22 Weeks

"Mom, you're belly is starting to pouf out." -Ava

Well, tomorrow marks 22 weeks into the pregnancy, and as you can see, that baby boy continues to grow.  We are definitely having a growing sense of reality about the pregnancy around our house.  Obviously my belly is pretty telling to most people these days, but also the baby has been kicking around much more frequently and forcefully over the past several weeks.

I've started to feel that "nesting" sense of urgency about starting to prepare for the baby's arrival.  We've cleaned out closets, moved Ava out of the nursery, and started planning for the baby's new room.  I've purchased the baby's bed linens and am now agonizing over paint colors (as always).  This weekend I took advantage of the Memorial Day sales and finally bought the baby some clothes of his own - mostly some little sleepers and nightgowns.  And obviously an essential giraffe hat.  Who could pass it up?  The poor little guy had nothing but a 3-pack of onesies to his name until Sunday.

I've been feeling great physically - the nausea is pretty much completely gone, I've been craving sweets like crazy (which I never did with Ava), and my energy is pretty much back to baseline.  Emotionally it has been more of a challenge lately.  I have been feeling an immense amount of stress from my job.  That, combined with raising a three year old, trying to prepare for a new baby, and the pregnancy hormones, I've had a lot of ups and downs over the past several weeks.  This past weekend at home with our little family was some much needed time to recoup and remember how fortunate I am, despite the many things I'm trying to juggle.

Ava has taken a real interest in the baby, which is so fun to see.  According to her teacher, she talks about her brother "nonstop".  Today after work, I picked her up from school and we went to pick out the supplies to make a taggie for the baby.  I'll have her help me make it in the next few weeks, so she can give it to him as a "welcome to the world" present when he makes his debut.

Giving her brother a kiss.