this is not a pregnancy blog...

...but you'll have to deal with a bit of pregnancy business for the next 4 months or so. i am now at 22 weeks and time is moving very slowly. to those pointing out that i'm more than halfway through, i would like to mention that by the time i found out i was already 8 weeks in (and i had been just holidaying and drinking alcohol for about a month straight, lol) - and to me these past 14 weeks already seem like i've been pregnant forever. first counting days between doctor's appointments, taking vitamins and, honestly, looking for any symptom that could validate this news i didn't really believe yet. i had absolutely no nausea, almost no weight gain within the first trimester, so my life could have gone on as usual, except for, well, the stressing.

then into second trimester, not immediately but soon enough, there were some changes. am still a bit behind the curve, but hopefully getting there with the "being pregnant" - like so:
- heartburn and leg cramps - yay, finally some symptoms!
- can't sleep well at night, i keep tossing and turning, plus now i can't sleep either on my belly or on my back. we've had to buy more pillows so i can hug them/put them between my legs, to make sure i sleep correctly on one side.
- putting on weight: 5.5 kg at last measurement, which is probably about right for the stage i'm at.
- showing- a bit! for the longest time i've had a B belly, i.e. the kid is in the lower section, and my squeezed internal organs in a weird upper-section bulge. now it's beginning to get unified, but sometimes it still looks awkward.

i started trying to take pictures somewhere around week 16, when i was mostly concerned about sorting out what i could and couldn't wear anymore. it was easy enough in summer, with flowy dresses, tops and skirts, but september usually means transitioning to more layers, leggings etc, plus this was the time when i completely gave up on wearing pants: could button them up while standing, totally COULD NOT sit down without unbuttoning. so yeah, problems.

first attempt at your typical whole body "profile" pic, week 16. my instructions were "let me move a bit in the background so you can take in my whole body"- so yeah, that's exactly what he did. you can see how loose but fluid dress/tunics disguise the belly to some extent by making me look just generally fat :), and also the length saves them from looking very tent-like on me. i am still wearing this particular dress, and will be while the weather holds up at above 10C, hopefully.

beginning of september, so week 17/18. i love this dress for its heft (definitely more of a fall/winter dress, so lucky to have it!) and structured-ness - normally it hangs a little loose on me, which means now i have a bit of space to grow into it, but it will clearly show off my bump more (also, thank you everybody who has lately been moved to remark that i DO have boobs).

this is my shamelessly show-off outfit: whatever else you wear, put a tight top over it. there might be a bit of bloat going on there, and i think the angle of the photo might be also enhancing the illusion...it's week 18/19, when it was warm but not heat-wavey yet (i know this because i'm wearing leggings under that dress). also this marks the discovery of my "taking pics for the blog" spot - i get the impression that every respectable fashion blogger has one. theirs is normally in some driveway, cause they have driveways...mine is in my back alley, featuring these pretty matchy flowers (i'm told they are rudbekias).

full heatwave, week 19. no leggings under the dress, and just a light layer for going out after dark. pretty amazing how this picture post-dates the yellow top one, but the dress itself is tent-like, so less show-off-y. there are two schools of thought on this : 1) emphasize that belly with all you've got! and 2) don't make a fuss, borderline-hide-it. it will come as no great surprise that my mum is a big supporter of school of thought number 2, while i'm definitely on the fence, i.e. i will try anything but not commit to one approach.

week 19/20. still hot. this "dress" is an old navy sister of the red one in my first pic, but for some reason manages to be much shorter on me. again, with the frontal view, i should hope that nobody could be sure there's a big belly underneath,

so i added a profile view for comparison

...and week 20. probably a flattering angle also (i have no idea how to sit for these pics, and i can only hold it so much before laughing), but yeah. probably peak of the heat wave, since i had to rescue my most tank-toppy top from last year's pile of semi-abandoned clothes; a tight top plus a high-waist skirt will apparently hold things together pretty ok.

more revelations forthcoming, probably :). i've stopped the outfit pictures for the moment, because, with the weather getting cooler and everything else, i'm down to about three things i can wear. i see a shopping trip on the horizon...

p.s.: it's a girl!!:)