You Know You're Pregnant When. . .

• You wake up at 3:30am on a work night and think, "Ugh, it's only 3:30... I'm starving. I can't wait 2 and a half hours to eat!" rather than, "Yea, 2 and a half more hours to sleep!" (I actually had a detailed conversation with myself between my "pregnant" self and my "normal" self... the former saying, "Get up and EAT!!" and the latter saying, "Screw that, go back to sleep!")
• You think you drop something (a cut piece of fruit or a small dribble of cereal, for example) on the floor, but wait... no, it's on your shirt, stuck on your protruding belly. Yea! You don't have to bend down to pick it up!
  
• You just peed, and you wonder how it's already time to go back to the restroom!
• It's just easier to waddle.
• Every other person asks, "How are you feeling?" and actually WANTS to know. They will actually stop for an answer!
  
• Most every person you talk to, at some point, casts eyes on your belly during conversation, trying to catch an unnoticed peek at your bump, even if it's not quite there yet! It reminds me of my mom's observation that people try to sneak a glimpse of her chest when she tells them she had breast cancer. Human nature, I know, but just something I've noticed to be different now that I'm pregnant. My belly (and maybe ever-growing bust size) has taken center stage past my eyes/face.
• Your brain really does lose it's power. I pride myself on the ability to use a wide variety of words. I believe I have a rather vast vocabulary and enjoy using words. Since being pregnant, even early on, I have noticed the inability to express words that are on the tip of my tongue, that I can see in my head but cannot articulate. The word "grasp," for example, was one I was trying to get out of my mouth one day, and all I could do was make a claw! I said, "Clasp... crasp," knowing I had a word for what I wanted to say, but it would not make it's way out of my brain and into my mouth!
• You find yourself wanting to buy every baby book to read up on what you really probably already know about babies. You just want to be prepared, so you keep buying, and you keep reading - determined to start parenthood with a vast artillery of knowledge. . . because even if, like me, you've been around infants since you were 9 years old, worked as a camp counselor for two year olds for years, worked throughout college with infants at a daycare, took every child development class you could in college, and have a master's degree in educational psychology, you just might learn one more thing that could make you a better parent and maybe even save your baby's life one day, right?
  
• You feel the little booger moving around, and you try really hard to hold back a grin in the middle of a meeting. You have a little secret that you want to shout to the world, "I feel my baby!!" but that would be highly inappropriate at that professional meeting.
• You pull into the garage, parking your car right next to your husband's car, the same place where you always have, but all of a sudden - you cannot get your belly to slide past your door to actually exit the car. No matter how hard you try to "suck in," your belly just doesn't go anywhere to give you more space! We've had to actually rearrange how we park our cars in the garage in order for me to be able to open my car door wide enough to let me in and out of the car when Sam's car is in the garage with mine. You also know you're pregnant when stepping into and out of your SUV requires time, patience, and strategy.
• You give up on trying to suck it in altogether. It ain't happenin'!
• You can't see your "nether-regions" which makes... well, never mind, enough said.
  
• Your boobs are one size before going to sleep and another size the next morning - at least it seems that way. You start to think, "What's the point in buying a new bra? I'm going to have to buy another one in a few weeks."
  

I'm sure there will be more items to add to this list in the coming months, but I thought I'd go ahead and get it started. As I wind down my second trimester, I lean in a little nervously to the third trimester wondering what's coming, knowing what's coming, and dreading what's coming! But, I welcome it, as we know that the most important thing coming is my baby boy, which will make any and all uncomfortable third trimester symptoms completely worth it!