baby #2 | 40 weeks

For obvious reasons we did not have a 39 week post last week but I figured I would round out the pregnancy posts with this last one!

How Far Along: 40 weeks! ...or you know, 1 week and 2 days new :)

Size of the Baby: Baby W is the size of a jackfruit baby. I guess at this point fruit analogies are kind of moot since he is here! All 8lb 3.5oz of him :)

Pregnancy/Sleep/Labor Signs:  Pregnancy is officially over.  It is so crazy how fast this one went by and I will forever cherish the baby carrying season of my life; however, I am happy that this will be the last one.  I will be doing a full post about Everett's delivery day soon!

Bump/Belly Button/Weight Gain: So this is fairly moot. I still have a "bump" of sorts and, thankfully, my belly button is on its way back to normal. 

I am excited to say that I remembered to ask them to weigh me :) BUT, get this, there was no scale on the L&D/recovery floor.  Seriously?! I went to Target to return something 5 days post baby and found a scale there.  I was on a mission.  After delivering the baby, the amniotic fluid and my placenta, I am already down 20 pounds. Holy crap. Talk about an ego boost.  This does not change my plans to give myself 40 weeks to get the weight off, but 20 pounds in 40 weeks is totally doable!

Cravings/Aversions: I am happy to report that I can resume carbs and wine. B made me a mimosa while we waited to be discharged from the hospital last Friday morning and it was everything, not to mention totally adorable. 

Big Sister: Big sister is officially a big sister :)  if you follow me on instagram, you've already seen some of the #wilkinsonsib sweetness. I cannot get enough of them together.

Miss Anything: Being pregnant.... juuuust kidding :)

Best Moment: Oh you know, delivering Everett and being done is pretty dang fabulous.

Can't Wait For: I am excited to settle into our new normal and to soak in those tiny newborn snuggles. Four days left of summer school and then we have three weeks as a family of four before the school year starts again for B. 

baby #2 | 38 weeks

How Far Along: 38 weeks! Crazy to think this will be our last update! Yep, the last one!

Size of the Baby: Baby W is the size of a pumpkin or, more seasonally appropriate in celebration of Pop Pop's upcoming birthday, a cake! Or you know, even more accurate, an anywhere between 8.5 - 9.5 pound baby. EEK!

Pregnancy/Sleep/Labor Signs: Pregnant mamas, please don't hate me but I am still sleeping like a dang rock star. I am BEYOND blessed. I look far more tired than I feel. 

So as I mentioned above, this will be our last pregnancy update! Thanks to his size and my high fluid, we are inducing early. While we would typically induce at 39 weeks, my high risk doctor gave me clearance to induce at 38 weeks 6 days so that I could deliver with my OB. Next Wednesday, B and I will be headed to the hospital to meet our newest tiny friend while Natalie gets to spend some quality time with Grandma and Pop Pop.  I am already 3-4cm dilated, so who knows if we will even make it that long!  It is crazy to think at this time next week our little family will be complete :) 

Bump/Belly Button/Weight Gain: We are just bumping along. I might actually miss the bump... or at least the freedom that comes with wearing a bikini when pregnant. I have never worn a bikini more comfortably in my life. 

I am up 38 pounds. So I have a feeling I might have a total gain of 40 by time I deliver next week which is exactly how much I gained with Natalie. I am actually dying to know how much I will weigh when I leave the hospital. It really is a sickness but for the first time in my life, I am not thinking about the number in an unhealthy way. I just want to know how much weight you actually lose at delivery. I mean, it has to be fairly substantial between the baby, the amniotic fluid and the placenta, right?!  I don't know why I didn't look into this with Natalie. 

