1st Zoo Trip of the Year!

Thanks to my parents' generous Christmas gift of a zoo pass, we have been eagerly awaiting warm weather! And, thanks to the abnormally warm weather recently, we were finally able to visit our local zoo last weekend. Nathaniel loved visiting all the animals and riding the train! His favorite animal was a chicken that he eagerly approached and "quack quack"-ed at!

Wordless Wednesday.

It's a BOY!!

We are thrilled to announce that we will be having another Baby Boy join our family soon! We are also thrilled to announce that he looked perfect and healthy during our anatomy scan yesterday!

Wordless Wednesday.

Quick Update.

We've been busy around here! First, I decided to transform Nathaniel's bedroom from a baby nursery into a big boy room. Not a huge deal, right? Then, we thought we'd just get an early "start" on the baby's nursery by moving the crib across the hall (from Nate's room, to Baby's room). Nathaniel, in preparation for being the best big brother ever, helped Daddy put the crib back together!

Needless to say, all of this led to painting both rooms (blue for Nate, and yellow for Baby), carpeting both rooms, and beginning to sort though our loads and loads of baby things! We still don't know if we're having a little boy or a little girl, but the nursery is already well on its way to being finished! Though I feel a tiny bit silly about having an almost-ready for Baby nursery at 18 weeks pregnant, I am happy. I am a planner, and I like to get things done early; my original goal was to have the nursery completely finished by June. At this rate, it will be completely finished by the end of next week!

Then, while we were working, spring came! We have been having the most amazing weather this month--warm (borderline HOT!), sunshiney days, balmy nights, and highs in the upper 70's. Nathaniel loves running around outside in the yard, playing at the playground (we've already been twice this week!), visiting the ducks at the park, and taking evening walks around our neighborhood.

Thoughts on #2.

I'm feeling so many different emotions about our unborn child right now. Of course, I'm excited! I can't wait to find out if we're having a boy or a girl, I can't wait to hold him/her in my arms, and I can't wait to be a family of four.
But, as excited as I am, there is a little part of me that feels like Baby #2 is already getting the shaft! When I was pregnant with Nathaniel, I thought about the growing baby in my belly all. the. time. Now, I do think about this baby daily, but I'm too busy chasing Baby #1 around most of the time to think about what miracle is going on in my tummy! When I was pregnant with Nathaniel, we read a chapter of two different books each Thursday night as we jumped to a new week of pregnancy. This time, we change weeks on Fridays, and I typically remember to glance through the books sometime on Saturday or Sunday. Or Monday. When I was 17 weeks pregnant with Nathaniel, we had already bought several items for the baby (onesies, toys, etc). So far, I've only gotten three boxes of nursing pads for Baby #2.
And, although we don't know the sex yet, I'm already feeling a bit of guilt because I know that if we have another boy, he's already got about 12 boxes of hand-me-downs to wear! Heck, they're even going to have birthdays in the same season--everything should fit! Not that I think there is anything wrong with hand-me-downs (obviously), but every child deserves a few new things, right? It has even crossed my mind that if we have another boy, I could just decorate his room with the things that I've taken out of Nate's room recently. Is that terrible? To top it all off, we have absolutely NO IDEAS for boy names. None. We do have a girl name picked out (leftover from pregnancy #1), but I cannot think of a single other boy name that I love. I jokingly told Eric that if we have another boy, we'll just have to call him Isaac Nathaniel. But, the more I think about it, I think I was serious.
I suppose that once we find out the sex of Baby #2, I'll feel a little more connected to him/her. (And, there is a 50% chance that that entire last paragraph of guilt is unfounded.) To be honest, I don't remember if I felt any more or less of a connection to Nathaniel when I was 17 weeks pregnant with him. He was my first, and I didn't really know what to expect. I was excited (as I am now), but I didn't really know what I would eventually feel for him. This time, while I don't know this baby yet, I do understand a smidgen of the love that I will feel when I get to hold him/her and breathe in that sweet newborn scent.
Perhaps the most vivid memory of my life was the moment that Nate was born--I can still see the doctor holding his tiny body up in the air like it was yesterday. I don't remember a whole lot about anything else that happened during those minutes, but I remember the first second I could finally lay eyes upon my son. And, second only to the moment that Nathaniel gets to meet his new baby sibling, I am anticipating that moment again. What a miraculous thing it is to bring life into the world, and what a wonderful feeling it is to be a mother! The more I think about it, nothing else really matters. Baby #2 won't care whether or not I read a chapter of a pregnancy book every Friday, and he/she won't care if the onesies in the dresser are brand-new or leftover from Big Brother. All that Baby #2 will need is love and caring, and we've got plenty of that to give!! And, I guess the name thing might be a big deal....!

Littlest Book Worm.

I love books, and so does my husband. One of my favorite genres of books is children's literature. I'll admit that Nathaniel had quite a library of his own before he was even born (and, I might not admit that at least half of it was accumulated before he was even conceived!). Throughout the last 18 months, we have continued to collect kids' books for our child(ren). I read aloud to Nate while he was still in my tummy, and I read to both of my children [simultaneously] on a daily basis now. I try to make reading a priority in our home, and I rarely decline an opportunity to snuggle together and read a story. (I have been known to pause while cooking dinner to read a picture book on the kitchen floor more than once....)
For months, Nathaniel has enjoyed his books when we read to him and alone. It makes me heart swell with pride to see him seated next to a pile of books, flipping through the pictures and saying words that he knows. But, it was only today that I realized just how much of a little book worm we have created when I saw him drag his book pile(s) onto the couch for our morning story time!

And, yes, we did read every single book on that couch....some more than once!

Love.

I have never loved anyone in the way that I love this little boy! I never imagined that I could feel this way about anyone, and I can barely wrap my head around the fact that it's going to happen again. I cannot wait to give my boy a sibling, and I cannot wait for him to be a big brother. Most of all, I cannot wait to love another sweet baby with this immense and fierce momma love.

Wordless Wednesday.