Ponderings and Worries

Well here we are the almost end of this pregnancy.  Well not quite yet, I still have seven-ish weeks left give or take some days.  I will have to say this pregnancy has literally flown by, I feel kind of bad for the little guy, haven't really paid too much attention to him.  Too busy focusing on life and chasing after Roman.  But he reminds me he is around by the constant heartburn, indigestion, excruciating back spasms that make me walk like an orangutan and his dislike of basically everything I eat.  The hunger finally came on around 29/30 weeks.  I have had an insatiable appetite when I'm not grossed out by all that surrounds me.  Confusing right?  So this puts me in the running to gaining even more weight than I gained with Roman, hooray!  On top of that when I go in for my bi-weekly checkups with the doctor they have noticed I have more glucose in my pee test.  So now I get to retake the glucose/diabetes test this week to see if I have developed late stage gestational diabetes.  So over it but my doctor said she doesn't want me pushing out a ten pounder which I would have to agree with her on that, it doesn't sound like a pleasant experience.  Otherwise, we are finally trying to get things ready for the little guy.  Cleared out the office space in the spare bedroom to make room for another nursery.  We have the crib and dresser just need to put them together.  We also still need to paint and decorate the room, but still plenty of time right?  I think so.  Not to mention the other various house projects going on at the moment (finishing the new office space downstairs, refinishing the dining room table/chairs, etc).

So I've been thinking a lot lately when I'm awake after my 5:00 am bathroom break and I worry about raising two kids.  I think everyone has these worries when they go from one kid to two.  I worry about giving them enough attention, not neglecting Roman.  He is so used to being the center of attention and I love him being the center of attention.  Now to share it with another baby.  Juggling a toddler and a baby.  I just don't want Roman to feel left out.  He does really well with little babies so I think he'll be ok, he's very gentle and likes to share.  But I imagine it'll be different once there is a little one in the house 24/7.  I guess we will adjust and it will be ok.  Right?  Any advice from parents with more than one kid and how their transition went would be welcome.

As for Mr. Roman, he is growing every second, he's 19 months (1 1/2 years for those who don't do month counting).  His gibberish is starting to make more sense, he says "let's see", "uh'oh", "all done", and a few other phrases which I can't think of right now.  I guess I should write those down.  He lets us know when he has a dirty diaper so we really need to start potty training but gah I'm so tired I haven't the energy but I need to push through because I am over changing his diaper somedays.  He absolutely loves playing outside especially if he has his soccer ball or another type of ball to throw around.  He gets real clingy sometimes and its impossible to put him down because he locks on around you.  Little man still loves to eat.  He has his breakfast routine down pat, fruit, eggs, toast or waffle and some kind of breakfast meat, usually sausage its his favorite.  Lunch is usually light, a yogurt and fruit or pb&j.  Dinner is whatever is on hand unless I make something I know he won't eat. Then we open a can of beans and rice with broccoli and call it a night.  He did surprisingly well on our trip to Pennsylvania, its a ten hour drive.  But we stopped twice at rest areas and let him run around and he was fine.  He only had one meltdown each way so I would say it was a success :)  His love of music hasn't diminished.  We saw a band on Saturday and he was fascinated by the guitar player.  He likes to give high-fives and blow kisses, but only when he's in the mood.  Other times he's like yah, dude, I don't know what your doing but I don't do that.  I think our bedroom routine is my favorite part of the day.  After his bath, we read a couple books, turn out the light, do our prayer and snuggle for a few minutes.  He's already getting grown on me, before we had to rock him to sleep now after a bit he points at his crib and is like, hey put me in there I want to go to bed.  So I'm trying to treasure these moments because I know it'll pass fast.  So that about brings us up to date.  I'll try to post one more time before baby boy #2 arrives.

Right top picture he's dancing around in the breadcrumbs he spilled all over the floor.

29 weeks with Roman and 33 weeks with #2

March Already?

