The most wonderful time of the year...

Christmas has taken on a whole new meaning in our house this year now that Hank can really get into all the festivities.  He's quite my little elf helper these day.  He LOVED helping us put up the tree (and has been rearranging ornaments on the tree ever since-I found one in my purse, in the bathtub, and in my car this week).  We made a gingerbread house together or a "christmas house" as Hank calls it.  He loved putting on the M&Ms and sprinkles-I have been sweeping sprinkles off the floor for days now.  We went to the children's Christmas festival so that he could meet Santa and ride his choo choo train.  I was certain he would scream when we met with Santa, but we'd been talking a lot lately about going to visit him and asking for the toys he wants so I think he realized how important this moment was.  He was being very shy, but when Santa asked him what he wanted for Christmas he immediately shouted "TRAINS!" into his ear-like he didn't want to miss his opportunity. 

Trains, trains, and more trains would be just about the only thing on Hank's Christmas list this year.  Basically, we talk nonstop about Thomas, Percy, train tracks, choo choos in tunnels, choo choos on bridges etc, etc, etc.  I even caught him talking in his sleep the other night about orange trains and black trains (he also sleeps with his Thomas and Percy at night now).  This should make things pretty easy for ole Santa this year.  

So, like all Decembers we are crazy busy getting ready for the holidays, but I'm really enjoying seeing Christmas through the eyes of Hank this year.  It certainly gives a whole new meaning to the season for us-I'm so excited that next year our mantle will have one more stocking hanging for our babygirl-I still can't imagine how full our life will feel with another little one to share it with.  Babygirl is hanging out, enjoying the ride-she loves to kick/poke/jab at me all day while we stay busy.  We are narrowing down name choices; but haven't decided if we are going to announce anything or make it a surprise-but we aren't saying anything for sure until we have a clear decision.  We just bought the paint for both of the kid's bedrooms, and plan to get both re-done right after the new year.  It's time for the big boy bed! wish us luck :)

Happy Birthday Hank

"I'M 2!" Hank's response when you ask how old he is now (he also holds up 3 fingers everytime).  Birthdays are always bittersweet for me, I love celebrating the day, but I always get tears in my eyes thinking about how old my baby is getting.  Don't let Hank know that I call him my baby though cause according to him "I"m not baby mama, I big boy!".  We're doing lots of "big boy" talking around here in preparation for his sister's arrival.  We had a family party on his actual birthday (Wednesday) with cake and his favorite dinner, tacos.  He got to open his presents from us, his biggest was a play kitchen.  The highlight was our trip over to the zoo to ride the train.  I'm not sure what it is about little boys and trains, but the obsession is intense!  Every morning the first thing he asks me is "I ride choo choo in the tunnel at the zoo?" Since his birthday, I think we've been on the train 4 or 5 times.  It doesn't help that you can hear the train whistle from our house, resulting in a constant reminder of it's presence.  

We had a party at the playground for Hank on Saturday, and it was a beautiful fall morning.  A perfect location for a 2 year old's party.  We had a Curious George theme (another obsession), with cupcakes and goldfish snacks at 11 am!  

So at 2 years of age: Hank is weighing in at 31 lbs 90th percentile and is 36.5 inches tall keeping him at the 98th percentile.  He is currently the same size as an average 3 year old.  At age 2 they "predict" their adult height based on their growth curve over the past 2 years...according to the experts Hank will end up at 6 feet tall.  Now this would make perfect sense since his dad is 6 ft exactly, and I'm clearly no giant.  However, when we compare Hank's growth charts to ours we find that Johnny wasn't the same height/weight until he was 4 years old and he ended up at 6ft, and I was exactly the same size percentiles at age 2, and I came in at a whopping 5 ft. 3 in.  So much for those "expert predictions". 

Happy Halloween

I'm starting to realize that the week of Halloween will always be crazy in our house.  We have all our halloween festivities, and then 2 days later it's Hank's birthday.  It's felt like a whirlwind, but of course full of only fun things!  This year, Hank was old enough to really get excited about pumpkins, costumes, and candy.  After much debate (he insisted that he had to be Jessie from Toy Story, but dad put the kibosh on him dressing as a girl)  I really wasn't opposed, and thought it would always be a funny story; nonetheless we decided on a garden gnome.  Hank and I both have an affinity for gnomes, I have a collection of about 10 throughout the yard and Hank loves to go around and collect them, hug them, tell them he loves them etc.  I find my gnomes in the funniest places these days.  

Our neighborhood does a great Halloween parade and festival for the kids which we participated in with some playgroup friends.  Hank thoroughly enjoyed pumpkin carving; although he wouldn't touch the insides of the pumpkin telling me "that's gross mom".  We took him trick or treating, and introduced him to the world of candy-he ran into the house immediately dumped his bucket of loot and started asking "whats this, mom?"  I'd explain "a tootsie roll" or "dots" and now I'm constantly being pulled to the candy bucket with whines of "Hankey need tootsie roll". I try to explain that no one actually needs a tootsie roll; but this is lost on him.   He helped pass out candy to the trick or  treaters at our house, and enjoyed saying "happy halloween!" to everyone.  We always have a huge turnout at our house, and Johnny likes to keep a tally-this year we ran out of candy just shy of 300 kids, and had to turn away at least another 50.  It was a great Halloween season in our house-and just think, next year we'll have a 3 year old and a 7 month old!

