nervous about finding a partner for next year, but I am just trying to let it go and work out on it's own. Pray for me with that.

I guess that's about it for now. I can't believe I have only 12-16 weeks left.