25 weeks

I am 25 weeks pregnant this week (though the picture is from last week), and I am beginning to feel every bit of it. I don't have too terribly much to complain about yet, but life is definitely getting more difficult. I am having trouble sleeping...I spend most of the night going back and forth from my left side to the right, then usually wake up starving sometime around 4:00 a.m. Sometimes I can grab a snack and get back to sleep, but sometimes I have to give up and read or otherwise entertain myself until it's time to get up. Because I have a short torso, things have been pretty crowded in my midsection for quite awhile now. The babies aren't kicking me in the ribs or anything, but it is very hard to get a deep breath most of the time, and sitting up straight is quite a challenge. At my last appointment, my belly measured 35 cm. from top to bottom, meaning I'm about the size of someone 32-33 weeks pregnant with a single baby! Scary to imagine what that means for the next few months!! Occasional leg cramps and sciatic nerve pain are my only other physical complaints at the moment, so it could be much, much worse. : )
Our appointment last week went well, and the babies weighed in at 1lb., 9oz. each! They are really beginning to feel like substantial little beings now, and their kicks are getting stronger to prove it. I can see my belly move when I happen to look at the right time, and Jeremy has been able to feel them too. So many new and wonderful things going on!
We are getting to work on the nursery as well. The bedding and a few accessories I ordered have arrived, and we are starting to clean out the bedroom to prepare it to be painted. I haven't decided on just the right paint color yet...such a hard decision! I have started registering and have a couple of showers coming up in the next month or so. It's getting exciting to think about the completed nursery waiting for our two little girls to fill it with life and love (and diapers by the dozens, but that's a whole different story!).
So that's my baby update for the moment. Believe it or not, there are other things going on in our lives...the girls are just taking center stage already!
Tomorrow is a big day for our nation, as President Obama takes office. I can't deny that I would love to be in the midst of it all in Washington, DC, but maybe another year. I must admit I have already teared up a time or two watching the festivities so far, and I'm sure I will again tomorrow. To me, it's not so much the significance of the first black president, but seeing the hope and desire to make this country a better place that Obama inspires in so many people. (That was a really convoluted sentence, but maybe I conveyed my point!) I love to see Obama's devotion to his family, and to watch them proudly standing beside him at such an amazing time. I pray that the new administration can live up to the big hopes that so many in our country have for it. Either way, it seems change is coming!