Friday!!

Happy Halloween!!

I always thought it was a little strange that my town and surrounding cities have trick-or-treating on the Sunday before Halloween.  It actually works out pretty well – there’s no rushing home from work to pass out candy and kids aren’t outside at night.  This year, temperatures were in the 70s for our trick-or-treating.  The weather was gorgeous.  And today it snowed.  I usually get excited about the first snow – you know, when it occurs late November or in December.  But I can’t get excited about October snow.  Very thankful our trick-o-treating occurred early!  Also, going from 70s to 30s in a matter of days... only in Chicago! :P

My boss brought in breakfast treats this morning – bagels, donuts, and muffins.  I had half of a pumpkin pie donut.  Amazing.  Pumpkin pie donut for the win!!!  It made my day. :)  Also, I keep referring to him as "my boss" and he's not.  But he used to be.  So I'll forever think of him as my boss.

Office shenanigans are keeping me laughing nonstop today.  One of my coworkers is leaving and his last day is today.  For Halloween, he wore a shirt with an X on the front and back.  I asked what he was.  His response – an ex-employee… haha!  Another coworker accidentally ate a boss’s coveted long john donut and won’t live it down.  And finally, one of my coworkers had a cyst removed and has had a band aid on his head.  Another coworker is walking around with a post-it note on her head saying that she’s him for Halloween.  So now that I’m writing these down, they don’t seem funny at all.  Trust me, they were.  Guess you had to be there.

W has another cold.  His third one in about 2 months.  It makes me sad and three colds in 2 months seems ridiculous.  Luckily his colds haven’t turned into anything worse (yet), but I’m worried about what the winter will bring. L  I’m thinking about starting vitamins and/or PediaSure.  Anything to keep the colds away!

This weekend, I’m working at an auction to benefit athletics at the high school I went to.  My high school is probably the worst performing in our county and might even be considered as a school for the “underprivileged”.  I hate that word.  I’m proud of who I am, where I came from, and what I’ve accomplished.  I’m excited about giving a little back to the community even if it’s in a very small way.  I also think athletics are so important for high schoolers - team work, camaraderie, responsibility, dedication, and time management (to name a few) are all important aspects of participating in sports.  Not to mention, sometimes kids just need something to do, an alternative to “hanging out” and watching tv.

That’s all I’ve got.  Happy Friday!

Fall Photo Shoot

We had fall photos taken a week and a half ago.  I usually schedule a session around W's birthdays (or half birthdays), but I absolutely love fall and have fallen way behind in taking actual camera photos lately.  So I thought it'd be nice to have professional photos taken outside while the trees are gorgeous and the weather is still somewhat nice.  The photographer did an amazing job and I couldn't stop looking at the photos she sent.  I think there are even a couple we can use for our Christmas cards.

I can't get over how OLD W looks!  He's definitely not a baby anymore.  Also, I think this boy needs a modeling contract - not that I'm biased or anything. ;)  Just a few favorites (we got SO many great photos)...

Quite possibly my all time favorite photo ^

Checking on baby brother :)

Weekend Recap - Halloween Edition

So so much to update on!  This is going to be a really long post.

I was worried about how this weekend would turn out because we had so much planned.  I knew I might have to let go of my hopes for perfectly planned activities and Halloween festivities.  But things could not have gone better and the weekend was even more fun than I imagined.

Saturday started with W going to school and I heading to a doctor’s appointment.  A took W to school and it went great.  I was nervous about going to the doctor’s appointment alone.  I knew I was being ridiculous, but I had fears that something would be wrong and I’d have to hear bad news alone.  I  was scheduled to have another ultrasound because the tech couldn’t record all of baby’s measurements at my 20 week appointment due to baby’s position.  As the tech scanned over baby, he asked “So what was the concern at the last appointment?”.  Concern??  What concern??  I was specifically told not to worry, that this ultrasound was to record the measurements the first tech couldn’t.  So his question sent me into a minor panic.  During the ultrasound, baby was waving and we could see him drinking amniotic fluid.  I’d never seen anything like it – so cool.  Baby had also flipped and was head down.  After the ultrasound the tech told me I did well.  All I did was lay there?  He started to say something and then said, “I’ll just let the doctor tell you.”.  What??  Cue panic again.  I know I was being paranoid, but the tech didn’t help my nerves.  Everything was fine.  Baby is measuring slightly big, but nothing out of the ordinary.  I discussed the c-section vs. VBAC debate with my doctor for quite some time.  I don’t have to make a decision until much later, but he was interested in my thoughts.  Because I’ve had a c-section, I will not be induced and if I go past my due date, I will automatically have a c-section.  Right now, the plan is to schedule a c-section and if I go into labor naturally prior to that, then try for VBAC.  Of course, that could all change.  But that’s the plan for now.  And I’m at peace with that.  In a way, I feel like I’m not really making a decision and leaving it up to God and baby.  If I’m meant to have a VBAC, baby will come early.  If not, then I’m fine with a c-section.

