The countdown has begun....

Now that we know for a fact it is a boy, the Type A planner in me has already reorganized both bedrooms in my head and made a mental list of the things we need to do before the baby arrives and the things we need to buy.

Fortunately, there is not much we need to buy as far as big ticket baby items and clothes go. We were very fortunate that our family hosted a shower for us when we had Jacob and we received 90% of the things we would need and we registered for all gender neutral items since we were hoping for at least 3 kids. Sitting in our basement, we currently have a swing, a bouncer, a Chicco car seat, a Snap N Go AND a double stroller ready to go. This is all I need to keep baby entertained and to transport him around the first few months. Since Jacob was also due in July (and came home from the hospital in July at 7 lb 9 oz at 4 months old) all of his clothes are the appropriate sizes and seasons for this child. No need to buy anything in that department although I am sure we will be picking a few things up for this baby so he can have some things that are just his.

Now for a list of things we DO want/need:

A crib. We took a hand-me-down crib from my SIL that belonged to my niece. It was great at the time to get something like that for free, but it is a rather cheap Delta crib and has now been through 3 children (my niece, Jacob and Grace). It has been rattled to the core so that it is not as sturdy as it once was and has been chewed to bits by my little beaver Jacob. The paint has practically chipped off on one whole side of the drop side and oh yeah....it is a drop side. A double drop side to boot. Basically even with the recall kit installed to immobilize the drop side it is a death trap. We are buying a new crib. I was leery of this crib from the beginning since it received a D rating in the Baby Bargains book, but it was free and seemed like a good option at the time. Since the boys will be sharing a room, I am about 95% sure I am going with a Da Vinci crib in oak. The crib has great reviews, is rather inexpensive as far as quality cribs go and I have purchased two Da Vinci toddler beds that are great quality and were very easy to assemble. Since this is most likely our last baby I do not want to spend a fortune in that department. If I am able to find a rather inexpensive one I like in Oak it will match Jacob's bed since his bed is a Da Vinci in the Oak color. For the time being, I am thinking of going with this one:



Next is a Miracle Blanket. These are rather expensive (about $30 a piece) but it is the only thing that would keep my needs-to-be-swaddled-at-all-times-for-the-first-few-months babies IN the swaddle. We registered for the Swaddle Me with Jacob, but the velcro is awful and he busted through that thing every single night. Same with Grace. We ended up tossing them in our yard sale pile and purchasing a miracle blanket. It guarantees us all a full night of sleep! I need another:



Boppy Newborn Lounger (or something of the sort). We are anticipating a lot of on-the-floor play and interaction with the older kids and the baby (supervised of course) and thought this might be a good option so that we can sit on the floor with the kids and they can interact with the baby. It is also a good option for when the baby is cat napping next to me (again supervised!):



Aden and Anais swaddler blankets. These are our back-up to the Miracle Blanket and they also make great lightweight receiving blankets for throwing over the baby in his car seat or in the car. I didn't discover these until after Grace was 6 months old, but I wish I had discovered them sooner. I had a whole bunch of Carter's receiving blankets and they are awful. The material is great and they wash well, but they are the oddest shape and it is impossible to swaddle a baby in them since they are more of a rectangular shape then a square. We always had little baby feet hanging out of them. These are expensive, but Target has a new Aden and Anais line for Target that I might try out. They are sold in packs of 4 for $29.99 instead of $45 for a four pack on the A&A website. I hear the quality is not as good as the traditional, but we will see:



Picky Sticky stickers! I LOVE these stickers and although not a necessary purchase it is definitely something I will be purchasing for this baby. Remember this post from Grace's first birthday? I love looking back through these pictures and seeing how much she grew over her first year and these stickers are just a genius idea. I had to tape pieces of paper to the wall behind Jacob when I did his pictures since I was not aware of these stickers:



When Grace was born, we moved Jacob into a big boy room and Grace took over the gender neutral nursery which was yellow/green and full of bumble bees! The nursery is being transformed into the room the boys will share since it is the bigger of the two bedrooms the kids are in. I LOVED the way Jacob's room turned out so I plan on just transferring that entire design over to the new room. We even have a half gallon of paint left in the basement so it should be rather easy to complete. I am not a fan of cheesy character themes or licensed kids' bedding so we went with a color scheme and just worked around that (sky blue/navy/chocolate brown). We bought the Kasey striped toddler quilt from PBK for Jacob's toddler room and did the entire room around that and those three colors. It is very modern and neutral and the room can grow with both boys. We will just change out the accessories as they grow to cater it more to their age.

