Baby Bump--22 Weeks

I wish my weekly picture could be like this every time!! Obvs I'm in a different locale...sunny FL thank you very much. I thought it was apropos to take it by a palm tree--just for effect. Did it work?
I'm home today from one of the very best weekends ever with some of my closest friends. I could go on for days and days but here is the gist:
I have some of the very best girlfriends out there. I am one lucky gal to have found such great people from my dear college of Xavier University. We all met in different ways--but someone up there was looking out because we all landed in the same place. 7 girls who are all very different but very much the same at the core of us. We love each other, respect each other and look out for one another. I felt enveloped in love the entire weekend and didn't want to let it go. The 85 degree perfect days didn't hurt either!! I'm tearing up even now as I write this because I am so sad that I'm here and we are all spread out again. Even though I missed Matt tremendously I could have easily stayed in Florida with my ladies for the rest of the week. I am very homesick for my friends right now. A super shout out (because I know you're reading!) to Em, Mol, Linds, Till, Mag and Lee. Love you all!
In related news, I definitely rocked the bikini. I don't know what it is--the looming age of 30 or being around my girls for 4 days--but I have a new sense of confidence. I was afraid in the beginning of my pregnancy that my self-image was getting distorted. What with my changing body, raging hormones and the unknown happening to me on a daily basis I didn't feel like myself. It was kind of scary. But I have now affirmed (as I've been working on this for years) that this is me--I have crazy hair, I tend to be sassy, I am short and petite and if you don't like any of that or all of the rest of it you can just go home. And damnit--I looked good in the bikini! I might not have been made for the cover of Motherhood Magazine but I did my best and had so much fun all the while. I love that my belly is tan and I hope that my little one inside loved it's first taste of the beach and sun because there is a lot more of that coming!