19 weeks

I am now 19 weeks along. I had my big anatomy ultrasound last week and everything looked great! The baby looked wonderful- lots of movement and weighing just what he should ( estimated) for a late January arrival. He weighed approximately 0.5 pounds and they estimate babies of this age are 8-10 inches long. The earlier hemorrhage I had in my uterus seemed to have resolved- whew! Hopefully no more problems!

I am finally feeling good every day. The nausea hung around until 18 weeks- unbelievably long. Now I can actually eat and not worry about feeling ill later. I still have to eat small, frequent meals, but that is ok with me! I am still tired- I think that is due to second baby, working, caring for toddler and a gazillion other things.

I started to feel the baby move around 18 weeks. The movements were subtle but present initially. I could not feel them with my hands on my belly, only internally. Now, I feel lots of movement internally, but only an occasional movement felt when my hands are on my belly. Dan has not been able to feel the movement yet. I think that will come in the next few weeks.
It is such a nice, comforting feeling to feel these little punches and kicks.

My belly growth has slowed quite a bit. It seems like I got a belly faster than last time, but now it is growing very slowly and I am happier with my size/time of pregnancy!

Ainsley started a Montessori school last week. She is going to go for full days on the days that I work, and probably an extra morning every week. She seemed to like it. I took her for a half day at first. Drop off was a little rough, but the teacher was very sweet. Also, there is a little girl that Ainsley plays with in our neighborhood in her class. When we arrived at school, Maddy ran up to see us. When I left, the teacher picked Ainsley up to take her outside as a distraction. Maddy went with them and stuck by her all day ( so the teacher says). It was so very cute! Love you Maddy!

Maddy was there for Ainsley's first full day on Thursday too. This is the first time Ainsley has been at a school or anything all day without me or her Grandmother in the afternoon for naps. The teacher called at lunch time and said Ainsley was doing great. She had not napped yet, but was active, happy and participating in everything in the morning.

I picked Ainsley up at 5:45 and she was very happy. She was eating pretzel sticks. When I walked up she said, " look, they're crunchy." Then she demonstrated crunching a pretzel. She did this to the other 3 adults we saw there too. Pretty funny. She wasn't emotionally upset to see me at all- which means she didn't miss me too much, right? When we were going out to the car, there was another little girl getting into a car and she yelled across the lot- "Bye Ainsley" and Ainsley replied "Bye." I am very excited that she will form lots of good friendships!

Drop offs were rough the second and third day. When you arrive before 8, most of the teachers are not there. There is a group of early arrival children with one teacher in a room. This seemed to cause Ainsley quite a bit of anxiety- which is understandable. They did not do a great job of distracting her the first day, better the second. I think she only cried for a few seconds after I left. Today- drop off went great. She did not cry at all and seemed excited about her day at school. Hopefully it will go well without Maddy- she is not there today.

We are really excited about this new learning opportunity for Ainsley and hope it continues to go well.

Big news for Ainsley- she had a sleepover at Maddy's house a few weeks ago. Maddy and her Mom watched her while Dan and I went out to dinner. We were planning on picking her up at bedtime and taking her home. Maddy's mom suggested she stay over if she fell asleep and she did. We were still going to pick her up, but Maddy's mom was cool with her staying over. Dan and I were a little unsure of it, but decided to see how it went. Ainsley had an awesome time- she asked to go back daily for at least a week. She would say- "I want to go to Maddy's house, and take off my shoes, and you leave me there." HAHA.

Ainsley knows that I am going to have a baby. She knows that she is going to have a baby brother. She knows that there is a baby in my tummy. I am not sure she grasps this concept entirely, but she is getting there! I think she will be a great big sister.