One of Those Days

See this angel face?

Not so much today. The day started out with Blake opening the refrigerator door by distributing half of his weight onto the freezer door for leverage. He's been working on opening the fridge door for months, but was not successful until today. This opened a whole new world for him of spreading shredded cheese, grapes, and condiments all over the kitchen floor.

Our next adventure of the day happened when we were returning something at Carter's and Blake refused to sit in his stroller. He doesn't sit in his stroller in general at stores anymore and will barely endure shopping carts. He just begs to get up so that he can run around. I don't really blame him in this instance because there was a LEGO table and other children to play with, but it made my job of keeping an eye on him while trying to browse much more difficult. 

As I was checking out, I kept my eyes glued on him as he slowly made his way towards the open doors, when all of a sudden he bolted for the sidewalk. I immediately ran after him, merchandise in hand, and grabbed his wrist just as he was half way into a parking spot that a car was pulling into. Scary! When I got back to the counter with my crying toddler, the sales associate stated "It's scary when they run off like that!" I responded, "Yeah, especially when the doors are open!" I get it that my child is my responsibility, but why would a children's clothing store leave their doors wide open? That's just asking for a child to get loose and run straight into the parking lot. We had a similar instance in another store, but luckily the doors were closed so I could grab Blake before he got away.

Finally (at least I hope, the day isn't over yet), we had a third incident at the grocery store. Blake was begging for a box of unopened crackers that was in the shopping cart, which I denied him because he had just devoured a cookie that the bakery lady gave him. In his frustration, Blake grabbed the carton of eggs, dumping the entire dozen. It was embarrassing. I'm sure that the naughty days of testing the limits are just beginning, but it just seemed to pile on today, all before noon!

Here are some lessons I learned from our experiences:

1. Buy a child lock for the fridge. I'm not quite ready to let Blake have free reign in that department. He already tears apart the pantry.
2. Obtain some sort of child leash. I used to laugh at the parents and children I saw at the mall with their leashes, but it can be pretty scary when your curious child runs off in the flash of a second.
3. Do not leave a full carton of eggs within the reach of a toddler at the grocery store.
4. It's a good thing I still love this boy so much even when he is naughty.

Finally Fall

We finally had a wave of cooler weather around here. Blake loves that he gets to wear his coat now. We had a wonderful weekend enjoying the cool, rainy weather while watching General Conference and eating yummy food with family.

Blake gets really nervous when I don't immediately shut the compartment that holds my garage door opener.

I'm not sure if it is the fall weather or just the second trimester itch, but I decided that my hair needed a change.

After battling traffic to attend the BYU/Salt Lake Real Soccer game on Friday night, we headed up to the Tanners' cabin for conference weekend. One of the fun things about the cabin is that Blake's Grandma has collected tons of rubber ducks for him to play with in the tub.

We enjoyed some hammock time on the deck in between conference sessions.

It was really cold and rainy outside and I absolutely loved it. I don't know where this desire for cold weather is coming from because I usually detest any sign of fall. It must be the baby.

Blake thoroughly enjoyed himself in his little cocoon.

Boy or Girl?

To our great surprise, we will be adding another

boy

to our family!

We are one step closer to the Twelve Tribes of Tanner.

Making the Switch

I made the switch into maternity clothes. Everyone says you pop out sooner with your second child, but I am a good 10 weeks ahead of when I popped out with baby #1. I don't even care that I had to make the switch. I was SO happy last week when I pulled on my maternity jeans and could breathe.

19 weeks.

We are almost at the half-way point, but I can't say it has gone by quickly. This pregnancy in general has been completely different than my first. First of all, I have been nauseous all day long every day for the last 12 weeks. It has been strikingly similar to a deep and abiding flu. I really thought when I passed week 16 that I would feel better like I did with Blake, but I'm still trucking along day by day. The throwing up hasn't been quite as frequent as it was with my first pregnancy, but sometimes I think I would rather have that relief than to feel nauseated constantly. I was sick with Blake for a condensed 6 week period, which I would happily trade for now. I've been taking Zofran for the nausea but it doesn't seem to help.

Nothing ever sounds good to eat. But, of course I have to keep eating. To me, that is the hardest part about pregnancy. Eating has to be a part of my life, hour by hour even, and it is the last thing I want to do. I am in constant worry over whether what I eat will make me sick, or whether waiting another half-hour to eat will put me over the edge. I don't like to cook in general, but being pregnant definitely puts cooking at the bottom of the things-I-don't-want-to-do-ever list. I feel bad for my husband and son who have had to suffer along with my cooking strikes.

I'm very excited at the same time. As I feel the tiny movements that the baby makes inside me, I think how incredibly blessed I am to be a mother and to be able to bear children. Even though it was planned, sometimes it still comes as a shock that we are going to have two children. We are scared. How will we manage another baby? Although everyone says you do, how will we love a second child as much as our first? Who are we to think that it's okay to bring two persons (or more) into this crazy world? There's something that seems unfair about the whole thing — considering couples that struggle to have a baby at all.

Blake has been an absolute delight and a good distraction for me as I've been sick. I can count on him sleeping for a solid 11-12 hours at night and 3 hours in the afternoon which has been really helpful when I'm exhausted. We're not sure how much he really understands about the baby. He lifts my shirt up to "give the baby a kiss" all the time, but he also thinks that Daddy has a baby in his tummy. He loves to see the babies at church and out in public so we're hoping that he'll be happy about our new addition.

I gave him a little doll baby the other day that I played with when my baby brother was born. We don't have many other baby dolls around our boy-proofed home. He absolutely loves the baby. He gives him kisses and pretends to feed him snacks. He snuggles with the baby and even shares his nie-night with him, which is a big deal!

Last night, we had our friends over that have 5-month old twins. So, I brought up some of the baby toys from the basement. Blake was so enthused over the toys. It was so funny to see him help himself to the on and off switches and move the toys around himself. He thought the baby toys were for him, so sharing could be an issue when he has a little sibling.

We find out later this week if we are having a boy or a girl. We've already happily confirmed that there is just one baby growing in utero. We are both leaning towards the baby being a girl because this pregnancy has been so different, however, you never know. It would be fun for Blake to have a little brother. He desperately needs a buddy since he has no cousins. Plus, we have all of the boy clothes. I'm still imagining pigtails and pink bows and dresses though. So, we'll see.

Picnic

For Family Home Evening, we went to the park and brought a picnic dinner. A picnic is something we have been meaning to do all summer. I am loving that it is slowly cooling down a little bit. I love being able to finally whip out sweatshirts. Usually I am bitter towards any taste of cold air that leads to winter, but this year, I say bring it on. My growing belly is ready to be done with hot, hot, and more hot weather. Blake thought it was especially fun to eat on the blanket and play on the playground.