I hope that when I look back at this period of life, I think about how incredible this season of life is. I hope that I am wow’ed with my body, with its incredible ability to grow a human, to support my ambitions, and to work hard. I hope that I am appreciative of the work ethic I was raised with that has allowed me to push myself to manage working a new job, starting grad school, growing a human, and moving in a tight window. I hope that I remember the leaders and mentors in my life that have helped me answer the craziest questions without derision and with nothing but the best intentions.

My body is growing a human- a little baby boy, an active baby boy. I feel him moving all day. I have heard of women who have to work at doing things like kick counts. Baby S must be a gymnast in the making, tumbling around inside of me all day.

And, while it’s been me, it’s also been C supporting me, in the absolutely most incredible way. I never could have imagined how above and beyond Casey would go, but he has and it’s been amazing.

I mentioned in passing yesterday that we were out of tapioca pudding. This morning, when I went downstairs, I opened the fridge to find 8 tapioca pudding cups.

I’ve always known that things would evolve over the course of our marriage, but this season in particular has been the biggest transition we’ve ever had.

Having the luxury of working from home, I always was the person responsible for dinner. Now, work bleeds into evening classes. I might spend 12 hours in front of a computer, between studying, work, and actually attending classes. I almost always come down for a bite of food before heading back upstairs. Dinner is always there, ready for me, requiring no brain space.

Such a small thing, but one I am incredibly appreciative of.

This pregnancy has certainly not been easy or perfect. At 34 weeks, I am still vomiting multiple times a week. Sleep completely eludes me. My weight gain has been a bit on the light side. My blood pressure teeters on low. There’s a global pandemic ongoing.

But, I’m also 27 and healthy and things are going incredibly well. And, this is, after all, just a season. At the end of which, we’ll have our little baby boy here to turn our world completely upside down.

Maternity Photo Details: Thanks to Jennifer Corcoran for our Maternity Photos. These were taken in Old Town in Columbus, GA. I was 32 weeks and 3 days on the day these were taken. I am wearing the Saslax Maternity Off Shoulders Half Circle Gown in Emerald Green.

For the first time in five years, C was around for my birthday. The last time C was around for my birthday was 2015, immediately after graduating from college.

I don’t need to add to the “2020 is a weird year” chorus, but this year’s birthday was definitely different from historical ones. I had built a bit of a birthday tradition- go get a massage, go get a mani/pedi, order delivery for lunch/dinner, and spend most of the day reading a book while sitting outside, hopefully at a pool. Well, with the global pandemic going on, I was trapped inside. Luckily for me, C made the day extra special, and, much to my stomach’s pleasure, he made it a day of my favorite food.

For breakfast, I wanted to order a Chicken Fried Steak from Cracker Barrel. It’s not my favorite food, but it seemed pretty indulgent and, thus, birthday-appropriate. Instead, they stopped taking orders as I was sending the order, so we ended up ordering Crepes from All Things Chocolate in Richmond Hill.

For lunch, we had burrata, red roasted peppers, and tomatoes with balsamic vinegar and basil.

I had the brilliant idea that we would pick movies all day based on the cast and use one movie’s cast to drive to the next one. I wanted to start with Tom Hanks, so at Casey’s suggestion, we started with Charlie Wilson’s War. That had Julia Roberts, so next we watched Mona Lisa Smile. Mona Lisa Smile includes Julia Stiles, one of my faves! We ended with Save the Last Dance. We had talked about branching off Kerry Washington but were movie’d out at that point.

For dinner, Casey ended with a fancy surf-and-turf featuring my favorite scallops! I could have just eaten those scallops for dinner! They were so delicious. These were the absolute best scallops Casey has made to date. Rib eye, scallops, and asparagus- fancy schmancy.

Month 3 of staying-at-home is a weird time to celebrate, but C made it special. Twenty-seven already started a bit stressful, but one day at a time.

Previous birthdays:

• 26
• 25
• 24 (I chronicle all my birthdays going back to 18 in this post.)
• 23