Wasn't it just January or February 1st?  I mean seriously, what gives? Anyhoo, sitting here this Monday morning trying to not fall asleep on my keyboard so figured I'd do a little update on the Regina household.  Mr. Roman is 17 months now!  So almost a year and half, I can't believe it.  Yes I will continue to be amazed every time he gets older.  Mike was saying the other day "just think when Roman will be all grown up and doing his own thing".  Of course that made me cry and be super depressed.  No, I refuse to think of him being a grown man and leaving.  He's my baby, don't rush it!  I'm already impressed by how much he has changed in a year and half.  He likes to imitate what we are doing all the time.  Mike and him were at the table and Mike crossed his arms and laid his head down and Roman did the same thing.  So adorable.  Or him and my mom were bending over and looking at each other.  He knows how we lock the doors but can't quite turn the lock himself, but he's trying.  I love when he stretches up on his tippy toes to reach something.  He's getting better at listening if we tell him not to touch something or to put something back or pick up his toys and put them away.  Even though that doesn't apply to the dog's water dish which he still likes to splash around in.  He likes to help with the laundry i.e. he pulls everything out of the dryer and climbs on the clothes while I'm folding, lol.  He plays with the pots and pans, mainly the pots, he pulls them out and arranges them on the table or living room floor and puts things in them.  Sometimes when he's done he puts them away too.  His new favorite thing to say is zeta.  When he really likes something or gets excited he goes "Zetaaaaa!" I have no idea where he got that from.  He also likes to say uva (which is grape in spanish).  He climbs onto the dining room chair and sits down when he is hungry and ready to eat.  At bedtime he likes to pick out the book we are going to read to him.  He claps for everything.  Still loves music, we were jamming to some spanish rock the other night.  Music and dancing come in handy when he starts to have his little meltdowns.  He loves to watch Caleb and Sophia videos and especially the children's songs on the JW site.  He climbs onto everything and is extremely curious and doesn't forget.  If we are trying to redirect his attention he stills goes for the original object or goes in search of it if we moved it.  I've tried to get him interested in coloring but all he wants to do is eat the crayons.  So for now we stick with his dollar store drawing board, which entertains him for a bit.  He also enjoys torturing his cat, Vader, by either laying or sitting on him.  Which I think the cat is partially to blame since he is too stupid to move.  Because our big cat, Padme, stays as far away from Roman as possible.  I really want to get Roman involved in activities outside the home.  I think swimming classes would be great since he loves the water.  Oh and lastly he likes carrying our dumbbells around the house, which he has been doing since he could crawl.  He picks up my 5 lb weights and moves them around and the 3 lb he carries around like its nothing.  Little muscle man.  I think that about brings us up to date on Roman shenanigans. 

Reading, wearing daddy's boots and in service

Generally cute all around

 As for baby no. 2, he's coming right along.  I'm at 25 weeks, almost 26 weeks, which is about 6 1/2 months.  Which would explain the increasingly larger baby bump, roughly the size of a soccer ball according to BabyBumpapp.com.  I still don't know if I'll get as big as I was with Roman but only time will tell.  I've just started mild swelling in my fingers.  My wedding rings are getting quite snug.  Also, my feet aren't swollen but they feel wider.  Hooray for platypus feet (please note sarcasm).  The shoes I have on today definitely feel tight.  My back is easily aggravated with simple chores of just sweeping the floor.  I've always had lower back problems but they are worse while being pregnant.  One thing that I don't have this go around, splitting pelvis!  Last time I felt like my pelvis was being ripped apart and it clicked when I walked, not this time, thank goodness.  Even though you still won't catch me doing a 5K.  I can feel little baby boy moving now, not crazy movement like some moms mention but I feel a pulse or thumping in my lower abdomen.  I'm always trying to figure out what he's doing when that happens, is he stretching or kicking me, possibly punching me?  Umm what else?  According to my babyapp he's the size of a rutabaga and weighs around 1.5 lbs.  That's all I can think of for right now.  So till next time kids :)

My mom tells me I don't have a double chin this time around, thanks mom!

