Week 25 Newsflash: I am a sterotype.

I'm 25 weeks today! And boy, I am really feeling pregs. For one thing, my belly has really popped in the last week - I've gone from looking maybe fat/maybe pregnant to hello, pregnant! As my friend Erin (who's expecting her first kid in late February) said recently, "I don't know if it's a basketball or a watermelon in there, but it sure is taking up a lot of room!" Other earth-shattering news from the third-trimester front:

- The hair. Holy crap, is there a lot of it. I mean, it's not like I was exactly lacking in the stuff before, but jeebus I have a ton of it now. Seriously: in the mornings, Einstein has nothing on me. It would be pretty rad, if I didn't have to maintain a vaguely presentable appearance during the workday.

- The nails. Again, I've always had pretty good nails, but god, they've never grown so fast! And I really, really hate that clicky-sound of long nails on a keyboard - I think I'm going to have to start keeping nail clippers at work for clicking emergencies.

- The hormones. I am getting both stupider and more emotional by the day. It's truly charming, as I'm sure Mr. Squab will attest. NOT. I read in a parenting magazine that some studies have shown that women who are carrying girls tend to experience more "pregnancy brain" than women carrying boys. That would align with all the folk-tricks and family members who are sure I'm having a girl. But I'm getting real sick of not being able to remember, oh, my key card for work, my lunch, where I've left my phone/iPod/car keys, when and where my meetings are - you know, minor stuff like that. And the emotions - well, here's a recent example: I was reading in a magazine that there's some evidence that babies cry in utero - Not because they're sad, but possibly as practice for later. Just thinking about Hoss crying in there totally made me start crying! And those Johnson and Johnson commercials? The ones that end "having a baby changes everything?" Yeah, I cry at all of those, too. And these are commercials that would normally make me engage in fake gagging gestures.

So, yeah, I have all the symptoms. Up next week: increased heartburn and round-the-clock peeing!