Baby brother love

Don't let the headline alarm you.  Baby brother is still in my belly and is very much active and happy to be in there, for the moment at least.  I did have the experience of buying milk with an expiration date past my due date yesterday and reality set in.  This baby will be here soon!  I wanted to get something down in writing before baby brother gets here because, well . . .  he is a second child and despite his parents both being second (and the youngest) children, we've fallen into the second child trap.  

I carefully documented my pregnancy with Grady taking almost weekly pictures, reading all the books showing the prenatal pictures of the baby, and planning planning planning. I could tell you when Grady had fingernails and his approximate size in comparison to a fruit at every step along the way.   This time is not exactly the same, but it doesn't mean we have any less love for baby brother. In fact, I am so excited that he is coming into a ready made family.  Instead of having two new parents and a crazy puppy sister, this guy gets to come into a family complete with an adoring big brother.  That my son, is the benefit of being "baby brother."  There is more love for you in this house and this family than you can imagine and we cannot wait for you to get here. 

This pregnancy, like my last, has been relatively easy physically.  I am short and probably not the best suited to carry babies, but I had no real morning sickness and was able to pretty much carry on life as usual.  My belly started showing much earlier on and really just sticks way out there like a basketball now.  I don't remember being that far "out there" the last time, but maybe those carefully documented pictures didn't capture the reality. My emotions, on the other hand, were a little out of whack.  I'll blame it on the hormones, but I've had a tough time making tough decisions. I wouldn't advise any pregnant woman voluntarily putting herself in a spot where she has to make tough decisions during pregnancy, probably just not smart.   But we've made it through. 

If I've craved anything, it has been sweets.  As Grady sits on his potty and yells "mommy I want chocolate", I am reminded that I craved sweets with him as well.  I've probably set both of our boys up to be big consumers of sugar and that is OK, we can all enjoy it together while daddy judges us from the sidelines.  If I have wanted to avoid anything it has been meat.  This was quite odd for me because if I were to get second helpings of anything before being pregnant, it was usually steak or barbecue chicken or whatever meat we had for the night. 

This baby is a mover.  I show Chris the feet moving across my belly and he is certain that there is an alien in there.  This baby also throws a dance party every night at precisely 11:00 p.m. and 4:00 a.m. Needless to say, sleep is not terribly easy to come by these days.  He kicks at the Dr. so much when I am getting measured that he elicits commentary like, "oh wow!"  When I was pregnant with Grady somebody told me that babies are exactly the same on the outside as they were when they were on the inside. This proved true with our busy Grady and I am sure it will prove true for baby brother.  While I am a bit terrified to have two very active boys, this little guy is going to need to be active to keep up so it is probably a good thing. 

Baby brother is moving into Grady's old room with some upgrades of his own.  Grady is forfeiting his crib with varying degrees of success on a nightly basis so we'll see when baby really gets to take on his new room.  His room is navy and orange and nearly complete, but is missing one thing....the letter of his first name.  We've settled on three different names at three different times for baby brother, but nothing has quite stuck.  Having eliminated one, we are down to two, but just cannot seem to settle on it.  Maybe this time we'll have to see what he looks like . . . .   good Lord I hope not because I have not proven to be a very concise decision maker lately. 

I have one more week of work and then I am off.  My due date is still officially October 17th, but Chris and I are both betting that we'll be a family of 4 sometime the week before the 17th, which probably means I will actually be a week late.  The Dr. thinks the baby will be somewhere in the middle size range just like Grady (who was 7.7).  Since my water broke and I didn't go into active labor with Grady without the help of pitocin, I am anxious about how it will all go down this time. Having narrowly avoided a C-Section last time, we know that is still a real possibility for this one too.  So as I told the Dr. . . . . .  our birth plan is to have a baby and beyond that, it is in God's hands. 

Baby brother, we are so thrilled to have you join this family.  I always sensed that I'd get the pleasure (and pain) of being a boys mom and I just cannot wait to bring my second boy home.  I dream about you every night, sometimes trying out names sometimes thinking about what you'll look like and mostly wondering about what wonderful gifts you'll bring to share with this family and the world.  I don't need to read those baby books because all I really want to do is replace my imagining you with the real you. We love you we love we love you and we cannot wait to see your sweet face.  

My sister's boys love seeing pictures of her when she was pregnant with them.  So I figure I might as well throw some pics up that I've snapped of myself over the last months. 

37 weeks

31 weeks

23 weeks

As for baby prep 2014, Grady has been very interested in trying out all things baby.  I cannot believe he can still squeeze his skinny little buns into the Bumbo! No wonder your pants fall down Grady!

I also bought Grady a doll.  Chris was semi-mortified, but I explained it is an attempt to save our second son's life in an effort to show Grady he cannot thrust cars in his general direction or body-slam him.  Grady took right to his doll and affectionately named her "Cutie Baby".  While cousin Cameron totes around two cars everywhere he goes, Grady went through a Cutie Baby stage where he wanted to take her with him in the car.  This is when Chris's semi-mortification was materialized, but Cutie Baby is still with us and is tenderly cared to by her big brother.