Highs and Lows: Anniversary Edition

I'm a little late posting today, so let’s hop straight into it. 

Lows: 

1) Yesterday was Jonathan and I’s 5^th anniversary. Hands down, the low of my week was being away from him at this time. 

Still had flowers sent to me in Louisiana. Such a sweetheart.

This separation is made even harder by the fact that Jonathan was away on business the week before I left for America, giving us only 12 hours together before I was headed to the airport. 

I am missing him bad. During our engagement and for about the first year of our marriage, Jonathan worked a rotational schedule. He’d be home for 2 weeks, and then away for two weeks. We learned during that time not to prescribe too much meaning to sentimental dates. 

During our first year of marriage, I was alone for my birthday, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. It was very hard on me at the time, but I feel like it started preparing me to be flexible and to stop placing so much pressure on certain holidays or anniversaries. 

Still, the 5^th anniversary is a big one, and it stings a bit to be apart. So that’s my biggest low of the week. But it’s been balanced out by some pretty big highs.

Highs:

1) Yesterday when I woke up, I felt the baby kicking for the first time. I think. It’s hard to be sure but it definitely matched the fluttering sensation that it’s been described to me as. It happened a few times throughout the morning, sending a silent thrill straight to my heart. I felt the same sensation a few times today which makes me more confident that it's baby kicks that I'm feeling.

Pregnancy has always weirded me out, so I was anxious about how I’d feel being faced with the reality that there is a teeny-tiny human taking up residence in my belly. Turns out the first kicks are quite pleasant, though I’m sure our little soccer player will get much more rough as the weeks progress. 

2) My BFF Talia, who is an OBGYN in New Orleans, took me up to her hospital to do a personal ultrasound. 

Me and Dr. Talia

This was such a neat experience, to explore every aspect of my baby with someone who already loves and cherishes them. She confirmed that our baby is totally beautiful and developing perfectly. She also knows the gender, although I had my eyes closed during this part of the scan. 

My intuition is starting to get very strong about what sex our baby will be. I think that my hunches were pretty much non-existent before yesterday, but my current intuition more so comes from knowing Talia so well, and being able to discern subtle things from her that gave me an idea of what color balloons to expect at our gender reveal party. So what do I think jelly bean will be? I’ll never tell!  

Baby is still measuring right at Oct 23, and is weighing in at 52% percentile for a baby at 18 weeks in utero. So basically, so far our baby is textbook. Which makes sense, since Jon and I are both such nerds. 

The limbs were measuring slightly long, so hopefully that means he or she have inherited Jonathan’s tall genes. There is a 13 inch difference in our heights, so it could really go either way. 

Jonathan and I look so different that it’s very hard to imagine what our child will look like. Will they have blonde hair and fair skin? Dark hair and olive skin? Be tall and lean or petite and athletic? 

One thing that we’re pretty confident about is that our baby will have blue-green eyes. Jonathan and I freakishly have the exact same color eyes, and our parents as well have either green or blue eyes, making us pretty certain than a brown eyed baby isn’t in our future. 

It’s a shame too, because I’ve always had a weakness for big brown eyes. I guess Samson will remain the only brown eyed baby in my life. 

Even Bailey has green eyes to match the rest of the family. 

3) Getting my tan on. 

I’ve been getting out in the sunshine for about 45 minutes everyday. Just reading a book while soaking up the rays has been such a welcome change from the typically cool temperatures and overcast skies of Aberdeen.  Only about a week until we’re heading to the Gulf Coast for some beach time. I can’t wait! 

4) Family mahjong nights. 

We’ve been getting in a few games every night which I am loving. Last night, when I got back from New Orleans, my parents were already sitting at the mahjong table with the tiles set up, ready to play. 

I love them so much and I’m glad they’ve really taken to this game that has slowly taken over my life. 

5) Movie date with my dad to see The Great Gatsby. 

I’ve been waiting in anticipation for this movie ever since I heard that Leo was cast as the elusive Gatsby. It definitely lived up to my highest expectations, and I’m glad I got to share the blockbuster experience with my Dad. 

All in all, it’s been a really great week. I miss my hubby and wish he would have been here to celebrate our anniversary, be present at the ultrasound, and shop for all things baby. But it’s been such a special time with some of my very best friends and my parents that I’m halfway glad I got to come before Jonathan arrived and soak them up all by myself.