Pregnant! Hurray!

Yes, we are pregnant with baby #2! I hope this provides at least some excuse for the sorry state of this blog in the last month or so. The first trimester hit rather hard this time. But now I'm 14 weeks along and energy levels are going back up so hopefully I'll be able to catch up soon and Nathan may even get a home cooked meal again someday! (We've been living off of Costco meals and soup and sandwiches for quite some time now)


Nathan got a picture of my parents' reaction when they found out. It was pretty fun to surprise them!

We feel so fortunate that we have had such an easy time getting pregnant whenever we've been in the market for a baby ... but it wouldn't have been too terrible if it had taken just a little bit longer this time around. I'm both excited and a little embarrassed that we seem to be repopulating the earth and Nathan - Nathan is so proud of himself. Shocker.

I found out after feeling a little queasy most of a Saturday a couple months back. I took a pregnancy test while Nathan was out with a friend and I might have flipped out when it turned out to be positive. I couldn't keep the news to myself so I decided to call Nathan.

Me (too brightly) "Hi!"
Nathan "Hi ... what's up?"
Me "Oh, nothing. Everything is good. You should come home to watch your movie with Pat"
Nathan "Uh, why?"
Me "I just think it would be a really good idea. You'd get to see Bradley ... just come home."
Nathan "Anne, is everything okay? You're acting a little weird?"
Me: "No I'm not. Just come home. As soon as you can."
Nathan "Okay, I'm in a private place. What's up?"
Me: "Nothing nothing nothing. Okay, I want to tell you something. But you need to come home."
Nathan: "Why can't you tell me on the phone?"
Me: "Because I want to see your face ... it's not BAD. I just ... come home."
Nathan: "... are you pregnant?"

Darn him. It's funny, looking back there are some real indicators that something was up. A couple of weeks earlier I had cried a little at the Price is Right when a blind man won money on the show. Drew Carey was so NICE to him and he won a bonus and he had a dog and ... I shed tears. And I had tried to get out of some evening activities a couple days before finding out but Nathan was so mean to me and encouraged me to go out and spend time with friends even though the couch was so cozy. The jerk. I was obviously justified in being furious with him for his betrayal of my need to rest on the couch and watch Hulu shows. And then there was the time that I yelled at him because he went and got me a couple Swedish fish when he OBVIOUSLY should be helping me get Bradley ready for his solids meal instead. Let's just say that both of us were relieved to discover that this moodiness was likely linked to pregnancy. Ordinarily I am a delight!

Patrick has quite the fan club of nurses when we go into my OB appointments. Normally the older sibling is not still a baby when the mother is pregnant with #2 ...

In my defense, my body has been taking a beating with this pregnancy. It's not like I can rest whenever I like, Bradley doesn't allow that. Things have gotten a lot nicer now that he sleeps through the night. And if he wakes up, Nathan goes up and changes his diaper and I get to sleep. But I'm also still breastfeeding, despite the doctors telling me that is not a great idea. I would be delighted to give Bradley formula at this point but Bradley does not agree with me. So we continue to breastfeed.

Luckily, Bradley is growing more adorable and charming every day so we're hopeful that by the time baby #2 gets here we'll have a reasonable time of it. He had a blast over Christmas with his Grandma and Grandpa Redfern who spoiled him beyond measure. He was carried around as much as he liked and every grunt and whine was responded to quickly and cheerfully, which is just the way he likes it.

The kitties had a rougher time over the holidays. We drove up to my parents' house and had Layla and Meg in a carrier together so Layla would be happy and calm for the ride. It didn't work, we found out when we got there that she had thrown up. A lot. Including on Meg. The unhappy kitties were given a bath by Daniel and Nathan, which was not their favorite Christmas present ever. Sookie gets to be Layla's car buddy from now on.

And if things weren't rough enough on a kitty, Bradley has caught the kitty fever and there is nothing he loves so much as chasing down a kitty from across the room. He spies them, gives a squeal of glee, and then crawls over at a surprisingly rapid pace. The cats wait until he's about a foot away from them and then he generally pauses and gives a few more loud squeals which is when they make their escape. Poor kitties. I try to protect them by chasing them down and holding them for Bradley so he can get good and close to them. It sounds cruel but I make sure that Bradley is gentle with them.

The other day we couldn't find Layla anywhere ...

She was so so warm and happy.

Bradley has encountered a few dogs in the past few weeks and he isn't as sure about them. We went to my friend Cerra's house over Christmas and he cried a little after the two family dogs barked quite loudly when we walked in. But then he tried to chase after the frightened dog half an hour later, so he recovered. He giggled a lot when another friend's dog licked his hand but he wasn't as much of a fan of his face getting licked. But then, neither was I. I just have to tell myself that he's getting exposed to the good germs. Not that there isn't enough of that at home. Pregnancy has taken a toll on my housecleaning and now he crawls all over ... I just have to keep telling myself that those are the good germs. If this kid has any allergies it's not my doing.

And he continues to eat like a crazy person. Meals with Bradley are an experience, he wolfs down food as fast as you can give it to him and makes frantic whiny noises if there is any slight delay. And he'll cry when we cut him off - after 12-14 ice cubes of food. For comparison, his little friends in our parenting group are eating a max of 5-6 ice cubes of food for a meal. We have a pediatrician appointment in about a week, I'm very interested to hear what he has to say about this. Thank goodness for my mom's help making baby food, we go through it at an astounding rate.

We are having a blast with this kid, it's probably good that #2 is coming along sooner rather than later so he doesn't get more of a complex from being the center of attention all the time.

Especially with his loving grandparents.