100 Days to Go!

Hello Everyone. As many of you already know, Will is such a great kid that we decided to embark on the journey of parenthood again. Already. In about 100 days, I will give birth to our second son.

Obligatory ultrasound picture that is hard to discern
fortunately it is labeled, "FACE"

Of course, this answers many questions for some of you. Like, why is Angela never available during Will's nap time? (I am napping too because pregnancy makes me tired.) Why were there so few blog posts from April to June? (First trimester makes me really tired, so I was napping.) Why does Angela look so fat in the camping pictures. (5 months pregnant will do that. And maybe lack of exercise because of all of the napping.)

So what do we call this second baby while he is living inside? As you may remember, we called Will "Riker" because he was the "Number 1" kid. Well, we haven't really come up with a consistent name for the little guy. Sometimes I call him "LasTbaby." Our lack of creativity when it comes to a name serves as a reminder that second-time parents are more lame than first-time parents.

Why become second-time parents if the first labor and delivery was so hard (4 days long)? Well, it turns out that I would rather go through all of the craziness of labor and delivery again rather than have an only child. Yes, it would be great for Dan and Will and I to remain a happy little family by ourselves, but really, I'm looking forward to the days where the two kids can play together on their own! If one gets hurt, the other can go for help. Even if they are fighting over something, that means that I might be able to spend some time checking my email in the other room while they work on their conflict resolution skills.

Of course, everyone says that second-baby labor and delivery goes much more smoothly and quickly than the first-baby labor. Technically my actual labor with Will was only 8.5 hours long with 1 hour of pushing. We are expecting something shorter. Now that we live in Southern California, we have decided not to fight the traffic and rush off to a hospital while in labor, hopefully arriving before the baby arrives, then turn around 24/48 hours later and put the poor new little guy in a car seat to return home. Instead we are planning on just relaxing at home and hope to give birth there. My midwife lives 3 miles from our house, so there is a very low chance that Dan will have to deliver the baby.

Are we ready for two kids? Sort of. While we are not going to be your typical parents and "decorate" the nursery, we are planning on doing the minimum by finishing the painting of the other 3 walls of the kids' room before the second one arrives (Robin already painted Mt. Fuji mural on one wall). While he won't be sleeping in there initially so that he doesn't keep Will awake, perhaps Will might like the nice, calming, green walls. Oh, and while Dad and Lee visited in July, they were able to find a bunk bed for the guys. Will currently takes his naps on the bottom bunk and he will be transitioning to night-time sleeping there too. He has even learned not to stand up when he wakes up, thus avoiding hitting his head on the top bunk. With the bunk bed solution, we can avoid the super expensive baby crib purchase and put the new little guy in the pack n play for sleeping. It has worked out great for Will as he can't climb out (mesh sides) and it is portable in case we need to travel.

Do we have enough stuff for two kids? Probably. As Will makes friends and we visit them, I realize that he has far fewer toys than most children. But really, he is welcome to play with all of our spoons and pots and cans and other safe stuff that he can find in our kitchen. Of course, Baby Number 2 gets to wear all of the clothes that Will got to wear. Although we will probably need a 2-kid stroller to accommodate the little guys, hopefully we can find a Sit and Stand second-hand. As time goes on, we learn more about what babies actually need as we spend time with Will, so we did register at two baby places. I really like One Step Ahead. We also did the default registry with Babies' R Us.

Is there a down-side to having this baby at this particular time? We are glad that the two guys will be 21 months apart, hopefully this means they will be friends. However, as I am completing my final week of work, this means that if I have job interviews, I have to interview while pregnant. "Hello, hire me, now can I take maternity leave?" Of course, this may mean that I don't get hired before the end of the year. If this is the case, I will spend my hours contemplating life, labor, nutrition, and the tastiness of healthy snacks such as pudding.

Oddly, Fat Free Pudding Tastes Better

What will we name the second baby? You will have to wait to find out until the baby is born. Perhaps something Klingon to go with our Star Trek theme. The little guy is due January 1st, so place your bets on the arrival date now! Of course, Dan was due on January 1st and was born on Christmas Eve.

Obligatory picture of baby Dan in stocking