24 Weeks!

So as of this last Monday, I am officially 24 weeks pregnant! Whoa! Time is just flying by! Next thing I know it'll be Baby G's first birthday, and I'll wonder how the heck the time flew by so fast.

Baby moves like it's moving furniture in there. I tell ya, it may as well be. The other night, Matthew and I watched as my belly rolled like the ocean from one side to the other. Baby kicks so prominently that I can actually see my tummy rise in the exact spots where the baby's feet are, tiny little mounds emerging from my skin. It even knocked a remote control off my stomach the other day, can you believe it?

In other news, my appetite has exploded! If I had none before, I have everyone's now. I could eat every ounce of food in this entire house, and then some! And I've got to watch it, because this is the symptom that's going to make me pack on the pounds. Speaking of which, I'm up to 172 lbs! Yay! That's a five pound gain overall! Nothing to be frowned at, thank you very much! And I'm still craving fruit like there's no tomorrow. Fruit, and whipped shortbread cookies. Luckily fruit requires no prep time. The cookies, well...

My stretch marks are also out of control. I don't have any on my tummy, however in each and every other spot on my body that is affected by pregnancy, I have got more tracks than a motocross site. Matt's been "buttering me up" so to speak, every night, with shea butter in the sweet smells of grapefruit some nights and lilac others. I picked up some great stuff from The Body Shop and it's just divine! I'm hoping now that we've started this regimen, I can prevent some future stretch marks from appearing. Because, this is madness I tell you. And I'm worried they're going to start sprouting up on my tummy, because my skin literally feels like it's at capacity.

I've also got some lower rib pain going on, must be the tugging from my abdomen, and the extra weight I'm holding up now. The baby also literally kicked me square in the ribs the other day, too, so that doesn't help.

It's all magical, but it is all also a ton of work. Sore back, sore ankles and calves, excessive sleepiness, nauseating smells seem to be multiplying around me, and the other day I stole a cookie right out of someone else's hand and devoured the rest whole. All I could give them in return was a "I'm pregnant?" look, and scurry off.

But I'm having fun. Matt finally got to make an appearance in our maternity pictures! As I figure he had a little something to do with it. It was tough, taking pictures AND being in pictures at the same time. Thank God for self-timers and tripods! Or, uh, lawn chairs we can find on the yard... (As I don't actually own a tripod!)

So let's just hope that within this next couple of weeks I can keep my monstrous appetite in check, and hopefully my next maternity pictures will contain more baby bump, and nothing else! Wish me luck! As I'm currently ogling my husbands sandwich with a ravenous look in my eyes...