Pregnancy Insomnia at 22 Weeks!

Here we are, at 22 weeks and man am I tired! I have been having a really difficult time sleeping lately! I either can't fall asleep because of little annoyances (blanket too heavy, clothes too scratchy, sheets too wrinkled, moon too bright, room too dark etc.) or I have mini wake ups, where I wake up every couple hours. Often I feel exhausted because my dreams have been quite bizarre, and I can't turn them off! I cannot seem to find any peace or rest in that crazy mind of mine. I'm thinking my mind is helping my body prepare for the lack of sleep that will be coming my way, even though I personally think it should let me catch as many zzz's as I can now. But, how can I argue with myself? Don't I know I'm always right? ;)

Little Muppet is either going to be in Riverdance when it grows up, or will be an Olympic marathon runner, as it is moving non stop now. Any time I sit down, I can feel it punching and kicking away. I also find it funny that anytime I try to show someone, it decides to stop. It has it's father's sense of humour. :) The other day it was making my tummy jump on the left side (that is the side I feel it most on) and so I called Chris in to see it. He came over and leaned over my left side with his head down close to my tummy, hoping to catch a glimpse of the tummy ripples. Of course Muppet stopped at that moment. Chris decided to encourage it by saying in a loud, deep voice, "Hello baby!" Suddenly, on the left side, my tummy punched out, right at Chris. I think he scared the poor child!

I've started to get a few faint stretch marks on my hips...oh the memories of puberty. It kind of feels like I'm reliving my teenage years all over again. Acne, stretch marks, mood swings, sudden fat deposits in places that didn't have any before...heck, I'm even getting furrier! My tummy looks like a peach with all that fuzz (James and the GIANT peach)! Who knew you could go through the joys of puberty more than once in a lifetime!

At 22 weeks, Muppet is about the size of a papaya, or the length of a spaghetti squash and weighs around 1 pound! That's like a bag of sugar (but you know the baby is even sweeter!) ;) If you were to see Muppet at this stage, it's eyelashes, hair and eyebrows would be white, as pigment still hasn't developed. *Oh, it's kicking...It knows I'm talking about it.* At this stage, Little Muppet is also learning how to use it's hands and the sense of touch. With this new sense, it probably touches it's face and grabs it's umbilical cord. It also can hear even more clearly, so we need to make sure we're reading it a story every night.

One thing Little Muppet will be hearing a lot of is my Anne Murray CD 'There's A Hippo In My Tub'. I grew up listening to her when I was small (though my version was on a cassette) and knew it would be a staple in Muppet's childhood too. It has so many of my favourites on it! Some classics include: Inch Worm, Teddy Bear's Picnic, You Are My Sunshine and of course, Animal Crackers. When I heard Anne Murray was coming to town, I knew I had to get a copy of the CD signed and I am so happy I did! She even inscribed it with, "To Little Muppet" for me! :) Funnily enough, this was all done before I had even tried getting pregnant. I just knew one day I hopefully would be lucky enough to be and that her wonderful songs would be there through it all.

Belly Watch!
It's here and it's bigger than ever! ;) It keeps on growing and now it's starting to crave something I thought it never would...CANDY! I am a salt person, I've always been a salt person. My Hallowe'en candy always lasted me until the next Hallowe'en because, well...I didn't really want to eat it. The chips would be gone in seconds, but candy? I'd trade it for a chunk of bread with a hunk of cheese any day! Now? All I want is sour, sweet goodness! Give me chocolate and cherry blasters and we'll be best friends for life! Who is this monster I've become? Truly I am losing my identity to this growing belly! :) I'm trying to stay good though, and only letting myself have a few sweets once and awhile. I try to keep that evil, sugar craving voice quiet with snacks that have natural sugars like berries and juice. We shall see how long this craving lasts for though...Oh, how I long for the days of pump cheese... ;)

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