Beanie's Day

Today was my due date with Beanie. It’s been a long and bittersweet day as we’ve remembered our sweet first baby and tried to celebrate his short life.

It’s a crazy thing, loving the baby in your belly so much and missing the one in Heaven just as much. If Beanie had lived we wouldn’t have our sweet girl. But having her doesn’t make us miss him any less or make me stop wishing I were holding him right now and soaking in his newborn smell and snuggles.

I often wish they were twins, either still baking or both just born. But I don’t get to choose. So we remember our Beanie and continue to love him the best way we know how.  And we love his little sister and are grateful for every day that we get with her.

We love you so much, Beanie. I wish I was holding you in my arms, but you’ll always be in our hearts. 

Tickled Pink!

Baby Bacon is a GIRL! We had an amazing day yesterday with our families gathered to celebrate Mother’s Day, my Mother-in-law’s birthday and, of course, finding out what kind of bacon we’re making. In a word? Priceless!

We decided to do the cake thing to find out if we’re having a boy or girl. Matt wasn’t completely sold on this to begin with, but, well, it’s cake! How can you really go wrong with that?

We decided to cut it before we ate so we wouldn’t all be scarfing down our lunch to get to dessert. It was a precious moment!

Despite the fact that my hunch was girl very early and all the “old wives tales” pointed to girl, I was still genuinely surprised to see that pink frosting.

After everyone left, we were so excited that we decided to go shopping to get started on her wardrobe. Miss Eliza is going to be a well-dressed baby! 

I could barely sleep last night. I kept thinking about dollhouses and ballet recitals and those obnoxiously large hair flower/bows that I think are crazy cute. She’ll have plenty of opportunities for sports and trains and the “boy” things, too, but for now I’m just relishing the thoughts of sugar and spice and everything nice.

Until she’s 13 and screams that she hates me as she runs down the hall. But that’s going to be OK, too. I’m pretty sure that part is just called payback—right, mom?

Half Baked!

Holy cow! Today I’m 20 weeks—I can’t believe we’re half way through this pregnancy and that Bacon will be here before we know it. After a first trimester that c r a w l e d along, the second trimester is just flying by. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised since, you know, everyone said it would be this way. They also said that the last trimester would go back to a snail’s pace, so I guess this means I should enjoy the next few weeks before time slows back down.

20 weeks!

Late last week we had our “big” ultrasound, also known as the 20 week ultrasound and officially known as an anatomy scan. This is a 45-ish minute scan where they look at bones and organs and even lips to make sure that everything looks good and measures on track. Bacon’s anatomy is perfect! And the little stinker isn’t so little—s/he’s measuring at the 88^th percentile in size. No tiny baby for us!

Sweet profile

We did get one bit of news that wasn’t perfect. I have a two vessel cord, also know as single umbilical artery. The cord usually has three vessels—a vein and two arteries. I have one vein and one artery. This is something that happens in 1-3% of pregnancies and could be problematic, but the doc is not at all concerned given the other factors that paint the bigger picture. I asked if this might keep the baby from getting the nutrients needed and she pointed out that at 88^th percentile, this clearly isn’t an issue. But there is a chance it could become one, so we’ll have extra ultrasounds and just keep a close eye on things to make sure the Bacon Bit keeps up the pace and growth remains strong.

Can't wait to squeeze those hands!

Wondering if it’s a boy or girl? So are we! It’s been written down and sealed in an envelope to be opened on Sunday. We’re excited to have our families coming over to celebrate Mother’s Day and we’re going to have a little extra fun by finding out together if we’ve got a Baconator or Baconette cooking in there.

Perfect little foot! Kicks are getting stronger--Daddy got to feel them for the first time on Sunday.

It’s hard to believe we’ve only been in Austin for a little over a week. So much has happened already—and we found a house! I’m shocked that it happened that fast, but would rather find something we love right away than go down to the wire looking. The contract was executed today and we’re scheduled to celebrate our first anniversary by closing on our first house together.

Looks kind of like s/he's doing a flip. We're head over heals for you, Bacon!

Whew. No wonder I’m tired.

17 Bathroom Breaks Later

Y’all, I’m just saying that 5 days is a lot of days to sit in a car. Especially when you have to stop all. the. time. to go to the bathroom*. That said, we made the most of The Great Cross-Country Road Trip Babymoon Adventure and we are now settling in to our temporary digs in Austin. 

All in all the move itself went well. We hit the road and spent the first night  in Joshua Tree, CA where we got to stretch our legs and play on the rocks in the park. We also got to spend a little bit of time with friends in Phoenix and then made another detour to see family. We made a very special stop in West Texas in the little town where my grandparents lived and my dad grew up. It was fun to show Matt the places where I played and to relive so many amazing childhood memories.

We eventually made it into Austin (did I mention it took FIVE days?) and in the past 48 hours we moved into the rental (which would be really cool if it didn’t smell a little funky), started house hunting, bought a new (to us) car (we donated the on-its-last-leg Jeep before me moved) and sent me back to work in the real world. No wonder I’m tired and jonesing for a vacation from my “vacation.”

So, yeah. It’s all good. I’m still not so sure about the whole getting up and putting on real clothes and makeup to work, but I’m adjusting and hope to get back into the routine without too much grumbling. (Well, I guess it’s really Matt who hopes the grumbling dies down.)

I should add that Bacon endured the trip well. We’re 19 weeks today--almost half way! To mark the occasion s/he started kicking hard enough for me to feel it from the outside. Really hoping Matt gets the chance to feel this little kung fu fighter soon!

* Fun fact: We really did stop 17 times to use the bathroom. I’m more than happy to report that only one of those facilities made me want to hurl. Bonus fun fact--gas dropped $.60 per gallon as we headed east. I’ll take it.