{dear friend}

I’ve got lots of pictures to document the weekend this week! All the colors in the photos feel so fall and warm and beautiful to me. Friday night we celebrated Meg and Zan’s mom’s birthday with family, Saturday we brought Penny to the beach and visited little Rose (our friends’ adorable new baby!), and Sunday was for hanging out with Nell and her bridesmaids and most importantly for baking pie. OH, YUM– that was amazing and delicious pie.

I’m still feeling really good this week and feeling so many little kicks. I think that’s probably my favorite. This week the baby is the size of a grapefruit and is actually over a pound in weight now. Amazing! I am still fairly small in the bump department and so far, I am liking it that way — I’m feeling very comfortable in my body and would like it to last as long as possible.

Pennylane has been so cuddly lately. Some people have told me it’s because she knows the baby is here, but I kind of think she just likes to snuggle when the weather starts to get colder. Either way, I’ll take it! I love that girl and am so glad she’s around. I need to start reading how to introduce a baby and a puppy to each other. I hope they’ll love each other and I have a good feeling that they will.

// Other things I need/want to do:

Start thinking about decorating the baby’s room.

Find a rug that I love
Thrift an old dresser
Work on this DIY project

Pick out a stroller and carseat.

Look into signing up for some pre-birth classes.

When Zan and I were at the beach in Ipswich a few weeks ago we came across a free couch on the side of the road and that’s the couch you now see in that picture from our bedroom up there. We cleaned it up good and it fits so perfectly in the space. Penny likes it (clearly, HA), and we like it, too! Just in time for feeding and changing and laying around with a little babe. So excited. I just can’t wait.

Dear Baby,

Another week done, and another week closer to meeting you! Time slow down, please! I want this to last! I feel like I’m going to be saying a LOT of this over my lifetime, aren’t I? I’m guessing this is true. This week I felt lots of movement from you. You mostly become active at night, right as I lie down for bed. The Bump App says you are the size of a coconut now. That seems crazy to me! But I believe it because it seems suddenly like I have popped — almost overnight. On Saturday I went to the Old Navy at the Cambridgeside Galleria because they have a maternity section and I wanted to buy a few more outfits for fall. They have cute stuff (like the sweater I am wearing) and I don’t feel too guilty about buying anything because the clothes were cheap! And today, my friend Hannah came into town from Maine and I bought a few outfits for you too because they were ADORABLE and I honestly couldn’t help it. I am so excited you are a girl! Hannah (who has a daughter Sloane) and I went to visit our friend EE who also just had a daughter Eleanor and we talked all things baby for hours and it made me really excited about everything. I am pretty much always excited about everything involving you, but also like WHOA most of the time too. So much I think I know and so much I’m sure I have NO idea about. This is really happening and that is sometimes still crazy to me.

Every day you’re growing and every day I am in awe.

What will you look like? What will your personality be? I can’t wait to meet you, but I really like being pregnant too! So we’ll take it one day at a time and I know I’ll be holding you soon.

I love you to the moon already! Infinite X’s and O’s.

Forever yours,

Mama ❤️

//

Taking this weekly photo thing seriously and not so seriously at the same time.
Just whatever I am wearing and wherever I happen to be.
But trying to keep up with it! Memories are so important to me.
(thanks for taking this week’s photo, Hans! xo)

Another week done, 19 weeks to go! This weekend my sister and I drove home to New York to go to my cousin Virginia’s baby shower. She is due at the end of December and it was so nice to see family and fun to see how she’s growing and celebrating. She is having a little girl too! So much fun. Who runs the world?? GIRLS. :)

I thought I would do a pregnancy update this week quiz-style. I have seen some of these on other blogs and always thought they were fun to read, so here we go!

What fruit are you? // This week the baby is roughly as long as a carrot. Around 12.7 ounces and 10.5 inches. My favorite app has been The Bump app, for sure. I love their articles and weekly updates!

Due date // February 26, 2017

How far along // 21 weeks!

Gender // GIRL

Total weight gain/loss // Last week at my 20 week ulstrasound I had not gained any weight yet! Thinking maybe this week I gained a pound or two? Feeling lucky so far but definitely getting ready to put on some LBS.

Exercise // I have been doing prenatal yoga since I was about 10 weeks pregnant. I found a studio close to my house and love going once or twice a week. So relaxing and I hope it helps keep me at ease through the rest of my pregnancy and also during labor and delivery. (Eeeek. Such a scary thought.)

Stretch marks // Not yet, and hopefully never. I think I read this is hereditary, though, so if it happens so be it. My friend Moe told me about this cream and this oil so I ordered both and having been using them after my showers which I hope will help if possible.

Swelling // No swelling yet, either.

