My baby shower AND stuff we have!

So July 14th my friends threw me a baby shower (like I have mentioned a couple times), and while they were hoping to keep the shower a secret, my friend Jessica (who is one of the girls throwing it) spilled the beans to me in early June. However, they DID keep a HUGE secret from me... my Mom ended up flying in and surprising me with a couple day visit and was able to attend my baby shower =D It was absolutely amazing! I was thrilled now only to have her there, but just the fact that NOBODY I KNEW told me she was coming absolutely blew my mind! (Everybody at the store knew and they are notorious for giving away secrets, and even Landon knew but never said a word! Amazing!)

As far as what we received from the shower, it was WAY more than I ever expected! I have so many giving and thoughtful friends and people in my life. My mom bought us the swing we were hoping for, about 6 people from work went in together and got us a TON of Amazon giftcards... my friend Katie got us another Amazon giftcard, my friend Kim got us several necessary supplies, and my friend Heather got us the Aveeno hygiene supplies we had been wanting. My mother-in-law and sister-in-law got Caius some adorable outfits as well! (This child will be quite stylin', rofl!) We were able to order all kinds of supplies we wanted from Amazon. Also, we had a "virtual baby shower" between the girls and I on our pregnancy forum and I received a "kick piano" thing that you hang on the crib siding for them to kick and make music and it is absolutely adorable!

We have a ton of clothes, the closet is all set up, and we received our final shipment of cloth diapers in the mail! I'm so excited to have everything together and ready, even though I'm about 9 weeks away from delivery... I have this strong feeling we will be having Caius a week or two in advance so I wanted to make sure everything got accomplished before I ran out of energy completely. We have all the bottles and second step-up nipples we need, we have another package of cloth diaper detergent, we have a ton of formula in case breastfeeding doesn't work out and my supply sucks (again...), and I couldn't possibly think of anything else we need to accomplish before he gets here (with the exception of MAYBE rearranging our bedroom.)

After plenty of debating and mild arguments with Alex (lol) we decided to go ahead and keep the baby bedding we have. I've rearranged all of Caius' clothes a million times. We were also discussing a take-home outfit for him from the hospital. We were thinking of of these pictured monster outfits would probably be the winner...








I'm so excited to meet my newest little man!!

The final countdown!!

Less than 10 weeks (assuming Caius comes in time or before his due date!) Its absolutely crazy... I feel like I have been pregnant forever, but the realization that he will be here in TWO MORE MONTHS just blows me away.. we have everything we need for him. We are set up and ready for him to come. I feel like I should still be shopping for him in some way or another, but we honestly have all we are going to need for the first few months.

 I had a baby shower Saturday the 14th and was surprised by my Mom showing up! She flew in for 3 days to attend the shower and help us get anything else we may need for Caius. I got a ton of amazon giftcards (which I used to purchase nitty-gritty things, like breastfeeding supplies, more hygiene products, more diaper detergent and our wet bags for the diapers). We also received a swing from my mom (yaaay!! Its sooo cute!!) and we got some supplies from other friends who were very thoughtful :)

 I am so anxious for him to be here... I didnt want to wish away the rest of this pregnancy (despite the discomforts and limitations, I thoroughly enjoy being pregnant this time around!) but I am ready to meet Caius, look for a new job, and take back control of my body. Im such an anxiius person when I have nothing left to busy myself with!


10 weeks and counting!!

September babies already and my anxiety is building...

Like I've stated before, I am a part of a forum on twoweekwait.com on the pregnancy side of things.... recently the girls and I had been wondering out loud who would be the first of us to go into labor or have to deliver and when, as we are all into the third trimester now. The August Due Date Club had their first arrival (twins!!) last month so we were all starting to wonder... and yesterday, we got our answer!

One of the girls who was due September 1 was just above 32 weeks with twins and had her babies yesterday! They had to take her early because she had pre-eclampsia and was having trouble breathing, only to find out she had fluids in her lungs and they thought it best for mom and twinsies if they were born. No updates on how everything went yet (not that I expect to hear anything for a while!) but I sure hope/pray everything went as well as it could have for the 3 of them!

