Playdates

This past weekend was a busy one for me and Mr. Hunter. He had his first official playdate on Saturday and then another one with family on Sunday.

In the past year or so there was a large number of girls that I graduated high school with that had babies, starting at the end of 2010 up to the end of 2011 with Hunter being the youngest. We decided to have a playdate with all the girls and babies that are still in the area so that the moms could catch up and the babies could meet.

It was great being able to see some these girls, most of whom I haven't seen since our high school reunion 3 years ago. It was also nice being around other new moms with babies a little older than mine to get advice from and compare notes with. One interesting thing we discovered was that out of the 9 of us 7 ended up needing to have C-sections!

Hunter did great! He slept most of the time but even when he was awake he would just look around and check out the scene. He only fussed a bit when he got hungry. I think being in daycare has helped him get use to the noise of other babies. In fact all of the babies did great. No major meltdowns. Hopefully we can do it again soon!

My little man wearing his first pair of jeans!

Hunter and my good friend Kelli meeting for the first time. I've known Kelli since 7th grade.

Hunter and Andrea. She was one of my best friends back in high school and now has an adorable 3 year old little girl and 5 month old son.

Hunter looking a bit terrified by the whole situation.

Trying to pose all the babies. Andrea's 3 year old was like a mini babysitter.

The whole group.

On Sunday we took Hunter over to visit with both of his great-grandmothers. At the first grandmothers house we met up with Kristian's cousin, his wife and their 4 children. They have an 8 month old little girl and we wanted to get the babies together.

Me and my little stud. Check out his cute socks.

Family photo

Hunter and his cousin Genevieve. He kept smiling at her and I had to remind him that she's family and not to get any ideas!!

Baby Swap

Hunter and Genny with their great-grandmother.

Smiley Boy!

Damn my kid is cute!

We then headed to Kristian's other grandmothers house so that she could meet Hunter for the first time. Unfortunately her first introduction to him included his biggest blowout to date with poop ALL up his back. We had to just throw out his onesie. Thank God I brought a spare set of clothes!

Hunter and his other great-grandmother. Both women are in their 90's!!

Such a great picture of three generations.

We had such a nice and busy weekend which helped me take my mind off my father's passing. It was so nice to catch up with old friends and spend time with family. Hunter was so worn out that on Sunday night he slept from 9:30pm-4am!!

Q&A

Thanks to everyone who sent in a question. Definitely a few in the bunch that made me really have to think. Let's get to it!

**From Stephanie at Creating Mrs. Cox:
-What is one piece of advance you would give someone who is about to become a first time Mommy??
Well I wouldn't give the standard "get your sleep now" advice because let's be real, you can't bank sleep, once your in the throws of taking care of a newborn it doesn't matter how much sleep you got pre-baby you're exhausted!

So my main advice would be to go into the whole labor/delivery with an open mind. I'm not a fan of strict birth plans because you just never know what will happen or what potential complications may arise and the more you have your heart set on a particular way of delivering the more you set yourself up for potential disappointment if it doesn't all go according to plan. Definitely have a preference for what you want but realize it may need to change.


Also, to try to enjoy every moment, even the sleep deprived, tears inducing, anxiety filled moments because they go by so quickly.

 -What is one thing you wish you would have done differently in preparing for Hunter's arrival?
Nothing really. I think we were as prepared as any first time parent can be. Every baby is different so there is only really so much you can do to prepare in advance.


**From Kristen at First Name Smith
-What is the most surprising thing you have come to learn since being a mommy?
How little sleep I can actually function on! I've always been a lover of sleep and use to need a solid 8 or more hours of sleep to feel human. Now I'm lucky to get 4 consecutive hours of sleep or even 4 hours of total sleep some nights yet I still get up, get dressed, go to work and then come home and take care of my son. Granted I sometimes feel like I'm about to have a nervous breakdown but I'm still standing (for now). You'll be surprised how quickly your body adjusts to lack of sleep.

