My Bump, My Bump, My Lovely Baby Bump

Well, I'm finally feeling, and looking, quite pregnant. After a wonderful weekend in Cleveland, full of lots of walking and eating, my mind and body were reminded that I am definitely 25 weeks pregnant now.

Left to Right: 12 weeks, 16 weeks, 20 weeks, 24 weeks front/side

My BabyCenter email claims that the mini-Cooper can be compared to a rutabaga this week, but I think my belly is just taking on the shape of eating a sammich the size of my head at MELT.

People keeping asking me how I feel, and I feel sort of bad that I don't have anything interesting to report...

• I did start with the typical lack of energy early in the first trimester. 
• I never had any morning sickness or nausea of any kind.
• I haven't had any acne, swelling, rashes, or other skin- and fluid-related maladies.
• I only had a brief and mild aversion to the smell of car exhaust and other men's colognes, as well as anything that smelled fishy that shouldn't smell fishy (i.e. not fish).
• I haven't had any weird cravings, per se, but I should have bought stock in dairy cows; I can't seem to get enough milk, cheese and ice cream.
• I just started to have the occasional bout of heartburn, which supposedly can be attributed to the baby growing hair (and, hair does determine texture and color right around 25 weeks).
• For now, weird dreams and "pregnancy brain" seem to come and go.

...and that's about it. I'm still working out twice a week with a trainer, and doing prenatal yoga once at week at the local women's hospital. I keep waiting for the proverbial other shoe to drop but, as the wise and positive Meredith said, "There doesn't have to be another shoe."

In other news, we're keeping busy with writing our will, prepping the nursery, learning CPR, and finishing the long process of settling in to the house (I promise there will be before/after photos after the last piece of art is hanged and the nursery is finished).

One year ago tomorrow, we arrived in Pittsburgh after a week-long drive from Arizona. Since then, we:

• Planned a wedding
• Helped my parents finish rehabbing one camp and building the other
• Got married
• Got me a job
• Bought a house
• Got pregnant
• Got Matt a job

The title of this blog site is "There's No Place Like Home"; and, if I would have closed my eyes and tapped my heels one year ago, I might have found myself in exactly the same place. Life is good.