new room

A few months ago, we converted a small three-season sun porch off the back of our house into a year-round bedroom for Matteo. The sun porch was great and well-used but losing the space in the winter was tough. When we learned we were expecting another baby we knew we needed to expand and would have to say goodbye to the sun porch as we knew it.

Here is what it looked like when we first moved in:



And last summer, when we used it as an extra playroom:



And now, ta-da - a four-season big boy bedroom!



I love that he has his own little room and I'm really happy with how it turned out. Being able to use that extra space through the winter really has helped make the house feel larger. And now that we know we're having two boys, eventually we'll probably give them both of the spaces to share with one room for sleeping and one for play.

But I have to admit, on sunny days with all of the windows open, that daybed was a *really* pleasant place for a nap.



Lucky for us (insert sarcastic laugh here) our napping days are going to quickly be behind us. I have the feeling we're going to be too busy to even think about those lazy sun porch afternoons.

(Oh yeah - STILL PREGNANT.)

40w

Today is my due date. "Still pregnant!" is my response when anyone asks how I am.

Friday I was SURE I was about to go into labor. I had been having contractions since the night before and it just *felt* like things were on the cusp of progressing to the next level. I left work early, picked up Matteo, and came home to a houseful of friends watching basketball, drinking beer and cooking huge amounts of Mexican food for us. It was awesome and perfect.

And then the contractions stopped.

Since then I've been pretty crabby. I'm exhausted and achy and ready to get this show on the road. There is something about hitting - and passing - the due date that I find really frustrating. (Coincidentally, Matteo was also due on the 26th.) Even though you know that only 5% of women deliver on their actual due date, it's the answer to the question, it's the date circled on the calendar, it's the number stuck in your head from the day you find out your pregnant and are able to calculate when you are due. So when it comes and goes you're kind of like, "oh, ok...now what?"

Hopefully, this time around I won't have to wonder when for quite so many extra days. 

the second time around

This pregnancy has seemed so much quieter than when we were expecting Matteo. With a first baby there were showers to attend and baby gear to assemble and throughout it all I chronicled every little twinge in my journal.

With this baby it's like, "wow, how did we get here already?" I'm in my 40th week and the baby could come at any time. In just a matter of days my youngest son will be born into this world.

Am I ready? In some ways I've been ready for this for years. I've always seen myself with two children and I'm looking forward to all of us finally meeting each other and being together. But in other ways I feel like I've forgotten everything! Pain management during labor? Uhhhh... Feeding and changing a newborn multiple times a night? Hmmmmm... I've kind of blocked all of that stuff out.

Sometimes I feel a little wistful that this will mostly likely be the last time I am pregnant. I don't particularly enjoy being pregnant. I see women out running and I watch my team playing lacrosse and my own body feels so cumbersome and heavy and ungainly. I look forward to having my regular body back so I can hold Matteo on my lap again and put my shoes on without breaking a sweat. But I'm trying to appreciate these days, too. Carrying a baby is such an intimate experience and when it's all over and our baby comes into this world, there is a part of me that will miss the closeness that only we will have ever shared.

spring training

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