Just call me Joe

So I don't think it's been officially announced here on "the blog" that I am pregnant!  Welll....I am, and am now almost a full 29 weeks into this pregnancy! It has been another easy pregnancy which is awesome as I think I will always have fond memories of being pregnant now. This is most likely our last and I'm not sad about that. At all. I don't hate being pregnant, actually, I'm really enjoying it, it's just that I'm ready to not be. I'm ready to know that my body will be mine again, that I won't be sustaining another person. I'm ready to know that my efforts at the gym will once again have a lasting effect. Most of all, I'm ready to know our "complete" family. I think it's exciting that in a few short months we will get to meet this little kicker and form as a family that will grow together for the rest of our lives. It feels cozy, if that makes sense. 

Besides the many many mom friends that I have met through the pregnancy and first year of having Austin, I am one of the first of my friends to have a baby. This excites me as I am SO excited to get to experience pregnancy and infancy through the eyes and stories of my friends and sisters!  Here are a couple of things that I think are funny about pregnancy that I don't remember reading in books, but have learned through experience...

1. Your weight will come when it wants, not when the books say it will. I don't know if it can be changed through eating habits (I'm sure SOME of it is...) but it is very possible that your belly will stretch to be bigger than you have ever imagined. 

2. Your boobs can start leaking at oh, 15 weeks into your pregnancy! This is strange, and I don't know if it ever becomes normal. 

3. It is possible to no longer care if your upper legs get shaved. I can't see it, I don't care. 

4. Skin tags appear. What? Two in my armpits, one in each pregnancy. 

5. Glowing skin might actually mean dark patches of skin. Reminds me of a line in one of Austin's books..."I have spots don't you see? I'm a cheetah! Look at me!"

6. When the baby starts to move, it can move A LOT! This is very fun. Makes you feel like you are sharing secrets with somebody when you are in a room full of people. 

7. It will become a nuisance to stand at a counter as your belly will actually be poking it and it's not comfortable. 

8. As uncomfortable as sleeping/sitting/bending over is, you will love your belly. 

9. I don't know if I have ever felt better working out. This sounds strange, but when you can't move your body as much as you used to, it feels that much better and is that much more fun to actually use it. Of course, working out is at a much slower and milder pace, one that allows me to read plenty of books while sweating away!

10. It is funny to find what causes you to be out of breath. Tonight I could barely sing the lullabies to Austin as I had just climbed all 16 of those stairs!

And of course, once you already have one and you are pregnant again, the belly is nice resting place to help carry that toddler around! It will be funny to carry that kiddo around again when I don't have a helping hump. I guess, I'm kind of like a camel on two feet!