All The Feels

My newborn baby has already outgrown his newborn diapers, and I wept for joy. This could be due to the crap ton of hormones coursing through my body of course, but mainly it's because I'm so relieved and thankful.

When I found out I was pregnant on the very last day of January early this year, I wanted to be elated, but instead was gripped with fear. The fear didn't really go away, even after being lucky enough to see an early heartbeat at my 6 week appointment, again at 8 weeks, 10 weeks, 12 weeks, and seeing a healthy baby on an ultrasound at 14 weeks.

Now I have a huge, gorgeous and hearty three week old boy who has outgrown his newborn diapers, and I can finally, finally breathe a sigh of relief. He is fine, he's here; I can watch him grow up and forge a lifelong relationship with his big brother; I can hold him and kiss him and feed him. 

I am exhausted, but I am at last, truly elated. Happy Wednesday friends. xoxo

Mommy of Two

Well, we did it. Baby number two arrived safely, healthy, and larger than life at 9lbs, 5 oz! These last two weeks have been the most exhausting, emotional and loopy of my entire life. I was ready to meet my son and to not be pregnant anymore, but terrified of having a c-section. Thankfully, my OR team was so great and fun and obviously pro-stars at their jobs. We chatted and giggled about Grey's Anatomy while I lay on the operating table, gossiped about the lack of McDreamies and McSteamies at the hospital, and ended with everyone being in total shock at the sheer size of the baby that was extracted from one short Filipino girl. The whole thing took about 30 minutes tops.

As for life with two babes, it's been difficult, particularly with me having so much difficulty moving around, but my husband and sister-in-law have been holding down the fort, especially with Noah, my wild hurricane of a son. My friends have been an enormous help as well, it would have been so much more difficult without our village, and I am eternally grateful.

It has taken me a full two weeks to get back somewhat normal mobility, but now the exhaustion of having a newborn and being awake at strange hours is catching up to me. It's madness, but the cutest, messiest, stinkiest, funniest madness you can imagine. And now I introduce to you, Elias Brendan, born on October 7th, at 9lbs, 5oz:

So chunky!

We make very serious looking babies

Nose kisses

Elias and daddy

The Eve of Baby Day

Thank you for all your sweet messages and well-wishes everyone! As for the many, many Skype and FaceTime requests I have received, unfortunately I cannot chat with all of you right now, but thank you very much for making me feel like a well loved celeb. ;) Love you all, and see you on the other side!

I will leave you now with what I WON'T be doing at the hospital but sure wish I was! This mama is badass. The last time I was dilating to 6cm, I was begging for my anesthesiologist.

Family Outing At the Pumpkin Patch

I wanted to give my little Noah a last hurrah as a family of three on this beautiful and sunny, Pacific Northwest weekend. Every year around this time, we go to the pumpkin patch but we decided to go to a different farm this year and were not at all disappointed.

Fox Hollow Farm in Issaquah is awesome! It's located on a well-maintained and gorgeous property in a valley, surrounded by evergreens and mountains. There were cute farm animals everywhere, bunnies and kittens roaming free throughout, a picture-perfect pumpkin patch, a little creek where you can feed the fish, a kiddie train, ponies to ride, bouncy houses, mini jeeps for the kids, wagons to pull them around in, kettle corn, cotton candy, s'mores, hot beverages, beautiful and plentiful seating, and great music. Brendan and I may have totally rocked out to the Ghost Busters theme song they had blasting when we arrived, like big dorks.

Small Human loved it so much, that he demanded we go back with his baby brother. It seems like he only gets more fun with each year that passes! I would definitely go back there, and I highly recommend it to everyone in the area with kids 10 and under. I'm even seriously considering it for the next baby's 1st birthday next year. Tickets are $10 per person, and they take a one hour break for lunch and close the farm down from 1pm-2pm.

Here are some snaps of our fun Saturday:

He loves to pet animals!

Sweet little Lionhead bunny I discovered in the bushes

My little pumpkin

Thanks for making it look like I'm taking you hostage on the Ewing Ranch, Noah

He was hilariously nonplussed on the train ride

His first cotton candy!

