A Baby Shower and Elastic in my Pants

Just over a week ago, Matthew and I traveled back home to Chicago to visit with family, celebrate Easter and spend some pregnancy time at home (the pregnancy time is really more me than Matt). We got to see my brother Walter who was home from Iraq, whom I have not seen in over 3 1/2 years and I had the opportunity to show off my baby bump that is quickly becoming a hill. Matt left to go back to work in Seattle after 3 days and I have remained since I will not be home again until after the baby is born.

This past Saturday, my mom and sister, Tara, hosted a baby shower which was a lot of fun. It was nice to see family and friends and to talk babies with people who have lots of experience. We received lots of very cute gifts and have several items headed directly to Seattle for us. All of this adorable baby stuff is making me very excited for our little one to arrive. I am also looking forward to finding out the baby's gender as that was a big topic of conversation. Apparently "mother's intuition" is worthless since just about everyone at the party was wrong about the gender of at least one of their children. We'll see how this goes, I have been feeling "girl" for quite some time now.

I have also passed another major milestone this week(at 14 weeks) with the loss of my jeans. I am carrying the baby so low that my regular pants just weren't cutting it anymore. Matt of course was very excited about this as he could not wait for me to get the jeans with elastic in them...not sure why, but everyone has their own pregnancy excitement I suppose. I however, was not so thrilled. I have always been VERY particular about the jeans that I buy and it has come to my attention in shopping for maternity jeans that they are not made for skinny people. Yes, that may sound ridiculous, but in actuality not everyone gains weight everywhere on their body, nor do they start out heavy to begin with. So, though I may need some give at the waistband, I don't require any extra room elsewhere. In all of my shopping, I have found that I am a size 2 or XS in maternity jeans and they are hard to come by. They are also very expensive. Frustrating...but I can get over myself for the sake of the baby, definitely worth it. I did manage to buy one pair of jeans, but I'm thinking I may need a few more, considering that I have about 5 1/2 months to go. I will say though, I am much more comfortable in maternity jeans and I am no longer squishing the baby.

I have just under a week left in Illinois and then it is back to Seattle for our next doctor's appointment where we will hopefully listen to the baby's heartbeat for the first time! Can't wait!