I am excited to get started!

It's A Boy!!!

I am so excited! We have so much to do as far as switching the kids' bedrooms around and agreeing on a name, but I am very excited at the possibility of experiencing a full-term birth with a boy. I am also very happy for our budget which most likely would have suffered severely is this was a girl. I have a "things I want/need for the new baby" list and let's just say the girl list was twice as long as the boy list.

We weren't supposed to find out for at least another week or two, but I ended up in the ER last night due to some mild cramping and light spotting. I was 100% sure the baby was fine and it was my stitch, but I wanted to make sure nothing was happening with the stitch (dilation, funneling, tearing, etc.) so I went to the ER to play it safe. The baby is fine, the stitch looked good and I left with orders to drink more water....lots of it. I am really terrible about getting my fluids in and I am the first to admit it so I really have to stay on top of that.

My u/s tech was AWESOME and I think she sensed how nervous I was about the whole situation. We started talking about Jacob and why I had the cerclage and I think she ended up feeling bad so she decided to give me an impromptu look at the baby. I told her how everyone was so concerned about my cerclage with Grace that I never got an u/s pic of her at my anatomy scan and how we didn't get to really see anything. She went over everything with this little guy and the baby was so active! He was drinking amniotic fluid (you could actually see him chomping/gulping away!!!) and sucking his thumb the entire ultrasound. It was so cute! Unfortunately, baby boy is breech and was sitting indian style right on top of my cervix so she wasn't sure she'd be able to see anything, but when she got it to the right angle it was VERY clear to me that this one is a boy. She said she can't say with 100% confidence, but she would guess boy based on what we saw.

The baby is getting bigger and in the past 4 days I have felt him every day so I think it is safe to say that I will be getting punched/kicked a lot in the future. Yesterday, it seriously felt like he was practicing karate in there. I was getting kicks and chops every few seconds.

Ian is working today and I am trying to contain my excitement about buying all things blue. I have a $25 coupon to Gap that is worth $50 so I am trying not to sprint to the Mall and pick this baby up a few new sleepers/onesies so he has something to call his own. I am also excited to pull all of Jacob's clothes down from the attic and start going through them to see what we have. Luckily, Jacob was due in July and this baby is scheduled to be born in July so all the clothes we bought for Jacob should fit this baby unless he ends up being a monster! I can only remember a handful of the outfits Jacob had so I am sure it will be fun sorting through everything and remembering when "Jacob wore this" or "Jacob came home in that".

Let the planning/painting/name game begin!

Cabin Fever

Well, in case you didn't hear, Spring is officially on the way!

We are well into March now and the forecast for the next week has all 40's and 50's as highs which is good news in New England. Most of our storms have been rain (no more snow!!) and the snow has all melted.

I am eager to get the kids out of the house and out in the fresh air. Unfortunately, since I am high risk and have a cerclage, I am not going to be able to chase after two active toddlers at the park every week. When I found out I was pregnant with Grace, Jacob was only 8.5-9 months old and adjusted he was only 5-5.5 months old so needless to say he wasn't doing much. Even when I had her in July he was 16 months old (12.5 adjusted) and wasn't even walking yet never mind exploring parks and playgrounds.

This time around I have a very active (almost) 3 year old and a not-only-walking-but-already-sprinting 19 month old. You'd think they might run in the same direction at least once, but that never happens. Needless to say we spend lots of time going for walks in our double stroller. I was trying to think of ways to get out of the house with them once the weather gets warmer and had been contemplating buying a slide and maybe a kangaroo climber to keep them busy in the back yard. Most playground equipment in this area is catered to older children and the one park that does have a toddler equipment section is overrun by small children, their mothers and tourists on a daily basis. A casualty of living in "America's Hometown" in the Summer months, but I digress.

