soaking it all in

Since Martin started working for the school district too, we are so lucky to get to have all of the same breaks and holidays off! Spring Break couldn't have come any sooner this year with my every growing belly and tired feet! We are soaking in every moment of sleeping in and lazily starting our days. We spent today enjoying our local museum...won't be long before we'll have a tiny baby in tow with us. I felt like I was watching all the moms with multiple children extra closely this time around. Life with two definitely seems more chaotic and busy...sometimes I begin to doubt myself that I can do this. Sometimes just going to the store or park with just Everdeen can seem like a lot and she's the most content and easy going 4 1/2 year old! I hope this little baby is just as easy going and calm as she is. I have a feeling they will be...snuggling right into our family personality just like Everdeen did. 

hello baby!

I think growing a tiny baby is a good excuse for a 7 month hiatus from blogging ;) But the truth is, I miss this space and I miss being able to document the big and small in our lives.  I was looking back at all of my pregnancy posts with Everdeen and feel a bit sad that this baby won't have that. So now for a little catch up!

We had decided after Everdeen was born that we were so perfectly content with our one little one. I truly couldn't imagine life with two...my anxiety mostly to blame.  But something stirred my heart last summer and I felt like maybe we weren't done after all. Everdeen had just turned four and suddenly I could picture her with a sibling and I could picture four of us.  

It was on September 5, my husband's 32 Birthday, that I read the positive test. I hadn't been feeling well for about a week and I just had a feeling. In fact, just like before I found out I was pregnant with Everdeen, I had a very vivid dream! Sure enough! Two instant pink lines...another sweet baby on the way!

(Showing very early this time around!)

The next 5 months were a complete blur.  I feel like I lost touch with reality a bit. My only goals were to wake up, somehow get to work and teach 24 second graders for 8 hours, and then come home and go to bed.  The morning sickness was relentless this time around and it wasn't until about 22 weeks that it was completely gone. I truly don't know what I would have done without my husband. He took over the minute I got home. Made dinner (which I could barely smell or stomach), did bath time, stories, and bedtime, letting me rest and go to bed at 7:00...sometimes earlier :) 

(20 weeks)

(21 weeks)

(23 weeks)

We decided this time around that we would wait to find out if we're having a boy or girl! Annnndd we decided to see a home birth midwife! We're excited, not making too many plans, and letting this experience be what it will be. 

(Baby Girl or Baby Boy at 28 weeks!)

I've spent the past few months scouring Craigslist and local online garage sales for baby items that we had donated or given away to friends. I've realized right away that baby doesn't need as much as I always think they do. Simple and minimalistic is our motto right now. 

I'm now 31 weeks and my belly is growing and stretching. I feel like I'm carrying more in the front this time around (so everyone thinks its a boy :) Nights are sleepless, but as I lay there wide awake at 2 in the morning I am dreaming about who this baby is and how it will feel to hold him or her for the first time. I get incredibly emotional when I think about Everdeen becoming a big sister and when I think about how she won't be my only baby anymore. For so long it was just the three of us. It feels very bittersweet...like the end of an era, but I know when we all meet the newest member of our family we will know this is who was supposed to be with us all along!