Baby Info

Thanks for all of the congratulations, everyone! We are very excited and still a bit overwhelmed by it all, but we'll manage. I was especially glad to hear that Jess experienced similar emotions when she found out she was expecting Baby #2 (also due in May 2008). Whew! I'm not alone!

Anyway, the point of this post is to answer all of the inevitable questions you probably have. Here goes:

1. When am I due? Officially, May 29th, but it will be earlier due to a repeat c-section.
2. How am I feeling? Bleh. "Morning sickness" is a total misnomer, because for me, it lasts all day. Yuck. Fortunately, the exhaustion that comes along with the first trimester seems to be fading so that's a good thing.
3. How does this pregnancy compare to the other two? So far, pretty much the same. I was sick with both Sydney and Liam and if history repeats itself, the ickiness should subside in the next week or so.
4. When is the BIG ultrasound? Early January, but we're not finding out the gender of the baby this time around. We didn't find out with Sydney and it was hard, but a lot of fun.
5. Will we be having more kids? NO. Since this is a repeat c-section, it will be very easy for the doc to do a little tube tying after the baby is born. I love babies, but they're expensive and frankly, the idea of going through the extreme nausea stage again is quite frightening.
6. Are the kids excited? Sydney is very excited; she is convinced that she's going to get a baby sister this time around. Liam? Well, he's pretty much clueless.
7. Do we want a boy or a girl? Honestly, we don't care. A boy would be nice so that Liam could have a playmate close in age, but a girl would be great, too.
8. Do we have any names yet? Nope. We've been throwing a few around, but nothing has really hit us as THE NAME. We'll be keeping the name a surprise, too, but feel free to submit suggestions.

I can't think of any more possible questions, but if you have any more, feel free to leave them in the comments. After all, thanks to NaBloPoMo, I have to post every day this month and I'm running out of ideas!

Shock and Awe

Want to know the real reason why we're thinking of moving, looking at minivans and canceling our trip to Europe next summer?







That's right....we're having another baby!

We've known for a while, we were waiting for the magic 12 week point to start telling people (well, people we're not related to).

About a million emotions have been running through us the last couple of months. Here are just a few:

1. Surprise - After suffering with fertility issues with Liam, we honestly did not think this could happen without some kind of medical intervention. The doctor said that Liam apparently "cleared out the cobwebs" so to speak. We'd talked about about having a third child at some point (like in 2-3 years), but next May was nowhere on our radar.
2. Fear - How am I going to handle three children, two of whom are only 18 months apart? The diapers, the tantrums, the crying.....
3. Guilt -
Part A - I feel like we've cheated Liam out of his babyhood. Sydney had us all to herself for 3.5 years and now, not only will Liam never get us to himself, he has to share his baby years with another baby.
Part B - We have several friends (both in real life and online) who are currently struggling with fertility issues. My heart aches for them, having been through issues of our own. I remember how much I disliked hearing about people who had such an easy time having a baby and I'm afraid of what our friends might be feeling about our situation.
4. Happiness - A baby is always a blessing even if the timing is not what we expected. I can't wait to smell those newborn smells and kiss tiny little newborn feet.

So, there's our news. I'm sure news of a minivan and a new house will follow in the next few months. Wish us luck!!

Legalized Torture

Who chooses to be phlebotomist? Seriously. Why would you choose legalized torture for your profession?

Today was Liam's 12 month checkup. He's reached all of the required milestones and his height puts him between the 25th and 50th percentiles, but the poor little guy still doesn't weigh 20 pounds. I guess he'll be facing backward in the car for another month or two. Sigh.

He got four shots and although I was wary about the MMR and all of the recent media coverage possibly linking it to autism, I went ahead and consented to it. I think I've read two dozen articles on the topic and none of them directly link the two. Sometimes I think the media just likes to blow things out of proportion.

