The Sequel has finally arrived!

It was a long wait, but I am so happy to introduce to you ...

Hudson Nolan Coleman

Born: December 16th, 2010 at 10:15pm

Weighing in at: 8lbs, 7oz

Measuring: 21.5 inches

I was induced on Thursday morning, and after an all day wait for labour to intensify and what looked like a bleak prayer that he would be born on the 16th, he surprised us all and made a quick entrance.  PC was by my side as was my favourite nurse Sophie Savage 9. Grandma and Grandpa's were enjoying good conversation and some Tim Horton's when it all went down (much to their surprise)! Labour was good and delivery was quick (I will share this labour story at a later date, as it was a much different experience from E).

We got home for the hospital on Saturday morning and everyone is doing great.  E has been an amazing big brother, nothing but love and kisses for his baby. It seems so surreal that we are now a family of four, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

 
Thanks to everyone for their kind emails, tweets, and facebook messages about Hudson's arrival. He is the best little gift we could have ever dreamed of... I think it's going to be a GREAT Christmas!

What will Ho Ho Bring You?

Putting E down for the last time tonight as an only child! We had a short little bedtime conversation about what is to come tomorrow...

Heading for an induction!

So... I am almost 41 weeks pregnant.
That's code for 'shoot. me. now.'

For those of you who don't follow pregnancy math all that closely, that's an entire week past the regular 40 week pregnancy.  While this baby has dropped and I am dilated 1 whole cm (you need to get to 10 cms before the baby is ready to be pushed out), there is no real indication that he is planning on making an entrance anytime soon.

I am sleeping pretty well, feeling comfortable, and so is baby - apparently.

I saw the doctor on Friday and she took the initiative to schedule me for an induction, Wednesday, December 15th, in the event The Sequel decides to keep up the 'I'm just fine where I am' attitude.  It seems like a ways off, but I am excited to have a foreseeable end date (even if it happens to be on the one year anniversary that Grandma Coleman past away). 

My parents arrived on Thursday night and have been a welcome addition to the household and E's busy days. They came straight from the North Pole with enough Christmas presents to fill a Boeing 747 aircraft! E has been entertaining them with all of his tricks since the moment they arrived... as if he's earning every present under the tree! I can't wait to see his face when he gets to tear into all the presents - but first I have the JOY of labour to look forward to (and of course meeting my new baby boy)!

Keep you posted - either here or via Twitter!

One last belly update... 40 weeks and counting!

Yesterday, I took advantage of a day home with E and decided to take a few last photos my baby belly - since this will probably be the last time I have a belly this big (hopefully)! I am feeling pretty run down these past few days, but I am still trying to keep a positive attitude, and to cherish the miracle of being able to carry such a precious human being inside me. I know that the tail end of pregnancy is not a lot of fun, but I also think when I look back at these photos I will see the love I feel for this baby, and the bond that has grown between us over the last 10 months.

PC offered up 10 minutes of his lunch hour and snapped these photos so I will have them to include in The Sequel's baby book.

I hope they scream 'I love you to pieces my baby boy and I can't wait to meet you'.  E was also willing to participate in the photo shoot and I think the few pics we did get reflect his excitement as well!

The Sequel's New Room

The last few weeks I have been busy (as has PC) preparing The Sequel's room. You may recall a post I wrote about being the baby of the family, and how I wanted to do a little make-over on the nursery so that it was special and unique for the new baby. At the very mention of this, PC rolled his eyes, but actually he was quite relieved when the only thing I requested him to do was paint one wall.

In E's nursery we had a green accent wall, and for The Sequel I wanted to do the accent wall blue - so PC got to work and in no time at all it was a totally different room with just two coats of new paint on one wall.

I added in the new baby bedding I ordered from Target (shout to my BFF Bee for sending it to me), with some wall decals from All Posters.ca and with that, The Sequel's new room is now ready to roll.

All we need now is... The Sequel!

Hopefully it won't be much longer, but for your viewing pleasure, here is what he is coming home too!

Ready to have this baby...

So... its GO time, except nothing is going. 

I was hoping The Sequel would have arrived by now, but in true Sara fashion... he is gonna be fashionably late. 

I am not sure why, but I had it in my head that this baby was going to come early.  E was 6 days overdue... so for some reason I thought The Sequel would be 6 days early.  It appears that is not the case. I have been driving myself a little crazy the past few days, everytime I feel a little twinge or cramp I think 'oh, here we go' but the truth is its more like 'here we go NOWHERE'.

I know with E I had the true nesting urge a few days before he arrived... cleaned cupboards, bathrooms, floors, and even cubby holes I had forgot existed. But this time around I don't think the nesting thing has happened, unless of course 'emailing the cleaning company to see which day they are coming' qualifies as nesting.

I have basically done everything I wanted to do in my time off leading up to my due date.  The baby's room is ready, the Christmas tree is up, the laundry is caught up, I have a lot of my Christmas presents bought, a few wrapped. My bag for the hospital is even together.

There is literally nothing big I want to do - and it makes me mad a bit, because I know once The Sequel arrives, I will be dying to get out and about for an hour to myself.

I really want to have this baby in the single digits of December... but its looking like it will between the 10th and the 15th at this rate.  My OB wasn't in any rush to get me on an induction list... he said to come back and see him next Friday (the 10th) and we'd go from there! JOY!

