19 Weeks

This was a good week overall. It began with going to our little buddy Noah's first birthday party. It was my last work week of the school year. My 20th week of pregnancy started on my last day of teaching. Since it's been the weekend since summer vacation began I haven't quite experienced the thrill of summer vacation. It almost hasn't completely sunken in that I don't have to go into work tomorrow. It was a fun week with the students and I'm kind of amazed that this school year is already over and done.

I've felt a ton of "quickening" baby movements this week during all hours of the day and night. Our little baby is already moving a lot and it seems to like it when I eat candy or sweets. I haven't really been craving sweets, but I noticed that Starburst were gluten free while I was shopping at the grocery store and after eating a few of them, I felt some excited little flutters going on! My Dad baked a gluten free carrot cake and shared that with me and Jim. I'm sure the baby enjoyed that as well. Thank you Dad for being a gourmet gluten free chef! :-)

I'm writing this on the third day of my 20th week and so far so good. Here are some pictures of the 19th week. Jim took the 19th week picture of me before we left for Noah's birthday party. I have more than my share of profile pictures from when I'm worn out after work so it's nice to get a picture dressed up and not looking glazed over from a long day at work. I will admit that I'm starting to get annoyed posing for a weekly picture of myself, but I know that one day I (or our future child) may enjoy seeing the progression of the pregnancy. Maybe not, who knows, right? Realistically, though, if we ever have a second child, I'm certain that we (I) won't be taking the time to do the details of tracking pictures and blogs that I am doing during this pregnancy. I caught a picture of Jim holding Zoe and she had her paws wrapped around his nose (awe) and then another picture of Chloe and Zoe laying together on the back porch. The other picture is of our first official baby gift that I received from a parent and student from my class. It was such a thoughtful gesture. I don't know if it's just me, but it feels like this pregnancy is going by very fast and I really want to just soak it all in as much as I can while I can. Every day I thank God for all of His blessings on our life and on our future baby's life. It's going to be amazing to be parents.