Two strangers recognized my pregnancy last week!  First time that’s happened, so I guess that’s the upside to having a big belly – people are no longer embarrassed to ask how far along you are, or when you’re due, for fear that you might just be fat and offend you with the question.  I’m to the point now that it must be kinda obvious. Ya think? haha

I’m almost ready for the sumo wrestler try-outs!

Joshua’s older sister wanted to get in on the maternity pics! :)

But the cashier checking me out at Aldi, who is from Germany and has a thick German accent, said, “You have a questionable belly.  You’re so tiny it’s hard to tell if you are just a little heavy or if there’s a baby in there.”  Have you ever noticed how people from foreign countries can say things that we might usually find rude, and they’re not offensive?  Something about having an accent and their straight-forwardness. They can get away with anything.  Anyway, I wouldn’t have been offended anyway because 1) she called me tiny – she’s my new BFF, and 2) there actually is a baby in there so there’s nothing for me to take offense to.  I told her yes, I was having a baby, and thanked her for calling me tiny since I’d been feeling so huge.  She laughed and said she gained 97 pounds with her last baby, and again said, “You are tiny!” waving her hand as a “get over yourself” kind of gesture.  That kind of put a damper on my enjoyment of being found tiny, since it was in comparison to an almost 100-pound weight gain, but I’ll take any compliment right now.  LOL!

Oh and if you were wondering, my weight gain so far is either 10 lbs or 14 lbs, depending on if you ask my diabetes doctor or my Ob-Ggyn. Both numbers are based off of my visits with them in May, and I’m choosing to believe my diabetes doctor because I like his number better.  :)  Maybe I just go to the bathroom better before those visits or something? lol!  In any case, I’m not stressing about the scale.  Health-wise, my main concern is keeping my blood sugar at a normal level to prevent birth defects and I’m doing really well with that.  Though it is very challenging, I will admit! Anyway, my Mom and my sister both gained like 60 pounds with their pregnancies so as long as I don’t go that far (lol), and my doctors don’t start complaining, I’m not going to sweat it.

Speaking of doctors, I’m now far along enough that I have to see my diabetes doctor twice a month (instead of once a month).  I really am not happy about this, and will be even less happy when I also have to start seeing my OB twice a month, and then them both every single week during the last month.  Like I said before, I think the blissful part of pregnancy is over.  Now it’s getting real. lol  I keep wanting this to last as long as possible since it’s likely my only time I’ll get to experience it, but at the same time, I really think by the end I’ll be really super ready to give birth, if not just to end all the doctor visits. LOL!

This is as far as I can comfortably reach now without bending my legs.

I now have to bend my knees a little to be able to reach my toes.  This whole toe-touching update started because I was determined to be able to reach them all the way to the end, so I could continue to do my own toe nails and have them pretty and polished while giving birth.  Well, I took my toenail polish off almost a month ago and still have my polishes (hot pink and pink sparkles to go over) laid out, ready to apply, and I just can’t force myself to do it.  Too much belly, and it’s really hard to get around.  So my pretty toenail days may be over for now, though I may have my sisters give me a pedicure near the end, like we did for Lacey before she had Owen (we did a whole foot spa thing and shaved her legs too, because we’re awesome like that).  I just want something pretty going on with myself when I go into the hospital to make me feel better about whatever kind of wreck I may or may not become while I’m there.  And don’t worry, my toenails are not my chief concern-lol. :)

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s….preggo-V!

Oh and one last thing – no more heel pain! No more Crocs. Freeeeeeeedooooooooom! :D

See all my previous updates here.

A month ago, I told you guys I was going to tell you our son’s middle name “soon” and then forgot!  We picked Joshua as a favorite before I was even pregnant and then settled on it after we knew we were having a boy.  The middle name was a little harder.  Since we went with a Biblical name for his first name, I consulted a Bible baby names book that Den’s cousin, Jessica, had stowed in a tub of maternity clothes she let me borrow, and boom.  There is was.

Isaac.

If you haven’t read the story in Genesis, once upon a time there was a man named Abraham who had a wife named Sarah.  They desperately wanted a child, and God promised them one.  They were getting up there in years and Sarah scoffed at the promise.  But lo and behold, when they were about 100 years old, God gave them a son.

