BellyWatch2 | 9 Weeks

Our first visit to the doctor last Tuesday was only eventful in that we officially now have a new obstetrician. As it turns out, the doctor that delivered Justin moved to Florida sometime during the past year; which of course (given the awesome experience we had with her) left us crushed once we learned the news. But all is not lost, as our new doc also has her fair share of charisma to lend to the occasion.

The only downside is that V and I definitely got spoiled by getting an ultrasound at just about every doctor's visit with Justin Alexander. This new office, on the other hand, plays by the rules and so it'll be a few weeks before we get our first peek inside. I was also reminded that we got to see Justin so much because of some complications we had early on; at least one of which landed us in the emergency room (funny how much we forget from one pregnancy to the next). And so with that, I'm content to have "healthy pregnancy, no pictures" versus "complications & lots of pictures"... but jeez those pictures sure were fun (despite the fact that I couldn't tell an elbow from a knee on most of them).

Lastly, I think we both took a little solace from the doctor's mention that the second pregnancy does have a tendency to be tougher than the first. It doesn't help with the symptoms, but at least we know that it's not unusual. In comparing the first with the second, the doc said that some have it easier or just as easy... but it is more common that your previous experience will be amplified during pregnacy #2. Easy usually becomes not-so-easy, blah becomes mild depression, and depression becomes WATCH OUT! As for us, we're not in the "WATCH OUT" category, but this pass week was definitely more of the same. Other than a few spots here and there, the frequent nausea, fatigue and frigidness hasn't let up much. Yet and still V has made it through every work day and she hasn't killed any of her students (yet). So for that I commend her.

Of course, there's also the fact that during the first pregnancy we didn't have a 14-month-old to try to keep up with. That alone probably spikes the fatigue up about 170%. And while his energy is non-stop, he's still too young to understand when you tell him, "Daddy and mommy are so tired right now it's not even funny... Mommy needs a nap and I've got 113 papers to grade... do you mind going to chill out in your room for a while."... Trust me... I tried. But he just laughed and smacked me in the knee with his sippy cup.



As for baby #2 him/herself, (s)he is has progressed to about the size of a grape. V is definitely showing (has been for a while... much sooner than baby #1) and still trying to figure out how long she can go at work before having to break the news. I give her another week or 2. In the meantime, here are some pictures from her 18 minutes of high energy last week. Enjoy.

Milestones Pt. XVII

"Stellaaaaaaaaaaaa..........."

Justin Alexander shows off his incoming tooth in dramatic fashion. This will be tooth #3.

BellyWatch2 | 8 Weeks

Week #8: The Last Goya
Let the record show that at 1:58pm today, V officially declared that THIS will be the last child that we bring into this world. She then proceeded to beat me with a frying pan for (and I quote) doing this to her. Okay... so the last part isn't true, but she did indeed declare that child #2 (which has grown from blueberry-sized to kidney bean status) will be the last.




For V, the word of the week has definitely been...

blah \-ˌblä\ (adjective)
1. a feeling of boredom, lethargy, or general dissatisfaction
2. the word best describing 43% of a pregnancy's first trimester. This generally increases by 26% for each additional pregnancy.

And so the jury is still out as to whether her declaration of "no more children!" is actually the truth or just a product of where she is now (I've got my money on option 2). But either way the bottom line is the same: These first few weeks seem to be a lot more difficult than the first time around. Besides starting to show sooner this time around; feelings of fatigue, nausea, and overall uneasiness, discomfort and ... did I say fatigue already?... have been pretty overwhelming. I'm also sure it doesn't help that this time the 1st trimester coincided with the start of the school year; pretty much a rough time for any teacher worth his or her salt.



And of course with this time around being a little rougher than BellyWatch1, all of the predictions are already starting to fly in about this one being a girl... no, no...a boy... no wait... do you feel nauseous before or after you eat?... okay... then it's a girl... but if ginger ale is not helping, then it must be a boy... but no wait... to which I just smirk, sit back and reply, "let the guessing games begin!" In any event, this Tuesday will be our first visit to the doctor for this pregnancy, so stay tuned for more facts and fotos later in the week. Adios!



"helloooo... this is your big brother speaking..."

Justin took it literally when I told him that his little bro or sis is a kidney bean right now.

BellyWatch2 | 7 Weeks

Week #7: Our Little Blueberry

And just like that it is week 7 of the pregnancy. Somewhere inside of my wife, hands and feet are (yet again) emerging from developing arms and legs — although (according to babycenter.com) they look more like paddles at this point. Our baby is still considered an embryo at this stage but has doubled in size since last week and now measures half an inch long, about the size of a blueberry. How tasty!

Makin' Room

Milestones Pt. XVII

Sometimes the stages our children go through in life are dictated by careful planning, thoughtful deliberation, patience, and a discerning heart & mind. And other times... they're dictated by a great price on craigslist. Ever since the news of pregnancy #2 I've had my eye on the classifieds for a toddler bed; and lo and behold two days ago, voila! Toddler bed. Light oak. Lightly used. 25 dollars. Needless to say I was all over it, and 24 hours later the stage was set for Justin's official transition into big boy world.

Truth be told, mommy wasn't exactly thrilled about (and I quote) "the whole toddler bed thing." I don't think she was psychologically ready for "her baby" to leave the crib yet. But she was quick to come around (it helped that the bed was in the house, assembled, and in his room before she had time to mount a revolt). And so we reassembled the bed today, pushed it up against the crib to give him a sense of familiarity... and it took all of about an hour before Justin was ready to test it out. 

He climbed in and passed out for his mid-morning nap

as if he'd been sleeping in it all his life.

Rotated and tucked in for comfort

Without much thought, we figured we'd keep the experiment going tonight and see how he does for his first nighttime sleep in his bed. We rearranged the room and tucked the bed in the corner so that the walls could provide a little more protection for our wild sleeper, put him down for the night as usual, and now will simply have to wait and see what happens between now and morning. Already as I write this, I've had to revisit his room once to find him awake, out of the bed, and looking for a little help finding his way back to sleep (oversight #1: he might need a night light now). Once I scooped him up, he went back to sleep in a heartbeat, and overall I'm starting to think that this transition is going to be a lot smoother than we could have imagined.   

Overall, I have to say that it was fun to watch him climb in and out of the bed on his own. And I also have to admit that it was much weirder than I expected to put him in a bed rather than in a crib... but it was still one of those mini-milestones that will go down as a proud moment. Our boy is only 14 months (and 2 weeks) old... but already we've got a pretty good dose of what people mean when they say that kids simply grow up way too quickly.

Where does the time go?

Planned Parenthood

Guess what?!