And here’s Amy… (still on maternity leave!!) 

When thinking of everything I’d do as an “Experienced Mom,” there were definitely a few things that I planned on improving the second time around – especially in the early months.   

Yet, here I am at 3am watching TV and typing with a sleeping baby on my lap.  Hmmmm.  According to my plans the baby should be asleep in the bassinet and I snug in my bed.  We didn’t use a bassinet with the first baby and I didn’t sleep in my own bed for over a month.  This time is supposed to be different, but the new little one has a stuffy nose and I’m afraid to let her sleep flat on her back. 

And during the drive home from the hospital, I again made my husband stop the car so I could climb in the backseat to be next to the baby (yes.  I did the same thing with baby #1).  I couldn’t bear to have her be alone (OK with her older brother), with the sun in her eyes, and crying.  It ripped my heart out. 

OK.  And one last example of me breaking my resolution was when I decided I was going to be more laid back this time around – yet today I spent an hour creating a spreadsheet to track feedings, poopy diapers, and wet diapers.  I just want to make sure that she’s tracking OK and eating enough along the way. 

Yes.  I have a rationale for why I broke each resolution, but it all comes down to one simple thing. . . I love this little girl with all my heart.  While I had sound reasons why I wanted to change certain things with my second baby, I planned all of these when having an infant was a distant memory.  Now that she’s here and I’ve fallen head over heels in love with her, when it comes down to having to choose between her comfort and mine, hands down she’s going to win every time.   

I’m still hopeful that I will use the bassinet one of these days and that I can sleep in my own bed, but if that doesn’t work out then at least I’ll have lots of quality bonding time with my little girl (and the DVR!).

OK.  So I had a really strange conversation this past week.  At 35 weeks pregnant, I finally broke down and decided to have a c-section for the birth of my little Hercules.   

“Broke down?” you ask.  Well, I didn’t have a c-section for Boog but let’s just say that he was “too big” for me.  Ahh yes.  We’ll leave it at that since co-workers are reading this too :-)   Despite this, I never considered having a c-section until I started to learn some of the risks I could face if Hercules is also “too big”.  

Even armed with this information, it was still a tough decision since it made me feel like I was not up for the challenge (yes. I have a bit of a competitive streak).  Finally, after talking to every person I know who’s had a c-section, I accepted the fact that my long term health is a bit more important than feeling like I was “wussing out” (aka “being stupid”). 

So. . . this led to me scheduling my baby.  Yes.  Very strange.  I got a call from my doctor’s office asking if I was free at noon on the 26^th.  My automatic response was to pull up my calendar.  Fortunately, I only had a 9:00 meeting so I said “Sure.  I think I can do that.” Whoa!  Double take!  What?  Did I really just schedule my baby in Outlook?  The answer is “yes” – although I only blocked off an hour so hopefully it doesn’t take too long! 

I’ll keep you all posted on the progress – my personal hope is that I can reschedule the birth (I’ve made sure to leave my calendar open just in case) since I’d really like to go later.  Yes.  Maybe I’m insane, but I still feel great and I still have a lot to get done before she comes.  Oh.  And did I mention that I’m still under the illusion that Hercules will simply fit into my schedule or that I’m in for a rude awakening?

Let me just start by saying that I am the oldest child in my family. It is only now, now that I’m pregnant with Baby #2 (due in T-minus 2 months), that I’m starting to see the gripes of a second child. (don’t tell my sister I realized this though!)

And, yes, for me the differences start way before birth as you can see from my expereiences below. So, to my unborn child I’d like to say: “Little Hercules (my husband’s friend named her), I promise I’ll be better when you’re born — although don’t expect the same number of pictures as big brother Boog; it’s just not going to happen.

I got the dreaded call from daycare the other day.  No- not the “your child has a fever so pick him up now and don’t come back tomorrow either” call.  But the “your child bit someone” call.  Yikes!

I’ve been on the other end many times, but I always thought the biter obviously wasn’t well disciplined or as well mannered like my Boog.  But here I was in uncharted territory.  What do I do?  What do I say?  Is my child going to be kicked out of daycare?  And importantly. . . What happened to make my Boog do this?  MY child doesn’t bite!