Now, we didn’t have to wait nearly as long (thank the Lord lol), but as you can imagine, we can relate to Abraham and Sarah’s story more than the typical couple.  I know the desperation Sarah must have felt when she sent her servant, Hagar, to Abraham so they might conceive a child together and she could have her child by this surrogate (there was a child born to Hagar, and it basically just caused a lot of problems, but then they had their own son many years later).  When you want children, it is so painful and frustrating to not be able to have them.  It is one one of the biggest ways I have realized who is really in charge and it is humbling.

Abraham and Sarah named their son Isaac and we decided that was perfect for our son’s middle name.  Isaac means “laughter” (can you imagine their laughter when they realized they were having a child at such an old age, and also how happy they must have been for this prayer to have been answered?).  As I may have mentioned before, I was giggling quite a bit those first few weeks after finding out I was pregnant.  And I know Joshua will bring even more laughter to our lives.

So Joshua Isaac Miller it is.  His initials will be JIM which is funny and cool, because his Great Grandpa Davis (my Dad’s Dad) was named James (Jim) and so was his Great Uncle.  It’s nice to be able to honor these family members, even if it’s by accident! lol

And on a totally random note, this is what I see when I look down:

I love it. :)

While I still feel good, I think I’m past the blissful part of my pregnancy. I still have a month left before I hit the third trimester, but I feel like I’m already there! Two weeks ago I was telling Dennis I wanted to stay pregnant forever as long as I could stay the size I was.  But I guess Joshua wasn’t finished growing because my bump is officially larger than my butt now, which is no small feat.  I felt pretty cute with a smaller, manageable bump, but now I just feel huge.

This week I looked down at my feet and didn’t recognize them.  They are like little fat lumps with fat little toes at the end.  Whose feet are these?  And my ankles make me sad.  I get a crease in my ankle if I stand straight/flex my feet.  Isn’t it too early for the cankles to be coming on? For realz!

In case you’ve never heard of cankles, it’s when your calf meets your foot without an ankle in between. I’m getting there-the ankles I used to know are disappearing!

Also, look at the Crocs I’ve been forced to wear.  Oh so stylish and totally flattering to my stumpy legs.  OK, I don’t mind Crocs that much, but this style is kind of ten years ago…and this actual pair is kind of that old.  But they’re all I have and since my cute sandals offer no cushion or support, I had to switch to the old Crocs because of pain in my left heel.  I don’t know what is going on but, but if I don’t wear Crocs or some other shoes with support, it really hurts.  So Crocs it is.  Woe is me. ;)

Update: some asked about my blood pressure as apparently it rises when you start bloating out. I went to the doctor today and it’s still doing good at 102/62.

Other than my swollen, painful, cankly, Croc-covered feet, I’m doing good.  I can even reach my toes still…

hehe.  OK, here I am actually touching them. I might be bending my legs a little.  This belly is hard to get around I tell ya.

In other news, we finally settled on a nursery theme (Dr. Seuss/Cat in the Hat) and got a baby registry going at Target (some have asked for the link, so here it is for your viewing pleasure).  Since we’ve already started buying/been given quite a bit, when we got there I was like, “we only need a few things–this registry is going to be pathetic.”  Um, yeah.  I didn’t realize how much we didn’t have and still needed/wanted until we were immersed in baby stuff.  Needless to say, our registry is pretty substantial.  How does adding one small human into your life require so much extra stuff?

As for our progress on converting the office into a nursery, we have consolidated to one desk and moved it to the living room, so the room is half empty now.  We just bought a hutch today to put in another corner of the living room to store things that are spilling over from the kitchen now that I don’t have my extra closet for baking supplies.  Making progress, though it still looks like Taz has whirled through our house several hundred times.  Lots of organizing, cleaning, and straightening left to be done.  We have a deadline of Labor Day weekend to have it all cleaned up because Momma Donna, her sister, and our friend Stephanie are coming over to paint the nursery!  So excited! (A few people have asked about Momma Donna. If you missed my introduction, you can click her name to find out who she is-she’s at the end of that post.)

Speaking of Momma Donna, we had her dog, Doc, over this weekend.  If you didn’t catch it before, him and Jessie are best friends and they love having sleep overs.  Here’s Doc giving me some love.

“It’s OK, Aunt Veronica, I love you cankles and all.”

Dogs never judge. :)