….except it doesn’t.  I posted this picture of hubster and me on Facebook on New Years Day.  I received a lot of “Look at your baby bump!  So cute!” comments, and it felt good.  The problem?  I don’t actually look like this.  We took this picture on Thursday, Dec. 23, just before we made the seven hour voyage to Toronto.  It was evening already and the light in our apartment sucks, hence the awful quality of the photo.  Still, I couldn’t resist – I was wearing my “travelling outfit” which consists of leggings and a very comfy, very clingy top.  Standing in front of the mirror, I puffed out my stomach as much as I could, and for a second, I actually looked like a cute pregnant woman!  I had to document, so I had hubster put his hand on my belly for extra emphasis.  I am such a fraud.

***Don’t believe me that this picture is a lie?  Just ask lil’ sis – she called me the day after I posted this pic, and was like “Oh my goodness!  It’s crazy how fast this pregnancy thing is going.  When you were here for Christmas, you didn’t look pregnant at all, and now look at you!”  She was crushed when I told her that this picture was taken before Christmas***

So what does being 18 weeks pregnant really look like?  Well, I started taking pictures of my belly weekly when I first got pregnant, but got discouraged because they all looked exactly the same.

So you’ll just have to settle on a description:  Today, at 18 weeks 1 day, I woke up super grumpy, because I read yesterday that at this point, I should stop sleeping on my back, and sleep on my side exclusively (something about my uterus cutting off the blood flow to my heart if I sleep on my back).  I already had to give up sleeping on my tummy, which is my preferred method of sleeping, so this did not make me happy.  All night long, I kept waking up because I either felt guilty/scared because I caught myself sleeping on my back, or because one of my shoulders was on the verge of being dislocated from sleeping on my side.  Hubster woke me up with kisses, and I responded with “This pregnancy thing sucks – I didn’t ask for this!”.  Luckily, I have the best hubby in the world – he made me a little pillow fort in bed to make sleeping more comfortable, plugged in my lap top, set up our tv to play netflix, made me tea, and brought me a variety of snacks before kissing me on top of the head and heading to church by himself.  I love him.

It is now 11:03pm on a Sunday, and I am in bed, watching “Keeping up with the Kardashians”, and eating a bowl of pasta with marinara sauce for breakfast, because no other food seemed appealing.  Welcome to pregnancy!

With the wedding over, I found myself longing for the days when my writing had a little bit more direction.  Little did I know, fate had ensured that I would have plenty to write about in the near future.  But that’s a story for a different post – for now, I am just happy to be here, at my new home