Of course, when I got to daycare later that day, the story didn’t get any better.  Boog jumped (unprovoked) onto another child and bit him.  So, as any good parent would do, I had a little heart to heart with my little guy.  It went something like this:

Me:      “Did you bite someone today?”
Boog:   nod
Me:      “Do you know that’s not nice?”
Boog:   no response as he’s distracted by a nearby toy car
Me:      “Boog.  Look at Mommy” (repeatedly)
Me:      (after giving up on eye contact) “Biting hurts.  It’s not nice.”
Boog:   “Shoes.  Shoes.” (his way of asking me to take off his shoes)

OK.  So maybe 23 months is a little young for a true heart to heart, but how do you teach your child that it’s not nice to bite (or that he shouldn’t say “no” to everything, which he also does a lot these days.  “Boog, time for a bath” “No”; “Boog, let’s eat dinner” “No”; “Boog, you have to share” “Noooo”; “Boog, put your shoes on” “No No No No”) This picture demonstrates how we always see Boog- in the blur of No…

Until I figure it out (or until Boog is old enough to really listen and understand), we’ll keep cheering on his happy, nice moments (there are still a lot of these!) and sternly telling him when he’s not being as nice as he should be.

Plan B is something my husband found as a raging debate on-line. . .if your child bites, bite him back so he knows how it feels.  (just kidding. . . I’m still more likely to eat Boog up for his cuteness!)  Actually, I did find some other helpful blogs out there on “cranky kids” to help me realize that I’m not alone in the situation or figuring out how to deal with it. 

After surviving all the holiday travel I feel the need to just scream out “YEAH!!!!” (right before passing out from exhaustion, of course)

The reason for my excitement is that my husband and I made it from PA to RI (by car) and back (by car again – but this time loaded to the hilt- and NO- all this stuff did not fit in our car!)
Then down to Florida (by plane, bus, car, and train (OK monorail)) and back home with an almost 2 year old (Boog- pronounced like “booger”, but without the “er”) and there was not one melt down (either with my son or with us)! And, oh, did I mention that I’m 5 ½ months pregnant?!

Given that our families live in different parts of the country, we’re used to the extensive travel over the holidays. We’re just not used to making it completely without incident.

So what’s the secret to our travel success? I wish I could take credit for short security lines and on time flights, but I can’t. About the only thing we did was buy a portable DVD player (TOTALLY worth the investment. Of course now we’re paying for it since all Boog says now is “Choo Choo” and points to the TV or computer. It seems our non-TV watching child is hooked for good!), bring our new Quattro Tour Sport stroller with the monstrous basket (otherwise, lugging 4 pieces of checked bags and 4 carry-ons would’ve been BEYOND a nightmare!), driving in the car during nap time as much as possible, and pointing out every little vehicle we saw along the way for my transportation obsessed child (“Look at the truck”, “See the plane moving?”, “We’re going on a train now”). In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Boog happier than when the shuttle bus that took us to parking pulled up next to us. He actually jumped for joy and clapped his hands!

On that note, I have to say that the best part of the trip was being able to see all those little things that I typically overlook, through Boog’s eyes. Whoever knew that climbing onto a monorail and watching it pull away from the station could be so completely captivating? Or that there really are a TON of trucks on the NJ Turnpike? And, according to Boog, you can see cars from 30,000 feet in the air? Oh, and how could I forget to mention the fact that every little button on a plane is so entertaining (especially the “call flight attendant” one!)?

Sometimes I feel like I had blinders on before Boog came along and only now am I seeing the wonder in typically mundane things – like the baggage carousel at the airport (OK. I have always watched this like a hawk, but for reasons other than the utter awe of its working conveyor belt). I can’t wait to see what else Boog shows me that I’ve been missing all these years!

Of course, I’m going to take in as much wonder and awe at home for awhile since I don’t really want to push my luck much more after all the recent traveling success. In fact, this uneventful trip has me a little worried that I’ve used up all my luck before our next trip – which will consist of me toting Boog and his little sister up to RI by myself. Yikes! A two year old and a 6 week old? Yes. I’m insane. I’ll just keep telling myself that there will be lots of wondrous moments along the way. (and that luckily, it’s a short flight!).