Reflecting on Feeling Ava's Movements

As I mentioned before, I will be writing these "reflections" or moments that I want to remember in the future to share with Ava one day. Pregnancy is going by so quickly already, and I want to remember all of it. Plus, blogging is a much easier and cheaper way for me to capture all of this rather than me running to buy scrap booking supplies every other day... So here we are...

Tommy & Luke are the 1st to feel Ava!

I wanted to write a little something about how I have been feeling lately now that I am feeling Ava move all the time. About a week or two ago I started feeling questionable, light movements, and now her movements are without a doubt HER! Last Wednesday I was watching Tommy & Luke while my mother in law went to physical therapy for her recent knee surgery when Ava really started moving. I asked Tommy to come over and put his hand on my stomach where it seemed her hand was poking me... As we waited for another movement, I told Tommy that I wouldn't tell him when she moved so that I could see if he could really feel it on his own. Sure enough, a couple seconds later his EYES WIDENED and he started laughing exactly when I felt her poking me. We were both laughing and excited that other people could finally feel her! Right away, Luke ran over and said he wanted to see if he could feel Ava move. He placed his hand in the same spot and was also able to feel her. Both boys, Ava's uncles, were giggling and very excited that they were they were the first, besides myself, to feel her move!

The couple of pictures below are Tommy and Luke making origami animals (their new favorite thing.) They have started to make Ava a mobile for her crib. We chose some pretty colors for the paper, and they are now learning how to make them into different animals.

Origami lessons on YouTube

Luke - hard at work

And thanks to friends and family, I now have 5 different baby books to read. I am going to be a mommy genius by the end of these! :) 

These are some pictures of Ava growing. This is me at 23 weeks and will be 24 weeks tomorrow, Wednesday, July 17th 2012. These photos below are from this past weekend in Chicago. I flew up with Mark on Thursday morning for my best friend's wedding.  I will be creating a whole other blog post about her amazing wedding just as soon as her professional photos are done. 

Heading out for a night in the city with Sarah

Meeting up with Aldo for lunch!

Catching up with Megan <3 in the bridal suite the morning of the wedding. She was amazed because this was the first time she had seen me in person with a baby bump!


Sarah feels Ava! 

 As we were all in the bridal suite getting our hair & make up done, we were eating breakfast and watching Craig Watson and his extraordinary photography team catch every single moment. Just as Sarah Waldrup and I are sitting on the couch, Ava starts kicking! I quickly grabbed Sarah's hand and placed it on the spot. (We had already had a few failed attempts of Sarah being able to feel her.) Somehow Craig Watson must have seen this or heard us because he quickly ran over and started taking photos of Sarah's  amazement to feeling Ava move. It was a moment that I will never forget with my best friend. I cannot wait to see Craig's photos of that moment!

A picture taken by a friend during Alexandra & Lee's wedding ceremony in St. Alphonsus Catholic Church. Such a beautiful day. More photos to come soon...

Mark feels Ava!

The morning after the wedding, we headed to Midway airport to wait for our delayed flight back to Ft. Lauderdale, FL. After we ate lunch at Harry Caray's in the airport, we took some seats at our terminal and started talking to this really nice older couple from Key Largo, FL. We mostly talked about boating since they had a full time captain and traveled all over on their yacht and fishing boat (must be nice!). They also talked about their memories of raising their children and how many great things that Mark and I had up ahead. We talked to them for about an hour when Ava started jabbing my with what I am guessing was a her hand. I asked them to excuse my interrupting them, but that I wanted Mark to put his hand on my belly. Up until this point, Ava would always stop moving when Mark would go to feel her move... So right then and there and gives Mark two little jabs! Mark's eyes lit up and he started laughing as he said, "I just felt her!!!... and she did it again!!!" I was SO happy that he   finally got to experience that. 

So here we are today and Ava has been moving around this morning as I was waking up, while I was eating breakfast, and also started moving around when I was typing this up. Now that I know she can hear me and other outside noise, I catch myself talking to her when she starts to move around. :) I know she doesn't know what it is that I am saying, but I want her to hear and get to know my voice. She definitely knows Cooper by now (as he barks like crazy when he hears Mark's car when he gets home from work.) 

I will say that this has been the most incredible two weeks so far. Feeling your baby's movements for the first time is the most amazing and indescribable feeling. I have been so calm, stress free, and relaxed these days. So far, Ava has been really good to me. No sickness, no big time weight gain or crazy cravings, etc. I am only 24 weeks along though - so stay tuned... things may change :-/ 

As of now, I am loving feeling her move around and I literally smile ear to ear when she is doing it. Being pregnant with her has made me the calmest and most relaxed that I think I have ever been in my life. It is one thing to watch your belly grow and know that something amazing is happening inside of you, but it is another to actually FEEL your baby moving around inside of you! It makes it all very real and special. Imagining that there is this tiny little girl in there that is half of me and half of Mark is mind blowing to me. What is she going to be like? Look like? Act like? ...A mini "Christina/Mark" ...crazy!

 I look forward to her getting even bigger and making stronger movements for us. 

I love you so much already, Ava Loren. Your daddy is very happy that he finally got to feel you move on Sunday! Daddy calls home and asks how you are and kisses my belly all the time. We can't wait to meet you! Enjoy the next 16 weeks alone in there, because come November you will be getting a ton of attention!