Sunday, September 16, 2012

The Difference of One Year

Last year on this date, I revealed a very big secret. I posted this picture of Achilles, to share some incredible news with the world for the first time:


At that time, our sweet baby was about 12 weeks along. We didn't yet know that she was a girl, and were just excitedly looking forward to the end of the first trimester. On this date, we had just had a very exciting ultrasound. Our very first ultrasound had been at the beginning of August, when all we saw was a blob with a heartbeat (a very adorable and loved blob with a heartbeat, but still). At this second ultrasound, our baby wasn't blobby anymore. This time, we saw a head. We saw a body. We saw two legs and two arms - legs that kicked and arms that waved. We watched our baby wiggling about with tears in our eyes.


A year later, we have our girl. That head we first saw a year ago now rests on our shoulders when she is sleepy. That little body nestles into us for cuddles. Those legs that we saw kicking still kick furiously day in and day out, especially when she is particularly happy or excited. Those little arms that waved at us now reach for us, to touch our faces or hold on tightly to us. That little heartbeat that we heard that day still beats inside our sweet, happy baby girl.



It was a year ago this past July that we first found out Ellie was coming, and I have spent the last few months remembering where I was a year ago and how my life has changed since then, how drastically and how quickly - although it didn't always feel that way! Last year at this time, I felt like my nausea- and fatigue-filled trimester might never end. When it finally did and I started to feel better, I felt like I would be pregnant forever, and it would be eons before I could finally meet my girl. When she was born, I felt like I might never fully recover and feel normal again. And now that all that is behind me (for the most part), I feel like the days are flying by. I look down at my five-month-old and feel like I can barely remember a time when I did not know her. It just seems so strange to imagine it and to try to remember what life was like before that precious heartbeat and those tiny flailing limbs.

It has been one incredible year.


3 comments:

Dad/Grandpa said...

sniffle

Nichole @ casadecrews.com said...

I don't think I was reading your blog this time last year yet (I was still pretty new to blogging then) and always tell hubs when/if we get preggars, I want to put shirts on the dogs and do the same thing since they're our first babies, I love that you posted this pic!

Lauren said...

So cute, can't believe it's been a year since you announced you were pregnant :-)