16 weeks: baby is the size of a mango

In my defense, this is the end-of-the-day bump AND it's right after dinner. Usually we take these photos in the morning and I think my belly is smaller then. I said this to Evan and he replied, "Sounds like a woman in denial."

Baby's bones are starting to harden at this point and soon I'll be able to feel baby move. Baby might also be sucking his or her thumb now, too! And his or her heart is pumping about 25 quarts of blood every day. According to Fit Pregnancy, baby is roughly the size of a gerbil. For some reason this is a disturbing image to me. Let's stick with the fruit.

Pregnancy is sure an exciting adventure in so many ways. I've experienced nothing like it before. I feel like my body is growing and changing so fast now. I'm officially into maternity clothing. It's so much more comfortable! Although I have to yank up my pants pretty often with that stretchy waist.

I'm still feeling tired a lot of the time and easily worn out. However, I've grown to accept this part of my pregnant life, and by honoring it instead of fighting it, my suffering has decreased. This shift in mentality came after a sob fest on Friday when I was saying, "Why is this so difficult for me? Why does my usual 10-hour shift take it out of me so much more now? Why can't I handle what I used to? I feel like I'm failing!" Evan did his best to comfort me, sweetheart that he is. Saturday morning I got over my pity party for good after yoga. Again, it felt the like instructor was talking directly to me. She was talking about how our bodies are working so hard to grow a life, even when it looks like we're doing absolutely nothing, and of course we're not able to be as active as we were pre-pregnancy. I accept that now.

We're heading to Reno, Nevada this Friday through Monday to visit my good friend, Karen. She just had her second child in September, another son. I'm SO EXCITED to spend some time with her and her family. We've been friends since we were six years old, so almost 30 years. She's so important to me and I really want Evan to know her better as well as for her to know Evan. They only just met for the first time on our wedding weekend. And I for one know I'll be watching very carefully to glean some parenting skills while I'm there!