Jazzercise, anyone??

The title seems highly inappropriate as I sit here eating ice cream straight out of the carton... eh, who cares? In case anyone cares, it's chocolate chip cookie dough, only the best there is.

I'm 22 weeks now, but quickly enough knocking on 23's door. Just last night Rusty asked me if I feel like it's going by quickly or slowly. My answer to him was neither. The first half seemed to be over before I knew it, but we had so much going on in that time frame - anniversary, holidays, etc. I never found myself thinking, "This is going by too quickly!" though. Even now, time is just sort of going.

I know Rylan will be here before we know it, but I think we will have a mix of, "It's going too quickly!" when it comes to taking care of pre-baby business and, "Oh my gosh, will this ever end?" when it comes to the last few miserable weeks and what I'm assuming will only be an everlasting labor. Oh well...

Over the past week or two, Rylan has started moving SO MUCH! I seriously feel like he's hosting an aerobics class in my uterus, at least 3 times a day. And MAN! When he gets going, he means business. I think with every move, I'm 10 times more excited than the last time I felt him move. It's nothing that can be described to someone who has never been pregnant. I'd have never imagined it was this... cool.

I'll admit though - my favorite part isn't feeling Rylan move internally. It's being able to feel him move from both the inside and out. I love putting my hand where ever he's kicking/aquirming and getting both perspectives. Feeling the movement from the outside makes me realize it's NOT my imagination and that this really is happening. Another favorite part has been watching others' reactions when they feel him move for their first time. It's fun to see how differently everyone reacts initially.

Just today, I had my first wave of "blues" hit me about being pregnant. Let me hedge the following statement by saying I really do enjoy being pregnant, and I cherish each day that I get to wake up and experience the miracle growing inside of me. There are little things I'm starting to miss about not being pregnant, though. Mostly, I miss being a little more active than I am right now. Pregnancy has definitely slowed me down, and that's just not something I expected, at least not to the magnitude it has affected me. (The devil on one shoulder is telling me to get over it and enjoy the "excuse" I have for the next 4 months...)

The "fun" events we've experienced lately include cleaning out bedrooms and closets, and registering. I'll let you guess which one was more fun! :) I will say that both are equally exhausting. We spent about 2 and a half hours at one store, going through every little thing... By the end, I thought Rusty was going to have to pick me up and carry me out, I was so whipped. (By the way... I sure hope once we start buying these things there is a hidden set of instructions somewhere on how and why to use the item. I'm so absolutely clueless.)

We do have kind of a funny story from registering... We were going down a "recommended" list provided to us upon setting up the registry. We did so good and studied lots of important things before actually going to the store. When we got to the store, we didn't bother with the list. Instead, we just walked from area to area making decisions on how we felt about any given item. We got towards the receiving blanket area, and registered for a couple of cute sets. Rusty asked what a receiving blanket is for, and why it's different from a regular blanket. [Insert blank stare here.] I said, "I don't know, you swaddle the kid and then he gets received." There was an employee standing near by and we started chatting with her about just random things. She asked if we were first time parents, to which we said, "Yes, is it that obvious?" She laughed, politely said no and told us that if we have any questions just to ask - she was once as clueless as we are now, and that's why she's there. So Rusty asked, "How many receiving blankets do we need?" (This question was a lot safer than, "What exactly is a receiving blanket?") She said, "Oh, probably 2 to 4." We both looked at her very straight-faced and Rusty went on to say, "So the 16 we just registered for is too many, then?" I said, "I guess we'll be editing THAT when we get home..." She looked at us hesitantly for a few seconds, laughed nervously and then just kept on with some other conversation. **Sigh** There really should be classes to teach you these things.

Anyway, enough rambling for now. Below are two pictures, for your entertainment. :)

This is at 19 weeks:



This is at 22 weeks: