Happy Now--Pregnancy

It feels ironic that during the past few months, which have been some of the happiest of my life and have made me so grateful, I haven't written a single Happy Now post.  I thought about sitting down to write one several times to document things like a three-day subbing stretch in a fifth grade classroom that made me feel like coming home, getting a new assignment in my ward to work with some amazing young women, the fun (and slightly terrifying) opportunity we had to babysit our neighbors' six kids for a weekend, and the fact that snow held off in Pinedale until the second week in November (hallelujah).  But each time I sat down to write, it felt wrong not to mention the news for which I was most grateful.  So, I decided to wait until I could make the news public.

Darren and I feel so incredibly blessed to be welcoming TWINS to our family!  They are an answer to hopes and prayers we've had for years.  Now that I am out of my first trimester and feeling a little more like myself, I'm enjoying even more the experience of being pregnant and planning for these two new additions.

A picture taken last week of a growing 15 week bump. :)

I plan to get back into documenting the simple things in life that make me grateful, but for today I'm going to focus solely on the blessing of being pregnant.  Taking a note from another pregnancy blog I recently stumbled on, I thought I would record my Happy Now 10 in 10 current stats about my pregnancy so far:

How far along? 16 Weeks

Maternity clothes? I made my first order of maternity clothes this week.  I am definitely looking forward to breathing more comfortably when I'm out and about!

Stretch marks?  Not yet, thanks to some wonderful cocoa butter cream I received in the mail from a good friend recently.

Sleep:  The nausea of the first trimester has left, but sleep (or a lack thereof) has stepped in to fill the  the open spot.  I have trouble staying asleep through the night and just can never really get comfortable.  I recently received a pregnancy body pillow in the mail and that has helped some, but it is still an uphill battle to get a full night's rest.  Perhaps it's just training me to live on only a few hours of sleep for when the twins arrive. ;) In the spurts of sleep I do catch, however, I have been having some crazy dreams that Darren finds pretty entertaining when I tell him about them each morning (mostly about teaching or protecting our family on some crazy adventure).  Any suggestions about getting more sleep from experienced mamas, though, would be greatly appreciated!

Best moment of this week?  Over the past couple of weeks, I have loved the bump that is forming.  It is starting to become more obvious in the clothes I wear and, while sometimes I feel it looks like I just had a big lunch, I catch myself feeling proud of the changing profile I catch in a mirror or store window.

Miss anything?  Sleep.  Just sleep.

Movement?  I haven't felt anything yet, but I can't wait until I do!

Food cravings?  During the first trimester I had serious cravings for red meat, fruit, and vegetables (especially oranges, apples, pickles and carrots).  While the intensity of those cravings has died down, I definitely still gravitate toward those food groups.  Sugar, in general, has lost some of its appeal (for which I'm grateful since my waistband is doing a pretty good job of expanding on its own).

Anything making you sick or queasy?  Definitely not as much as before, but I find that I am more sensitive to smells, and anything really powerful can give me headaches and make me feel queasy.

Genders:  We find out in a few weeks, but for some reason I feel pretty certain that they are NOT both girls.  I'm anticipating two boys or a boy and a girl, but I CANNOT WAIT to find out for sure!!