One fine belly and the Umbrella Boys

Well, I forgot to have Greg take a belly pic over the weekend. On workdays he gets home pretty late usually, so he wouldn't be able to take a good outside shot. I was reduced to taking a timed shot off of my kitchen counter (balanced on top of the honey jar) of me standing on the balcony/porch/roof-cut-out-open-air-room.

Not too bad, eh? The only trouble is, they're very private here about pregnancy and such, and I'm sure that any number of neighbors could have looked out their windows (and probably did) and saw me posing. Oh well. The things I do for you all.

Someone's going to ask, so I'll answer it now: yes, those are my normal jeans. Unlike some people I know, who are terribly excited about getting into their maternity jeans ASAP and try them on weekly from the moment they find they're pregnant, I, on the other hand, dread the things. See, they will not stay up on me. Even when I get a bit fatter and my belly is huge, the pants will not stay up no matter what. I've tried under-belly stretch panel, the full over the belly thing (so itchy!), and no-panel with a stretchy waistband. Only the last one seems to be of any help at all, and still I'm hitching up my pants every five minutes.

When I was pregnant with Elijah, I shared my frustration with a friend in Watertown. She was hugely pregnant, and wearing a very cute pair of jeans that I didn't see her hike up once. She suggested an alternate option: buy a pair of stretch jeans (the only kind I wear anyway) in whatever size I happen to be, and then if need be, unbutton the top and fasten with a rubber band to the button hole. (As it turns out, Motherhood Maternity sells a stretchy panel that buttons on to both sides of your normal jeans, but the rubber band works just as well and happens to be free.)

I would strongly encourage other girls to try this. It just might end up being more comfortable for you. Then again, if the thought of maternity cloths in general leaves you breathless with anticipation, strap them on, my friend! Whatever works for you. =)

You may also notice that I look a little skinny, and be worried about this. Once again, let me answer that here, lest people be worried. No, I have not gained any weight yet. Yes, I have lost some. Yes, that's ok. In the first two months of pregnancy, I couldn't eat much more than raw tomatoes, pineapple and peaches. That doesn't put a heck of a lot of meat on the bones. However, the baby is fine feeding off the mom for the first few weeks during the Sick Time.

Then, for the first two weeks of living here, we were in a hotel, and were living off of restaurants, microwave meals and fastfood. One would think that this would have fattened me up a little, but instead, it turned me off so much that I could hardly eat anything at all, even though I was feeling a little less nauseous.

Finally, we moved into our new apartment, and I was able to start cooking again. The only thing is...we live on the top floor, which means that I run up and down 2 flights of stairs several times a day, and then we also take walks to shop every morning. So. There you go. I'm sure that I'll start eating more as time goes on (my appitite is already increasing), and I'll get a little more of the "healthy pregnant fatness", but for now I'm not concerned, my doctor's not concerned, and you shouldn't be either.

Every day we pass by this store that has children's umbrellas on a display outside. Every day Andrew begs me for one. Finally I gave in, and now they both think their umbrellas are the coolest thing ever. It hasn't rained since they've owned them

The things sticking out of their mouths are these strange lolly pops that the lady at the drug store gives them whenever we go in there (like a CVS, but I think it's called "1Hr Platz"). They're sort of strawberry flavored, but it's more like smelling a Strawberry Shortcake doll; you feel like you can taste it just by smell, but when you actually taste it, there's almost nothing there (not that I've ever tried to taste my Strawberry Shortcake doll...A-hem.). They are not the usual hard candy. It's slightly porous white square thing. Hard to describe. I've never had something like it before.

Since this is the first post where I've included a picture of myself in a while, here's another one of Elijah and I when our little family dined at a tiny Italian restaurant in Baumholder.