Oh how things have changed....

Now a days having another child before your first one turns the age of 2 is a little nuts to some people. Conceiving another child before your first turn’s one is just insane to most people. Back in the day, almost all my friend’s had siblings that were just a year older so to me it wasn’t that crazy. However, when Jon and I made the announcement to people, the reactions we got were, “oh wow, were you trying?” “wait, you are pregnant again?” and my favorite from one of my co-workers, “didn’t you just get back from maternity leave?” So, no we weren’t really “trying” but obviously not really preventing it either.  Did the iPhone app come in to play? Well, yes because I did upgrade to the newer version that cost money so obviously I took a gander before anything happened.  Still not a reliable tool. Yes, I am indeed pregnant again. It can in fact happen before your first turns one. And yes, I basically just got back from maternity leave. It was just so much fun last time that I thought I’d make it a bi-yearly event. Which brings us to where we are today.

My daughter Avery is almost 15 months. I swear once she hits two I will stop using months to tell people her age. And I am pregnant with our second daughter, No Name Levesque, due 3/11/2014. Despite another surprise, we are very happy to be having our second daughter so soon. Yes, my husband did shed a tear that he in fact wasn’t going to have a son but I reminded him that girls are the best and he will always be taken care of and there is always next time! J

Going through my second pregnancy has been extremely different from my first. Mainly because I have a child to take care of on top of working and being a wife. Not to complain because tons of women do it all the time but I look back at my first pregnancy and the person I was and I want to smack myself. So I made a list of things I wish I could have said to myself during my first pregnancy….

1.       What’s that you say? You are tired? Awh, poor baby that you only got 7 hours of sleep because most of the other hours were filled with heartburn and trips to the bathroom. I’m sure you will figure out a nap sometime tomorrow when you have nothing else to do but watch TV and get fat. Next pregnancy you can look forward to still waking up at 6am after a night of no sleeping to take care of your child. So, enjoy all that sitting and complaining.

2.       No, you aren’t all belly no matter what anyone says to you. Your belly is your baby. That black raspberry ice cream that you are self-medicating with for your heartburn is hitting your thighs and butt so hard right now. May not notice it in your roomy maternity pants but enjoy attempting to fit into any of your pants even though the scale says you are down to your “pre-baby weight”

3.       Wow, good for you that you didn’t have a sip of caffeine your entire pregnancy. Your second child will have consumed so many flavors of Starbucks Coffee that she will be leaving the womb a seasoned barista. You think that by not having coffee that your child will be mellower, laid back and will have an easier time sleeping. Good luck with that. Enjoy six weeks of not sleeping because your daughter Avery is the furthest thing from mellow.

4.       You are going to work up until your due date? What a wonder woman! I mean, don’t take off any time to sleep, put the car seat in the car, put together the nursery or anything else to prepare. You should totally keep working to prove something and then enjoy kicking yourself in the ass when your water breaks and your husband is still figuring out that car seat base.

5.       I’d probably step away from all those baby and birthing books and take a nap.  Your best friend after baby is born will be google and your mom. And in regards to this birthing books? Yeah, you aren’t going to breathe away the pain. It is going to suck so badly and do not listen to anyone that will tell you any differently. All the best.

Despite the challenges of being pregnant a second time while watching my not even two year old daughter, I’m glad that I’m a lot less neurotic than I was during my first and a lot more down to earth. No, I haven’t been able to take a belly photo or get 3D ultrasound pictures or do cute updates each week. I didn’t send out a thoughtful announcement and no I won’t be taking maternity pictures. But that’s OK with me. I don’t love this baby less. I’m in fact looking forward so much to meeting our daughter.  I’m just a mom with different priorities and quite frankly, I’ll take sleep over any of those things. J

Farewell!!!

It has been almost a year since I wrote my first blog. I remember when I first put my blog out there I was so nervous. I sent it to my mom, sister and husband for approval. I was being honest and open about some really embarrassing things and I didn’t know how people were going to react. However, I’m so glad I didn’t hold back.

