Twentyfive.

Today is September 1st which is just really blowing my mind because little Baby H is due in December! That is in 3 months!! I know I keep saying this, but time just keeps on rolling by. During my first 6 weeks of being pregnant (aka the worst time of my life… literally) I thought that I would never feel like this journey was moving along. Every day was long and exhausting and depressing. But now I feel like my old self again in all of the good ways, plus I have the added joy and honor of carrying our baby girl! Time does fly when you are having fun.

How far along? 25 weeks.

Updates on baby: (Thanks to BabyCenter) Head to heels, your baby now measures about 13 1/2 inches. Her weight — a pound and a half — isn’t much more than an average rutabaga, but she’s beginning to exchange her long, lean look for some baby fat. As she does, her wrinkled skin will begin to smooth out and she’ll start to look more and more like a newborn. She’s also growing more hair — and if you could see it, you’d now be able to discern its color and texture.

Note: I didn’t know what a rutabaga was, so I went in search for another vegetable-size comparison (there are lots out there), and I found one that said baby is the size of an eggplant!

Maternity Clothes: Yes, yes. Still loving those elastic waist lines and tops that actually fit. I have felt really wonderful about the way that I look lately and I have been getting a lot of encouragement from others which is always nice. On a few occasions I have been told that I am glowing, I look great, pregnancy fits me, and that I don’t look as far along as I am. Keep the compliments coming because even though I do feel really great about how I look it never hurts to hear kind words as your waist and hips continue to expand!

Symptoms/Body Changes: My heartburn and aches got a lot better this week.  I am still sleeping wonderfully and since I have been working out more often my body just feels a lot less hindered. I feel more mobile lately and the only thing that has continued to ache is my back when I sit up straight for too long. There was one day, this past Saturday, when David and I walked a mile or so to a block party, stood around for a few hours and then walked back and my feet swelled a bit. I think that once it stops being 90 something degrees this symptom won’t pop up too much.

This past weekend we did go to the Kentucky State Fair and the day after I was very aware that my body is not what it used to be. A day of walking around, being in the sun, eating terribly and not getting much sleep drastically affected me all day Monday and a part of the day Tuesday. While we were there I didn’t notice a huge change in my energy level, but my body made it very clear to me the two days after this adventure that it was not a fantastic idea to push myself that hard, and I am thinking we won’t do anything like that again for a while.

Exercise: I am all about it lately! I mostly have a schedule down for the semester and ever since I committed to blocking out time for myself and my body I feel so much better. Here is what I did this week:

Monday - Break… resting from the state fair. I almost put the fair down as my exercise for Sunday because we walked A LOT, but then I thought twice about it since we also consumed large amounts of fried food while there.

Tuesday - 4 mile walk and prenatal pilates.

Wednesday - Cardio Dance Class with my sis - that’s right. Last night I was shaking my hips to Beyonce’s Single Ladies with a bunch of skinny, tan 18-20 year old college students. It was pretty hilarious but was also a great workout! You know I love to dance, and even though I may not be able to arch my back like I used to I can shimmy with the best of them. After the class I figured I had already made a huge fool of myself, so I took my uninhibited preggo body over to the free weights and worked my biceps, triceps, shoulders, back and chest along side stinky 18-20 year old college boys. I definitely got some looks but it was good.

Thursday - 4 mile walk in the HOT SUN, then I did squats, lunges and leg lifts when I got home.

Friday - Tomorrow I am going to a yoga class in the morning before my classes start and I am planning on taking a 3-4 mile walk in the afternoon.

Movement: Oh my goodness… first of all my belly literally grew overnight on Sunday. It was the hot dogs and funnel cakes I bet. But really, when I woke up Monday morning my belly felt so much bigger and throughout the day I noticed not only a huge increase in baby’s movement, but all the sudden I was feeling her move really high! Like around my rib area. Until this point she has mostly moved in my lower tummy with a few kicks around my belly button every once in a while. But this past week something drastic happened with my belly because now she is kicking around my rib area, visibly flipping from side to side right in the middle of my stomach and moving around so much that it is distracting during class! I love it, and it doesn’t hurt at all yet which is really nice. This week I have also noticed her moving a lot more when I lay on my side. It used to be that I had to be perfectly still on my back to feel her move. Now her nudges come when I am in all kinds of positions and doing all kinds of activity.

Cravings: Chips and salsa. I have had this snack 3 different times this week and I just can’t get enough! So salty and yummy and even though there is some spice it hasn’t given me heart burn.

Aversions: Nothing really. I still can’t eat large portions of anything but other than that I feel pretty normal on the food front.

What I miss: Nothing this week. I am really, really loving being pregnant right now and I hope that the feeling doesn’t go away! It is so crazy to think back to how terrible my first trimester was, and even how hard things were until right around 19 or 20 weeks. Thus far the second half of the pregnancy has been truly amazing and I have loved it! I know I am only 3 weeks away from my third trimester, which is supposed to be a time when some tough symptoms come back and lots of new ones emerge, but I am hoping that as I continue to eat well, exercise and take care of myself I will keep feeling great!

What I am looking forward to: First baby shower is on Saturday! Yay! But I already wrote about that…

I am also looking forward to my next Dr. appt which is on Tuesday the 6th. I have decided to try out a new doctor who was recommended to me by my sister because I wasn’t totally in love with my last doctor. After encouragement from family and friends I decided that I should just see if I like another one better since I didn’t shop around at all before choosing my doctor. So anyway, since I rescheduled with this new doctor I get to have my appt a week earlier than I would have! I am excited to hear baby girl’s heartbeat and even though I have to do that glucose screening test (to see if I have gestational diabetes) which I have heard is not fun, I am still looking forward to hearing that everything is still perfectly normal.

I will try to post pictures ASAP from the baby shower on Saturday because I know that you are just dying to hear the details. Until then…