Friday, March 22, 2013

Planned?


The question I am getting asked a lot is if baby #2 was planned? The answer is YES!!!

Before Ben and I got married we always said we were going to wait about 3 years before having kids.  We wanted to travel, pay off some loans, save, etc.  Well about 4 months after being married I had baby fever!!! I went off of birth control on September 1, 2010 and we got pregnant with Brooklyn in February 2011.  It took about 6 months-a very long 6 months it was, with irregular periods, my body thinking I was pregnant so I was lactating and a few other weird things. 

(To make this post a little less boring I am adding in some random pictures of my big girl!)
Loves her new cup with a straw!! When did she get so big?
I always new I wanted my first two kids close.  I thought 2 years was about the perfect age! I have seen great relationships form with siblings that are close in age! I know that the first year of having 2 kids will be tough, but I also know that it is just a phase and the reward for it all will (hopefully) be two siblings who love each other and are very close!

Her favorite thing to do right now is stack cups! She can do it all on her own!! She gets so proud of herself!
In October of 2012 I went off birth control again to try and get my cycles regular before officially trying for baby #2.  It came with no surprise that my cycles were not regular, 45 days, 32 days and 21 days.  Crazy!! In December and January we started 'trying' and just playing a guessing game as to when the appropriate time was since we had no idea with my irregular cycles. 

This girl loves her baby and she goes everywhere with us!! It is so cute to see how mothering she is! Hopefully that is a sign she will be a good big sister...we just need to work on how to properly hold the baby without strangling it! Ha!
In January we found out Brooklyn would be a big sister!! (Story here and here)

So, to answer the big question about baby #2...YES it was PLANNED and we couldn't be HAPPIER!! I can't wait to be a family of FOUR!!

(Sorry if any of this was T.M.I. but I blog for my keepsakes and an easy way to look back on life-it is real life and I want to remember everything the best I can in the exact way it happened, so for me, blogging is the best way to do that!)
Little miss would NOT nap and was a mess, I finally gave in and went in her room and rocked her.  My back was killing me in her glider and I knew she would wake up if I tried to put her in crib, so I laid her on her bear pillow on the floor-she slept like this for 30 minutes! Better than no nap!



Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Brooklyn-15 Months


Brooklyn-14 Months


The Floating Due Date

The title says it all...the floating due date for baby #2.  At my first OB appointment (8 weeks from last period) all was well and the nurse practitioner said my uterus felt like it was 8 weeks, exactly where I should be.  She gave me the due date of September 30.  Yay! Great!

I got home and did some calculations on baby center and some pregnancy apps on my phone and I kept coming up with September 28th.  I knew that 2 days wasn't really that big of a difference but I just wanted to know what was correct.

At my 12 week appointment last Friday (3/15) I asked Dr. Abey about it and she came back with the September 28th date.  So, that became my official due date!

Then, on Monday (3/18) I went to a specialist for the First Trimester Screening and during the ultrasound the doctor told me I was not as far along as once thought.  So...due date #3 was given! My official due date (#3) is now October 9th.

At first I was bummed, but I am over it, there is nothing I can do.  It gave me an answer as to why I am still feeling blah all the time.  Hopefully in one more week I will be feeling better and have my energy back!

I am excited for an October baby now!! It will be a great month! And, baby will share a birthday month with their daddy! Ben's is October 20, so hopefully there is no way they will share a birthday! Ha!

Hurry up October...

Telling our parents about baby #2

We were leaving for Florida on Friday February, 1st so I decided to take a pregnancy test the day before, on January 31st. We had been trying for a couple of months now, I was having irregular periods (again), so I wanted to know if it would be safe or not to partake in a few pina coladas or beers while enjoying the warm sunshine!!Ben kept saying that he knew I was pregnant, I would always roll my eyes and say "I doubt it".  Much to my surprise the test came back with 2 lines!! I was so excited and started crying! Brooklyn was still asleep and I couldn't wait for her to wake up!

