Halfway already? Seriously?

It wasn't until recently that my pregnancy really became "real" to me. I'm pretty sure most of that is due to the fact that until a few weeks ago, all pregnancy meant was that I had some cravings (chocolate milk, orange juice, mashed potatoes - nothing weird), and that my waistline was slowly disappearing.

There was the whole morning sickness thing in the middle there, but even that wasn't so bad.

About a week and a half ago, though, I was laying in bed at night and all of a sudden felt something bump against me, as if to say "Hey, momma!" It was the weirdest thing ever! As soon as I felt it, I grabbed Bran's hand and put it on my stomach. He knew something was up because before that point, my bladder region was totally off limits due to my barely controllable constant urge to pee. After a few seconds his eyes lit up - he could feel it too!

I've been reading in my baby books about when baby generally starts to use your belly as a punching bag, and lots of them say that mommy can feel it around 18 or so weeks, but that it usually can't be felt from the outside until 20 or so. I've decided that our child must a) be a boy, and b) be gearing up to be a professional soccer player. If he (or she.. that possibility is still out there, and Bran thinks it's a girl) is kicking this hard already, I can't imagine what it will be like when he's the size of an eggplant. I mean, it only weighs about 9 ounces right now. If something that weighs 9 ounces can kick hard enough for dad to feel it, how hard will something that weighs 2 lbs kick? I'm thinking about adding on the pounds now so I've got a nice layer of fat to act as a buffer between baby and boxing bag. Not really, Mom. I remember what you said about gaining a pound a week in the last few months. Plus, with how hot I've been already, just the thought of another layer of insulation in there makes me sweat.

Thanks to the flu, I haven't actually gained much baby weight. I think this is a good thing, since I keep making the mistake of going grocery shopping on an empty stomach. Yesterday, for instance, Bran sent me to the store to get frozen hamburgers and buns. I came home with burgers, buns, velveeta cheese, canned chili (for cheese dip), milk, pasta roni, and two different kinds of pudding. I thought I was getting vanilla pudding and chocolate/vanilla layered pudding, but it turns out that in my pudding frenzy I actually got "ice cream sandwich" flavored pudding. I didn't even know that existed. It tastes like chocolate and vanilla layered, so it turned out ok.

Since we don't yet know whether baby is a boy or girl, I have been very good about not registering for anything. This is killing me, since most websites with maternity clothes also have baby clothes just a click away. Because I'm so darn excited about baby, I can't help but make mental "wish-lists" of clothes and other things. We find out what it is on Tuesday, unless we have an incredibly shy child who decides to show us just it's butt. Jen says not to worry, because after knowing me most of my life, she can't imagine my baby being shy. That made me laugh really hard.

I just want to know what we're having so I can start calling it "Jack" or "Emmaline" instead of "it".