We are having another boy!

Well take that people!  Everyone is all like, you are having a girl because of this and that blah blah blah.  As the doctors say and all the books say every pregnancy is different and doesn't mean a thing when it comes to gender. I'm just happy he looks super healthy and no problems so far :)

I wish I could find the video clip of this, hilarious!

This pregnancy I haven't gained the weight like I did with Roman.  I was a massive whale with Roman and swollen from day 1.  Basically wearing flip flops and crocs the last 5 months lol!  This time around, I've put on weight but mainly just the belly.  No swelling yet but I'm sure that will come.  Not craving tuna or Bojangles this time.  I don't really have any specific cravings, like I need to eat this or I'm dying.  Usually I'm just like, I need to eat.  Definitely more food aversions, like fish, blech.  I'm off potato chips, how sad is that?  I love potato chips.  sniff sniff.  This morning everything in the fridge looked disgusting.  I had to make myself eat a bagel so I wouldn't starve.  More emotional this time around, like sobbing into the pillow emotional.  Why you ask?  Because my hair is flat or some stupid reason who knows, hormones!  Umm what else?  Let's see I'm 19 weeks, so almost half way!  I've felt the baby move a few times.  Definitely more active than Roman.  At the ultrasound appointment he was all over the place.  I'm really tired but I think that's more of a combination of keeping up with a toddler and being pregnant. I think that's all there is to report this time around.  Its so nice knowing the gender, now we can actually start planning everything out.  I don't get it when people like being surprised.  The suspense would kill me.

Mr. Roman update:  He is almost 16 months! Well, really 15 1/2 months.  Someone asked me the other day how old he was and I said 15 months and they paused for a minute then said, oh 1 year 3 months :p It'll be nice when he's a year and a half and I can just say that instead.  Right now I'm in that weird in between stage with his age.  So he's definitely keeping us on our toes.  He figured out how to climb onto the couch which means he's figured out how to climb onto everything.  He can climb into my mom's bed by balancing his feet on the sideboard and grabbing hold of the armchair and bed.  He climbed onto the desk in the office the other day and grabbed hold of the "empty" ink cartridges and proceeded to get ink everywhere after falling off said desk.  He still has a fascination with catfood and eats it every chance he gets.  Actually he puts everything into his mouth.  Right now he likes grabbing hold of the lotion or diaper cream and opening and closing the lid and licking what's on top.  I tell him he's weird.  He loves books, he likes turning the pages and pointing at things.  Sometimes he mumbles to himself like he's reading.  The board books they make for kids frustrate him because he has a hard time turning the pages.  He does pretty good with normal book pages.  I need to get him some Dr. Suess books, he'll love those.  Right now he likes to hear his Llama Llama story before bed.  He doesn't say no yet which is great but he does say uh-uh or if you're talking to him he'll go, huh? Every single time.  He's also adding some more words to his vocabulary, he learned the word vacuum the other week, why that stuck in his head and not more common words is beyond me.  Its still a struggle at the meetings, it feels like its getting worse instead of better.  We are going to have to incorporate some quiet time at home so he can get the hang of this.  He just wants to get down and walk and that's his main frustration.  He's probably thinking, why do I have to sit?  This is bananas.  Speaking of sitting, we are flying to California tomorrow so I'm not looking forward to that.  Here's to hoping he sleeps the majority of the flight. lol!  So that about catches us up.  Till next time!

Into everything

Am I "smizing" in that first photo? Looking crazy lol. 5 month comparison shot

End of Year Wrap Up

Is it really almost the end of 2014? Is it just me or did this year just fly by? Seriously, I blinked and it was over. Not sure if its because I'm in my thirties (which everyone says time goes faster the older you get) or if its because we have a kid now (everyone says time goes faster when you have a kid). Maybe a combination of both. Boh! So nothing too interesting going on at the moment. Roman is getting bigger, he's almost 15 months. When do I stop telling people how many months he is and just start saying years? When he's like a year and half? I don't want to be one of those moms saying "oh he's 34 months".

