Nola ~ 23 Weeks

Since we found out we are having a girl, it has been wonderful to have a real name for her. We've dropped the name HotShot almost completely (only said now when Caleb forgets) and commenced calling her by her name. Most of the time, we call her Nola. Occasionally, she also gets called "BabyGirl" - mostly by me when I'm telling her to settle down in there.

Speaking of settling down, she is a busy little girl. I rarely feel the thumps and bumps that I felt with Caleb, though. More often, I feel her rolling around like she's really getting comfy. Rudy laughed at me when I told him that, because I am famous for my love of "wallering" around. I love to stay in bed and burrow down in the covers or get comfortable on the couch with a blanket and pillow. He says she gets her rolling and wallering from me.

In the past week, people have really started making comments about my pregnancy. The unsolicited touching of my belly has begun. I've gotten lots of "when are you due?" and "wow, Haley, you really look pregnant." Um...yeah. I guess that's a good thing. I'd definitely rather look pregnant and actually BE pregnant than look pregnant and not be pregnant. And I'd rather look pregnant than just look like I need to lay off the Egg McMuffins. (Oh, how I do love Egg McMuffins!) I even had someone ask me this week when I'm due and when I answered February, she was surprised. She said she would've guessed November. That's NEXT month. Nope.

Not that I'm complaining, but for the sake of posterity:

• I am starting to get uncomfortable. My lung capacity has shrunk and I catch myself feeling out of breath often.
• I am not sleeping well. I wake up a lot and getting/staying comfortable (even with my handy body pillow) is difficult.
• Nighttime leg cramps are my enemy. I get them so randomly and they HURT.
• I go from really hungry to really full within a couple of bites and from really full to really hungry in just minutes.
• TMI: My digestive system is either working full-force or not working at all. There's not much in between.
• I haven't really had any specific cravings, but there are times when I just want something with a lot of taste like BBQ, Mexican or something spicy. Vegetable soup always sounds good to me - funny because that's what I craved when I was pregnant with Caleb.

So that's the latest on Nola and me at 23 weeks. We are over halfway through this pregnancy and I'm getting really excited to meet her. I've started to take notice of little girls and baby girls and even teenage girls in public and wonder if Nola will look like them, act like them or carry herself like them. I watched some high school girls when Rudy and I were at dinner last night and I couldn't help but imagine Nola sitting with her friends, giggling and having fun and enjoying like without worries. I hope and pray continually that she will be happy and healthy and bring joy to everyone around her.