The Belly

I recently received a box full of maternity clothes from my cousin’s wife, Mollie (Thanks, Mollie!) While many of the items will be a great start to this collection of clothes, I learned that Mollie is a string bean. :) Being short has never been in my favor, and this was a moment when I was reminded of that.

So…I called a good friend, Donna, and asked her if she would come with me to shop for a few more items to get me by for a couple months. She jumped at the chance to go shopping (even if it was for maternity clothes…afterall, shopping is shopping).

We decided we’d head to Motherhood. I was really excited to see all the great outfits they had. I was expecting to find racks and racks of frumpy clothes, but instead I was surprised to find lots of options. So, Donna and I split up and started gathering items. Eventually we couldn’t hold everything we had in our arms and we decided it was time for me to try on some clothes.

We neatly sorted the items in groups of pants, shirts, etc. and oh the fun we had…well not really. As I started to try things on, I felt like I was swimming in just about all the shirts. (Need a visual? Picture me stepping into the middle of a tent and popping my head out of the top.) I encouraged Donna to go grab some smaller sizes (and she did, of course). I mean, really, what girl doesn’t want to wear a size smaller! Duh.

As soon as I started trying on the smaller sizes I felt better about the way they looked on me. “Whew,” I thought. But then, the truth hit. Donna asked if I thought they would still fit in a few months. Looking in the mirror, I instantly said, “Yah. Look at all this room (holding the shirt away from my body).” She laughed and handed me THE BELLY.

For those of you who have not experienced this yet, let me explain. The Belly is basically a pillow that has an elastic band to wrap around your waist so you can see how clothes will fit in the coming months. So I put The Belly on and tried on my first shirt…

The truth can really hurt. This was the moment I realized that I am going to be huge. Holy cow! We laughed so hard I wanted to cry. There is nothing scarier then looking in the mirror while you’re real belly still hasn’t quite “popped” and seeing what is just around the corner. Oh my.

As scary is it was, however, I am still excited for this little one to grow! I am anxious to feel him/her move for the first time. And I am well aware that in order for me to experience these things I need to accept the fact that My Belly is going to go through some changes, too. So here I am, fastening my seatbelt, getting ready to enjoy the ride!