This actually a very fun time for me.  I don’t remember feeling, or at least recognizing, much of the “prep work” towards the end of my pregnancy with Michael.  I didn’t feel a single contraction until half an hour after my water broke.  I’m really enjoying the gradual build up this time around.  I like getting excited, wondering if this is “it” and knowing that we’re getting close.  Ian’s movements have slowed down considerably but when he does move, I can really feel it.  His little feet and elbows poke my belly out often and when he rolls my whole stomach ripples.  It’s pretty cool…and very weird.

We haven’t really been able to prepare Lil Michael for his brother in any meaningful way.  I talk about “Baby Ian” on a regular basis and especially as we’ve begun preparations at home I’ve begun pointing out “Baby Ian’s bed” and “Baby Ian’s swing” etc.  We also have some of Ian’s ultrasound pictures framed with pictures of Michael and I point those out to him when he’s admiring his own smiling face.  I’ve told him that Baby Ian is in Mommy’s belly but that definitely got lost in translation because every time I ask him where Baby Ian is or even just say Baby Ian, he lifts his own shirt up to point at his belly.  It’s pretty funny and very cute, but it just highlights how pointless any preparation is at his age.  He’ll figure it out when we bring little Ian home.  His world will be rocked for a little while and he’ll have to get used to sharing his Mommy and Daddy (and eventually his room and toys) but I figure that every older sibling in the world has managed to do it so he should be fine.

Michael and I are slowly working down a list of last-minute “to do’s” before Ian gets here.  We got our bedroom painted and I’m working to prepare a space for Ian there.  (He’ll sleep in our room until he is sleeping through the night.  I have no desire to be up with two boys all night long!)  We finally got Michael a booster seat and moved him out of the little car seat so that I could get it cleaned up for Ian.  I’ve washed and hung Ian’s first set of clothes and have sorted and stored all of the stuff that he will eventually grow into.  I’ve started gathering the things we’ll need to take to the Birth Center with us when I finally do go into labor.  (It was fun to pick out Ian’s first outfit(s)!)  Nearly everything Ian will have belonged first to his brother so I made a point of buying him his own “lovey” or sleep buddy that will be just his.  It’s the softest ever bear/blanket snuggly and I am ridiculously pleased with it.  I couldn’t stop cuddling it after I brought it home.  Really, all that is left to do is to get the house organized and cleaned and ready for all of the company that will show up once our new little boy makes his appearance.

So the countdown begins, or at least gets more exciting.  Any day (or week) now we will have another beautiful little boy and we will take the crazy newborn journey for a second time.  I have a feeling there will be some new and exciting stops along that familiar route.  I can’t wait to check them out!

Our little family is now three years old!  On March 17th, Michael and I observed our third anniversary.  I say “observed” because we waited until March 19th to actually celebrate!  To mark the occasion we decided to take our first night away from the kiddo.  We drove down to Ft. Lauderdale and left him for an overnight visit with his Uncle Chris, Aunt Abby and his cousins, Corban and Abigail.  We then drove on a bit further to South Beach in Miami.  Mom and Ken gave us the gift of a hotel room for the night - at the South Beach Marriott.  We stayed on the top floor in a room overlooking the ocean.  It was beautiful!

After settling in our room and getting dressed for dinner, we walked about six blocks to a restaurant called Quinn’s for dinner.  The people watching was fascinating - there’s quite a mix there on the beach - and the food was wonderful.  Afterward we went for a short late night stoll on the beach and then retired to our room for some relaxing time with just the two of us.  [more...]

I awoke early Saturday morning, unable to fall back asleep.  Michael had no such problems and took advantage of the kid-free morning to catch up on his z’s.  I got dressed, had breakfast on the hotel’s patio overlooking the beach and then went for a walk along the water, watching the waves, the people and snagging a couple of shells for souvenirs.  I then wandered back to the room, found Michael waking up and we packed up and headed back up to Ft. Lauderdale…stopping for an old-fashioned Denny’s breakfast along the way.

We met the “Other Pendraks” on the beach, reunited with Lil Michael (who had a fabulous time without us!) and visited for awhile before heading back home.  It was a wonderful little vacation!  Happy Birthday to us. 

It’s been well over a year since we decided on a Rubber Ducky theme for the kids/guest bathroom.  Before Michael A. was born we painted the bathroom an obscenely bright shade of yellow and I started looking for duck accessories.  I never found exactly what I was looking for and then Michael was born and the bathroom dropped to the bottom of the priority list.  So we have had a bright yellow bathroom with a navy shower curtain hanging in it since then.  We ended up with more of a drab boyscout theme than the fun duck theme I had planned on.  Oops.

With Ian arriving soon, I am once again nesting.  Since there isn’t much to be done directly for Ian, I have started focusing on general home projects and I set my sights first on the unfinished bathroom.  While browsing at Target recently, I stumbled across a new line of duck accessories that I just loved.  Lil Michael and I spent some time matching up curtains, towels and rugs to go with them and then we lugged it all home and put it together.  I am very pleased with the results and even more pleased that the bathroom is finally done!  Now onto my next project…

He mastered the play structure and slide in no time at all.  I spent the first half hour hovering right behind him and trying to help before I realized that he was completely up the the task.  I stepped back a bit, staying close to catch him if he fell, but letting him do his thing.  I was so proud!

Next up, Michael discovered the sandbox and dove right in.  He spent most of the time throwing sand on himself but he had so much fun doing it that it was tough to interfere.  We did jump in the tub as soon as we got home though!

Ack!  I am once again hopelessly behind on posting.  I’m not up for doing another round of “catch up” posts so I’ll just give you the highlights and then start from here! 

