I REMEMBERED THE THIRD ONE!!

I think that the farther along I get in my pregnancy, the longer it takes me to remember things. Luckily I'm only halfway through my pregnancy so it only took me a few days to remember the third thing that surprised me about pregnancy.

MY NOSE: I was at a baby shower about a year ago and I heard the very pregnant girl say that her nose was completely stuffed up and she couldn't breathe. Another older lady said, "Oh YEAH, That happened to me all during my pregnancy. It was great because about 10 minutes after I delivered it was like the heavens opened and I could breathe again. That quick!!"

No one else nodded in agreement or anything like that, so I thought that it was maybe something that only affected people who had previous sinus problems. Again, I've never had sinus issues EVER. So why would I start to have them now?

I cannot start to tell you the problems I'm having with my nose right now! I feel badly for Marcelo because I'm sure that I snore as loud as a Mack truck at night. I don't have any say in the issue. I just can't breathe.

And then when I wake up in the morning, I IMMEDIATELY get a tissue and pull out of my nose the biggest, longest and moistest booger I've ever seen. And I think that there is NO WAY my nose junk can get any bigger or juicier, but then the next morning I wake up and they are somehow worse.

I looked it up and read somewhere that it's because there's a lot more blood flow to my body and a lot more water circulating around my system. But that's just a nice way to say that I sound and feel disgusting because I have to breathe through my nose.

Now, here are some of the things I love about being pregnant:

Food: I don't care what Marcelo says-I eat what I want. Funny thing is, there is a VERY clear cut line that I can't cross when it comes to food so I censure myself. I can't drink cold drinks first think in the morning. I can't eat sweat breads. Like muffins, lemon poppyseed bread, etc. Those kinds of foods make me have acid in the back of my throat immediately. I can't eat candy bars. I can't eat sugary cereals. Sugar seems to be my downfall.

However, my body LOVES salty things. Chips, toast, eggs, fries, bagels. I could go on. (The salt doesn't help for the water retention at the end of the day). But Marcelo doesn't say anything about what I eat. Every once in a while he'll say "MORE BREAD?" and I'll say "Yeah. You got a problem with that?" And he'll just shake his head and I'll go on eating my food.

And when I'm in the zone I don't see anyone. Take birthday Reagan's breakfast at Jim's family restaurant. Marcelo and I were the first ones to get our food and I just dropped my head and started eating. I think social grace demands that you wait for everyone else to get their food and then you all eat together. I did not do this, and I didn't not feel ANY shame in it. I don't think I came up for air until I was 3/4 of the way done with my food. Oh, and I CLEANED my plate. And I wanted more butter on my toast.

Sex: Sex is better when you are pregnant. Enough said.

Stretch marks: I know that many of you think of stretch marks as a curse from pregnancy and not a blessing. But here is the thing: I had stretch marks before and now I have an EXCUSE to have little red lines all over my body. And I think it's HILARIOUS where I have them now!! They aren't on my legs or belly or anything. They are on my butt!!! HA!! Well, I don't expect many people to ever get a peek at my butt, so I don't care if they continue to multiply there.

So that's it. I love being pregnant. Oh!! and I forgot the best thing about being pregnant!! We will soon have another member of our family here. That actually really scares me: the thought about having to be responsible for another life. But I guess I have to do it, right? I don't really have any choice in the matter right now.