BIG NEWS: Baby #2 Coming in July

I’m pregnant with baby #2 and our little family couldn’t be more excited to add a little nugget!

At the time this is posted I’m 16 weeks pregnant and our little boy or girl is the size of an avocado

I’ve thought a lot about how to share this pregnancy — I can’t start this post without first acknowledging how incredibly blessed and thankful we are to be pregnant. Not long after Hayes turned one we started to try for our second child and five months later we got our positive pregnancy test.

Five months is not a long time, I know that. It’s not lost on me that we are incredibly fortunate and that five months of trying is more like a snap of my fingers. But I’d by lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed when we got those negative pregnancy tests. And there were moments when I doubted if I would be able to carry another child. I know that is only a fraction of the heartbreak and disappointment that so many women go through during their pregnancy journey.

I really do believe that God’s timing is the right timing. I had some health concerns earlier this fall that I was able to get cleared up with testing that would have been more complicated if I were pregnant. I have also been significantly more sick with this baby than I was with Hayes. Had we gotten pregnant earlier I would have been going through the thick of first-trimester sickness while Jeff was in cross country season busy with practice every day after work.

We are thankful, thankful, thankful for this pregnancy and its timing. Also, we are so excited to grow our family and see Hayes as a big sister!

When is the baby due?

Baby #2 is due to arrive on July 2, 2020. Our little ‘merica baby!

Will you find out the gender?

Not until the little one is born!

I know this drives some people nuts and honestly I always thought as a planner I wouldn’t be able to wait, but I loved keeping it a mystery with Hayes. I thought she was a boy the entire pregnancy and when Jeff lifted up her leg and told me she was a girl we both started to cry. I wouldn’t trade that moment for anything. Plus, we have a full stock of gender-neutral clothes and accessories, so boy or girl, bring it on!

Is Hayes ready to be a big sister?

I am certain we will have some jealously to work through and “how to be gentle” lessons, but I think Hayes will be a wonderful big sister. She has an opinion and a side of sass, but she gives hugs openly, laughs often, listens incredibly well, and is really a sweet girl.

Recently she started taking dolls and stuffed animals and treating them like her baby — she wraps them in a swaddle, pats their back, and feeds them with bottles. It’s super cute and gives me hope that she’ll be an attentive and helpful big sis!

Will the baby have a room in your new house?

Yes! We are converting the room that the previous owners used as an office into the nursery. It’s the smallest of the four bedrooms and right next to Hayes’ room and our bedroom.

We haven’t started to renovate the room yet, but I’ll be sure to update you all when we do. It will be a unique layout, most likely with a crib in the center of the room because of the lack of wall space. I’ll without a doubt be Pinteresting ideas. As we start to paint and put things together we’ll share before and after photos with you.

When did your bump start to show?

People told me baby #2 would show early, but woah I didn’t know that they would show that early. With Hayes I started to show around 18/20 weeks and “started to show” is a loose term, as you can see in the photo below. I sent this photo to my friends and family when I thought I had “popped”, but I’m not sure that qualifies as a bump, especially when compared to what I looked like at the end.

With this pregnancy, I felt changes in my body as early as 8 weeks and I think the “popped” stage was around 10 or 12 weeks — so early! I didn’t do a great job of strengthening my core again after having Hayes and I definitely think that contributed to the early pop — although people laugh when I say that and remind me that my “body just knows what to do”. I don’t mind the bump though, so bring on the bump huggers instead of my usual cozy flowy tops.

When did you tell your work that you’re pregnant?

I’m extremely close with my team lead. It feels impossible to hold that information from her — because she would suspect it and because I want her to know. So I told my team lead when I was about 6 weeks pregnant.

And since I have been really sick with this baby I took full advantage of our flexibility and the ability to work from home. I’m normally in the office every day so the rest of my loving coworkers found out quickly too, probably around 10 weeks. It’s tough to hold it in when you’re so sick and can’t function like you normally would.

Everyone is different with when they tell people, but my philosophy on telling work, friends, and family is to tell my closest people early. If anything were to happen to the baby, I would without a doubt need their love and support.

How many kids do you and Jeff want?

For some reason I have always wanted four kids, but we are both open to whatever feels right. At this point, it’s too hard for me to say how many kids we want vs. how many we can handle financially and mentally 🙂

I came from a family of four and Jeff came from a family of nine and we are really close with our siblings. I would love that for our kids. We’ll just have to see!

A full post of first trimester updates will be on the blog soon, be sure to comment here or on Instagram with any questions you want me to answer — I’m super excited to share this journey with you guys!