The Waiting Game...

The wait is on!  Our due date is just ten days away and we are ready for this baby to arrive!  His room is set up, the baby swing has been pulled out of storage, the instructions are typed up for our parents who will be taking care of Camden.  The end of a pregnancy is tricky.  Will this be my last night putting Camden to sleep with my attention focused solely on him?  Are we stocked up on groceries for our families and Camden during the time we're gone?  Do I have everything packed for the hospital?  Is the house in order in case it happens today and we need to leave?  And then of course, there's always the possibility that I might not go into labor until six days late like I did with Camden, which just extends this waiting game even longer!  My friend, Lynne, who lives in the dorm next to us, just had a baby just a few days ago.  Her little girl is only seven pounds and holding her yesterday was a surreal experience!  The fact that they estimated that my little guy was already about 7.5 pounds last week made it pretty weird to be holding a baby smaller than the one that has been moving inside of me for 38.5 weeks!

Camden has been practicing his big brother skills.  He carries Curious George around the house.  Tells me that George wants to nurse.  Burps George.  Pretends to change his diaper.  Puts George down for naps.  He's going to be an amazing big brother and I can't wait to see the two of them together. 

We are SO excited to meet our little one.  Anxious about labor.  Praying for no back labor this time.  Sad to be leaving Camden behind...But so excited to be holding our little one in our arms...FINALLY!

Surprise!!!

So, I had my first ever surprise party last night!  My family organized a surprise shower for me and Baby #2 and I had NO idea it was happening!  Scott has known for over month and he usually can't keep a secret.  He's the type of husband who always says, "Guess what I got you for your birthday?  Can I give it to you early??"  And I always love tradition and surprises, so I cover my ears and run away and wait until my special day.  Needless to say, it was very impressive that he didn't let this one slip!  We had a fun Labor Day weekend cookout planned with our two families together at my in-law's new house in New London.  I didn't think twice about this, because our families are very close and it's common for us to do activities all together.  After cleaning up dinner, my Mom and mother-in-law came outside and put a "Mommy To Be" purple sash over my head!  I had seen my aunt and uncle arrive and thought that maybe we were just going to have a little family shower, but they led me into the house to a room full of friends and family!  I don't know how I was so oblivious to all those people arriving at the house and sneaking in the other door, but I had no idea!  It was a wonderful evening full of delicious desserts, good conversation and lots of presents and surprises!  Thank you to everyone who helped make last night so special, especially my mom, Mom A, Caren and Sarah (and Scott of course!).  Our little guy feels VERY blessed and can't wait to join such a wonderful family!

Here are some pictures from the family BBQ and the surprise shower!!!

Following in our footsteps!  :)

Dad and Clara's new dolly...I couldn't resist posting this!

Pop manning the grill...

And then, without any warning, I turned into the guest of honor!

SURPRISE!!!

My sister snuck into our house and grabbed these photos off the wall in the baby's room!  It was a nice touch!  :)

Talking with my friend Lynne who works at Proctor with us.  We were pregnant together with our first pregnancies and now we're just a couple weeks apart again!  Can't wait to meet her little one!

Everyone wrote little blessings on these cute cards and hung them on this clothesline!  Love it!

Thanks Amy and Cope!  Love these!

Little Miss Clara...

Lynne, Me, Clara and Amy...

The whole group!  Thank you all SO much!  What a wonderful evening!

Thoughts From an Expectant and Nervous Almost-Mother of Two

Wow, it's hard to believe that I'm 32 weeks along in this pregnancy.  That means only 8 +/- weeks to go!  Aghhh!  I had an appointment with my midwife earlier this week and all of a sudden the end is feeling very near!  There are only 2 weeks before I meet with her again (instead of the usual 4 that we've been doing) and then it's almost weekly after that!  We're starting to talk about labor and thinking about what I want to bring with me to the hospital and what we're going to do with Camden during that time and when/how we want Camden to meet his little brother.  There are so many things to think about - I was awake from 12:30-1:30am in the middle of the night last night and just couldn't shut my mind off!  Everything seems a bit more complicated this time around.  My fear of labor is intensified - I didn't really know what to expect the first time and I got dealt a really rough hand...so now I have the fears that this labor will be a repeat of the first.  Will my water break 14 hours before labor begins (which caused Camden to get in the wrong position)?  Will active labor be 21 hours long with 5 hours of pushing (dear God, I hope not!)?  Will I have the energy, strength and determination to do my best to have the natural birth I'm hoping for or won't I be able to handle it?  Will Camden be OK with our families during this time?  He's very well-adjusted to both sets of grandparents and loves his cousin Clara, but we've never left him overnight and have barely had anyone else try to put him to sleep (he wakes up so much, will he be OK when Mama and Daddy aren't there to comfort him?). 

