Pregnancy & Life Happenings {Lately}

So...besides the growing girl in me right now...a lot has happened since I last blogged (mostly a lot that doesn't have to do with being pregnant...but I know people like to hear about being pregnant...so here's a update on both...).  I hope this post isn't terribly boring...here we go!

I am currently 24 weeks and 3 days into my pregnancy.  More than halfway there, and even though it seems like it took forever to get to that halfway point (20 weeks) these past 4 weeks have FLOWN by.  If you follow me on Instagram, you know more about the pregnancy week by week than anyone who just reads this blog.  For the rest of you...here are some pictures of my growing baby bump:

 

I feel like I should also announce (to the blog) that we found out we are going to have a little girl!  I was convinced we would have a boy, and after our sonogram appointment...and lots of uncomfortable poking on my tummy...we had plans to drive to Dallas and have Tyler's birthday dinner at Taverna (his favorite restaurant) and do a personal reveal there.  Right after we ordered (yes we made it all the way to Dallas without peeking to see if baby E was a he or she) Tyler opened a small gift and inside was a PINK "I love my Daddy" bib!  I could not believe it!  We are so excited and can't wait for this little girl to steal our hearts...ok she already has!

Emma Mechelle Ellis

Emma was the name I had picked out, probably in middle school, and I have never let it go.  Mechelle is my middle name, and I love it.  I love that it is spelled differently, and so I wanted to pass that on to our sweet girl.  She is a "lively" baby (says the doctor when I told her she kicks a lot at week 20 and they don't seem to do that until week 24) and is kicking and punching and headbutting all the time!  I LOVE IT!  I love that I can feel her moving around and being spunky.  Sometimes its the highlight of my day to just sit down and feel her moving and watch my belly get the hiccups. 

Maternity clothes are AMAZING.  Where have they been all my life.  Tyler is not a huge fan of the full belly panel pants, but Emma and I are in love with them. 

We are currently trying to figure out our living situation for the next year.  Our lease is up in a little over a month, and we are looking for a bigger place for our little girl...ok let's be real...for all of the crap we have.  Since we don't feel like we can start nesting until we know officially where we will be living, all nesting has been put on hold.  This is probably a good thing because I have plenty of other things to do to occupy my time right now...cough cough...like graduate! 

Yes, I will be graduating on May 17, and I am thrilled to be able to put the (obligatory) books away for a while.  In other news, I was recently accepted into Baylor's Higher Education Studies and Leadership Ph.D. program.  After giving it a lot of thought, I have decided to defer my acceptance for a semester so I can spend those first few months of Emma's life adjusting to being a mom. 

Baby showers are approaching and this baby thing is starting to get real!  We've registered, and since we can't nest yet, we are just waiting (and stocking my parents' garage with baby things) until we can get into a new apartment to set up the nursery.  We did buy fabric for her bedding and I am so excited to start seeing how things will come together. 

I probably haven't mentioned that Tyler has accepted a fellowship out of Judge Starr's office that will send the two three of us to Washington D.C. this summer.  As if we don't already have enough going on, we will leave June 4th (the day after Tyler's last day of school) and return to Waco on July 7th!  We get to spend a whole month in D.C., and even though I'll be crazy pregnant, it was an opportunity we couldn't pass on!  So prayers that Emma does not decide to make an early appearance in the world would be great...hold on little girl...we at least need to make it back to Waco!  Though, I'm thinking it is probably very unlikely that she will be early...if she's anything like her dad she will definitely be late! 

Thanks for wading through the stream of consciousness above...I think you are all up to date now on the happenings in the lives of the Ellis household.