Nesting or OCD?

I have issues of obsessing. Pick a thing and I have probably obsessed about it. My habit is to plan something, rethink the plan a million times, pick one option, and then I have to do it ASAP like I am running out of time. So with a baby on the way, you can only imagine what my poor husband has to put up with. We spent weeks if not months of me talking with him about baby monitors and strollers. What we'll do the day of the planned c-section. Options in case we deliver early. Seriously, he's a saint for putting up with me sometimes.

So it shouldn't come as a surprise that I can say we are nearly done with preparing for the newest Ski member. With Libby, I had no idea what I really needed. Plus, you have showers with your first so you don't really buy a lot until you see what you do or do not get from those. With this one, we have a better grasp of what we will need. And, because I am lazy or smart (take your pick but I prefer the latter ;)), I chose to do the bulk of my much needed boy shopping online. Because I didn't have to wait and find time to go to the store without my shopaholic daughter and drag my hubby (who hates to shop), this was a perfect solution. The result is boxes upon boxes in our dining room. It is the "staging ground" for everything baby related. Once I have everything washed and ready, then they move up to TJ's room.

So am I crazy? Am I nesting? Don't get me wrong...I still have things to do. But as far as my credit card is concerned? I won't be using it for awhile for the kiddo. We just have curtains to buy and new hardware and that is it. Everything else just needs to get washed/cleaned and put away. And, sadly, I am already planning when and how I can do that and have changed mine mind 3 times. See...crazy. =)

"Big Girl" Changes

Our little Libby is growing up. On Friday we converted her crib to a bed. Yeah, we are just now converting her bed. A lot of my friends took to converting their kiddo's beds to toddler beds around 2 years old. We chose to wait. Why? Well, because Libby showed absolutely no interest in getting out and was not potty training...so what was the hurry? Well, we've spent a lot of time the past few months talking with her about her "big girl" bed. We knew she was ready and could handle it since she has slept on a cot at school for the past 1.5 years and did awesome on a blow up bed at my parent's house in January. Timing was everything to us. We wanted to do it right before she became interested in potty training so she didn't have to adjust to two things at once. Last week she decided she wanted to sit on the potty and actually successfully went. That was a trigger to me it was a time to transition her bed. I was dreading it...I had heard horror stories about how hard it is to get your child to stay in bed, they fall out of them, etc. With never a good long weekend we just went for it last weekend. It was great. Libby loved it --- I'll have a video later. She has told us time and time again how much she loves her "big girl" bed. She never once got out after we put her in to take a nap or go to sleep at night. Now, I would be crazy to think that this is going to last. I am giving it a few weeks (at most) before she starts getting up after we put her down...but for now I am just going to sit back and enjoy the fact that she is so happy and loving her big girl bed. =)

Little Momma

To encourage our little girl to be gentle with babies, I play baby dolls with her. When we went to the STL Zoo this weekend, I got her a new doll - a baby monkey. She loves it and was so incredibly sweet with it this weekend. We took the new baby to the monkey house but apparently the monkey was scared. Libby comforted her and took such good care of her. She even tried to get her to walk. It was simply adorable. Now if we can get her to be gentle with her future baby brother...

STL Zoo

Libby loves the STL Zoo. Requests to go there at least once a week. We took her there on Sunday and had a blast. She requested to go see the giraffes so we happily agreed to take here there. Then I witnessed the bully.

Oh, he was so proud of himself. Strutted around a few minutes after the poor giraffe left. What a bully.

Wordless Wednesday

The many faces of Libby

Slip-up

Well, due to a slip up my father-in-law now knows we are having a son so I no longer have to be vague or watch what I say around him. Whew! I'm just glad I wasn't the one to spill the beans ;)

Week 22 Update

Note: To my father in law, sorry this one mentions the gender too so please kindly skip unless someone has spilled the beans. =)

I cannot believe we are already to week 22. Considering we knew about this baby pretty early (not even into week 4), I still have a hard time believing that this is happening. Maybe I won't until I see the little one the day of his birth. I am not really nervous about having him since I sort of know what to expect (do you really ever really know when it comes to this stuff? I don't think so)....but I am curious how fast I heal this time. Last time, as you may know, we had an emergency c-section after my blood pressure finally got "too high" for the mid-wife. Honestly, if we hadn't seen her, I think we would have waited another week or 2 since she was delivered at 38.5 weeks. With this pregnancy, my blood pressure is doing fantastic. I do mean fantastic. It is better than it has been in years. I am truly trying to be what I call a "Zen Momma". Honestly, I think having Libby there chills me out. You cannot go all hormonal with a 2 year old in the room. That will end in chaos. Now, of course I slip up...but I say I have done so much better controlling all of my emotions and stress this time.

I am, however, not as prepared this time. Which is ridiculous considering this is the second child. Of course we'll have the essentials by then like a crib, diapers, etc. But as far as enough clothes, sheets for the crib, the room decorated...that stuff still all needs to be done. We wanted to wait to know how to decorate the room until we knew the gender. We also needed to know the gender before we bought any clothes. If the baby was a girl, we were set. But now, well I am being "forced" to go shopping. Darn. =) I have bought a few things but I know I need lots more. This time I am trying to be smarter. Last time we had way too many clothes all in smaller sizes which Libby very quickly outgrew. I am trying to get to a second hand store to get newborn/0-3 month stuff and then stock more up on 3-6 and 6-9 month sizes. Worst case scenario, he stays smaller longer than she does and I have to go buy teeny tiny adorable boy clothes.

