I've wondered a lot the past several months about what baby bug #3 will be like.  

I'm fully expecting this little one to pop out looking like Andrew's third mini-me as all of our children tend to favor him pretty much immediately.  Dark hair, but not a crazy amount, pouty lips, and the cutest furrowed brow.  Thank goodness Nelle was a girl and had headbands on in some of those first few day old photos because side-by-side Ham's brand spanking new baby pics it's hard to tell them apart.  

 

Even lately I've been getting comments that Henry and Nelle are favoring each other more and more. 

But once we're past the similarities in features, all I can think about is how different they are - and have been from the very beginning.

Nelle has always been the best cuddler and is sweet as can be.  She cuddles me probably 20 times a day.  I can't get that from Henry in two weeks.  Unless he's feeling jealous of Nelle and then he promptly wants her down and him hoisted up over my baby bump for a two-second cuddle time of 

"I can do that too, and I don't know why it's that great."  And then he's down back to smashing trucks and throwing pillows off of the couch.

 

She wakes up slow like me, and he wakes up the instant his eyes flutter open just like Andrew.  

I can tell it annoys Nelle just as much as it does me as we're huddled up together under the covers trying to adjust to daybreak.   

Henry's language skills always had me worried until he finally put everything together (or maybe just decided to use them as I think he knew quite a bit before he let on).  Nelle has been repeating everything we say for months now, and even every once in a while throws out one of her two sentences at us.  "Mama up" or "Hi Dada"..."pet puh-puh (puppy)" is hovering at a close third.  She tries to sing the moon lullaby we use to calm her down, but has never been as daring or sure on her feet as Henry was at her age.  Daring or oblivious to danger.  You pick.  

She's at such an exhausting age when we're out in public.  I spend all 30 minutes of Henry's swimming lessons chasing her down and making sure she's not getting to close to the edge of the pool.  The other (sitting, watching, relaxing) moms comment at how busy she is, but I just reply with yes...but she's 10x easier than Henry was at this age so I'll take it.  Because Henry would have already jumped in the pool by this point.

 

Henry is rough and tumble, no holding back all the live long day, 

while Nelle gets pretty old of his relentless aggression and finds refuge on my lap all the live long day.  

And Nelle is such a doll until you tell her no, and then she's all sass.  She even refused to make eye contact with Andrew and stuck her bottom lip out when he told her no the other night.  OMG, her teenage years!  Meanwhile time out for Henry hardly phases him...which must be why he's frequented it so often these past few days...ha!    

I can't help but think this little one is going to find his/her place somewhere right in the middle. 

 

Just shy of four months from finding out. 

Oh littlest one, you may not be regularly documented, but you are thought of and talked of often. 
Promise.

I'm not sure if it's because I have two toddlers terrorizing my house and using me as a jungle gym all the live long day, or it's because this is my third back-to-back-to-back pregnancy, or because we're busier, or because it's my first pregnancy in my thirties.  But while pregnancy-wise - minus the long-lasting, relentless first trimester exhaustion - I have felt really good, overall health-wise I keep picking up all of these pesky illnesses.  And they are not only knocking me on my seat, but keeping me there for quite some time, and I'm just plain worn out by the end of each and every day. 

Mama can't bounce back quite like she used to, I guess.

I'm hoping now that we're past cold and flu season AND the kickoff of a brutal allergy season, it will be a bit smoother sailing from here until August.  Stomach bugs, colds, allergies, and sinus infections...been there done that, I don't want to know you anymore.

Technically I turn 24 weeks tomorrow, which means I'm SIX months pregnant at 12:01am, and I'm really not sure how that happened.  Especially when I had to ask my doctor to remind me how many weeks I was at my appointment on Thursday because who can remember anything anymore? 

Not I.

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I haven't gotten nervous yet thinking about all that has to be done between now and then...namely tranistion the two bigs to the shared yet-to-be created toddler room and put together a nursery.  I have ideas swirling around in my head and know it will all come together as needed eventually. 

