Oh, Baby

I'll be 23 weeks pregnant tomorrow. Conventional wisdom holds that the first trimester is filled with exhaustion and nausea, the second trimester leaves you feeling more energetic and excited, and then the third trimester reverts back to exhaustion and discomfort. In honor of nearing that milestone, I've put together a little list

You might be nearing the third trimester of pregnancy if:

• You keep crackers and a jar of peanut butter on your nightstand because you get hungry at night
• Your bladder has taken it upon itself to get you closer to a newborn sleep cycle by waking you up 2 to 3 times a night
• When your stomach and your bladder cooperate and let you sleep, baby decides to "kick" all night (seriously, those aren't kicks--I'd swear she's doing jumping jacks in there)
• Rolling over in your sleep no longer happens--you fully wake up and the process of turning from your left side to your right side resembles a doing 3 point turn on a narrow road
• The baby has grown enough to squish all your internal organs, but your skin hasn't yet accepted the fact that it needs to stretch, so completely inflating your lungs or holding your bladder for 2 straight hours are both out of the question
• Your belly now forms a "shelf" (perfect for balancing a glass of milk for oreo dipping)
• You suddenly think of 20 projects that need to be done RIGHT NOW. This is that "nesting instinct" everyone teases about and contrary to popular belief, it may have nothing to do with cleaning (I sew instead)
• You notice your husband starting to nest (I never recognized this before since we had always just moved and home improvement projects really did need to get done, but now I see he's doing the same thing I do with sewing, only he focuses on woodworking projects)
• You are grateful for all of these small discomforts...each day and each increase in discomfort means the baby is getting bigger and better able to handle life "on the outside"

And because my friends are all currently 2,000 miles away, here's the belly shot they've been bugging me for