**From Beka at Only Three Times
-How has your marriage changed since you got pregnant, and since he was born?
I think overall our marriage has changed for the better. Granted we get irritated with each other a lot easier now thanks to the sleep deprivation and I definitely get a little bitter when I wake up every night for the 2am feedings while he sleeps but that just comes with the territory and I think is pretty common to most couples. Also, we have much less sexy-time which kinda sucks but I'm trying to remember to make that a priority even when I'm exhausted.

Having a child has definitely brought us closer. After all we made this amazing little human that is part him and part me and that's pretty freaking cool. Also, any modesty that I had before flew out the window during the pregnancy/delivery/recovery. He had to help me with EVERYTHING while I recovered even the gross stuff so that definitely brought us closer. We've also learned more about teamwork, it's amazing how this tiny human requires SO much. I really don't know how single mothers do it. One of us has to be taking care of Hunter while the other is cooking or doing the housework so we're constantly having to work as a team to get it all done and make sure neither person gets too overwhelmed.

Do you feel more "family" now that there are 3 of you instead of 2?
I do actually. Before Hunter came I considered Kristian and I (and our fur-children) to be a family but for me at least, there is something about having a child that just changes things. My mother and my brothers are still my family but when I think of my immediate family that's Hunter and Kristian.

Has having a baby changed your relationships with any family members? With friends?
Not really, though I guess it brought me a bit closer to my dad before he passed away since having Hunter was one of the things that made me get back in touch with him. As for everyone else I think my relationships are basically the same.

Is it all worth it? Especially the sleep thing... I really like sleep... :)
100%. Believe me I LOVE sleep but like I said you adjust pretty quickly to the lack of sleep and if you're lucky that phase doesn't last too long and you're left with this amazing little person that you love more than life. It's hard...no doubt...but totally worth it, especially when they smile at you. Melts your heart every time.


**From Heather at High Heels and Flip Flops
What's your advice for someone (me) who is absolutely terrified of being pregnant and giving birth?
My advice is to remember that all of the pain/discomfort is temporary and the prize at the end is totally worth it. I have a very low tolerance for pain/nausea/discomfort etc and I'm not gonna lie there were times when being pregnant absolutely sucked but 9 months isn't very long in the grand scheme of life. As for giving birth, that's what the drugs are for :)

Were you able to work through any fears you had, and how did the physical aspects influence your views about motherhood?
I was pretty freaked out about giving birth and the pain of it all but I kept reminding myself that there is pain medicine and that it would all be over in a day or so. Now that I've been through it and know what to expect I'm actually more nervous about giving birth next time but that's because I didn't have a very good birth experience but that fear doesn't stop me for still wanting to have another...eventually.


**From Venassa at These are the best days of your life
How old were you when you first got your heart broken?
My first real heartbreak was when I was 18 right after I got to college. I found out about a week after breaking up with my boyfriend that he had cheated on me while we were still together. That pretty much sucked. The sad thing is that I still got back together with him a few months later. Yeah I was young and dumb.

How long have you known the (non-family) person you are closest to?
I would say there are a few of my sorority sisters that I'm the closest to and I've known them now for 14 years! God I'm old.

**From April at Adventures with April
Now that you've gone through the first month or two and have some semblance of a routine down, what has been different than expected (other than your birth story as no birth ever goes exactly as imagined I don't think)?  Have you found things easier or harder than anticipated?
Certain things are easier than I expected like breastfeeding. I was convinced after all the horror stories I've read of the difficulties of breastfeeding that we would have a tough time but I've been very lucky that Hunter is a great eater and has never had a problem with nursing or going back and forth between nursing and bottle feeding. Also, the poopy diapers aren't as gross as I thought they would be (though I hear once he's on solids they get really nasty)

Juggling all the responsibilities that come with being a working mother has been harder than I thought and I already knew it would be hard. There truly are not enough hours in the day to manage it all and I already don't get any breaks from when I wake up at 6am to when I go to bed around 10 (plus the middle of the night wake up calls).

As for what's been different than expected, I thought I would lose the baby weight easier/faster than I have. My body looks totally different now and that's been an adjustment as well.

How many times already have people asked if you're going to have another and how do you NOT punch those people in the face?
I've lost count, in fact Kristian's cousin just asked us this over the weekend. I've learned to just laugh at them.


