...a little update

hello!  it sure has been awhile, hasn't it.  so much has transpired throughout the past few months with our little family and i am finally ready and able to share it all with you in detail here in this space.  i do wish, however, i would have been able to connect here sooner.  alas, here i am.

first and foremost, we are going to have a baby!  (that first photo up there is me and our five week old sweet pea)  it is slowly setting in that in late june, mere months from now, there will be five of us watters.  pretty wonderful.  currently i am almost fifteen weeks along and our little one is a healthy little peach, growing fervently and as the interests say, the size of a lemon.  andrew and i found out we were pregnant on his work trip to the caymans awhile back, believe it or not.  a few days into the trip, i started feeling a bit off.  sore back, crampy, that sort of thing.  we took a test because we had a suspicion and, tada...baby number three was on its way!

that is the big news around here and we are so excited about it.  we've decided not to find out if we are having a boy or girl.  being the planner i am, this is going to be difficult!  stella has been the sweetest big sis every step of the way, talking to the baby in my tummy and asking whether or not she can hold and play with the baby he/she when "it gets outta there".  she has insisted that her sister, so she thinks, will be called elsa.  dear god, i hope and pray a new movie phenomenon takes over sometime from now and june for the sake of my sanity and the naming of our baby.  aside from baby names, we are starting to bring up infant things and figure out where this little guy or gal will go when it makes its grand arrival late spring.  i love getting out the little newborn whites and cozy swaddles.  all of the nesting stuff is just too much fun.

on a sour note, and the reason for my absence here, i have been dealing with horrible morning sickness for weeks.  for whatever reason with this pregnancy i became sick right off the bat.  we literally stepped off the plane i started having bouts of sickness throughout the day.  that shortly graduated to all-day sickness and severe dehydration that landed me in the hospital multiple times, and eventually with home health coming to our home to administer IV's for several weeks.  looking back it is all one big missed blur.  it was really difficult being sick, however it was utterly heartbreaking not being able to do everyday things with my family, like make supper or do bath time.  for over two months i was too weak and nauseated to give bottles and read before bedtime.  that was pretty crushing because i look forward to those quiet moments snuggled in with my babies each and every day.  for those who have had hypermesis before, you know how debilitating it can be.  i am so thankful to have found the right concoction of medication to help ease my nausea and dizziness at this stage in the game.

now in my second trimester, i am doing much better.  i am able to go in public again!  i can change diapers!  (not overly excited about that one but you get the point.)  mornings and evenings are still pretty difficult for me, but overall i feel pretty great and have regained most of my energy back.  i am able to do mom things and i am beyond grateful for it.  i missed it.  i truly missed all the "normal" tasks us parents do throughout our day without really thinking about.  it's funny how quickly we can get lonesome for things we complain about on a daily basis.  for example, i was so tired of laying in bed willing myself not to throw up, i missed doing laundry and sweeping up the kitchen after theo had thrown his supper.  as i type that i know it sounds crazy but it couldn't be more true.  those layers, though sometimes unsavory, made up my days and not being physically able to do anything but get up to pee every now and then started taking an emotional toll on me.

despite all that craziness we had thanksgiving and christmas, which, to my delight were both really lovely.  i do wish i had been feeling well enough to document these holidays more specifically, but that's okay.  i am learning to give myself more grace as a parent and not take things to heart when i cannot do them.  "we can do anything, not everything," right?  anyways, we kept things low key and slept a lot and all was good.  looking back, it was nice to take the holidays slowly.  we might just keep that a watters family tradition.

speaking of holidays, as a christmas gift to each other, andrew and i planned a trip to new york city well before getting pregnant.  we had grand plans to travel in early november so we could walk amidst the crunchy leaves in central park and do all of those gushy autumn in the city types of things, but with me at my sickest in november, we had to postpone.  thankfully, the hotel and airline we chose let us choose another time (in their time frame, of course) so we chose the last possible weekend they offered us.  we ended up ringing in the new years together tucked away in an irish pub as the ball dropped less than a mile away.   it was magic.  and honestly, this trip was one of the best we've ever had.  nothing was overly planned or rushed and all fell into place rather gracefully.  a complete 180 from how things had been going up until that trip.  in fact, i am putting together a post about our adventure to the big apple soon, a little travel guide if you will.  it will mainly be about food, which is the "meat" of any good trip if you ask me.  i am pretty sure i made up for all the meals i had missed out on weeks prior on this getaway.  my belly misses you, new york city.

what are we up to now?  well, we are home finally settling into a routine or sorts.  admittedly, i kind of had to relearn how to be a stay at home mom after all that time spent focusing on getting better.  in those weeks i fell out of sync with mothering and taking care of a household.  things are finally getting back on track and i am taking each day as it comes, both the good and the bad.  our days are spent finding and clinging to a rhythm that feels right: doing new puzzles, resting, watering plants, playing games, doing chores, making meals together, taking baths, giving bottles, reading about princesses, keeping a now walking theodore out of harms way, taking trips to the library, ballet, and supermarket, and the like.  typical mom stuff.  and i love it. i feel as though i have so much to share, so much welled up inside that i want to write about and describe here  in this journal of mine.  creative things, motherhood things, things that have been on my heart these past weeks.  but in good time.  i am just glad to have given you an update!

*i also want to say that i am deeply behind in my correspondences.  i mean, deeply, deeply behind.  i am so sorry if you have written me and i have not gotten back to you yet.  i promise i will, and that i do feel awful for not having done so already.  thank you for your patience and your support, friends.