He loved it!

He also enjoyed the kettle corn

Next year, we'll have two little guys in a wagon :)

Eight More Sleeps

We have been counting down to Baby Day for Noah's sake. We're hoping it will get him excited for meeting his baby brother, and also hope that it makes him feel included. Right now, I feel like the new baby is this abstract thing that has made mommy grow larger, more impatient, and sometimes causes her pain. When the baby kicks me hard enough to make me yelp, he runs to me, concerned! He is such a sweet boy for the most part. He still sometimes forgets to be gentle and not jump on me when I'm lying down, but he's a toddler, they are rough and tumble, loving little creatures.

My firstborn is growing up so quickly. They are learning about their feelings in preschool this week, which I admittedly thought was too big an idea for such small people to comprehend, but he came home with a basic understanding of the word, frustration. I couldn't believe it, I was shocked and proud. He likes to sleep with three very specific things in bed with him: his water bottle, his rock, and his blue shovel. We couldn't find his shovel before nap and he turned to me to tell me, "Can't find my blue shovel, mumum! I'm frustrated!". I tried not to laugh at the cuteness.

I'm going to miss my rambunctious big boy when I'm in the hospital, but he told me that he has to visit mommy in the hospital, which I know will melt me into a big puddle of mush. We're planning on giving him a big brother present for when that happens. What did you do for your firstborns when their baby siblings arrived? These are a few ideas we're considering:

Aaaand I'm Done

I (mostly) love being pregnant, looking pregnant, and feeling my son kick the crap out of me from the inside, but I think I'm done now. 38.5 weeks! Baby Wilson #2 will be here in a week and two days via c-section, which feels both so close and so far away. I pretty much look and feel like I'm going to explode. My balance is just silly, I almost tipped right over and down the hill yesterday while walking up to the house.

I would also very much like to have my body back. I know I'll never look like I did on my wedding day, but I will settle for being a healthy size 6 (or 4!), and not a size 6 plus beach ball, face chub, giant swollen feet, and heartburn. My belly shelf was novel for about two weeks, now it's just completely in my way. I have to cook and wash the dishes sideways. SIDEWAYS. This accounts for much of my back pain, I'm sure.

Would you like to know a funny bit of trivia? It is almost October, and I have been pregnant for all of 2015 so far! That is just bananas. Happy Monday!

Home Stretch

It's hard to believe that in just a little over two weeks, we will be a family of four! (Plus a bunny) September has been a busy, yet rough month for us. Brendan has been working non-stop, pretty much seven days a week because work is launching Halo 5 very, very soon. That leaves me with my hands quite full at home, nine months pregnant with a super energetic toddler. My mobility has been oscillating between alright and not mobile at all, and my energy level is nil.

We did celebrate our five year wedding anniversary this month, as well as Brendan's 33rd birthday, so that was nice! We also had a lovely visit from some old friends, and Small Human also recently started toddler preschool (growing up so fast!). We unfortunately had a couple yucky trips to the vet for Tidbit, but she seems to be doing much better now, fingers crossed. As for the new baby, he feels positively enormous in my stomach and he still has more than two weeks to keep growing some more! Oy. I am so, so tired, but we're close to the end, which is such a relief on many different levels. I can't wait to meet this kicky little boy. I also can't wait for my rib/groin/ab/ligament/joint/sciatic nerve/swollen foot pain to go away after delivery.

I have been meaning to do so many blog posts about various different things. Like what's handy to have in your car when you're a mom; about building a good first aid kit; and of course, what's in my hospital bag this time around, but I pretty much sleep during my free time now. Either that or I'm very slowly trying to accomplish household tasks, like laundry, groceries, vacuuming, and getting all the baby clothes washed and ready to go. Everything feels 100% harder these days, I'm just the crankiest lady right now!

My blog won't be very interesting for awhile, and for that I apologize. This pregnancy has been much tougher on me, but I'm hanging in there. Thanks for all your messages of positivity and well wishes! They are very much appreciated. xoxo