Large and in charge

Well its official. I'm feeling quite rotund. I'm noticing that my belly no longer just protrudes after a big meal or a big glass of water- it tends to maintain its melon-esque shape 24-7 now.

I am honestly the girl who looks like she swallowed a basketball. I guess having a 3 inch torso is really not to my advantage. I know people said that when they were pregnant they felt so beautiful and felt "the glow," well I apparently missed that memo, 'cause I feel gross!

Pregnancy has been very pretty kind to me (minus the 3 months of constant nauseau, and now the killer back pain) but for the most part I feel great. I have my energy almost fully back and find myself cooking and cleaning just as much as before. Could I be nesting already?

According to pregnancy weekly, Around the fifth month of pregnancy, the "nesting" instinct can set in. This is an uncontrollable urge to clean one's house brought on by a desire to prepare a nest for the new baby, to tie up loose ends of old projects and to organize your world.

You can confirm this with my husband, but I have been talking non-stop about all of the projects I have for us before baby's arrival (I'm sure he's overly excited about them all, but hey- men love tools right?).

We've finally agreed and fallen in love with a name: Riley Hope. Luke is the one who actually found the name, which was his first (and most important) baby girl name contribution. I feel like as I get further and further along, I can just picture this name for her. Riley means "courageous," which I absolutely love, and Hope is Luke's grandmothers name. After I shared this with my mom, who is battling breast cancer right now, she brought up the fact that Hope is kind of the theme for breast cancer, so we just kind of knew it was right. I mean, honestly, who knows where my hormones will take me in the next couple of months, but for now, I think we have a name!

Most importantly: Project Baby Nursery starts not the first weekend in January (because Luke is out of town on a man-cation) but the following weekend. WHO WANTS TO HELP?