Week 14

This past week has had it's ups and downs. One downer is that I've been struggling with headaches every day.  Some days the Tylenol works and I feel good enough to get stuff done around the house, and other days the headache keeps me on the couch all day.  I can't really figure out why I'm getting the headaches as there isn't a certain food or a lack of sleep that seems to correlate with the headaches, but naps do seem to be the best cure.  I always resist naps like a 3-year-old as I wake up feeling groggy and gross, but I might just have to start making naps a part of my daily schedule so that I can function and be more productive.  I know that many of you have told me to relax and enjoy my time laying around as I won't be able to do that once the babies come, but I'm expecting I'll have to be on bed rest eventually so I want to do as much as possible right now.  I have an unknown amount of time to get the house organized, get the nursery ready, create my registry, get the random stuff checked off my to-do list, and I do want to do as much around the house while I can as Micah is going to have to take on all of the cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping, and other random stuff I do around the house on a regular basis if I go on bed rest.  Maybe just thinking about all of this is giving me headaches as I love a well laid-out plan, and the unknown aspects of this pregnancy definitely are not allowing me to plan!

I made the mistake of trying on a lot of my regular clothes last week to see what still fit.  I know every pregnant woman goes through the awkward stage of being too big for pre-pregnancy clothes and too small for maternity clothes, but I guess I never really thought about it until I got pregnant myself.  That is a really awkward and physically uncomfortable stage (unless you can wear sweats most of the time which is what I've been doing).  I tried on some pants that were really big on me before I got pregnant, and I could barely get them over my hips!  Some advice to those thinking about getting pregnant in the future: don't even think about trying on your pre-pregnancy clothes unless you absolutely need to wear them as it's really depressing.  Two days after putting 99% of my clothes in storage (I was literally left with 2 pairs of pants, 2 pairs of yoga / comfy pants, and about 5 tops), I received an email from a friend who had a bag of maternity clothes to pass along to me.  She is also pregnant and received a lot of clothes from friends, but some items were too small.  I was shocked when she brought over a huge bag with 40 items in it!  I was so excited that I stayed up late trying on everything to see what fit, and I ended up with 2 pairs of corduroys, 4 pairs of jeans, 5 pairs of capris, a skirt, a summer dress, 2 tank tops, and 10 tops!  I will still need to buy a few things to fill in the gaps and some of these items won't fit long as I'm growing quickly, but it was a relief to receive such a gift!

All of the maternity clothes that came in the bag!

I am sure everyone is overwhelmed at all of the stuff that is needed for a baby.  I know we could actually get by with a lot less than Babies R' Us makes us think we need, but there is still a lot of crazy stuff to pick out and buy!  Someone from church was getting rid of some baby toys that her youngest had outgrown, and since she knows we'll need toys for three babies at once, she asked me if we'd like it.  Again, I was surprised at how much she had to give!  Most of these things are for an older baby so we'll have to store them for awhile, but I'm sure time we'll fly and it will be nice to have some stuff already in the house!  

This is the most toys that have ever been in our house, and it's only the beginning...

I have been humbled by the generosity of these two women, and I know that this is only the beginning.  So many people have already offered to make meals, help with the babies, clean, do laundry, etc.  We definitely aren't used to accepting help, so this will be a learning process for us, but I'm sure we'll learn quickly when we're sleep deprived and hungry :).

Another thing I never thought about before getting pregnant was how a pregnant woman's belly button changes.  I know this doesn't happen to everyone, but the other night Micah and I noticed how stretched my belly button is getting and how it looks like it is starting to pop out!  I don't have a before pic because who photographs their belly button? But normally I have a definite "inny."  Sorry if this pic is gross, but I just felt the need to share with those of you who also were unaware of this change during pregnancy.  Apparently, this is only the beginning and I'll soon have a true "outy!"  It kind of grosses me out, so I understand if you can't look :).

The angle might be confusing, but this is looking straight on like I'm looking in a mirror.  That is my shirt pulled up at the top.

And finally, the 14 week pic of me.  This pic really shows that my butt has grown as much as my belly, and I'm really hoping this doesn't continue!  It is so hard to get a good angle, but I think there has been noticeable growth since last week.  I am wearing one of my "new" pairs of maternity jeans in this pic!