Weeks: 18!
Baby: Ava is able to sense sunlight as a red glow through my belly at this point, she can also hear outside sounds filtering in through the bones forming in her ears.
Weight: 140.4 (+5.1 lbs)... I also learned at The Glowing Study today that I'm up 2.8% in body fat... Wowsers!
Maternity clothes? Combo. Like today I'm getting away with a maxi skirt and non-maternity tank top, but that's because both are soft and stretchy. The best!
Stretch marks? Not yet....
Sleep: Superb. :)
Favorite moment of the week: I felt the first official kicks on Saturday! I've suspected I might be feeling them for a little while... but it's never been certain enough to say definitively, "Yes. Those are kicks." But Saturday I was certain! It was just like little toothpicks poking me from inside. So sweet. :)
Miss anything? Hmmm... currently I'm feeling pretty great, so no!
Movement: Yipeeee! Yahooo! Yes!
Cravings? Zaxby's still. And ice cream... still. And cereal... always.
Anything make you queasy or sick? At the moment no. Hallelujah!
Gender: GIRL!!!! I think it will be such a precious gift for Elsa and Ava to have each other. Having a sister is one of the sweetest blessings in my life. :) But honestly, so is having a brother... so we'd have been fine with either.
Labor signs: Nope!
Symptoms: Heartburn does hit occasionally, and it sucks. Also my tailbone hurts when I sit or lay on floors.
Belly button in or out? Debatable
Wedding rings on or off? On.
Mood: Good!
Looking forward to: We are going on vacation in just a few weeks to CANCUN! I absolutely cannot wait. The only downside is I will miss Elsa sosososososo much! (She is staying with her grandparents while we go. This is an adults-only trip.) And while I know that we'll relish the freedom and grown-up time... it is really hard to be away from her!
Freak-out moment of the week: Leaving Elsa with a nursery worker I hadn't met before at church. Life is really full of a lot of scary unknowns and it is hard to entrust your children to other people when there is so much evil in the world! (I may sound like I'm being over-dramatic, but bad things can happen to children anywhere... even at church. I know too many people who've experienced this.) But of course my nervousness was unfounded... and better yet, Elsa got so attached to "Miss Donna" that she cried when she had to leave! God help me to trust your care for Elsa, Ava, and all our children to come... in everything.
Thankful for: Two date nights in a row! Chris's parents kept Elsa Sunday and Monday nights for a sleepover and Chris and I enjoyed two date nights. I'm thankful to have family living close by who Elsa loves to visit. But like I said before, I'm ready to see her again! The house feels quite empty without her!
~~~
And, as promised, the background on why we chose Ava Lynette for Baby #2. The story behind Ava is pretty simple. For a long time we had planned on using the name Cora for baby #2. I loved the combo with Elsa, loved that it wasn't very common among other children... etc etc. But then a friend of mine used the name for her baby. And then after that, Downtown Abbey became popular and I worried that the name Cora would hit the mainstream (a dilemma we have ended up facing with the name "Elsa" despite our best attempts at picking something unique at the time. Darn Frozen!) So, just like that, Cora fell out of favor with me. Oddly enough, the name I just couldn't shake off to replace it was AVA (currently #5 in the country in common-ness/popularity. Oops!) So... even though it makes no sense whatsoever, we traded one (still fairly uncommon) option, for a very common one. But we love the name Ava and we think it's beautiful and classic... so I guess we just don't care!
As for Lynette, the story is much cooler. Chris thought of it! But what he didn't know when he suggested it was that it was my mom's middle name!! (I lost my mom to cancer when I was 11. She was a wonderful woman and a wonderful mother.) I loved the idea of carrying her name on in our baby... and I couldn't believe the odds that Chris would think of that name... since it's definitely a bit unusual! Definitely meant to be. :) (We also have plans to carry on my Dad's middle name if we ever have a boy... but we'll see!)
There you have it. Ava is kicking away in there and I love feeling those tiny little pokes. Such a sweet blessing. :)
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