Pregnancy in General

I love being pregnant, mostly because I love the thought of our daughter being here with us in March. In the past, I've heard women talk about missing pregnancy after their children are born, and I may change my tune come spring, but right now I don't think I'll miss being pregnant when she's actually here. Pregnancy is a means to an end. So, I thought I'd list things that I love about being pregnant and then things that I don't love, including things I miss about not being pregnant for your information and reading enjoyment.

First, the things I love:

1. Feeling her move inside me. I have been able to feel her for about 8 or 9 weeks now and I still get so excited every time. She's getting a lot stronger now too, and while I'm guessing it gets more uncomfortable the bigger she gets, it's not yet, so I just enjoy her.
2. Not worrying about weight gain. (Or at least having people tell me not to worry about it.) Never in my life has this been true.
3. Pants that look like real pants, but have tops like yoga pants. I never thought I'd say this, but thank you Lord for elastic waists!
4. B absolutely has to clean out the cats' litter box because I'm not allowed to. Love it!
   
5. God is demonstrating His faithfulness to me through this experience. I am a bit of a hypochondriac and it takes a lot of God giving me faith to place in Him so that I can believe that everything is okay with me and her all of the time. Every time I look down at my rapidly expanding waistline I am reminded of His faithfulness to B and I to bless us with this child. Then I am forced to trust that He is going to see this whole thing through, and I don't mean just until March, I mean her whole life. It's already all in His hands.
   
6. In a little over three months, B and I will have a daughter. I am so excited I can hardly stand it. I think that this one counts for all of the rest of the reasons why I love being pregnant.

The things I don't love about being pregnant:

1. Maternity clothing. Companies are doing a little better these days than in the past, but for some reason a lot of them still think that just because I'm getting bigger, I want to wear big, gaudy prints all over me. I made the commitment before I bought my first piece of maternity clothing that I wasn't going to change my style just because I had to change my wardrobe. And I just miss my old clothes.
2. No turkey sandwiches. I told B that the first thing I want to eat after I give birth is a Publix sub. While we're on things I can't eat or drink, I also really miss sushi, ibuprophen, red wine (I tried to narrow down the exact kind, but, alas, I miss them all), and unlimited cups of coffee per day.
   
3. News flash: it's not just my belly that is getting bigger. For some reason my backside, hips, and thighs want in on the expandable fun as well.
4. No sleeping position is comfortable. I've tried the body pillow, the between-the-legs pillow and all, and I still can't sleep for more than a couple of hours without having to readjust.
5. I miss running. I decided to stop after week 22 and this is the longest I've gone since 9th grade without running. My balance is off as she grows outward, and I just feel kind of weird about bouncing her all around in there. If I see someone running during the day I probably get this weird look on my face as I stare at them, longing for those days. I have taken up yoga though. More on that later.
6. Last and certainly not least is the fact that random people, most of whom are semi-strangers, feel that it's perfectly acceptable to touch my abdominal area. While I appreciate their excitement about my little girl, it's just uncomfortable to be touched by people I probably wouldn't even hug.
   

All in all, it's a wonderful experience and I would not change anything about it for the world. I'll just be happy as a lark when I can sit and hold my little girl while wearing my Seven jeans again, eating a turkey sandwich and drinking a glass of Merlot, having been on a long run earlier in the day.

Marine Corps Ball 08

So, B and I went to our first Marine Corps Birthday Ball on Saturday night. Overall, it was really neat. They have a whole presenting of the flags and presenting of the birthday cake thing, which is followed by a speaker. This year the speaker was a three star General (the highest rank in the Corps is 5 star) and he was motivating yet witty and entertaining at the same time. He helped B and I remember our love for the Corps again. Then, there's a meal, which, let's just be honest, was hotel food made for large quantities. I have to say that someone, somewhere probably tried, but it's nearly impossible to make food for several thousand people and it still be good.

The best part of the night for me was the people watching. Because there was a point in the evening after the presentation and meal where it was mostly like prom. Albeit prom with several bars and people in uniform. There were even girls there that had literally had a prom earlier this year. And there were many dresses worn that would have been more at home at either prom or a beauty pageant. There was also the guy who actually hired his date, if you know what I mean. My favorite was the drunk girl who stumbled up to me saying, "Oh my gosh, you're the cutest pregnant lady I've ever seen. Honey, look at this girl, this is what I want to look like when I'm pregnant. Oh, you actually are pregnant, right? Not just fat..." And after several drinks people started losing inhibitions about touching my belly too, I found. I just try to take it all as compliments, but those are also the times when I tell B that I feel a little bit like a show monkey.

All in all, it was a good night. And we ended the night/morning at Waffle House, which is just a great way to end any event in my opinion.

Happy 233rd Marine Corps!

From the mouth of babes

Mom: Grace, we need to clean out some of your old toys to make room for the new things that you'll get soon for your birthday and Christmas.

[Grace disappears into her room. She reamerges a few minutes later with 3 trash bags full of stuffed animals.]

Mom: What are those?

Grace: Oh, they're my old stuffed animals. They're for the poor people.

Everything gets rearranged

I am glad that I don't know what the future holds. This is a hard statement for me as a semi-control freak to make, but I am reminded almost daily that things never turn out the way that I think that they will (thankfully) and so, I am finding lately that it would cause me a lot more worry to know what's around the corner. My last post was on the day before I traveled to Charlotte to see a very good friend for the week. I was excited about the trip because I love spending time with her, but I was almost mourning that day over having to leave home for four days. I could not at all put my finger on why I was so sad that day about a short trip that I was excited about. Two and a half weeks later as I sit in a hotel near Charleston, I know now why I was so sub-consciously anxious.

My friend and I spent a few days in Charlotte mostly talking and shopping. I'm not going to lie, it's kind-of what we do best and it was blissful. Then we took a trip to my new hometown to begin the inevitable house search. Have I mentioned that B and I are moving from VA to SC in a little over a month? Well, yeah, and we're also seriously looking to buy a house for the first time which is exciting yet daunting. So, we scoped out the area, which is beautiful, and found in person several of the houses that I had seen online. The next day we met with a realtor, who was a nice man but a horrible realtor. I think I'll save that story for another post. The point of this story is that while I'm sitting in his office looking over potential homes, I got a call from my father in law. B's mom had passed away the night before.

She had courageously been battling cancer for almost two years and while her mind was determined, her body was weary. My father in law sounded devastated and at a loss for what to do. I should probably mention that B was out in the field for the entire week on his last training exercise. He wanted B to stay there and for me to not tell him until the next day when it was over. The wife in me had to come out at that point and decide that B would want to know then. So, I spent several hours on the phone trying to contact his superiors and finally got one. They pulled him out and told him what had happened.

The logistical difficulty in all of this was that B's parents live out west and everyone else lives on the east coast. So, after a few days, we decided to fly to GA, spend a few days, and then drive to MS to see B's relatives and meet his dad. From there we drove back to GA, and today drove to SC where we're having a memorial for Mrs. B's mom tomorrow morning. I'm so tired of driving right now I don't even know where to begin. The motherly instincts in me just want to make sure that everyone is doing okay. Selfish Kels just wants to be home. I've spent the night in 5 southern states over the last 2 weeks, not that anyone's counting.

Long story short, I'm glad that you don't know what's going to happen some days when you wake up.

Pray for B's dad, that the Lord would use this in his life to let people love him, but most of all to see the love that God himself has for him. Pray for us, that we can find a house to live in before Christmas.

Oh, and our baby, who I'll just call little E for now, is doing great. She grows every day I think and I love to feel her kicking around. She is already such a joy for me.