The Cute Phase

Growing up, I remember one of my Grandmas had this green Buddha sitting on her end table named Ho-Tie (I have no idea how to really spell it). She was not Buddhist at all, so I don't even know where he came from or why he was there, but I remembered she would say jokingly we could rub his round belly for good luck. We would just for fun. Some days now, I feel like Ho-Tie would have as I'm getting more and more people rubbing my belly (I don't think for luck, but a baby bump seems as irresistible to some people as a baby is). So far, only friends and family want to touch my belly. Everyone has been kind enough to ask too. It doesn't bother me so far, but it is still not something I am truly used to!

I think I have officially hit the beginning of the "cute phase" of pregnancy. The phase where I have a little belly that people want to touch, where I look cute in my new maternity clothes still, and I'm still feeling really good and probably "glowing." I don't have any of the plagues of the third trimester yet: like feeling big as a barn, being in a bad mood from not being able to sleep or be comfortable anymore, or the swelling and retaining water with dreaded "cankles" some women get (where your ankles are as thick as your calves)! I don't know what to expect yet, so I just will enjoy this time. The receptionists at work were indeed amazed at how much it looked like my bump grew over the weekend, and I told them I went shopping. They complemented me on how cute the new clothes looked on me.

We are also entering the time in pregnancy where there are just so many decisions to make. It is fun looking at all the cute baby stuff, researching everything from strollers to portable bassinets, and perusing general decorations. Both sets of grandparents-to-be are planning to come down and paint the nursery, probably around late July or early August after Michael's Mom recovers from gall bladder surgery. First, we need to figure out what bedding and colors! We also plan to at least set up most of our registry by the end of the month.

The toughest decision we have had to face so far, concerns issues of spirituality and tradition. Topics such as: infant baptism (and if so where), godparents, and what do we feel truly represents both our backgrounds that will be best for our child. I have seen how strongly both of our backgrounds gave us different passions, preferences, and concerns. We were both baptized as infants in Lutheran churches, but Michael went through Sunday school and catechism the very traditional way (and loved it), while my sister and I were pulled out of the church when I was five years old and came to Christian faith through very unique journeys as teenagers. In both cases, we believe our parents did what they felt was best and what they felt was following God's will. Michael and I fully respect and feel our backgrounds are a strong part of our personal identity. We want our children to respect both of our backgrounds, though they are different. Even though today we share very similar theology and faith, it is still tough to try figure out what to do for our child that we both feel represents both of our backgrounds and our desires. We also have the challenge of what to do since our current church only does, in our opinion, what that is a more of an impersonal baby dedication service with several families all at once. This is leading us to do a lot of prayer and soul searching to determine what will be best for our new family. We are making a lot of progress and are openly working together on this.

We haven't discussed names yet, so I don't know if that will be a tough decision for us or not. Our method is to both write out lists of boy and girl names we definitely like, like but aren't totally sure about, and middle name ideas. After brainstorming on our own, we're going to get together to compare, combine, and discuss. Our goal is to narrow it down to two first and middle name combinations for both a boy and a girl. I know everyone is excited about "do you have names picked out," but not to be annoying....we likely are going to keep our name list between us. Some people like to poll everyone they know, but I'm sure Michael and I will have strong enough opinions when it comes to naming our child, we won't need all the outside opinions (good or bad) complicating a decision we believe is important for just us to make. Even if we knew the sex of the baby, both Michael and I wouldn't want to pick just one name before the baby is born (many people I know do that, but that is not us).

Beyond all this, the coolest thing is now I can feel the baby move all the time. I can tell when he or she shifts positions, and is more or less active. Now it seems the baby moves all throughout the day instead of just at night. I also know I am growing. Many mornings I wake up and my belly and all the ligaments are sore at first. I learned to roll out of bed instead of trying to sit or jump up like I used to do.