Year 2 of marriage
It might be the sleep deprivation but am I glad I started writing yearly wrap ups because it was fun to read what we were up to that first blissful year of marriage. As you might have guessed, this year brought the greatest gift of all, our daughter, BEM, and the sleepless nights that come with a newborn. (I won’t be posting her picture or full name for her privacy. If you know us, follow me on Instagram and you will get all the BEM content you could ever want.)
Shortly after writing the year one wrap up, I learned that I was pregnant. We spent the first trimester keeping it on the down low until we were safely in the second and enjoyed telling all of our family and friends (highlights of how we told some below). As our daughter reached milestone after milestone in utero, we lived life as best we could with the added precautions knowing full well life was going to change once she made her grand appearance.
Here’s how we told some of our favorite people I was pregnant:
My mom was the first person we told. I had hoped to tell her the evening of my 8 week ultrasound when I first heard her little heartbeat, but she was working. So instead Richard and I went down the next night making up some excuse about being down there for the day and saying we’d pick up dinner since my dad was on Isle Royale and she had the house to herself. I printed out a piece of paper that had an ultrasound picture and the words “Grandbaby #6 coming February 2024” and left it in the printer tray knowing my mother would look at what was there the second she walked into the kitchen. And that she did. She was so excited and she’s been the best grandma ever since.
Second to learn was Richard’s mom. She loves tarot and we happened upon a “Tarot for Babies” book online. Shipping would take too long and we were itching to tell family, so I found the only copy nearby at the Barnes and Noble in Tysons. I went to go pick that up and then surprised her with the book and the announcement of her first grandchild.
When my dad returned from Isle Royale a week later, we gifted him with a mini camp light and a note saying we expected him to teach our future kid about the outdoors. That camp light is still on the shelf in his room, which makes me think he’s excited to go camping with BEM one day.
We had the most fun was telling Matt and Carolyn. We went to dinner at their house one evening and knowing that they had someone over that day to work on their oven, we put a bun in it. As the evening went on, we kept making comments about something smelling like it was burning until Matt checked the oven. He was very confused why someone had put bread in the oven but chalked it up to the handyman getting a sense of if it was working. Finally after some coaxing from my mom, Richard, and me, Carolyn finally put it together that there was a bun in the oven. That same night, since it was week 11, we surprised the whole family with a cake letting them know it was a girl.
Other than telling family and friends the exciting news, we spent year two prepping for baby, going to many doctors appointments (thanks pregnancy induced high bp) and checking off all the last adventures/outings as a family of two.
My summer ‘23 softball career came to an end half way through my second trimester. After the first trimester I faked an injury and delegated myself to catcher to avoid line drives to the stomach at third or pitcher. At the last game of the season for the Weasels, I told my team and the collective, “oh, that’s why you didn’t want to pitch,” realization was hilarious. Summer ‘24 softball is back up and running and I’m back in the hot corner, just taking it slow at base running since c-section recovery and running don’t seem to mix well.
We went to our usual crazy amount of sporting events. As a season ticket holder, I went to every home Spirit game, including having my birthday bash at the game. BEM has already been to her first Spirit game and Nationals pre-season game, she’ll be checking off Camden Yards soon enough. We also went to see the Mystics, a variety of Maryland sports, the Congressional Baseball Game, Baysox, Fred Nats, a McDaniel vs CUA football game, and we even saw our first drag pro wrestling show and first sumo show (that included sushi, although I had to each the vegetarian kind because preggo).
We both caught Everclear and Shaq (who know he was a DJ?) and I was able to see Maggie Rogers with Catherine in Philly. And of course we saw the Eras Tour movie in theaters since we couldn’t get tickets and she decided to avoid DC totally.
I went on my first work trip with my agency and got to summit one of Colorado’s 14ers, Mt. Evans. I may have been 3 months pregnant at the time and probably shouldn’t have been at that high of an altitude, but I was just preparing BEM to be high altitude/endurance athlete… right?
Richard went to Vegas with his friends to compete in the Street Fighter world championships… don’t ask me why.
The interior design drama in our house continued this year. Since we had to clear out our second bedroom, I built an armoire in our bedroom to hold Richard’s clothes and installed a new closet system in my closet. I painted the old black dresser white for the nursery and painted the nursery green (which Richard didn’t approve of at first). Note I did this all while pregnant, so that ‘strong like a mother’ saying rang oh so true.
My only theater experience of the year was seeing Moulin Rouge, I need to do better about that this year, but at least I got to see Katy and Eli that night and tell them I was pregnant
In October, Richard and I joined my family (minus Rob and Jess and all the grandkids) on a trip to Scotland. My parents met there and we’ve been talking for years about how we all needed to go and I’m glad we did despite the usual family vacation drama. Richard had a lot of fun trying the local whisky and beer while I enjoyed trips to Tesco for pregnancy cravings.
Catherine moved back to town which means coaching girls basketball has resumed. We coached the Swifties to an undefeated season, but lost after 3 games in the championship. It was so fun to be pregnant with my girl while coaching these 3/4 grade girls, they were so excited to meet BEM.
Little Dude’s allergies seem to be doing well, maybe the two years of weekly shots are finally paying off? Malarkey is ever so slightly needier, but she seems to really like her baby sister, so I don’t think she minds our attention being elsewhere. Little Dude seems indifferent to BEM as long as she doesn’t get too close.
Over MLK weekend this year, my favorite girlfriends got together to celebrate baby BEM for a babymoon. We spent the weekend on the Patuxent puzzling, reading, eating, and laughing so hard I thought I was going to go into labor. If any of you ladies ever see this, you guys are the best friends I could ask for.
Since January 31, our life somewhat slowed… or at least it takes a lot more planning. BEM has enjoyed going to basketball practice, restaurants so I can finally enjoy oysters again, parades, long walks in Rock Creek, museums, trips to the cherry blossoms, trips to Mount Vernon, solar eclipses, farmers markets and wineries. She started rolling from her back to front in her sleep at 12 weeks, which we were not prepared for. Her little personality is shinning through, she can mean mug with the best of them, but once you get her chatting and smiling, she has you wrapped around her finger. She has her dad’s blue eyes and it seems might have my auburn hair, and we can not wait to see what the future has in store for our little peanut.
