Almost Halfway There!

I’ll be 20 weeks on Sunday, and then Monday is the “big” ultrasound where we’ll (hopefully, if the baby cooperates) find out if we’re having a little boy or a little girl join our family. What’s your guess? I haven’t had any sort of intuition, but then again I didn’t with eit

We had a regular checkup yesterday and got to hear the heartbeat, which is SUCH a great sound! I’m not feeling consistent movement yet (although the doctor said the baby was moving around a ton at the appointment yesterday, based on all the noise with the doppler), so hearing the heartbeat was a nice reassurance that the baby (or “Ninja” as J dubbed him/her) is doing well.

I’m still tired a lot, as Brian can attest to (it’s typical for me to conk out on the couch around 8 or 9… still!) but other than that I’m feeling great! I’ve had cravings for beef (brisket, hamburgers, steak, etc.) which is a new thing for me – and my biggest craving by far has been for…

Bacon-wrapped jalapenos filled with cream cheese! During the first trimester when I felt nauseous so often, these were the only thing that actually sounded good to me. We’ve only made them a couple of times but mmmmm they’re so amazing!

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it but two of our best friends have already had babies this year, so it’s been fun for me to be around newborns again! Amanda over at MomOnReview had a baby girl in February – Baby Rea. Isn’t she adorable?

Brad and Amanda tried for several years before getting pregnant with Rea, so it was especially exciting when she was born. They’re amazing parents already, and I am sooo happy for their sweet family.

And in January Paul & Jen had their third daughter, Haven. We spend a lot of time with them – their girls and our boys are similar in age and play together really well, which is an added perk! We also swap babysitting with them from time to time (which is the BEST setup ever – I highly recommend finding friends you trust to swap with). We babysat for them last night, and the boys loved having a baby around.

So sweet!

It was a great evening despite it taking over an hour for the four older kids to fall asleep. I know we’ll have some insane days once the baby is born, but it showed us that we can figure out a way to make it work with three kids, and I loved seeing how the boys were around a newborn. They both “held” her (with my help) and were so gentle with her!

I’m off, but I’ll be posting again later this week with a great giveaway from Rubbermaid… and then of course keep an eye out next week for the big reveal!