BabyLu!

Big news in the Luong family, we will soon be three! Wilson and I are expecting our first baby on April 16! This is a really overdue post, I'm now in my second trimester and have been asked for pregnancy stories so I thought I would share some things I've learned so far:

1. Babies must be a huge pay off. I can't imagine anyone willingly going into this more than once unless babies were amazing. In fact I'm banking on it, because I don't really like this pregnancy stuff and I've heard the big finale at the end of pregnancy is kind of a drag/incredibly painful so I need the end product to be fantastic. I always said that I wanted 4 kids, but right now the number 3 isn't looking so bad.....

2. Being pregnant gives you psychotic dreams. For one whole week I dreamed about nothing but pizza. Pizza buffets, pizza friends, you name it. One night I dreamt that I took a slice of pepperoni pizza, dipped it in blended egg yolk and butter, coated it with a coffee cake crumb topping and baked it until golden bubbly. And it was the most delicious thing I ever ate in my life. Every morning I woke up and told these dreams to my husband. Ask me how long it took him to get the hint and finally get me a pizza. . . it was weeks.

3. Shopping while pregnant is a mistake. At least without someone there to monitor your purchases. I spent a few hours at Target, got to the register and while in line looked down at my cart and thought " what the heck is all this stuff and who put it in my cart?!" But I bought it anyway because it looked good. Stuff like Pumpkin Pie flavored pop tarts, frozen waffles, and Stove Top stuffing.

4. There aren't a whole lot of maternity costumes for Halloween unless you are willing to paint your belly like this chick:

Painted belly costumes offend me, so a friend gave me the instructions to make a skeleton shirt:

In case you're wondering, Wilson's shirt has a taco on the stomach because he didn't want to feel left out.

5. Not all sonograms are cute. Exhibit A:

Yes, that fetus that looks like the spawn of a skeleton and the aliens from Independence Day is my unborn child. But thankfully, so that our baby's first picture wasn't something that would cause us to have nightmares for weeks, they also gave us this snapshot:

I only shared the first one so that all of my friends without children would be prepared when they go in and their first sonogram produces something so scary. I was not so prepared.

6. When the baby is hungry, it will let you know in a way that is in no way subtle. Seriously, I've never gotten so hungry, so fast. When he was still learning, Wilson would come home from work at 11 and give his sleeping wife a kiss to say hello. Sweet, right? Wrong, because you see the wife was asleep and now that she is awake, the baby is awake and the baby is HUNGRY. So I finally had to tell Wilson not to kiss me hello while I'm sleeping unless he was coming up the stairs with a sandwich or something. He has since learned and is very good about feeding us both.

Generally speaking, Wilson and I are doing well. We find out in a few weeks if the baby is a boy or girl. (No, I don't feel one or the other about it) While I cant say that I have made nothing but good choices since finding out that we were expecting (my diet is not 100% healthy or organic and I don't exercise nearly as much as I should) I know for certain that I will always be able to say that the best choice I ever made for my child before it was born was to give him/her the most amazing man I could find as a father. Don't tell my mom, but I'm pretty sure he's read way more of the "What to Expect" book than I have; he's my reference.

So, am I happy that there is a baby on the way? Yes. But when you ask me if I'm "excited" while I have raging heartburn, want to do nothing but sleep and feel like camping out at an all-you-can-eat buffet, I don't really have a good answer. But I think when I feel the best is when my friends and family are excited. I've had so many lovely friends write lovely things about our big news and it just makes me forget about all the uncomfortableness and just want to give them a big hug and say "Thank you for being excited about my baby." Today I had a knock on the door and the Fed Ex guy gave me a box that had an unexpected surprise from just such friends in Arizona.

It was such a wonderful sweet surprise and I will give you one guess as to which sonogram picture we put in it :)