Growing Pains

Livy had trouble falling asleep tonight, so I went back in her room after a while to rock her. I rubbed her legs as I do when she needs some help relaxing, and she looked up at me and said, "Thank you, Momma." Sometimes she even asks me to do this..."Legs?" she will request. I wonder if she is having growing pains. It made me marvel at the unbelievable amount of growth she's made since her young life began 29 months ago. This brought to mind some of my favorite and/or most memorable "prego" moments, when her growth was most rapid:

• Covering up being tired and sick with massive amounts of Caffeine and DayQuil before we figured out why I was so tired and sick...Thanks to God for bringing her through that ok!
• Daily naps on the couch with Gracie
• That first sonogram when we learned how far along we were - Aaron was beside himself w/ excitement; I cried to learn that she would be born right before the start of the school year instead of early in the summer. I was devastated at the thought of not being home with my baby longer than 6 measly weeks!
• HORMONES - What a roller coaster ride - exhilaration, anger, tears, laughter, anger, sleepiness, unhappiness, nervousness, etc. (And that was just in the course of an hour!) I've always been relatively even-keeled and was completely taken aback this crazy experience. I think Aaron may have been, too! His sense of humor and goofy-fun-lovingness did not fly with me at this time. At all.
• Story time in the classroom. My kids would alert me when Baby was on the move. I also remember having to lean WAY back to catch a breath to continue reading, especially during the summer term when I was as big as a house.
• Watching and feeling Olivia's acrobatic moves in my belly. This was especially interesting when I wore my dress with the big floral print. It looked like flowers blowing in the breeze. :-)
• My favorite memories may very well be related to the relationship that was already building between my little girl and her dad. I never saw such a big manly man gush as he did over her. I woke up one Saturday morning about 10 or 11 to find him playing with the baby in my belly. He was talking to her, playing gutchie goo with her, and rubbing my belly, all while I was sleeping. She also liked to tease him. She'd do several wild somersaults, and when I would tell him to feel her moving around, she would immediately freeze. She did this so often it became a joke with us.
  

Here's a picture that was taken sometime close to the due date.
(Did you think I was kidding when I said I was as big as a house?)