ExpectingWords.com - Helping expecting couples find the right words at the right times

Anatomy Scan: This is where my mind is this week (except during potty training episodes in which I can’t think at all!).  On Friday, my husband and I will go to the doctor and I will have a Level 2 ultrasound.  We will find out that day, or early next week, about whether everything looks normal.  Just another exciting and nerve-wracking adventure in pregnancy.

And we’ll find out the baby’s sex too.  That’s when my hubby and I will start *really* thinking about baby names.  Our method with our first child was to wait to have serious name discussions until after we found out the sex.  It worked out so well (we are both so happy with Blake’s name), that we’re taking the same route again.  And then we will keep the name a secret until birth.  Did you share your child’s name before birth?

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I admit it.  I’m a Buyer.  Toys, games, clothes are nearly 95% purchased.  I’m jealous of my sister-in-law, Ruth, the ultimate Maker.  The thing is, she enjoys the process of discovering how to make something and then doing it.  She has real skills, I don’t.

I can find household items and reinvent them as baby toys (see my post on cheap baby toys), but to make something out of nothing?  I did take Home Economics in middle school (do they teach that anymore?) where I learned to sew, but I’ve forgotten it all.  I wonder how many women today actually know how to sew more than a hem…

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I was going to write a post about how little time I spend reading the week-by-week pregnancy updates, as compared to the immense amount of time I devoted to that during my first pregnancy.  I was going to write about how this second child is already getting less attention than my first, but, I can’t even write about that right now, because I am totally sidetracked by lack of AC!  It was in the 90s today.  It’s 85 degrees right now, and a high of 98 tomorrow.

We have AC working on the first floor, but it broke down today on the second floor where the bedrooms are. If it was only my husband and me at home, we’d live, but with Blake, my sweet little 2-year old?  Poor thing!  His crib is upstairs and we’ve debated all options.  It’s too late to go to my parents’ house, his crib is too heavy to carry downstairs, so we put on our little fan and my husband is out running to Walmart to buy an industrial strength fan.  We have an emergency AC guy coming sometime before midnight, but who knows if he can fix it?  And in terms of stressful marital moments, lack of AC certainly creates one.

I guess I am back to my original topic.  There is so much going on in life and so much of my energy is taken up by Blake that I just don’t have the time to devote to the wonder and excitement of my pregnancy.  (Just checked the baby monitor, thank goodness Blake fell asleep!).

A while ago I wrote a post about the affect of birth order on personality. The first-born is (more…)

Now that I’m out (aka made the pregnancy announcement), I’ve been asked that strange question, “Do you like being pregnant?” which is usually followed by a pressure-cooker comment like, “because I LOVED being pregnant!”  Hmm, what am I supposed to answer?  I’m fine being pregnant and I’m also fine when I’m not pregnant.  I don’t have strong feelings about it.  Heidi Klum says she loves being pregnant, so does Jessica Alba, but are they for real or just saying that because it sounds good?  A woman named Kat writes a whole blog taking the opposite view – I Hate Being Pregnant.

I wonder if people love and hate pregnant for the same reasons.  For instance, (more…)

Father’s Day is underrated.  People plan Mother’s Day for weeks, and sometimes months ahead of time.  But Father’s Day?  “It’s just not as big a deal as Mother’s Day,” says my husband.  So am I supposed to believe that, or should I make a big deal out of it anyway?

My husband deals with many of the same childcare frustrations that I have to deal with: early mornings, night wakings, difficult meal times, tantrums (hmm, am I making parenthood sound difficult?).  I do handle the majority of those hard experiences, but, still, he’s been pushed to edge of patience more times than either of us would care to admit.

Fatherhood isn’t the easiest.  So I’d like to give a shout out to my husband for being a wonderful dad to our son Blake.  You take the ups and downs while you play with him and share joyful activities together every day.  (more…)