**From Krysten at Why Girls Are Weird
Were there any fears you had before becoming a mom? What were they? Do you still have these fears now?
I had pretty much all the typical new mom fears like having a healthy baby and keeping him healthy and happy. And yes I still have those fears and probably will for the rest of my life. I also had a fear that having a baby would somehow hurt my marriage and even though we've had our moments of getting irritated or frustrated with each other our marriage is still solid.

Thanks again for the questions, this was fun. If anyone else has any questions feel free to ask and I'll answer those as well.

My father

When I was 8 years old my parents divorced. Prior to my parents divorce I was never particularly close to my father, I was a mama's girl. When they split up I had a very up and down relationship with my father as did both of my brothers. Without getting into the nitty gritty details and whole family history I'll just say that for many reasons I chose to distance myself from my father. I haven't seen him in person in probably 6 years though that's due in large part to his moving to Florida. We stayed in contact on and off throughout the years via email. We went through periods where we would talk somewhat regularly and then he would do or say something and I would back away again.

I did not invite him to my wedding and in fact didn't tell him I was even getting married until after the fact. I explained my reasons why and he was upset but happy for me so things were okay for a short time. Then he started reverting back to his old ways so I pulled back again. I hadn't spoken to him in probably a year but right around Christmas, right before I gave birth, Kristian convinced me to contact him again. So I did. I gave him an update on my life and let him know about his grandson that was due any day.

After Hunter's birth I emailed with him a few times and gave him updates. I knew it made him happy to be back in contact with me and to hear about his new grandchild. I was hoping that maybe we could finally put things behind us and slowly get to a better place. I was cautious but optimistic.

My father passed away this past Saturday, February 25th. It wasn't a surprise to us. He had been in the hospital for close to a month due to a large ulcer that was left untreated and perforated his stomach. He had surgery and even though he was in bad shape we had hoped he would be able to recover. The doctors told us last week that he had taken a turn for the worse and there was really nothing left that they could do. He had never been in very good health and his body just wasn't able to recover from this. We made the decision to have him moved to hospice care however he ended up passing on Saturday before they could move him.

After his surgery my brother had flown down to FL to be with him in the hospital. I couldn't go because I didn't feel comfortable leaving Hunter when he was only a month old, especially since I'm still breastfeeding and he was far too young to go with me. However, my brother would put me on speaker phone so that I could talk to my dad. He was on a ventilator so he couldn't talk back but my brother said he could hear me and was responsive when he asked my dad if he understood. He was also able to hear Hunter cry.

The whole thing is very surreal. Even though I wasn't close to my father and we've had a difficult relationship I'm still of course very sad about his death. After all, he is my father and if it weren't for him I wouldn't be here. I'm sad that we didn't have time to fully repair our relationship. I'm sad that we never had that super close father/daughter relationship that I've been envious of from my friends. But I am happy that I had been back in touch with him and that he knew about his grandson before he died. I know that brought him great joy and that gives me comfort. I just hope that he's now finally at peace.

Opening up the floor

Since this week I've felt (and according to my husband looked) liked a cast member from The Walking Dead I haven't been able to come up with anything interesting to write on this here 'ol blog of mine. Hunter has been sleeping great however my child is a VERY noisy sleeper. He's constantly grunting and cooing and sighing in his sleep and since he's still currently in the bassinet next to the bed that makes getting some sleep a tad challenging. He WILL be going into the nursery this weekend. Now that's he's sleeping better and almost outgrown the bassinet it's time. And hopefully the baby monitor won't pick up every teeny little sound that he makes so that this light sleeping mama can get more than a few hours of sleep at night.

With all that said, I've decided to do something I haven't done in the 3 years I've been writing this blog and that's opening up the floor for any questions that you lovely folks might have for me. I'm a pretty open book and there isn't much I won't answer except maybe what my social security number is so ask away and I'll post the answers sometime next week.

Seven

Seven...that's the number of hours my child slept last night...yep he slept through the night for the very first time from 10pm-5am!! And that doesn't count the hour before we officially put him to bed that he was basically sleeping through his last feeding and diaper change.