I'm just riding out my early nesting urges and still sorting and cleaning and throwing out tons and tons of stuff.  Our storage basement room has become one of my favorite places because of all of my neatly stacked clear plastic tubs, labeled and everything.  Plus the more time I spend down there, the more I decide I really don't need to keep those pillows I thought I might recover one day for floor pillows in a kids' playroom so toss them out!  Clutter be gone. 

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Bug #3, I never had such strong senses on gender with Henry or Nelle like I do with you.  And I'm just sure you are a boy!  But your dad has yet to be wrong, and I have yet to be right, and he's sticking with girl.  Let it be known he's not coming up with any names mind you, just saying you're headed home with a pink hat and not a blue one.  Whatever you may be, you have to be the lowest riding baby in the existence of time, because I swear I can feel your head directly above my pelvis at any hour of the day, and even though the scale argues differently, I sure feel bigger than the first two go-rounds.  I just can't wait to meet you and kiss your little nose and study every inch of you.       

 

 Henry has flown several times before this trip, but he was much too young to remember.  On our first flight to Florida we were just on a little regional jet out of Wichita to Dallas, and even though he had the window seat, Henry couldn't quite see unless he was on his knees peering out.  So once we were up in the air and the seat belt sign blinked off, we let him get up to look out.  What a sight that must be for a little boy!

 

"Mama, we're up high!"  Up in the air so blue!'

 

And then once more later in the flight I told him to look at the clouds below us, and he said" it snowed!" 

because they completely covered our view below.  

Our first night at the beach (after a day full of airport time, due to delays - hooray for kids that realllly did well and went with the flow that day), 

we ate a quick dinner and ran the kids out to the beach just below our condo before bedtime.  

Henry went right into the water and squealed.  And then said, "the ocean is playing with me!" every time the waves washed up onto his feet. 

We got a full day of playing in on day two, and Henry had the best time trying to scoop up all the sand and put it back in the water.  

"No, Mama, it's the ocean not the water."

Nelle forgot what sand was after every quick trip back to the condo and always took a good 10 minutes to get reacquainted.  She never did quite make friends with the ocean though.  Girlfriend was content as could be sitting and playing in the sand or strolling at a safe distance from the shore.  

 Nelle had the best ringlets at the beach.  Don't judge if you catch me spritzing her hair with some texturizing spray. 

Me and the two littlest.  Look again...there's the belly!  

We spent our second evening at a local ice cream shop just minutes away.  Henry chose Cookie Monster flavor over chocolate, and even though he never finishes an ice cream treat, this one he completely devoured.  The looks and comments we got back on our walk home.  

He was so happy and proud.

 

We really just had the best getaway for our little family.  Our weather was gorgeous, it was amazing getting to spend it with good friends, and I didn't realize how fantastic a vacation could be for our family.  It wasn't the type of vacation we were once used to taking when it was just Andrew and I.  There was a lot of work involved planning, packing, schlepping two kids and their stuff through the airport, navigating airport bathrooms with a recently potty trained toddler plus little sis in diapers in tow, not so successfully wrangling Henry to bed every night sharing a room with Nelle (makes me suuuuuper pumped for when we transition them to a shared room this summer), and there was that day I got a little stomach bug 

and was zero help in the parenting department.  

 

But leaving real life behind and focusing on just the four of us was pretty amazing.  Even though Nelle will only know of this beach trip through pictures, and Henry may get lucky and remember bits and pieces, getting to share things with them like this is really a highlight of parenthood.  Like saying, "this little family of ours matters, and we're going to value our time together and make sure you feel special, and loved, and important."  And we can be fun sometimes and let you get blue-dyed ice cream all over yourself from head-to-toe, and let you stay up past your bedtime, 

and run wild and free next to the ocean, and encourage you to chase after those seagulls for the 10th time.

"Seagulls, come get your featherssssss!'

 

Several times since we've been home, Henry has waken up from nap time, and said, "I took a good nap, and now we can go to the beach!"  

 

I wish, Ham.  I wish.