dum dum dum!

i got my first "pregnancy smile" yesterday! I was walking into Panera and this lady was coming out and she took one look at me and gave me that sympathetic-head titled to the side-smile while she held the door for me. I am surprised she could tell since I was wearing a baggy sweatshirt and big old north face jacket. i must really be showing now.

the linea nigra... spanish for "the black line". dum dum dum!

i noticed i am starting to get this. its a black line that forms from the pelvic area to the belly button. i always thought this was something women get later on in the pregnancy. when i started to see mine show at 16 weeks, I started googling and it said it does normally appear around the second trimester when your skin starts to stretch.

While no one knows if there is any purpose behind the linea negra, it is caused by hyperpigmentation of the skin, which is caused by hormones that prompt the pregnant body to produce excess melanin. Melanin is what gives skin color, and many pregnant women may notice that they may experience darker nipples, freckles and moles as a result.

here are some examples of pregnant ladies with the linea nigra. not cute at all.



this chick is hairy. i thought i was bad.


and here's a WTF picture. you can barf your breakfast now.


and here's me, with my red pepper. you can see my linea nigra is starting to show. at first i thought it was just hair, but nope, its the black line. dum dum dum! (dang, talk about a WIDE load! my hips are the size of arkansas!)



i would much rather look like this... btw she is 35 weeks. sticking straight out and looking great. im jealous.



so i started to think... i still cannot tell if time is going by fast or slow.

i always see the linea nigra on very pregnant ladies. since i am getting it, I feel like I am hitting a milestone...much more quickly than anticipated.

but then....

i figure most women find out they are preggers about 4-6 weeks in, after they miss their period. i found out right away, weeks before my period was supposed to start. i think since i had that extra month to absorb it all, i felt the pregnancy was moving at a snails pace.

but then....

i stop to think... and i have only 5 months left. ack! i still have to do the nursery, register, sign up for baby classes, baby CPR classes, maternity ward tour, prenatal yoga, get stuff ready for the baby....and I have basically have 5 months to mentally prepare myself to RAISE A CHILD! what the F? then it seems like its moving too fast.

but then...

i think about everything that has happened since i found out. my mom passed away, we arranged a funeral, we buried her, we moved offices (physically...ourselves), we celebrated another thanksgiving, had 5 doctors appts, celebrated 7 birthdays, we celebrated another christmas (twice), and had much to handle with the store and its first holiday season. Thats a lot to happen in technically 16 weeks. I have 22 or more to go.

i am stumped on this one.

oh and another reason for me to not want to give birth around july 4th weekend...it was confirmed to me that the hospital staff on this holiday weekend is sub par. Great. I hope baby Oh comes early in June!

lastly, this is for MeeJin...heres the shirt i put on yesterday. I love this t-shirt. This is a North Face t-shirt i picked up one year at the outlets before hitting the slopes for snowboarding season. This was at least 3 years ago, probably more like 4 when I bought this shirt. I like to wear it casually around the house... I put it on yesterday and this is what I saw in the mirror. Geez Louise, I thnk its time to let go of the denial. most regular clothes dont fit anymore! get over it, Jess.

heres the front view,



and side view,



and how I would wear it pre-pregnancy. except the problem here is, the pants (not maternity) are cutting into my belly ...fiercely. PLUS - and the most important - is that you can see it gives me camel toe. see the crotch area screaming for mercy as it's being stretched?



ok enough belly pics for today. i am surprised i am brave enough to post these. next time i will show you how i went from nothing, to bulge, to bump.

onto food. i discovered these whole wheat raviolis. they are soooo good. ok, well it doesn't look that great here due to the sauce but they are really good. the outside is chewy and the inside is cheesy. and pretty good in cals too. i mixed it up with some of these mini spinach raviolis which are not even as good and they are real white flour pasta.



totally addicted to Mcdonald's fruit n yogurt parfait. i bought 3 yesterday! 160 cals.