eighteen weeks

If there's anything I have to say about this week, it would be that even though the exhaustion and emotional roller coater have faded more to normal, the dreams are still in pregnancy mode. As far as normal dreams go, I can normally remember pieces of them, but in pregnancy I can have four full-story dreams (interrupted by Tater Cat or my bladder) and remember all the details about each one. Maura (the little girl I watch) has been growling at animals. She knows it's what a bear says, but yesterday she was pretty sure it's what a horse, cat, and stork say too. So last night when I had a dream that lions, tigers, and bears (oh my!) were attacking a large group of humans that my father was somehow responsible for keeping alive and needed my help in directing to the highest point of the nearest (gigantic) playground, I blame Maura.

Yesterday Matt took me to Anthropologie, which I hadn't been to since they opened one in Virginia Beach. Ok, I'd just never been to one ever, but I'm a fan of their stuffs online. Oh my goodness. Some of it was so pretty. But the $50 candle, $180 puzzle, and $300 skirt were just beyond my price range on these things. Seriously though, I started flipping the tags just to check, even though I got good at guessing the ridiculous answer. We did buy two things on clearance as a Christmas gift for a sister-in-law. Pretty stuff.

On the way back to our car, we passed a maternity store that I didn't know existed. Matt recently bought me two maternity shirts (one pictured above), but other than that and a dress I bought the day I found out we were expecting, I don't have any maternity clothes. A lot of my skirts are stretchy and do fine, but my belly was showing in too many of my shirts, and most of my jeans don't close (or aren't comfortable closed). So, Matt leading the way, we slipped into Destination Maternity for a look around. They carried popular maternity brands, had a good clearance section, a play area for Maura (and Matt) while I shopped, and apple juice and a goodie bag for coming in. I ended up buying two motherhood belly bands, one of which I'm wearing today. It's definitely doing its duty keeping my tummy covered.

I just wanna say, when you're pregnant, go into all the baby stores and make all the registries, cause people give you free stuff in goodie bags. We already have two bottles, several pacis, and a bunch of coupons/gift cards, just from walking into places and announcing that this bump in my shirt is alive.