Sixteen.

(a day late and a dollar short y'all)

How Far Along: 16 weeks

Total Weight Gain: 9 pounds.  Ew.  I gained 4 pounds over the last two weeks.  Considering I was out of town last week (and gained 6 pounds in 8 days two years ago when I was in Jamaica and NOT knocked up), I think this is a small victory.  Although I have now reached my "it's time to freak out unless you're pregnant" number and I freaked out anyway.  Not surprising.

Maternity Clothes: I finally bought some maternity jeans.  They are God's gift to women.  Can someone please tell me why we don't all wear elastic waisted jeans with lycra built into them all the time?  Like, why do I have to be pregnant in order to not have a zipper and button digging into my stomach?  They were well worth all $40 (especially since I returned the $75 pair after I freaked out about spending more on maternity jeans than I do on regular jeans).  I am excited to buy more elastic waisted pants and maybe continue wearing them even after Monkey comes...bahahaha.

Sleep: I am back to normal pre-pregnancy tiredness.  Tired around 2:30 every day, but I can typically get through the day functioning with only one dose of caffeine rather than the two I had before I started cooking a baby in my belly.

Best Moment(s) This Week: The single best moment I had last week was seeing Jake smile when he saw me at the Rochester airport.  I flew from Dallas to Chicago on Friday and was supposed to fly from there to Syracuse so my fam could pick me up and we could head on to Cooperstown.  When I landed in Chi-town, my flight to Syracuse had been cancelled.  I spent 45 minutes running around the airport worried that I might not make it to NY at all and would have to wait until Monday to see Jake.  But by the grace of God, I flew standby on a flight to Rochester (literally got on the plane as it was leaving the tarmack) that landed at 7pm.  Seeing Jake smile to see me after being away from each other for 6 days was so awesome.  Warning: mush nation.  Absence really does make the heart grow fonder.  Seeing him waiting for me melted my heart.  I am so happy to be home. 

Cooperstown was also fantastic, more on that later.

Gender: Jake's uncles are also convinced that it's a boy.  I continue to call Monkey a "he".  I remain anxiously awaiting the gender reveal in August.

Movement: Still nothing.  I'm not surprised though.  I'm convinced the first time I feel a kick I am going to be so weirded out.  The thought is so foreign to me, no matter how awesome everybody tells me it is.  I think having a body move around inside of my stomach is going to completely freak me out and to be honest I am not looking forward to it.  I kind of wish Monkey would just hang out and sit still until he's ready to come out.  Monkey is now the size of an avocado.  My mom thinks that seems smaller than a navel orange - I say the scientists disagree with her.  We went to the store tonight and checked out both, I think they are the same size.

Food Cravings: All food, all the time.  I talked to another prego who said she can go for hours without eating and not realize it because the babies (she's carrying twins) are squishing her stomach and it's basically like she had lap band surgery.  I wish I had that problem.  This baby may be squishing my bladder, but my stomach is definitely NOT being squished.  I eat approximately every 2 hours or else I'm afraid I'll have another sweaty episode.  Speaking of cravings - we just made cookie dough with egg beaters so I could sit on my couch and shovel it into my mouth.

Symptoms: HUGE BOOBS.  As if they weren't big enough to begin with.  They better shrink after this baby comes, or Jake is going to need to start saving for a breast reduction for his lovely wife.  I am not dealing with these mammaries for the rest of my life.

What I Miss: The list continues to grow.  I miss working out to the point of complete exhaustion, pushing my body to its limit and I feel like I just can't take it anymore.  I miss having a seemingly endless closet full of clothes to choose from in the morning.  I miss sleeping on my stomach if I want to.  I miss my smaller boobs.  I miss being able to make it from lunch to 2pm without eating.  And yes I still miss boozing - SORRY ABOUT IT.  I think knowing that I can't have or do stuff makes me feel like I miss it even more.

What I am Looking Forward to: My baby brother has been in London for 7 and a half weeks, and I am so excited for him to come home this weekend!

Noteworthy Items:

-Traveling alone and pregnant is terrible.  I do not recommend.

-I finished the first two Hunger Games books last week on my plane rides - yes I am a bandwagon book reader.  They are so good.  I am pumped to read the last one.

-Coming back from a week off of work, whether it's for vacation or training, is so miserable.  My desk looks like a hurricane hit it.  I want to scream.  If I get through this week it will be a miracle.

-After driving a Mustang for a week, my Pilot seems like a Army tanker.  And I'm not going to lie, I love it.

-After I found out I was knocked up and realized we had already paid for and planned our trip to Cooperstown, I seriously considered bailing and finding someone to fill my shoes and go with Jake.  I am SO GLAD I didn't bail.  It was one of those once in a lifetime trips that I would have never known I was sad to miss.  My dad raised me as a baseball fan, and since we grew up in NKY, we've always loved our Redlegs.  Barry Larkin was one of my all-time favorites, and being able to experience his induction into the Hall was truly an awesome experience.  Walking through the Hall of Fame with Jake, my dad, and my mom together (it was everyone's first time there), was also incredible and I wouldn't trade it for the world.  The history of baseball in the U.S. is pretty remarkable and experiencing Cooperstown is something I would recommend to any baseball fan out there - it's worth it!
 
-Note to self: when planning to sit outside for 4 hours in an open field in 80 degree weather watching a Hall of Fame induction ceremony, please bring sunscreen.  If not, you will look like Rudolph for a week, followed by a peeling nosed freakshow.  Yikes.