First things first…a Pregnancy Update!

Wow, its been way too long since I blogged. I apologize for that! It’s been crazy around here with the end of school, packing up my classroom, trips to Raleigh, and a big ol’ vacation. I promise to do better in days and weeks to come. So, of course I have pictures of LOTS of things from our vacation and tons to talk about but I hear there are friends and family members who are getting restless for pictures of the growing baby girl, so we’ll start there :-)

This was taken in Wisconsin, Memorial Day weekend, so I was 21 weeks pregnant at the time.

Prepare for things to look a little different in pictures to come….

At the end of the school year, my fabulous team mates threw a shower for myself and one of our teammates Lauren. It was a combined baby and bridal shower and was quite fun. Andrew and I had just decided on a name for our sweet baby girl and we got our first monogrammed onesie! Here I am at 24 weeks pregnant with some of Kennedy Grace Eckert’s first clothing!

DISCLAIMER: It is important to remember that these pictures are entirely for you to stare at Kennedy. NOT at the pregnant lady who may or may not be impressed by these pictures of herself.

I’m still 24 weeks pregnant but it amazes me how much bigger Kennedy looks in this picture than in those ones above…I guess she ate her Wheaties this day….

Please remember that my earlier disclaimer is still in full effect as you view the next picture. As I mentioned, we recently returned from our trip to Yellowstone. This is the only picture I have that is only of Kennedy and I from the trip and I’m saving all the cute ones of me with other people for the next post (do you feel the suspense building?), so this is what we’re left with….Here I am at 27 weeks pregnant! (Note to self: do not let anyone take a picture of you after you’ve been walking for a number of hours while pregnant and wearing a bookbag. It somehow seems to make you the size of a bison. In future posts, you will know why my brain jumped to bison…MORE SUSPENSE!)

In other Kennedy Grace news, her room is coming together slowly but surely and I am THRILLED with her bedding. It is super cute but meets Andrew’s approval as well…”It’s girly, but not so girly I need a gun just to walk in here.”

And I had my very first parenting test…Ben was kind enough to purchase Kennedy a swing. A swing (in case you didn’t know) comes in a very large box looking like this:

And as your test of parenting, you are supposed to use these parts and directions to create something that you are going to trust to hold your newborn baby in and swing them back and forth. Right. Needless to say, I read each step like four times before completing it. But just look what I did!

Now I must admit. I’ve had a bunch of stuff sitting in the swing since I put it together because I figure if it’s going to collapse or otherwise malfunction I’d rather it do it sooner not later…so far though, I’m giving myself an A for a job well done.

Kennedy is moving like crazy these days and loves listening to loud music in the car with her Mom. She especially likes it when her Mom sings along. Her movin’ and groovin’ reaction tends to make her Mom so happy that somehow the road gets a little blurry and her Mom’s eyes start to leak.

We have another Level 2 ultrasound on Monday to try to catch a peek at Kennedy’s spine due to the fact that she was stubborn before and wouldn’t turn over for the ultrasound tech’s to be able to see it fully. As I enter my third trimester on Friday (whoa.) our doctor will begin monitoring for any sign that the Papp-A protein is causing trouble.

Though pregnancy continues to cause me to be exhausted and occasionally quite yucky feeling, I am loving every minute of being pregnant with our little girl. Just the other day Andrew and I were having a conversation about how we can’t wait to meet her and see what she looks like and hold her. Wow. We are so lucky.