A Letter to My Girl

Dear Eliza,

I can’t believe the moment is almost here—the moment when we finally get to see your sweet face and hear your (hopefully) strong cry. That is if I can hear you over my own crying and see you through my own tears.

It’s taken nine months for you to grow big and strong enough to come out and meet the world. But it’s taken much longer than that, sweet girl, for me to become your mama.

I guess this is where I should warn you that your Daddy and I might be a little older than the parents of some of your friends (though we’re happy that we likely won’t be the only parents at Kindergarten drop off in our mid-forties).

Many years and tears and prayers got me to this day. Waiting to find your Daddy and then being amazed at how perfect he is for me. Together waiting for the news that you were on the way. We loved and lost your big brother along the way, and as much as we miss him, we know that he helped bring you to us, too.

We already love you so much more than we could ever believe. Everyone tells us that what we feel now is nothing compared to how we’ll feel after we actually get to meet you. I can’t imagine loving you more, but I’m more than willing to accept the challenge.

I’m going to miss having you inside of me. To feel your (not so) little kicks and rolls. Your sweet little hiccups that pop-pop away. The way you make my stomach dance—I could watch it for hours. And, selfishly, just getting to have you all to myself, 24-7. Being pregnant with you has been such a gift. I pray that God will write these moments on my heart so I will never forget.

But it’s time. It’s time for you to come out and meet the world. For me to make the mental leap that this little alien inside of me is really you. A real baby who will stretch and cry and eat and dirty more diapers than we can imagine. A real little human who will grow and change and become your own person. I think that’s what we’re most excited about—to see who you are and who you will become. To know you and have the privilege to watch you grow and shape you along the way.

So let’s do this, baby girl. Try not to be too scared when you come out—conditions are going to be quite different than what you’re used to. But Daddy and I will be right there and we’ll take good care of you. We’re SO excited to meet you!

All my love,

Mama

The Progression

A look back at the past 9 months:

8 Weeks

18 Weeks

28 Weeks

38 Weeks

Luckily we don't have to rely only on my (terrible) self photography. Our super fantabulous wedding photographer, Chip Gillespie, shot some pictures for us, too. (Taken at 33wks).

You can see more of his amazing pictures on his blog right here. 

Just a few more hours until we get to see what's been growing inside that big belly! 

A Place to Call Home

Well…so much for doing a great job of blogging all summer and documenting the pregnancy. In my defense, we did have a few things going on with the move and a new job for Matt and, well, getting ready for this baby girl to get here. I had grand intentions to write about how overwhelming it is to register. To share some of the joy of celebrations for Eliza with friends. To share some of the thoughts and feelings that have been part of this journey.

Yeah. Guess that didn’t happen.

So now here we are one week away from meeting our girl. I’m having a baby next week. At the latest. That more than blows my mind! I’m going to tackle how I really feel about that in another post (I promise!) and use this one to share some of preparations.

So we bought a house and moved in! Matt was still job searching when we moved which ended up being perfect—he was completely available for all of my honey do’s. We’re really happy with the house and have enjoyed getting to entertain again. (Have I mentioned lately how lucky I am to have a husband who loves to cook? And he’s so freaking good at it.)

The most fun, though, has been the nursery. It was so much more than just decorating a room in the house. It was so fun to put together the part of our home that will belong to our daughter. Rather than explaining it, I thought I show you in pictures.

The before picture--don't be fooled by thinking that paint is pale. It was beyond pepto and this just doesn't do it justice.

Proud papa getting painting the room with his usual gusto. We painted it "Cool Jazz" from  Behr. It's kind of a Tiffany blue in person.

This armoire belonged to my grandparents. My grandmother painted it back in the 70's and after they passed away I asked for it because I thought it would be so perfect in a little girl's room. Good thing we're having a girl! We replaced the original hardware with glass pulls.

Hanging pictures

The finished room! This is the view from the door.

The art for her name was really my only creative project in the room. I took the fabrics we were using and wrapped 12x12 art canvases and then attached the letters. I love how it turned out! 

We're going to make a few changes on the shelves after we get some pictures back, but I love her book shelf and toys.

Details of the prints over the crib. They're from JustBunch on Etsy.

Detail of the valance. I ordered it and the crib skirt from ThePinCushion on Etsy.

I love this armoire so much!

So this is really my favorite room in the house--her closet!! I just love all those little clothes! I guess the bow board is a second creative project I painted. I'm going to have to add longer ribbon, though, for all those sweet bows.

The view from the closet.

We're really pleased with how it all came together. It's all done and ready to use now...all we need is for her to get here and enjoy it!

One Year

Today is our first wedding anniversary. I can’t believe that it’s already been a year. Then again, I can’t believe that it’s only been a year. Twelve months that we’ve packed just about as full as we could have with, well, pretty much every life event we could have.

MDP—Thanks for an amazing first year. We’ve had some great adventures and we’ve shared the highest highs and lowest lows. I’m so glad that you’re my partner on this journey. I can’t wait to see what year two brings our way!

June 11, 2011

June 7, 2012--What a difference a year makes!

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.