Holiday Happenings Part 1 - Weeks 22, 23, 24

This is the post of a lot goes on but nothing happens.  I've had a fantastic month of getting to see a lot of old friends, but I don't necessarily have a lot of pregnancy news or funny anecdotes to tell.  

I went to my friend Jennifer's baby shower in Charlotte mid-November.  I'm so lucky that two of my good high school friends have pregnancies that sandwich mine; Jennifer's little boy is due January 16th and Logan's little girl is due April 21st.  It's helpful to have pregnant friends, because I feel like that's really all I have to talk about these days, which I'm sure is boring to most of my friends, most of whom aren't close to having kids yet.  I also get to ask Jennifer a lot of questions since she's a couple of months ahead (like when/if my belly button is going to pop out...gross!).  

High school friends!  Logan (18 weeks),
Jennifer (31 weeks), and Me (21 weeks)

Next up was Thanksgiving weekend.  We headed to Charlotte and Raleigh to see both of our families.  I hadn't seen my sisters-in-law at all since I've been pregnant, so it was good to see them.  I had Taylor, who's 17, put her hand on my stomach and feel the baby kick, and she literally jumped back in horror.  Between my mother-in-law's stories and mine, she seemed pretty grossed out by pregnancy.  Which is understandable, considering I felt the same way up until about six months ago.

Thanksgiving Day

Finally, last weekend I headed to the mountains of NC with nine of my best law school friends.  We picked a really pretty small town called Candler, which is just west of Asheville, which seemed like a pretty town, though hard to tell since we didn't step outside all weekend.  I'm the only one even close to pregnant of our group, but they were all so excited for me, and it didn't even feel like I was the only sober one there - and that's how you know you have good friends :)  They surprised me with a baby swing that I'd registered for, so naturally we set it up, strapped a baby outfit in there and drew and cut out a head out of paper, and Mr. F swung alongside us the whole weekend.  He was such a good baby.

Law school friends piled on the cabin bed
(which broke a couple minutes after this picture...shhh)

Lil Fil in his new swing at cabin weekend

Recap of Weeks 22 - 24:

• Lil Fil is the size of:  a papaya.  I'm just about done with the fruit comparisons because I don't think they make as much sense the second half.  Basically, he's about 1.5 pounds and 8.5 inches long from crown to rump (but I'm almost far along enough where they start measuring "head to toe" instead of "crown to rump;" I look forward to not having to type or say "rump" anymore).
• I have gained:  About 13 pounds.
• I physically feel:  good, but I'm big enough now where I can tell that the last month or two isn't going to be very comfortable.  I get uncomfortable leaning forward or sitting the same way for too long.
• I emotionally feel: festive (still). 
• Comment(s) of the week:   Has a baby ever punched through his mom's stomach?  - My sister-in-law Taylor, on feeling the baby kick.
• Milestone:  I feel kicking daily, and can see it from the outside now, too.  What used to be a kick here and there is now a kick-jab-hiccup!, and my stomach moves right along with the punches.

22 weeks

24 weeks