On the "Is-She-Pregnant-I-Can't-Tell" Pooch

   Ok, so I have fully entered the stage of non-fitting pants.  The stage where the people who interact with you day-to-day but still may not know you're pregnant are thinking either, "Poor Scott, she really must be hitting the ice cream tub hard lately" or "is she pregnant?"  This of course is the stage that everyone who recognizes the rules of guessing pregnancy knows not to say anything, because it's really a lose-lose all around.  If you are right the pregnant woman realizes that now people are noticing she is getting fatter so she feels bad.  If you are wrong...well, let's just say that is exactly why we DON'T ASK. 

   This pant popping pooch (I love alliteration) is creating a bit of a dilemma for me though in a couple of ways.  The first is that maternity clothes (at least the cute ones) are expensive.  And the second reason is that pregnant woman need maternity clothes for about 5-6 months ONLY.  I am having a really hard time justifying buying an extra wardrobe for such a short time of life.  I do realize that I may be pregnant again, so it may not be THAT outrageous of an investment, nevertheless I'm still opposed to buying clothes that will only be worn during the next 5 months.  Fortunately, I have had some wonderful friends come to my rescue in letting me borrow a few choice articles, but the pants...the pants have been my main problem. 

   Thus far my solutions to the pant pop have included: hair-tie looped through button hole and then stretched over button, long cami-type shirts that keeps everything tightly in place, or just discarding that pair of pants to the back of my closet and saying a prayer that someday I will be able to fit into them again.  In a lot of ways saying goodbye to clothes that don't fit anymore is kinda hard (stupid I know).  First, it is a total wake up call to the fact that, like every other woman who has ever been pregnant, you too are gaining weight.  But, It's like saying goodbye to a teammate that has been there for you ever single time you called on them. 

   Despite my opposition to buying maternity clothes, I can't say that I haven't purchased any because I have.  Some of the clothes are things that are just extra puffy around the belly zone and are giving me some room now, but I will probably also wear them when I'm not pregnant.  My sweet mom also bought me a bundle of maternity things she found which included some maternity capri jeans (which I happen to be wearing at this very moment).  And my mother-in-law bought me the most comfortable maternity T-shirt I have ever felt.  (Ok it was the first maternity shirt I had ever worn, but still it was dreamy.)  However, the purchase I have been most excited about came recently while shopping at Target with my friend Jess. 

  Many of you know that I took a last minute job teaching 6th grade Spanish for a semester.  Well, I am absolutely LOVING it, but frequently have found myself needing something denim to wear to school that goes with my puffy clothes.  SOLUTION:  Jean skirt :)  A good jean skirt is quintessential to the teacher's wardrobe.  A weekly "go-to" if you will, along with a comfortable pair of Merrells ;).  Well, I was just so lucky to find my jean skirt not only in the maternity section, but also on the sale rack!  I'm telling you, it was pretty sad how pumped I was over the finding and purchasing of a jean skirt in the year 2010.  And for those of you who are wondering, yes it is the kind that has the elastic waistband that goes all the way up and over the belly to bra line.  Let me tell you it is sexy.  Scott really can't keep away.

   I took the jean skirt out for its first spin this week at school and she rides pretty dang well.  I am one very satisfied maternity jean skirt owner.   All this to say, dealing with the inability to fully button your pants has made me a better person in a lot of ways.  I am learning that being pregnant is a sacrifice and I need to be ok with body changes.  The Lord looks at the heart anyway, right?   I guess you don't realize how much you appreciate your stable body weight until it is changing as rapidly as it does during pregnancy.  Well, baby, I know you are going to be worth it, so may the pants continue to pop!

 

And so the journey begins...

So my motivation for starting this little blog is two-fold. 

   Reason #1:  There comes a time in one's life when you realize that Facebook is not the ideal way to update people about life's happenings, I mean how many "friends" (aka complete strangers) do you have popping up on your "news-feed" that you honestly could care less about and yet find yourself looking a their wedding pictures or reading their comments.  And then you wonder, "whose page am I popping up on?", and then you think, "perhaps I should do a little spring cleaning of my Facebook page", and then you think, "nah, that would take way too long.  I will just start a blog!"  A site where friends and family who love you and are truly interested in your family matters can come and read the updates.

   Reason #2:  There also comes a time in one's marriage when you find out your family is about to jump from two people to three and you think, "Well, I guess it's time we start a family blog." This such incident recently happened in our marriage around the beginning of June and is where this story will begin.

  As many of you may already know, Scott and I have been so blessed to have found a church community that we absolutely love here in Oklahoma.  We have met some of our best friends through this church and are enjoying, what can really only be explained as true Christian fellowship (I mean that in the most un-sappy way possible).  I really believe that this is what Christ meant when he said we should fellowship together, eat together, learn together, and pray together (Acts 2:42).  Our friends are such a source of joy in our lives, and we are so thankful!

   Moving on, many of our friends are already parents and last winter Scott and I found ourselves surrounded by three pregnant friends.  We have always loved children and looked forward from the beginning of "us" to starting a family of our own someday, and had suddenly (perhaps sooner than we thought) found ourselves being okay with the idea of getting pregnant.  This was largely due to the fact that we were watching many of our friends delight in both the joys and challenges of being parents.  It was great marketing.  So, we decided to wait to take one last trip together before we began "trying" - [side note:  Is that not the strangest thing we say to each other?  I mean, "You guys want kids?" -"Ya, we are trying."  Like, right now? Tonight? It's like  a widely accepted and socially acceptable form of Too Much Information in the American culture.]

   Scott and I planned a trip for the second week of June to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.  Our last pre-baby hoo-rah!   Well, as it turned it was to be our find-out-your-pregnant-while-on-your-last-pre-baby-hoo-rah hoo-rah!  Now, is that what they call, irony?  It actually was quite hilarious having to go to the prescription desk in Cabo to ask where the pregnancy tests were.  Despite my knowledge of the Spanish language that was never one of my vocabulary words, but I did manage to get my meaning across.  After a positive test Scott determined that we were only "Mexican pregnant" until we got the same results on U.S. soil.

  Now, here we are, "American pregnant" at 15 weeks and counting with Baby ETA at February, 7.  We are enjoying the ride and learning to trust the Lord as we enter this new phase of life.  We would covet your prayers during this time because at the root of all this we are about to become...parents.

  Love you all!

Scott felt it necessary to label the "tail" babies have during the first weeks of gestation.  For those of you who may be wondering this is a human baby.