Cravings/Aversions: Costco has these dark chocolate and coconut covered cashews and I have been seriously loving them. I have deemed them crackshews as they are very addicting. I am craving good rice but I am not supposed to have any rice, bread, carbs, happiness until after I deliver. I really want a big bowl of shoyu chicken and rice. I really need to nag my friend, Jessica, about this because she makes the best shoyu chicken and rice. I should use the baby as leverage - no newborn snuggles until she feeds me :)

Big Sister: This has been a tough week where the big sister is concerned. She is being super defiant and her listening has been leaving something to be desired. We have had temper tantrums from hell. The threenager is real.  She has cried to the point of making herself sick a couple nights this week and so B and I are really working to turn her attitude around. We are changing up how we handle time-outs and really working to be consistent with how many times we will tell her to do something before she goes to time-out and communicating that with her when she isn't already in trouble. I am happy to say that three days into this we have seen a DRASTIC improvement.  It's still super early, but we are praying that some serious communication on her level helps get the train back on the tracks. 

We have a few big mama/mini things planned between now and delivery (to include a date to take Gemma to the groomer and pick out a new collar tonight) so hopefully that helps. Saturday we are going to get our nails done together with Ms. Ilona and have some girl time. Natalie worships Ilona (and so do I) so I think it will be a lot of fun.  I am desperate to make things better before Everett gets here NEXT WEEK. I don't want our last week with her to be tainted by frustration and tears. Oh hello mom guilt.

Best Moment: Y'all, I am like dunzo with work until October.  I am going in on Monday for a few hours to wrap things up and go to lunch with my team, but for all intents and purposes, I am dunzo. It seems so crazy!

Can't Wait For: Baby brother to get here! I am also excited to see my parents and celebrate my dad's birthday :) 

Baby Brother's Nursery

Y'all, I have had so much fun putting together baby brother's room.  I love his room so much more than I loved Natalie's nursery (#sorrynotsorry). It's much more simple and it just works. I went with a gray and red color scheme as I felt that there was a lot that I could do with it. While his room is mostly gray, the pops of red are perfect. If we had a theme, I'd say it's Brandon. It has touches of B's favorite things and it makes the room just perfect for a little boy.

B had said that Natalie's room is very much my design and he wanted to be more involved in planning baby brother's room. I loved this! What I didn't love was that B couldn't really tell me what that meant. Oddly enough, interior design is not his strong suit :) I opted to take matters into my own hands and think of a room that had elements of B instead: trucks, tractors and baseball.

I worked with Barbara Monte of B Monte Designs for custom artwork and could not be happier with how they came out! We sent Barbara pictures of B's truck, his dad's truck and his brother's truck (which also happened to belong to Pop, B's maternal grandfather) and she sent us back the most perfect illustrations of all three. 

I had seen pegboards as nursery decor on Pinterest and added them to my Nursery board. B seemed a little skeptical at first but got the pegboard and built the frame for it. I could not be more in love with this feature of baby brother's room! It's cute, manly and functional. 

We plan to add a little International Harvester sticker to the board as a nod to his favorite farm equipment company but we have had a hard time finding one. Tractor Supply Store hasn't had any in stock since we started looking. 

I love this hand-me-down baseball chair that we got from one of B's co-workers. It's the perfect little baseball touch! Natalie has a shelf in her room where I have a couple princess dresses hanging and I love the super girly touch. I was really excited when I remembered we had a matching shelf hiding in storage so that I could do something similar in Everett's room. I plan to get an Alabama football jersey to hang up on the other hook!

His name on the wall came from Bed, Bath and Beyond. Oddly enough, Buy Buy Baby did not carry the letters when I went to find them online.

I found this storage piece by Sauder on Amazon and as soon as it went on sale one weekend snagged it up. The book shelves were also an Amazon find!

I am so pleased with how it all came out and I cannot wait to bring Everett home!

Big Sister Hospital Gift

Y'all, I have had so much fun putting together Natalie's big sister bag for the hospital. It has been so much fun working with different small shops to get personalized items and really make this a special treat for her! I figured I'd share what I am putting in her bag, as well as the little shops where things came from!

1. Big Sister Bag from Sixpence Press. I searched a lot of pages on Etsy before coming across this gem. I love the size of the tote (20 x 15 x 5) and that it is a zip closure. The floral wreath is precious and super girly which is perfect for Natalie! Bonus: the turnaround was quick! I ordered it on a Friday and by Saturday it was being shipped. 

