13 weeks

No need for nudity any more...my little paunch is now visible on the outside of my clothing. It isn't much to rave about, but regardless, we're excited. Here I'm modeling one of my maternity t-shirts, which will eventually stretch to accommodate my huge-ness.

Today is Sunday, and we went to church for the first time in awhile (spring and summer weekends are busy and we aren't home very often). Lately I've had a hard time staying awake during the sermon, no matter how fantastic it is. I blame this on gestation, just like I do everything else. Something cool happened this morning though. Our church has an interesting way of doing communion: every Sunday we file up to the front in groups, form a circle, and pass a loaf of bread and glass of wine around from one person to the next. While this is going on a pastor, elder or deacon goes around the circle blessing the children. They are the assigned "child blessers", and they take turns doing this during every communion. They come up to child, kneel down at his or her level, and say a ten-second blessing. The kids usually smile shyly, and I think they like it.

Today my friend Jessica, one of our pastors-in-residence, was a child-blesser. She came up to me and asked me if she could bless our baby. I had never noticed this being done, but of course I said yes. She placed her hands on me and blessed him/her. I think she got a little choked up while she did it because she had never done this for a pregnant woman before. I hugged her afterwards and she whispered in my ear, "Jana (another pastor) gave me the idea." We thought it was really cool.