26 weeks

At 26 weeks ...

- my daily pregnancy emails tell me the babe is about 2 lbs and can almost open his eyes!

- my body is still changing: I've noticed more earwax (yep, TMI) and bright blue veins showing through my skin everywhere. My eyesight has worsened and just yesterday I noticed my feet/ankles were pretty swollen.

- this child already has several nicknames: Cam, the Nugget, Babe, Trout, Little Guy, Baby Simms, etc.

- he already has quite the extensive wardrobe. And it's all uh-dor-a-ble. He's gonna be stylin right from the start! Here's the latest addition:

Thanks Great Grandma Jippy!

- I still feel like I'm carrying super low. Honestly, it doesn't look like the cute, round bump I was expecting.

- babe is the size of an eggplant.

- emotions are still running high. As if it weren't hard enough to create a human life, we also decided to have a new place to live, two new jobs (well, soon), and a new state. You can imagine the turmoil this creates for someone like myself with a very organized, type-A personality who likes to have everything planned in advance. I keep trying not to wish my life away, but I am so anxious for about 6 months from now! It's all in God's hands ...

- I'm thankful for hand-me-down maternity clothes since I've only had to buy a few pieces. I've gotten lots of compliments, especially on this top I got from Mandy/Laura:

Sorry for the awkward pose ...

- I'm getting really excited for my showers! It will be so fun to get together with family and friends.

- it's becoming laborious to dress myself. Socks and shoes are especially difficult and I'm thankful that my third trimester will be warm enough to wear flip flops. 

- I've been getting lots of smiles from complete strangers. People are so nice to pregnant women!

- his Daddy is his #1 fan (well, after me obviously) and can't wait for him to be here. He's so protective and keeps telling me things like I'm squishing him if I lay the wrong way. He can't wait until he's just here and safe!  I keep reminding him that baby needs to cook a little longer and he's not allowed out yet.

- I had a little run-in with a migraine headache. It started after completing my 7th hour supervision duty of walking the halls with a walkie talkie. I'm supposed to check that no doors are propped open and that there's no funny business going on. I usually have time to rest during my rounds but I thought I should get some good exercise and pushed it the whole 52 minutes. Lots of stairs and huffing/puffing left me exhausted and seeing blind spots on my way home. Then I struggled through writing some bills (which I'm glad I didn't mail because there was a major error) then got into bed. My right hand/forearm was asleep and tingling for longer than I'd ever thought possible and I eventually dropped off. Rob came home soon after and I started feeling better, especially after pizza. :) This morning I was dangerously close to throwing up after breakfast and I've had a slight headache off and on all day. Gosh, I'm a pansy and people who deal with this all the time are pretty tough!

- every day I'm reminded that "pregnancy brain" is a real thing. I was certainly skeptical but not any more!

- I'm already outnumbered. At Dick's Sporting Goods today Rob picked up a size 13 pair of baseball cleats, held them up to my stomach, asked the nugget if he liked them, and promptly told me it's two against one. He'll grow into them.