What I LOVE about Being Pregnanct (Part 2) and New Challenges to Daily Life

Tomorrow is June 12th, which means we only have 3 more months/13 weeks to go until we meet our sweet girl, Adalyn, as her due date is September 12th!  Through this journey over the past 27 weeks, I have thought to myself over and over, "I LOVE being pregnant!"  Of course for the obvious reason that God is blessing us with a baby, but also for all the other funny moments along the way.  Here are a few things I love most about being pregnant: 

• Having Adam use my bellybutton as a megaphone to talk to Adalyn.  They "chat" multiple times a day about everything...me if I am cranky, her brother The Cookie Monster, being nice and not jabbing me, the weather, etc., etc. 
• The new way that people look at me.  I get so tickled when I walk by a stranger or someone that I haven't seen in a while.  It isn't just that you make eye contact and smile anymore.  No, now it goes like this: eye contact, look at the belly, back to eye contact, and then usually 1 of 2 responses - smile or a look of horror!  The look of horror may be because my hands are swollen I haven't been wearing my wedding ring or because I work on a campus of tee-tiny, college girls and they cannot imagine their bellies looking like that!  I'm just speculating.  :)
• Laying in bed at night.  I am pretty sure Adalyn is training to be a gymnast or a black belt in karate and when I lay in bed that is when she begins to practice all her flips and kicks!  It is a riot to watch my belly move.  Not quite as funny when I wake up at 3am to her "practicing" but still a fun surprise
• Sympathetic looks and gestures from women who have been pregnant.  For example, I was at a conference last month and between workshops there was a LOONG line in the ladies room.  As I began to wait, the woman in front of me said, "Please go ahead of me...you're pregnant!"  Then the woman in front of her did the same thing over and over until the next thing I knew I was in the FRONT of the line!  Victory!!!
• The new excuse that my sweet friends and family let me have = "It's ok.  You're pregnant."  I seem to hear this line at least once a day. 
• In Bible study last week, I was mid-sentence and then had no idea what I was about to say.  My friend, Katie, said, "It's ok. You're pregnant." 
• Last week, I fell asleep at work in my chair for 30 minutes, my co-worker said, "It's ok. You're pregnant." 
• I burned the grill cheese sandwiches I was making last weekend, and Adam said, "It ok.  You're just being Mallory." HAHAHA
• My newly developed sweet tooth.  Before I was pregnant, I was a 100% salty fan.  I would pick Cool Ranch Doritos over any dessert in the world.  Now, I still have the same affinity for Doritos with an added dose of ANYTHING sweet....cookies, ice cream, popsicles, ahhh!  These sneaky marketing people and their tricky commercials have been VERY effective on this pregnant woman; from their hand-spun milkshakes to the ooey gooey dessert bars they display so beautifully on tv, here's to you Mr. Sneaky Advertising Genius. 

Even with all the excitement, I have found that there are new challenges to daily living associated with growing a human.  Besides the obvious of sleeping and walking around in the HOT June weather with an extra 13 lbs, here are a few other challenges to daily life:

• New wardrobe.  I thought I had this whole summer pregnancy figured out in terms of clothes.  I would just wear lots of sundresses to stay as cool as possible without my clothes clinging to me as much.  That was working out nicely until the last few weeks when I realized that, yes, I am much cooler than I would be in other outfits, but now I have a new challenge as I sit down to work...my belly sits on my legs!!!!!!  Bahaha.  Seriously, you have to just laugh (or you'll cry), so I am going with laughing.
• Bathroom breaks - do I really have to go or do I have a tiny person sitting on my bladder?  My new philosophy is that if you see a bathroom, just go.  :)
• How to stand.  I catch myself all the time standing like a pregnant woman.  You know what I mean...feet apart, hands on back, stomach stretched out!  It isn't glamorous, but it feels so good to stretch your back.  I also catch myself rubbing my belly!  I didnt think this was odd until I was watching Jay Leno last week and saw a pregnant Kate Hudson rubbing her belly the WHOLE interview.  While, I get it (it is fun to feel the baby kick and sometimes you need to reposition her), it just looks so strange!  Ha.  I'll work on it.

Here's to 13 more weeks of laughter at the joys of being pregnant and a lifetime to come of joy with our little girl!