STRETCH!!!!!

Well, tonight I was asking Doug "I can't even see under my belly anymore do I have stretch marks...WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH". And he said "nah" and I said "well, yes I do but they just aren't red and very noticeable" and he said "FOURTH baby...FOURTH time this belly has stretched, I think you are looking quite amazing for that!!!" and it really hit me smack in the face....I can't believe I am carrying my 4th child. What a miracle. It's no less of a miracle the woman who is carrying her 1st child either. It's all just so amazing. I'm more amazed at it with this one...you would think it would become routine or normal or even boring...but no. The miracle of life just makes me weep. Sincerely.

We are the couple that sits on the couch and watches my stomach bounce all around and become all disfigured looking while we are drinking our hot tea...even on the FOURTH pregnancy! Some might say we have "no life" because of our hum drum night life....ha! I say we are filled with life and the little foot poking thru my rib cage attests to it! It's cheap entertainment, I'll say that!

I feel more beautiful today than I did 9 years ago before I ever got pregnant the first time. I hear friends talk about how different their bodies look after kids and how they are going to get tummy tucks or boob jobs when they are done, etc....and to each his own but I just relish in how God created our bodies to do exactly this amazing task. I'm sure the beauty I feel today has more to do with the love I have been given and the relationship I have with God but boiling it down to the bottom line of "physical beauty", I love my pregnant belly. So, even though there are stretch marks (and I really was being silly when I was asking Doug about the stretch marks) and even though my love handles will NEVER go away, I count myself BLESSED to be a bearer of blemishes all in the name of bearing children! I think I am in a family of good genes though too..THANKS MOM!!!

So, with that, here's my latest picture. 30 weeks pregnant and blossoming more and more every day. My sister, Rachel, once asked me in a past pregnancy "Oh my gosh, is that baby standing UP in there?????" I will never forget her asking me that. It certainly looked like she was standing up, my belly was SOOOOO huge.(that was my pregnancy with Holly I think but I looked the same with Sage too!) I think I was right around 36 weeks at that time and THIS year when I'm 36 weeks, it will be around Halloween and Doug is going to paint my belly like a pumpkin and I'm SOOOO excited to see how that turns out. Stay tuned for pictures of that...you'll inevitably get a good laugh!