Why I think we should name our baby Clementine, and other pregnancy updates.

Citrus. It's basically the most delicious thing I've ever tasted in my entire life. Last Friday I bought a crate of clementines at the store. I was feeling a little sick when I was walking the groceries out to the car, and a clementine sounded so good. So I peeled one, and it was so. good.

I ended up finishing three on the drive home.  And I only live a mile away from the grocery store. Here's the crate after I'd had it for 2 days.

 It was empty three days later. I miss them.

 I'm 24 weeks along with little baby girl Allen this week. I haven't posted much about the actual pregnancy so far because I was taught that if you don't have anything nice to say....don't say anything at all. And most people don't count hearing stories about projectile vomiting, or peeing your own pants in public places as nice--no matter how hilariously awkward the story may be. So I don't say anything. And here we are, 24 weeks later, with nary a record kept.

So, I'll list a few questions that are pretty frequently asked, and I'll spare you the pee pants stories. Although, now that you know they're out there, am I really sparing you anything at all?

Do you have a name picked out?

Nope. Naming someone is hard. We'd like to use Kathleen as her middle name, after Cory's great grandma who passed away last year.  There are a few first names we've talked about and both seem to like. Eleanor, Emmeline, Amelia, and Clara are on the list right now, but nothing has been decided yet. We're not keeping it a secret, we just really don't know what it's going to be. I told Cory that we should name her Clementine after I pounded that crate late week, but he wasn't going for it. (But really, we could name her Clementine and still call her Emmie, my favorite of the nick name options so far. Just saying. It's on the table.) 

Feeling any movement?

 I started feeling a little nudge or swipe here and there starting at 17 weeks, but in the past week I've been able to feel little movements pretty regularly, which is totally surreal/amazing. She's not quite strong enough for Cory to feel her little kicks, so it's just a little treat for me right now. I can't help but smile when I feel her, and send "Hi little baby" messages from me to her. 

How much weight have you gained?

I lost about 15 pounds in the first few months, and I've gained about 3-5 of that back so far, depending on the day. 

Any symptoms?

I get sick about once or twice a day, but the constant nausea started to fade around 16 weeks (which has been amazing!). My legs get super restless and sometimes even wake me up at night, but Cory and I started going for walks to help with that. I typically fall asleep around 8:30 PM these days, but I've always been an early to bed, early to rise kind of girl so that's nothing new. 

Any aversions?

The smell of our laundry detergent and dryer sheets made me so sick that I now keep that junk on the porch. And the blue original Dawn dish soap scent is pretty bad too. Dairy products are also pretty gross.

Any cravings?

Aside from treating any type of citrus as my own personal brand of black tar heroin, I can't think of anything really. I like salad with Italian dressing a lot. Every now and then I can really go for some lasagna (meatless, please). 

My belly has finally gotten to the stage where it looks a little bit like there might be a baby in there, and less like I've just been hitting the snack cakes harder than usual, so I finally took a belly shot. Cory didn't tell me he was actually taking the picture when he snapped this one, so I'm not sucking it in or pushing it out at all, btw. I'm thinking stripes might have been a bad choice but, oh well.

Things really do seem like they're flying by, so I'm sure before I know whats going on she'll be here! I'm ready to start getting her nursery nook set up (she'll be in our room for the first little while) and get some basic clothes and diapers stocked up. And hair bows. She needs lots of hair bows.

So, that's where we're at now a days. Even with all the bodily function surprises, I still feel like the luckiest girl in the world. We're so glad you're one your way, Little Baby Girl.