2024 is proving to be quite the whirlwind.
Mark and I found out I was pregnant a few days after Christmas. It was the happiest way we could have imagined sending 2023 out the door and into oblivion. We would enter 2024 with a secret: We were expecting our first child.
And in our favorite month, no less. I’m due in September. On Labor Day, to be exact. Ironic and fantastic isn’t it?
At our 8-week ultrasound, Mark and I watched in awe as our baby wiggled inside me. At one point, the baby appeared to be waving at the camera, happy and healthy. I was in the thick of grief, but as I was saying goodbye, I was also saying hello, and that hello was a wonderful thing.
It was the 12-week ultrasound that changed my and Mark’s entire world. There was our baby, looking like, well, a baby. Not a tadpole. Or a human submarine. But a baby. A baby that opened its mouth and rubbed its eyes. A baby that tried to get its legs over its head and stretched out so we could count two arms and two legs. I could have stayed in that room forever, staring at our little miracle.
At the little life our love had created.
Instead of doing a gender reveal party, we wanted to find out what we were having together, in a way that was intimate and sentimental to us as a couple. So we took the envelope with *the answer* back to where it all began - our alma mater. We took a stroll to the place where we met, sat on a bench in the 65-degree, sunshiny weather, and learned that come September, we would be meeting our baby girl.
When this newsletter hits inboxes, I will be one day shy of 14 weeks pregnant. I don’t want to rush a minute of this experience, but I cannot say I am sad to see the first trimester come to a close. It was a lot emotionally, and, yes, I had my fair share of physical discomfort, too. Still, I’m finding that there isn’t anything I wouldn’t endure for my daughter.
My daughter.
Our sunshine. Our happiest thought.
There are six months left until September.
We cannot wait to meet our little girl.
Soooooo happy for you and Mark! As Girl Mom you now will have a BBF for ever! xoxo
Awww congrats Julia! What a blessing I'm so excited for you two.