Week 30

Seven months now.
Coming into the thick of the last trimester
Right around the time I start to fully realize that we are in fact just within weeks of meeting this new, tiny mystery being. Suddenly, the whole pregnancy feels a little more "real" and that loose vision of another baby in our home, begins to sweetly take shape.

Funny, because you would think that with this being my fifth pregnancy, it would all be so obvious by now. The sense of awe dwindling each time, due to preset experience, but that is never really the case it seems. For me, every pregnancy has come with a certain surreal sense of disbelief.
For me, it feels a little bit like magic every single time.


"So, who got you pregnant?"
Leon will ask in varying ways randomly, usually first thing in the morning (A question that started early on and typically comes at me in one form or another, just as I am waking. Still blurry eyed and understandably dull on my responses to such complex inquires) I tried the romanticized (if not generic) version that included God and a metaphor that played on "seeds" but he wouldn't stop.
 Last week I rolled over, desperate to secure the better part of one more hour in bed, and answered "Your dad."
"How?"

That extra hour, shot.
I may have used the promise of gf pancakes to shift the conversation.



"The baby is naked in your tummy?" 
"Yep. The babies come out naked"
"No cape?"
"No rex, no cape." 
.... Silent, but noticeable disappointment setting in...


Arlo, luckily, seems to grasp the general idea of pregnancy. He's eight, going on eighteen, so there is very little to explain. Thank God. Originally, I thought if I showed them those incredible videos of babies in utero it would somehow ease some of their growing intrigue in the matter, but Leon, it seems, is dead set on forcing me to contemplate real explanations involving the basics behind human reproduction. Where before it was all so easy. There was one baby, then another, then one right after that. Basically they were all infants together so no one was questioning where anyone else came from. The extent of their biggest concerns being: who was getting the next squeezable yogurt, and, who's turn it was to hold the bubble gun.



As far as vanity issues are concerned, the seventh month also happens to mark that growing, frightful concern about just how far your body has come and just how far away you will be from where it started, once the nine month journey is over. Vain, I know. But literally it's always around the 7th month that it really starts to get me. Where I start to seriously wonder how this body can ever, possibly "go back" Or, how in world I ever wore certain jeans! My last - biggest go-to tee- shirts suddenly proving obscenely small. And then there's that telling third trimester waddle that starts to come into effect right when you've about outgrown every semi fashionable item in your closet, other than those big convenient "house dresses" your husband is utterly confused by every time you start to slip one on. "Is that a nightgown?" He will ask, genuinely worried that you are leaving the house in a big, for- bed, floral body tent.


So it goes.
If this one happens the same as the others - a couple weeks early - I have only about eight weeks left to prepare. A room, some clothing, all of the necessities, and of course that whole car issue looming over us still.

Other than that, I'll be tryin to soak up and enjoy as much of it as I possibly can.
Eating doughnuts, taking mid afternoon naps, waddleing around in my favorite house dress while dodging questions about sex coming at me bedside from my sweet but terribly insistent five-year old.



Another eight weeks.
And then life is about to get really interesting.

In other news, I wanted to thank every single one of you who contributed to the last post. I was utterly shocked to see just how many people were hanging on to the very same frustrations as far as superficial blogging content and overwhelming use of consumer pushing is concerned. Makes me sure that the state of where these blogs are lingering now is not where a big portion of us readers care to follow. It also provided me with so many ideas about where this new blog should focus it's attention as far as the personal posts go. Real women who feel they are not represented for one reason or another, be it due to income, single status, working full time, or in the midst of raising older children with separate issues on their plate that aren't making much news on the regular mommy blog's agenda these days. All stories we plan on including in this next journey. As well as so much more. Thank you, thank you!


And lastly, a few of our most recent family photos are over at The Stork and The Beanstalk today, along with a short interview in which I share some other thoughts on pregnancy, sleep training and the promise of a summer margartia just around the corner.

We had so much fun spending the day with Ashley. Not only are her photos gorgeous and incredibly true to the personalities she's shooting, but she also makes it an easy, personable experience so that it feels so much like having a friend in your home with a camera, rather than a stranger there to secure a certain image. In other words, no pressure involved. I mean, even Mike had fun! I love them all because she managed to capture the true essence of our family, and our household as it is. Thank you Ashley. You're the best.