Babies

Ellie is 8 months and 4 weeks now.

I have done the most horrible job at keeping up with her accomplishments and her baby book is mostly empty. That's sad. The very important first few months were filled in... but it's something I just totally forget about now. I fear I haven't been taking snapshots of her much either. Oops.

Anyway... the past few days she's been a JOY to have around. Her top two teeth broke through and that seemed to be what was causing so much fussiness during the day. Ellie's the type of kid who seems to be a happy, jolly, social baby bug around everyone else. It's just when she's home and not feeling well that she gets fussy. And I don't deal too well with fussiness. It's especially frustrating when you have no idea what's wrong.

So I was reading some stuff on blogs and in a parenting magazine, I think, about reasons for not having a 2nd baby right away. It's like, well, we're already there so why read it, right? haha But I think it's interesting that one of the reasons people don't want to have another one right away is because they're afraid the first one won't get the attention they need. I laugh. Ellie is the only child we'll have who will receive this much attention, I think. If anything, I would be worried about children #2, #3, #4, or however many there are. Unless something tragic happened, Ellie is the only child who will ever get to experience being an "only child." I guess we'll have to come back and ask her in ten or twenty years if she felt like we should have given her more "her" time. I think it's silly.

Reasons I can justify not getting pregnant right away: Because it's pretty safe to assume I won't feel well... Hm. I can't think of any other reasons. hahaha. Cost is not really that big of a deal since we got gender neutral things to begin with. We're not the type of family to have "themes" for each child. They can certainly have themed bedrooms once they are old enough to understand what they like. What Ellie likes are lots of books and toys. She likes books about tractors and animals just like a boy would ;) I'm sure we'll be introducing Madeleine and Fancy Nancy pretty soon. But right now she can't even tell the difference between boy things and girl things. I cannot believe how many clothes we've been blessed with since having Ellie. I'm sure God will provide because I have complete assurance that this child was His will and He is not a neglectful Father.

In Sunday school this week we were reminded that God provides! He provides for ALL our needs! But in today's society there are so many things that we think we "need" that we actually don't. Did you know you can live without cable, smart phones, and new cars? It's possible!!! haha. We're proof! And in reality, I would venture to guess that we're a lot happier without those things because we don't have to worry about paying for them ;-) Our entertainment consists of long outdoor walks as a family and playing together.

I have no doubt that God's going to prove over and over again that He is Jehovah-Jireh, our Provider.

So as far as this pregnancy goes... I am feeling a lot better than I have! I felt sick all night last night. But it felt like a bug... not so much like morning sickness. I don't know/sometimes it's hard to tell the difference. But I've definitely felt more energetic. I think Ellie has a lot to do with that. With my pregnancy with her I had the luxury of not having to keep up with nearly as much. Now I have no choice. haha. I like it better this way actually. It makes the days go by so much faster!

What comes after Christmas but before Valentine's Day?

A baby! A baby is coming our way!

So this blog post will be in draft mode for as long as Nick and I can keep this a secret... we have no idea how long that will be. Maybe July??

I'm sure there will be people wondering so I'm just going to clarify that, No, this was not an accidental pregnancy. Have we lost our minds by purposefully having kids less than 18 months apart? Probably. But we talked about it a LOT and it's just what we felt was right for our family. Do not necessarily expect us to repeat this scenario every year and a half though. I have no idea how well I'll handle two under two just yet.

So currently I'm like, 4 weeks and 3 days - I think. Funny, I think this pregnancy (at least the first tri) will go by faster than my pregnancy with Ellie. It's only been a couple days since we found out and I'm already worn out. ;-) Breastfeeding + Being.Pregnant + Not.Taking.Vitamins = Very tired and unhealthy feeling mama. I don't know what happened to my prenatal vitamins. Somehow they got lost in the move. However, I did buy some last night. I did find myself dry heaving after taking them. Thankfully they did not come up ;-p

Actually, speaking of feeling sickly, I started feeling extremely tired/nauseated around 2 1/2 weeks. (that's like a couple of days past conception) Very uncool. I woke up in the middle of the night around 3 weeks feeling like I'd eaten something bad. Threw up a lot. Ugh. And I went back to bed. I didn't get a positive pg test for a week but I'm sure it was morning sickness. I'm not one to randomly throw up in the middle of the night ;-)

As I expected, my feeling nauseated has to be put aside at least somewhat because I have an 8 month old who needs me almost every hour of the day. Also, it's not like I can complain to anyone other than Nicholas about it because nobody knows. haha.

We are planning another birth at the Austin Area Birthing Center. This time, Lord-willing, we'll be in SOUTH AUSTIN at the new facility!!! It opens in August. Just before Ellie's birthday in September we should be having an ultrasound... and, Nope, we're not planning on finding out the sex. We both feel very strongly that it's a boy. We had Ellie's name picked out before I was pregnant yet we never did settle on a boy's name. This time Nick picked out a boy's name before we knew I was pregnant and he's declared that we're not going to pick out a girl's name because, duh!, it's not a girl. ;-) so we'll see. If it is a girl I guess she will be nameless for a while. haha

Okay... that's all for now. I'll probably come back and add some more secret posts that will all be unlocked once we have let the cat out of the bag. Until then, I think I need to clean up the kitchen. (I'd rather nap but Ellie's napping and it's easier to get things done when she's asleep. Imagine that.)