Andrea is reading this when she should be doing her grocery shopping

Readers, I want to give you a really good reading experience today on my blog. And how will I do that, you ask? I just don't know. All I know is that I'm going to give it my very all here, and if you don't like it -- well, I hope you'll still come back!

I've been given the go-ahead on talking more about the pregnancy, with things like "lay it on thick lady!" by Andrea, a faithful reader. Anyway, whether it is a sad thing or not, I got incredibly excited when Casey called this morning to suggest that we have McDonald's for lunch. Seriously, I was like, "(Gasp) That is WONDERFUL news!" And I'm pretty much down-playing the enthusiasm. And yes, it was another Big Mac meal. Right before we ate, I was like, "Ooh, I feel yucky" and couldn't imagine eating even half of that sandwich, but wouldn't you know it...I wolfed it all down in no time!

I will do my best to post some belly photos...very conservative photos, mind you. And just so you know (and those of you who have been pregnant know this already), you really don't start showing with your first until you are in your fourth, sometimes fifth, month. Needless to say, not much to see yet. I know, I know, I hounded a lot of my pregnant friends for pictures! and more pictures! when they were pregnant. How many did I see? Um, one. No joke. I either had to visit them in person or...well, yeah, that's about it. See them in person. Fortunately, I'll be seeing several people in person in February (are you ready, Sarah?), so I'm hoping that will do it for them. When my brother visited this past weekend, my mom told him, "You're going to be the first one of us to see Tracey pregnant," although when he saw me I really didn't look much different than before. Really, it is deceiving. I mean, people at church talk about how thin I am, but there is the bloat, people...the bloat. My pants don't fit the same anymore, but I'm still wearing them!

I hope everyone's excited for the Thanksgiving holiday. I used to work at a job in which I had to work Thanksgiving Day every other year. The other years I had to work Christmas Day. Just knowing that I don't have to do that anymore is enough to be thankful for, don't you think? And I keep thinking about what this time next year will be like. We will, Lord willing, be toting a six-month old around next Thanksgiving! Wow. More thankfulness.

Tomorrow morning, Casey and I will see the ob again. Only this time, if we have an ultrasound, the baby will have knees (you might be laughing, but they honestly don't have knees for a little while!) and we could possibly see its spine or even see it sucking its thumb! There are so many new things about our baby that we don't know. The color of its eyes is already decided, even the color of its hair! This week its vocal chords have been finishing their forming, so who knows if we'll have a little singer on our hands. And in a few weeks, the baby will be able to start hearing sound, so you know I'm gonna have those headphones on my belly playing Sting! Okay, maybe not...maybe just some classical music.