While I'm incredibly happy that Hunter proved it is possible for him to sleep longer than 4 hours at a time unfortunately I feel even less rested than usual. Both Kristian and I woke up around 2:30am, I think from habit since that's Hunters typical wake up call and both of us spent the rest of the night tossing and turning. I did not sleep again AT ALL. Ugh. So I couldn't even enjoy the 7 blissful hours of potential sleep. FML.

On top of that we both feel like we're coming down with a cold. Sore throat, congested head, stuffy nose etc. My child has been in daycare for one week and already we've been infected with the sickies. So far Hunter seems to be okay. He seemed a little congested last night which we noticed mainly when he would cry but he doesn't have a fever and was eating and pooping like normal. I'm keeping my fingers crossed he doesn't catch whatever we seem to have caught. And I'm praying that his seven hour stretch of sleep wasn't just a fluke but rather the beginning of some much needed sleep relief for us.

Scary Spots

Yesterday we took Hunter to the doctors so that he could take a look at a spot that Hunter has on the top of his head. It's a spot that he's had since birth and it started out as a small, flat, red little circle. At his one month checkup we asked about it and the doctor said it was probably just a birthmark.

Well since that appointment the spot has gotten bigger and gone from flat to raised with jagged edges. It looks like a potentially cancerous mole. Needless to say we were concerned and rather than wait for his two month check-up we decided to take him in now to get it looked at. Better to be safe than sorry.  I didn't really think it was Cancer but I did think they would tell us that it needed to be removed to prevent it from turning into something serious.

I'm VERY happy to say that not only is the spot NOT cancerous but it doesn't even need to be removed. Turns out that Hunter has a Hemangioma which is basically a red patch of blood vessels that grows during their first year but eventually fades away on it's own. As soon as the doctor saw it he immediately knew what it was and put us at ease.

Here's a picture of Hunter's Hemangioma

Fortunately it's on the top of his head and his hair covers it so it's not really noticeable.

I'm very happy we went ahead and took him in so that we didn't have to spend the next two weeks until his two month checkup worrying. I don't think anyone wants to be one of those hypochondriac type of parents but with a baby, especially your first, if you ever have any concerns about their health better to call or take them in and get it checked out.

We also found out when we took him in that our little 7 week old has gained FOUR pounds and grown two inches since birth. He was 7lbs12ozs when he was born and yesterday weighed in at 11lbs 12ozs he's also now 22.5 inches long. Kid has a hearty appetite! It does make me a bit sad that he's getting so big so fast!

Also, for your viewing pleasure he's a video I took this morning of my little guy full of smiles.

I survived...

...my first day back at work and away from my son since we brought him home from the hospital. As expected leaving him at daycare yesterday sucked hard but I held it together and didn't cry until I hit the car. Thankfully Hunter is too young to get upset when I leave him otherwise I don't know how I would have walked out the door.

I cried all the way to work but once I got there it was easier. My coworkers were all very excited to have me back (and not just because it will now relieve some of their workload). And to be honest it was nice to be back around other adults besides my husband and to be able to leisurely eat my lunch without worrying about my child waking up and needing me.

My coworkers also helped me rearrange my office using my filing cabinet and a partition so that I now have a corner where I can pump during the day without being seen if someone happened to walk in without knocking first and so that people walking by outside can't see me through my window since we're on the first floor. I did almost burst into tears when I got into the car last night and saw that one of the ziplock milk storage bags that was holding 6ozs of liquid gold had leaked and I had lost ALL but half an ounce. I literally cried over spilled milk but as any breastfeeding/pumping mama knows you work hard for that milk. That was a meal and a half for my son that I had lost because I didn't close the bag well. But guess who won't be making that mistake again!

Kristian was able to pick him up at 3pm and according to the ladies there Hunter did great. He was awake most of the day and was happy and well behaved. They gave us his report of all his activity, how much he ate and the number of diapers he went through. He got home and took a 2 hour nap so I guess he was worn out. He also slept pretty well last night so that was nice. Dropping him off this morning was easier though I try to do it quickly so I don't have time to get upset.

