22 weeks and counting...

... and getting bigger by the minute! (Or at least it feels that way). This is the first week I've really started to feel 'big pregnant.' Strangers and people I haven't seen in a long time have started to feel like it's safe to ask if I'm pregnant, which is exciting because finally you feel like you look pregnant and all the weight you've gained is for a purpose! So here's my little update on life at 22 weeks. Sorry if any of it is too much information, but your body really does become a total stranger during pregnancy.

(ps- yes, I do still feel like a huge nerd taking these pictures. Self-portraiture was never my strong suite!)

The Belly
I'm protruding now to where everything I try to wear starts to roll down under my belly. I'm relegated now to anything with a huge waistband that comes up higher, though I can still wear a surprising amount of non-maternity. I've mostly been wearing stretchier stuff that (hopefully) still looks normal and not grannie-waisted, and usually a sports bra. Matt has started rubbing my belly and talking to K more, which is the coolest thing to me. It's still so surreal to think there's a little human in there listening!

Le Belly Bouton
I have such a super-innie that I doubted if it would ever really pop out like most pregnant women. It's taken some time, but I can definitely feel it getting shallower. It actually freaks me out quite a bit. Your belly button is never supposed to poke around like that! This has started becoming my best friend recently!

The Kicks
I'm finally feeling some kicks now! At first they just felt like nervous butterflies, but now they are frequent enough to know that it's the baby, and I'm starting to see some patterns of activity. For example, we ran out of time to cook last night and ordered Domino's, and their special was an extra-pepperoni pizza. Well, this pizza had enough pepperonis on it for about 4 pizzas, and it was so good. For the next 45 minutes, I felt so many kicks I made Matt put his hand on me to see if he could feel them too. I think they're not quite hard enough yet, but I'm sure they will be as she gets bigger! Part of it may have been that I was laying on my back and Pontouf was laying on top of me, both of which I don't think I'm really supposed to do. Baby K was saying get off me!

The Sleep
Sleeping is getting harder and harder. I'm never quite comfortable, partially because there are so many ways you're not supposed to position yourself that I'm always a little paranoid even if it feels comfortable (especially on my back, because that supposedly cuts off circulation to your aorta and a large vein). I'm also getting up to pee on average about 3-4 times a night, and there's no possible way to just hold it anymore! What's funny is that I've gotten Matt and Pontouf in the habit of getting up more frequently too, when we used to all sleep through the night. I've inflicted my schedule on the whole house! Good thing it won't really matter, since in November Baby K will give us all a new schedule to adapt to.

The Baby Room
I am so excited to start setting up the baby room! We were working on it last night, Matt setting up the books on the bookshelf and I was organizing and pulling the tags off the loot we got from the Kid's Exchange (thanks for the help, Aunt Alisa and Aunt Leanne!). It's so fun to start making little piles... one of all the bibs and burp cloths, one of the shoes/socks/hats, one of the folded-up blankets, etc. I went out looking for baby clothes detergent so I could start washing clothes and putting them away, and Matt had a good laugh at me since we still have so much time left. I even opened some of the newborn diapers and put them in the changing table. Then I found out that each package of Pampers brand diapers and wipes has a code that you can enter in and get points towards free things, similar to credit card points systems. Since we've already bought 5-6 packages of diapers here and there, we racked up about 32 points! And they're not all baby stuff, you can redeem them for Macy's and Starbuck's gift cards.

(Little piles on the changing table, with a little green basket of ridiculously tiny newborn diapers!)

(Diaper stash in the closet... there's not as many as it looks like!)

The Brain
It makes me laugh that, ironically, I almost forgot to mention this part... the Baby Brain. I'd read about it, but had yet to experience it until now. I used to be able to multi-task and do about 4 or 5 things at the same time and get them all done just fine. Now, half the time, I can't think straight, can barely focus on one thing at a time, and forget things that people have just said to me or worse, answers to questions I just asked. Luckily, Matt has been really patient with having to repeat and re-explain most of the things he says to me. I think it has to do with the 'nesting instinct' and the fact that now we're in the new house, all I can think about is getting everything settled and ready for the baby!