Great Expectations II: 23 weeks

How Far: 23 weeks

Weight/ Clothes: Looking and feeling very pregnant ...haha... gotta love how it all happens so easily the second time around. Oh muscle memory! I am also however getting a lot of walking in now that the weather is nice and we've started grilling more which makes for healthier dinners with WAY more veggies because I LOVE grilled veggies!

Cravings: nada...I wonder if I'll ever be that pregnant woman who wants pickles and ice cream or some weird combo. Never really happened with Levi and I don't see it happening this time around either.

Gender: There's a funny article going around about being a boy mom...oh the things to look forward to...though most of it I was somewhat already aware of from watching and talking to other boy moms. You just have to embrace the messiness, the love of bugs, dirt and bodily sounds/functions. Thankfully Levi does enjoy bathtime which I'm sure will be come all the more important the dirtier/smellier he gets as he gets older. Hopefully Jellybean loves the bath too! Levi is a pretty good eater...so with two boys I'm sure our grocery list will also be growing in the months and years to come! It is exciting that Levi will have a built in playmate when his brother arrives...though it will take a few months to get there, but I'm sure time will fly like it continues to do and they'll be rough housing before we know it.

Movement: Adam felt the baby kick for the first time this week. Jellybean is rocking and rolling a good bit these days.

Symptoms: Nothing new this week...eye twitch, and heartburn and feeling a little tired since we've been keeping pretty busy.

OH and the big one...HUGE pregnancy brain here...I tried to take Levi to his first music class this week and thought we were right on time at 3:30pm when in reality the class had started at 3pm, so we were locked out. The silly part is it was in my calendar correctly and everything. I was SUPER bummed and emotional over it (may have been teary on and off for the next few hours) because I was really excited to take him. He of course had no idea what we were going to or in the end what we were missing.

Mental State: Just pondering the importance of family this week as we celebrated the life of Adam's grandpa. I am so thankful to be blessed with such a wonderful family. Even though we don't live close by, I am grateful that all the grandparents are willing to travel pretty regularly to see us and be a major part of our boys lives. I also love that we live close enough to New York to visit with my aunts, uncles and cousins there as well as my sister and Chris while they were there the past two years, and that we get to see tons of Adam's family at the cabin every year because I love that our kids will grow up knowing a huge portion of our families. It's always fun to see Levi play with the new generation of cousins and hopefully there'll be some more opportunities this summer when we're visiting Virginia.

While we were in Northern Virginia for the memorial we also had a chance to catch up with a group of our college buddies and meet Madison and Austin, the McCormick twins. It's mind blowing that Levi was once that small and that the new baby will also be tiny as babies tend to be. Levi also had an interesting time with us holding the twins. If I was holding a baby, Levi would want up and if I handed said baby off to Adam then he would switch to wanting him. In fact I got a picture where Levi literally climbed up in Adam's lap while he was holding a baby on the couch. Can we say there was a touch of jealousy?! I wasn't surprised because even in Chicago he'd occasionally get jealous if I was holding James, my Godson. Oh boy...he has not idea what's headed his way. We try to tell him about his brother and the baby in mommy's belly, but at this point he has no concept. I want to tell him to trust me, it'll be his best friend and a built in playmate right here at home soon enough.

Appointment Updates: I have a midwife appointment scheduled for next week. Otherwise nothing new to report.

Best Moment of the Week: My sister announced her pregnancy this week! Can you believe we're expecting at the same time. It's mind blowing and so cool. With our age gap (7 years) I would have never thought we'd be in this same season of life and yet here we are...how cool! She's due in November, so our little Jellybean will have a very close in age cousin, little nugget. We'll see a few weeks from now if we'll be adding another little fellow or little lady to the family mix. I already have shower plans and gift ideas in the works since I've known since she was about 5 weeks along...can you tell I'm a very excited Auntie (or Tati)...wonder what her kiddos will call me?!