26 Weeks

I'll start with a little update, a couple of weeks ago I started feeling really pregnant.  It's hard to bend at the waist and this time around I'm experiencing a significant increase in growing pains and aches.  My legs and knees feel tired after standing for even short periods.  I'm a little concerned about weight gain because I just cannot exercise like I did the first time, I did fifteen minutes on the elliptical and then was achy for two days!  I'm trying not to push myself but it's frustrating because I like being more active.  Baby has been very active, so at least he's movin' and a shakin'; sometimes I can even see my belly move when he's kicking.  But I'm trying not to complain too much, as after all, we feel very blessed to have finally gotten to this point again!

We've really kicked into full baby mode, working on projects in preparation for this summer.  I sorted through boxes and boxes of ER's outgrown things, pulling out special outfits we want to hold onto just in case we have a third go around, and packing up bags and bags of extras to drop off with friends.  We sent a bunch of 2T summer clothes to my cousin in New York and it was fun to see his daughter wearing one of the dresses for Easter.  I tend to be a bit of a pack rack when it comes that kind of thing; it was a little heart wrenching to see them go.  Knowing they are being used and seeing them on other little ones we love makes it a lot easier. 

Brad has been working hard to clear out the basement and move stuff around the house for storage while he works on finishing it and making us a playroom and office down there.  He's dropped off several bags full of stuff to donate and made a few trips to recycling centers.  He's getting ready to lay down tarp on the floors this weekend and we're going to try to finalize a paint color for ER's room soon.  We don't have to paint the baby's as it's already a nice shade of green but since ER's walls are still white it seemed like a good time to tackle that.  Finding a booster seat for her is also on our to do list.

It's a bit early but I've picked up a few baby outfits.  I really like the top one because even though it's not a Tiger baseball oufit, the colors are our team's☺  Shopping was fun because I didn't really pick out any of ER's first baby clothes, our family and friends were so generous at our baby showers.  She wore a lot of basic onesies and now I regret not getting her a few prettier things in those sweet itty bitty sizes.  Right after she was born, it was my mom who had to run out to get another package because ER was so much smaller than we expected.

She didn't truly fit into her "home from the hospital" outfit, that's her in it at one month old above, until she was over three months old and by then it was too cold to wear it.  I was under the impression babies were a lot bigger & grew faster than ER did. She was still able to wear newborn sizes at two months old.  I began to put her in bigger sizes because she needed to wear warmer clothes not because she outgrew them.

So far Baby #2 is measuring right where ER did, within the normal range but at the very bottom.  I'm anticipating we'll need some newborn things so he doesn't look lost in everything, but I'm going to try to hold off making really stocking up until closer to the birth.  I'll be seeing the baby at least once and possibly twice a week toward the end, since I'm considered high risk, so I should have a very good idea of the baby's projected birth size.  The doctors were pretty good about predicting with ER, I was just kinda clueless and didn't realize how small six pounds of baby was until I was holding her!