25.5 weeks

And for your daily dose of awkward, this post is brought to you from the gyno waiting room. Maybe I'll throw out the word uterus in a minute and call it a real date.

I'm not sure how we got to twenty five weeks so quickly. I guess there is nothing like a fun little toddler to keep your mind off the waiting and worries of pregnancy. And in that way, this pregnancy has been so different than the last. There are all the same worries for a worrier to worry, but my heart and mind are on other things (mostly). I'm just enjoying the time that is all my own with this growing baby, all the secret kicks and hiccups. I'm also soaking up my days with Marin, my little comrade who follows me to the loo everytime I so much as think of peeing by myself. What is it about that first one that makes you want to declare, "Oh but this one here was my very first." She made me a mom. So very bittersweet when waiting around for a sibling.

Besides my mind being a bit more occupied with non-pregnancy things, in every other way this pregnancy feels so similar to the last. I'm craving the usual: sour patch gummies, bagels with cream cheese, salad, Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with a big glass of milk, oh and butterfinger blizzards. Yes! Symptoms have been the same too: skin gone wild, restless legs at night, bouts of sleepiness, slower hair growth (strange but true). 

Nesting has gone into full force and I have plans, big plans. Which always somehow translates to money signs in husband dialect. Hmm, not quite sure why.  

Let's see what else? We've been trying to prepare Marin as best we can for a baby in the house. She already loves babies and squeals whenever we see one, so we're hoping the affection stays around for baby sister's entrance into the world. We've been practicing diaper changing, bottles, and burping with her baby dolls which she also seems to enjoy. She is a nurturer that one, and I just want to help prepare a way for her to feel just as valued and loved when our affections are being shared with sister. We are trying to navigate that one and would love any peals of advice ya’ll have for how to prepare.

Welp, that about does it I think. Until the next bump update, friends. 

Chattanooga + An Anniversary

Andy and my anniversary falls right at the end of January.  Oh thank you, young and in love couple of our past for planning a momentous reason to celebrate during the normally dreary, foggy, post-Christmas blues of January. I need those sorts of things, you know?  Well, this year we decided to celebrate a bit early because Andy had last week off work and there was a grandmother present and able to watch Marin for the day.  We left early. And made our rainy way up the highway, chatting and holding hands (yeehaw!).  We always get a little giddy in moments like this because they help us remember that we are those same in-love cheese balls we’ve always been, just a few hundred diaper changes later.  That moment usually happens just before we spend the majority of the following moments talking about the sweet baby girl back home.  “Oh, let’s bring her back a souvenir.” “I miss the moo.”  Then we pitifully round off the drive in Marin language. “Bi wa wa!”   

When we got to Chattanooga we drove to the art district for breakfast at Rembrandt’s, a coffee shop I worked at my senior year of college.  We roamed around a puddlle-filled Coolidge Park and browsed through the nearby shops.  Andy was an unusually happy shopper that day too.  Happy anniversary to me.  We grabbed lunch on the other side of town at Mojo burrito, a frequent (embarrassingly frequent) stop during my college years.  We finished the day with a movie and dinner at a new restaurant downtown.  

And over the olive appetizer, Andy, the man who hates olives, spontaneously ordered out of an act of love, we talked.  We talked about our New Year’s resolutions for ourselves, for our family, for our marriage.  We finished our meals, and I took one more sniff of Andy’s wine before we called it a night. 

I love you, best friend. And I love these moments with you. Happy five whole years! We'll have two babies to miss at this time next year. ;)

AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Happy New Year, friends!

Well, it's safe to say we stepped up our New Year's Eve game this year. Although, that isn’t saying much because I don't think we were even awake for the strike of midnight last year. Marin was in the middle of her infamous sleep regression, so Andy and I crashed early with a "see you next year" (hardy har har) and a smooch.

This year we were determined to at least see the stroke of midnight. Andy picked up a pack of sparklers while at the grocery store so we asked the neighbors if they wanted to bring the kiddos over for sparklers with toddlers. And on that note, how do we always hit the neighbor jackpot? They are so fun! The kids chased each other around the yard with a string of Christmas lights while we tried to capture slow motion sparkler pics. We laughed a ton over the impromptu celebrations and eventually headed in with an exhausted and happy little girl. We skipped bath time and squeezed her into her only clean pair of jammies, two sizes too small. Andy and I watched the ball drop, smooched, and called it a night.

What an amazing year! Cheers to all that God's creative plans bring our way in 2015, friends!

Merry Christmas

Happy Christmas Eve, everyone! We are busy over here with some final Christmas present wrapping and getting so excited for all the festivities ahead.  This Christmas season has been extra special in so many ways.  Marin has really filled it to the brim with all her exclamation “Whoa, whoa, WOW!”  Pretty magical.  Watching Marin grow and feeling her sister wiggle and squirm in me  has made me even more grateful for a God who gave his child so I could have peace on earth and assurance of heaven.  I hope you and yours are enjoy the next couple days.   Here are a few pics of the magic of Marin during Christmas:  serious little tree hunter, her first look at the Christmas lights on our house,  “mmmmm-ing” at the red berries and Christmas décor.  Much love from us to you!

  

IT'S A...

For you, friends, a picture into our future…all pink and sparkly.  There’s a baby GIRL in this belly! Another girl, a sister for Marin. Wow. Cue the amazing humility of getting to offer your daughter something you know nothing about…a sis, a chance at a best friend who has known you since the day you were born.   We are so thrilled about this news, tickled pink!  ;)

Ahhhh! A GIRL!!

19 WEEKS + STORIES

I just witnessed (via baby monitor) Marin do her first somersault of all time in her crib.  I don’t know if I should be worried or just keep laughing.  So… I guess this 19 week preggo post goes out to the human bod and all the wacky things it can do. Not to mention the disappearing hand in the pocket and the floating hand on the belly pictured above. Whoa. 

Beside body contortions and a doctor’s apointment, there isn’t much going on around here today…just a few post holiday blues and missing the guy in our lives who had to return to grown up land today.  Also, I’ve been doing a bit of thinking. Warning, there’s a pregnant lady doing some thinking over here. 

On a couple occasions last week, I was able to get out of the house for errands and a pedicure.  A lady named Sam got the awesome job of dealing with my callouses.  We got to chatting about the holidays and who we were spending them with.  She shared that her four kids were coming over, but that she actually has five kids. Her fifth child, her daughter, passed away when she was seventeen.  I told her that I was so sorry to hear that. It was the kind of sorry that comes from one mom to another.  Stories like that will always hurt to hear, but now they are heavier.  It just hurts.  And isn’t that all we can really offer for stories shared.  To hurt over them with the one who entrusted us with them, and maybe just maybe carry some of the load.

While returning a portion of our overzealous purchase of Christmas tree lights to Wal-mart, I noticed a tiny baby girl smiling back at me.  I asked her mom and dad how old she was.  “She is four months.”  I asked if they were getting rest. “Oh yeah, ever since she was three days old.”  I giggled inside about my 19 month old challenged sleeper.  They continued like proud parents do. “You know, we didn’t even know we were pregnant until 7 months in.” (surprised look) “The doctor told me I would NEVER be able to have kids, so we were really surprised and happy.” 

Then my hormones made me cry like the jerks they are.  Wal-mart and tears…I mean, what are you lookin at?

Loss and gain.  Stories.  Maybe it’s the hormones or motherhood or God’s grace, but these stories are gifts and a reminder to me that God picks out our stories in his most loving way.  He gives them to us, and we can use them to move people or mountains or all of the above.