This journey has been long, amazing and life changing and I’m so happy I was able to share that with my family, friends and the poor internet searcher looking for some pregnancy guidance and stumbled upon my goofy blog.

I’m however going to step away from the blog, not like I was doing a great job updating it these past few months, and not drag it out to drag it out. It was so fun while I was doing it and I hope that I’m inspired again down the road to create a new blog.

I will continue to update mine and Avery’s status because I will print this all out and give it to her when she graduates High School or at some other time when I can really embarrass her so feel free to check back every once and awhile to see how she’s doing.

I’m grateful for all the positive feedback, the friends that were made and all the great things that came with creating this blog. It was truly therapy for me and the fact that I helped some other people out there made it that much more enjoyable to write.

I never thought that I would write 70 blogs, receive over 18,000 hits and have an audience of over 20 countries. It’s seriously amazing.

So with all that being said, thank you to my friends, family and all my supporters it’s been a blast.

And remember, iPhone apps are not a form of birth control, but I’m so glad we used it. J

Our Miss. Avery at 5 months!!!

Mr. Mom

I’m going to start off by saying, I love my husband. He is an amazing man and father. A lot of times he is more patient and reasonable than I am. When Avery cries bloody murder throughout the night and I say “well, I think it may be time for her to find her own place.” He calmly tells me “That it’s just a phase, and everything will be OK.” He is absolutely the rock in the group. However, like most men, he doesn’t really understand how much goes into being a mom. That is, until I got sick this past weekend and Jon got to see first hand what it’s like to be a full time mommy.

Granted, when a man is sick, his place is usually on the bed or on the couch and that’s as far as he goes unless nature calls. When a woman is sick, she’s basically just doing the same things she normally does, but just feels worse doing them. This Saturday, I was pretty sick and was in bed for most of the day. I woke Jon up at 8am and said that I just couldn’t do it and I didn’t want to get her sick so he had to help. He finally emerged around 9 and I went to lie down. I will give him this; Avery is teething, so she was a lot more fussy than normal. I would come out of the room every once in awhile (to switch the laundry around because as I said, a mom’s schedule doesn’t change much on a sick day) to see how everything was going. Jon was visibly exhausted. I kind of smiled inside because this was the same guy that referred to my 9 weeks of maternity leave as a “Vacation.” Yes, vacation. What every woman dreams of!! Waddling for the first few days, barely showering, no sleep, messy house, crying baby, washing dishes (including bottles and of course pump parts) still cooking but hardly eating, pumping, breastfeeding and in our case also supplementing. It was an AMAZING break. I don’t even know why we went to Hawaii for our honeymoon when we should just continue to reproduce so I get this vacation every year.  

This is the way I believe a man envisions maternity leave. Woman gets to stay home, watch TV, relax, take up a hobby, eat all day, look through magazines, cleans because of course every woman loves to clean and since she’s not “that busy” should absolutely have dinner on the table because she can just do it when the baby is sleeping.

OK, Jon may not have thought it was quite like this, but I think he thought it is a lot easier than it was. But now, after this Saturday, I think he gets it.

Towards the end of the night I was feeling better and took over. I did our usual bath and sat with her until she went to sleep. All and all, it was a rough day for everyone. Even though I did enjoy my mini break, it’s still tough to be away from her and to hear her cry when she’s so close. But I think that we all learned valuable lessons from the experience.

I learned that it’s OK to take a break and take care of myself.

Avery learned that daddy can do just as good of job as mommy can.

And Jon learned what an absolutely amazing, hardworking, selfless, phenomenal, and insanely beautiful wife that he has. J He may not have said that all but the look in his eyes when I took over Saturday night, it couldn’t have been clearer. 

So with all this being said, I love my husband because he is willing to help when I need him to and I love my Miss. Avery more than ever. She turned four months old on 12/26. And based upon the weight scale she is still a peanut, clocking in at only 9% for body weight. She is going to be leggy like her mom and is the 22% for height. The pediatrician said that she is super aware of her surroundings for a four month old (no surprise to us since our little girl is the nosiest little thing on the planet) and looks as healthy as can be!!! Check out the Status page for more details.