Baby 1 versus Baby 2

Well -- I hate to pit the two against each other already but it's impossible not to make some comparisons when my pregnancies have been so different.  Here's a little summary:

Morning sickness - Baby #1 ("Timothy") none.  Baby #2 some.  Nothing extreme and it went away midway through the second trimester.  However, I have to hand it to Timothy he scores the points on this one.

Fatigue - Timothy none.  I ran a 10k during the first trimester and worked out up until month 6 or so.  Baby #2 -- exhausted during the first trimester.  I must say, however, that much of this could have been from 1) chasing Timothy or 2) having some really busy work weeks in the fall.

Weight gain --- Timothy lots.  Baby #2 -- not as much.  I certainly am packing on the pounds but it does not seem to be as much as I did with Timothy.  Probably because I'm running around after Timothy and started off a bit slower gaining weight due to the morning sickness.

Cravings -- Timothy none really -- occasionally wanted fruit more than normal.  Baby #2 nothing too notable although there have been several occasions were I wanted one thing or another in particular.

Discomfort - Timothy none.  I got a bit uncomfortable at the end with some swelling but nothing really problematic. Baby #2 --- ugh.  Baby #2 has a talent for stretching out and being able to sit on my bladder and kick me in the ribs at the same time.  Not sure how he/she does it but he/ she does.  Baby #2 also just makes it difficult to breath in general.  Around 24 weeks I had to go to court for something and when I was preparing I noticed after I was about 2 sentences into my statement/ argument I was already out of breath.  Nice.

Sleeping -- Timothy no real problems.  Baby #2 no real problems.  There was/is slight discomfort with each when sleeping, but nothing that is preventing me from falling asleep or staying asleep. 

Conclusion ---??????  No real conclusion.  Just different.  It may appear that Baby #2 is more difficult, but I'm waiting to see how Baby #2 enters this world and how he/she sleeps before I am going to make a final decision.

ANYWAY -- current picture taken at work (I never remember at home).


30 weeks 4 days



Sleep Style

My sweet boy has never been the best sleeper. He's never been the worst sleeper either, but he's just not a superstar in the realm of sleep. I will say, however, that once he was able to rollover his sleep dramatically improved. He definitely prefers to sleep in his belly and typically in the child's pose. Lately, however, I've been fearful that he may be growing out of that as I often find him sleeping more spread out.  It makes me sad because he is so cute cuddled up!  Here is a picture of his child's pose sleeping.  Hope it will last for a bit longer. 

Someone's Got a New Ride

And it's not me (although I do have 127,000 miles on my car). Yesterday Mark and Grandpa had a family outing to the grocery store. I met them there and was able to see T cruising in his new ride. He really liked it. He especially enjoyed steering both steering wheels at the same time. Oh and he charmed the deli lady into giving him a little piece of ham that she was cutting -- my boy loves meat!

My Boys

Mark has truly been superdad lately. Ex. A -- he was out of town all week for work, traveling and working day and night. Then upon his return he was promtly saddled with 24 hrs/ day Timmy duty because I have to work all weekend. On top of that he's been doing the all weekend Timmy duty for the last 3 weekends or so.

Anyway --thanks Mark. Here's a picture of my boys spending some time together. I'm really looking forward to hanging out with them again ... one day.

12

Timothy has 12 teeth. We really need to get cracking on his toothbrushing. We have started brushing with a psuedo toothbrush every night. I have a dentist appointment next week and will ask what he recommends for Timothy's oral care.

Working On Our Doggie Skills

Winston and Annie are great with Timothy and Timothy adores them. However, Timothy needs to perfect his doggie skills just a bit. First, he's a little rough and so we are constantly telling him "gentle."  He doesn't quite understand what gentle means. I'm afraid he thinks Annie and Winston are named "gentle." Second, Timothy unintentionally teases Winston a bit when we are throwing the ball for Winston.  Timothy's actually really good at throwing the ball -- he just prefers to hold on to it sometimes rather than actually throw it.  Below are some of the Timothy and doggie interactions we caught on video.

Teasing Winston

At the beginning you can hearing Timothy say "gentle" though he doesn't show it

Run Timmy Run

Over the weekend Mark took Timmy to get a new pair of kicks. I was working and could not go, but advised Mark not to get him any dorky sneakers. As you can see, Mark heeded my advice and exceeded my expectations. Timothy's ready to start running now -- not that he wasn't running before. Mark said that when Timothy tried the shoes on in the store, he immediately started running --- like he knew what sneakers are for. ha!

