Q & A, & Q

I've received a number of questions regarding my current pregnancy, so I thought I'd take a minute and answer them.

Q. Where is Aubree in the "bun in the oven" picture?

A. Someone had to be the photographer, and Aubree graciously agreed.  

Q. How far along are you now?

A. 14 weeks.  I may look much further along, but don't be fooled (my midwife kindly commented that that's normal for later pregnancies, and I'm choosing to believe her). ;)

Q. How are you feeling?

A. Much better, thank you very much!  The first trimester and I don't get along too well.  Granted, I have it WAY easier than many of my friends and family who are sick for the whole 9 months.  I "only" felt pretty pukey from about weeks 5-10.  But 5 weeks of nausea is more than enough in my opinion.  Oh, and whoever decided to call it "morning sickness" is an idiot.

In addition to feeling icky, the biggest symptom I struggled with was complete and constant exhaustion.  I told Mark I just wanted to "sleep until Valentine's Day," and I'm pretty sure I could have done it too!  The fatigue is slowly easing, but it's still a battle.

I'll admit that I give myself a lot of leeway during my first trimesters.  I hold myself to a very low standard -  the kids are fed and safe?  Great! Mission complete.  Blogging? Church Calling? Socializing? Cleaning? Serving? Keeping up with friends and family?  Extra trips or activities?  Bare. Minimum.  

Now that I'm solidly in my second trimester, I'm slowly trying to pick up the pieces and get back to a semblance of normal.

Q. Is Aubree over-the-moon excited? 

A.  Anyone who knows Aubree can answer this question without hesitation.  She was born to be a big sister and "over-the-moon excited" is probably a very apt description.  She's taken it upon herself to ensure that EVERYONE knows our big news.  If she sees me talking to a friend or acquaintance or stranger, she immediately whispers in my ear, "did you tell them yet?" 

Q.  Do the boys care?

A.  Thane? Not so much.  When he hears us talking about a baby, he looks around for a few seconds, but then probably assumes we're all nuts as their clearly is no baby in the room and continues about his normal monkey business.

Bryce, on the other hand, is very excited.  When we first asked him if he wanted a baby girl or boy, he answered boy, but quickly changed his mind to girl because, "we already have two boys and only one girl."  He's maintained that stance, and even suggested we name her "Loris."

The first day after hearing the news, however, he was quite concerned about the idea that the baby was in my "tummy." Every time the topic of the baby would come up (which, with Aubree around was frequently), he'd scrunch up his face and ask seriously, "the baby's not really in your tummy, right Mom?? You're just teasing about that, RIGHT?"  

After a day of thinking and talking about it, he came around to accepting the crazy idea, and now tells everyone very intently, "my mom has a baby right here" (said while rubbing his own belly).

Q. Any guess about baby's gender?

Mark's not the guessing type. 

Aubree says, "I really want a girl, but I think it's probably a boy." 

I knew, 100%, that Aubree was a girl.  I was 80% sure that Bryce was a boy.  I was also sure that Thane was a girl.  Oops.  

This time around? I'd say I'm about 60% boy, 40% girl.  When I imagine Autumn-time, I see myself with Aubree and three little boys.  BUT, with all my siblings, all the boys were born in the first 6 months of the year, and all the girls were born in the last 6 months.  So far my 3 kids have followed the same pattern.  That suggests girl.  We'll find out for sure April 16.  

Q. Are you going to find out the baby's gender?

A. Do you know me at all?  OF COURSE!  The Midwife had the audacity to suggest that we'd find out, "if the baby cooperated."  

Excuse me?  Who says the baby has a choice about whether he/she will cooperate?! ;)

Q. Did you always know you wanted four?

A. We always thought we'd want at least four.  And the answer to the inevitable follow-up question?  No, we're probably not done.

Q. You must have the patience of a saint! 

A. (Granted this was a statement, but I think it warrants a response.)  Ha!  Haaaaa, Haaaaaa, HAAAAAA!!! *snort

Now for a couple questions:

Q. When a fairly regular blogger suddenly falls of the face of the Earth, do you wonder if she might be pregnant?  

I do, so I tried to throw up a blog (pathetic though it might have been) at least once in a while to try to avoid excess suspicion.

Q. Is it possible to turn from a "night person" to a "morning person?"

I've heard of morning people becoming night owls, but haven't heard success stories the other way around.  A couple months ago, I was up having breakfast with the boys (who are incurable "up-with-the-sunners"), and noticed the sunrise.  Instead of marveling at the beauty, I found myself grumbling, "I don't want to see the sun come up! I want to be asleep." (waaaaaahh)  Pathetic, I know.

I also recently came across my journals from High School (another topic entirely!).  I was amused by how frequently I mentioned hating getting up for seminary.  Seminary itself was fine.  It was just the getting up part I hated.

What's Cookin?

The timer's set.  This "bun" should be done cooking around September 3rd.

