26 weeks

Sometimes I forget I'm pregnant and instead I think I'm just tired and lazy and hungry and....well.....large.

But then I get an e-mail in my inbox that says "only 98 days to go!" and I think to myself, "98 days till what?" and then I remember that in 98 days (ish....give or take 2 weeks) this adorable family of 3 will become a questionable-looking (and probably unshowered) family of 4.

Then a few minutes later I sit on the couch doing exactly NOTHING and I remember that in addition to being tired and lazy and large I've grown a built-in circus. While I sit around doing exactly nothing, NBE grows new parts and pieces.
He defuses his eyelids and learns how to breath.
He grows nails (fingers AND toes!) and kicks like a madman.
He works on his hairdo and picks his favorite foods to eat (sending the rejects right back where they came from thankyouverymuch).
He swims and swims and swims. And flips.


Suddenly 98 days doesn't seem like long. Especially considering how quickly the last 182 days have gone.

I held Elise's newborn baby today, and I simply couldn't believe his floppiness.
He flopped into my shoulder and slept.
He flopped his legs up under his tummy.
He flopped his teeny tiny fingers down to his palms.
And don't get me started on the mushiness... Those cheeks! That tummy! Even his bony little toes are mushy!


Suddenly Tommy seems large. And very. VERY. Dangerous.

Every time he smacks my belly (daily) we practice being "so soft with the baby...so so so soft." So I know he's capable of soft, but he also throws blocks and smacks me in the baby. He thinks my belly is a stepstool to reach the light switch. He seems to believe that because it's round, it's a toy (as most round things are) and I'm more than a little worried about how round this new baby comes out.

Tommy was curled all up for months, and if NBE doesn't uncurl and become long instead of round early in his life, I'm afraid of what Tommy will think he is.

This pregnancy has flown by and been infinitely easier (and way more difficult) than Tommy's. What if I blink and he's here? What if I nap and he's 18? Heaven forbid I go to bed and he has his own baby.