Bellybutton or...

Our little girl at 20 weeks.

Baby #2! That's right! Birch and I have been quite a bit more secretive this time around, not quite sure why, but I am twenty weeks along with baby #2 and we couldn't be more excited! This pregnancy has been, dare I say it, heavenly? It indeed has been with only three days total of morning sickness and just a general more-than-usual tired feeling. Compared to last time, it is glorious. My hips have just started giving me trouble, so I'll need to kick up the exercise and stretching (as in, you know, do it), but other than that I'm feeling grand. In fact, I actually have to keep reminding myself that I'm pregnant and put time aside to reflect and plan for this little bundle. To help me take time for this baby/pregnancy, I've started a journal detailing my thoughts and what we've been up to.

So far, everything looks and sounds normal and healthy. We went in for the big ultrasound yesterday where we saw all the little inner workings and found out the sex: it's a GIRL! We are so excited! Both Birch and I were hoping for a little girl this time. I have to admit, I've actually snagged up a few too-cute-to-resist girl things already. Since finding out I was pregnant, I couldn't get rid of the feeling that our newest little one was a girl. All the names we came up with seemed to be for girls and I just felt like it was a girl, much like how I felt Keats was a boy.

Speaking of Keats, he has taken to hugging my belly. Although we like to believe he just knows that he's got a little sibling in there, it's really that he's become absolutely obsessed with bellybuttons, asking to see ours, his, and on special occasions giving mine, and only mine, raspberries. It's pretty funny and mostly adorable, I just hope he doesn't surprise someone else with a big, wet raspberry. That could be embarrassing. Taking advantage of his bellybutton love, we've started calling mine Baby #2 as well as plain ol' belly button. Maybe he'll eventually figure it out as he gets a little older, who knows. It's worth a shot, right?

Without knowing why, we're keeping this pregnancy a bit more private, not that I won't be sharing things here on the blog, but we'll be keeping our name choices to ourselves and you won't find me complaining about every symptom on Facebook. Sorry about that last time, by the way. Ah, hormones. We haven't announced it generally among friends (this is it, by the way), so don't feel slighted if we didn't tell you. We've pretty much only told the people that we see on a regular basis as their the ones that actually see my belly getting larger. Again, I'm not sure why we're being so private about it this time. Did anyone else go through this with their pregnancy? Am I crazy? Wait, don't answer that last question. I remember feeling very private at the end of my pregnancy with Keats. I guess it just came really early this time around. Having so much of my energy and mental world devoted to Keats must have something to do with it. The pregnancy even feels like it's being kept secret from me sometimes since I'm not experiencing many of the tell-tale pregnancy symptoms (again, thank heavens)! If you felt this way while you were pregnant, what did you do to help get to know your child?

If you have any baby name ideas, send 'em on over!

We love you all very much and can't wait to introduce you to yet another member of our family! Haha, wow. Another little one. How fun!