I'm still processing the thought of having a son. I am so excited by thought of it but I am also just really nervous. I've never really been good with the unknown because I am too much of a planner. But seriously, we already love this kid so much how can we really go wrong with him in the beginning? right?

Libby is calling my tummy "Tommy" now. Jim and I are not agreeing on nicknames for Mr. Thomas James yet. He wants TJ and I want Tommy. I guess we'll see who can recruit more people first. I won with Libby. Jim seemed to start calling her Liz in the beginning and I quickly had everyone calling her Libby within weeks. Now I just need to remember how I did that and repeat.

So far everything else is going well too. My feet aren't swelling yet but I can tell that is about to start once this heat stays constantly hot. I have more energy but I am just too big to do anything much for too long. My back is killing me all of the time now and my feet (along with the rest of me) are growing. I have actually had one person ask to touch my belly. That never happened once with Libby. So that was new. Oh, and she squeezed. Who squeezes? Tommy didn't like that much and fought back. It was pretty funny.

Tommy is becoming more and more active which I love. I can tell how much bigger he is getting by how sick I get when he wants to do flips - which he LOVES to do. I do not remember Libby doing them this much. He is also either going to be a boxer or a soccer player. This kid loves to kick me. All of the time. Throughout the night. Luckily I only feel them when I wake up to use the restroom...which is averaging every 45 min - 1 hour now. Yeah that's fun at night. =)

The next steps over the next few weeks are to get Tommy's room ready for the furniture which should be here at the end of this month or early May. Then I want to get him set for clothes, diapers, etc. At least we know to expect to change him a million times a day. Last time we had no idea we would (or could) go through that many diapers in one day. Once we get everything set up I will take pictures (of course=)) and post them here.

Hunting Eggs

04.03.10 Hunting Eggs
Originally uploaded by Holly Mroczkowski.

Our little girl loves Easter. As much as we tried to teach her the real meaning, she is really only interested in finding those dang eggs. She would search for them a million times if we would let her. This picture is her upset at how long it was taking us to get outside so she could go find her eggs. Too cute.

Allergies

For the past 2 weeks, allergies have struck hard and badly in the Ski house. We've never had issues in the past but we have also never spent this much time outside. It isn't a coincidence that all of this started on Easter, the first day we spent almost all day outside. Libby's poor eyes are the worst. They turn bright red and she just cries every single time she blinks. I feel so bad for her. After 2 days of seeing that she wasn't getting any better (and no one in the house getting any sleep), I called the Dr to see what we could do. So now our lovely little girl is on over the counter allergy medicine. I hate having to do it but it does make a difference. So to those people that think their kiddos are suffering allergies, call your Dr. It may help a ton!

Processing

To my father in law: please don't read because I talk about the baby's gender =)

I've been processing the concept of having two children lately. I'm honestly not worried about handling it because I have a great support system. I am worried about the loss of sleep. It is one thing to handle one baby when she's your entire world. But now, there will be two and I will still need to do things with her even if I am exhausted.

There is also another thing to consider. The baby is a boy. I have absolutely no idea what to do with a boy. That makes me the most nervous. A friend at work just came back from maternity leave after having her first baby, a boy, and was giving me tips. She didn't mean to but she totally freaked me out. I am fine with the concept of car seats, sleeping, puking, etc. It's the difference of diaper changes that has me worried. I am sure the nurses will help us...so that relieves some concerns I have. But still. I don't want to mess the poor boy up.

So now there is just the "task" of getting boy stuff for him. Oh darn. =) I hate buying clothes for babies ;)

20 Week Ultrasound: Gender

Yesterday, yes on April Fool's Day, we had our big ultrasound and 20 week visit. I was very excited! We picked April Fool's Day because it is very special to us. Jim proposed to me on that day 6 years ago and it has been a fun day (outside of pranks) ever since. So we thought it was perfect to see if the baby would appreciate it too. He/She surely did! We both barely slept the night before because we were so excited/nervous...well, I was nervous and excited. Jim was just excited. =) The ultrasound lady was fantastic. She took many, many pictures (which I will post later after I scan them this weekend) and we got a really good look at our baby. Then came the gender determining time. The baby decided this would be a great time after flailing all around to put his/her hand down in their ... uh area. =) So after begging the baby to show us, he/she did! Then saluted us. I swear. I have a picture to prove it! I thought the baby was sucking his/her thumb and then the tech zoomed in closer to see a salute. And honest salute. It was awesome. Already the baby has a personality! So as you can see, I have not posted the gender here out of respect for my Father-In-Law who wants to try to be surprised of the gender. So, I will have to wait until that gets spoiled (cause I doubt we can make it 4 months w/o spilling the beans to him)...but for now, if you want to know the gender click here for our twitter announcement (To my dear father in law Jim, do not click here!).