Pregnancy #3: Likes, Dislikes

I am not very good at documenting things, but I really want to get better so that I can look back and remember things I would otherwise forget, and so that my kids and grandkids  can know about me and my life. Sooo... I thought I'd write down some things that I have liked and things I have disliked about this pregnancy so far. 

Likes:

• Having the "I'm pregnant" excuse.  Although I try not to abuse this one myself, it's nice that other people will use it for me!  A day or so after we told my family I was pregnant Mary insisted on doing absolutely everything for me. Too bad that's worn off....
• Eating ice cream/chocolate banana shakes*.  I have really wanted ice cream this pregnancy, (and I'm not usually a big ice cream craver) especially early on when I was really sick.  Back then Chris made me a chocolate banana shake at least 4 nights a week.  YUM.  I want one right now..... I actually had a dream about ice cream last night.  I had a huge bowl and was in some sort of an ice cream store and kept piling in different flavors and eating a ton.  When I had had enough I was generous enough to give Chris my leftovers.
• Listening to my kids argue over whether it's a boy or a girl.  William is convinced it's a girl.  He even told me he could feel it, and it felt like a girl.  When I asked him how a girl feels different than a boy (inside my stomach) he responded that girls have long hair and boys don't and obviously this baby feels like it has long hair! For the longest time, Isaac would look at me with huge intense eyes and tell me to "GET A BOY MOM! GET A BOY!" and then of course, William would tell him we wanted a girl...and back and forth it would go. Isaac hasn't done that as much lately, although he did tell me that he had a boy baby in his stomach the other day.
• With all my pregnancies I've loved that Chris loves me being pregnant (he loves me not pregnant too...you know what I mean).  He is always so patient with my moods and so loving and excited, patient and sweet about my belly, and my food wants, my emotions etc.  Don't you wish your husband was awesome like mine? :)
• Chris and I deciding together what our "plan" for the birth is.  I think after Isaac's birth I have been overly sensitive about wanting Chris involved in every detail.  It was so hard for me that he wasn't there for that birth, that I'm sure I will be way over zealous about making sure he's here this time.
• Being able to say, "The baby's hungry" whenever I really need to eat (read: eat this instant or be sick) and my kids want me to do something else.  They actually go for it, and I figure it's good to just get them used to the idea before the baby gets here. 
• Seeing William's love for the baby.  He was completely enthralled when we told him we were having a baby (we told him before bedtime and he had a hard time sleeping that night!), and often wants to touch my stomach or asks me about the baby. He also likes to tell other people and I'm pretty sure he's told more people I'm pregnant than I have. Although I think he has a fairly good understanding (much more than Isaac of course) it is funny some of the ideas he gets.  For instance, he got the idea that the baby's arms are in my arms, the baby's legs in my legs etc. Guess it's time to pull out some pictures of gestation.
• Chris writing in magnet letters on the fridge that we were having another baby and my parents being completely oblivious to it.  It was hilarious to sit there and watch them get in and out of the fridge and work in the kitchen without even noticing! We pretty much had to stand them in front of it and read it to them.
• The look on Chris's Dad's face when we told them I was expecting! When we were first married we couldn't think of anything to get him for Christmas and since he kept bugging us to give him some grandkids we gave him an I.O.U. for at least 3.  He's been hounding us ever since, so it'll be nice to have now paid in full (not that the hounding will stop...) :).
• My comfy pants.  It's like wearing heaven on my legs.

Dislikes:

•  Being sick (blah blah blah, I know).  I've been sick with all of my pregnancies so it wasn't really a surprise when I threw up the morning after I took the pregnancy test. However, this time my sickness hasn't been quite as concentrated to just the morning although that has still been the worst time of day (with Isaac usually after noon I was pretty much good for the rest of the day).  This time I've had periods of nausea throughout the day and felt pretty crummy a lot of evenings.  Although at this point I am feeling much better (foods and smells no longer make me gag) I've still had some sick mornings and I seem to have to be careful to eat about every 2 hours or I will suddenly feel terrible.  
• The dreams.  I am not a big dreamer usually (at least I often don't remember dreaming at all) but this pregnancy (I don't remember this happening with my previous 2) my dreams have been C.R.A.Z.Y! I rarely have a night that I didn't have at least one very vivid dream, and some nights where I feel like I spent the whole night in that crazy mind state between sleeping and waking.  It can be exhausting! The dreams have ranged from the ludicrous and funny (finding one of our chickens pecking around in the refrigerator, or me being a sexy secret agent who speaks fluent Russian and has the job to put together an international football team) to the horrible (one of my children dying etc.) Luckily the horrible ones are in the minority, but I am still listing dreaming under dislikes (even though it can be quite amusing) because of how TIRED I feel after dreaming intense vivid dreams all night long. 
• How easily my kids have been able to push my buttons.  I'm sure this is somewhat a product of being tired, not feeling great, us being cooped up inside, and Chris being gone so much between school and work, but I have been irritated SO easily and I hate it.  It does seem like my temper is improving slightly but I still find myself way overreacting about little things, just when I was feeling good about being patient and loving. Yuck. There's nothing better to make you feel terrible about yourself as a person and a parent. 
• Growing. I'm just not a big fan of feeling huge (and I really do feel huge with this one already...maybe it's the ice cream), not being able to bend over well, having clothes not fit and all that stuff that just goes along with having a baby.  Certainly I enjoy being able to feel the baby move and all that, but I really can't say I enjoy the growing aspect of pregnancy much.  I'm sure some of it is vanity, but I think part of it just has to do with not being able to function in the way I like and am used to being able to function. 

*Chocolate Banana Shakes

Vanilla ice cream
1-3 bananas
unsweetened cocoa powder
milk
peanut butter (optional)
blender

Ready go.  You won't regret it.  Sorry I don't have measurements. I always just dump stuff in.  I would suggest starting with one banana if you want less than a whole blender full (2 if filling the whole thing), and maybe 3 TBS cocoa powder.  You can always add more banana and more cocoa.  Also, I don't use a lot of milk as I like mine to be really creamy, just enough to help it blend well.  I'm sure you could do a much healthier version of this shake (use frozen bananas and kefir...?), but like I said, I've been on an ice cream kick, and we have trouble keeping bananas around here long enough for them to get ripe enough to freeze, so I don't usually have frozen bananas on hand.