16 months... and a Surprise!

That's right-- BIG BROTHER!

Little Wilder baby is not so little anymore. He's going to be a BIG BROTHER! We're expecting Baby Boatwright #2 in early October! Wilder is 16 months old today and I am 12 weeks pregnant!

We're entering an age of exploration with Wilder. He loves to get around and work on his little stacking or sorting projects. He can sit and "read" his books for quite a while. He also loves to interact with us and play. Lots of laughs around here. He's sweet-tempered and snuggly, and we are so happy to get to watch him grow.

First, Wilder's monthly recap:

• Don't know height and weight this month! He's mostly in 18 month old tops and 12 month old bottoms. Size 4W shoe.
• He eats like a champ. It's amazing how much he can consume! Last night he had a serving of rice, a serving of beans, 4 shrimp, 4 slices of pear(he had the rest of the pear at lunch), a piece of a tortilla, 5 strawberries and a couple of bites of yogurt! His favorite meals are anything with rice and bits of meat. Such as: stir fry, chicken and rice, etc. He also really loves pears, strawberries and blueberries.
• Still not officially walking, but Wilder has taken a step or two here and there. He will lightly hold our fingers and walk all over the place and he's really adept at getting where he wants to go by cruising along walls/tables/chairs.
• Wilder has been sleeping from bedtime to morning many times this last month, which is a big change. He's been sleeping more than usual, but he's had an ear infection and is healing from that. He still takes one nap a day, but several times the last two weeks he's taken 2 or 2.5 hour long naps. That's a lot longer than his normal naps. It could be antibiotics though!
• Wilder says mama, dada, mimi, ow and uh-oh all the time. Sometimes he'll say "fix" when he wants you to put a toy together and "ettie" for ellie. He'll say "buh" for blueberry. He communicates a lot with pointing and babbling sentences, and can sign "more" and "eat." He also started holding his hands up and making a "???" type noise when he has a question. He can point out just about anything you ask for in a book.
• He doesn't watch much TV, but we recently discovered The Very Hungry Caterpillar on Netflix. Wilder LOVESSSS this show. He will grab the remote and turn not he tv just to watch it and he is so engaged during the short story. I think maybe he's getting inspired.... hence his eating frenzy. :-)
• Favorite books are any with trucks in them: Little Blue Truck, Zoom, and obviously, Trucks. He points out trucks on our walks, especially blue ones.
• Wilder loves to be outside. He smacks dandelion puffers, digs in his sandbox and especially moves mulch from the flower bed to the grass. He will be out there for at least an hour at a time and is completely content.
• Wilder is a snuggler. He loves to give hugs, to rest in our arms and to just be close with us. He's a real sweetheart.
• Still nursing, but less and less as my supply is going down due to pregnancy. It makes me sad, but the times we do nurse are sweet and we make up for it with the aforementioned cuddles.

Here's some photos of Wilder!

His daily goal: move ALL the mulch from flower bed to grass.

He looks so much like my little brother David here!

man on a mission: crawling can't stop him!

This is today!

So my turn now! I'm 12 weeks today. This time feels different in several ways. I'm tired, but I was tired before! If I had to pick a defining moment of my first trimester, it would be sneaking naps together with Wilder while he's nursing. I still have to work, so when Wilder is asleep, that's when I work. I have been able to take a grand total of 3 naps this whole pregnancy! Big change from the first time around.

I have been battling illness more this pregnancy though. I've spent a lot of time in dr. offices! allergic reaction on my eyes to some makeup, broke my finger, had two colds and now I have a sinus infection... lots of stuff. It's taking me longer to bounce back from colds right now.

I feel like i've had less nausea than the first time, but i still have aversions and cravings. I love mexican food, especially tacos and unfortunately carbs are where it's at. I still have a single cup of coffee--no aversion to that this time around, but in the afternoon, coffee does smell gross to me. Leftovers don't smell or look good, and fish is pretty much not working for me right now. My favorite meals I used to make are now gag-inducing. I still make them sometimes because they're favorites of Zach and Wilder, but I can't eat them. I'm super sensitive to the smell of foods. Looking forward to this part being done, but I'm very grateful for minimal nausea.

I haven't gained any weight yet this pregnancy yet. I started out weighing 12 lbs less than I did at the beginning of Wilder's pregnancy. Part of that could be that I'm still breastfeeding though. I felt like I'm not in as good a shape as last time, but I'm regularly power walking with Wilder in the stroller for 30+ minutes several times a week. If i could get back into weights, that would be ideal! Last year i was doing body rock HIIT workouts at this point still, but that doesn't work for my post-baby body so I do other types of strength training. I'm counting down to when I can do prenatal yoga... which is now! I can't wait to pick that up again.

People ask us if we want a girl, and honestly, I'm glad God is in control. We would be happy either way. I'd love Wilder to have a brother close in age, but I would also love a girl because we are not sure if we'll have 3 or not yet. We are very excited to expand our family and grateful God gave us another precious baby to love.

Overall, I feel much less anxious with my second pregnancy so far. I spent so much time worrying and things worked out! I'm relishing my time with Wilder, and all of the worries I had with that pregnancy are just not here. Our life changed, but it was for the better. Another baby is more changes, but I know there will be more blessings too. I know I can be a mom and can handle newborns and sleep deprivation and marathon nursing sessions and blowout diapers... and I am excited to do it all again, armed with a little more experience and a little less fear about screwing up (Hopefully). My labor with Wilder was the most difficult thing I've done in my entire life.... but it was rewarding. And I have faith that God will bring me through a second labor. I am praying that it's shorter, and the odds are in my favor! Knowing that I've been through that pain and my body did what it was created to do makes me less nervous for this next labor. I was so very anxious about labor last time, and now I'm just anticipating that not-too-distant day because I am looking forward to cuddling a precious newborn Boatwright.

This has been a very long post--thanks for sticking with me!