Hello Sprout

After gestating the “baby” that was my book all of last year and the ensuing book tour this year… I’m thrilled to say another baby is on the way. A souvenir from the book tour, as I like to joke. I’m pregnant! Or we’re pregnant, I guess is the proper term, but I’m the one…

Linda Ly

Written by Linda Ly

Hello Sprout

After gestating the “baby” that was my book all of last year and the ensuing book tour this year… I’m thrilled to say another baby is on the way. A souvenir from the book tour, as I like to joke. I’m pregnant! Or we’re pregnant, I guess is the proper term, but I’m the one putting on the pounds over here.

There are so many thoughts going through my mind right now as I’m belly-deep in my second trimester… though maybe not the same thoughts that other soon-to-be moms might have.

I dream about the babe’s first wave on a surfboard and smile at the thought of little bathing suits hanging on the line. I revel in the hope of tiny hands reaching in my chalk bag and happy squeals coming down the rapids in a raft.

I wonder whether I’ll still be able to tighten my snowboard boots next month without my husband’s help, what kind of diapers to bring on our first multi-day backpack, and how we’re going to handle a brand-new baby and two senior pugs on our road trips next summer.

On all other fronts, I’ve been feeling surprisingly calm. Warnings (I mean, parenting advice) have been steadily streaming our way from well-meaning friends, but we’re finding we’re of that “everything will fall in place” mindset.

Will and I are emotionally ready for a baby, and though we have plenty of things to figure out for our future, we’re feeling good about starting a family without having everything in order first. We’ll get there. We’ll know when it’s time to move, buy a house, evolve our careers. We’ll do our best as parents and as partners, stay true to who we are, and let our instincts guide us through this wild and wonderful turn in life.

We just cannot wait to meet this little alien that’s been growing inside me for the past five months, and every day I’m even more astonished at what the female body is capable of.

Aside from a few weeks of fatigue early in the summer, the pregnancy has been smooth sailing thus far and I’m crossing my fingers it continues to be uneventful through the winter. At the moment I have no mood swings, no weird cravings, there are days I even forget I’m pregnant.

I’m not exactly nesting yet, but I spent a good part of summer poring over thousands of Amazon reviews, putting together our baby registry and mentally prepping for a third human at home. It was all the energy I could muster from the couch in my first trimester while Will single-handedly held down the homefront. Father of the year already, and I couldn’t be more grateful to have him as my better half.

The bump is starting to transition from that uncertain phase of people wondering, “Did she eat too many donuts?” to, finally, “When is the baby due?”

And that leaves us beaming with pride and fired up for March when we welcome our first (non-furry, non-feathery) child! Possibly a Pisces, which my Pisces friend assured me is going to be amazing. They’re dreamers and romantics, she said.

We’ve nicknamed it Sprout (sex to be revealed at our baby shower in January!) and already Sprout is proving to be quite the little kickboxer. I’m not sure if this is a sign of things to come — and whether or not I should be afraid! — but I’m loving all of baby’s movements and just this week, Will was finally able to feel them from the outside! (Though he did double-check if what he felt could have been gas… ha.)

We have so many things to be thankful for this holiday, and Sprout is the icing on the cake. We are so, so stoked for all the new adventures (and even challenges) ahead!

Happy Thanksgiving, friends. Thank you for being a part of the journey with us.

Garden Betty bump

Linda Ly

I'm a plant lover, passionate road-tripper, and cookbook author whose expert advice and bestselling books have been featured in Time, Outside, HGTV, and Food & Wine. The National Parks Cookbook is my latest book. Garden Betty is where I write about modern homesteading, farm-to-table cooking, and outdoor adventuring—all that encompass a life well-lived outdoors. After all, the secret to a good life is... Read more »

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