A Real Update. Maybe.

I'd call it a "baby bump" but that hints at something cute. And I don't really think anything about me qualifies as cute. So we're going to call it the "baby bulge." At least for now. Because I'm at the point where I am definitely showing, but if you didn't know I was preggo, you'd just think I was fat.

These weren't posed. Nathan was playing with his toothbrush, and he apparently thought the belly looked wonderfully jiggly. For this last one, I did tell him to "get my belly" and apparently he thought that meant he should chomp it. I knew it would amuse you all, so I had to put it up, too.

I'm almost done with the first trimester, and everyone promises me my energy will come back when it's over. I hope so! I do great if I have caffeine with lunch, but am pretty much limited to iced tea since I'm trying to cut out excess sugar, and carbonated drinks. (Coffee dehydrates me, since I sip it all morning and don't drink any water, so I've been avoiding that.) But if I have the tea at lunch, I can go all afternoon and not even feel like I need a nap. And then I sleep even better at night. But I just can't make myself stay up without the caffeine boost. I've tried.

I swear I've felt the baby move, even though all experts say it's way too early. But I think when you've been pregnant before, and you know what it feels like, it's easier to distinguish. My friends agree with me on this.

And speaking of friends, I would just like to get it in writing that I think my best friend Brooke will have a girl. She's due in August, so we'll see. (Although I was positive that my niece Mackenzie was a boy, and was obviously wrong there.) Brooke and I were pregnant together last time, but with these babies, hers will be older - by just about as much as Nathan is older than Glenna.

I'm getting the spring time itch. It's almost time to plant the garden. I'm glad I held off, since we had a really hard freeze last weekend. I'll wait 'til after the Easter weekend craziness and probably get out there next week, weather permitting.

Nathan is finally getting back to sleeping through the night. He was doing really good until I found out I was pregnant. I swear he sensed something, and he started waking up 3-4 times a night and being really clingy and fussy. I'm glad we're over that. But I am realistic: I am prepared for it to happen all over again when New Baby comes home. That's why we're not even going to think about potty training until afterward.

Nathan's started saying, "Ow." It's actually really cute, because he only uses it for little hurts: bumping his head when he stands up, pinching a finger in a toy, stubbing a toe. He comes to me rubbing whatever hurts, and as soon as I kiss the spot, he's happy. See why I think it's cute?

We're still working on him saying "Mommy". Sigh. I know he knows I want him to say it. He's said it a few more times this week - for my mom, Paul, and he said it to me when I asked him "who's that?" in a picture of me and Paul. Paul and my mom are really pushing him to say it, pointing at me and saying "Who's that?" or "Where's MOMMY?" But he's a little turd and knows it will make me happy, so he doesn't.

Speaking of my wonderful husband, he's started calling me "cranky". He only does this for my reaction, which goes something like, "I AM NOT CRANKY!!!!!!" Which makes him laugh.

Paul has been hard to sleep with this pregnancy. It is advised that pregnant women sleep on their left side for circulation reasons. Which would be fine, except about the time I got pregnant, Paul started sleeping on his right side, so now we're all knees and feet into each other all night. (Which still wouldn't be a big deal if Paul didn't twitch and jerk in his sleep.) He has also taken up the habit of stealing the pillow I put between my knees when I get up to pee. I have to jerk it out from between his knees to get myself re-situated. He also steals my "snuggle pillow" that I use for support in other areas. So far this is the only "sympathy symptoms" he's had, so I can deal with it. I guess.

Paul's hours got cut at work. The "regular crew" got cut a month or two ago down to 36 hour weeks, but since Paul's a supervisor, he kept the same schedule. But now they've put everyone onto 32-hour weeks - Monday through Thursday, 8-hour shifts. They laid off 30-some men last week. Paul had to be the one to tell the 9 on his shift that were laid off, which he was really stressed about. There was also another supervisor who was let go, and I think Paul felt very awkward about that, since he was the supervisor with the least experience (less than a year).

I know the economy is in really bad shape right now, but I still have a peace about Paul's job. I don't know if it's a peace that things will pick up and he'll keep his job, or if it's just confidence that God knows what's going on and He's going to provide for us. I thought with the "stimulus initiative" that our President signed that would make new jobs, including really ramping up the solar energy production, it would help out Paul's company, since they have one of the best processes for making TCO, the glass used for solar panels. But I have no faith in our government anymore - they're probably ordering the materials from China. And paying Mexicans to do the work.

That was really catty. Sorry.

Well, it's almost naptime for Nathan. I had McDonalds for lunch, with iced tea, so I'm going to try to get some housework done. However, it's cloudy, damp, and windy.... Really more of a day for curling up with a book........