How Your Sense of Normal Gets Skewed...and Kudos to My Nephew Jake!!

Normal. I used to own a button in the 7th grade that said Normal in red with a line through it like a No Smoking button. I think my first boyfriend gave it to me. Anyway, I sported that button like I was the coolest - I did NOT want to be normal and thought the idea of being unique and spunky appealed to me. 100 years later, as I watch my fingers and feet swell, and it's becoming increasingly harder to breathe as little Emma crawls up under my ribcage, I yearn for normal. I'd like to wear clothes that don't have to tie in the back (and whoever thought this up anyway?? The bigger I get, the harder it is for me to tie those strings and now Jeff has to do it for me!) and pants that don't have a panel that covers my entire stomach and by entire, I mean all the way up to my chest. I'd like to be able to paint my own toes and, heck, even get off the couch without needing Jeff's helping hand. My bed would be my haven again (yes I know I'll not be sleeping for a while, but at least I'd be comfortable when I was able to catch a few winks. I wouldn't have to be nervous that when the dogs jumped on the bed (OK mostly Kylie Mo since she weighs 75 pounds but doesn't know it) they won't walk on my tummy...and if I have to move out of her way, how quickly can I do it? It would be nice to sleep on my left side sometimes and if there was a natural disaster or an emergency, I'd be toast. Speedy Gonzales I am not. Arriba, arriba.
Normal looks pretty good right about now.

Now you are going to bear with me as I'm going to be very proud Aunt Heather!
My nephew Jake goes to a private Christian school and they recently had their awards night. Last year, at the Kindergarten awards night, Jake captured the Christian Character Award. What an honor. He was the only one in the entire kindergarten to receive this award. Well, this year, at the awards ceremony, Jake's name was called again for the Christian Character Award for the first grade!! Jeff and I are so proud of him. What an honor to receive the award at all, let alone two years in a row!