BIG

23 weeks!
According to Lucas, I am big. Well, not just big...I'm BIG! Thanks, son.

He caught a glimpse of me getting out of the shower and nearly stopped in his tracks. He said "WOAH, you're big mom!" and his eyeballs looked as though they were about to pop out of their sockets. How could I not laugh?

Levi took Lucas on a bike ride to the park and then they played kung-fu in the front yard for nearly an hour afterwards. (These boys are absolutely hilarious to watch!) When they came in I was asking him a bunch of questions about what they were doing. Who was winning? Who was fastest? Who's stronger? And so forth. Of course he naturally claimed himself to be the winner, and to be the fastest, but he proudly admitted that daddy was the stronger of the two. When I asked him who was smaller he answered he was. When I asked him who was biggest...without any hesitation he blurted out "MOM". Ugh, I wasn't even included in these daddy/Lucas comparisons and Levi could not stop laughing hysterically. He claimed that Lucas was definitely trying to tell me something :)

We had Levi's birthday dinner last night at Benihana (YUM!) and the couple sitting next to use were so sweet and kind. They just adored Lucas and couldn't stop complimenting on how well he was behaving. I think they were more interested in Lucas' expressions than watching the chef themselves! Anyways, as I naturally do, I had to excuse myself for a restroom break. When I returned, the wife turned to me and said that her and her husband had a bet going on. I smiled and assumed the upcoming question was whether I was having a boy or a girl...but it wasn't! They wanted to see who could guess closest to my due date. I instantly chuckled and thought "oh boy, this is going to be interesting". The wife estimated I was due in mid-June and the husband thought early July. I looked at Levi and we both start laughing! When I admitted they were both wrong and that I wasn't due until the end of August, they were speechless. Apparently I look more like 8 months pregnant than 5.

I must admit that gaining weight has been a walk in the park for me this pregnancy! With Lucas, I struggled to gain despite working up on the slopes where the entire kitchen staff nearly spoiled me rotten. This time, however, I feel as though I'm barely eating and yet I'm packing on the pounds. The "recommended" weight gain at this point in my pregnancy is one pound per week. This time I'm averaging about two! My midwife laughed on Monday when she realized I put on almost 8 pounds in just 3.5 weeks. I honestly don't touch the scale unless I'm at an appointment and feel that my body is going to gain whatever it needs to in order to make a healthy baby!

So yes, most importantly, my toddler thinks I'm huge. Little does he know my belly still has a lot of growing to do!