Ian and I had decided not to purchase a huge swing set mainly because they are such a pain to set up and move and we are not sure if this is our "forever" house yet. We purchased it fully intending for it to be a starter home, but who knows if we'll ever leave with the real estate market the way it is. We figured we'd give it a few years and if the kids are old enough to really enjoy a full swing set, and it doesn't look like we're going anywhere anytime soon, then we'll take the plunge.

A couple of months ago Ian was working on a job in Braintree doing a pretty time consuming renovation for this couple with small(er) children. Ian sent me a text message with a picture that said, "The homeowner is getting rid of this stuff and said if I want it I can have it...for free. What do you think?" The picture included all of the items below:







ALL OF THIS!!! I also want to add that all of it is in EXCELLENT condition. I could hardly contain my excitement and said YES!! Quick! Before they change their minds and decide to try and hock it on Craigslist. The homeowner was even generous enough to let Ian BORROW his truck overnight to haul it all down to our place since Ian would obviously not be able to fit all of that in the back of a Honda Civic.

Now I'll be able to fill the kiddie pool and water table in the morning and take the kids right out into the back yard for some fun without having to worry about chasing them through parks in two opposite directions or trying to supervise them on equipment that is far too big for them (and very dangerous for a high risk pregnant woman to maneuver). YAY!

P.S. Did I forget to mention that this homeowner's wife knows I'm pregnant and sent Ian home with Girl Scout cookies for me....for free?! I love these people! Maybe they want to adopt another child (meaning me)?!

....and baby makes FIVE!

I can't believe I have not updated this blog in almost two months. Then again, when you are pregnant and suffering from Hyperemesis, spending hours hovering over the toilet praying you can keep enough fluids down to stay away from the ER and IV fluids, blogging is the last thing on one's mind.



That's right! The third (and most likely FINAL) addition to our family is due this Summer. Ironically, I am due August 16th which was Grace's due date two years to the day. Even more ironic, it appears my scheduled c-section will fall on Grace's 2nd birthday! The scheduling is still up in the air, but seeing as my doctor can section me on Wednesday or Friday only, and she plans to do this around 36.5 weeks, it appears Friday, the 22nd may be the only option.

With this pregnancy comes the same fears and nerves that one would expect after delivering a 24 week micro preemie. We were very blessed to be able to carry Grace to 36 weeks and we are praying for the same blessing this time around.

This past Wednesday, the 2nd, I had a McDonald Cerclage placed to help give my cervix the strength it needs to carry the pregnancy. I am also receiving weekly progesterone shots on Thursdays which will hopefully help my body stave off labor. Although research has not proven that these shots actually help there is nothing to prove they do not. Since we had incredible success carrying Grace with both the shots and the cerclage we are repeating everything we did that successfully helped me carry her to 36 weeks.

We find out in less than a few weeks now what the baby's sex is and to say I am growing impatient is an understatement! I am very lucky to have one of each so I really do not care what the baby is as long as he/she is healthy! Of course there are benefits to us having a boy or girl:

GIRL: Since Grace was our last baby all of her clothes are out and readily accessible. She is currently in the bigger of the two bedrooms and the two kids that are the same sex will obviously be sharing a room so if this is a girl there would be no swapping of children and rooms. We have a name already picked out, Annabelle Chloe, so no problems there! I never had a sister and would absolutely LOVE for Grace to be able to have a sister.

BOY: I would be very fortunate to *hopefully* get to experience a full-term birth for a baby boy. We were able to experience full-term with Grace and it would be nice if we got to enjoy the same experience with a boy. Ian never had a brother and would love for Jacob to be able to enjoy having a brother.

