34 weeks

It's almost midnight, which means it's almost Friday.  That means I'm 34 weeks pregnant.  I feel like a beached whale: moaning, groaning, huge, and not able to move around very much.  I require help getting up out of bed, and to roll over.  I'm only 5 lbs. heavier than my pre-pregnancy weight.  However, early on in the pregnancy, due to the extreme hyperemesis, I lost 20 lbs from all over my body.  That 20 lbs., when gained back re-distributed almost entirely to my belly, with a little tiny bit going to my feet, which grew from a size 7 1/2 wide to a size 9 wide.  My feet are freaking boats.  My belly is covered in stretch marks that make me feel so unattractive, and my sister scheduled a pregnancy photo shoot for next weekend.  Why would I ever want to remember how awful I look?!

So, to make myself feel better, I scheduled a Mommy Mandala henna session with Trudy of Henna Happiness for next week.  Trudy is awesome.  I met her about a year and a half ago at an event being held at a synagogue for Purim.  I was there to promote my Mary Kay business, and she was there to decorate the guests.  It was an awesome time, and the design she did on my hand was gorgeous, so the opportunity to beautify my now-bulging belly is exciting.

In other news, today, I went to David's Bridal to order my dress for baby Lucie's baptism and the convalidation of my marriage to Jonathan at the Roman Catholic Church.  I know Jonathan and I are already legally married, and in my heart, I know that God recognizes our union (why else would God have blessed us with such an amazing miracle as this baby?!), but it seems a bit hypocritical to baptize our child as a member of a religion that doesn't recognize her parents as married.  So, we're going to have a big barbecue, and then head on over to St. Joseph's Church to renew our vows, and baptize the baby.  I ordered the dress in black, and I plan to wear it with the white shrug my grandmother knitted for the original wedding ceremony ("i do" pattern from knitty.com).  I plan to have the dress shortened to knee length, and I think it will be gorgeous!  Jonathan hates that I wear black so frequently, but it is so slimming!  I told him I'd get some funky colored shoes to wear for the big day, and he seemed okay with that.  The only problem is finding shoes to fit my new boat-sized feet! 

I also plan to ask my lectors (readers) to wear their favorite little black dresses (that are modest enough for church) to the ceremony.  So far, my readers are Brittany (Old Testament), Samantha (New Testament), and Tricia (Prayer of the Faithful).  Since Susi and Mike are the Godparents, they'll double as witnesses, because even though our original marriage was a religious ceremony, apparently we still need to get an additional license for this one, and someone has to sign off on it.  It doesn't make much sense to me, but I guess the church has to request a new marriage license to ensure that we are legally able to be married, even though we're already legally married to each other!