In Honor of Her 25th Week

Mini’s Mommy’s Top 25 Niftiest Things About Being Pregnant

25.  I have a great excuse to collect useless cuddly things (for example: Beanie Babies, stuffed kitty cats, Care Bears, etc).

24.  Even if everyone in the room knows that I pooted, no one’s gonna say anything because they think that I can’t help it. 

23.  Stretch pants that don't look like stretch pants.  What an age we live in!

 

22.  Pregnancy is a good excuse to wean myself off of consuming excess amounts of caffeine so my baby doesn't come out of the womb with the ability to see through time.  And hey, my brain kinda works better.  The wheel's a little rusty, but that hamster still runs!

21.  Cherry tomatoes dipped in a dab of ranch tastes like a little blop of heaven.

20.  I've finally read Gone With The Wind for the umpteenth time and given the ending the good cry that it deserves.  ACH!  MELLY!

19.  And speaking of extra reading, it tickles me to death that Mini can kick a novel off of my belly while it's propped up on me when I read in bed.  Now cut that out, kid!

18.  My hair has grown at an astounding rate , and the length (and height!) of it seems to balance out the look of my changing body shape.  A woman's glory, indeed!  Makes a nice facial curtain, too. 

17.  At no other time in my life will I be able to laugh without conviction about peeing myself in public.

16.  People look for excuses to tell pregnant women that they're pretty because, frankly, they're a little scared of them. 

15.  When your feet spread, you get to go shoe shopping.

14.  Everything in the house begins to smell like baby powder.

13.  Instead of mindlessly staring at the television at the end of a long day, Daddy and I sit together and discuss what we imagine our baby will be like.  Will she have red hair or blonde?  Will she have any musical aptitude?  What if she's a biter and she develops a taste for pug fat?!

12.  I receive amazing health care from people who encourage me and are sympathetic to every concern and slight complication I might have.
 
11.  We get to figure out what the baby might call her grandparents and great-grandparents.  In the South, there's a delightful variety of nicknames to choose from:  Granny, Paw-Paw, Poppa, Mee-Maw, Bobo, Nee-Naw....and it can get just as crazy and nonsensical as you want, because we live in Arkansas! 

10.  I can go for a full-on, head-flung-back, slobbering, snoring snooze in public and no one seems to mind. 

9.  Pregnancy is an immediate and undeniable reminder that it's time to name my priorities and consider what I want to direct my children to focus on from the beginning of their lives.

2 Timothy 3:14-15 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

8.  Pregnancy is a great excuse to catch up with long-lost chums whom we desire to be in the baby's life from the day that she arrives.  I can't imagine Mini Clenney not knowing her Aunt Colleen or Uncle Sean!  I love you, friends!

 

7.  At least one room in the house gets a fabulous pastel makeover.  In our case, we decided to kill the library in favor of making the baby's room the most insulated room in the house.  It has a teeny, child-size closet, one little window from which we can easily blot out all light, and walls that needed a coat of color anyway!  Great excuse for a DIY project!

 

6.  When you're pregnant, your belly becomes public property.  Being a huggy/kissy/lovey person, I don't mind this.  It makes me feel like a Treasure Troll when someone comes up and rubs my baby belly.  Make a wish next time!

 

5.  It pleases me very much that starting our family seems to be the thing that makes our parents happy above anything else we could accomplish in life.  

 

4.  I get to see the most compassionate side of my husband during one of the busiest times in his life.  I don't know how he does it.  He's like Superman and Cary Grant and Andy Griffith all rolled into one perfect package. 

 

3.  We get the opportunity to name another human being and bestow upon them all of the meaning and associations that name entails.

 

2.  It gives me a greater appreciation for my own mother went through in order to bring my wacky red head into the world. 

 

1.  At the end of it all, we get to meet someone we've been eagerly anticipating the arrival of for the length of our marriage...  our daughter!  We can hardly wait to discover everything about you, little one!

 

 



Posing in the dusky sunset of four years ago, dreaming of Mini...