2. Custom water bottle from Sweet Sipsters. Working with Hannah was a breeze. From the time I messaged her to the time I got my first proof was approximately 20 minutes. She happily worked with me to design exactly what I was looking for and, in the end, she created the perfect big sister water bottle for my princess Aurora loving girl! 

3. Chalkboard Mat and Crayon holder from Tammys Sewing. I decided something to keep our little friend entertained at the hospital might be advantageous. I loved the Trolls and My Little Pony prints since those are two of Natalie's favorites! This will be something that we can take on long car rides, to restaurants, on plane rides, etc. Totally practical and functional which any mama can appreciate.

4. Little Miss, Big Sis book. While she has a few big sister books already, another one for the hospital didn't seem like a bad idea :) I have visions of us reading this together while sitting on my hospital bed holding baby brother.

5. Pretend Make-up from Amazon. My sweet girly girl loves her make-up so it only made sense to include some pretend make-up in her bag.  I also threw in some chapstick (one of her obsessions), real sparkly lip gloss (something I am sure to regret) and new nail polish (like she doesn't have enough already). 

6. Big sister camera and photo album from Personalized Gifts 4 U.  My friend Nydra did this for her daughter Noelle and it was a hit. Natalie loves taking pictures and while I know we'll end up with more questionable pictures than good, I know she will be so excited to get to take pictures of her first encounter with her baby brother :) I loved the little photo album that comes with it so she has a special place to store her pictures.

I also plan to include some snacks, stickers (another decision I am likely to regret), a coloring book and some kind of little Melissa & Doug jewelry kit or My Little Pony figure.  I am in hopes that some little things to keep her entertained at the hospital might not be a bad idea!

baby #2 | 37 weeks

How Far Along: 37 weeks! Full term! :) 

Size of the Baby: Baby W is the size of a winter melon baby.  

Pregnancy/Sleep/Labor Signs: The car seats are officially installed so that has taken a huge weight off my shoulders. Honestly, we are ready for Everett to arrive at any time. 

I am still sleeping really well. I am beyond lucky. I mean, it's not as great as my pre-pregnancy sleep, but for 37 weeks pregnant, I will absolutely take it. I have started getting really bad cramps in my feet and legs at night but I am working on that.  I am feeling so grateful that I am not waking up with numb hands like I was at this point in my pregnancy with Natalie.  Honestly, I feel really really great physically but mentally I am starting to hit a wall. This happened with Natalie too, but with her pregnancy it was because she was so active and aggressive and I remember telling Brandon at about this point that I needed him to take her off of me so I could have 5 minutes alone. With Everett, I feel like at every appointment I have been given tough news or something doesn't seem right or there is another complication and I just don't know how much more of that I can handle. It feels like I have had more scans this trimester than I did my entire pregnancy with Natalie and it is making me incredibly paranoid and anxious. 

Shawn has decided that he has dropped. When she and I worked on the 4th, I stood up to leave and she was like "oh shit, you've dropped".  I'm ok with that!  I am feeling more pelvic pressure but nothing that makes me think labor is imminent. Last week we were between .5cm to 1cm dilated. This week we're closer to 2cm dilated. 

Bump/Weight Gain: We are bumping along here. I am all baby and am loving this bump.

I am up 37 pounds but I don't feel like I am up 37 pounds so I will take it. According to my ultrasound, Everett is weighing in at around 7 lbs 12oz so between baby + placenta + amniotic fluid, by time I deliver, I will basically be back to my pre-pregnancy weight with Natalie. Not too shabby :)  Fun fact: I had a scan at 39w 2d with Natalie and I was told she was measuring 7lb 14oz... this scan for Everett was two weeks earlier. Yikes!) On Wednesday, I had a former midwife I work with, who was damn near spot on with Natalie's birth weight (literally off by 3 ounces), give me an estimate of how big she thinks Everett is and Mickey said 8-8.5 lbs already. We shall see :)

Cravings/Aversions: Watermelon and grapes. Natalie and I went through one of those Costco 4lb containers of grapes in about 2.5 days. Let's just say that I have felt much lighter this week because of it and I'm not even mad. 

