...and babies make 4: November 2013

Baby #2
This pregnancy has been so different that I almost feel like I've never done this before. My body seems to remember being pregnant as a lot of the stretching pains started much earlier. And the heartburn! I think that started as soon as I found out I was pregnant! The crazy little boy running all over also reminds me that I've done this before :) I remember the nausea going away around 10 weeks with Owen and feeling really good during my 2nd trimester. This time around makes me question whether I want anymore kids! I started feeling sick at 6 weeks (right after we told our parents) and it was 24 hours a day. I never actually got sick but I felt terrible at all hours of the day. I think around 12 weeks it started to get a little better and I wouldn't start feeling sick until mid-afternoon and it lasted until about 5-6 in the morning. I still feel my best in the mornings so that's when I try to get things done. I also don't remember being this tired with Owen. I'm exhausted all of the time it seems. That could just be from parenting a toddler though.
I've had 3 doctors appointments so far. My first one was at 8 weeks which was a little earlier than usual because I'd been having some pain in my abdomen that concerned me a little bit. I'd had it for one day while we were in Florida (which was before I knew I was pregnant) and it was off and on for a couple of weeks. It was near my right ovary which made me worry that this baby was somewhere it wasn't supposed to be. We were still in KS at the time and I wasn't having any bleeding so my doctor said it was okay to wait until we got back to see her but to come in earlier than is usually scheduled. The pain stopped around 7 weeks so I don't know what it was and I keep forgetting to ask. The nurse said it could've been round ligament pain since that starts earlier with subsequent pregnancies but now that I've definitely been feeling that pain I don't know if that was it.
Baby's heartbeat has been in the low 150's at each appointment which is similar to Owen's if I remember right.
I was excited that I hadn't gained any weight between my 1st and 2nd appointments but I seemed to have made up for it at my 3rd with a whopping 9 pounds. Yikes! Food has some appeal to it now so I think I was trying to make up for the prior weeks where I hated everything food related. Unfortunately you don't get to make up for unused calories weeks later :)
I've had some blood pressure issues as well already but not enough to be put on medication. It's always high when they take it right away but then they check it at the end and it's back to normal. My doctor said I likely have some underlying hypertension issues so I'll have to get that checked out after this baby is born. She also had me start taking aspirin right away to help prevent pre-eclampsia again and I'll continue that until 36 weeks.
I've felt a little bit of movement in the last week but not regularly. The first time was about a week ago and it was quite a bit. Since than it's just been a little flutter here and there every few days. Oh how I look forward to those wiggles! I know that once that happens I will forget all of the things that made me not want to ever be pregnant again.

#1
Owen. My number one. The thought of having to split my time between 2 kids freaks me out sometimes and I often wonder how I'm supposed to love the next baby as much as I love Owen. My mom has told me multiple times that she thought that while she was pregnant with me but you don't divide your love, it just multiplies itself.
Owen is quite the hilarious little boy and has become such a great little helper. He loves to laugh right along with us and loves to be silly to get us to laugh. I recently started asking him to laugh which ends up giving both of us the giggles.
Owen still loves his trucks and cars and tractors and has little interest in anything that doesn't have wheels and can't be pushed. We've been to a couple of houses lately that had mostly girl toys but he made due by finding the doll strollers and pushing them around.
Owen is a great helper to me and loves to put his shoes in the basket and does a great job of putting his toys away at the end of the day.
He's also a good help with getting the things we need for diaper changes when we're downstairs and putting things away. I think part of this is because it's a new thing though. I typically change his diaper in his bedroom but then found he seemed more cooperative downstairs so we do that a little more often. The newness may have worn off though because today he just wanted to hide behind daddy instead of getting his diaper changed.
As much as I talk about Owen being a tiny tornado around here he really does have a sweet spirit underneath all of that boyness. Every morning and after every nap all he wants to do is sit with mom and read books. As soon as I walk in the room he looks at me then points at the rocker and says "ch!" and we sit in the chair and read books about cars and trucks. The other day he was playing with the vacuum (he got over his fear after daddy talked him into trying it out) and ran over his toe. He wanted me to kiss it so I squatted down in the middle of the kitchen and kissed his foot and then he wanted the other one kissed so we went back and forth until I put him down and then he turns around, gives me a kiss and a hug and is back to pushing the vacuum. Oh, how I love this boy! I also see that sweet spirit when he's around other kids. A lot of kids just take what they want and it doesn't matter if someone else is using it (which I get is totally normal and we have those moments on occasion) but Owen typically just stands close to the toy or child with a snack he wants and just wait. I also realize that this behavior is cute right now but may become creepy when he's older :)
Owen's new favorite thing to do is walk out of the kitchen with some sort of utensil and "swat bugs". We've had some flies in the house that last couple of weeks and Owen saw daddy use the fly swatter so now he walks around hitting the floor or the couch or the chair. When asked what he's doing he'll sign bug then make a swatting motion with his hand and say "daddy". Cracks us up every time.
I've been amazed at the things this kid remembers. My parents stayed with us a couple of weeks ago and slept with Owen in his room. They went to bed after he was asleep and my mom got up before Owen did but my dad was still in bed when Owen woke up so they got to chat together for a while. Probably about cars since they share that love :) Owen will still point at the bed then sign grandpa and sleep. There are other things that he'll remember weeks later which amazes me. His short term memory is lacking a little but he just gets distracted. Yesterday he was playing in the basement and I was upstairs and when I hear him coming up I told he needed to bring his milk cup with him and he'd go back down the steps and I went back to the kitchen and when I heard him coming up I'd check to see if had the cup and he just had some other toy in his hand. This happened about 3 times before he came up with the cup. He'll also occasionally forget he's holding something and ask where it is. I told Pat this and Pat was so proud and said "he's going to be an academic!". I'm not sure I can handle more than one of these absent-minded personalities in our house! :)
Owen is still a fantastic sleeper. We started letting him sleep with a pillow in his bed a month or so ago and he loves it. We had a few rough days last week due to naps only lasting 30 minutes. I think they were only rough on me though since I'm used to having a couple of hours to myself in the afternoons. We're back to our normal routine of 1 1/2-2 hour naps though with a good dose of playing in the crib afterwards. We've had a night here and there where he'll wake up crying but it generally just takes a couple minutes of snuggling and he's ready to go back in his bed.
We still struggle to get out of the house before 10am but Owen likes to take his mornings easy. I think he usually wakes up around 8:30 but I typically don't hear him until 9ish and he just sits and chatters in his bed. He then wants to read with me for a while then we come downstairs and he wants his pillow set in front of the couch with his milk, cereal and Signing Time dvd. He can be a little bit of a dawdler about leaving the house but usually enjoys it once we're out. We've been having more morning activities lately though so we're working on it.
I think Owen knows close to 100 signs now including several that he's made up. We're still working on vocalizing words but I think we're getting closer. "Umm" and "yeah" or "yep" seem to be the most common. He's also added "no" (this is usually only used to copy us) and mailman (which sounds very similar to mama). I'm so thankful that we taught him sign language as we rarely see a tantrum due to not knowing what he wants. We see tantrums due to not getting what he wants though! There are a few signs that he's made up that we haven't figured out yet so I'm working on that.

Today has been one of those days where I've been overwhelmed with love for my child so writing some of this made me a little emotional! I'm sure pregnancy hormones had nothing to do with it though :)