Butterball season

(Playing a little 'catch up' so this post is a bit long-winded.)

Thanksgiving is coming, Thanksgiving is coming. Oh how I lurve me some turkey day! This year we'll be hosting the family at our house for the big eating festivities. I enjoy a house full of crazy, loud, generally whacko family members...and then I realize that I enjoy the subsequent empty house following their departure even more.

Speaking of butterball, guess who has gained an impressive 32 lbs. so far with this pregnancy? Yes, that would be moi and my just-got-its-own-zip code belly. Bear in mind that I gained 41 lbs during my entire pregnancy with J and you can easily do the math to realize that, with 13 to 16 weeks still to go, I'm going to blow my old 'record' out of the water. The strange thing is that I seem to have gained it all in my stomach. Honestly, for just over 6 months along, I am huge in the belly.

The good news despite all of the weight gained is the fact that I passed both my one- and three-hour glucose tolerance tests. So far, no GD for me--yea! Of course, they did do the three-hour test earlier than normal just to see where I stand currently and I do have to go back and do another three-hour test in two weeks time. Hopefully, it comes back normal again.

In other baby news, A and I can not come to an agreement on a name for BG 2.0. I have my heart set on one name and one name only, while he has his heart set on another name (one that was our #2 contender when I was expecting J). His choice is one of our nation's most popular names and has been on the top ten list for the past 5 years or so which is why I don't want it. I have no problem with the name itself, it's just that I don't want my daughter to be one of 10 with the same name in her school classes one day. I don't think that'll be the case with J and in keeping with her not-too-popular name, I figured the second girl should have a name fairly in keeping with her big sister's. Not anything that rhymes or anything like that, just something with a similar 'feel.' So we go round and round, and try to come up with a third name that we can both agree on and just go with it but so far, no go. It's a little frustrating to say the least. Of course, I do like to raise the point that since this baby gets pushed out of my girly bits, I should get a double vote in what her name gets to be. A's not buying that argument though. Damn it. Any name suggestions you have would gratefully be considered.

2.0 passed the 'magical' mark of viability last week and I am heading boldly towards the third trimester in a few weeks. I still can't believe it. She kicks and rolls and twirls around with wild abandon and I love it. The big girl, J, is blossoming as well. She seems to add new words to her vocabulary every day and it's amazing to see the connections she makes between objects and words. She is a true joy and a baby no more. She is firmly in the realm of toddlerhood now, and I love her to bits.

I forgot to mention that I had jury duty a few weeks back (and ultimately got selected for a trial). One of the other potential jurors (when we were still being questioned to be on the jury), an older grandmotherly-type, struck up a conversation with me in the bathroom. It started out innocently enough--how far along are you? is this your first? etc. When I mentioned that I had a then-15 month-old daughter at home, I got the critical stink eye and a "wow, they'll be really close in age." My reply? "Only 20 months and since I'm getting up there in years, we decided to knock them both out of the park in short order" in a lighthearted manner. Thankfully, that shut the nosy woman up. If only she knew that it wasn't so easy as 'knocking them both out of the park in short order' (but it was the best reply I could come up with off the cuff).

The fact is, at 37, I certainly didn't expect trying for another child to be such short work. In fact, I thought to myself that we were so incredibly lucky the first (actually, second) time, there was no way it would happen again. Especially when it took us four years to get to J...so yes, I realize every. single. day just how amazing this pregnancy is. Just the fact that we managed to get pregnant again is huge. That she is healthy and thriving is more than we could hope and dream for. The icing on the cake. The fact that they'll be 20 months apart to me simply means that they'll hopefully be playmates and friends for a long time to come. Oh, and that I'll be in diaper mode for a good long time.

I look forward to what the coming months hold and intend to savor every moment that I can. 2.0 will complete our family, making A the lone male in a house full of estrogen.

I look forward to what the unknown future holds. To dreams, and realities, family dinners, family vacations, heartbreaks, skinned knees, and so very much more. Time flies by at an amazing clip; I intend to treasure it--and to stop and smell the roses--as often as I can. These days, stopping to smell the roses means a romp in the yard with J, watching her face light up on the swing set or her calls of joy as she chases after the dogs. These are the true moments of joy, where I know just how incredibly lucky I am. I'll never ever forget that.