Confessions and Genetics

I went for my sixth month check-up yesterday, and everything looks great, but I have to admit, I am getting very scared. When I came home to jot down all my check-up info like weight, fetal heartbeat, etc. into my pregnancy book, I noticed something that has been nagging me for quite some time. Everything about this pregnancy is identical to Elliot's . . . . . ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh! At 22 weeks, I weigh the exact same as I did with Elliot, the fetal heartbeat is the exact same (150), and I was sick at the beginning of both of these pregnancies. Mind you, I was not as sick with Elliot as I have been with Thing 4, but still, I never vomited once with either Zoe or Avery. If this trend keeps going, that means in about four months I will be the proud mama of one, very colicky, albeit adorable baby . . . eeeeeek! 

The other day, Elliot mentioned that it would be so neat if Thing 4 was the same as him, and I nearly passed out. When he is with Zoe and Avery, he feels like the odd man out. Everything comes so easily to the two of them and from his point of view, they excel in everything they do; therefore, it would be great for him to have a kindred spirit, a person he can relate to and impart all his words of wisdom to, but  . . . . is this really a possibility? Would Heavenly Father really send me two special little spirits? Oh man, as much as I love Elliot and would not trade him for the world, I pray that he is one of kind in this household. When I confessed my fears to Mr. Level-Headed via text, his response was:

No worries. Elliot is awesome. You can handle two.

I love how confident he is in my abilities.

Anyhoo . . 

We all know I will love this baby to the moon and back no matter what so I am going to stop fretting now and continue to fantasise about who and what Thing 4 will be like. If there is one thing I have noticed with all of my kids is that not one of them is truly alike. They are all unique, they all have amazing abilities, and they all drive me crazy from time to time.

The other big news at my appointment was that I have gained 5 pounds. Hooray! This makes me very happy since I was not gaining weight in the beginning thanks to round the clock vomiting, but now I am on a roll. I confessed to my doctor that my weight gain probably had something to do with the THREE poutines I ate over the weekend and she laughed. She also assured me that she has heard of worst of cravings and that I didn't need to worry about it. Hmmmm . . . is this the green light to indulge even more? NO!!!

While we were in PEI, yes I tried three different poutines and I have to say they were all very yummy. The first night we were in Charlottetown, we went to dinner with three other families from Zoe's team. As it turned out, I was sitting with the other moms and I was DYING for a poutine and Coke. It had been two weeks since my last indulgence and all I could think about was some salty, cheesy, ooey, gooey goodness chased down by a little black death. After they all ordered their salads and wine, which sounds so very grown-up, it was my turn and I sheepishly turned to the waitress and told her my order. I have never felt so self-conscious in all my life, which is absolutely foolish. I felt like my young self, seated before the priest in those dark confessional boxes of my Catholic Church, confessing all my sins, some made-up and some not so made-up . . . this is a whole other story . . . anyhoo . . . The minute my order left my trembling lips, I turned to the other ladies and confessed to them, almost apologetically, that I am pregnant and that poutine is my craving. The minute I announced this, the whole table erupted in congratulations and laughter. We had a grand chat after that, and it was so nice to finally break the ice with these women, whom I have sat with to watch many soccer games but really never knew well.

Anyhoo . . .

Man, I keep getting off topic this morning. So, here is the run down of my PEI poutine splurge:

1. Swiss Chalet has AWESOME poutine! They smother it in gravy and the gravy is thick and yummy.
2. Wendy's makes a very yummy poutine and it is cheap. They use lots of cheese and their new fries are very good.
3. Ken's Island Fries, a truck parked in the Walmart parking lot, makes alright poutine. The fries were too thick for my liking and Ken was skimpy on the cheese. Seriously, though, what did I expect from a truck parked in front of Walmart . . . tee hee!

Wendy's - Look at all that cheese!

Ken's

Awesome gravy, but so little cheese!

So, the final standings are:

For franchised restaurants:

1. Swiss Chalet

2. Wendy's

3. Deluxe

For locally-owned restaurants:

1. Kredl's/Poutine Shack at Kingston Market

2. Peddler's Creek

3. Reid's Point Pub

Sorry, Ken. 

This weekend, my hubby is taking me to Grannan's for my weekly poutine indulgence, and I am so excited. I heard they won the Great Saint John Poutine Challenge a few weeks ago, and I am expecting big things. Big things, folks. Grannan's, please don't disappoint me. 

Since you stuck with this ridiculously long and terribly random post of mine, I am going to reward you with some very embarrassing pictures of me and my belly. The amazon, super-modelesque woman beside me is my baby sister, Emily. She is only two weeks behind me in her pregnancy and for the record, she is not craving poutine and she is thirteen years younger than me and she is carrying her FIRST not her FOURTH baby.

I have titled these photos: An Elven Mama and a Hobbit Mama

I probably won't have to tell you whose who.

I love how her body dwarfs mine and how I had to stick my head out just so you could see me. I guess this is just further proof that although siblings grow up in the same household together, have many of the same experiences, and have the same parents, they all grow up to be unique individuals. Phew! I have nothing to fear then. ;) 

Happy Thursday!