Rob and I are overjoyed to finally share the good news that our little family is growing. We’ve been bursting with excitement over here since early November and it has been so difficult to keep our little secret. Especially these past few weeks, when I’ve had to get creative with my wardrobe. Now that I’m 14 weeks along, it seems like the perfect time to share the news with the world (or at least with our little corner of the world). Baby Gavin is expected to arrive on July 10, 2017.
Rob and I love a good surprise and we’ve decided not to find out the baby’s sex until it arrives. Although I’m sure we will have lots of predictions from family, friends, and readers of the blog in the coming months.
We plan to use the spare bedroom in our little rental house as the nursery and Rob and I keep getting goosebumps every time we refer to “the baby’s room.”
We’ve cued a few people in and they often ask how I’ve been feeling. I can honestly say that I think I fared better than most women in their first trimester, but it hasn’t exactly been easy. Nausea and exhaustion became my unwelcome companions for the past 7 weeks and I ate a steady diet of all things carbohydrate during that time. Vegetables and other nutritious foods haven’t exactly been my friends.
Fortunately, my morning sickness was best described as “evening sickness.” A light, slowly eaten breakfast of cheese and crackers helped me start my days on the right foot and as long as I kept some food in my stomach during the school day, I was functional. The real discomfort always arrived in the evenings. Which is exactly how I would want it. Thankfully, the nausea didn’t have much of an impact on my classroom or students.
In the past week, I have begun to notice a change in how I feel. I’m still exhausted at night and can’t seem to crawl into bed early enough, but I’ve been blessed with an occasional break from the nausea. And I’ve begun to experiment with eating vegetables again. We ate tacos for dinner four times in one week and this past weekend Rob and I actually went to see a movie. I relished every single bite of buttery popcorn. I’m hopeful that things are finally beginning to turn around.
Thankfully, Rob has been such a wonderful and supportive husband every step of the way. I’ve pretty much been down for the count over the past several weeks and Rob has been incredibly sweet. He does virtually all of the cooking and cleaning, will happily run to the store if there is something that sounds appetizing that we don’t currently have in the house, sits by my side if he knows I’m sick, and has been reading What to Expect When You’re Expecting right along with me.
The big question that has been on both of our minds has been how we will continue to juggle everything when the baby arrives. This first trimester has served as a bit of a test run. I’ve had just enough energy to teach part time and write an occasional blog post. It is my sincere intent to keep teaching, blogging, sharing, and pursuing all of my current projects after the baby arrives. I plan to scale back a bit in each area to make room in my life for motherhood and our little peanut.
In the meantime, Rob and I are enjoying this time of anticipation as we prepare for our family to grow. We can’t wait to share the journey with you.
Thank you to the incredibly talented Ania from Lulu & Lula Photography for capturing such beautiful images.