He's reaching the stage were he's super clingy and if we don't pick him up he just goes into hysterics. I just let him have his moment he usually calms down after a minute or two. Its kind of funny we just step over him and leave him there on the floor throwing a fit. Then he opens his eyes and is like, hey? They didn't pay attention to me, oh well and goes about playing with a toy or doing something else. Now at the meetings he's getting very fidgety. He'll sit for a little bit, like 15 minutes at the beginning then he's like, ok I'm done. Put me down. Then he starts twisting and turning and making all kinds of noise and we have to get up with him to the back. Please tell me this phase doesn't last forever. We can distract him with books for a few minutes but then he throws everything on the floor. So I'm at a lost what to do. Any helpful advice would be greatly appreciated. He really is a good kid though, even though I made him sound like a little terror up there. lol. He loves playing outside and just exploring around the yard. He follows Leela everywhere its so cute. He's getting slightly better about throwing his food on the floor when he eats. Now he only does it when he's done eating. Hooray, progress! He loves music, he stomps his little feet and claps his hands when there is music on.

His vocabulary is still the same, mama, daddy, doggie, see and dank-eww (thank you). He also says uh-uh all the time, he'll say it for anything.  He doesn't really get the concept of no yet.  But if we don't want him to touch something we tell him its hot.  He knows what that means.  It was funny last night at the meeting he was sitting on Shelly's lap and he wanted to grab her earrings but we told him no that they were hot and he shook his hand like oooh hot and wouldn't touch them.  Mmm what else, what else.  That's all I can think of right now.  We want to start trying to potty train him.  It scares me a little bit but I know it has to be done at some point and I would really like him potty trained before baby number two arrives. So that'll be interesting.

As far as pregnancy number two goes, its coming along.  Once I hit 12 weeks the nausea finally passed, Thank Goodness!  Its horrible feeling nauseous all the time.  Besides being ravenously hungry I forget there is a baby in my belly.  With Roman I had time to sit around and read a bunch of pregnancy books/websites and think about the little life that was growing.  I read my baby tracking apps being like, oh today he's the size of a lemon or whatever.  Now I'm chasing after roman and when I do sit around I take a nap, lol!   My doctor's office was just like oh baby number two you already know all the rules so your good.  And meanwhile I'm thinking, hey where's my little care package for new moms with all the instructions I'm supposed to follow.  I know its only been a year and half but I forgot half the stuff I'm not supposed to eat.  All I can remember there is something about fish/shellfish and all meat needs to be well done.  Good thing I'm totally off fish right now, the sight of them grosses me out.  No particular cravings, well maybe McDonald's cheeseburgers but that's about it.  Which is funny because with Roman I couldn't eat hamburgers I just ate my weight in chicken tenders from Bojangles and spicy chicken sandwiches from Wendy's.  Which I do still enjoy but I don't crave them like last time. Of course now that I'm writing about it I want a chicken sandwich.  So, so far so good.  All my tests have checked out normal and baby is growing fine.  I am managing to exercise this pregnancy and since I started out smaller then when I got pregnant with Roman I'm keeping my weight down.  I'm hoping not to gain 50 pounds this pregnancy but if I do, oh well.  We find out what we are having on January 15th.  Taking all guesses on what you think we are having ;)  So that's about it.  Until next year.  And I leave you with this comparison shot, I was three and half months pregnant with Roman in the first picture.

13 1/2 Months

Sorry guys, I've been meaning to update the blog with Roman's latest milestones, like turning a year! But work and life kept me busy and I didn't have a chance.  So I'm taking an opportunity on this gloomy Monday morning at work to bring ya'll up to speed.  So let's see what's been happening since the 10 month check up.

