Big change, little bump.

I've held off on blogging for some time because I knew I wouldn't be able to not mention my biggest news, and the most exciting experience of my life thus far - I'm going to have a baby.  It's funny how, in an instant, I went from thinking about getting new stones for earrings I needed to make; a pair of boots I'd love to have; where my husband and I would go out to eat, to: finishing the work that needs to be done to our house; creating a nursery; learning all I can about breastfeeding; birthing a baby; raising a healthy and loved child.  I don't feel that I'm a different person, but I now have a new facet to my life and personality that seems so natural I can't believe I'm just now experiencing it.

I'm just shy of 18 weeks, and in the last couple weeks my bump has finally become visible so that bloated-but-not-pregnant look is (luckily) a thing of the past!  I've been lucky enough not to experience morning sickness, heartburn, swelling, or many of the other common pregnancy discomforts, but the downside to feeling so great (in fact, better than I did pre-pregnancy) is that I'm a worrier, so I stressed and stressed about the fact that I didn't feel pregnant, so suppose I wasn't any longer.  It's crazy, I know.  My grandma even laughed at me when I told her I'd taken a total of seven pregnancy tests, saw the baby moving like crazy on the ultrasound, and heart his or her heartbeat on the doppler, but I still worried.  So my growing belly is much-needed reassurance that baby James or Lucy is growing and things are progressing as they should.

While I'm anxious to finally be able to meet my baby, I can't wait to experience all the joys of pregnancy, and I feel I'm at the point where those things will start happening and the fact that I'm a mom will become more and more real!