That afternoon, we went to a Halloween parade and party in Nani and Papa’s neighborhood.  W was SO cute in his fireman costume.  I think A and I definitely redeemed ourselves after last year’s costume.  Best of all, a fire truck and ambulance came to the party.  W was mesmerized by the site of them and the firemen were so cute with W.  They of course loved W’s costume and had him try on their boots, sit in the ambulance, and sit in the driver’s seat of the fire truck.  I took lots of pictures, but most are on my camera.  Here are a couple phone pics…

After a fun party and park time, we headed to Nani and Papa’s house for dinner with W’s cousins.  Yum!!

Sunday was church.  W shared goldfish crackers with Kaylee and Ben.  And before we knew it, it was time for trick-or-treating!  I brought W to Grandma G’s house where he got some goodies and visited with the cats.  We also visited Grandma G’s neighbor, Miss Joan, where W got bath toys and candy.  I should mention that W got treat bags from both grandmas, my boss, and Miss Joan… lucky boy!  After that, we headed home so W could trick-or-treat in our neighborhood with A.  I had low expectations – W is a bit shy and I didn’t expect him to walk up to our neighbor’s houses.  But A said that he did great, even rang doorbells!  W also insisted on stopping at the park mid trick-or-treat outing.  All in all, we had so much fun.  The weather was gorgeous – low 70’s.  I can’t remember a nicer Halloween.

And last but not least, A and I celebrated our 7^th anniversary yesterday.  I can’t believe it’s been 7 years!!  I can’t believe how much has happened in 7 years!!

And finally, W has not napped the past two days.  Is this the end of naps?!?!  Noooo….  On the bright side, he has slept through the night.  We’ll see what happens…

TGIF

We have another really busy weekend planned… and that makes me nervous.  Seems like every time we have a full weekend, something goes awry.  There have been odd nap times, no naps, colds, nighttime wake ups, and kidney stones to contend with.  So here’s hoping things go according to plan.  I’ll be back next week with a weekend recap and hopefully cute pictures too.  Happy Friday!

And if you’re wondering, W still isn’t sleeping.  He slept through the night Sunday and Monday and even slept in.  It was heavenly.  But since then, he’s been up every night.  It sucks.  In an attempt to keep my sanity, I’m blaming teething/molars.  I need SOMETHING to blame.  But I really have no idea what’s going on.  I’m about to lose my mind.  I hoped Christmas pajamas would do the trick last night, but sadly no, not even reindeer could solve the sleep crisis.  The best I could do was a blurry picture…

W points to his reindeer feet and roars... In his mind reindeer roar. :)

Growing Baby Belly

I’ve been a little sensitive lately about growing larger and the weight I’ve gained.  I know I shouldn’t care… and I didn’t… until the comments started rolling in.  A few things to mention...  1.  It’s common knowledge that women show earlier in subsequent pregnancies after the first pregnancy.  Things have already been stretched and once that happens, it’s easier to stretch again.  Like a rubber band or a new pair of jeans, for instance.  Yes, I’m comparing my body to a rubber band. Whatever.  2.  All women are different – they carry babies differently, some show pregnancy early, some late, some have large baby bumps, some do not.  3.  I tend to carry all baby weight in my basketball shaped belly.  That means that my pregnant belly gets huge and the rest of me (aside from any late pregnancy swelling) remains pretty much the same.  This worked to my advantage after my first pregnancy because I was able to lose weight pretty quickly after baby was out.  Hoping for the same results.  4.  Pregnant or not, it’s really not ok to tell a woman she’s big.  Seriously.  And other women should know better.  5.  Getting pregnant was hard enough.  I should be exempt from stupid remarks for having survived IVF.

I’m only 6 months pregnant and the comments are already starting to get to me.  This does not bode well for the next 3 months.  I’m just tired of it.  How does one respond to “Wow!  You’re really big!”?  Thank you seems inappropriate.  F you also seems inappropriate… especially at work!  Ha!  Just kidding.  Sort of.  And I also hear the whispers… “Don’t say that, she’s sensitive, blah, blah, blah.”  I don’t appreciate comments that imply I’m enormous, but I also don’t need people tiptoeing around me and my feelings… uggh.