Ok, last time Roman took his first few steps, well he's been walking since 11 months so he's basically an expert now.  He practically runs around the house.  He loves it when we chase him, we tell him, I'm gonna get ya! And he takes off running and giggling hysterically.  Another fun game is telling him to get Thumper (my mom's shih tsu) and he chases him around the living room trying to catch him.  I'm not sure its that fun for Thumper, lol.  He likes to crawl up the steps but we have to be with him because he hasn't mastered coming down yet.  Well he'll come down but not the right way.  He really likes being outdoors and playing in the yard, just exploring and checking things out.  With us being in Autumn, he likes crunching around in the leaves.  When we are out in a public place I don't like putting him down because he doesn't want to hold our hand and he just takes off.  Little chubby face of determination not even looking where he is going but where ever he is headed he's going full speed.

As far as food, he's usually pretty agreeable with most meals.  He always wants what we have so I don't really make him separate baby food, just a smaller portion of our dinner.  Since he only has 4 teeth he can't chew somethings so unless the chicken is really tender he'll spit it out.  Even though he can eat crackers and pizza crust just fine, hmm, little trickster.  We can tell when he's done because he starts playing with his food and throwing it on the floor for the dogs.  They hover like satellites around the table when we eat now.  He's also completely weaned now (at 13 months) and drinks his milk, juice and water out of sippy cups.  Its so nice.  His new thing, which he has been doing for about the past month, if we don't give him something fast enough or what he wants, he falls over to the side and cries or screams.  Sometimes its funny but I  try not to laugh so I don't encourage him.  It only lasts a few seconds then he manages to compose himself and he likes oh, what I wanted was right here the whole time.  He does it when he's playing too and wants something, we just ignore him and he stops after a few seconds and goes right on playing.  I read its just a phase and I sure hope so. 

Umm what else?  He says mama now along with dadd-deee.  I think he said Nana the other day for grandma but I'm not sure.  He also says dank eww for thank you, he's really good at saying that for various things.  The funniest thing when he's talking baby talk and just babbling, if he's really into what he's saying he gestures like crazy, like he's trying to get his point across.  I tell Mike, Roman is so Italian because I sure don't gesture like that.  At his last checkup he weighed in just over 25 pounds and I think 30 inches tall.  So still a big boy, wearing 18 month old clothes and size 6 shoes, sniff.  His little tiny feet got big so quick.  Another cute thing is our bedtime routine.  He gets his bath and all ready for bed.  Then we pick out a book and he brings it to me and climbs on my lap and we read a story before bed.  Its so precious.

Well I think that brings us up to speed.  I'll still try to do semi regular updates on Roman along with updates on how pregnancy #2 is progressing.  So stay tuned...

11 Months and everything in the mouth

Assembly and knocked out

Everything is funny

Little man

10 months

Well, here we are at 10 months.  Little guy just keeps on growing. No matter how much I want time to slow down I don't think its going to listen.  Roman has mastered the art of crawling and is all over the place.  When he really gets moving his little hips are swinging from side to side making tracks, reminds me of a snake slithering away.  The poor dogs are so tired.  They can't lay down to relax and can't go upstairs because of the baby gate. Thumper was jumping on the couch to get away from Roman but now he can reach up there and still grab at him.  On July 11th he started standing with no assistance.  Sometimes he'll stand clapping his hands or he'll squat to pick up something and stand right back up.  Then last night he did it!  He took his first few steps without holding on to anything.  It happened so quick I almost missed it.  I know in the next few weeks as he gains more confidence we are in for it. 

As far as food goes, he eats almost everything.  He's taken a disliking to broccoli recently I have no idea why.  He doesn't like pureed baby food at all.  Which stinks for me because I have a ton of frozen pureed butternut squash in the fridge.  Have to figure out what to do with that.  He's so funny when we are eating.  We have to time our meals with his because if we are eating and he's already done, he wants what we have too.  We have to eat at the table now, no more being lazy and eating on the couch because he's like, hey, whatcha got there? You gonna share? You're not! WAHHHHHHH!  I feel like this kid eats all the time.  For me, when I'm home I eat breakfast, skip lunch and make dinner sometime in the evening.  With hungry Roman, its breakfast, nurse, nap, lunch, nurse, dinner, snack, nurse, go to bed.  I can't figure out how all that food fits in his belly.  He also is completely refusing to take his bottle/sippy cup with my milk or formula when I'm not home.  He wants it directly from the source.  However, we have found out he will take regular milk in his cup, so here's hoping he'll be easy to wean when we hit a year old. 