Baby updates

With your first pregnancy and child there is so much anxiety surrounding EVERYTHING.  When you are pregnant with your first, every strange twinge or lack of twinges, every sniffle, every gas pain all warrants a call to the doctor because surely something is wrong with the baby.  Then the baby is born, and the anxiety goes through the roof, navigating the waters of this tiny, fussy, needy human that on certain days makes you wonder "why did we want children ?".  (days like this continue, and possibly increase as you enter the toddler years).  I decided that with my second, I was going to sit back, relax, and enjoy every bit of pregnancy and every stage once the baby is born-because like everyone says...it's over in a blur-so why waste it stressing about needless things?  Of course, in my efforts to savor every precious day of this pregnancy, it is flying by at warp speed.  I am 19 weeks-almost halfway through already!

So some stats for ya at the halfway point:
1. How am I feeling?  Great actually.  I love the second trimester.  I have lots of energy, good appetite, and am generally still comfortable.  I've been feeling this baby move around so much more, so much earlier than with Hank.  That is my absolute favorite part of pregnancy.

2. Gender?  So after two ultrasounds telling us without a doubt we were having a boy, we had one at 18 weeks that is undoubtedly a GIRL!  I'm still trying to wrap my head around that one...

3.  Cravings?  Never had any with Hank, not had any with this one either....

4. Names?  We had a boy name picked out since for a month we were planning on another boy--now we've got nothing.  I didn't even have a girl name picked out when I went into the delivery room with Hank because I was so convinced he was a boy.  I imagine it will be a while before we agree on something...

5.  Interesting fact: at the halfway point with Hank I'd gained 17 pounds, at the halfway point with BabyGirl-I've gained 6 but she is exactly the same size that Hank was according to our ultrasounds.  I'm thinking she may not be another 9 pounder at birth which would be absolutely fine with me!

                                                       Baby Girl on the inside at 18 weeks.

Baby Girl from the outside at 18 weeks

And to compare....Hank at 20 weeks

18 weeks with Hank

Fall in the mountains

We finally got around to heading up to the mountains for a hike and picnic this past weekend.  The leaves were turning and the weather was beautiful!  We had a picnic next to a stream, and despite the freezing water, Hank got right in to throw rocks and catch leaves as they floated by in the water.  Sometimes I look at pictures of Hank now, and just can't believe how much he looks like a little boy-not a baby. One week and my baby will be 2!  How did that happen? 

In other news...

So for those who haven't heard, we've officially lost our minds and will be expanding the roost at the end of March!  Despite the anxiety about having two little creatures running around our lives we are thrilled that Hank will have a sibling and that they will be close in age (a little less than 2 1/2 years apart).  I am currently 14 weeks along, and FINALLY have some energy back.  I suspect my extreme, overwhelming, rediculous fatigue was very closely related to the fact that this time around I now have a VERY busy and energetic toddler who demands every second of my attention and also requires that I am up in the morning no later than 730 (not to mention a demanding job, a house to maintain, etc etc).  Luckilly, like my pregnancy with Hank, I seem to be one of the fortunate women who escapes the dreaded morning sickness; however I certainly wouldn't say I've felt peachy in these first 12 weeks.  That's all behind me now though!  Moving on to the wonders of the second trimester.

 It is amazing to me how no matter who you are talking to, the same set of pregnancy questions always follow your announcement.  So to answer the standard protocol questions we get when we announce the impending arrival of chickadee #2
1. How am I feeling: see above.  Bottom line: Pregnancy #2 has been less enjoyable than Pregnancy #1
2. Are you finding out the sex this time?  Yes we are.  Although we LOVED being surprised with Hank, both Johnny and I are big fans of "trying it all once" so we decided to find out this time around and see what we like better.  Then we can decide which we prefer for #3 :)  Lucky for me I have a friend in the ultrasound department at work: I'm going this week to see if we can see anything :)
3.  When are you due: Official due date is March 28th but because I will have to have a repeat c-section, that will happen about a week earlier at 39 weeks.  So lucky for us, we'll get to pick this baby's birthday!  I'm shooting for the first day of spring since it's one of my favorite days.
4. The above question inevitably leads to the next question: So you are going to have the repeat c-section??  I find this question very personal...but nonetheless...
After a lot of discussion and research with both my doctor and Johnny we made the decision that it was in my best interest to repeat the c-section.  I know that many women support the VBAC, but given the facts and what I see at work everyday the risks didn't outweigh the benefits for me and my family.  And basically, I thought the c-section was a breeze...so sign me up again!
5. Are you going to potty train Hank?  why is this such a popular question for second time moms?? I'm so not ready for potty training; however Hank is basically potty training himself right now so most likely I will try and get him out of diapers before baby arrives; but I'm not pushing anything.


So welcome Baby Ritger part deux:

And because I don't want my second child to feel slighted, I'm going to keep up with the belly pics this time also. Please excuse the bandaid on my arm-it was flu shot day at work :)  13 weeks.

So let's take a moment to compare.  They say you show a lot sooner the second time around...guess what? THEY'RE RIGHT!  Here I am at 12 weeks with Hank...hello? belly?

An interesting tidbit about this comparison that I don't even really understand.  At this point in my pregnancy with Hank, I'd already put on about 7 or 8 pounds.  This time I've only put on about 3 pounds...but clearly something is going on in there...

So here's to another healthy, wonderful addition to our growing family!!!

A month in review...

Crazy would be an understatement...as I sit down to write this the month of August already seems like a blur in my mind. Unfortunately, a lot of what kept us (or mostly just me-mama) busy was work related. I had 3 working weekends out of 5 last month-all filled up with continuing education, training courses, and on-call shifts. Nothing more needs to be said about that-just glad to have it behind me :) The two weekends that I wasn't working we were traveling-camping in North Georgia and a week at the beach on Tybee Island. I think I might just now be caught up on laundry, chores, errands etc...but for some reason my to-do list continues to grow. I'll try to re-cap the month in pictures, and I'll also try to update more frequently :)