28 Weeks Pregnant

Best Moment of the week: A fun day out at the Aquarium with my moms' group. I tried out Carter's "leash" for the first time since he's been so active lately and I was nervous about having to chase him around when I'm so pregnant. (I swore I would never be one of those parents who put a leash on their child, but there are a lot of things I said I would never do as a parent that I totally do now...those of you who don't have kids yet will understand this concept much more when you have kids...it's totally a survival mechanism...for me, and for Carter, too!) Not only did he tolerate the leash well (it's actually a little tiger backpack he can wear and a strap clips on and lets me hang on to him) but he didn't run away from me, either. He held my hand most of the time and I just kept the leash as a backup plan that I thankfully didn't even need. We went out to the splash park for the first time, and Carter LOVED it! He had so much fun playing in the fountains, looking at all of the "sea creatures" and running around like a crazy man. It was really, really, really hot out, so I don't know how often we will attempt it, but I loved how much he loved it.

Epiphany of the week: I am way less antsy with this pregnancy. With Carter, I just couldn't wait for him to be here already, to be done being pregnant, to meet him, etc. With Collin, I'm just trying to enjoy my pregnancy. I'm not sure if we will have a third child, so this might be my last time being pregnant, and while it does have its challenges, I really do enjoy pregnancy once I get past that whole first trimester nonsense. I'm also really trying to enjoy our time with Carter while he's still an only child. I completely understand how challenging life is going to get when we have two instead of one (and how wonderful, too, but also challenging), so I'm savoring the calm before the storm and trying to make each moment special.

Also, it really occurred to me this week that Carter is a "real person" now. As a baby, he wasn't really all that conscious or what was going on and didn't have that much of an attention span or memory. Now he really understands things. He obeys commands, remembers things that happened days or even weeks before, and just has such a personality. He is completely his own person now. I'm not sure if that's a GOOD thing or a BAD thing now that Collin is coming...guessing it will be a little bit of both. And yet he is still partially a caveman...doesn't completely understand the concept of being gentle, has to go to timeout a couple of times a day for hitting me, Glenn, my mom or the cats (he's just playing, not being malicious, but still) and doesn't listen all the time when I ask him not to do things like climbing on the furniture. We'll get there, right? Hopefully before September. :)

Entertaining question/comment/story of the week: "Wow, you really look pregnant now!" - Kara Clavio from my moms' group...not meant as an insult, just a statement of the truth...my belly is getting B-I-G

Obsessions: Moving. Not sure if I've even talked about it here, but we are planning to move from our townhouse in Wesley Chapel over to Glenn's dad's house in Clearwater. He's been in a nursing home since last summer, so his house is vacant, and we have to rent out either that house or our house. The Clearwater house is about 30 seconds from Glenn's office and 10 minutes from my parents, so it makes way more sense for us to be over there than over here. The catch is that it needs a lot of renovations before we can move in, which takes a lot of time and money. We're bartering a lot of work with a contractor (I did their branding and am going to do their website) but Glenn still has to do a lot of it himself. Between money stresses and not having enough time, there's still a big question mark hanging over the whole situation, and I don't know if we'll be able to get everything done in the less than 3 months before Collin gets here. Pregnant ladies need to nest, and I currently don't know where my nest will be, which is driving me bonkers. I'm just trying not to think about it...

What I am most looking forward to this week: Pool playdates with friends will be fun...but I also have a lot of work to do, including a lot of potential new business that has just been bombarding me this week...when it rains it pours! New business is always a good thing for my company, but I always get butterflies in my stomach as I take on new projects and new clients, hoping that everything will go smoothly and that they won't be "nightmare" clients. I'm also not quite sure how I'm going to juggle all of the work that is potentially about to start, yikes!!

What I miss the most: Not much.

Symptoms: Headaches are back, boooooo! I had really nasty ones during my first trimester, but they were almost completely, blissfully absent from my second trimester. My third trimester starts and within a few days, so do the headaches! I try not to take too much medicine, but I've had to take a lot more Tylenol to keep them under control, along with a daily dose of caffeine, which used to be all I needed. Yesterday, neither Tylenol nor caffeine did the trick, but a couple of pieces of dark chocolate knocked it out. Oh well, there could be worse cures, huh?

Milestones: By this week, baby weighs two and a quarter pounds (like a Chinese cabbage) and measures 14.8 inches from the top of his head to his heels. He can blink his eyes, which now sport lashes. With his eyesight developing, he may be able to see the light that filters in through your womb. He's also developing billions of neurons in his brain and adding more body fat in preparation for life in the outside world.

Weight: 146, up 13 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight