My Good Baby

It's 5:52am on Saturday morning and I'm awake nursing my "good" baby. I am absolutely positively sure that he is a good baby, if not one of two of the best babies (the other one being Jack) but I use the word good in quotation marks because it's something I always think about. So often I get asked (& I've even made the mistake of asking!) if my baby is a "good baby." It's a weird question, right? All babies are good! (Actually Johnny and I just started watching a new show, Call The Midwife, and after two seasons of that I am even more in love with babies, if you can believe that!) So when people meet Liam and then promptly ask, "Is he a good baby?" it always puts me off a bit. Mostly because what people want to hear is that this little tiny baby is sleeping through the night (no), rarely fussy (yes), eating on a schedule (no...I don't think we would have the amazing weight gain that we did if the poor guy was on a restrictive schedule), etc. 

I've been so blessed with both of my babies because in so many ways they fall into the conventional "good baby" category. I'm also blessed because I'm pretty realistic about what babies need. They need to eat. Often. Because they are growing, a lot, if you are doing your job. They like to be held (close to your heart) because they were your best bud for 9ish months and they got used to that. It's nice to be in someone's arms, especially if that someone is your mama, who loves you more than anything else in the world. They want clean diapers every hour or two or twenty minutes because who would want to sit in poop? Not me, and not my super smart and logical babies! So when I get woken up at all hours of the night and disturbed all moments of the day I really don't mind (at all) because it all makes sense to me. It also doesn't hurt that babies are impossibly cute and my latest baby Liam really takes cuteness to the next level in my opinion. 

Anyway, back to "good babies." Liam really is a good baby I think. And that is awesome. But I hate to say that because I think it must be so discouraging for every mama out there who gets asked that question and thinks for just a second, or says out loud even, "No, my baby is difficult." Those mamas whose babies don't sleep much at all or who suffer from colic or a million other things, because like all other human beings, babies aren't perfect....they have enough on their plate without worrying about how to answer the "good baby" question. Right? So instead of asking that question, sanitize your hands (it's cold and flu season!) and then just ask politely if you can hold that sweet baby. Give that mama a break (even at 7-10 lbs it can get tiring to hold a baby all the time, especially if what you really want to do is shove some food in your mouth or chug 16 oz. of water!) and tell her what a good baby she has! She'll appreciate it. And you get to hold a baby! Which is pretty much the best thing ever unless that good little baby decides to have a diaper explosion on you. ;)

BabyCenter Updates

Today, I got my weekly iPhone BabyCenter update. It’s an app that John loves because he always wants to know what baby is up to. But for me, this app is less exciting. I mean look at today’s update:

SERIOUSLY?! I’ve been pregnant for 23 weeks so far. That’s a LONG TIME. Especially since the first 17 weeks included constant nausea. And in the weeks after the nausea went away I slowly came to the realization that I’ve been gaining weight quite rapidly. Scratch that, I came to this realization quickly, twice. Once here and again this week at my prenatal checkup.  (More on that later). So this hasn’t been peaches and cream so far. 23 weeks down…and 119 DAYS to go. Geez!!! Then when you look at tomorrow’s BabyCenter update, you see that even more fun fun fun is in store. I mean who isn’t genuinely excited about the prospect of swelling feet & ankles?! Wahooo. I didn’t suffer much from this with Jack, but one of the joys of pregnancy is that every pregnancy is different. So you can’t expect anything. Except a baby, God willing. Yowsa!

Anyway, although pregnancy is challenging, I try to just focus on the positive, which is that because of 10 months of labor (pregnancy) and hours and/or days of labor (childbirth) I get another BABY! And that makes me so very happy. I love babies. I mean I really do. I’m probably obsessed. I see a picture of a newborn and my heart melts instantly. I have five friends who are posting newborn pictures on Facebook right now and I adore each and every one. I never get tired of those sleepy eyes and tiny hands and itty bitty mouths and fuzzy hair or no hair at all. I remember after we had Jack, someone asked me (when I had just returned from maternity leave…so he was 4 months old) when we were going to be ready for Baby #2. My initial reaction was “Years from now! We already have a baby! Are you crazy?!” I wasn’t looking forward to another pregnancy or childbirth experience in the least. I thought it would take some major convincing (from God & my husband). But it didn’t. A friend at work brought in her 3 week old baby (when Jack was 9 months old) and it was a sealed deal. The rest of the day I sat at my desk (working away…I do love my job!) but in the back of my mind, I was thinking baby baby baby. I couldn’t wait to have another one. I mean this little newborn was so precious and small and wonderful and I thought to myself, I’ve got two arms! I need two babies! (Or something like that). And then shortly thereafter we were blessed with Baby #2. So now as I struggle through the next 119 days (hopefully without swollen feet/ankles), I’ll be focusing on meeting my next little one. Because I love babies!

