ladies and gentlemen,

I'm pregnant. And it's getting harder and harder to hide it (not that I want to hide it). I've had a major growth spurt in the last few days and it looks like I've finally "popped." Which makes sense, since the baby (now the size of an onion) is also having a major growth spurt - from last week (16 weeks) to a few weeks from now (20 weeks), he or she will have doubled in size. I didn't really look very pregnant this weekend, and then on Monday I thought I noticed that I looked a little bigger, and when I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror at the gym today, I had to do a double take. There are less and less outfits that really hide it. Now almost anything I wear - even a somewhat loose t-shirt - reveals the belly. I'm also starting to get a few twinges of round ligament pain and the skin on my lower belly feels really tight and stretched out (I slather myself with an almond oil/lemon oil/vitamin E blend every night). My belly button is getting shallower and wider (gross), and I'm up 8 lbs. so far, which is right on track for the average weight gain of 25-30 lbs. for the whole pregnancy. I was one of the lucky few who didn't have any morning sickness during the 1st trimester, so unlike some of my family members and friends, I didn't start off my pregnancy losing weight. I'm hoping I'll end up gaining less than the average, but who knows. I'm not going to stress it. I'm going to trust that my body will do what it needs to do to give me a healthy baby and I don't want to question that. Hopefully it cooperates when I am ready to whip it back into shape ;)

please excuse my disgustingly streaky mirror - i tried to cleaned it with a Windex wipe right before taking the picture, but clearly pregnancy has made me blind to grime and i missed all the mess

17 weeks (about 4.5 months) pregnant

I still haven't felt any movement, which I'm dying to feel already, but that could happen anywhere from any day now to several more weeks. The big gender reveal is next week and words can't describe how excited Gaby and I are to find out what the little munchkin is :)

I've had a bit of a mini-meltdown the last few days regarding the bar. As of last week I was feeling really confident, but on Monday it hit me like a ton of bricks how close the exam is and how much I still have left to learn by then. I want to know who thought it was a good idea to force law school graduates to take a test that is basically the equivalent of squeezing 16 law school finals into a two day period, just so that we can have the right to use the degree that we've spent the last 3 years of our lives busting our asses for. It feels so unfair.

So needless to say, the next 27 days are going to be intense. Gaby just found out that he won't be able to accompany me to Tampa as planned (a big work audit was scheduled for those days), so today I asked my mom to go with me, and now it turns out both my parents might come. I feel kind of like a baby for needing someone to go with me, but I really didn't want to be with people who are also taking the test, because I feel like that will just freak me out, and I also didn't want to make that drive alone and then have to fend for myself once I'm there. I can count on my mom (or parents) to make the 4 hour drive for me while I relax in the backseat, drop me off and pick me up at the testing center (versus having to worry about parking), and take me out to dinner on Tuesday night to get my mind off things.

Keep your fingers crossed for me, guys! I'll be back next week with the results of the big ultrasound :)