WayfaringStrangers

From my doctor's appointment today: I am now over a week into the third trimester. Baby boy constantly reminds me of himself with his squirms, hiccups, and kicks. I found myself tearing up at my doctor's appointment today, thinking of how blessed we are to be doing this again. I've had more conflicted emotions this time around. The boys are out of diapers and in preschool. I'm a little older. We still have a very tight budget. And yet, I get to do this again: carry life. Any sadness I felt about not having a daughter has dissipated as I look forward to my son. I love, love little boys. We are not ready yet, though. His nursery has been a dumping ground for stuff we were selling at a yard sale at the kids' school. The yard sale is over, so now we need to take down the twin bed and bring in the crib and a dresser. The room was painted last year, so it's pretty much set. We need tiny diapers and to wash the baby clothes I have stored away. The carseat n...

Yup. I'm pregnant. 13 weeks now, to be more exact. Which means that even though I'm feeling much better, I really wish I was taking a nap. But I digress.... We are really happy, of course, and feeling so blessed to be doing this again. We believe life is God's to give. This is a new gift. Graham especially, is over the moon, and constantly touches my belly and sings to "Bumblebee." I'm pretty excited about the age gaps we have between G and P and this new baby. I believe they will really get to experience the whole "new baby" thing. And now, answers to questions: Q. Did you try for a girl? Is it a girl? A. We tried for a baby. It might be a boy. It might be a girl. I have no preference, although others do (Graham and Behn want a girl). We are thinking about not finding out the sex until birth- Team Green! Keep everyone in suspense! Q. When are you due? A. April. So excited for a spring baby! Q. How are you feeling? A. Pretty good! ...

A year ago today it was my 28th birthday. I hadn't been feeling great, my appetite was off, and I kept joking I was pregnant. But c'mon, I definitely wasn't pregnant. The weekend before we had gone to Greensboro to visit Emily and Seth, and Emily said she didn't feel good either so we almost took pregnancy tests together as a fun sister bonding thing. (What, you don't think it's fun to pee on sticks together with your sister?) But we didn't end up doing that because those things are expensive and, after all, I definitely wasn't  pregnant.  Why waste money? Anyway, back to my birthday. My friend Mary stopped by to wish me happy birthday and bring me some carrot cake. I so enjoyed her visit (we had some awesome friends in Lexington), but for some reason I did NOT want the cake.   Oh uh. Megan always wants cake. I knew something was really going on. That evening I went out and got a pregnancy test, but decided not to take it until the next morning. I wa...

Still here, still pregnant. Just haven't felt like blogging. I'm either feeling great and getting a ton of things done or feeling cruddy and not wanting to do anything. Poor Graham has been watching way too many movies lately because sometimes I just need to lay on the couch and not entertain him. There's not much else going on with us anyway. Just waiting for baby and waiting for God to open new doors and waiting for crisp autumn air. Lots of waiting. I WILL post pictures of Behn's graduation soon!

I'm in Phase 3. What are the phases, you ask? I'm talking about the phases of Apprehension of Childbirth for    Been There Done That (BTDT) Moms. I made these phases up myself. Phase 1: You find out that you are pregnant. There are lots of emotions and thoughts. You imagine life with 2+ kids. You're picturing your current child(ren) with a younger sibling. You're starting a list of baby names. You're gagging at the smell of freshly-brewed coffee. And somewhere, in the back of your mind is the thought, "This baby is going to have to come out of me" but that time is so far away that you can pretty much ignore it. Phase 2: Skip ahead to about 6 or 7 months pregnant. You're not too uncomfortable yet, but you can feel your child. You're starting to realize in a greater capacity that you're going to have to give birth again. You go on playdates and start bringing up birth stories with your friends. Because you're in the thick of it, you recal...

From my babycenter.com weekly e-mail: "Your tiredness is perfectly understandable, given the physical strain you're under and the restless nights of frequent pee breaks and tossing and turning, while trying to get comfortable." How did they know??  Yes, I've been sleepy lately. But Mr. Graham has been sleeping 12-13 hours/night, so at least I have that going for me. I also have been getting a lot done in preparation for our final trip of the summer: up to MD and DE to visit family and celebrate bridal showers and nearly finished Master's Degrees. Will be fun, though possibly a bit exhausting for me.  I'll be trying to take lots of pictures though, so stay tuned!

