The Countdown...

I have been M.I.A. lately. It's been a busy time for us, and I just haven't sat down to actually type anything. Honestly, I am at the stage of pregnancy where I either don't sleep or am so sleep deprived that when I go to bed, I fall into a coma! I have been trying (and struggling) to keep up with housework, as well as getting all the baby stuff out, washed, and ready to go. I am 33 weeks preggo now, and it struck me today that Jake arrived 4 weeks from this point. Holy cow - that makes things seem a little more real! Here is what has been keeping me active in the past few days:

All the little gowns and sleepers



I totally forgot how small newborn diapers are!!!!



The new double stroller I assembled last night



Today, Jason had to work at 3pm, so Jake and I hung out by ourselves most of the day. It has been a really fun day. The little man has been the sweetest thing all day, and I have really enjoyed just hanging out with him - especially since I realized today just how few days that I have where it is just the two of us. He started "talking" last week. I mean, extreme Jabber Jaws. He speaks his own little language, but he is looking at you, making eye contact and the cutest expressions, and waving those little hands all over the place. Every now and then, you get a word you recognize, but for the most part, it has an Asian flair to it. He is really into his Legos right now, and he enjoys sitting in the little Lego bin almost as much as playing with them. Bathtime was also quite fun tonight with all the bubbles. He flung bubbles everywhere and giggled the whole time. We haven't had any tantrums today - thank goodness - and he has kept the squealing to a minimum. Isn't he just the cutest?? Call me biased...



Trapped in the Lego bin





I LOVE the eyelashes



I have to brush up on my scheduling. For those who know me really well, you know that I am a Type A, control freak - well, it is true and I own it. The whole, let your baby do whatever it wants would not fly around here. I have to have a plan in order to feel sane! I envy the laid back mamas in many ways. Don't get me wrong, the first few weeks are all about mastering breastfeeding, resting when you can, and just surviving. However, with Jake, he was very easy to adapt to a schedule, and even though that schedule changed from week to week, we sort of knew what was going to happen each and every day. Jason quickly became a big fan of the schedule as well because it really did make life easier. We sort of knew when we could leave the house without stopping for feedings (not that we wouldn't have stopped, but we knew about how long we could be gone), when Jake was going to be awake and when he was going to nap. I was out and about all the time, and from the time he was a tiny baby, we have always gone out to eat or gone to the store, or just done all the normal things we did before.

I read Babywise, and sort of did a modified approach. We aimed for the full feedings, kept him on a schedule, did a pretty regular sleep/wake schedule during the day, and we let him sleep as long as he would at night. After I stopped breastfeeding around 3 and a half months (not necessarily by choice, but it was a supply/demand issue), I realized he was stuck waking at 4 am. One morning, I was sooooo tired that I picked him up, held him, and begged him to go back to sleep. The little stinker snuggled up against me and we fell asleep for 4 more hours. After that, I knew it wasn't a hunger issue, so Jason and I did the "cry it out" approach. Critics will say what they want, but a few nights of crying for short periods of time is totally worth nights of peaceful sleep from then on out. And my child suffers no brain damage or any other crazy suggested after-effects as a result of it. Now that could get me off on a tangent for a while, so I will divert the flow of this....

The point to all that is that you really do sort of forget all those days. I need to pull out the book again as a refresher, so that hopefully this little man will be as easy as the Jakeman. I worry that I won't have enough time for Jake or that I will fail miserably at this. I remember after my friend, Kristin, had her third baby. I called her to check on her about a week after she was home. She was at the GROCERY STORE with all 3 kiddos. After I gathered my chin off the floor, I told her she was my hero -haha. In all seriousness, I want that to be me. I don't want the addition of the new little one to stop life as we know it. It's going to be a wild, crazy ride, but hopefully I will succeed. Wish us luck...