We’ve had a lot of firsts since I last posted!

• Michael took his first steps…and then a bunch more!  He took his first step just before Christmas and was taking a few at a time by the time Christmas arrived.  Shortly after his first birthday, he left crawling behind and is now walking exclusively!  He’s getting faster and has even made a few attempts at running.  He still tumbles a lot, but for the most part brushes himself off and keeps on going.
• First Christmas - I’ve decided the 1st Christmas is a little overrated.  He had no idea what was going on and absolutely no interest in opening his own presents.  Still, it was fun to put him in a Santa hat and enjoy fun times with the family. 
• First Birthday - A slightly bigger deal than Christmas, but he was still pretty clueless! 
• First Haircut - Now this one was a big deal!  My baby boy turned into a big boy with quick buzz of the clippers!  Daddy did the honors at home and the result was a handsome, grown up little man!  I still sigh occasionally over cute “before” pictures, but I love his new look too…and it was definitely time. [more...]

Those were the big milestones.  It seems like so much has happened in the past few months.  Now that Michael is officially a “toddler” he is growing and learning more every day.  He has a nice repertoire of hand signs that he can use to communicate.  He can say “eat”, “more”, “all done”, “please” and “thank you”.  He can also say “light” (we taught him that one because he loves pointing out all the lights) and is learning to say “milk”.  I’m planning to start adding a few more in now that he has those basics down.

Michael is developing his own little personality.  He is a happy, affectionate little guy for the most part.  He loves cuddling with Mommy and Daddy and frequently gives spontaneous hugs and even kisses.  He loves story time and wrestling and pulling up Mom’s shirt to check out her giant belly!  He is into everything and hates being told “no”.  He is testing out his boundaries with some small tantrums and he’s even tried biting Mommy’s hand a few times!  He’s been introduced to time out but doesn’t really need it all that often.  Michael is a little shy with new people at first but given a few minutes will usually warm up and make fast friends.

As for the grown ups in the house - Daddy Michael is super busy at work these days.  He’s in a new position with the same company and finds that he has much more to do now!  He is also back in school and working on his final class to complete the prerequisites for transferring over to the University of Central Florida.  He also volunteers as security at the church on Sunday mornings, so he is indeed a busy man!  We still get plenty of family time though and Michael Aaron absolutely adores his daddy!

I am keeping myself entertained with Michael Aaron, the house and growing Ian.  I frequently find it hard to balance the three and have any energy left over, but I figure I’d better get used to that!  I’ll give some more detailed pregnancy updates in a separate post!  Ian deserves a little space of his own. 

There are two albums linked in this post.  The first is Michael Aaron pictures from February and the second is the first few pictures from March.  Enjoy!

This pregnancy has not gotten nearly as much print as the last one did, but that doesn’t mean it’s been less eventful!  Ian has actually kept us hopping for more than half of the pregnancy so far…and recently that’s become more literal. 

Our ultrasound at 17 weeks showed placenta previa - which means that the placenta was blocking Ian’s way out.  It’s not that uncommon in early pregnancy and it usually resolves on it’s own before birth, but it needed to be monitored.  If it didn’t resolve, it would mean a c-section in the hospital rather than the natural birth we planned at the birth center.  The hospital delivery would mean a longer stay, more risk and a lot more money, so we were definitely concerned.  We began going for ultrasounds every four weeks to check for progress.  Slowly but surely, we did see some progress and finally at our 31 week ultrasound, we saw complete resolution.  (Actually, we’re still waiting on the final report, but the tech’s opinion was that all is well!) [more...]

Other than that little worry, the pregnancy has gone quite well and super fast!  I can’t believe we have just over eight weeks left to go…although I am very glad of it.  I have definitely felt this pregnancy differently than I did the last.  Michael set up shop on my bladder early on and never moved.  Ian is stretched out on my right side from my hip to my ribs.  I can feel just about every move he makes and my rib cage has long since run out of “stretch”.  I love feeling so much movement, but the rib pain is fairly miserable and so far as I’ve been able to tell, impossible to relieve!  The best I can do is to lie on my left side and stretch out as much as possible.

On the plus side, I look much more pregnant this time than I did last and I’m enjoying that.  It’s fun for strangers to notice that I am “with child”!  I only had that happen once when I was pregnant with Michael!

There is much less to do to prepare for a second child than the first…especially since we’re expecting another boy!  We have made a few changes to the nursery though to allow for more storage space and I’m planning to set up an area for Ian in our room (where he will sleep for the first six months or so until he is sleeping through the night and is ready to move in with Michael Aaron.)  I need Michael to move some furniture around so I can complete that project but I’ll get some pictures added when it’s all set up.

We are getting busy making plans for when Ian is born - arranging family visits and all that.  It feels like it is getting so close and I am super excited to meet this little guy in the real world!  Just 57 days to go…

December 2009

Christmas 2009

January 2010

1st Birthday

1st Haircut

Jumping on the bed!  Michael’s new love of bouncing was indulged to the fullest during this play session after a nap.  He was full of energy and having a blast!

We have been teaching him some hand signs and he can now use “more” and “all done” in context - although he does sometimes get them confused.  “More” is definitely his favorite and he tends to use it frequently.  He is getting more verbal as well and I am getting the feeling lately that he is actually trying to say something as he jabbers away.  He kept repeating the same sounds this morning while looking at me expectantly.  I still have no idea what it is that he was saying!

It is so much fun being this kid’s mom!  I love getting to watch him grow and change and I am constantly amazed at how quickly new skills appear and develop.  I am so lucky!