25 weeks

Tomorrow I will hit the 25 week mark... only 15 weeks left! 

My 24 week appointment was last Friday, and the doctor said that everything is good.  The heartbeat was 155, and, according to her, that's good.  My blood pressure was good as well, and on my next visit I do the sugar tolerance test.  I read today that she's about 13 inches long and weighs about a pound and a half.  She's the size of a rutabaga.  I tell Jon every week what fruit she's compared to.  Last week it was a mango, and his response was "I don't like mangos".  I told him that I don't think that he's allergic to this mango.  She's starting to move a lot, but it's not enough to feel on the outside.  Well, I don't really know if it would be able to be felt from the outside or not.  Everytime I put my hand on my belly she stops kicking, and when I remove it, she starts back up again.  Just like I said before - she's either stubborn (like me) or a joker (like Jon)!

Here's some good news for me (and Jon too because he puts up with me), I have officially gotten two full nights of sleep!  Thank goodness, I could really feel my mood changing all the time because I'm so tired all the time.  My back is still hurting though and starting to bug me sitting at work as well as at night.  I've been doing stretches in hopes that it will help, but I really think it's just because I'm getting bigger in the front so it's putting more pressure on my back.  Yes, that means that I am finally starting to get a belly and starting to look pregnant and, at times, feel pregnant.  The time I feel pregnant the most is getting out of bed in the morning because it's less of a sit up, get out and more of a roll out... a literal roll!  Ares is not a fan!

I'm concerned about Ares and how he's going to adjust to Belle.  Right now he's very, very protective of me, even when it comes to Jon getting close.  He's even snapped at Jon once or twice in the mornings when Jon says goodbye before going to work.  He's never snapped at anyone before, but like I said, he's getting protective.  We make sure that he knows that snapping at anyone is not acceptable, and he hasn't done it since so I think he's past that part.  He typically sleeps in front of my belly, and I think that he can hear her moving around because he tries to dig her out of my belly, and I mean that exactly how it sounds.  He digs at my belly, then he'll stop and look at it and start digging again.  It's really funny - it's almost as if he's saying "Don't worry, mom, I'll get it. Whatever is in there, I'll get it out!" I know that he can tell that something is going to change soon, and I'm hoping that it doesn't trigger seizures like it did when we moved.  My plan is to make sure that he is able to freely walk in and out of the room as we're getting it ready so he will be used to us being in there a lot.  Maybe that will let him know that something is going to change, but he's going to be very much a part of it.  He is like our first child and spoiled rotten so I want to make sure that he knows he's not being replaced.  It will take a lot of effort on our part before and after Belle is born.

Well, things are really going well, and as each week passes, we get more and more anxious to meet our little princess.  I picked out paint colors for the nursery, and we'll start working on it in about three weeks.  Don't worry, I will post pictures of the progress so that you all can see all the details!