The only downside to a boy is we cannot agree on a name for the life of us. I finally was able to force Ian to sit down last night and make a list of baby names he would even consider (not just liked) and out of the SSA.gov website's TOP 500 baby names of 2009 he was only able to come up with 9!! Also, I want to add that one of them was a joke (Francisco....anyone see Elf?!) and I immediately scratched Reuben off the list (I am not naming my kid after one of his favorite sandwiches).

That being said we have a list now of the names he'll consider with the ridiculous ones scratched off and the ones I would consider and we have: Joshua, Micah, Jonah and Adam. Personally, I only LIKE two of them so we still have our work cut out for us.

Now that I am feeling better and well into my second trimester (16w4d) I will try to catch up on my blogging. I have so much to update! Jacob starts preschool in 3 weeks and he also turns THREE! We will be celebrating Toy Story style later this month. Grace is a talking machine. This girl takes after her Mama and amazes me every day with the things she can do/say. She is currently learning her alphabet (right now she knows every 6th or 7th letter) and she knows the words to her favorite books by heart! That's all for now though. Ian is back to work today and I am fresh off a 48 hour mandated bed rest due to my surgery so it is back to the grind!

Preschool

I can't even believe I just typed that out as the title of this post. It hurts my heart.

In less than 2 and a half months, my baby boy will be turning three! Jacob has been in the state's Early Intervention program since he was discharged from the hospital in July of 2008. The Early Intervention program works with children to get them caught up with their peers. This was a big undertaking in the beginning since Jacob came home when he was 4 months old, but his adjusted age was only 10 days old. It is impossible to get a 10 day old on par with a 4 month old, but the idea of EI is to help them get where they need to be for at least their adjusted age until they can catch up (usually by age 2 or 3) with their peers.

Once the child turns 3, they are discharged from the state run EI program and turned over to the public school system if they are still in need of services. This allows the child to enter preschool the day they turn 3 instead of starting the September after they turn three so they don't lose any skills or fall further behind. Since Jacob still have a very significant speech delay we are fortunate that he qualifies for the public school preschool program.

We recently met with the Director of the preschool here in town and she gave us a rundown of a what a typical day would be like for Jacob. It sounds pretty similar to the play group Jacob currently attends every Wednesday for EI and he absolutely LOVES going to group so I think we will have a very easy transition.

The classes have approximately 15 children in them and include 6-8 students like Jacob who are need of services and 6-8 "typical" peers. Jacob is very social and independent just like his Mama (must be because we are both first born) and I have no concerns whatsoever about him going. The only thing that does concern me is since we are further South in town, instead of going to the actual preschool which is a building only for preschool students, he will most likely be attending one of two satellite classrooms in a local elementary school. I am a little concerned with him entering an environment with 5th graders, but I am hoping the preschoolers are segregated enough so he will not come in contact with them at any point during the day. It is only for 2.5 hours in the morning and I drop him off and pick him up.

Jacob has his semi-annual NICU follow-up clinic (as part of the study we enrolled him in when he was born) this Tuesday. I am interested to see the gains he has made in the past 6 months. Overall, I am amazed at how far my 1 pound 7 ounce boy has come. The only way you would know he was born so early is his size (he is still short and a lightweight!) and his speech delay. The only delay he has left to conquer is the speech and I am hoping the services he receives during the day at school will help get him caught up. He has 2 and 1/4 years to get caught up before we transition to Kindergarten (please hold on while I DIE at the thought of my child going to Kindergarten) so we will get him where he needs to be!

I will have an update later this week about his NICU follow-up clinic and later this month Gracie will be turning 18 months so I will have a post all about her and what she has been up to lately. This girl is quite the talker! I am hoping some of it rubs off on her big brother. :)

Birthday Party Planning Time!!!

I have been forcing myself to wait until 2011 to start planning Jacob's third birthday party since he won't actually BE three until 2011. Truth is I started googling ideas back in October. I have so much fun planning the kids parties and coming up with the perfect theme. I figure I only have a few years to pick everything out myself because before long they will have their own opinions on what they want.