Big Sister: Nat is still rocking her random summer cold. This has made for a super tough 4-5 days. The transition of her back to her own bed and out of ours has been rough and is reeeeeally not going well. She literally thinks that she should be in our bed and one of us should be in hers. Girlfriend is crazy.  Nat has been back at daycare after about a week off and that was brutal for B at drop off on Wednesday but by time I picked her up she was totally fine. Next week she will have a full week with Ms. Cheryl which will be good. We have also hit a wall with getting dressed. Nat is refusing to wear anything but dresses and skirts (not skorts, skirts). Thank God Old Navy is having a disgusting sale right now so we were able to snag some more dresses. The last thing we need is a clothing battle while we adjust to life with a newborn. 

Best Moment: I always love getting to check in on baby brother :) While I don't always get the best news, it is nice to see that he is ok, stubborn but ok.  B and I also got to sneak in a lunch date after my appointment which was the best :) We went to Sardis which is where we went for lunch after our embryo transfer. Last solo date before we found out we were pregnant and last solo date before he comes, so fitting :)

I am also really happy to say that his room is finally complete! I will be sharing pictures of it next week :)

Can't Wait For: A little day date with my girl.  We had planned mani/pedis this weekend but I have decided it might be best to wait another week so that my nails still look fresh at delivery. #sorrynotsorry

a letter to my first born

Just as I took a moment to put into words all my feelings about B before we become a family of four, I wanted to gather some thoughts for Natalie. My mind has been all over the place these last few months thinking about how drastically life is going to change for all of us and there are so many things that I want my sweet little girl to know. 

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To the little girl who made me a Mama: 

For months I have searched for the right words to tell you how much I love you, how proud I am of you and how excited I am for this next chapter in our story. I don't know that I will ever be able to truly express how grateful I am to you. You changed my world so much for the better on the day you were born. Through nervous tears and sleepless nights, you taught me how to be a mother.   

Over the last few months I feel like I have watched you transform from a toddler into this incredible, independent, witty, sassy little girl. You amaze me every day with the things you are learning, the compassion you show others, the ideas you are putting together and your creative, imaginative mind.  I know you are going to do big things in this world, Natalie Grace, and I cannot wait to watch your story unfold. As nervous as I am about you having to share my love + attention and me trying to balance my love and affection for both you and your brother, I am excited to navigate this new chapter with you (and, of course, your father).  I know you are going to make an incredible big sister and Everett is so lucky to have you.

In the coming months, I ask you to please give me some grace. I know I will be trying desperately to give it to myself as well.  This world of two children will be new to me.  If I am short with you or if I snap at you, please know that it is never my intention to hurt your feelings. You, and your feelings, are so incredibly important to me. And honestly, my love bug, chances are good, you will have done nothing wrong. Your brother will need my attention and he cannot communicate with me the way that you can. Please use your words and, perhaps, gently remind me to use mine.  I will be frazzled and anxious and sleep deprived and that will in no way be your fault. Please know that I am trying. Please know that while I won't really know what I am doing, I want to be the best I can for you and your brother. The beginning will be rocky, but we'll get the hang of it. I promise.

While your life is about to change, I hope for the better, I want you to always remember that you were the first. You will always hold that place in my heart: the one who made me a mama. Until your little brother arrives, I plan to soak in every little bit of you: every smile, every sassy word, every hug and kiss, every moment of life with just you. And when Everett arrives and the time of just us comes to an end, I want you to always remember that I love you beyond words, Natalie Grace, and no one can replace you.

Maternity Pictures | M&M Photography

There has yet to be a milestone for my child(ren) that does not involve M&M photography and I was not about to let Monique off the hook when it came to documenting this pregnancy.  We always love working with Mo because of her easy going and flexible nature.  Plus, she always captures that truest essence of my wild little girl.

