Spin!

There is nothing better for a little girls heart than the joy of wearing a twirly dress and spinning. I remember loving it when I was little, it was magical. The feeling of being beautiful, feminine, and loved, pure freedom and innocence. Pure girl.

My daughter is discovering it.

I bought her an Easter dress the other day and when we got home I tried it on her to show daddy. Immediately noticing the feeling the dress made when she moved, it was instinct for Vienna to twirl. A few days later she got a package in the mail from her Uncle Zack and Aunt Jessie, in which was a beautiful little purple dress. I tried it on her to see how it fit and the first thing she said when I put it on her was, "Spin! Spin!" And she looked at me with fervent nods as if asking for my permission.

Yes, darling, you never need to ask to be feminine and free.

...And so she spun

and spun.

And danced with Daddy.

And loved every minute of being exactly the beautiful girl she is.

Stats

Pregnancy stats I want to remember:

-5 weeks, found out I was pregnant. Morning sickness and fatigue kicked in right away.

-7 weeks, told our families we were expecting!

-9 weeks, Exhausted. But was keeping up with my regular diet and exercise despite feeling some level of nausea the entire day long.

-11 weeks, told everyone else we were having another baby! Wrestled with giving into my cravings for bread and sugar, everything made me feel sick, except eggs--couldn't get enough eggs.

-13 weeks, heard the baby's heart beat for the first time. Gained a total of 3 pounds since the beginning of the pregnancy.

-15 weeks, morning sickness changed (finally didn't feel sick all day long--just in the mornings and it wasn't as bad as it had been.)

-16 weeks, felt the baby move for the first time! Got the flu which took me out for nearly a week, diet and exercise failed miserably.

-17 weeks, 5 lb total weight gain. Feeling great. When the flu left so did all of my morning sickness.

-18 weeks, Andy could feel the baby move!

-19 weeks, started wearing maternity shirts (most of my old pants still fit with the help of a rubber band to fasten them).

-20 weeks, discovered our sweet little baby is a boy!

-21 weeks, realized that I had recently let bread and sugar become a part of my diet out of laziness and it was affecting my mood and energy--I decided to cut it out of my diet again for good.

-22 weeks, gained a total of 12 pounds. Felt energetic and motivated. Belly popped quite a bit (pulled out one pair of maternity pants but preferred and could still make my normal pants work with a bella band.) Also, really noticed a huge difference in the strength of our growing little boy.

-23 weeks, had to start modifying a lot of my exercise movements. I was finding that I simply couldn't do things I could do the week before.

-24 weeks, took it easy this week as my sciatic nerve and ligaments were sore. Felt normal (as normal as a pregnant person can feel) by the end of the week.

-25 weeks, popped even more...strangers could finally tell I was expecting. Felt great, barely felt pregnant and found it hard to believe I was well over half-way through!

-26 weeks, 15 pound total weight gain. Began having pubic bone issues that caused my mobility and ability to do everything I was doing to slow significantly. Diet has helped my mood a lot this week as I've worked extra hard not to stray with the emotional toll of the sudden changes and concentrate on giving my body what it needs. Trying to remain optimistic.