Hopefully it will continue to get easier and according to my boss I should be pretty busy in the upcoming months so I may not even have much time to sit around and miss him during the day.

Hard Days

In the six short weeks that Hunter has been in our lives we've already had some hard days. Pretty much all the days that Hunter was in the NICU, the day we had to leave the hospital without him, and the nights when he just WILL. NOT. SLEEP. And tomorrow will be added to the list of hard days because tomorrow my maternity leave ends, I go back to work and I have to leave my six week old baby at daycare.

I have nothing against daycare, I was a daycare child and I truly believe there are many benefits a child can get from being in daycare. But Hunter just seems SO young and little to be sent there already. Unfortunately we don't have a choice, I only received six weeks maternity leave and we can't afford for either of us to quit our job to stay home with him everyday.

This past Friday I took him to the daycare so they could meet him and so that I could drop off his stuff (diapers, wipes, change of clothes) so that tomorrow everything is setup and ready for him. And even though everyone there is perfectly nice and he'll be taken care of, when I got back into the car I just cried. I don't want to leave my baby with strangers. And even though they have FAR more experience with babies than I do, no one has more experience with MY baby than me. I've never been away from him for more than 2 hours since we brought him home from the hospital.

I don't know how I'm going to make it almost 12 hours without seeing my little man's smiling face or being able to kiss his cheeks until I annoy him. Maybe if I cry hard enough my boss will take pity on me and give me another few week of maternity leave... No? I didn't think so.

The worst part is doing the drop off which unfortunately falls into my lap since Kristian has to be at work earlier than I do. He gets the fun job of picking him up and spending several hours with him until I get home. If we could switch places I would in a heartbeat.

So today I'm spending as much time as I can with my little dude and just soak it all in and then begin the countdown until the weekend.

6 Weeks- All Clear

Today my baby boy is 6 weeks old! Holy God where is the time going?!

Six weeks marks a few things-

1. The end of my maternity leave next week- which I can't even talk about right now without tearing up.

2. My 6 week post partum checkup which went well. The doctor gave me the all clear to work out again and to do other "stuff" which made Kristian very happy even though my doctor told me I should mess with him and tell him that I still wasn't allowed to have any "mommy and daddy time" for another few weeks. He even wrote me a prescription to give to Kristian.

Yeah my doctor is pretty awesome and has a great sense of humor.

So now I can work on losing those last 12 pounds to get back to my pre-baby weight. I dropped about 25 pounds with no problem but now have seemed to held steady with this last little bit left to lost. I think the problem is that my appetite which I lost during pregnancy (still not sure how I gained 37 pounds) as well as no longer having the food aversions I had (I can actually eat chicken again without wanting to vomit) has made it harder to lose those last few pounds. Plus breastfeeding makes me SO hungry all the time. Hopefully if I actually start working out a bit that will help.

As for my little chunky monkey Hunter, he's doing great. Still eating like a champ. We haven't weighed him but I guarantee he's over 10 pounds by now. He's sleeping better for the most part but still has his bad nights where he just wants to eat every hour. He's awake more during the day and very alert with constant cooing and gurgling sounds. And he smiles A LOT! I don't care how sleep deprived I am when I see his little grin every morning I immediately forget how tired I am.

Here are some recent pictures:

This is the onesie I gave to Kristian when I told him I was pregnant. It's amazing we actually have a little person now that can wear it. 

Smiling at the fact that he had kept mommy and daddy awake the night before.

Who could resist that smile? 

My favorite part of the day, napping with my little dude.

Our Story

I've seen this going around and decided to take a break from the baby posts to do something else.

1. How long have you and your significant other been together?

We will have been together for 4 years this coming August

2. How did you meet? {What's your "love" story?}

We met in August of 2008 via Match.com. I had just gotten back on after taking a bit of a break and Kristian was one of the first people who emailed me when I signed back on. I almost didn't respond because he was "geographically undesirable" but thankfully I overlooked that and took a chance. He says he had emailed me about 9 months earlier and I never responded (I don't remember this) but thank goodness he contacted me again. We had our first date at Bonefish Grille and were basically together ever since. He claims that for him it was love at first sight and he knew that night I was the one for him. It took me about a month before I "knew".

