Author: Jessica Pellegrini

It’s been a great week with my mom here visiting, we have been busy as we always are on her trips with a mixture of all sorts of shopping and errands.  Today we took a break from the mall and did something even more special.

I had two doctors appointments this afternoon specifically scheduled so that mom could be there with me for both. The first was a standard checkup with my midwife to see how I’m progressing and things looked great. The second appointment was much more fun; it was an ultrasound appointment to see how the baby is progressing. I am happy to report that the baby is doing really well and in the doctor’s own words “that’s an adorable and perfect baby”. We were also able to find out the sex of the baby today if we wanted. I had originally said that I thought it would be cool to wait and find out in the moment but after putting probably way too much thought into it I changed my mind. I really couldn’t wait to find out and wanted to start being able to talk more specifically to Ava about her new sibling. I know that she is too young to understand most of it but I think it’s important to try and involve her as much as I can.

Michael wasn’t able to come with me to the ultrasound because of work so I asked the doctor to write down the sex of our new little bundle and seal it in an envelope for us to open later. We waited until just before dinner to open it up and see whats been cooking in my oven :).  I am happy to report that it is another beautiful baby girl! Ava has a little sister on the way. The images from the ultrasound were pretty amazing definitely much better than our ultrasound with Ava. You can see for yourself below what our little 1.5 lbs cutie looks like.

Today we were finally able to get together with Uncle Jim, Aunt Brenda, Kristy and Madi. We’ve been trying to coordinate schedules since early January but this morning was the first time we were all available. The last time we got together I was only 10 weeks pregnant with Ava so this is the first time everyone is meeting.

We headed south to Des Moines to Jim and Brenda’s house and Kristy and Madi traveled from Olympia to meet us for lunch. It took Ava a little while to warm up to the new environment, but as soon as she did she was wondering all over the house and getting into everything. Luckily Jim and Brenda’s house is very kid friendly and there are lots of things to play with. Ava spent most of the day following big cousin Madi (almost 7) around eating and playing. It was so fun to sit back and watch the two interact. Madi is very motherly and was really enjoying showing Ava all of her dolls and toys and trying to teach her new things like how to play nicely and pick up after herself. I was of course enjoying the “help” from Madi since Ava has yet to master the art of picking up her toys at home. The adults all got lots of laughs out of the two.

A big thank you to Brenda who went all out and had a big spread of food for us all and a delicious chocolate cake for Jim’s birthday. They even added Ava’s name to the cake and had presents for her to celebrate her past birthday. It’s so nice to be able to get together with family and we are so thankful to be close to everyone again. I hope to continue to get the cousins together more frequently.