Hello 23 Weeks!

Well we are celebrating 23 weeks today, and really the most eventful thing about this week has been the BUCKETS OF PHLEGM being produced and violently extruded from my body, around the clock. Not at all pregnancy-related, I know, but it has practically overshadowed everything else. Because of my insipid "non-illness" (it's just allergies, after all), I haven't been sleeping well, my appetite has tanked, I haven't gotten much exercise (because the instant I step outside, my throat begins to close shut), and as a result of all of that... my feet are swollen again, I'm terribly exhausted, and feeling rather weak and sore and brain-fogged. Bah, humbug. :( But, it's only temporary. (Right? PLEASE be only temporary! waaaa!) Despite the abject misery of coughing my very GUTS out every 30 minutes and cluttering our local landfill with a new acre of used tissue, I'm actually loving this stage of my pregnancy, and I still get a happy little thrill every time I feel Bean wiggling around inside me. He's getting so big! And he loves to show off his growing muscles more and more every day. :)

Speaking of muscles, last night I sprained a few in my abs during a particularly wretched coughing fit, and the agony that is this glorious mucus-fest has taken on new realms of displeasure. It's so discouraging, and I feel like such a wimp, but this has taken so much out of me and I often wonder if I'm ever going to recover. (Fatalist that I am.) I know I have to take it one day at a time, but it's been one of the more difficult weeks of my pregnancy so far (and it definitely pales in comparison to Sciatica-palooza 2009).

I am pleased to report, however, that my baby belly is finally starting to take shape! I have officially shelved the last of my pre-pregnancy jeans (the chain of elastics at the waistband was no longer doing the trick), and even *I* have started to notice the bump (John says "it's totally obvious," but to me, it usually just looks like "pudge")! If I get brave enough to stand in front of a camera again, I'll be sure to post a new picture.

In other news, this weekend John and I get to take a mini-vacation up to Bear Lake with my family. My parents are in from out of state (their last trip out before they move back to Utah for good this summer! woohoo!), and we're having a belated birthday/retirement party for my dad. Even though it doesn't look like the weather will accomodate a lot of time at the beach, we will get plenty of quality family time together at the cabin, and I'm really looking forward to it. This will be the first time most of my family members have seen me since we announced our pregnancy, and for sure the first time that anyone has seen my "new" belly. My dad is excited to feel Bean moving around, and considering all the wiggles I've been getting in the past 24 hours, I imagine Bean will be more than willing to dish some wiggles out for Grandpa, too. :) :) :)