29 weeks / Ten Things I Love About Charlie

Woohoo, I'm 29 weeks pregnant today!

Charlie is now the size of a squash:



I have no idea how big that really is, but let's just say that the squash is the third to last fruit to which he will be compared. (The next one is a honeydew for month 8, and then there's the watermelon for month 9.)

Anyway, let's pretend that a squash is really damn big. Which you can tell by looking at me:



This picture was taken in Charlie's newly painted room. Someday I will not take a belly pic that features me looking like cuh-rap.

Instead of a regular pregnancy/baby update this week, I thought I'd continue on with my Love Week theme and share ten things I love about Charlie.

1) We haven't technically met yet, but he's already taught me so much about myself. He's revealed aspects of my character that I didn't even know were there. He really has changed my life in so many ways.

2) He is stubborn, which only proves that he's mine. Earlier this week I had a day where he barely moved. (This can be a cause for concern, although babies are just like regular human beings in that they have both active and lazy days.) I came home, drank a glass of OJ, and laid on my side for an hour waiting for him to move. In one hour he moved a measly two times. I changed positions to monitor him for the second hour, and all of a sudden he moved all necessary 10 times in the space of about 30 seconds. I am so glad that he actually moved the amount of times he was supposed to; otherwise we would have had to make a trip to L&D. The kid is stubborn as hell. It is worrisome, but it also makes me smile.

3) He uses my bladder as his own personal trampoline. Or perhaps as his own personal punching bag. I have no idea which direction he's lying, so it's hard to tell (for some reason, I keep thinking he's breech right now).

4) He makes me want to be the absolute best person I can be.

5) He's cute. See?



And that was him about 15 weeks ago! Imagine how much cuter he is now.

6) He's opened my mind to things that I hadn't really considered before. For example, before I got pregnant, I wasn't really into breastfeeding or anything like that. I really wanted to preserve my boobs, as silly as that sounds. Now I don't care about preserving my boobs; they will probably never be the same regardless of whether I breastfeed or not. I just want to do this for him. And a million other things, too.

7) He is equal parts Roy and me, and for that reason alone, he is amazing.

8) As much as I feel like I know him right now, I also know that he is full of surprises and that he's going to turn out to be more than I ever dreamed of.

9) He has gotten me more compliments on my physical appearance in the last six or seven months than I've gotten in a long time. People like to tell me I'm cute, but I know it's all because of him.

10) I have back pain, rib pain, leg pain, bloody gums, bloody boogers, gingivitis, a nasty-looking bellybutton, a gag reflex that has returned once again, anemia, acid reflux, ridiculously dark veins in my chest area, the need to pee constantly, and a vag that may never be as cute as it was pre-pregnancy (oh, that TMI again). I can't turn over in bed without groaning, I am the clumsiest and most forgetful that I've ever been, and I have severe emo tendencies. I have no sex drive, I sometimes walk ridiculously slow, and my heavy breathing makes me sound like a pervert. Additionally, I am now beginning to lose control of my bladder at times. And let's not forget all the joys of the first two trimesters of my pregnancy: severe insomnia, nausea, food aversions, exhaustion, dehydration, round ligament pain, spotting, etc. All these things, while sometimes alarming, are/have been totally worth it. It has been amazing to watch the changes in my body, to see what happens as I make more and more room for Charlie.