Taking Predictions

I think perhaps I've finally finished my second trimester. ;)
So, does anyone care to take a guess as to when this little guy will join our family? I'm officially due on May 21st. Want more information? Aubree came on her own at 38 weeks, 6 days. Bryce was induced at 39 weeks, 1 day. (Anyone who has ever gone "overdue" has my complete and total respect!)
If you want to guess, please include day & time, plus weight. Again - if you want more information, Aubree weighed 8 lbs. 6 oz., and Bryce weighed 8 lbs. 15 oz..
The winner will receive an all expenses paid trip to Tahiti! Or, maybe just a shout-out on my blog... we'll see.

No Hurry

My sisters have been asking me to post updated pregnant pictures. Lauren went so far as to request pictures of my "cute little pregnant belly." I informed her that my belly is neither cute nor little (for those types of pictures I referred her to Colleen), but she was not deterred. So, here are a couple of more recent photos. Aubree took both of these pictures and they were the only ones in the sets that weren't blurry and/or didn't have my head cut-off.

28 weeks

30 weeks

I remember being pregnant with Aubree and feeling so anxious for her to arrive. I just couldn't wait to have her in my arms. Though I am equally thrilled to be having another baby, I no longer feel a desire to speed my pregnancy along. In fact, having just ten weeks left makes me want to try and slow time down.
Right now life feels so simple. Bryce and Aubree get along really well and have reached the point where they are fairly independent. I can say, "go get in the car" and they run along to their car seats. I can hand them spoons or forks and they eat their meals. I put them in their beds and they fall asleep on their own. They tell me when they're hungry or stinky (in Bryce's case) or don't feel well. We've become comfortable in our routines and I generally know what to expect from them.
In less than ten weeks, everything will shift. I have high hopes that both kids will react well to their new little brother, but I remember all to well how much work an infant requires and I'm prepared for our comfortable world to be shaken up for a while.
When our baby arrives, I'll embrace the opportunity and blessing. There's not much I enjoy more than cuddling a new baby and smelling their sweet baby smells. I'm eager to meet my son and see if he looks like Aubree or Bryce or has his own unique look*. No longer being pregnant will also be a bonus. In the meantime, I'm trying to enjoy the current ease of just having two easy-going kiddos.

*When Aubree was little people would often ask in a confused manner, "who does she look like?" We never had a good answer. When Bryce came along, no one asked, they just stated, "he looks just like his dad!" Aubree and Bryce didn't look similar as babies and they don't look similar now. However, lately I've noticed an interesting trend. People frequently make the comment, "wow, Bryce looks so much like his Dad and Aubree looks like you." Truth be told, I don't think Aubree looks like me much at all, but she doesn't look like Bryce, and Bryce looks like Mark, so I think people assume that she must then look like me. So, out of curiosity, I pulled out a picture of Mark and I when we were both around four years old for comparison.
Bryce has Mark's eyes and cheeks (with the cute dimples!) and hair, but their mouths are very different. If anything, I think Aubree looks like my mom. So, does anyone happen to have a picture of my mom when she was a little girl so I can compare (Kim?)??

POP!

This is for my sister Lauren - she was complaining that I hadn't posted any pictures of my pregnant belly. I told her it looks just like the last two times I had a pregnant belly. To appease her, though, I had Aubree take a couple pictures (they didn't turn out too badly for a 4-year old!).
Up until about a week ago, I could frequently forget that I was pregnant and many people seemed surprised to learn I'm almost halfway through my pregnancy. Then - POP - all of a sudden my belly's in my way, I have to wear maternity shirts, and everyone's commenting on my big baby belly.
What a difference a week makes!

PS A few people asked if Aubree was disappointed to learn that she's having a brother instead of a sister. I think she took the news remarkably well and hasn't seemed disappointed at all. The only comment she's made is that, "boys names are much harder to think of than girl names!" Amen to that!!!!

Pooh Bear it is!

We managed to sneak our mid-pregnancy ultrasound in a little early and got to find out Bub C's gender before Christmas. Most importantly, the baby looks healthy and is growing right on track.
And Aubree and Bryce will soon have a little brother!

Aubree's reaction & Bub "C"s 1st Picture

We waited to tell Aubree and Bryce about their new sibling until the day of our first ultrasound. I knew that once we told Aubree there would be no more secret keeping, since I suspected she'd be beyond thrilled to learn we were having a baby. In fact, it was more than just a suspicion - Aubree's been talking about her "little sister" for over a year now. People at church were constantly asking me if I were pregnant after hearing her talk (thankfully, they stopped months ago so I didn't have to lie once I really was pregnant and not telling anyone yet). Around the time I found out I was pregnant, Aubree started praying nightly for Heavenly Father to "please send my sister."
Here is a video of Aubree's reaction. The beginning is a little slow because it took a while for Aubree to understand what we were trying to tell her, but once she figured it out it's really cute and funny to watch her reaction.

Here is Bub "C"s first picture. The ultrasound tech tried to get a good profile shot, but Baby was way too wiggly to cooperate.
Our little one's official due date is May 21, 2010.