As for the phlebotomist, poor Liam was sent for a blood draw to check for lead levels and anemia (this was after the four shots). The lady tied the rubber band thingy on his arm and tried for a good three or four minutes to find his vein. Then she stuck him and fished around for a while to find it. His arm was turning purple, he was screaming his head off and I was close to tears myself. She sent in another tech to try his other arm. The second lady managed to find his vein within 30 seconds and didn't have to fish around to get the needle in. Two vials of blood and neon orange bandages later, it was all done and poor Liam clung to me as if his life depended on it. Thank goodness the lab requires a second phlebotomist to draw the blood if the first can't find a vein. We'd still be there if it weren't for their lab protocol.

Anyway, it's all over. He's taking a much needed nap and I'm still trying to recover from all of the drama. Maybe a bowl of ice cream will help.

I'm Not a Cool Parent...Surprise, Surprise

This whole NaBloPoMo thing is getting pretty tough. So, I'm going to cheat and do another Blogthing.

I feel pretty good about this one....I know these little quizzes are cheesy, but this one made me feel a little better about my skills as a parent.

You Will Not Be a Cool Parent

And that's pretty okay. While your kids may not think of you as a friend, they will respect you. You know that kids need discipline and structure, and you're not afraid to give it to them. Just be careful that your strictness doesn't lead to rebellion. It's good to have standards and rules, but you don't need to have an iron fist when enforcing them.

Would You Be a Cool Parent?

What kind of parent are you?

Cake Pictures!

Liam's party was a success. All of the food was yummy, the kids had fun playing and Liam had a good time. He was a little overwhelmed when everyone was singing "Happy Birthday" to him and got a little upset when he would open a gift (usually a toy) and then had it taken away just so he could open another one. I can't blame him on that one.

So here are the cake pictures from our sweet boy's first birthday party:


The choo-choo cupcake cake before we dug into it.


Liam putting the whole cupcake in his mouth (cousin Jacob is quite interested, as you can see).


Yummmm........


All gone....we think he enjoyed it so much he wanted another one.

It was a great party, but now we're all tired. Both kiddos are in their respective beds asleep and now I'm off to bed, too....night, all.

The Birthday Boy

One year ago at this exact moment (1 pm), Liam was born. He entered the world screaming his little head off. He was a tiny thing, only 5 pounds, 11 ounces and became one of the brightest lights in our lives. He is a sweet boy and I'm not biased because everyone who meets or takes care of him says so, too. His smiles light up rooms. His laughter can make the grumpiest mommy smile. He crawls up to me and gives me hugs for no reason whatsoever.

So, "Happy Birthday", my sweet boy. We've loved watching you grow and can't wait to see what you'll surprise us with next.

The past year in pictorial review......


Liam at two minutes old.


One of my favorites....Liam in my stocking.


Smiling....his favorite thing.


But he can be serious, too.


We call this the "Hugh Hefner" look. And he's quite the little lover boy....always hanging on the girls at playgroup.


Here he is at one year old. Still bald, but all smiles.

Love you, buddy! Happy Birthday!

Tomorrow: first birthday cake pictures.

Traveling with Kids

A big thank you to Tien for all of the fabulous ideas of things to do with Sydney while we're in NYC! And thank you to Sherri for scouting out the place for us (and for posting a comment!). I'm going to have quite a list built up and the new challenge will be to fit it all (or at least a lot of it) in.

I did find some good sites for traveling with children when researching our not-to-be trip to Europe that was planned for next summer. If you're planning on traveling with kids in the near future, you've got to visit Travel for Kids. It gives lots of great ideas for just about any place in the world you could possibly visit. And as a former teacher, I love that it gives you suggestions for books to buy/check out from the library to acquaint your child(ren) with your vacation spot. It was this site that helped us decide to go to Scotland and even though we're not going next summer, we WILL go at some point.

Anyway, anybody planning any trips or vacations? I love to hear about other people's vacations. (I'm one of those weird people who genuinely likes looking at other people's vacation pictures and hearing travel stories)