On being pregant the second time around

So I'm a little pregnant and when I say a little I mean like 22 weeks pregnant. So basically I'm over halfway there (ohhh-ohhh livin on a prayer). And that is why I have returned to this space. And when I say returned, I mean show up every three weeks or so. I started to feel guilty that there would be no documentation of this kid. Such is the life of the second child I suppose but it seemed like a real jerk move on my part.

So let's document away! The actual being pregnant thing is more or less the same. I haven't been sick at all and I feel like my belly is growing at about the same pace that it did with Dexter. The differences? I was way more tired in the beginning of this pregnancy than I ever remember being the first time but I think it might be because I've got one kid on the ground already. I've been a little more lenient with some of the pregnancy rules, the caffeine thing has been a hard one to shake. Also, I'm really into soup.

The mother of all differences this time around is that we're having a girl. Good heavens, I don't know what to do with a girl! We went shopping the weekend we found out and I decided to try to pick up a girl outfit at H&M. It was a complete fail. Everything had cats on it, I swear! That will not do. I ended up in the boys section and made out like a bandit with long sleeve tees and a sweater for Dexter. Oh, I'm not sure if this little girl knows what she's in for with me as her mama.

I would say that both Josh and I are nervous and excited. Dexter thinks it's silly to say hello to my belly. He requested a sister so we made good on that. Poor kid has no idea what's coming for him.

My co-worker made these. I laughed out loud when I saw them. So tiny!

Um, did that just happen?

So a few days after I posted my poll about when you thought I would go into labor, I actually went into labor. There was something in my gut telling me that I was going to go over my due date but apparently my gut is about as intuitive as a box of rocks. So without further ado, we are pleased to introduce our newest addition to our family of three...

Dexter

There are no words to describe what just happened to our world. Well, actually there are and I'm thinking about posting our "birth story" since that's all the rage these days. If I do, I'll try to keep it clean but I won't make any promises that it won't get a little gory. I also have lots of thoughts on our newest adventure, parenthood, which I think I'll probably try to post during my time off. In the meantime, here are a few pictures from Dex's first week:

Proud papa

A little time in the Boppy

Eeyore is in charge of quality control when we do diaper changes.

My boys

For funsies

We had our last baby shower before D(elivery)-Day. Dawn, Christine and Annie threw a lovely little party for some of my friends and family and friends of family last weekend. Between both of our families and our friends, this baby is going to be very well loved I think.


As my due date quickly approaches, Joshie and I are both asking ourselves the million dollar question-"When?" So I'd like to pose that question to you, dear reader. When do you think I'll go?

When do you think we'll get to meet Baby T?

37 weeks

You can totally tell what stage of life I'm in by the TV shows that I choose to watch. When I was heavy into wedding plans, I was all about Say Yes to the Dress and Bridezillas. These days I find myself sitting down to watch A Baby Story, Bringing Home Baby and One Born Every Minute. I'll even watch Teen Mom 2 if I want to add a little trash TV to the mix.

It's hard to believe that we're getting so close to the end! At this point, I feel like we're going to be as ready as we'll ever be. Josh and I figured out that this week nine years ago, we started dating. I was 18 when I met Josh. Isn't that so young? Now I'm his baby mama.

Down at Fraggle Rock

Josh and I spotted this toy at the mall the other day and I almost bought it for the baby. Josh went as Boober for Halloween a few years ago and only a tiny handful of people knew what he was. Now he's so famous that he's a puppet! I wish I would've taken pictures that year, the resemblance is uncanny.

No-sleep-'til-baby

Okay, the title of this post is very inaccurate since I'm quite certain that once Baby T gets here I still won't be sleeping but this is exactly how I'm feeling right now. Sleeping has become incredibly uncomfortable the last couple of nights. Part of it is having to adapt to side sleeping when I've spent my whole life being a stomach and back sleeper. It wasn't such a big deal in the beginning but now that my belly is more rotund switching from my left side to my right side requires a lot of flopping around and heavy sighing on my part. There was one night where I woke up at 2 a.m. and was still laying awake at 4 a.m. because I couldn't get comfortable. That kind of thing never happens in my world. Well, my pre-preggo world. I ended up heading to the couch and watching TV. I forgot how much I liked Monsters, Inc. Thanks for the reminder, baby.

31 weeks

I had to share this belly pic because Josh said that this shirt makes me look super pregnant...


And I would have to agree. Maybe I've officially popped. This may sound weird but sometimes I forget that other people can see that I'm pregnant until I see pictures of myself and then I'm like, "oh, yeah you can see this too, can't you?"

It's really happening

My glorious two weeks of vacation is up and it's back to the grindstone. I'm confident that I will never get caught up with Grey's Anatomy now. What a bummer.

We rang in 2011 in Davenport and played plenty of board games. New Years Eve is definitely a lot tamer when you're preggo. Gone are the days of whooping it up by downing a bottle of champagne. It had to happen sometime, right?

We also had our first baby shower and got lots o' loot for Baby T. Getting baby gifts definitely made it more real. I think Joshie and I had the realization that we're actually going to have a kid. A real live kid. It's really happening, we're going to be in charge of a tiny person in a mere two months. Crazy.

I definitely had three pieces of cake at the shower...

and it was the best decision I've made in a long time.

Piles of clothes for the kiddo! Thanks, everyone!

Christmas

Hope you had a lovely Christmas! Here's a few pics from our holiday:

Baby's first Christmas gift. Thanks, Pauleys!

Suds opening his present from us.

A new Wubba!

