Not sure who to believe...

Through the course of pregnancy, one's body changes a lot.

A LOT-A-LOT.

Obviously.

But sometimes I wonder if certain changes I perceive are actually a figment of my imagination. For example, I have been feeling like my arms have been getting a bit fatter--mostly because I don't work out like I used to. But when I mentioned this to Kirby, he said, "Oh really? I thought they were getting thinner... huh."

And so I am faced with a dilemma. To whom do I listen? My overly analytical and critical self, whose vision of self image tends to be distorted simply because of an extra X chromosome? Or my loving husband whose view tends to be distorted by that love, as well as the fact that my middle is getting increasingly larger, thus potentially causing said arms to look smaller simply by comparison?

My life is so hard. So many difficult decisions. :)

But I am thankful for difficult decisions like trying to decide who's opinion on the size of my arms to believe. And having to try and decide which shirt to wear. After all, I have a choice. I'm thankful to be faced with the decision of what I want to eat for lunch. And whether or not I want to "treat" Kirby to Panda Express. And whether or not I want crunchy or creamy peanut butter on my sandwich today.

While faced with such challenging decisions, I just remember--it's okay. I can do hard things. And I'm thankful for that. ;)

This morning was a pretty ordinary summer morning. Mostly. Kirby's getting over a cold, so he slept in a little longer than normal, but other than that, nothing new. I took a shower like normal, and began blow drying my hair--like normal.

*Cue the rhythmic sound of a hair dryer*

I happened to glance up a bit in the mirror and realized---


I was not alone.


HE

was watching me.



Upon realizing he had been discovered, he tried to make his escape out the back way...



Little did he know that I am trained in the art of arachno-extirpation... My first instinct was to grab the vacuum, but due to the teasing I got from Kirby last time I used that method (I was home alone, and had THREE encounters!! Can you blame me? I kept the vacuum out the rest of the weekend he was gone, just in case...), I opted to try a different approach.

I grabbed the critical ingredients to my special cocktail:

Hairspray... and 409.

I hadn't ever actually used 409 before, but I figured it smells toxic to me, so it has to do something harmful to spiders...

I hit him hard with the 409 first. To my great astonishment, it had very little effect. Exoskeleton, perhaps? It appeared to irritate me more than him! So I used my trusty fallback--hairspray. Not sure exactly if it kills them, or just freezes them, but either way, it immobilizes them.

And rather than clean the job up with the vacuum, I coaxed him onto a piece of paper (a full sheet of paper, mind you... Keeping your distance from such criminal intruders is a necessary safety precaution...) and flushed him down the toilet.

Round and round and round he went.

Better luck next time.

The Belly, etc.

I reached a couple milestones this week.

I had my first encounter with pregnancy heartburn. Before this I thought to myself, "Psh. I can handle heartburn. I've had it before." Turns out it's not quite the same. If I have it consistently like I had it the other night, I'm going to explode from annoyance. Any magical heartburn cures are welcome! I've supplied a comment box just for them! (Well... sort of...) This is how I feel about heartburn. See below:

"Um... please no?" Please note the lazy right eye... :)


I also had my first hardcore leg cramp last night. Kirby and I were watching The Karate Kid (my first time ever seeing it, actually) on his laptop in the living room when my entire leg cramped in a way it never has before. Don't worry. I thought I could handle leg cramps, too. I get charley horses in my calves all the time, especially in bed. But, again, this wasn't even close to the same. Sigh. I have no idea what I will do if I get one while I'm shopping or something. Sit down in the aisle till it goes away? Hum. Here's how I feel about leg cramps:

"You cramp up and I will take you down, Leg. Believe me, I will..."


On a funnier note--I looked at my belly button the first time since I've begun to show, and it is rapidly disappearing! I am now mildly obsessed with it. I can actually see the bottom!

And the best news ever! I made a rag quilt this week! PAH! And it is SO CUTE. No joke. I am so proud of it. I just decided one day that I was going to make one, so I went and got fabric, looked up how online (turns out it is one of the easiest things to do), and did it. Tada! Now I want to make one for me. This one is technically for our girlie--it's supposed to be crib sized.







And, upon request... Some belly pictures! Took these last night. Well, let's be honest. Kirby took them. And he took 42 pictures in the 2 minutes we had the camera out. Pahaha. So this is me at 28 weeks and 2 days! The first two trimesters have come and gone!