25 Weeks

It's so hard for me to wrap my brain around the fact that I'm 25 weeks pregnant now. It seems like quite a milestone! I keep thinking to myself that I've been pregnant for half a year, but that would only be true if there are 50 weeks in a year...sometimes I forget that there are 52. :) At any rate, I'm close to that half-year mark. A couple of weeks ago, I talked about looking through my closet thinking about non-maternity clothes that I thought would fit for awhile, and most of them I can't fit into anymore . But this dress is one of the exceptions:

I love this dress. I got it at Wal-Mart a couple of years ago, and I've gotten a lot of wear out of it. I enjoy wearing dresses in the summertime, because they're just so...easy! I tell my students that if I wear a dress to work, it probably means that I overslept. I love that I don't have to think about matching anything...I can just throw a dress over my head and go! Anyway, this one has always been very "swingy" and has lots of extra fabric in the front, which has turned out to be a blessing. It's sleeveless, but we've had some unseasonably warm weather here in Kentucky lately, so I decided to wear it with a light cardigan. It was so comfortable! I do have to say that I really don't like the way I look from the side in a dress now (whether it's a maternity dress or not). I'm just so...wide. And I'm only going to get wider!

This week, I've really noticed that I'm starting to become less agile. I just can't really bend straight over (or to the side) anymore, and getting up and down off the floor?! Ha! Every morning, I sit on the floor in the bathroom in front of my full-length mirror to put on my mascara and eyeliner. Thank goodness it's next to the tub...I can heave myself up by pushing against the tub. If it weren't there, I'd either have to wait for David, or try to roll over then push up. :) Really, it's not quite that bad, but it's certainly not graceful.
Lots of people have asked me about cravings lately. All I want, all the time, is sweet stuff. Candy, chocolate, ice cream. Valentine's Day didn't help me out at all...we got lots of delicious goodies from family and friends, and of course, I've been eating it all. I don't know that I can blame my need for sweets on the baby, because I've always liked sweets, but I have noticed that I just can't seem to get enough now. Maybe it is Sprout! At any rate, he/she will certainly be sweet if I keep this up!

I think Sprout must be going through a growth spurt. I've been feeling a lot of pulling/tugging/stretching sensations lately. It's hard for me to imagine that, before too much longer, there will be a full-sized baby inside of me (somewhere in the neighborhood of 6-7 pounds, I'm hoping...not much bigger!). I just can't imagine where it will all go! I'm a short girl (5'2"), and I have a really short torso, so my belly can only go out! It's no wonder I've been feeling lots of stretching! I'm still using my stretch mark cream, but I don't know how much longer I'll be without stretch marks. I'm not all that concerned about them, because having this little one will be worth it all...but it would be nice to make it through pregnancy with a minimum of them.
I have my next OB appointment on March 3rd...and I'm guessing it will be just as quick as the last one. I do have my 1 hour glucose test that day, but I get to drink the orange stuff at home, so I don't have to hang around the office that long. Let's hope I pass! I think at this appointment, I'll be seeing Dr. Brown, the other doctor in the practice. I've spent lots of time in the office over the past year, and I have never laid eyes on this man. I would prefer to make it through the pregnancy and only see Dr. Basham, because I just love her and she's been so good to me, but I understand why I need to see Dr. Brown. And, after all, there's a chance that he might deliver the baby, so I would certainly want to meet him before then. I've heard good things about Dr. Brown, but I'm still apprehensive.

We're finally making some progress on baby preparations! The crib and changing table arrived last week, and David and I spent about 3 1/2 hours on Sunday night putting everything together (and that's when I realized that getting up and down off the floor is getting to be really tough!).
The crib is the DaVinci Emily model. It was one of three cribs that were recommended by Consumer Reports. Honestly, I don't love it, but I like it better now that we've got bedding on it. I wanted to buy a different one, but I was afraid to buy one that hadn't gotten a good rating. It also wasn't sold in the stores we'd looked at (Target, Babies 'R Us), so I was hesitant to purchase it. But we ended up visiting USA Baby a couple of weekends ago, and they had a floor model there. We didn't buy it from them, because I'd found a great deal at Target that got us the mattress for free (and some reduced shipping costs). This is the changing table, which I have mixed feelings about. We really only have two walls in this room (the wall to the right of the changing table is mostly windows, the other wall is 2 french doors into the hallway), so I knew we wouldn't have much room for furniture. So that's why I got this changing table with the three drawers. I thought it would give us more storage, but I'm not a fan of the rail along the front of the changing table. I'm pretty short, and I'm concerned that it might get in the way when I'm changing the baby. We'll just have to see how it all plays out.

I've put the bedding on the crib, and it's super cute! But the room is just so bare! We're going to have to get a big rug for the floor, and I have to figure out how to wedge a rocking chair in there somewhere. I plan to paint a quote over the crib, but David isn't all that enthusiastic about the one I have picked out. I'm looking for other alternatives. I need to figure out what to do about curtains, too. So many things to think about! Lots of days, I just go in there and look around, imagining what life is going to be like in a few months. I'm sure it will be crazy, but completely worth it!