Of baby bumps, preschoolers, and cathedrals: 24 week bumpdate

I think it's time for another baby+Susie+life update. Disagree? Navigate away!

First: I'm pretty sure the Pilgrims came to the United States in search of sunshine. Put away your history books, folks, because I have found THE reason. England takes rain and grey skies to an extreme.

Back to the exciting stuff.

Baby girl is 24 weeks along, and simply a delight to gestate. My life is physically so easy right now, and I know that's causing me to have the gentlest second trimester. I don't think a person can fully appreciate a pregnancy when she's not painfully on her feet at least eight hours a day - unless she's gone through one when she has been on her feet. The ability to sit down when I need to is such a gigantic blessing. I'm certainly not taking it for granted. With Landon, I spent the entire pregnancy annoyed that I would one day have to do it again and trying to scheme up ways of avoiding that. With this pregnancy, I'm relishing it in the knowledge that is is, hopefully, my last.

A kind soul dropped off hand me downs last week, so now I can proceed to donate the past four years of boy clothes that I so dutifully saved. Except, of course, for pajamas and onesies - those things are gold. If I had to pick any sort of look or motif for our girl, it would be stars and space. However, that is incredibly difficult to find. I'm hoping to convince her that she has a fascination with space so that I can create a spaced-themed room for her in a few years. (Our house came pre-furnished, so there's not much room for individuality or creativity in here.) 

I'm convinced the Pilgrims came to America in search of sunshine. That's it: sunshine. 

Landon talks about his sister every day, and he has great plans of sleeping next to her. I don't think preschoolers make great night nurses, but he's already established himself as her loyal guardian. People seem to enjoy chortling over L's fall from only child  status, but he is thrilled. The greatest punishment in his life is being left alone, and now he'll never be alone. ;) 

It's surprisingly difficult to find advice about 4.5 year gaps, especially between kids #1 and #2. Even still, I'm SO excited about our spacing and getting to have one baby at a time. Baby girl fulfilled my wildest dreams and came with a posterior placenta, which means I'm constantly treated to her flips, jumps, punches, and kicks. The only mildly interesting incident in my pregnancy thus far is that we've discovered that my blood pressure shoots up when I manage to get lost in hospitals. In fairness, multiple people have said it's easy to get lost in that hospital. 

My two babies at 24 weeks! L on the left and baby girl on the right! Apparently I exchanged make up for maternity clothes. 

Landon is out of school during week 39 of this pregnancy, and I, personally, think that would be the perfect time for the little lady to show her pretty face. She will likely ignore me, though, and come along at the most inopportune time. I've been coaching S with the knowledge that we will NOT leave the house during the hours of intense traffic--our one hour journey to the hospital is long enough without delays. 

Hitting viability has brought a healing, of sorts, to me. Our little miscarried baby would've been due the first week of March, and knowing that we are that much closer to meeting his/her sister brings me peace. I still miss that little one, and tear up a bit every time I see a heavily pregnant March mama. (You are all beautiful, by the way.) 

Peterborough Cathedral

As excited I am to hold this little girl in my arms, site seeing is much easier with a babe in the belly than in my arms or strapped to me. We visited this glorious site above a few weeks ago, and our girl was utterly angelic the whole time. Her brother, however, did not care for the thousand year old ceiling and just wanted lunch.

I think I've dragged this out long enough. I have four more weeks of the second trimester, and then, I'm sure, a litany of ailments will hit me. But for now, the baby bump & I are entertaining ourselves keeping her big brother alive and well, and likely driving her father crazy.