I wanted to wait and have Ben come home for lunch so Brooklyn and I could tell him, but I knew I couldn't wait.  When we first started trying, I bought a Big Sis shirt from Old Navy, hoping Brooklyn would get to wear it some day! So, I put that shirt on Brooklyn and took a picture.  I took a picture of the positive pregnancy test and sent the 2 pictures to Ben in an email.  I called him and told him Brooklyn sent him something to his email.  He stayed on the phone with me and opened the email and he was speechless. He started to tear up, which made me start crying! It was a great moment! He came home for lunch and we celebrated with Chinese!


That night my mom was coming over to spend time with Brooklyn before we left for Florida for 10 days.  I had Brooklyn wear her Big Sis shirt so my mom could read it and be surprised.  Brooklyn always loves waiting at the front door for my mom to arrive.  When mom started walking up the front walk I was getting excited for her to see Brooklyn's shirt.  Mom came in, picked Brooklyn up, gave her some hugs and kisses.  She was oblivious to the shirt. Meanwhile Ben is walking in the door from work and I look at him and whisper "she hasn't noticed yet". After a couple of minutes I told mom to look at Brooklyn's shirt.  She held Brooklyn out and read the shirt and started screaming with excitement and joy! It scared Brooklyn and she started crying! Ha! Mom and I both cried and hugged! It was special!
We always head straight to Captain Curt's/Sniki Tiki when we get to Siesta Key and enjoy lunch and a Landshark.  Well, we knew that if I didn't order a Landshark to drink Don and Janet would wonder what was going on, so we planned for Brooklyn to wear her Big Sis shirt again to Sniki Tiki!  When we got in the parking lot, Brooklyn and I stayed in the car so I could change her shirt real quick.  I had her walk to the table so her shirt would be easy to read.  She walked over to Don and Janet and they were so happy to see her they didn't notice her shirt.  After standing there for a few minutes, Ben finally said "Read Brooklyn's shirt".  Don read it and said "Another one?!" and Janet got excited and gave me a hug! It was a special moment at our favorite place in Siesta Key!

I knew that I wanted to tell my dad and step mom by incorporating the beach somehow! We didn't make it to the beach until Sunday, and it was a little chilly! We sat Brooklyn in the sand and wrote in the sand "BIG SIS" and took a picture.  I text my dad and told him that I would be texting him a picture of Brooklyn soon, so to be by his phone! He said he was ready for the picture! I sent it! He called me and was very excited and happy! It was perfect!
Ben felt bad that we hadn't told his mom yet, I suggested waiting until we got a picture at the beach and we could send it to both my dad and Lisa, but I guess Ben didn't want to wait so he forwarded Lisa the original email I sent Ben with the pregnancy test and Brooklyn in her Big Sis shirt and then he called her and told her to check her email.  She was very excited and happy too!

It was a lot of fun telling our parents in different ways!! We can't wait to meet baby Brunker #2!!!!

Big News from Brooklyn...


Baby Brunker #2 will be here the end of September!! We couldn't be more excited!! Such a wonderful blessing and miracle!!

You know how you have an idea in your head and you are bound and determined to do it? Well, that is what it was like with announcing this pregnancy using Brooklyn and a chalkboard.  Whew, was it difficult. I saw the idea on Pinterest, of course, and I knew I wanted to do it! So, Brooklyn and I headed to hobby lobby for a chalkboard and chalk markers! I tried many times a day for several days to get that girl to cooperate and had no such luck! Luckily, the weather warmed up to around 50 degrees and I took her outside and put her in her swing with the chalkboard.  It was the best I could do! Her facial expressions are funny and she looks clueless but hey, it gets the message out!
I got these 3 pictures printed on cards from CVS and handed them out to close friends and family!

Stay tuned for more pregnancy updates, I will be doing weekly updates just like I did with Brooklyn!