The holidays were a whirlwind, which is why I haven’t been posting (I thought I could do it from the road, but that didn’t happen). We had a lovely time visiting both sides of Alex’s family though. I found it especially interesting to note all the changes from this year as opposed to last….my goodness life moves fast! At least it does in our case, most of which I attribute to being in our 30’s when all of life’s big events tend to unfold. At any rate, this year I was carting around a pregnant belly for everyone to gush over and touch while last year I strolled in fresh off my honeymoon, tan and entranced in a bubbly, gooey-eyed love fest with my new husband (I distinctly remember my father-in-law telling us to relax on the PDA). This year also felt more like a baby shower for me given baby girl got more presents than her parents (with the remainder of the gifts being for our new house, another change).

Every year Alex’s dad puts out little Christmas teddy bears that represent our family (so cute). They are each dressed in different outfits and have our names written on signs tied around their necks. It’s so amazing to watch the clan grow! This year there was a new little bear wearing a homemade cloth diaper for my niece Olivia who was still in my sister-in-law’s belly last Christmas. Looking at that bear was one of those moments where it hit me that this hungry being dancing in my belly will soon be an actual member of the family. Next year she will have a bear with her name on it, she’ll be crawling around in the wrapping paper and stealing everyone’s hearts. 23 weeks in and the reality of this is still NUTS to me.

Also nuts, our house has officially exploded in baby gear. On top of our Christmas haul, we received a huge carload of baby clothes and baby necessities from my wonderful sister-in-law (lucky us we are having a girl, which meant lots of hand-me-downs from our two nieces!). Having our house taken over by piles of teeny tiny pink clothes, car seats, boppy pillows, breast pumps, and nursery decorations really seems to bring home (literally) how much our immaculate Pottery Barn lifestyle, complete with millions of small, swallowable trinkets decorating every room will soon be a thing of the past.

Meanwhile, the belly is picking up speed. I am amazed at how quickly it’s growing now—it was such a slow process before. Over Christmas there was literally a night that I went to bed and when I woke up it was evident to everyone in the house that I had grown overnight. Insane. I stepped on the scale when we got home after the holidays and suddenly realized this baby is for real, and she’s growing like a weed now. This is happening!