Busy Mom Month!

June has certainly been a busy month for being a mom! June 5, 2021 we celebrate Baby #1's second birthday! It was a fun family celebration at an indoor playground with ball pits, slides, trains, and a party room where we could eat lunch and blow out the candle on his 2-shaped race car cake. I was so relieved that everything came together--from the cake design to the car-shaped cookies, the decor and balloons to most of our family being able to make it. They closed the playground down for our 2-hour party so it was private, safe, and special. And even though Baby was a little bit nervous about the new place and experience, he had a blast riding on their Thomas the Tank Engine train in between opening gifts: a remote controlled recycling truck, a T-ball bat and ball set, a toy guitar, Duplo blocks, a giant steel dump truck, and more!

Thankfully I wasn't too nauseous on the day of the party, though I've definitely noticed nausea almost every day with Baby #2--usually in the mornings and evenings. June 12 it was off and on all day long. And actually the night of June 5, as well as the morning of June 15, the nausea was so bad I actually threw up. Sorry for the TMI, but that's definitely a change of pace from last pregnancy when I was less nauseous and only threw up once in Texas after eating hamburgers. The sick feeling on June 15 was the morning before my first doctor's appointment to meet Baby #2. I wasn't nervous or anything, but the bite of my son's oatmeal apparently wasn't what Baby #2 wanted. Hubby was upstairs getting ready for work while I was downstairs with my son and couldn't make it to the bathroom in time. So I grabbed a nearby trashbag and unfortunately threw up in front of Baby #1 who was clearly concerned. He didn't cry or yell, but watched me cautiously and started to pat my arm. It was the sweetest thing!

Aside from those two incidents, I've mostly been eating to quell the nausea. As with Baby #1, meats and cheeses are still mostly what I wanted, though on June 1 I really wanted mashed potatoes and on June 9 I really wanted a full hamburger. It's exciting to have actual cravings, though my biggest craving is just "food." Protein, salty snacks, whatever I feel like in the moment as long as I'm not waiting too long to eat.Sometimes it can be a challenge with Baby #1 wanting my attention, keeping me from food or resting on the couch, but he's been pretty well behaved through it all. The hardest part is his sleep schedule changes. I feel like it's "nap roulette" all over again only instead of not knowing how long Baby will sleep we don't know if when we put Baby down he will sleep or not! He used to sleep around 11:30am for his nap and go to bed around 8:45pm. Ha! Now if we're lucky he'll nap by noon, but often it's 1pm. Bedtime is never before 9pm, which makes me a little sad. What's really sad is when he decides he wants to skip his nap entirely--I'm not ready! But clearly he still needs his naps since on the weekends when he decides he doesn't want to nap at 12 or 1 or 2 he will inevitably get sleepy by 4:30pm, 5:30pm, or 6:30pm which is usually too early for bedtime but too late for a nap if we want him to sleep before midnight! Thankfully the one time he napped at 4:30 we were at least able to get him to sleep before 11pm and the one time he fell asleep at 6:30 he remarkably slept through the entire night! So even if he ends up dropping his nap for good in the coming weeks, my hope is to put him to bed at a much more reasonable time.

Thankfully he naps pretty well during the week, and was actually napping when I left him with my parents to go to my first doctor's appointment on June 15! I was a little disappointed that they called to change the time to 3pm instead of 9am. I'd been waiting over a month for the appointment already, but I guess a few extra hours wasn't too bad. When the time finally came, I met Hubby at our house, we ate lunch together, and then headed out to the appointment. It was my first doctor's appointment since the pandemic (though I had been to the dentist twice) and with the long wait I was starting to get just a little anxious. Finally, at 3:38pm they called us back and I got weighed, got my blood pressure checked, and finally got to see my OB-GYN! I was pleased he recognized and remembered us, even with all the time that had passed and with the masks we were wearing. Friendly and knowledgeable as ever, he chatted with us and then led us to the ultrasound room so we could see Baby #2 for the first time! Finally we would get to meet our second little one. Heartbeat was visible and looked good! Baby was measuring right on schedule. My doctor explained when I would need to come back and what kind of testing would be done and what I could do about nausea. Sadly I'm considered "advanced maternal age" since I'll be turning 35 during the pregnancy, but the doctor wasn't too concerned. It mostly meant I could qualify for genetic screenings through blood work to look for any genetic abnormalities, and also find out the baby's sex. So that will be exciting to learn a little more about our baby so soon!

The month is only half over but we have more fun to look forward to too! I'm planning a family photo shoot to get photos that will also be used for our big online reveal. Then the end of the month will bring about our first family vacation: a road trip to San Diego! June has always been a happy month because it was the month my husband proposed, the month of our first kiss, and the month Baby #1 was born. It's nice to know that as things get better with the pandemic we can enjoy life more again this June too!