.24 weeks along.

Here's a shot of my belly at 24 weeks.  

Colby was sneaky and caught it while we were watching the sunset our last night on Maui.  I love it.  

I love Colby too.  :)

This pregnancy has been a night and day difference from the last two... and not in a good way.  It must be "a girl thing."  I don't want to complain, but I do want to admit that after especially hard moments I can't help but feel an even greater bond and love for this little baby girl that is coming to our family.  It probably sounds strange, any time I've admitted it I figure people must think I'm crazy, but I truly fall more and more in love with her as I struggle through the hard times.  Until this week I've been extremely skeptical of the comments I hear from friends and neighbors about girls just being different and bringing a different feel to everything around.  I'm starting to understand it a little bit though as I grow through my current experience and notice a different kind of love developing.  As any mother would tell you, it is not greater than I have for my other kids, it's just different.  I've actually struggled a lot with feeling like there's no way I can love my little girl like I love my boys.  It took a couple weeks for me to even have any kind of reaction to the news of having a girl.  I wasn't disappointed and I wasn't elated.  I was just processing the reality of it.  It was one of the strangest things I have ever felt.  It slowly turned into a realization that we really would be having a daughter, but a lot of worry about how things will be different trying to raise a girl in this crazy world.  I think most of the anxieties have worn off and I'm really getting excited for it.  Now if only I can decide on a name... apparently it is in my hands because Colby feels settled on the decision, but I can't settle on anything.

Now purely for documenting purposes, here are some things that have set this pregnancy apart:

• acid reflux (yuck!)
• nausea and such that comes and goes depending on the day... it definitely has not gone away.
• all I want to eat is processed food (double yuck!)*
• I've been dedicated to my exercise routine up until I was 20 weeks (teaching swim lessons and our trip to Hawaii interrupted my 3 days a week at the gym), even through the yucky stuff, but can't seem to do much of anything anymore.  I have some of the most bizarre aches and pains which all seem to be attributed to the fact that my body is not handling this third pregnancy as gracefully.
• I'm going to name this next "problem" my attitude problem.  Honestly, it's a big deal and I won't deny it.  With the boys I had mood swings.  This time I have a long term mood disorder.  Haha.
• I cry all the time.  I don't remember ever crying like this.
• I have noticed swelling in my feet/ankles since I was 17 weeks.  At first it was only after extended periods of time outside in the heat, but now it is almost constant.  Darn summer!
• I promise I have never felt this squished and squashed from my growing belly.  Some days it's all up high and I feel like I can hardly breathe, and some days it's all down low and I have to pee every 3 minutes.
• I'm measuring bigger than my due date.  I always measured a little smaller with the boys.  I have been assured I am not giving birth to a gigantic gargoyle, although Colby once swore I was.  Love him!
• I get to avoid foods like milk, yogurt, ice cream, oatmeal, citrus fruits, tomatoes, onions, garlic, and almost every other food on the earth.  I sure love acid reflux.  Not!

I've been meaning to document this too, but have yet to do so... at 9 weeks I stepped on the scale and saw the first weight loss I've had in a year and a half and it's not like I never tried.  I trained for and ran a marathon as well as worked out at the gym usually 5 hours per week... hard to intense workouts too.  Isn't pregnancy so special?  Again, I don't mean to sound like a whiner, I just wanted to write this all down so I don't forget and can reference it during future pregnancies.  I have it so much better than most people and I've always felt this was all worth it, no question!

Even though I remind Colby on nearly a daily basis that I cannot fathom how my stomach can get much larger since I already feel stretched to the max, I am looking forward to the next 15 weeks or so and all the fun that is ahead of us.


*Foods I've been craving: At first all I wanted to eat was bread with cheese and pizza.  That quickly turned into ham & cheese Hot Pockets, canned soup, and chips... all day, every day.  At around 14 weeks I would do just about anything to get my hands on Dr. Pepper and popcorn.  Until this time, I've had a real problem with both of those foods.  I've never ever liked them and then suddenly that's all I wanted to eat.  Weird.  Then it was frozen Capri Suns.  (If you've never had them that way, you have to run to the store right now.  Put your Capri Suns in the freezer and once they're solid, just cut the top off and scoop out with a spoon.  Yum.)  Now that's morphed into a need to eat Taco Bell all the time (heaven help me).  I had a week or two that I just wanted to eat ice cream, even though dairy aggravates my heart burn to the point of extreme nausea.  I think in one week I downed a carton of Rocky Road... my favorite.  My latest thing is Eggo Waffles.  I finally broke down and bought some on Saturday and am just hoping the box lasts until Tuesday morning.  Haha.  All this junk is so disturbing to me.  I am pretty against processed food, so I'm just hoping I can block out the memory (and effects) of my latest "diet."