I've been a-slackin'...

This has been somewhat of a slow week for me, blogwise. I've been trying to keep up on all my blog reading, but it's been a bit harder to keep up with my blog posting. First of all, I just wanted to say...

From Cake Wrecks

I hope you're all enjoying a wonderful Easter Sunday with friends and family :) Gaby and I are heading out to his parents' house for lunch in a bit, and then tonight we have dinner with my side of the family.

Second of all, although I think most people who read this blog are already aware of my news, I think it's time that I officially "come out" in the blogosphere...I'm pregnant!!! We just found out last week on April 1st (try telling your parents that you are pregnant on April Fool's Day and see if they take you seriously) and the last 12 days have been a roller coaster of every conceivable emotion under the sun, from shock to worry to joy to excitement. Once I got over being stunned, I allowed myself to actually start getting excited about this little sesame seed, our early December baby, although I feel like it's still so early and there is still so much room for worry. I won't have my first ultrasound until May 11 (the day after Mother's Day, at which point I'll be 11 weeks along), and I don't think I will be fully relaxed until that happens and I can see with my own eyes that there's actually a healthy little baby in there with a strong heartbeat. Until that happens, it's somewhat hard for me to believe that this is all real and that we're really going to be parents in approximately nine months. I spend every single day praying for a healthy baby, and ask anyone who will listen to please send lots of prayers and/or good vibes my way so that this little seed actually sticks around and makes me a proud momma.

So far, THANK GOD AND KNOCK ON WOOD, I've been feeling fine. I'm exhausted all the time, and I find myself going to sleep much earlier than usual. But luckily that has been the extent of my symptoms. My boobs are a little bit fuller and sore, but nothing out of this world uncomfortable. I know it's still really early and I have the potential to start feeling sick at any time. One of my cousins started to feel severe morning sickness at 6 weeks (which I hit tomorrow) and another one at 10 weeks. I know everyone is different, and I really have no way of knowing how my body in particular will react to this pregnancy (especially since it's my first), so right now I am just trying my best to stay positive. I keep telling myself that I will feel fine and I hope if I can convince my mind of that hard enough, maybe my body will follow. I am supposed to take the Florida bar exam in July and that was my first concern when I found out I was pregnant. Not being able to take the exam, or not being able to study properly for it and then fail it, would be one of my worst nightmares. The next opportunity to take it would be in February 2010, at which point I will most likely be the mother of a 2 month old infant. So needless to say it's very important to me that I am able to take this test and pass it now so that I never have to worry about it again. I have been getting a lot of positive reinforcement from everyone, from my mom to my friends, and I am so grateful for that. Now it's just a matter of waiting and seeing what will happen.

I really wanted to post some pictures of my positive pregnancy tests (I took 4, and got pictures of 3), but I can't find the stupid cable thingie that reads my camera's memory card. So instead I'll share my "belly" pictures...in which, of course, there is not yet a belly. I definitely have a little pouch that protrudes where my rock-hard, washboard abs should be, but that made its way onto my stomach way before the baby came along as a consequence of the blessed Newlywed 10 (8 lbs. of which I was able to lose in the last few months before getting pregnant - yay!).

So here's the day I found out I was pregnant (4 weeks, 2 days pregnant):

(sorry about the blurriness)

And here's the belly a week later, at 5 weeks, 2 days:

I really wish I could say that little protruding bump in my belly button area is all baby, but it's definitely not. The baby is currently the size of a sesame seed, and located several inches south of that little bump, lower in my pelvis.

Since I found out I was pregnant on a Wednesday, my goal is to take belly pics every Wednesday for the remainder of the pregnancy. I can't wait to see the whole timeline when I'm all done. I'm not super eager to start showing (I have lots of beautiful pre-pregnancy clothes that I love and would prefer to continue wearing for as long as possible, thank you very much), but at the same time, I think it's going to be so fun to actually have a real baby belly where people can tell just from looking at me that I'm pregnant. So far I feel kind of like a faker...I tell people I'm pregnant, but I really don't look any different :)

Anyway, I'm not planning for this blog to become purely baby-related. There are still a lot of other topics that I am super interested in and want to continue sharing with all of you. But this pregnancy will definitely give me a lot of material to blog about, so you can expect to hear regular updates on that front in addition to all my other musings. Thanks for letting me share! :)