Our first picture together at a "CEO and Corporate Ho's party"

3. If married, how long have you been married?

 We've been married for almost two years. We got married on May 22, 2010. We picked that date because it's a combination of our birthdays- Mine is May 12 and his is Oct. 22 hence May 22.

4. If you are married, where did you get married at? Big or small wedding?  

We got married in Alexandria, VA at an event space that is also used as a church. We had planned on getting married out in the gardens but due to the rain we had to move the ceremony indoors. We had about 90 people at the wedding so it was on the smaller side but perfect for us. 

5. Do you have any nick-names that you call one another? 

I usually call him Baby (gag I know but it's habit now). When I'm referring to him in an email or text I call him "K".

He calls me "Miss Nay", "Mama Nay" or "MaNay"-- a few years ago his niece gave everyone in the family silly nicknames and mine was SheNayNay since my name is Shannon. Well it stuck and she and her siblings still call me Aunt SheNayNay. Well Kristian decided to shorten it to Miss Nay and then when I got pregnant I became Mama Nay and now when he really wants to shorten it he just calls me MaNay. I just hope Hunter doesn't call me that. 

6. Name 3 things you love most about your honey.

-His kindness- from the beginning I said he was freakishly nice. He is always going out of his way for others and has treated me better than anyone ever has

-His sense of humor- He never fails to make me laugh

-He's an amazing father and nothing warms my heart more than watching him and our son

7. Tell us how he proposed? 

About 6 months after we started dating (quick I know) on Valentine's Day he invited me to dinner at his condo. He had decorated his living room with flowers, streamers and balloons and made a fantastic dinner. After dinner we were listening to music and Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours" came on (which was also our wedding song) and he left to get the ring in his bedroom, he came back got on one knee and proposed. I thought he was joking until I looked down and saw the ring. I think I said "Oh My God" about a dozen times before finally saying yes. He actually didn't plan to propose that night, he had wanted to wait until May when we were going to Jamaica but he said he couldn't wait any longer and just had to do it.

8. Is he a flowers and teddy bear kind of guy for v-day, or strawberries, champagne, and rose petals?

He's a make me dinner and propose kinda guy (see above). It's tradition now for him to recreate the dinner he made me the night he proposed for Vday. 

9. Are you a sunset dinner on the beach kind of girl, or pop a movie in and relax on the couch?

I'm definitely a relax on the couch kinda girl. I'm a total homebody though a dinner on the beach sounds pretty nice too.

10. Tell us one thing you'd like to do with your significant one day. If you could do anything? Go anywhere?

Well before I would have said have kids but now that we have a kid I guess I will say travel more. I would love to go to Europe one day. I also think it would be cool if we could own our own business and work from home (not sure what kind of business we would have though)

11. Tell us what you plan on doing on this Valentine's Day.

Probably nothing, we're too tired now with the baby to do a whole night and it will be my first day back at work *sad face*. However this Saturday we are going out for a date night.

12. Are you asking for anything this Valentine's day?

Not at all. Honestly I keep forgetting that Vday is coming up. If I asked for anything it would be for him to watch the baby all night so I could sleep. HA! Priorities have really changed huh?

13. Give us one piece of advice of keeping a relationship strong and full of love.

Never take each other for granted, always remember to thank them even for small things (like taking out the trash). Tell them that you love them everyday (even if you're mad at them). Don't forget to show affection (this gets hard after having a baby but it's a must).

14.  Show us a picture of what love means to you.

My family

Good friends make all the difference

This past weekend my good friend Kristen flew up from Florida to visit me and Hunter (and Kristian I suppose). I haven't seen Kristen since my baby shower in October and typically we are only able to get together once or twice a year so it was wonderful to be able to spend a relaxing weekend together full of baby snuggles, wine (her not me), gossip and chick flicks on t.v.

