New Beginnings

Hello, Jenn here!  Because I'm almost 23 weeks pregnant with our first child, and because I've done a terrible job photo-documenting my pregnancy thus far, I figured it might be a good idea to start recording fun little tidbits from this experience that I can share with Gavin when he's older.  Stephen and I are so excited to meet our little one in November, and the promise of all the memories we'll share with our baby boy keeps me going when this whole pregnancy thing gets hard.

Like when it's 100000 degrees outside for three weeks straight.

Seriously, it's been ridiculous.  I hate to be one more person complaining about the heat, but I feel like I'm sweating even when I'm sitting in an air conditioned room, so you can only imagine how ridiculous it gets when I dare to venture outside (which, truth be told, has not been very often these past few weeks.)  I feel lucky that Stephen lets me control the thermostat in the house and only occasionally wakes up shivering in the middle of the night.  He's been amazing throughout this entire pregnancy, actually.  (No surprise.)  During the first trimester, when I felt horribly sick and yet craved Mexican food constantly, he put up with night after night of tacos and quesadillas.  Honestly, I came back from a vacation to Mexico and headed straight for Taco Bell on the drive home from the airport.  It was atrocious.  And now during the second trimester, when my body is constantly aching and I'm always exhausted, he rubs my back without complaint after his 10-hour workday (and subsequent 2-hour class at Cincinnati State).  He's such a hard worker and I know he'll be an amazing role model for our son.  But until Gavin gets here...I'm the lucky recipient of his incredible thoughtfulness and patience.

I guess I somehow envisioned pregnancy being different than this.  I feel SUPER connected to our baby -- especially when Stephen is talking to him before we go to bed or I feel him move randomly when I'm at my desk or driving -- but I haven't loved the pregnancy itself.  I'm having a hard time with what it's doing to my body (I suppose I could blame all the tacos), and I feel like I'm constantly planning ways to get back in shape once Gavin arrives.  I'm not sleeping well because I'm not used to sleeping on my side, though the Snoogle pillow definitely helps!  Whenever I get up in the middle of the night, I'll come back to find Stephen curled up around the Snoogle.  He has no recollection of doing this, but I've had to nudge him to his side of the bed several times within the last few weeks.  He complains about the Snoogle taking up so much room...but secretly -- subconsciously -- he loves it.  I don't know, I guess I just thought that I would love being pregnant.  I've always wanted to be a mother, and it is so incredible to feel our baby wriggle his way around my tummy, but I never realized that loving a BABY is soooo different than loving the other stuff pregnancy brings along with it.

To end on a positive note, though, here are the things I am MOST excited about:
- Setting up Gavin's sports-themed nursery!  We have everything ready to go, now we just have to get the room painted and the furniture put together!  And by we, I mean Stephen, since I'm really quite worthless at furniture assembly.
- Gavin will have a baby cousin, Quinn, who will be just a few weeks older than him!  I can't wait to see these boys grow up together and be best buds.  (And, if I have my way, wear adorable matching outfits occasionally!)
- Stephen will be an AMAZING father, and I am so excited to watch him bond with our little boy.  It will be so fun to take Gavin trick-or-treating every year, and to football games.  Stephen is already planning all the activities he wants to share with G.  If he would rather bond over the Monster Truck Jam with our son than with me...I'm okay with that.  :)
- Holidays will be that much better with a baby to celebrate them with!
- It is going to be interesting to see not only what physical aspects of each of us our baby ends up with -- I hope Gavin gets Stephen's long eyelashes, and we KNOW he'll be a tall boy -- but it'll also be incredible to watch his little personality grow and see what traits he inherits from who.  (Whom?  I'm a bad English major.)

Just to make sure I've officially caught up on the first 23 weeks, here are some of little G's ultrasound pictures:

The first picture of our little pumpkin!  7 weeks

Loving his little hands and alien face.  :)  11 weeks

We tried to find out the gender at 17 weeks, but he was sitting contentedly on his legs, sucking his thumb.  Stubborn little booger!

The day we found out he was a BOY!  Look at his tiny fingers!  18 weeks

Our 21 week ultrasound -- Stephen couldn't believe how long his arms were!