5.18.2010

Halfway There!

Photo courtesy of db*Photography
(That's not me in the picture, but I wish I had her hair . . . and sunglasses . . . and skinny body ;-)

Baby banana is supposedly 10 inches from head to heel right now. That's literally half the length of my first newborn baby. Go figure, halfway really does mean halfway!

Life hasn't changed too much lately. I'm definitely more uncomfortable. I can feel my skin stretching, especially around my bellybutton. In fact, that's where my lovely stretch marks appeared last time--little squiggly snakes dancing around my belly button. I swore I'd put more cream and jojoba oil on this time so it wouldn't worsen; but my belly's growing too quickly and I'm too lazy--so I can already feel those ominous stretchings (is "stretchings" a word? Doubt it. I blame pregnancy brain.)

I moved all the baby stuff from my firstborn's closet to the office. It's a huge pile--bigger than I thought it'd be . . . and I haven't even added furniture. Yikes. I kinda think that preparing a nursery is harder the second time around than dealing with being pregnant. You know? Right now I have a nursery that's already done, a toddler running around demanding attention, and a budget that's already stretched pretty tight. All of the sudden, the idea of decorating, furnishing, and prepping a room for baby #2 seems like a monstrous task--pushing a baby out, psh, no problem! ;-) I'm kidding. . . Well, I'm half kidding.

I've made some decisions about prepping my first child for the transition. We're going to tackle changing to a toddler bed first. It feels the most natural for us, and I'm done catapulting up my 30+ pound child over the crib rails for every nap and bed time. After that we'll tackle potty training. The paci may be the last thing to go.

I'm so excited about the transition to two children. My firstborn's birthday is coming up, but every present I buy seems like the perfect item to keep until the baby's born and give to my eldest to help through the transition. I just ordered an Ergo doll carrier (the ones the kids wear with their dolls in tow) that I'm super excited about. It was half price on www.kidsteals.com--my new favorite site (I'm a little concerned what it will do to my pocketbook). I plan to use my Ergo all the time, so this will give A something to make her feel included too.

I've also heard it's good to have a box of toys/activities that only comes out during the times that I'm nursing. This gives my girl something special to do when the baby's nursing, and it also gives her something to look forward to. I got some Melissa and Doug wooden farm animal lacing beads at a consignment sale, and I think it'll be best to save those for the nursing box. It's something that will require a little more coordination on her part--so about the time the baby's born, she'll be getting into that.

Any other suggestions for nursing box toys? And while we're on activity suggestions, I've got a big road trip planned for Thanksgiving--newborn and two year old. I'm already starting to think about what activities I can make/buy for that trip. I'm following @MomMostTraveled and @travelkiddy on Twitter for ideas; but I'm open to more! Please share!

Realistically, if I can prep/make activities before the baby's born, there's a better chance they'll actually get done!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

That nursing box is a GREAT idea. We have one for my 2 yr old that only comes out during home school hours.

Small hard back picture books are great for boxes. Also try a special doll with bottle that she can feed while mommy is feeding baby.