Roman loves to say dadadadada all the time.  He calls all of us dada.  Every blue moon when he's real upset he'll cry mamamama.  Guess I'm the bad guy lol!  He's pretty good at saying cat, dog-gay, dum-pah (thumper).  He likes to strum his lips and make weird gurling bubbly noises, he thinks its hilarious.  I need to record it so I don't forget the sound. When he's all done eating he puts his hands up and waves all done.  We got him some new toys that require more interaction, he likes to turn them on and catch the balls and put them back in and start all over again.  Or listen to the different songs they sing.  He was playing with one of them last night and I remember when he was a few months old that toy looked so big next to him now he can pick it up and press all the different buttons.  Amazing how much he's grown in such a short span of time.  That's all I can think of for now, until next month little guy!

Assembly and at the doctor's office

First time in the ocean and his fave spot, the dog bed

First haircut and into everything (don't worry we baby proofed the kitchen after this pic was taken)

Let's see, does it fit in my mouth, good

Eight and a half months

Here we are at almost nine months!  My little baby is growing fast!  I thought time moved fast when you hit thirty, well it revs up to warp speed when you have a kid.  Little man is growing right before our eyes.  I just bought him some shoes a month or two ago and he has outgrown them and moved up two sizes, plus he's more comfortable in 12 month clothes, sometimes even 18 month pants fit better depending on the brand.  I'm still trying to squeeze some life out of his 9 month onsies though, lol!  I don't know how much he weighs because we haven't been back to the doctor since he was 6 months.  At that time he was 21 pounds, so on July 1st we find out how much he weighs (because ppl ask ALL the time).

Now that he has been crawling for over a month he can really pick up some speed.  Sometimes when he really wants to go he does this weird crawl on his hands and feet, he doesn't even use his knees.  He's pulling up on everything and I mean everything.  He pulled over his exersaucer on top of him, the side table too.  The exersaucer was kinda funny cause it was all slow mo and he looked around like, why is this on top of me?  If we are in the kitchen he'll crawl over and pull himself up using our pants or just grabbing our legs.  He likes to cruise around the edge of the couch, checking things out and grabbing for the remote.  Sometimes he sneaks up on the cats and grabs a tail or a handful of fur.  They are really good about it, they cry until they can break free, no scratching or biting at him.  He loves when we walk him around the house.  He can walk just holding one of our hands for a couple steps, he's wobbly but getting better at it.  I know once he walks there will be no stopping him.  He will be into everything.

As far as food goes, he's still nursing but eating 2 to 3 meals of food a day.  He likes fruit better than vegetables, big surprise there, ha!  Or it could be he just doesn't like pureed veggies.  He's real funny about texture.  For example, mashed bananas, he hates it.  Give it to him in chunks and he loves it.  Same with avocado and green beans.  So sometimes I give him pieces of my broccoli or squash and he loves it.  And of course he enjoys meat as if there would be any doubt since he is 1/2 argentine ;)  And what will definitely help him in his food consumption is his first tooth!  I finally felt one tooth yesterday.  Which would explain the extreme crankiness, crying all night that was going on last week, sheesh!  He is quite the healthy eater and hopefully won't be too picky when he gets older.  And if he is getting fussy you can always pop a cheerio in his mouth ;)

So little munchkin, you keep on growing and we will keep on enjoying every second of it.  Even all the crying, late nights we have with you.  Because those other moments when you lay your head on our leg or shoulder and sigh contentedly or you clap your hands from happiness or laugh at your mommy dancing for you or daddy belly flopping on the bed are so worth it.

Into everything, literally

Big boi on the move

With family and friends (btw little Olivia is 3 months older than Roman)