My boss actually came to me today and apologized (after I told him I was going to beat him up) saying he would never intentionally hurt my feelings.  He really is the best boss and his comment that I was getting bigger was nothing compared to some of the comments I’ve heard… all in the past week.  Did I really get that big over the weekend?!?!  Not sure.  All I know is people need the shut the heck up if they can’t say something nice.

Girl's Names

If I were a reader of this blog, I’d be a little annoyed that I haven’t revealed our names.  Maybe someday.  For now, I like keeping some things private.  I have started including more pictures so at least there’s that.  Because we’ll likely never have a daughter, I thought I’d reveal our top choices for girl’s names.  A never gave me his list of baby girl’s names.  He hasn’t seemed as excited about names this time around and I think we both knew baby #2 was a boy so girl’s names never entered the picture.  But when I brought these up in the past, A was in agreement.  All that to say, this is mostly MY list, but it’s likely we would have chosen Ella or Lily for a girl.  More specifically, I was pushing for Ella Scarlett or Lily Francesca.  Other honorable mentions include: Eloise, Camille, Brielle, Margaret, and Coralie.  Those probably would have been options for middle names.  So there you have it.  Favorite girl’s names that will never be used (by us). J

24 Weeks Pregnant with Baby #2

How far along? 24 weeks!

Size?  Baby is the size of a cantaloupe.

Maternity Clothes? Yes.  Still able to make some non maternity work, but options are slim.

Weight Gain? Not sure.

Gender? Baby boy!

Sleep?  Ehh... not great and not horrible.  I've started to get more uncomfortable at night.

Movement? This baby is a mover and a shaker.  I wonder if that means he'll be my wild child.  I sent A a video recently of my belly moving.  A also felt baby move for the first time - he could've felt movement much sooner, but we never just sit and relax together (sad, but true).

Food Cravings? Still love those specialty drinks and Coke.

Labor signs? Way too early.

What I Miss? Chicago style hot dogs and sandwiches.  Deli sandwiches sound so good lately and there are so many restaurants that serve them around here.  I would love to get my hands on a sub/hoagie/grinder.  Not sure it fits here, but my boss revealed that there will be a trip to Ireland... in January.  And I would've been asked to go except for the fact that I'll be 9 months pregnant.  Ireland is number 1 on my list of places to visit and to say I'm disappointed is an understatement.  They couldn't have planned this trip for any other time?!?!  I would choose baby over Ireland any day, obviously.  I just can't believe the timing. :\

Symptoms?  Dry skin.  I returned from lunch recently and noticed that my skin had gotten so dry, it was actually flaky on my face.  So weird and it looked terrible.  I use plenty of moisturizer in the morning and it definitely didn't look like that when I left he house.  More discomfort lately.  Any time I try to cook, clean, or run errands for a long period of time, I end up really sore and tired.  Also having a little pain near my c-section scar.

Happy or Moody?  Well, I was happy.  W has slept well the past couple nights.  BUT yesterday and today, I received the following comments,  "Your THAT big already?!?", "Just one baby??", "WOW, you are REALLY big for having so much further to go!!" from separate people.  So feeling very self conscious, sensitive, and just plain gigantic.  People should know better and shame on them for bringing me down (and shame on me for letting them).  On another note, I'm preparing some witty replies to have at my disposal for the next stupid comment I receive.

Looking Forward To?  Halloween with W.  We have parties and trick-or-treating coming up.  Next ultrasound of baby is also coming up soon.  Painting the nursery starts Friday.  Can't wait to see our fall photos.  Our photo session wasn't perfect, but much improved over the 1 year photos.  I think there will be some great shots of W. :)

Best Moment of the Week?  We MAY have a name.... or we may not.  BUT A called baby by my favorite name.  When I asked him about it, he said he didn't like referring to baby as "he" or "the baby" so I'm taking that as a positive sign. :)  Baby Gap had lots of things on sale and sent me a code for 40% off, no exclusions.  So I stocked up on size 3 items for next fall/winter.  Call me shallow, but I love Baby Gap and love a bargain!  I've done this since W was born because Gap seems to be true to size (for him) and it's been great having items ready (at a discounted price) when the seasons change.  Also, we carved pumpkins last night and W was very into it - warmed my heart.  Lots of great moments lately.

A took this picture of me last night and I do think I suddenly look huge (still doesn't make it ok for people to tell me that).  Either baby had a growth spurt, baby is in an awkward position, or the shirt is really unflattering.  Perhaps all of the above.  BUT all that matters is baby is growing and healthy!!  P.S. A put that mirror up above the fire place over the weekend and I LOVE it. :)