That baby bump

 

Well, last week I complained about gaining 20 lbs, so you shouldn't be surprised about this topic. Today at work I encountered a coworker who was also pregnant! Wahoo, right? There’s nothing better than experiencing that “we’re in this together!” feeling…most of the time. An example of a time when there is something better than experiencing this feeling is when you compare due dates (me: Dec. 5^th; coworker: Dec. 8^th) and realize that WHOA BABY, YOUR BABY BUMP IS HUGE! I mean this tiny little woman standing next to me was not even showing. I’m not exaggerating. You couldn’t tell she was pregnant. I’ve been wearing maternity clothes since I was 10 weeks along! (I’m lying…more like 8 weeks. I like maternity clothes! I have a lot of them that are really cute and elastic waistbands are just comfortable when you are busy trying not to vomit/growing a human being with your own body). Anyway, there I stood, in a high traffic area of the office (top of the stairway), feeling LIKE A HUGE PREGNANT COW. She was just so tiny! It’s such a frustrating feeling and I think most pregnant mamas experience this. One day someone tells you “You’re barely showing! You are just so very tiny!” and the next day someone asks “How many babies are in there?!” while you are getting a pedicure. And in your pregnant mama head you are thinking, “REALLY?! I MEAN REALLY?! GO AWAY. AND THEN COME BACK WITH A CHURRO IN YOUR HAND!” I’m sure I’ve (accidentally) made pregnant women feel this way myself. Pregnancy is such an amazing miracle and most people can barely wrap their head around the fact that there is a little baby growing inside of you. With a heart and lungs and arms and legs and fingers and toes. Demanding to be fed (so he/she can grow!), kicking at random times, disrupting your sleep with backaches and leg cramps, and melting your heart as you imagine what he/she will look like, and be like, and act like. Because most people can’t wrap their head around this crazy, amazing miracle, they say ridiculous things, right?

Anyway, back to my exciting afternoon experience with my coworker. While I stood there, feeling huge, we transitioned into my second favorite pregnancy topic. Discussing my baby #1, Jack. Don’t get me wrong, I loveeee talking about Jack. What I don’t enjoy talking about is how “CRAZY!” people think it is that we already have baby #2 on the way since baby #1 is so young. Enter coworker’s monologue about how she can’t even imagine having two kids so close together, and isn’t her daughter a lot older than my son (but we’re both equally pregnant so that can’t possibly be the case, she surmises), and what will my son even do when the new baby arrives?! Blah blah blah.  I normally just try to end this type of conversation quickly by saying (with a big, fat, genuine smile on my face) that we are VERY EXCITED that we’ve been blessed with two babies. Because we are. Jack is a bigger blessing than I ever could have imagined. And so is this next little one!

On that note, I was really grateful that she didn’t transition to my next least favorite topic…what this next little one (baby #2) will be like. Since Jack was a perfect angel baby, who rarely cried, nursed like a champ (evidenced by rolls upon rolls on his sweet chubby baby body!), slept through the night from 8 weeks on, and was/is pretty much content 95% of the time…most people we encounter like to share with us that they think we are in for a big surprise with this next baby. (Because they know?!) And no way would we be blessed with another perfect angel baby. And no way are we just hardworking/loving/attentive parents who will figure it out no matter what happens. Nope…we got lucky with Jack, but that only happens once (according to them) so we better be prepared for an earthquake/tornado/hurricane of a child with this next arrival. I never really know what to say except, “Yeah. I guess we’ll see!” Because who knows what this little baby will be like? Easy or colicky, crabby or sweet-natured, bald or full head of hair, chubby or skinny – we will love this baby so much that it hurts, just like we did and do with Jack. And we’ll get through the tough times and the great times and we’ll probably look back on the months when we had two kids under two years old and say “Whewww weee! That was wild!” and then hopefully we’ll smile and laugh and maybe drink a big fat glass of wine while we reminisce about the day that our family went from 3 to 4. :)

Baby #2 - currently the size of spaghetti squash. I mean where on your body can you
 hide a spaghetti squash if you don't have a big, fat baby bump?

Inspiration

Well here it goes! I've been reading quite a few blogs lately and am finding them so valuable. It's a wonderful thing that we can share our thoughts, ideas, learnings, and emotions so quickly, with people we know well, and others we don't know at all. This morning I woke up and made my son french toast, scrambled eggs, and bacon and enjoyed breakfast with him. (He enjoyed everything but the bacon...apparently I have a vegetarian baby lately as he decided that instead of eating his bacon bits, he would throw them over the high chair into our dog's waiting mouth, laughing the entire time.) I love bacon (and eat it literally 4 mornings a week, even when I'm not pregnant) and I am also the one to bring it home. My husband works part-time, and I could not survive even one day without his support (emotional, physical, mental, and financial) but I'm proud of the hard work that I do to bring home the bacon and provide a great life for us. He is there by my side every step of the way, and we love the life we are building as we grow in love for one another, and as we literally grow  with the addition of a second child. We feel very blessed but there are also those days when we are just trying to figure it all out! And on those days, he's laughing, I'm crying, and then he's making me chocolate chip cookies. :)

I plan to blog about my life as Bacon Mama (I think it's a pretty great title, but then again, remember how much I love bacon, and how much I LOVE being a mama). If you love bacon, or babies, and/or trying to be the best at what you do, this is a blog you'll enjoy! 

I'm learning to live on a budget, cook in a crock pot (don't worry, I rarely use bacon for dinner. I shoot for healthy and nutrious meals! Oh what a learning experience this will be!), balance my time between my career and my family, and get enough sleep so that I can survive the next day (I have the world's most wonderful child, who sleeps 12 hours every night, so don't feel too sorry for me...most of the time my lack of sleep stems from the fact that I am doing too much because I tend to forget that I am Bacon Mama, not Superwoman.) Although I love design & fashion, I probably won't blog too much about those topics, because as I mentioned, I'm learning to live on a budget, and I don't have the creative juices or energy to making something out of nothing. Maybe someday I will!

That's all for today, so here's to the weekend! I would close this first blog post with "Cheers!" because I ordinarily love wine, beer, and cocktails of any kind, and it's the weekend so we should all be enjoying the glass of our choice after a hard week of work, but since I'm pregnant and not even allowed to have three sips of red wine with dinner (according to my loving & diligent husband,) alcohol is not my favorite topic lately. :)