Seven months: Return of the Pumpkin Belly

The Lad as Pumpkin Belly, 10-17-09

The Boy as Pumpkin Belly, October 2007

Quick explanation about the pumpkin belly: The husband is from Circleville, home of the Greatest Free Show on Earth, The Circleville Pumpkin Show. The first time in his entire life the husband missed the Pumpkin Show was the year we moved to Florida. Feeling sorry for him, I threw a pumpkin-themed party and the Treasure Coast Pumpkin Show was born. In 2007, a joke about painting my belly as a pumpkin turned into a dare I wasn't willing to turn down. And, this year, I figured if I painted one kid in utero as a pumpkin, I probably should do it to the other one. Equal opportunity embarrassment.

Anyway, I've been thinking I was carrying bigger with The Lad than with The Boy, but looking at these pictures, I'm not sure. I'm wearing the same pants, same tank top in both pictures. I've decided I'm rounder this time, though not necessarily larger. Of course, my pumpkin-topped Boy also might be making the belly appear smaller.

The kiddos will be almost exactly two years apart, so in some ways this pregnancy is like deja vu. I'm hitting all the milestones at about the same time of year as I did with The Boy. It'll be the same after The Lad is born. And yet, each pregnancy, each kid, is so distinctly itself. It's a funny feeling. The same, but not.