26 Weeks

And I'm huge!! And I have stretch marks. :-( On my boobs and my butt. :-( Just a few days ago I started using cocoa butter to relieve the itching and weird stretching feeling on my stomach. Yesterday I decided to go ahead and start using it on my legs and butt too to possibly prevent stretch marks. I don't know if anything can really prevent them, but I thought I'd give it a try. Then today I noticed I have them on my butt!!!! I don't think they were there yesterday. Maybe cocoa butter causes stretch marks..... hmm.... Anyway, Matt's co-worker who just had a baby a few months ago recommended cocoa butter to help stretch marks and the burning/itching/stretching feeling. But if any of you have any other suggestions, I'd love to hear them! So far I don't have any marks on my belly, hopefully it'll stay that way. The other ones I have look awful.

Evan is still in the pound and a half weight range and is about a foot long. He's still roughly the size of an eggplant. His ears are forming even more and he's getting more and more sensitive to sound. So far I haven't noticed him jumping at loud noises, but he definitely responds to noise, just like he has the past couple of weeks. His eyes are also forming and apparently soon he'll start blinking. Aww!!

On Friday and Saturday that was a very big difference in the amount he was moving. There were about 3 times that I seriously considered calling the midwife because he went about 4-5 hours without moving at all. Then when he moved it was very light fluttery feelings, no kicking. He didn't always respond to sound or me poking him that I could feel. I read that this happens to a lot of women around 25 weeks, the baby either turns or just doesn't have as much room to kick at that point. However, starting Sunday, Evan picked back up and is kicking and moving more than ever! Last night he was kicking me so hard that Matt could see my belly move through my shirt from across the room! I missed feeling him so much, now every time he moves I feel so incredibly happy, even more than I was feeling before.

And I've realized....I love being pregnant. I know I still have a ways to go and may change my mind, but so far the shin splints, round ligament pains, stretch marks, upset stomach, morning sickness, heartburn, and insomnia aren't nearly enough to make me dislike the condition I'm in. I'm lucky because I don't have those side effects constantly. The joys of feeling him move, seeing my baby bump, and having the satisfaction of knowing I've got a baby inside me overpower the negative stuff.

I feel so much more confident and complete. It's hard to explain, but I guess the past couple of years have been really rough on me. After I graduated and couldn't find a job I felt so much like a loser. I felt (and still do to a certain extent) that people look down on me for not working. I wondered what was so wrong with me that I didn't get a job in spite of the hundreds of applications (sadly, I'm not exaggerating all that much, I really did fill out about 150 applications to all sorts of different jobs) I filled out and the several interviews I had. I haven't been doing what I wanted to do, my dreams didn't come true. But now I feel like I'm where I should be, I'm doing what I really want to do. I feel more grown up and finally equal to the other adults around me.

Last night Matt and his friend R put together Evan's dresser! It matches the crib and it's beautiful! It's also a changing table, so that will save us some space in the nursery. Now the next big step we have for the nursery is to put in a ceiling fan and light. Right now we have to rely on lamps for lighting. It will be nice to have an overhead light. We are also planning on painting the trim, although I have to admit that I'm feeling pretty lazy about that and thinking that maybe we'll just leave it be. I don't know...there are a few places that could use sanding and touchups. So it might be best to just paint it all. After that I want to start organizing and putting up the decor!

Arrr - you can see the splotchy tan on my arm. Ugg! I didn't quite smooth sunscreen all over my arm at the beach and got burned in one place...you can even see the fingerprints where I got some of the sunscreen, but didn't rub it all in! Unfortunately it turned into a super dark tan.... I'm trying to even it out, but it's hard once it's there.