Easter

Ryan and I went to church on Easter.  It was then that we realized the last time we went to church, it was Easter.  Last year, Ryan's co-worker Matt invited us to his church.  It was a non-denominational church, housed in the Cherokee County Services building in Canton.  This Easter Ryan's coworker, Jason, invited us to his church.  He plays the guitar in the band and sings.  This was also a non-denominational church, but permanently housed in an old cotton mill.

We took this picture afterward:

As you can see, I AM BIG.  And now, I am very uncomfortable.  Everything hurts.  It hurts to walk, to breathe, to sit still, to get off the couch, to get out of bed, to do anything.  This has been going on for about 3 days now, and I am not looking forward to 5.5 more weeks of this.  My last day of school will be Wednesday, May 2nd.  This will give me an exact 4 weeks off of maternity leave.  My due date is Wednesday, May 16th.

We are still not 100% ready for baby to come, but we are getting closer each day.  We had the carpets cleaned, and the upholstered couch, too.  My new favorite places to shop are consignment stores.  Onesies for $1!!!  A brand new bumbo with tray for $30!  One mom's trash is this soon-to-be mom's treasure!

Should you be touching me?

Most people have been very respectful of not touching my belly.  Some people ask for permission, and I look at them with puppy dog eyes and say "I don't really like that..."  and they promptly retract their hand before it makes contact with my stomach.

One person who does NOT ask permission is the dry-cleaner.  Once a week I take in Ryan's dirty work shirts and pick up his clean ones, and for the past 3 weeks, this woman has leaned her entire upper half of her body into my car in order to rub on my belly.  She asks the same thing each week while rubbing it, "How is baby?"  

"He's good," I say. 

"Next week?" she inquires about his due date.

"No, no, no, 6 more weeks."

She finally gets her upper torso out of my car and I start to drive away.  And then she asks the final question, "Boy?"

"Yeah" I say out the window as I'm already 5 feet away.

This encounter has happened 3 weeks in a row.  Same exact scenario.  I thought the allure of rubbing my belly would wear off but apparently the woman has no recollection of me.  Short of making Ryan do the dry cleaning from now on, I think I will be experiencing deja vu for the next 6 weeks.

BUMPY

Ok, my pants do not fit any longer.  Up until this week I had been able to at least zip them up, even if I couldn't button them.  This week - no longer!  I need to go by some maternity work pants!  Here is my 16 week photo: