belly pics and the Cloud

So this is the progression over the past few months. You'll note the burst of weight gain the last few weeks in particular. It's gotten harder to bend over and, say, tie my shoes. Which has grown my appreciation for the inventor of flip flops. I think I have 6 pairs.

I still don't have maternity pants/shorts yet. I've been making due with the rubber-band around the jeans button method. But they have started to protest (both the rubber-band and the jeans) and I think I need to go shopping soon. Ugh.

I did break down and buy some maternity shirts a few days ago. I think I'm in love. I've spent the last month feeling insanely fat as I've been stretching my shirts past any reasonable point. And I almost cried Sunday morning when I couldn't find a thing to wear that didn't make me look like a whale. By the 3rd outfit Jim wasn't scrunching his face anymore when I walked out of the closet.

So with my new shirts, I've felt.... comfortable. And, dare I say, cute?

But my true love has been The Cloud of Glory. We just call it the Cloud for short. We = Jim and Karen. And maybe even Roxy, if she could talk.

Remember when I posted about my insanely large care-package that I wasn't sure what to do with? I even mentioned that it was "like the size of another person". In case you didn't believe me, here's a better picture of it for proportion.

I recently discovered it was from my friend Robin back at Fort Campbell who was a dear one night and listened to the stories of my sleeping woes. And it wasn't two weeks later that a box arrived at my door.

But it took me a while to even suggest moving it into our bed. Eventually I grew too uncomfortable sleeping and to my surprise, the next morning Jim said it worked just fine.

And by "just fine", I think that he secretly kinda likes it. On more than one occasion I've rolled over in the night to hug the other side and noticed that somebody was already there.

Ahem.

Even Roxy gets in on the action when Jim leaves for PT in the morning. She dutifully hops on the bed to find the warm spot and Roxy, the Cloud and I snuggle the early morning hours away.

It's like another family member, really.

So thanks to the Cloud and some well-fitting clothes, I might make it to nine months, yet.

Tomorrow: Registering for a baby with Jim.