Well, the news is out! We are now expecting our second beautiful baby on January 10th, 2012. We are beyond excited (and, I won't lie, nervous!) Yes, they will be 17 months apart, and yes, it was PLANNED.
So far with baby #2 we have had two scans - the first one was the end of June when we thought I was 12 1/2 weeks, but come to find out I was only 11. I wasn't surpised at this becuase when I took the (large amount of) pregnancy tests, they kept coming back negative. Finally, I resolved that I wasn't in fact pregnant and my period was just being irregular as I'd only had one since Reuben was born, haha! Having giving up on the fact that I could be pregnant, I insisted to Adam that I would take one more test and off I went. Positive. I couldn't believe it! It was a de ja vue to last time - I had gone upstairs on my own (since I thought it would be negative!) and I was wrong. Baby number 2, on the way. I thought I found out at a late 5 1/2 weeks, which is why I agree with the scans. Either way, they sonographer couldn't get all the measurements she wanted so I was scheduled a second scan for the beginning of July where the date, Jan 10th, was confirmed. At 13 weeks, my beautiful baby was so much more clear and active than 2 weeks before - it was awesome. So amazing to already see the differences between this baby and Reuben even in a little scan.
On top of all this exciting news, I can't believe that my little boy is 11 months old. ELEVEN. This is his last month as an "under 1"! We have started planning his party, which I am soo excited about. What I'm not excited about? Saying I have a 1 year old! I just can't believe it.
The awesomest thing though about 11 months old is how quickly he is picking up new things. I am so amazed by him lately. He is cruising around on furniture and though I thought he would be walking by now, he is quite content as a VERY avid crawler/cruiser. He has started standing on his own with no prompting and he is quite stable as well. He is OBSESSED with waving - to people, animals, ...even inanimate objects. I LOVE it when he waves at strangers - it is seriously the most adorable, cutest thing ever. He is not anxious at ALL - he often reaches his arms out to be held by people in stores. He wants to be held by complete strangers, it's awesome.
He loves animals, they make him laugh and it's so cute. He loves cheerios. He is so giggly and playful, and is so good at playing on his own. In the evenings I will often just relax while he plays with his toys in front of me for a good 40 minutes.
He says "mama"...a LOT. His current favorite thing to say though is, "ya ya ya ya ya." When I prompt him to say "byebye" he says, "bababa" which is close enough for me! He loves bathtime and being outside. I could just go on forever, he is so smart and cute and recently has become very cuddly which I obviously LOVE.
The best news of all? About a week after ten months old he started sleeping through the night. 7pm-5am. At 5 I feed him and he will usually go back down til 6. (Also, I'm still breastfeeding and have no intention of forcing him to stop anytime soon.) He now naps every morning at 9 for about 1-1 1/2 hours, and again at 2 for the same amount of time. I no longer rock him to sleep - I feed him and put him in his bed and he goes to sleep. Occasionally it takes him a few minutes, but for the most part he just goes to sleep. Even for nap times. IT's A MIRACLE. :)
Life is really good at the moment. Since sleeping through the night, Adam and I have been able to put him to bed and have people come stay here while he sleeps while we go out for a couple hours - no fear of him waking up and needing me to get him back to sleep! It has been SUCH a relief. I feel so much happier, my relationship with Adam has improved 100% because we are no longer tired/frustrated all the time. Reuben is the happiest little boy because he isn't tired all the time. And I no longer feel like a frustrated, incompetent mommy. I feel awesome and confident and I love it!!!
I will try to update more often now for baby #2 - also, August 25th we have our next scan where we will (hopefully) find out if we are having a girl or boy, I can't wait!!!!!
