Say hello to our new little belly bundle

Being the first born has its ups and downs. So far Evan has basked in our undivided attention, even at times forcing us to stop staring at him by grunting or concocting a scowl so sinister it makes Rosemary's Baby seem more like Look Who's Talking. That will change now that a new kid will soon be slobbering on the block.

We are very excited about our new little boy. It'll be amazing to see the two boys interact and to watch a new little one grow up. I get the feeling that the next 20 or so years will be very hectic. When I look at how HUGE Evan has become and listen to him talk and start to express his feelings and thoughts I know the next 20 years will fly by way too quickly.

Say hello to our new little belly bundle.

Cute Evan things:
He now says I love you, but it comes out as a long yoooouuuu.
He has learned to not only defend himself against toddler sized train nabbers, he has become a nabber himself.
He hates his bath now. Really hates his bath.
He uses his potty from time to time and he always calls it "poo-poo" no matter what is.
He loves his new Emily train. He pouts when he can't find it and whines "Me-me? Me-me?"
He's a little brat most of the time now who screams vehemently at the slightest provocation yet at other times will laugh in your face when you try to discpline him.
He still cuddles more than any kid I've ever met.
He has started to gallop around the house instead of walking or running.
He doesn't like to wear his yellow Crocs anymore.
He goes to the front door when we ask if he's hungry. We may eat out too much.
He tries to force your mouth open like a Pez dispenser to see what you are eating. He says "Ahhhhh" as he's doing it.
He scares the cat three quarters out if its skin all the time. The cat tendered his 2 week notice yesterday.
He laughs at everything and has the silliest sense of humor. He particularly cracks up at funny sounds.
He now yells HELLO 20 times when he comes home.
He doesn't like sugar cereals. He nearly cried when he took his first bite of Trix. I ate his bowl while he ate plain oatmeal. He gets that from his momma's side of the family.

Drum roll...

First, the baby is healthy and did lots of cute things for us while we watched him on the ultrasound.
Second, yes, I did just say "him." It's a boy! I knew it was going to be a boy! I'm glad Evan will have a baby brother. Yes, there is a part of me that wanted a girl, but not enough to try for three kids. We are done after this one.
I asked how certain the doctor was that it was a boy (and not just the umbilical cord or something). She said, "I guarantee it."
He was so cute during the ultrasound. We saw him gulp fluids. I didn't see that with Evan. He opened his mouth and gulped 6 times for us. He also moved around a lot. When we saw Evan's ultrasound, he did sommersaults and sucked his thumb for us. This baby didn't do either of those things, but kicked and punched and arched his back.
He appears to be healthy. He has 2 arms, 2 legs, no club feet, a spine that is closed at the top (no spina bifida), working kidneys and bladder, 2 brain hemispheres and 4 heart chambers, a strait and very clear spine, and long legs. I could tell during Evan's ultrasound that his legs were very muscular, with rounded calves. This baby's legs looked long and lean. But we're talking in millimeters at this point, so I could be wrong...
I couldn't really see his facial features. I think this ultrasound machine was not as high of quality as Kaiser's. Too bad... we'll have five months to see his little face.

Here is how Evan feels about having a baby brother:

Me: Evan, there's a baby inside my tummy. Do you want to have a baby?
Evan: (lifting his shirt and looking at his tummy): No.

Later...
Evan (pointing at my tummy): boo boo.
Me: No, that's not a boo boo. That's a baby. There's a baby inside mommy's tummy.
Evan: No baby! Boo boo! (He thinks i have a boo boo because we had to go to the doctor's office and she rubbed that goopy stuff on my tummy).

Big ultrasound tomorrow

Warning: stereotypes and generalizations follow.
Tomorrow morning we have our big 20 week ultrasound and appointment. I'm so excited. I care more about the gender this time than I did before, maybe because we are definitely only having 2 children. The weird thing is that I can't say the gender outcome will determine my happiness one way or the other, but I know the gender makes a difference.

I'm prepared for a boy. I have cute room decor picked out for a boy (airplanes), I have a son already and know the boy routine, and I would love for Evan to have a baby brother to grow up with. I think siblings of the same gender might be closer (or have the potential to be closer). And besides, boys love their mommies.

But a girl... I don't have one of those. This is good and bad. When I found out Evan was a boy, my first thought was, "what will I do with a boy? Do I have to get dirty and play with bugs?" (That concern quickly ended when a work friend told me girls also get dirty and play with bugs). But now I have the same familiar feeling: if I have a girl, what will I do with her? I am in boy mode now. I can't imagine it any other way.

But if I don't have a girl, I might always wonder what it's like to have a girl. And plus, there is one thing that really bothers me in the back of my head: boys marry off, and girls stick around. Let me explain: Boys grow up to be men, get married, and join their wives' families for the holidays and other social gatherings. Women bring their hubbies into their own families. Yes, I'm stereotyping again, but 92.6% of the people I know would agree with me if polled informally. I can't stand the thought of holidays without my full family.

So the bottom line is, there is a difference, and I'll be happy either way. If it's a boy, I have to focus extra hard on having the best holidays ever so he can't help but return every year (do I sound like an obsessed and elderly Martha Stewart? Oh well). If it's a girl, I'll readjust my thinking to girl mode and prepare for the unknown.

5 mos prego today!

I'm 18 weeks prego, which is the beginning of the 5th month, according to the baby books. I felt better all week -- more energy, not requiring as much sleep, no weird dizzy spells. But then today I was really tired and weak. I guess it takes a lot out of a girl to make a life. I felt so different with Evan... more sickly in the beginning, but healthy and energetic by this point. And I was a vegetarian with Evan! But not now. Hmmm.

The daycare is going well. The infant I watched left me for a cheaper provider (hhmmmph) and I had to 'let go' a toddler I was watching who wasn't understanding that I had rules. But now I have 2 new little ones coming next week (infants). The group as a whole will be younger than I expected. I was expecting 2-4 year olds, but I get ten times more calls for infants.

As it turns out, I love watching the 2 two-year-olds together (Evan being one of them): they are 6 weeks apart and are so compatable. They giggle and squeal like 14 year old girls when they see each other, play weird pretend games (like pretending to throw up toy cars and laughing hilariously each time the other does it), pretend to tuck each other into bed and say "night night," chase the cat while yelling "KITTY!" (because surely that will make the cat love them), and crashing trains and trucks into one another. They fight sometimes, but nothing bad. The other kid's mom is happy that there is not huge group of 2 year-olds (as am I), so this should work great.

Evan is learning so much now. Every week we are learning a different color and shape, tied to a theme. This week ("fall") we learned about pumpkins, which are round and orange! So Evan says "oranch" and "kir-cle" (circle) and a word that vaguely sounds like pumpkin. He even identified a "heart" shape the other day in the store, totally unprovoked by me, which was pretty cool since I had only mentioned the name of that shape once or twice. He knows a few of his colors now.

We have our big ultrasound scheduled for a week from Monday, October 17, when we find out the gender. More on that later!