Wait, the Second Trimester Is Almost Over? Time Flies When You're in the Car . . . a Lot

This has certainly been a hectic summer . . . and it's crazy how little of the chaos has to do with the pregnancy. The last time I posted about the pregnancy, it was week seventeen. I'm now at twenty-six weeks, which means I'm closing out the second trimester soon. Where did the last nine weeks go?

In the middle of June, Mike's best friend, Jay, and his wife, Holly, were in town. It also happened to be Brad's thirtieth birthday and Tessa's wedding weekend.

Me and Mike with the birthday boy!

Me and Jay at the Yankees game

Some publishing ladies at Tessa's wedding

The following weekend we were in the car and off to Delaware for a weekend of R & R with three other couples. It was great to go to the beach, play Cards Against Humanity with friends, and drink (virgin) Bloody Marys on the screened-in porch. Little did I know what the next few weeks would bring.

For Fourth of July we drove to Rochester for Adam and Pam's party. It was great to see them again just two months after visiting them in Australia. I also got to meet some more of Mike's high school classmates.

Greece Athena boys and some wives in Rochester

The second week of July we had a "break." Though that break was filled with some freelance work (obviously) and three hours at Buy Buy Baby registering (so not exactly a relaxing weekend).

The third week of July, Mom and I drove to Rhode Island for a short girls' trip. We did a lovely lighthouse tour and sat by the pool.

Getting ready to sail on our Newport lighthouse tour

The next two weeks were really hard--and I plan on blogging about them in more detail when I have a bit more time to devote to the subject. On July twenty-fourth, I lost my paternal grandmother, Grammy. She was the first of my four grandparents to pass away, and while her actual death came suddenly, her physical and mental health had been declining for the last ten years. My sister and brother-in-law got in a car Wednesday night with their son (ten months old), drove the ten hours to New York, picked up me and Mom, and then the five us drove to Florida on Thursday, driving through the night (twenty-three hours total). The upside to the sadness was the reunion of cousins--it had been four years since all six of us were together. And it was the first time all six of us were together with the three husbands who were crazy enough to marry into our family and with the three babies who are starting the next generation. It meant celebrating my birthday celebrating my grandmother's life, and with the group together, we began brainstorming the big cousin reunion for 2014 with all eleven Miller grandkids and five great-grandkids.

The bright side: spending time with my nephew

Mike, Bobby, and my dad all flew back home, leaving Mom, Nicole, and I to drive back with the baby on Tuesday and Wednesday (this time we stopped overnight in North Carolina). On Wednesday, July 31, about an hour from home, we got a call that my maternal grandmother, Mimi, was taken to the hospital. She had to have a knee surgery to fix an infection and is now recovering, thankfully. I got home from the hospital and called Mike, who was in the city, to find out that his grandmother, the last of his grandparents, had passed away. That weekend we got back in the car and drove to Rochester for Grandma's funeral. I am so happy that I got to know Grandma as well as I did over the last four years, and it was hard to say good-bye to another family member.

When we got back from Rochester, we were thankful to have a weekend at home . . . but it wasn't quiet. With the clock ticking on our apartment, we needed to find a new place to live--a dreaded task in New York. We spent six hours trekking around, but we did find a fantastic place that we're really excited about. And then the next day we went to the burbs to celebrate my niece's first birthday and to spend time with my grandmother in rehab.

What a year: S is one and her cousin's in my tummy.

Another week of work and then back in the car to Rochester again for a baby shower thrown by my mother-in-law. It was a great weekend, and the baby received a lot of fantastic gifts. We could not be more thankful.

We did not plan the pink and blue outfits. Shocking, I know.

So what's next? Moving. This Saturday we'll move to our new place, which brings with it all sorts of excitement and chaos as we start settling in and preparing for the baby. We moved into our apartment a couple of weeks after getting engaged, and now we're moving to a new place for the next stage of our lives. It's really crazy how time flies. Whether it's four years or nine weeks.

And then? Some relaxation. Some quiet. At least we hope so. Lord knows we have limited weekends of that left.

And now, an update on the pregnancy questionnaire:

How far along? 26 weeks, 2 days
Total weight gain: At my last appointment (24 weeks), I was up ten pounds total. So I think I'm doing pretty well!
Maternity clothes: Yep. Pretty much exclusively, unless it's a big, flowy shirt.
Sleep: Very thankfully, it's business as usual, even with the stress. Every now and then I'll wake up and realize the baby has been kicking, but it doesn't feel like I'm waking up because the baby's moving.
Cravings: Still no cravings and no aversions. Whoo!
Best moment this week: The baby shower.
Movement: Oh yeah. And I love every minute of it. Every kick, punch, and squirm catches me off guard and makes me smile. I spend a lot of time with my hand on my belly to feel the baby from both sides, and when I'm home I often roll up my shirt to watch my belly move (just little thuds; it's too soon to see which body parts are creating the movement).
Gender: We're still staying strong and keeping it a surprise. Though I think we both are leaning toward boy right now. (And at the shower, there were twelve votes boy to six votes girl.)
Labor signs: Nope. Phew!
Bellybutton in or out: Um, kind of nonexistent. It looks like the head of a nail that you would need a Phillips-head screwdriver for (I'm sure there's a technical term for that). Definitely not in, definitely not out. Just kind of a weird-looking slit.
What I miss: Sushi. Diet Dr Pepper.
What I am looking forward to: I really want to feel the baby's hiccups! And I'm looking forward to getting the baby's room ready in the new apartment . . . once we get furniture and all the other accoutrements.
Milestones: Feeling the baby every day.

 Weeks 18, 19, 20 21, 22, and 25. Weeks 23 and 24 occurred while we were at the funerals, so we ended up not taking photographs.