30 weeks down, 10 more to go

We are at 30 weeks, three-quarters of the way there. As Caleb would say: "Wow!" Which is his exact response every time he feels or sees the baby kick inside my belly. He's even gotten a couple of nudges to his face while snuggling with the baby. To keep it real, earlier today as my stomach made a loud, deep growling sound, I playfully said to him: "Hear the baby?" and with an astonished look on his face, he totally ran off to tell his father about how the baby can growl now.

I had a midwife visit this week, during which she admired my beautiful belly skin for not having a single stretch-mark. I've been lucky with that through both of my pregnancies and it must be genetics, because it's not like I'm doing anything special to prevent them. I do own a little bottle of Mama Belly Oil from BabyBearShop, but I use it only occasionally for its lovely scent of lavender, chamomile, and red mandarin whenever I want to be pampered. (With my usual 5-minute showers, this isn't often.) I try to be careful with what I put on my body, especially my belly, during pregnancy, as everything gets absorbed through the skin. I love their products at BabyBearShop, because they are 99% organic, 100% natural ingredients without any artificial colors, fragrances, or preservatives. I think it's just as important to be mindful of pollutants entering my body through the skin as watching what I eat, so I can provide an optimal growing environment for the tiny little life I'm incubating.

Which little life isn't so tiny anymore at approximately 3 pounds. She is definitely powerful enough and has a way of jolting me without warning, so as to make me grab my stomach involuntarily. The most accurate way to describe her sudden, sharp kicks is it feels like an alien is loose in my belly. An incredibly erratic alien.

So, we have 10 weeks to go and although I've been "nesting" for much of this pregnancy, due to my busy work schedule, it's been nesting only in my head, where an ambitious list resides of what I need to accomplish around the house before the baby gets here. (Not because I am doing anything for the baby, specifically, but because I know that any projects I have been planning to do around the house will realistically sit and wait at least a year, if not two after baby.) But with only 10 weeks to go I've begun writing a detailed list of things that must get done in the upcoming weeks. (Whether or not I'll get to them, is another thing. It is a very ambitious list.) Thankfully, I will have my family here a few weeks before the birth, and though I'd love to have everything done by the time they get here, I know that I can count on them to help me scramble at the last minute, if need be, to finish some of the things on my list.

Caleb came to me while I was writing this post and asked to see the baby, then let out the deepest dinosaur growl I've ever heard from him, proudly showing me his knowledge of what the baby sounds like.

Hmm, I think I've just inadvertently created his first misconception about his baby sister.