Ahhh finally.... the halfway mark! 20 week update

(I will post a picture tonight, after Conner can take one of me...)


How many weeks today: 20! The weeks are flying by when I think of how close the third trimester is, then think about how close 30 weeks is, then how close February 4th is. If I think backwards, ie. halfway to where we are now was 10 weeks, it seems like it took forever. So forward thinking it is!

Baby is the size of: a small cantaloupe! Mmmmm.

Total weight gain/loss: I was +7 on Thursday. This morning I am proud to say that I am +3 TOTAL. Yayyyy me! I mean yayyyy us, Corbin!

Maternity clothes: Yes!

Cravings:  Still big on cooking dinners vs buying them. I have been wanting coffee quite a bit lately, but "quite a bit" is currently once a week. ONE cup a week. It's a real treat! My other craving for the past week has been seafood, so I had some seafood salad, which is really just cooked imitation crab meat with too much dressing... purchased from Vons, and NOT impressive. Last night, I mixed up some tuna with a teeny tiny bit of mayo, some cumin and cayenne, diced tomato, garlic, green onion, and a little bit of Cougar Gold. I filled tomato halves and bell pepper halves with the tuna mixture and baked them for about 20 minutes until everything was hot and cheese was melted.... it was pretty damn good!

Aversions: None but I just remembered as I am doing this update that for the past two weeks at least, I have been completely disgusted by the smell of our dogs' food. That's the worst smell to me at the moment, and doesn't even cause any damage, so I'd say we are still in good shape.

Mood: Today, I am happy and excited. Yesterday, I was slightly concerned because I did not feel Corbin as much as usual. Today is a new day, and I happily celebrated my weight loss and 20-week milestone with a Diet Coke this morning, so maybe that will get him up and moving.

Physical symptoms: I'm feelin' pretty good! My biggest complaint is still these headaches, which are never horrible, but just a pain in the butt. I still get them daily. I also started getting some aches and pains in my hips, lower back, and thighs. Sitting on my new birthing ball definitely helps that, and I am working muscles that I don't get to work when I sit anywhere else, and it helps with stretching. Another new(ish) pain for me is Round Ligament pain, which is pretty harmless and doesn't last for long, but always scares me because it is literally pain in the ligaments that are holding my uterus where it is, so the location always alarms me. More stretching and water and rest always always always helps relieve those pains though.

Miss anything: Hmmm.... not that I can think of at the moment.

Showing yet: Yes.

Labor signs: Nope.

Baby movement: Yes, definitely more controlled and in patterns. He rests and wakes at intervals and I have no clue what is going on in there most of the time, but I am always happy when he is playing.

Wedding rings on or off: On.

Items purchased for baby this week: Nothing purchased, but I currently have a humongous box of baby boy clothes from Beasty. ;-)

How is Daddy doing: Daddy is constantly touching my belly and staring at our latest ultrasound photo of Corbin's face. He is very excited for February, and very excited to be a daddy, but I think with that comes a new kind of.... funk. He misses his family so much, and this is a huge event for us and he wants to be experiencing it with his family too. The upcoming visit from his parents will help, I know, and so will our trip up there during the holidays. I can't relate to him on this because I have never been away from my family, but I do imagine that it's incredibly difficult and I love and respect him for staying here with me and my family, forgoing weekly family time with his own family, and holding a great and steady job in a very expensive state and carrying me through it all. He's a good man, and does so much for our lives together.

Favorite moment this week: Seeing Corbin in 3D. :-)

Looking forward to: My walk that I'm about to go on. Seeing Betty Ann and Dennis in a few weeks. Halloween. Turkey Day with my family and Black Friday. Flying up to Washington at the end of November to see Conner's family. Christmas! Hitting the 30-weeks mark and counting down the last two months as they fly by. Groundhog Day, because that is my current guess for a birthdate. Superbowl Sunday, because that marks the end of this pregnancy (hopefully not long after that...). So so so much that we are looking forward to!