It's hard to believe how quickly this pregnancy is going! On Saturday we will officially be at 25 weeks, putting us just a couple of weeks away from reaching the 3rd trimester! Since our last post, we learned that baby Bean is a girl! :) We will be naming her Ellie Cathleen. Before you ask, I'll go ahead and tell you that the name Ellie doesn't really have any significance to either of us. However, Cathleen is my mom's name, so Ellie will share part of her name and that obviously is a purposeful and special choice for us.
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| Our gender reveal picture |
According to many of my weekly baby updates, Ellie is approximately 13.5 inches long and 1.5 lbs at this point. She's been very low all of my pregnancy, which has been frustrating at times. I can't see her kicks very well over my belly, and she's kicking in not-so-nice places. That can get a little tiring. However, she responds to specific voices at this point. She LOVES her daddy and will consistently always kick his hand when he says hello to her. :) It's pretty precious. She's hearing more and more of my parents voices too, so I'm expecting her reaction to them to increase soon. Ellie loves worship time during church, but seems to adore our lead pastor Steve Poe, and typically kicks his entire sermon each week.
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| Watch us grow! |
We've celebrated a few milestones in the past month. My parents celebrated their 33rd wedding anniversary on May 3rd (woohoo!) and Ben and I celebrated meeting/knowing each other for a year on June 3rd. ;) Life certainly has changed from that first date at Starbucks and Steak 'n Shake.
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| One year! |
June 3rd I also wrapped up a major milestone in my life. That was officially my last day at ZMS teaching. I had been preparing myself mentally for quite a while... I slowly took things home so my room looked less and less like my space for the last couple of months. I started saving things early and sharing stuff with staff that I knew was returning so that things could get used again in the future. But the inevitable happened on that last day... I bawled my eyes out. Two of my favorite people retired this year, so a lot of my emotional mess was partially tied to celebrating their amazing teaching careers, but when it came time to turn in my keys and walk away I simply couldn't stop crying. I have no doubt in my mind that I'm going to treasure being able to stay home with Ellie, and be the one who helps her reach developmental milestones, but it is also going to be a big shock to this over-achiever's system when August arrives and I'm not heading back to long days of working with my resource kiddos. I'm abundantly thankful for the time I had at ZMS and the lessons I've learned are innumerable. The staff is amazing and the kids have been a blessing. All that said, I've spent the past seven years pouring my heart into those kid's lives and now it's time to do the same for my own munchkin.
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| Farewell, my friend. |
Last, but not least, we celebrated Father's Day last weekend. It's Ben's first official/unofficial Father's Day and I can't describe how excited I am to see him hold his baby girl for the first time. (Soon enough!) He's going to be amazing, and based on how she already responds to him, I know that she's going to very quickly have him wrapped around her finger and adore him for life. I'm so blessed to have him, my dad, and my brothers as amazing, Godly men to help encourage and support Ellie to know how amazing she is as she grows up.
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| Some of my many special men! |
Coming soon... Update on Ellie's room transformation! Guest bedroom update! Mini-McClew family reunion and 4th of July festivities.
Hope everyone is doing well! <3
