You are becoming quite the wiggle worm. In the past two weeks you've started moving like crazy....well, like crazy for you anyway. You haven't been a big mover or shaker until now. It's nice knowing your A-OK in your cozy camping spot. You even got the hiccups. It made my whole belly shake. It happened while your dad and I were up in Canada for a marriage retreat at Barnabas. I like to think you were just really fond of the "Barna-buns" I was eating :). In reality, I read that it's because you're practicing breathing/swallowing with the amniotic fluid which leads to hiccups.
My belly is getting bigger by the day, which means you are growing and we are happy about that! Here's a photo of dad and I at Barnabas...our last vacation without you as part of our family. We can't wait to take you there one day. You're going to love swimming and eating ice cream from the General Store!
This is me and my cousin Danielle. She's pregnant too...with your cousin Harlow. You guys will probably be great friends. Harlow is due any day now, so she'll be a little older than you, but we wanted to make sure we got a couple of pictures of our matching jumbo bellies before you guys got here.
I can't believe how big my belly has gotten! You are definitely doing your job and growing up a storm!
I wanted to introduce you to your first pet. Meet Marley. She was our first baby.
She had silly floppy ears as a puppy.
She loved your daddy from the start.
They even sort of look like each other.
Here we are before moving our of our first apartment we all shared together.
She was pretty cute, but probably not as cute as you'll be :).
Now she's a big dog.
We like to think she'll be a good babysitter and that you guys will be good friends. Once you get big enough to play fetch, she'll probably never leave you alone - she loves playing fetch. Can't wait for you two to meet!
I've decided to start using your name now. It's more fun than just saying "Dear Baby".
Today you went to your first football game at OSU. I can't wait for you to go to many more. We went with Grandma Sally and Grandpa Mike and Uncle Cory and his girlfriend Leah (we're pretty sure she'll be sticking around for awhile...we like her).
Hopefully you didn't mind the noise of the crowd and all of your dad's yelling. Something you should know about him is that he gets VERY excited about sports. Sometimes lots of yelling ensues. I'm hoping you'll be used to it by the time you get here, because I'm sure there will be lots more of it to come for many years.
I wonder if you'll be interested in sports? I'm sure your dad would love to teach you all the rules of football and whatever other sport you happen to be interested in. I think he'd really like that. If not, I'm sure you'll find other fun things to do together, but either way I'm sure we'll be making visits to OSU. It's a fun nostalgic place for us and where we started our married life together. We can't wait to share it with you.
Monday night, your dad felt you move for the first time, it only took 24 weeks :). You were a super sneaky little thing and every time he'd come over to feel you move you'd go into hiding, but finally he caught you. His response to feeling you move was:
"It doesn't really feel like a person. It kind of feels like you're digesting a burrito"
I'm sure you'll be much cuter than a burrito though :). The students in my class are very interested in talking about you and they want to feel you move. They try to get you to move and talk to my belly saying,
"Wake up Fren! Wake up Frenny!"
I rather like the nickname "Frenny". Maybe it'll stick :).
The other day one of the little boys in my class came up and rubbed my belly and sang the ABC's to you to try to get you to move and then he said:
"Teacher...how come she never moves!?"
You just like to do things in your own timing I think. Perhaps I detect a stubborn streak in your future? I suppose we'll see....
Here's something you should probably know about me right now. I am terrible at writing letters. Well, I'm actually pretty decent at it when I finally get around to it, but I'm a terrible procrastinator. Hopefully you don't get that from me. If you do, I'm sorry.
Since I last wrote you a letter a lot of things have happened. First of all we found out that you're a girl! We couldn't have been more surprised. Take a look if you don't believe me...
I have no idea why I was so convinced you were going to be a boy. Apparently my motherly intuition was way off. But, we're very excited to have a little girl. We've even picked out a name for you.... well, that is unless you show up and most decidedly look like it's not going to suit you. We'll most likely name you Fern. I think it's a cute name that will grow with you well. I also like that it's unique and quite uncommon (it hasn't been in the top 1,000 names since 1961!), but it's still classic. Hopefully you'll like it as much as we do. Fern was my great grandma's name, although I never knew her, I still think it's nice to have a connection.
Currently you've been cooking for 19 weeks and I'm so excited to be to the halfway point. That means I get to meet you soon! I made your dad take my first real "belly photo" of you today since you really started to grow this week and my belly just popped. I even had to go buy a belly band to keep my pants up now!
Dad says that I look like a hippy from the 60's in this picture, but the 70's would be more accurate. 70's fashion has made a bit of a comback this summer in case you were wondering. I asked him if he wanted to say anything else to you in this letter and he said,
"I don't know what to say! I'll talk to her when she gets here."
That answer is very much like him. I can't wait to see you guys together. I think you'll have so much fun with your daddy - he's a pretty great guy.
Tonight your dad and I looked at pictures online to see what you look like now and I maybe for sure cried. I think dad had a little tear glistening in his eye too, but I doubt he'd admit it :). It's crazy to think that you're practically a real person now! I mean...you've been a real person for awhile, but you've even got fingernails now and you're the size of a fig...almost a lime.
I'll bet you've got pretty cute fingernails by now :). I keep thinking that my tummy has started growing a bit by now, but I think dad thinks I'm crazy. Maybe in a few more weeks he'll start noticing it too.