Well, I'm going into full-time nesting mode these days. Behn has too! We spent last Saturday cleaning and organizing the basement. We still have a few things to get rid of (old couch, 1 broken dryer, random table), but it looks much better! Behn and I have both gone through a lot of our old, yucky clothes and purged. And I spent a long time yesterday cleaning our room, seeing as we'll need to make space for the baby in here. I felt great to get that done, although I had several contractions while cleaning. That's normal though :) I also washed, organized, and folded all the 0-3 month clothes for baby. So, I'm feeling pretty good these days. I have a few meals in the freezer, but one of my good friends is going to host a 'freezer dinner shower' for me and we'll all spend some time cooking stews and casseroles to fill up my freezer- so sweet! I'm also working on a list of a few things I need- for the baby and for me. We don't need a lot, but there ar...

Graham is walking around with a pretzel stick up his nose. I had every intention of baking bread, sweeping and mopping, and cleaning the bathroom while G napped. I took a nap instead. Gotta love the 3rd trimester. My basil has grown enough to harvest a bit! 4 cheese pasta with tomatoes and fresh basil tonight! It's hot out. I knew it would be no fun being pregnant in the summer and I was right. Going to the river in a bit to beat the heat! Does Graham saying, "A big car!" count as a 3-word sentence? I mean, there's no verb, but I was impressed! I have a long, ongoing bucket list of things to do before Baby arrives. About 2 months to go! This makes me nervous and excited all at once :) Receiving an old-fashioned card in the mail from a dear friend absolutely made my day.

Whew! We have had such a busy past few weeks! Last Friday night there was a huge storm (if you live in the mid-Atlantic...you know about it) that knocked out our- and everyone else's- power. The nice thing was, we were already planning to visit my family in Maryland, so the next morning we surveyed the damage in the yard (several big trees down- so glad we rent!) and then packed up and headed to a wonderful place where there was electricity and plumbing. We had a nice time in MD. The great thing was, we were there to visit; to just spend a few days with the people we love. No agenda. No commitments. Just lots of time watching tv in the air conditioning, eating together, catching up with Grandma and Grandpa, and celebrating. Graham already had a bond with my mom because of the Ohio trip, and also got to enjoy getting to know my Dad better. He also had fun with his uncles and Aunt Hannah. On Tuesday, Behn and I enjoyed tapping into some free babysitting and went out for a nice dinn...

It's been a while since I've done a pregnancy update. I'm now 6 months pregnant! That was fast! (not a very good picture, but you get the idea:) When I look down at my tummy, I don't think it looks that big, but when I see myself in the mirror, I'm like 'whoa nelly!' That baby is growing! He is a very active child- lots of movement, which is good. Lately I've had a touch of wanting to nest. I got out G's tiny baby clothes and organized them, although I'll probably wash them all before I actually use them. They were stored away clean, but that was more than a year ago. I've also been keeping an eye out for yummy and easy recipes for meals to freeze. I want to take a day or two to cook, cook, cook and fill up my chest freezer so I don't have to think about meals after the baby comes. My sciatic nerve has been pretty bad this pregnancy, although better the past few days. And last week I was SO tired, but this week I feel great...

Well, I'm 20 weeks pregnant! I should accompany this statement with a picture, but I don't like the ones Behn took yesterday, so we'll have to try again later today. I look about the same (but a little bigger) as I did when I was preggo with Graham. I feel bigger though. My sciatica nerve in the bottom of my back is giving me grief at the end of everyday. This didn't happen til waaay later on in my 1st pregnancy. Fortunately, the baby isn't big enough yet to shove my innards into my ribcage. That was a terrible part about being pregnant last time and I'm sure it'll happen soon. I'm enjoying feeling the baby kick and move. I'm enjoying 'looking' pregnant. I'm enjoying eating too much food. Watching Graham and Frankie is becoming really, really difficult. I know that these are 'first world problems.' I don't have to carry my water from a well, or boil beans for hours on end to make dinner, or go potty in an outhouse. I have ...

I've been yearning to write this post for a month now... Baby #2 is on the way!!  Praise God from Whom all blessings flow! This baby is a surprise to us, but what a sweet surprise. After our brief struggle with PCOS and infertility to get Graham, we were shocked to found out I was expecting again. The story: I was feeling nauseous a day or two before we went to Greensboro and also while we were there. I jokingly said I might be pregnant, but really didn't believe that at all. After all, we weren't 'trying' to get pregnant and definitely not on any fertility drugs. We had discussed trying to have another baby later in the year, but not yet. On my birthday Behn had a phone interview. I was extremely tired and emotional all day, plus not feeling well. I decided it was worth the $9 to go get a pregnancy test (WHY do they cost so much??). But as the day ended, I decided not to take it. If I found out I was pregnant that night, I wouldn't be able ...