Here we are, halfway through our journey until we meet! The last couple weeks have been a rollercoaster of finally feeling good enough to eat "real food" again, then getting strep throat and a sinus infection to make me feel awful again. But here we are at week 20 - healthy, happy, and hungry! Unlike your big sis who had me craving chocolate milk and mustard (not together), you have me wanting yogurt, Mexican food, and Skyline chili. To this day, Annalyn is obsessed with mustard (as in eats Dijon and yellow mustard with a spoon) and loves hot cocoa, so I wonder if you will be a yogurt and salsa lover. Guess we will just have to wait and see! Some of my favorite snacks lately have been Chobani plain Greek yogurt mixed with ranch seasoning as veggie dip and strawberry yogurt with homemade granola (this definitely helps with the crazy bad heartburn stage I've hit, too. Hoping it means you'll have lots of hair like sis!). I also finally gave in and am trying to reincorporate chicken into our diet (starting with this ciabatta chicken sandwich). Later this week, we're also having some friends over for a Mexican food feast, so I'm thinking you'll love it. It's definitely the start of my favorite part of pregnancy!
Even more exciting than food, this week we get to see you at our 20 week ultrasound! I absolutely can't wait. With Annalyn we were so anxious to find out gender at this ultrasound, but with you, we get to just sit back and enjoy watching you jump around (which you're doing more and more, especially at night). Daddy's still waiting for when he can feel you kick from the outside - not quite yet, but I suspect we're getting closer. I'm hoping we can see some of what you look like - with Annalyn's ultrasound I could tell a few things, like she was tiny and had Daddy's forehead. Most of all, it's always super comforting to see my little ladies safe, sound, and growing like crazy!
Post-ultrasound: The ultrasound went well, and everything looks great! You're measuring about 3 days behind, in the 47ish% for your due date, but up to 10 ounces! You looked a little chubbier than Annalyn, but when I looked back at my pregnancy journal, she weighed 12 oz. at 21 weeks (5 days behind her due date), so probably pretty close to big sis. We got to watch you squirm around a little, but by the time the technician turned the screen so we could see it, you were mostly all snuggled up with your hands up by your face. It was really sweet to see, but didn't make for the best pics - you just weren't having any part of a profile close-up. Oh well, I guess we will have to wait to see that pretty little face of yours come May/June. Don't worry, Mama will make up the photos later. Here's the few that we did get to see:
(head on the right, body on the left; face on)
(hands crossed up by your face on the right)
(just to confirm, definitely a girl - genetics don't lie!)
(sweet little feet)
Almost as soon as I wrote the beginning of this post, we hit another milestone we've been awaiting - Daddy felt you kick! I'm hoping this means you're going to be my obedient child and do as I ask (does that really exist?). Just after dinner, I was lounging on the floor with Peanut and you started kicking like crazy. I swore I could feel you from the outside, but I wasn't sure if this was just because I knew where it was on the inside, too. Just in case, I told Daddy to come and see if he could feel and sure enough, you got a few good kicks in for him! We tried to explain to Annalyn and have her try, but the whole concept was pretty lost on her. It's ok, I'm sure you two will exchange plenty of jabs later in life...
I'm not sure if I've written about your name yet, but Emelina (pronounced Emma-lena) has always been the name we've had for our second daughter. It's an old family name on Daddy's side (which is where I first heard it probably 7 years ago), and I've loved it ever since. Obviously, I'm sure it will be shortened to Emma, which is fine by me, too, since I'm a Jane Austen fanatic. Like Annalyn's name, Daddy and I like that it's unique and uncommon (at least in our country - it's more common in Hispanic and European countries), but still pretty normal and easy to pronounce. Also, they shorten easily to Anna and Emma, which is pretty cute for sisters. What does it mean? Well, in German, it's a derivative of Amelia and it has meanings like "industrious and hard-working"; in Spanish it means "industrious leader"; and my personal favorite is it's meaning in French - a derivative of Emilie (which means "rival") formed by adding the diminutive ending -ina, hence "little rival." I think that's only appropriate for a little sister two years apart. We're not completely sure on your middle name yet, but the leading contender is Mae, because it's classic, simple, and in my opinion adorable (plus I have a good feeling you'll not make it til your due date in June - ironically, June is another middle name I like. It took me a long time to realize that two of the names I was considering were Mae/June and I could probably just wait and see which month you make your appearance. Because Mama's corny like that).
Enjoying every minute with you as my little tummy baby, Aboo. So glad we finally came to an understanding on the whole eating and not hurling thing. Our first Mama-Daughter compromise! Take as long as you need, little lady, but we can't wait to meet you later this year.
Love you like crazy,
Mama
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