The theme for Jacob's party this year was easy. Toy Story. The boy is OBSESSED! He had never watched a movie until he broke his leg and since he was stuck in a cast for 7 weeks in a semi-sitting position pretty much all he did was watch movies for those long 7 weeks. While we were in the hospital the gifts started pouring in. He received countless DVD's including Elmo, Curious George, Mary Poppins, A Bug's Life, Finding Nemo, Dora the Explorer and Toy Story and Toy Story 2. We also own every single Disney DVD that has ever been released from the "vault" and a handful of Pixar movies including Monsters, Inc. so I figured we would be good to go. I put in Monsters, Inc. and he watched 10 minutes and then started to cry. I put in Finding Nemo and 10 minutes later there were tears. I put in Curious George and I don't think he even lasted 10 minutes before the water works started. We finally tried Toy Story and he was hooked. Not only did he watch the entire movie, but as soon as the movie ended he started yelling, "Wooody! Woody!". We learned real fast that "Woody!" meant "Play it again!". He must have watched that movie 100 times before we finally convinced him that Toy Story 2 had Woody in it as well and was just as good. He has now seen both Toy Story and Toy Story 2 at least 150 times. He knows almost every word in the movie.

Needless to say, when I started brainstorming ideas for his party (shortly after Grace turned one in July....I kid you not) Toy Story was number one on the list!

I have been scouring the web looking for cool Toy Story ideas and I have found quite a few I wanted to share with you.

I did cookie favors for Grace's birthday since her first birthday was mostly adults anyway. For Jacob's birthday, I have decided to do goody bags for the kids and I found these adorable green alien bags on Etsy. As soon as I found them I had to have them! Mainly because I have decided to do cupcakes again since Grace's Watermelon Picnic themes cupcakes went over so well. You can click here to see her cupcakes. For Jacob's party, I am going to do the alien cupcakes I found here. They look relatively easy and go perfect with the theme and favor bags. I also found these cool cupcake wrappers just to add some more Toy Story flair to the party. I found a Junk Food tee at babyGap that has the Toy Story cast and aliens on it and we bought it so he can wear it to his party. He has already worn it a handful of times and I am hoping it still fits come March. This boy is eating all.the.time and growing like a weed (finally!).

Those are the ideas I am sharing so far, but I am also in the process of creating an invitation and searching the Target $1 bins for cool finds to throw in the goody bags.

We are going to have so much fun with this party and I can't wait for his birthday to get here. I can't wait to see his little face when it all comes together!

2010 in Review

Looking back through all of my pictures so I could write this post, I was amazed at the number of things that happened this year. The first picture I came across in my album was a picture of a 6 month old Grace. I can't believe she was ever that small in 2010. It feels like a lifetime ago that she was an immobile baby! I am so used to her walking, running, talking, etc. We definitely have so much to be thankful for and I am looking forward to all that 2011 has in store for our little family.

Without further adieu I give you 2010 - A Review in Pictures:

We started the year off in January with a 6 month old and a 22 month old! Grace tried solids for the first time, but was not a fan of rice cereal!





In March, we celebrated a certain little chicken wing's second birthday!





In April, we took advantage of the unseasonably warm weather and headed into Boston for an afternoon at the Aquarium and we explored the North End. We also took a walk through the Common and Public Garden.





In May, we took a road trip out to Pennsylvania and stayed at Sesame Place for a few days.





We spent our days in June at the playground, eating ice cream and playing in our pool in the back yard.






Gracie turned one in July and we celebrated with a Watermelon Picnic themed birthday party.






Pretty much the entire month of August was spent dealing with the aftermath of Jacob breaking his leg. An event I don't hope to revisit in coming years! :(




September was the month Jacob got his cast off and we spent one weekend at the Bourne Scallop Fest. We had fried dough, rode the ferris wheel and train and listened to the Toe Jam Puppet Band!






We went apple picking at the beginning of October and wrapped up the month with a trip to the Pumpkin Patch!







There are basically no pictures from November and December since at least one of us has been sick every week since Veteran's Day. It has been a rough couple of months, but we are hoping for good health to kick off the New Year!

Happy New Year to all our friends, family and readers! May 2011 bring you and your family many blessings!