Changing

So, my belly is getting bigger ever second, it seems, and I'm starting to think that I'll be giving birth to a 9 lb baby in July. He was measuring at 11 oz at my 19 week ultrasound, which is more than the 9.5 to 10.5 oz my book says is typical at this point. I won't be all that surprised, actually, if that happened, because big, bald, blond babies are pretty much the norm in my family. My nephie poo was 8 lbs 10 oz when he was born, and my cousin's baby was 10 lbs! And the level of infant baldness in my family is way past cute. Check this out:

These are both babies mentioned above (my nephie poo is on the right, cousin is on the left) when they are about five to six months old. And this is my nephie poo at nearly a year old:

I was this bald (according to my parentals) until I was almost two, which is crazy considering how much hair I have now. C is pretty convinced that our baby will be the exception to this rule, though. He's got Italian blood, and those are pretty dominant genes. I hope that he's right. I just love baby hair! And there's a pretty good chance that my boy will have curls too (and by pretty good chance I really mean that he'd better have curls or I will be very, very disappointed in my genetics). So, if I'm lucky, I'll birth a not-too-big baby with tons of curly, dark hair, and if I'm not lucky he'll be huge, blond and bald as a cue ball until he's two. Either way, of course, I'll be happy to have a healthy little boy.

So I've been aware of the boy growing inside my body for about four weeks now, and since then I've been waiting to feel anything other than the excited/apprehensive/scared-shitless feeling I get whenever I think about it (which is pretty often, if not constantly). I have been wondering if it is pregnancy that changes you or if it is the birthing process or if it is the child himself after he's taken his first breath of oxygen. Being pregnant only makes me feel fat and hormonal, along with the scared-shitless part, but overall I still feel like the same person I was 6 months ago, only with more worries about the future than ever before. Does having a child really change you at all, though? I've heard people say that it does, but all the moms that I know (aside from a select few that went totally crazy) are pretty much the same as they were before, only with more responsibilities than ever. Hmm. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

In other news, C and I are pretty much in sync when it comes to raising our boy. He's already given me the "he's a boy, so he's probably going to get in trouble and get hurt" lecture about being overprotective. I'm a big proponent of letting kids learn for themselves, so I don't think I'll be freaking out every time he gets a bump on the head or anything, but I guess we'll just have to see what kind of momma bear instincts kick in when reality strikes. I've been told by several friends already that my baby is going to be born a badass simply because his father and I are such badasses (C more than me, though I've been known to exhibit badassery when the occasion calls for it), and I know without a doubt that my son will be too smart for his own good. I am slightly concerned about how he'll behave, but the way I see it any kid can be taught to behave if the training starts early enough. C was a little rebel from the beginning, but I figure that's mostly because of the situation in which he lived (his mom was not around a lot due to being in the military). It will be an interesting study for both of us in the whole nature vs nurture debate.

Oh yeah, and I've been feeling the baby move a lot over the last few days. He seems to be awake and active mostly in the evening. I really hope that trend continues after birth. When I was a baby I slept through the night two days after I got home from the hospital. C claims that he was a good sleeper too, and a very quiet and content baby, so I'm REALLY crossing my fingers that our son is the same. With my luck, though, he'll end up having colic for months on end, in which case I'll likely go crazy from lack of sleep. Let's hope, for C's sake, that doesn't happen.