of engagements and babies

In the last month or so, three of my coworkers have gotten engaged and another announced that she is also pregnant. I'm not sure what our office has been drinking, but whatever it is it's potent.

It's interesting for me to watch these newly engaged coworkers and think back to when that was me, over five and a half years ago. That's such a short time, in the scheme of things, but so much can change in just a few years that, most of the time, it feels like it's been forever [in a good way]. I find that I don't really know what to say to someone who's newly engaged aside from "congratulations" and "I'm so excited for you," because the whole of what they're about to embark upon is so much more than I can comment on. Five years of marriage have introduced me to the bare tip of this great iceberg, and everyone's experiences are so incredibly different, especially within the first few years. When experiences vary so widely, I feel rather unqualified to provide advice if it's solicited. One thing I know holds true for everyone is that, regardless of how long you've been married, you have to choose each other again every day, even if it's just in a small way.

"The door of history turns on small hinges, and so do people's lives." - Thomas S Monson

Change can be deceptive. Sometimes it feels like it comes all at once, with no warning and no build-up, but that's never really true. Even if we aren't party to the choices made and actions taken that lead to change, they're always there. Often we are party to those choices and actions, frequently they stem from us, though we may not consider or understand the consequences until those small things unfold into larger results. This is both worrisome and encouraging in the context of marriage, as well as prospective parenthood.

The mango, apparently suddenly unsatisfied with being curled in a tight ball at the bottom of my pelvis, has begun renovating her accommodations with a vengeance within the last week. Somehow, I doubt that it'll be difficult to get a good look at her heart during our follow-up ultrasound next week. Maternity pants will definitely need to be in the picture if I'm going to have any chance at enjoying all the goodies this Thursday. Speaking of, our new Home Teachers just delivered a huge pumpkin pie last night. I may or may not be headed home to eat that for dinner.

Before I go: for those who have asked about this, I've finally gotten my registry to a point where I feel it's shareable. For now, it can be viewed via this link: https://www.babylist.com/emily-loveless. This is, by no means, a comprehensive list, as experienced moms will quickly recognize. I'll probably be adding things as they occur to me in the weeks to come, so if you're one of those insanely generous people looking to help us out, don't feel restricted to what's currently there. To answer some frequently asked questions: we do not have a specific color scheme in mind for nursery or clothing items. I personally gravitate more towards greens and blues than I ever will toward pink, though, ironically, the one item of clothing we've purchased thus far is light pink with orange foxes on it, so who knows. I want to stress that this is not here as any sort of bid for attention or handouts. To be honest, asking people to purchase any of this for us makes me incredibly uncomfortable. But I recognize that we have a lot of generous people in our lives who, like my mother, show support by filling a need, and learning how to allow others to serve you can be just as important as learning how to serve those around you.

a little update regarding the little mango

At 20 weeks I feel like I'm finally starting to show, which means a shopping trip will be on my horizon soon. My mom expressed concern that I haven't already bought maternity clothing out of a desire to stay as slim as possible for as long as possible. Really, I just hate shopping. Like, really hate it. But this little girl, who has graduated from Raptor to Mango ever since I told Tim two weeks ago that that's about how big she was, is definitely going to need more room for the sake of both our comfort. 

my selfie skills are not developing as fast as the mango is

For those who have been asking, I'm hoping to have the registry up within the next week. I was originally aiming for last week, but stuff with the student journals has completely taken over my life these last two weeks. Between that and trying to sort through plethora of recommendations and "baby must-haves" to find out what we actually need, and find it for a reasonable price, my brain has been spinning. I have discovered a handy way to trick myself into feeling like babies cost less than I originally thought: look up the most high-end, fancy, tricked-out, over-the-top versions of things first, then discover more reasonably designed and moderately priced versions of those products. Tadda! A tiny piece of my fiscal sanity has been restored!

One rather timely friend sent me an early gift this week that I've been adoring for days. They're board books for children based on classic literature from a series called BabyLit. She sent a copy of Pride and Prejudice which is laid out as a counting primer. When I got to 10 I just about died laughing—pretty sure Tim thought I'd gone insane.

 

 There's also a copy of Les Mis that's a French primer, teaching basic terms and translating the small phrases that accompany each picture. This little girl is already guaranteed to be multi-lingual! I really enjoyed the pages with Marius, they quite capture the essence of my personal opinion of him.

 

This is seriously one of the best discoveries I've had in a long time, and I am fully on board with the idea of  gifting these to pregnant friends in the future!

Speaking of, I found out this week that my supervisor is also expecting—due in late May. It's going to be a very pregnant office, come spring! It's kind of fun to not be the only pregnant lady in the office, and it's been interesting to watch her and think about where I was two months ago. There are a lot of amusing similarities [hormonal rage is real, people], and some differences [she's been much sicker than I was]. I'm really blessed to be surrounded by so many women that fall all along the timeline from currently-expecting to established mothers of small herds of children. In a lot of ways, I am adrift from the female support I grew up just expecting to have access to, since I live across the country now, but having so many fabulous women in my life who are more than willing to be open and share their experiences and preferences has done a lot to mitigate that hole.