All About Baby

I'm 16 weeks pregnant. so it's about time that I write a post about all the milestones we've achieved with this baby so far. I'm not sure the best way to do this, so here are some fast facts and the belly pictures we've taken so far, and I'll follow up in other posts with some letters that I've written the baby. Buckle your proverbial seat belts, folks: a lot has happened in the past four months.

We found out we were expecting on September 28 when my sister and her boyfriend were visiting. I told Husband immediately after I took the test, while he was taking a break from mowing the lawn, and we were both excited, but he finished mowing the lawn while he let the news sink in, and then came in and told me I needed to start eating more organic fruits and vegetables and listening to more classical music. We restrained ourselves and did not tell my sister that weekend, despite numerous hints and comments that she was ready to be an aunt. :)

My parents came into town for Columbus Day weekend, so we invited Husband's parents over for dinner and told them the good news by giving them board books and notes that read,
"Dear Grandma/Granddad/Grandma Lolly/Grandpa PJ,
Please read this to me in early June.
Love, Baby Flippin."

Our niece then called her parents and told them Aunt Jordan was going to have a baby, which prompted some questions as to the truth of that statement, so we confirmed the news. We called my sister via FaceTime, and she was promptly ready to tell the world, which I promptly refused.

We had our first doctor's appointment on my birthday, October 23 and got to see a perfectly healthy heartbeat that looked absolutely nothing like a baby on the ultrasound. Husband asked the doctor to confirm that we were only having one baby (twins run in both of our families) and then asked when the baby would be able to hear. :) At that point, we started telling the extended family (our grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins) and a few close friends.

Baby measured a few days bigger than we were expecting at my next appointment, so our due date was moved from June 9 to June 5. The day before Thanksgiving we made the news officially public, and since then the baby has started to make his or her presence known as my belly has developed a permanent bump. We started taking pictures of my changing shape in week 11.

Early on, I had some sleepless nights and then some nausea, but thankfully it was relatively mild, and I feel great now aside from some lingering fatigue. I have a thyroid imbalance, which I am now taking medicine for, but before the meds kicked in, I had a few weeks of feeling rotten, since the thyroid symptoms are basically the same as pregnancy symptoms, and I was getting a double dose of nausea and fatigue on top of anxiety about the baby. Thankfully, that has passed.

I'm ready to know if this little one is a he or she and start feeling precious baby flutters, but I'm also trying not to wish my pregnancy away. The first four months have flown by, and I know my days of carrying a baby with me 24/7 are definitely limited, and I only have approximately 5 more months of carrying this baby. Look for more updates and Christmas-y stuff next week. Merry Christmas, y'all.

The Book Thief

Don't worry, there's an upcoming post all about baby, including all the exciting milestones we've met so far and how my belly expands each day and then slightly deflates overnight so that I feel like we're starting over each morning.

But there's so much to share on that front that I'm taking a break today to share the book I read this weekend. With the movie in theaters now, I'd received several recommendations to read The Book Thief, and I'm so glad I listened. I had some Amazon gift card money left from last Christmas (which I plan to hopefully replenish soon), so I purchased The Book Thief on my Kindle and read it all this weekend.

(On a side note, I'm pretty much working every day until Christmas week, so weekends are back to being all about crafts/reading/housework for now.)

The Book Thief has a fascinating narrator, novel (as in new) chapter divisions/summaries, and an anachronistic storytelling that kept me more than engaged in the plot. And the characters. Markus Zusak penned some of the most sympathetic-without being-at-all-sappy-or-ringing-untrue characters that I have read in a long time. And then he placed them in impossibly fraught situations that make you love them.

I'm talking about Germany during World War II and orphans and Jews. I shed a few tears when I finished the final pages last night. Books and movies that have other people sobbing usually evoke slightly damp eyes from me, if that. I'm not a media-induced crier. I am one of those people who cry in private when real life is just too much, but this book was just so moving (and I am 15-and-a half-weeks full of pregnancy hormones) that a couple of tears escaped down my cheeks.

And it was a satisfying end-of-book cry. I highly recommend this book, as I'm already looking forward to reading it again (and seeing the movie). Please read The Book Thief and then I will expect your heartfelt thanks in the comments once you're done.