In any case, it is so surreal to know we have babies born in our DDC (due date club). We are 1/3 of the way through July and have babies born... It just makes things feel that much more real! Like I've stated before, we are pretty much ready for this little guy when he decides to come, (after 37 weeks I hope... but there's nothing wrong with my pregnancy so he should be fine making it to full term) but just the realization that it won't be but another 2 and a half months before he's here is........ overwhelming I suppose is a good word. You can do all the prepping for baby that you want, but the reality that we will have another addition to our family and another life to take care of and mold into a good person is weighing heavily on me recently.

I couldn't be more excited for Caius to join us, but I am starting to feel the anxiety of having a newborn again PLUS an older child to care for. Luckily Landon prides himself on his independence and is a very understanding/affectionate/helpful boy. I know he will help when he can with Caius and will understand if I can't give him my full attention like I used to. I am just so scared that he will feel left out and forgotten the first few weeks Caius is home while I'm finding a routine for us, and I would hate to be the one responsible for him feeling that way. It's only temporary and we will live through it, but it hurts my heart to think that he might feel that way =( Hopefully I can do my best to involve him in most things I will be doing with Caius!

Also, Alex will not have any real vacation time for when Caius does come... chances are he will be at the hospital for the delivery, but the days following in the hospital I am assuming he will be working. The day we come home he will be there to take us home, and MAYBE have the first day we are all home off of work. That is pretty much it though. It will just be Landon, Caius and myself except on weekends when he's born. I know I can do it and I know there are people I can call to help if I need it, but while I feel nervous about how things will or won't play out for us, I am also determined to make it all work by myself. I am hoping Caius is a good sleeper the first few weeks and I also pray that breastfeeding isn't as much of an issue this time around as it was with Landon. Since I will be in my own home and just my boys I have it in my head that concentrating on BFing will be much easier than it was with Landon and living in a house full of people excited to see/spend time with a new baby.

I know these thoughts/anxieties/fears are all the same with every parent as they expand from one child to two (or more!) and I know things will be fine once he gets here and I am no longer thinking about it but ACTUALLY doing it all.... but I can't help but be an average person and worry over the thoughts in the meantime. It's all part of the process I guess! =) Regardless, I am so thankful and blessed to be having another little miracle from God that we can love and nurture. There are people struggling every day to get pregnant and have just one child and may never get their miracle baby.... it is such a gift from God to know Alex and I are healthy counterparts who are able to not only have kids, but healthy, strong, spirited kids who learn and grow everyday and are loved tremendously.

Less than 12 weeks now!! I can't wait to meet my little angel =)

Instincts kickin' in!

Well, they aren't just NOW kicking in.. they have been present since about 16 weeks along and I have had to suppress them until recently when my brother Ben moved out of our house. We finally have room the other half of Landon's room back and were able to set up the crib, organize Caius' closet, and rearrange all kinds of stuff in the house =) I thought once I got the basic baby "to do" list out of the way I would feel better and the nesting would relax a bit.

It hasn't.

Every inch of my house is disgusting to me. I feel like I need to scrub every wall, vacuum every unseen corner of the house, dust anything that has any sort of surface, and what's more: I feel like I need to rearrange Caius' stuff already. AHHHH!!

I do feel a LITTLE bit accomplished though because I purchased some more clothes for him for the first month or two (after going through all of the clothes we had left over from Landon, I discovered we REALLY had NOTHING for 0-6months), and I ordered 16 more diapers and some spare inserts (I have been having mild panic attacks lately that the diapers we have will not be sufficient.. and the inserts are bamboo inserts and are supposed to be SUPER absorbent), and I also ordered 3 SMALL size diaper covers for our prefold diapers so we can use those on Caius early on. I had ordered a few other covers that were one size, but I just couldn't see them fitting him appropriately for the first month or two and decided to splurge and get a couple fitted size covers. We did a small Costco trip a few days ago and picked up a GIANT box of wipes (900 to be exact) and we now have plenty of those for a while.

I am VERY certain we are going to be just fine in the disposable diaper department after Caius gets here. I have 2 packages of size 1 diapers (Landon literally had 2 small packs of newborn size diapers that the hospital gave us, and we never used them all before he was in size 1.... he could have just started in size 1 realistically but why waste free diapers?) and I am certain we will not need more than that before his circumcision heals/umbilical cord falls off. I have a package of size 2 diapers that are unopened, and I think I am going to go ahead and sell those instead of keeping them.

I have a week and 2 days until my baby shower at Jessica's house and I am so excited for it!! I am so thankful to have such a wonderful family and group of friends who are all so helpful, generous, thoughtful and caring. I am truly blessed in my life!