Life & Pregnancy

I suppose I should finally blog about pregnancy for the family members that only keep up with us through this site.  First, my apologies to my Facebook friends...  Apparently, since I didn't share my husband's announcement photo (below), half of you didn't see it.

Around the 16 week mark, we decided to announce our new little bundle of joy.  Since we had just moved, we started with mailing announcement cards. I still enjoy the traditional cards/letters in the mail, so I insisted on doing some type of moving update (I removed the address for this post).

Please note the baby shoes... 

If we learned anything, it's that our family and friends don't seem to enjoy subtlety. Most opened it and thought, "I didn't know people still did moving cards" and left it at that. After a few brief conversations discussing why we wouldn't be unpacked until December, the need for further clarification became clear. So, below I give you our Facebook announcement. In big, bold, capital letters.

Note: No cats flew away in the process. 

So, pregnancy.  First, to all you moms, kudos.  My first trimester was actually relatively easy. I know some women would kill me for saying that, and I know I'm lucky. Other than fatigue, life wasn't too different.  Likewise, the second trimester was nice.  There's something comforting about feeling the little kicks and flutters while watching your belly grow.  But, now I'm at the third trimester.  Wow.  No one tells you about this other than "You're almost there!"  There's a whole new level of exhaustion... and the added weight makes moving around and sleeping tough. Plus, let's not forget about pregnancy brain. Teaching with pregnancy brain is a whole different ball game.  I've used so many sticky notes to try remembering some basic things. But overall, it's true, we're getting close.  One part of me is so excited to become a mom.  Another part of me is scared to death.  First, the basics: Giving birth, breastfeeding, "Will my body ever go back?!", etc. Of course, then there's the life after.  What's our view on discipline? Should we visit all of our friends now since we're no longer going to have such flexibility? Can we survive on no sleep? Can we afford this? Can we, can we, can we...? These questions seem endless. But, I don't know, I wouldn't think we're ready if we didn't start to doubt all the big things in this huge change. That's life. And, I know (or hope) we'll get through it just like everyone else.

I realized last week that I haven't taken a single picture of this growing belly.  With our schedules, we rarely get home before dark... and we're just tired. With this beautiful weather and a relatively free Saturday, I dragged Scott outside with the camera (once again, taking advantage of the lovely fence behind our house). Here's the belly.