Since Monique is a family friend, we opted to go with a less structured shoot.  I didn't stress myself out over coordinating outfits. Luckily, it just happened very organically.  I didn't stress about poses that I just had to have.  I have a pinterest board of them, of course, but nothing I just HAD to have.  I went with a very open mind this time which was different for me and poor Mo wasn't sure what to make of it at first.  She has known me for a long time and she knows what a control freak I can be.  I mean, I knew I wanted pictures of me (duh) but it was just as important to me to get some pictures of B and Natalie together too. I wanted to make sure I had pictures of Natalie during these last few weeks of just her. I need to remember my girl at this age, in these moments, as sassy and wild and carefree as she is.

We met on a Saturday morning at Hidden Hills Farm and Vineyard and while the weather was overcast and cloudy, the views were still breathtaking.  The general manager, Barbry, was really nice and incredibly accommodating.  We had pretty much open access to the vineyard and were able to get some really incredible pictures.  The owner of the farm and vineyard, Art Sagoskin, was sweet as can be and gave Natalie a tour of the barn. She loved meeting the horses, especially Princess.  (She has yet to stop talking about Princess.) If you are ever in Frederick County, Maryland I strongly encourage you to check this place out. 

As always, if you live in the MD/DC/NoVa area, Monique is the best for family pictures :) She is a breeze to work with (even my picture taking hating husband enjoys taking pictures with Mo!), incredibly easy going and really captures the spirit of children. I could not be more pleased with how these pictures turned out!

baby #2 | 36 weeks

How Far Along: 36 weeks! 

Size of the Baby: Baby W is the size of a honeydew melon!

Pregnancy/Sleep/Labor Signs: We are still chugging along. My fluid is still high and that is cause for some concern but I am trying not to let it get to me.  This pregnancy has been so much easier physically but mentally, I am about done. I am having a hard time getting tough news at every appointment. I don't know how much more I can deal with.

I haven't had any major swelling and I am still wearing my rings so I am feeling extremely happy about that!  We're at about 1 cm dilated and I am interested to see how we're progressing at the end of the week! I am still sleeping ok. Not great sleep but great sleep for 36+ weeks pregnant so I'll take it.

Bump/Belly Button/Weight Gain: The bump is big. He is out as opposed to wide which I am really ok with; however, I am dying to sleep on my stomach again. So far I am in the clear as far as stretchmarks go but I have been lathering myself like crazy in cocoa butter to keep my skin hydrated. Here's to hoping I can make it the next few weeks without any sneaking in!

Thanks to food poisoning/the stomach bug from hell last weekend, I am still only up 36.5 pounds. You won't hear me complain about that!

Cravings/Aversions: Food is still pretty hit or miss. I am nervous about eating and I get so uncomfortably full that eating is holding less and less appeal. Watermelon has entered my life in a very big way and I have been eating a ton of it. I am lucky my husband is practically a professional watermelon cutter.

Big Sister: Nat had a really bad cold/fever this weekend which is why this post is so late.  Friday afternoon she threw up and spiked a fever. She has been coughing up a lung and her temperature was been between 100.5 and 102.4 most of Friday night and throughout the day on Saturday. Even with being sick, she is the sweetest.  She has been especially needy the last couple days but I'm not sure if that's because she is sick or we have been talking more and more about baby brother getting here soon.

B and I were talking about how she was out of sorts yesterday and B looked at her and goes, "who were you yesterday?" and she goes "Don't you remember?! I was Natalie! Your daughter!" 

Miss Anything: Not really. I am ready for life to resume normalcy... or I guess for our new normal to start.

Best Moment: I got to take a peek in on baby brother. While a BPP is not the most ideal reason to get to do that, and overall it was a rough appointment, it was nice to get to see him.

Can't Wait For: Another scan next week! I am hoping that next week is my last scan with the MFM. I love Dr. Kramer to pieces and think he is a brilliant physician but I am ready to be done with the high risk scans and scary news! I am also looking forward to finishing up baby brother's room FINALLY. Also, Nat and I are planning a little girl time and I am going to take her for her first mani/pedi probably next weekend :)