A cooler for Joshie to replace the one that I, ahem, lost at Amy's bachelorette party last year.

Dreams really do come true...a Vidalia Chop Wizard. I tried to register for one of these babies when we got married but Josh said it was a waste since I don't chop anything. I said if I had one, I would chop everything, including his face (okay, not really but you get the point).

Did you get everything you wanted for Christmas?

28 weeks

28 weeks and counting...

I am 28 weeks preggo so this morning I will be heading to the doctor for my monthly check-up and the all important glucose tolerance test. Naturally this appointment comes on the heels of a weekend where all I did was eat cookies. The women in my family were suppose to get together this weekend for a baking extravaganza but since the temps dropped, the winds picked up and the snow started to fall, I opted to stay home with Josh and bake from the comfort of our kitchen. Suds could barely contain himself with all the butter that was being creamed, melted and mixed. Have I mentioned he's kind of a crackhead when it comes to butter?

Speaking of butter, I tried out Paula Deen's Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies. Paula's cooking philosophy is something I can get behind since according to her, adding "a little butter y'all" makes everything taste better and I have to say that I can't find any flaw in that reasoning. The cookies turned out well. I think that they are more fudgy than gooey maybe. Gooey, fudgy, potato, patato. It's all edible in my book.

Glee baby

The baby likes Glee. I just know it. Whenever I watch it on TV or listen to one of the soundtracks in the car, he kicks around. Josh is protesting this and says that he probably is kicking me in hopes that I'll turn the channel or switch the CD but I just know that this baby is into it. He's tapping his feet along to the beat and wants in on this party. If you haven't joined in the Gleeky fun, you should!

Registry fun

Josh and I had the day off so we decided to go register for baby stuff. We totally forgot how tiring registering can be. There's just so much stuff. Stuff that you need, stuff that you think you need, stuff that no one needs, just stuff. Registering for wedding gifts was a process but at least we knew exactly what we needed. We probably will want toast at some point in our lives, okay, we'll register for a toaster. Getting out of the shower requires some sort of means to dry off, boom, towels. Registering for baby stuff felt a little like pointing and shooting blindfolded. And since we live in a small house, we're a bit gun shy since we don't want to end up with the stuff that falls in the no one needs category.

I think we'll have to do it all over again though. My crystal ball tells me there is a Babies R Us trip in our future. It's baby mecca and we must pay homage.

He's got a gun and he knows how to use it.

Kids at church

There is no other place in the world that strikes as much fear in our hearts and shakes any confidence that we might have about parenting than Sunday mass. Let's face it, little kids are crazy and are generally unable to sit still for a good hour to hear the Word of the Lord. We've seen kids who run back and forth between pews during the Homily and parents who spend the majority of their time frantically whispering to their son to stop making Velociraptor sound effects during the Preparation of the Gifts.

Now that we find ourselves with our own kiddo on the way, the thought of taking him to church makes us a bit apprehensive. I'm sure we'll find our own way to make it work, (a little brandy on the binky is probably frowned upon these days, right?) but right now staring at all these parents struggling to keep their kids entertained in the pews is a little overwhelming. With that in mind, kudos to all of our parent friends who make it work!

Pic from here

A little over halfway

I'm a little over halfway through my pregnancy. Josh took a belly pic but I hate the way I look in it so I've made the executive decision not to post it. I don't have a glow nor have I been blessed with thick, fabulous hair as the books say many moms-to-be get. Bummer.

Instead of a pic of my burgeoning belly, you can have this pic.

According to The Bump, baby is the size of a papaya now. Meanwhile, mom is floating somewhere between she's preggo and she's packing on pounds. I think I'm slowly crawling out of the in-between is she/isn't she stage. But given my unimpressive size, the look on people's faces when they hear that I'm pregnant has disbelief written all over it. Honestly, I'm kind of in disbelief myself. I feel like since I'm over the halfway mark I should have way more to show for it. All in good time I suppose.

Dragon or princess?

Will Suds be playing the part of the untamed dragon while his little brother chases him around the house?


Or will he be a gentle princess who will be invited to tea with his younger sister?


Dragon, it is! After our doctor's appointment last week it looks like Sudsy will have a little boy to pal around with. What adventures will these two get themselves into?

Boy? Girl?

Okay, boys and girls, let the guessing begin. If Baby T isn't feeling shy next week, we'll get to see if if it's a he or a she. Any guesses on what we're having?

Baby T is a...

Passion

One thing Josh isn't lacking is passion. I'm not referring to the passion in our relationship, sicko. I'm referring to the passion that flares up every fall with the NFL and college football seasons. He was watching the Bears game this weekend and his passion was overflowing.

"F*CK!!"
"What the f*ck? Take the old man out, he can't play!!"
"F*CK!!"

Sudsy's sensitive ears can't handle this kind of passion so he takes cover upstairs and as for the BIB (baby in belly), I just mutter to myself, "Earmuffs, little one, earmuffs."

Did I mention...

For those of you who don't see us or talk to us on a regular basis, we just thought we'd let you know that Sudsy Pie is going to be a big brother!

Apparently 16 weeks of baby growing looks more like an indulgent lunch than the gift of life.

I'm taking the advice of my mommy friends and trying to take more pictures and keep track of Baby T's stats at my doctor's appointments. Granted, I have come to the realization that there is a fine line between sharing enough and sharing too much during pregnancy via the web so I'll keep the deets and belly pics to a minimum. Currently, my appetite is insatiable (what's new?) and Josh and I are getting a kick out of coming up with ridiculous baby names. Magneto, anyone?