Preparing for Poppy

snuggling up to some third trimester belly

A pretty common question I've being getting lately is "Is Rhett ready to be a big brother? Does he understand what's going on?". The short answer to the latter is no. He doesn't really seem to have a handle on "what's going on" and we haven't really been pushing much to explain it to him. We keep meaning to buy him a baby doll and do that whole thing, but we haven't really gotten around to it. Mostly, I just figure that it's not really something that's possible to prepare for and he'll figure it out when the time comes. He understands that we call my belly "Poppy" now and he's been very nurturing to it. I doubt he knows that there's a person in there (heck, that's kind of a weird concept for me to wrap my head around). But if we say "Rhett give Poppy a kiss", he's very willing to snuggle up to my pregnant belly and offer kisses. 

Is he ready to be a big brother? On that front, I'm not sure. He's a pretty nurturing person. He loves children. We try to point out babies and big brothers whenever we can. He's seen both Josh and I with little babies and he doesn't turn into Mr. Hyde with jealousy. He's been fairly independent and flexible throughout his little life and I think he'll do ok. I don't want to be naive about it, but I think he'll like having another person in our family. I'm more worried about my recovery from the repeat C-section. He likes to snuggle on my lap, wrestle and climb all over me. We've been working on curbing it, but I enjoy it so it's been kind of back and forth. 

The running joke is that he thinks he's getting a puppy this Fall (cause "Puppy" and "Poppy" are pretty similar). He's been really into dogs lately, so hopefully he won't be too disappointed when we bring home a sister instead of a furry friend!

Vacation!

This month, we were blessed to be able to spend time with both of our families. We traveled to Texas to see Josh's parents and siblings at the beach. It was wonderful to spend time with everyone and to see Rhett playing and interacting with his cousins. He really enjoyed himself. He was sick early in the week and we had to take him to urgent care and get him on some antibiotics. He enjoyed the beach much more after he had a few rounds of meds. 

We also got to spend some time relaxing and enjoying seeing my family in Richmond, VA. I've always loved getting to go to Virginia to enjoy meals from my childhood and sleeping in while my mom watches my kid! My sister took some lovely photos of the week. It was wonderful to see her and her husband, and my brother. We don't get to see one another very often, but it's always really special when we do. 

Boy's World

We're heading to Florida!

Last week we found out that we will be living in Jacksonville, Florida while Josh serves a Vicar at Bethlehem Lutheran Church! Call Day was kind of a blur. I really wasn't as nervous as I anticipated. We've done the moving thing before. We've even done the "we're going to pick a random spot for you to live" thing before. I had had a feeling for months that it was going to be Florida so it wasn't much of a shock when our name was called for the Florida district.

We are very excited to head south! The weather in Jacksonville stays pretty pleasant year-round. We'll be living closer to my family and we'll be living less than a mile from the beach. I'm not sure how feasible it will be for me to get two small children to the beach regularly, but I'd love to  take advantage of it while we're there. There are lots of great opportunities for Josh to serve and for me to be involved at the church and we've heard nothing but wonderful things about the people there.

So far in our four year marriage, we've lived in Nebraska, Michigan and Missouri. Florida seems a pretty obvious fourth home. We will be leaving toward the end of summer and it can't come fast enough!

It's a Girl!

We were thrilled to find out this afternoon that we're expecting a little girl in September! I was suspecting it was a girl this time around, but I was nowhere near the certainty that I felt when I was pregnant with Rhett. I think Rhett will really enjoy having a little sister to watch after and we're certainly looking forward to raising a daughter! I've always pictured us with "one of each" and we couldn't be more delighted with our family.

Really, there was no better way to announce our news to Rhett than balloons. That boy loves some freaking balloons.

We may have decided on a name but we're not putting any pressure on ourselves for the time being. We're test driving our frontrunner, Poppy this week. So far, it's felt like a really good fit so it might end up being her name! A middle name will be another story, but hopefully the right name will come to us soon.

We can't wait to meet her!

A Big Boy!

Rhett turned two this weekend! We can hardly believe that we have a big boy in the house. Over the last week, I've noticed that he seems older. He had his first haircut last week but I think it's even more than that. I'm not seeing many remnants of the tiny baby we brought home from the hospital. He's all grown up!

Rhett has become a real boy's boy. He make everything he finds into a car. He likes to 'drive' his cars up and down our arms and legs. He loves to throw and kick balls. When we go outside, he plays in the dirt. He always plays hard and his biggest tantrums are always when it's time to come inside. 

He's got a very sweet and nurturing side to him. He'll hold a lollypop out to each of his stuffed animals and ask each one "bite?....bite?". He's always willing to give us hugs and kisses and loves to cuddle up with a book or a T.V. show. If Josh is giving me a back massage, Rhett will come up behind him and rub Josh's back for him at the same time. 

He's a very happy little boy. For his birthday, we took him to a local children's museum, the Magic House. He had so much fun exploring and running around. He was absolutely exhausted by the end of it. Sleeping is also an area where we have lucked out enormously. All we have to say is "time for bed" and Rhett responds "yeah ok" and goes to gather his bed things. ("yeah ok is his current favorite phrase. He's very compliant lately!)

He's still completely attached to his blankie, which we call "snuggles". He drags it around most of the day and needs it to sleep. He's also developed a deep fondness for his shoes, stemming from the fact that when they go on, we go outside. A handful of times, he's lost a shoe in public and he'll cry "Rhett's shoe! Rhett's shoe!" until it's replaced. 

A peculiarity that we're always chuckling over is that the child absolutely refuses to use the word 'down'. Whenever he wants down, he always says "up" instead. Josh will even play a repeating game with him: "Say 'mommy", "MOMEE" say "milk", "MILK", say "down", "UP!". So weird. We've been  getting a kick out of it. 

We're so blessed and thrilled with our first born. We can't wait for him to become a big brother this year. He will surely be a blessing to his younger sister or brother!

15 Weeks with #2

Here I am! 15 weeks with Baby #2! I'm showing a lot more than I was with Rhett. Apparently that's normal for a second pregnancy? I'm actually at the exact same weight I was when I wrote my 15 week post for my first pregnancy, but my starting weight was higher this time around. I believe I've gained weight a lot healthier this time, and it's much more concentrated in my belly. I'm hoping it'll stay that way! I'm starting to spread the word around, and several people in the last week have told me that they thought I looked pregnant before I said anything. I didn't get that comment with Rhett until I was like, 30 weeks along. I also seem to be carrying higher so far. I can still wear my pre pregnancy jeans, but tops are a lost cause.

I'm feeling good! The second trimester rocks. We'll find out the sex in less than three weeks. We're really excited to find out if we have a son or daughter on the way!