more about baby #2

photo from 2 weeks ago already- eee time is flying!!

this feels like deja vu.. writing the "more" about my pregnancy. only this time around, i've got a little squirmer crawling around me, playing her red piano with her pink and green drumsticks, eating cheerios she finds anywhere, trying to cruise from place to place.

details on this pregnancy... i'm going to bullet point these as that's probably the easiest.
+ due date: july 8th {which means i'm 18 weeks tomorrow}
+ we found out i was pregnant again one hour before gemma's first birthday party. yes.. one hour before all our loved ones were due to show up and chat with us. we had to put on our poker faces and carry on even though we were thrilled and could barely contain ourselves.
+ we are finding out the sex again. the end of february can't come fast enough! although i am soaking up all the time i have with just my gem now.. trying to cherish this minute by minute!
+ every time we've had an ultrasound, this little babe is moving around.. looks like we've got another squirmer on our hands. this babe will have to be to keep up with big sister!
+ i'm feeling lots of movement throughout the day and gemma is on the brink of walking.. life is getting exciting over here!

more to post later :)

2.19.12

It was a Sunday, just over a year ago. I was driving myself to the pharmacy around the block, telling myself, Ali, you are nuts! You're not pregnant! What are you doing?! But with the encouragement {pestering} of my dear hubby, I was off to get a pregnancy test. It had only been 6 weeks since I had gotten off of the pill. We weren't exactly trying to get pregnant, just taking steps to get to the point where we one day might be able to pregnant. Despite my certainty that things couldn't have happened that fast, I know my body well and had a strong feeling something was different. I hadn't even had a missed period yet, hence the silly talking to myself in the car.

I got home to Bryan cooking dinner and head into the bathroom, again thinking There's no way! Three minutes later, I was double-triple-quadruple checking the test to make sure my eyes were reading it correctly. And wouldn't you know it, it said positive. I walked {more like floated} to Bryan in the kitchen and just held out the stick. Are you serious? I just stared at him. Are you joking? Is this real? I nodded. Smiles turned to happy tears turned to hugs and immense excitement. Forget about thinking about anything else that evening. All we knew was that we had a baby on the way and we couldn't have been happier!

And now she's here and more perfect than I ever could have dreamed.

30 weeks

30 weeks means 3/4 of the way there... holy cow!

Going to the doctors every two weeks now.

Feeling bigger and less mobile everyday.

Averaging about 1-2 naps a day {and I'm literally so grateful to have a flexible schedule right now!}

Little Miss kicks me every time I lay down. Every. Time. And I love it.

Walking has become more of a waddle- and I'm embracing it because it's so much more comfortable to waddle.

Getting more and more excited to meet her all the time!

And falling a little more in love with my cute husband. Ahh, I love him so much :)

an eye opener

Nothing like a packet of third trimester & hospital information to open your eyes to how far along you are in your pregnancy. Not that I haven't realized I'm pregnant or even that I'm 6 months pregnant... but receiving a big stack of paperwork and pamphlets from my doctor at my routine prenatal check up was a huge reality check for me. Reading about labor, delivery, breastfeeding, pediatricians, and newborn care seems just informational, but it's a big deal to me. Not only am I becoming a parent, but I am making life choices for my child already even before she's here. And much to my magical wish of being able to forgo the "painful labor and birth" part of the process, reading all of this information has made me so stinking excited. I am thrilled to be having this baby and privileged and blessed beyond words to be her mother already, scary as it is. Trust me, I've had my worries, doubts, and anxieties, but you can't live life being afraid. God is with me always and I've got a wonderful husband who supports me entirely. I can't ask for much more right now.