28 Weeks

Not a whole lot went on this week and that's just how we like it!  We didn't have any doctor appointments to check on our little love but he continues to show us how well he's doing by staying super active throughout the day and occasionally responding to our voices.  My memory may not be great but I feel like Austin is definitely more active in-utero than Eli was.  I would assume Austin's ability to hear and react to sound has something to do with that.  MCA scan #5 is on Monday so we're excited to see how his blood levels responded after the higher increase last time.  We're feeling good about this appointment!

Some of you may recall that the teacher in me has had a passion for children's books since high school so I've been collecting them for quite some time.  I've never had a proper place to display them so they've often been in storage but we were able to change that now that we have an actual nursery.  Austin's room isn't finished so I'm not going to share the rest of it yet but here's a peak at my favorite area of the room!

Those rain gutter bookshelves were a pain in the butt to hang and took far longer than we anticipated but we love how they turned out so it was definitely worth it!  Hopefully one day we'll have a room large enough to display the other 2/3 of my books and then I'll really be in heaven!  You should have seen me debating which ones to put out first--it was a struggle for sure.  Even though Austin isn't here yet, I love sitting in the rocking chair in his room and reading books to him already.  I sure hope he develops a love of reading and books like I have!  The stuffed animals in the picture have special meaning as well.  The bigger, gray bear was part of Eli's Festival of Trees display, the light blue dog was given to Eli while he was in the hospital and sat in his crib the entire time, and the cute golden bear and elephant were gifts to Eli before he was born.  It will be so sweet watching Austin play with his brother's things as he gets older :).  

I still feel great lately and am loving this time of my pregnancy!  I don't feel sick, I have a decent amount of energy, and I'm not too uncomfortable yet.  I only have to wake up one time each night to use the bathroom and aside from that I'm still sleeping great.  I'll continue to soak up days like these as much as possible!

Weight: 142.2 (This week: +2.2 | Total: +21.4)

28 weeks down, 10 (hopefully!) to go!

Wednesday the 25th marked Eli's second BMT birthday!  It's hard to think that two years ago we were so optimistic and had such high hopes that his transplant truly was the start of his new, long life with us.  We would have had a big celebration on Wednesday had Eli been here and I so wish that could have happened but instead we looked through pictures, read old blog posts, and talked about the day we'll get to see him again. Happy 2nd Bone Marrow Birthday, little love!  Ps...I hope my post on social media yesterday wasn't too confusing.  A few people may have thought it was Eli's actual second birthday but that was in January.  In the bone marrow world the day of transplant is a big day!  Many people celebrate the day of transplant like a second birthday because it's such a huge event.  Sorry for the confusion! :)

This picture was taken right during Eli's transplant so it's definitely special!  The red line leading into his shirt is the actual bone marrow being infused.  This was a special day indeed!