Finally. . .

I know it's taken a while to post this, and I truly meant to do it before, but I haven't had the easiest time with this pregnancy. For one thing, I think I started showing as soon as I got pregnant (NOT a good thing, let me tell you), then I had a little scare where I thought I was losing the baby, then came the belly which just grew and grew and grew and. . . . . well you get the picture. I have back pain from the belly which is just all out front. It has now gotten harder to walk around because the belly is so heavy and I use a brace if I go out of the house. (yes it is 'the belly' because it's so big it has it's own identity)

Then there are the comments which I've told you a little bit about before. At first people would wince when I told them how long I had to go, which has now turned into outright gasps. (I'm not exaggerating. I wish I was.) This has led to some serious depressed moments where I cry. A lot. Last Thursday night and Friday was some of the worst yet. I just can't stand to see myself and get so, so, SO tired of all the comments. (Even from the women at the OB/GYN's office. You'd think they'd know better)


So this was my first picture taken as I headed out to the Brandi Carlile concert with my friend Sarah and her mom. This was taken on March 19.


Here I am again on April 11. I wore black for a reason. :)

This is me and Alexandra (My friend Sarah, who was also pregnant, gave birth one week early, March 26, and ended up being in the Seattle Children's Hospital NICU for 10 days. Despite a rocky start she is a healthy, content baby. This is her little bundle of joy). I was showing how big my belly is and how a baby can fit in there. My baby is not laying like this though, my little (huge??) bundle is head down, but I didn't think Alexandra would like that too much.

This belly shot was taken on Saturday, April 24.


Alexandra really likes my belly 'shelf' she gets quite comfy on there and fits nicely. She even happily lets my little bundle kick her and doesn't put up a fuss. ;)



I affectionately call it my 'shelf'. I can easily rest objects on the top and they stay quite nicely (even babies!). What I do appreciate is that I truly am pretty much all belly (just ignore my chipmunk cheeks) which should bode well for after pregnancy but the scary part will be to see what my belly looks like (that will probably make ME gasp and wince). As my doctor likes to say, 'It's only skin. It'll stretch." Seriously Doc, is that supposed to make me FEEL better???

I really can't wait to see this baby so that I can have my body back.

I can't tell you how excited my kids are to see our baby. They give the baby kisses and hugs each night (which is of course to my belly right now and it's required that they lift my shirt up to expose the belly to get as close to the baby as possible. When Sarah was pregnant Tate would kiss her baby too). So when Sarah had Alexandra they were quite excited to see her and get to hold her. Here are a few shots of the kids, Alexandra and Alexandra's proud big sister Sarah Beth.

Sarah and I were laughing over the fact that in all the pictures Sarah Beth is cheesing it up for the camera while my two were focused on Alexandra. They thought she was amazing and talked about being able to hold her all the way home from Sarah's house.



They were all so cute!