Pregnancy and Waiting for Baby Brother

We are all excited for the arrival of our sweet little brother today! Brody and Brooklyn have learned to be so careful around my growing belly ("your belly is getting so sooo big mom" as Brody will remind me each day. "Huge!" chimes in Brooklyn). They are both quick to give the baby kisses if they get over excited and bump into my belly. 

I am so excited to watch Brooklyn become a big sister and give of her big sweet heart to her little brother. I'm looking forward to watching Brody transition into the role of big brother again now that he is old enough to begin to understand what that means. 

With my energy waning and sleep becoming sparse, we've officially settled in and adjusted to being home a lot more this past month. We had such a fun adventurous summer that it's been a nice change of pace and helped us prepare for the upcoming winter months with a newborn. Moving to a bigger more open townhouse has been such a blessing to a tired mama and two energetic kids.

Overall this has been such a wonderful pregnancy. I feel this little guy moving around all the time. All the time! Especially from 8 to 11 at night and starting again around 5 am. I'm counting on him coming out ready to party at night and early in the morning. But I'll be ready for him. I've been training for no sleep by waking up every hour to go to the bathroom and having pregnancy insomnia in the early hours of each morning. 

I was confident that this little guy was a boy early on because I felt very similar to how I felt when I was pregnant with Brody. I was nauseated but never actually got sick. I've been able to stay really active this pregnancy and have been going to the gym and running 3-4 times a week until this past month and that has helped me feel really great. I'm about 20 pounds lighter than I was with the other two pregnancies and have felt stronger and able to get around easier. I've had some serious heartburn but nothing Tums couldn't handle, and I've quite enjoyed indulging regularly in my cravings of Chick Fil A frosted lemonade and Ben and Jerry's Strawberry Cheesecake ice cream.

Hey little guy, this last week has seemed like an eternity as we've waited for you to make your arrival and come join our family. We are so excited to meet you! Brody and Brooklyn cannot wait to hold and kiss you and smother you with love. You have the most incredible dad who will love and play and wrestle with you, give you rides on his back and always make sure you feel loved. And you have a mom who will always try her hardest to make you feel loved and will help you grow and learn and find happiness in this life.

So come on out, little guy! You are so very loved already.