Luckily I know that I am in great hands.  Our midwife is amazing and extremely talented and experienced.  Scott proved to be an incredible support physically, mentally and emotionally during our trying labor with Camden and I know he will be amazing once again.  Our families are so supportive of us and will do everything they can to help us through this time of transition...but it's still scary! 

Despite all of these fears and nerves, I am SOOOO incredibly anxious to meet our little guy.  He is SO active inside of me and I'm dying to hold him in my arms and love on him.  Camden keeps telling me he wants the baby out right now.  He wants to play trucks with him and help mommy take care of him.  I'm sure it will be a HUGE transition for Camden, but I know that despite some rough times at the start, he will make a wonderful big brother.  We have had some difficultly nailing down a name that we really love for this child, and when we asked Camden what we should name him, his response was "Bruce."  We have NO idea where he heard this name (it sounds more like "boooce" when he says it), but he now refers to the baby by this name all the time!  When we throw out other ideas to Camden to see if he likes a certain name, he says, "No Mama, Bruuuuce."  Haha...he keeps us laughing. 

It's hard to believe that in less than two months I will have two little boys to care for, to love, to snuggle.  I'm having trouble figuring out how my heart is going to expand to love this little one as much as I already do without minimizing my love for Camden, but I know God will miraculously multiply the love I am able to give.  I can't wait for September.  There are big changes on the horizon, but God is faithful and will walk with us through this time.  I can't wait to hold this new little life in my arms and welcome him to our family.

Our Professional Photo Shoot!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, we had an incredible opportunity to have a family photo shoot with Faith Ostan Hall Photography.  Faith went to Gordon with Scott and me and has pursued a career in both teaching and photography since she graduated.  She is super talented in both areas, and we were thrilled to have her take some photos of our growing family!  She did a random giveaway on her Facebook fan page, and I happened to be the winner of a free photo shoot!  I was so thrilled, as this is something I've always wanted to do (especially now that I'm pregnant), but knew it was probably not something we would pursue on our own.  We had a blast spending a beautiful, sunny, HOT afternoon with Faith at Lynch Park in Beverly, MA and are just so grateful for her generosity.  She is so creative, so professional and so fun to work with.  Thank you so much for this incredible gift Faith!  We LOVE how the photos turned out!  Here are some of our favorites (I had such a tough time narrowing down (as you can see!)-you can see all the photos on my facebook page)...

THANK YOU, FAITH!  Now I have to get some of these framed before Baby #2 arrives or it will never happen!  :)

Big Boy Bed

Camden is growing up SO fast!  I feel like we just brought him home from the hospital and here we are preparing to do that with Baby #2 in just a few short months!  Eeek!  Camden is totally embracing his "big brother" role so far.  He loves to kiss and hug my belly.  He talks about "Baby" all the time.  Today he brought his little doll over to me and said we needed to change his diaper.  We spent the next ten minutes pretending to change his doll, nurse him and burp him and Camden completely involved himself in the pretend play.  It's pretty cute to see him starting to ready himself for this big change.  I'm sure when it actually happens it isn't going to be such a smooth transition, but the fact that he's preparing himself now is great!

Just last week we decided to start the process of transferring Camden to a toddler bed.  We are moving him into a different room, in a different bed, and want the transition to be complete long before our second child comes along and "kicks" Camden out of his current room and crib.  We are home for a couple weeks with no overnights away and thought it would be a good time to start seeing how he did in a big boy bed.  We found a beautiful wooden bed at a yard sale in New London (at a big, gorgeous house where you know they only buy the best and take good care of their belongings) and had it set up in this second bedroom for a few weeks now.  Camden enjoyed reading books on it, and got used to climbing on and off, but we weren't going to push the sleep thing just yet.  Well, last week we felt like we were ready.  We rocked with him in the rocking chair like we always do and when he was sleepy we plopped him down in the bed (with a pillow and blanket and everything!) and he slept for a solid 90 minute nap!  He did that twice that day, so we figured we would try it overnight as well!  We stuck with our normal bedtime routine and Camden slept soundly in his toddler bed until morning!!  We were (and continue to be) a bit shocked!  When he wakes up in the morning or after a nap, he sits on the bed and waits for us to come in and get him.  He's never climbed out or tried to walk into our room or anything!  AND, I have to say, I think he's sleeping better now!  Morning wake-ups have been pushed closer to 5:30/6:00 instead of the typical 4:30 pattern he had been in and he's very rarely waking up at night.  Now, he points to the crib in his old room and say's "Baby"...he knows it's not his bed anymore!

We are so proud of our little guy and so thankful that he's transitioning well during this time!  Let's all just keep our fingers crossed that the positive trend continues!