I'm convinced that Kristen is the baby whisperer and Hunter is madly in love with her. I think he slept for about 4 hours straight on her chest on Saturday which gave me a chance to take a nap, eat with two hands, take a shower etc. The weather was pretty crappy Saturday so it was the perfect day to just stay on the couch and play with my cute little 10 pounder.

If I had enough money I would hire her to be my live in nanny. 

Kristian also offered to watch the baby so that Kristen and I could go out for some Mexican on Saturday night and have a girly "date night". The best part was when Kristian called me 10 minutes after we left and said "He's been screaming since you left, can I feed him?" HAHA. Poor guy.

This weekend was exactly what this tired, overwhelmed mama needed. It's amazing what a little time with a good friend can do. Now we just have to plan our trip down to FL so that our little guys can meet.

Some Florida Sunshine

See that pretty girl on the right in the white dress?

That's Kristen and she is flying up from sunny, warm Florida this weekend to visit me and Hunter in Northern VA, in the middle of winter, when there is about a 30 degree temperature difference.

This is also the same Kristen that helped throw my fabulous baby shower.

This is also the same Kristen that sent us a fabulous meal from Omaha Steaks after Hunter was born so that we wouldn't have to make dinner one night.

This is the same Kristen that gave me tons of advice and support during my whole pregnancy and now dealing with a newborn.

To say she's a good friend would be understatement!

I'm so excited to get to spend the weekend with one of my favorite people and I know Hunter is going to have a blast cuddling with such a pretty lady for 3 days. Have I mentioned that my son already loves the ladies? Because he does. He totally grab the boob of my brothers girlfriend the other night. Yep my kid has already gotten to second base. Sigh. 

Answer-- Not anytime soon

Question- When are you having another kid?

It amazes me how many people have already asked me when we're having another baby? I know Hunter is super cute and all, but seriously? Can we let the stitches from the first baby heal before we start working on baby #2? Hell I'm still not allowed to do the thing you need to do to even make a baby (which by the way is SUPER frustrating for us both) so my go to answer is "not anytime soon". 

Now if you ask my husband's Uncle Stanley he's convinced I'll be pregnant again by Christmas. When he said this I wanted to physically smack some sense into him. Granted surprises happen all the time so while I sit here saying there is no way in hell I'll be pregnant again this coming Christmas who knows what God has in store for us. 

Do Kristian and I want another child? Yes. Eventually. **Though last night while dealing with Hunter's EVERY. HOUR. wake up calls he did insist he was going in to get a vasectomy and that one child was enough** HA! I've always said that I would like to have two children, ideally a boy and a girl though if we end up with two boys that would be great as well. I think it would be great for Hunter to have a sibling to grow up with and have as a playmate. With that said I am in no hurry to go through the whole pregnancy/delivery/newborn/no sleep thing again anytime soon. 

I was VERY lucky that I was able to get pregnant as easily as I did and that all things considered I had a relatively easy pregnancy. But I know that may not be the case next time. For all I know I may not be able to get pregnant again so easily (or at all). I may end up having a very rough pregnancy with complications. It's scary to think about. And even though my pregnancy was pretty smooth, I'm not gonna lie I HATED the first trimester and the last month. I don't do well with pain, discomfort and constant nausea. 

And to be honest, I'm still a bit traumatized from the whole labor/delivery thing. I knew it wouldn't be easy and I knew it would be painful but I also didn't expect the epidural to hurt as badly as it did (one of the most painful things ever) or for the epidural to wear off and have to feel such painful contractions and even though I knew a C-section was a possibility I never expected to have to be knocked out during it and miss the birth of my child. And let's not even talk about having to deal with a baby being in NICU and having to leave the hospital without him. It was a painful, scary experience and I think it will be a while before I'm willing to go through it again.

So when I say "it will be a while" what does that mean? Well I suspect around 3 years or more. I really would like for Hunter to be a bit more independent and preferably potty trained before I have another baby in the house to care for. We also need to be in a good place financially to where we can either afford to have two kids in daycare or one of us can stay home. 

So I wouldn't be expecting any baby announcements from me anytime in the near future, unless of course God thinks it would be funny to make me have a nervous breakdown.