Weirdo!

Seriously, I have the most amazing, adorable and fun little boy ever. I am so lucky and thankful each and every day to have him in my life. The kid is just so carefree and happy it makes me laugh. His newest thing is to make his arms really tight and stiff to the point where he is shaking ... then he just cracks up. What a weirdo --- but an adorable, loveable, fun weirdo! I hope he continues to be this fun and continues to have this much joy of life. Above is a little video demonstrating his silliness.

P.S. - I know this is a gushing post and all kiddos are this fun and silly and cute and loveable, but let me indulge for a minute:) 
P.P.S. I'm assuming this is normal weird kid behavior!

I'm Long Overdue to Let You Know that I am Due...

June 17, 2012. That's right. Baby B Numero 2 will be making his /her appearance sooner than later.  Just when I could fit back into regular clothes --- I'm knocked up again!  Well it was either time to tone up or time to expand the family.  The second option sounded more fun.  Currently, I am 24 weeks along and moving ahead at full steam. Apologies for the delayed blogging -- but as you know my/our blogging in general has been pretty limited and on top of that it took some time to get the word out to family, friends and bosses!

We told our family Christmas day via M&M. I know its a little sacrilegious for someone from Hershey to rely on and love M&Ms so much, but what can you do? We gave our family little bags of M&Ms that said "Big Brother" and "June 17, 2012." We purposely left them red and green instead of blue & pink to see if they would notice. Some got it right away (winner -- Amanda -- the first to text and/or call!) some we had to point it out.

So we are extremely excited and happy to welcome another little one to our family and to provide Timothy with a sibling. I just hope we don't shatter Timothy's world too much. The kiddos will be 17 months or so apart.  Oh and just like with Timothy we are going to be surprised and wait to find out the sex until the big day.

First trimester was rough but feeling much better now. Although constantly getting sick with whatever Timothy brings home from daycare and struggling a bit with bending down and picking up Timothy every 30 seconds. I feel much bigger than I was when I was pregnant with Timothy even though I am desperately trying to keep my weight in check. Oh well -- what can you do? Below are some pictures so far.

24 weeks -- not the best picture cause it's so far away -- sorry!



Showing you 21 weeks -- with Timothy and Winston in the background



Cleaning Like Daddy

Anyone who knows Mark, knows that he likes things clean (and yet somehow he still tolerates me). With a little one around that doesn't always happen, but Mark tries anyway! Timothy has decided to follow in his dad's footsteps and assist him in keeping the house tidy.  Of course we haven't hesitated to put him to work!

Bomber jacket and paci make cleaning cool

Kind of like the Fonz

Timothy really goes above and beyond in his cleaning efforts. The other night he woke up around 10:30 and started crying. He has not been sleeping through the night for about a week now -- ever since he was diagnosed with his 5,000th ear infection. Anyway, in an effort to revisit sleep training I let him "cry it out" for about 8 minutes. I'm weak so I don't last long (and Mark was out of town). Anyway, by the time I went upstairs he was quite worked up and started coughing. I immediately picked him up in an effort to sooth him and he promptly vomited on both of us. ANYWAY -- what does this have to do with cleaning? Well after I stripped both of us down and gave him a bath I had to clean the floor in his room.  After his bath, the sweet little dear insisted on helping me clean up the mess -- handing me paper towels and placing them in the trash bag! See, I told you he likes to clean!  Even more remarkable ----after being up until 11:30 or so he went back to bed after 15 minutes of rocking.  The cleaning must have tired him out.

Likes to clean like dad and celebrates vomit like mom!

Formal Attire

Sometimes you just feel like dressing up. Here Timothy is sporting his tie t-shirt in an effort to step it up a bit. Thanks Aunt Amanda.

Posing -- well the best we can get nowadays

Timothy thought maybe he needed a bit of hair gel to look a bit more spiffy

Flipping Fool

Please note -- daddy taught Timothy this trick. Excellent work daddy! We're also trying to work on the forward roll to catch up with cousin Madeline -- but we have a long way to go!

T & Me

No time to blog. (I plan to do a bunch of back dated entries later). But wanted to share a picture of Timothy that I just love. Sadly, he's all snuggly because he was feeling a little under the weather.