20 weeks

i just love how blue our bedroom looks in the morning. isn't that wall color pretty? i want to take it with us every time we move.

we are well into the second trimester now, aren't we? it's going by so fast this time. i often forget how far along i am or that i'm even pregnant. sometimes someone will ask me how i'm feeling and i'm like great, why are you asking? oh yeah. if my tummy wasn't bigger and if i didn't feel this baby almost constantly i wouldn't even be able to tell that i'm pregnant. that's the magic of trimester number two. it's always so nice to me.

i feel like i used to go on and on all the time to anyone who would halfway listen to me about being pregnant. it's no joke, being pregnant just isn't what it used to be when you've already got a little wild thing running around and distracting you. i'm struggling to find things to tell you about. cravings? i can't think of any. sleeping habits? i'm pretty sure kahree is in charge of how well i sleep at this point. weight gain? you don't wanna hear about something lame like that. although i am very proud of how well i've kept that under control this time around. i gained 45 pounds with kahree by the time she finally came. which i told myself was only 5 more than 40 and that's only 5 more than 35 which is the recommended number, right? well this time around they said that since i'm so short i should really be able to cap it at 25. so lots of running and not very many treats and we just might make it. now see, i've gone and talked all about weight gain anyway. can i think of anything more interesting?

movement. we can talk about feeling little babies move. it's so delightful. i can't remember exactly how far along i was when i felt kahree move. i think i was past 20 weeks. i felt this little baby around 14 weeks. and the stinker hasn't let up since. i thought kahree was surprisingly bold and brave when we started getting to know her, two introvert and shy parents and she's still as wild as a lion. for some reason i thought she was as crazy as we were going to get and i even feared she would bully the rest of our type b children with the strong hand of a big sister dictator. but the more i'm around the new baby the more i realized that it may quite the firecracker all on its own.

kahree held still during her ultrasounds and turned every way she was supposed to obediently. this baby refused to budge in any direction expect to throw kicks and punches with a fury, no matter how we tried to move it. kahree has sweet and timid little kicks until she got bigger and more crowded in there. this baby BEATS me. it's still pretty tiny and so not very strong yet but i fear for the day that there will be more force behind those movements. all the time, kick kick punch punch, all over. it reminds me of the feeling in your stomach when you go down a roller coaster, not painful but forceful, except for it's all the time. i'm not complaining...yet. so far i'm pretty impressed. but also worried. kahree is so good but she's so strong willed and independent. i think i was secretly wishing for a mild mannered child. i don't think this one is it. but that's okay. it's comforting too, like i know our little one can handle anything it needs to. at every point in this pregnancy when it seemed something was just going to go so wrong this baby seemed to be saying "it's alright! i'm still here! i'm fighting to stay with you, and i'm going to win." and that makes me smile. i'm ready to have another one of our children come stay with us for a while. no matter how many firecrackers we have running around. it'll be a party. all day, and probably all night too! i'm tired just thinking about it but still, bring it on.

guess what! we have another ultrasound on thursday! i think i already mentioned this but it's a special, super long and detailed ultrasound. i have to go to a different hospital than usual with different equipment and they said they are going to be checking everything, "head to toe," making sure nothing is wrong or unusual. and it's going to take at least an hour. can you believe that! i must be the luckiest girl in the world. i've always wished ultrasounds lasted so much longer and even though we originally planned this one with a few worries right now i'm just so excited. and we'll be finding out if this baby is a boy or a girl! i think if we didn't want to know we'd either have to close our eyes the whole time or find out anyway, but let me tell you, we want to know. we reeeeally want to know. i can't handle anymore crazy surprises this year and i need to be prepared. if you'll recall from last time my intuition isn't the greatest when it comes to these things, so i won't tell you what i've been thinking or hoping. just know that so far almost everyone has been united in their guesses but i'm still saying it can go either way, it really can. so here's your chance to put your bets in! only a couple more days and we'll KNOW, so guess now!

thanks for listening. we are starting to get so excited over here finally, halfway through, but it still feels like a dream sometimes. the best dream yet.