23 Weeks

We have made it to 23 weeks!  Since finding out that this baby is a girl 3 weeks ago we have enjoyed thinking about the future and what life with a girl will mean.  We have also added some pink to the household!  Not that girls can only wear pink, or that ONLY girls can wear pink...there just seems to be a lot of pink in the bins of clothing we have received!

We are so grateful...I am glad we found out what this baby is because people have come out of the woodwork offering us clothes and such.  What a gift!  We had about 12 bins worth of boy clothing, and some of it we will be able to use again, but most of it is decidedly boyish.  I have had fun going through the bins of girl clothing we have received and spending time sorting, washing and storing them until we get Rocky moved into Rusty's room and we can set up Baby Girl's room.  I have also been able to sort through my boy clothes and give a lot of them away!  Yay!

It has been fun to talk about the baby with the boys.  As I grow, they talk about her a lot more.  Rocky keeps asking us where she will sit in the car and where she will sleep.  He also wonders when she is coming I think!  Rusty is just excited...he definitely understands a lot more of it...although with him being five he has asked a lot more questions about "how" it all happens.  I was able to sit down and have a good conversation with him about that just last night!  He is very interested in the "Special Tube" that the baby uses to come out!

I'm feeling pretty good.  A few differences I have noticed with this pregnancy versus the boys:

• A lot of heartburn...A LOT.  I didn't have much if any with either of the boys' pregnancies so this is new to me.  I remember I had a small episode of it with Rocky and bought a mini pack of Tums...when I was cleaning out my car before we turned it over for our trade in on our minivan-YEP we made the plunge and got a Honda Odyssey.  After all, you can't fit three kid seats in the back of a Matrix!-I found that mini pack of Tums.  I had used about three of them.  This time I have had to invest in the super pack, times two.  I have one here at home and one in my purse.  People tell me this means the baby will have a lot of hair but I'm not so sure about that.  Both the boys were little baldies and I was even fairly bald until I was about 2 years old!  
• Many more food aversions/cravings.  With Rusty I craved a lot of mango, and with Rocky I wanted Kraft Dinner.  With this baby it has been all over the map.  There are foods that seemed amazing yesterday that the next day for leftovers make me gag.  That has happened a lot.  There isn't anything that really consistently turns me off, but it has made meal planning a bit of a challenge!  I'm never sure what I will be in the mood for!  I also have consistently craved fresh fruit, Taco del Mar, and Thai food.  Pretty much every night I want a snack of some kind of fruit...thankfully we have been able to have a lot of it on hand!
• Restless legs...This is an issue that a lot of pregnant women deal with, but I didn't really have it much with either of the boys.  This pregnancy it has hit.  Many a night I find myself restlessly tossing and turning in bed and wishing to be able to fall asleep, yet my legs simply won't let me.  There isn't much to be done about it, but I do find that on the days I can get in a good, long walk that really stretches my legs it is much better.  I am so excited for school to get out so that I can go for nice, long daily walks with the boys, Rosie, or on my own.  Yesterday Rocky and I took Rosie for an hour long walk in the woods by our home and I slept much better last night!
• Movement galore...Rusty was a typical first baby.  I didn't feel him until much later on AND the placenta was located in the front with him so it muffled a lot of the movement.  I remember having such a strong desire to feel him move.  I would get so frustrated by people that would tell me I was lucky I couldn't feel him a lot because their babies moved so much they couldn't rest.  Rocky moved a bit more but this one!  She is a wiggle worm!  I first felt her move VERY early on and it has only increased since then.  I absolutely love every kick, wiggle and stretch, even the ones that hurt.  I feel like they are just constant reminders that she is strong and well, which I am super thankful for.

I will check in again in two weeks!  Here is the bi-weekly picture!  I am growing for sure.  

23 weeks and 5 days!

Just for fun I thought I would add a comparison photo!  Here is me with all three pregnancies.  I am 22 weeks with Rusty in the first, 22 weeks with Rocky in the second, and 23 weeks with Ruby (Which will be Baby Girl's blog name) in the third!  I have definitely felt like my stomach is bigger this time around but I started out my pregnancy with Rusty almost 15 pounds heavier than I did this one and with Rocky about 10 pounds heavier.  So maybe that makes a difference?  I just FEEL bigger?  I have no idea.  Regardless I am thankful for the opportunity to enjoy being pregnant three times.  What a gift!