Maternity clothes // Yes, I am starting to wear lots of dresses and I also got a pair of jeans that I really love. I am wearing a few maternity shirts at this point, too.

Sleep // I am sleeping well, which I also feel happy about. I’m sleeping mostly on my side and am thinking about ordering one of those long pregnancy pillows soon. Everyone I know who has had a baby recently as told me that they are magic so I feel I need to get one for the weeks/months ahead.

Food cravings //  Nothing really, just still drinking whole milk by the gallon every few days. :)

Symptoms //  I honestly have hardly had any symptoms during this pregnancy. For the first few months I had a hard time believing there was actually a baby inside me. Ha! I did have sore boobs at the beginning, but that is honestly about it. No sickness! Praise UP!

Movement // Yes! Feeling kicks this week and Zan has even been able to feel some too!

What I miss //  Wegmans turkey subs and beer when everyone else is drinking it.

What I’m loving // All the well wishes from friends and family.

What I’m looking forward to // I’m honestly looking forward to seeing how my body changes. Such a crazy thing to be growing a human inside of me. I feel so lucky and want to try my best to savor it.

Best moment this week // I shared my news with my second graders on Friday and also sent a letter to the parents. The kids were really excited! And some of their comments were so funny!

Words of wisdom // I love this quote I read this week and want to remember it always:

The most important thing she’d learned over the years was that there was no way to be a perfect mother and a million ways to be a good one.
– Jill Churchill

I can’t believe it. We’re halfway there. ♥

In some ways it feels like it’s been a long time. And in others it feels like it’s only just beginning. Save for a cyst they found on my ovary {which is gone now and everything is fine!}, my time so far with this baby has been the easiest thing and I’m so thankful for that. There is so much I am excited about and so much I’m scared for too. Mostly, I want time to slow down. I’m so grateful I get to experience this little life growing and want to pay attention for every moment that it lasts.

//

a few bits and pieces, big and small…

I think we have a name picked out and I know I’m totally biased but I honestly think it’s the most beautiful thing. We’re open to changing it, but so far can’t seem to find anything we like better. It was the first name with thought of even before she was real and now that she’s coming it just sounds like it’s supposed to be hers.

I started to feel the baby flutter a few weeks ago and it is the most magical feeling. And so strange! I love it.

A random tidbit, but one I want to remember is how much I am craving whole milk. Ha! Nothing else, really. Just drinking a few glasses of ice cold whole milk each and every day. Cheers!

My favorite book so far has been a beautiful memoir by Beth Ann Fennelly, Great With Child. It’s written in a series of letters to her young pregnant friend and I finish every chapter with the warmest feeling. I have also ordered Night Lights by Phyllis Theroux, as I was told that it’s also a soul warmer, which are the best kind of books in my opinion.

Now that I’m starting to show a little I am getting excited to start wearing some of the maternity clothes I’ve picked up here and there over the last few weeks. I’m really going to try to embrace the bump! I’ve gotten some cute pieces at Target, Destination Maternity, and Old Navy and also found this awesome sweater at Madewell that I think will last me through until the end! I’m trying to be thoughtful about what I buy and know also that since I’ve always tended to like looser shirts and sweaters many of my current clothes will do just fine, which is lucky!

I have started following some of the most wonderful small shops on instagram for children’s clothing and accessories. They are handmade, so definitely on the pricier side, but I know they are so well made and can be used again or handed down, which I think makes them worth it.

// I would love to collect some blankets and swaddles from Willaby Clothier. So lovely! I want them all!

// The prettiest clothing from Soor Ploom | Mama Owl | Misha and Puff

// And she needs one of these dolls from Brazen Wildflower, of course.

I have been adding to my c u t i e  p a t o o t i e Pinterest board for a few years now, and it’s fun to look back on it and see how many little girl photos I have pinned. Maybe that means it was meant to be. :) I’m getting really ready to start dreaming up the nursery too. Eee!

Also, I am having fun playing around with Baby List to keep track of things we need/want. I love that you can add stuff from anywhere, even Etsy! I added this onesie from The Jones Market right way, because she NEEDS IT, naturally. I mean, can you even?? Any recommendations for me? I feel like I know some essentials from being a nanny for so many years, but I still feel clueless in a lot of ways. I don’t want to go crazy and I don’t want too much stuff! What is one thing you couldn’t live without? I would love to hear anything and everything that you think we need!

//

I am going to try really hard to take pictures of my bump from here on out. I know this time is fleeting and I want don’t want to miss any of it. On Tuesday we are having our 20 week ultrasound and I am really excited (a little nervous, too!). Praying everything is growing just right and I can’t wait to see a picture of her again. I wrote on instagram last week that I get worked up thinking of how grateful I am to get to take this journey. So much to be happy about. I thank heaven every single day. ♥