I'll keep you posted... because what else will I have time to do but blog and tweet!

A letter to my second child!

Dear Baby Boy-to-be!

Your pending arrival is only a few short weeks away, and I can't wait to meet you!

Its been awhile since I had my first peek at you... you were only 8 weeks developed when I got to meet you on the ultrasound screen, and while I was somewhat shocked at your creation, my love for you began from that day and has only grown with every month I've carried you.

Your Dad and I got to see you again at 13 weeks, 20 weeks, and a final peek at the 32 week ultrasound, and I am so happy to see you're developing just as expected. 

Your Daddy and I decided to find out if you were a boy or a girl, and we were overjoyed to learn you are a baby boy. Not only do we have some experience with parenting baby boys, we also know a great role model for you in your big brother Emery. We are thrilled that you two will be close in age, and hopefully the best of friends as you grow up (but that's for you two to work out!).

My pregnancy with you has been fairly routine... you are much more active than your brother was, and often times when E and I are reading stories, or playing 'choo-choo's' you give me a nudge or a kick just to let me know you are part of the group.  I really can't wait to have you physically in my arms to hold you and love you and introduce you to E in person.

I am so curious to know what you look like and see to if you look like your brother or more like Daddy's side of the family. By the looks of your lips on the 32 week ultrasound, you and E will have that feature in common, but I know you will have your own distinct features as well, and I can't wait to see them!

I also have a special place in my heart for you, the second child, the baby of the family. Your Dad and E have the first-born thing together, but you and I will be tight on the second child stuff and I am fully aware of all the pros and cons of being the second born in a family, so not to worry my sweet boy, I'll have your back!

One thing I want you to know is that no matter what you do in life or what choices you make, your Daddy and I will be here to love you, support you, and guide you, whatever the circumstances may be.  That goes today and everyday we have with you. We truly are blessed to be able to bring you into this world, and we know that being parents to two special boys is a privilege we will not take for granted.

I know I have a bit of anxiety about going back to the newborn stage of parenting... but between the four of us, we will work through it, and I know we will have our routine down in no time.

Yes, my sweet sweet boy... you will be in my arms in a matter of weeks, and there are so many people who can't wait to me you, and get to know you. You are a lucky little man, and I can't wait to introduce you to our family - you will complete us and make us a wonderful family of 4!

All my love...

Mom
xoxo

Baby Bump Update

A few of peeps have been asking for a baby bump update on 'The Sequel', so here it is... nothing too pretty, I can see a stretch mark from my pregnancy with E that is rearing its ugly head much to early in this pregnancy - but I guess that goes with the territory this time around.

The funny part about this pic is that, when I was pregnant with E, I think I took belly pics at 12 weeks, 18weeks, 22 weeks, etc., but here is my first belly pic of 'The Sequel' at 24 weeks - "sorry buddy, its not that we don't love you, its just that Mommy and Daddy are bit lazy with the camera these days"!

Nevertheless... presenting the belly @ 24 weeks!
Yee-haw!

On being 'the baby' of the family...

It's no secret that I was the baby of my family... not only was I the youngest sibling, I was also the youngest cousin of the Bellerose side. The baby of all the babies.

Being 'the baby' definitely has its advantages... there is no doubt about that. My sister had to test the waters and break in my parents, she basically paved the way for allowing me to do things bigger, better, and earlier.

As the baby of the family, you always got a little more attention, after all, you were 'the baby' so like most parents, my parents wanted me to stay young and innocent as long as possible, and so in a sense, they babied me just a little bit longer to see that happen.

I always remember how upset my sister and her friend would get when I would try to interfere with whatever they were doing (mailing out magazine subscriptions on behalf of the entire town!) - and I would go crying to my Mom and her friend about how they wouldn't let me in... so, in order to avoid complete disappointment, my Mom's friend would offer me a popsicle as a mediation tool. Being 'the baby' always had it perks!

But, while the perks were good perks, the drawbacks are still present in my memory. Let's talk hand me downs... as much as I enjoyed getting bags of clothes from older friends, it also meant I got less new things - unlike my sister, who was rolling the new duds all. the. time. And the hand me downs were not just in the form of clothes, were talking bikes, skates, skis... the list goes on. I remember the one year I was actually allowed to get a new bike... what a year that was - a purple Toys R Us special... it was such a kick-ass bike, and it was my very own - brand new, all mine! A focal point of my childhood as you can tell!

Aside from that one time, being the second owner of everything definitely shaped my personality for my adulthood - I like new things, and I am pretty sure that's because I didn't get a ton of new things as a child (I know, my mother is reading this thinking I had plenty of new things and wasn't deprived the least bit - and being realistic, I had it pretty good, but the second hand stuff is still present in my 30 year-old memory!).

Now, that I am faced with having a first born and 'the baby' of my own family... I am conscious of making sure my 'baby' of the family does have new things - but at the same time I can see how 'the baby' becomes the queen/king of hand me downs. Finding out I was having a second boy was exciting because I didn't want all the good clothes I had bought E to go to waste! So naturally this baby will inherit a lot of E's clothes - but if I may toot my own horn - they are very decent clothes! However, in terms of other things, I am going to do my best to ensure that 'the baby' of the family has his special moments, and his special things - different from his brother's and new and special to him and only him.

Yes, it will be a challenge, and I am sure I will get in caught up in the 'but, its still in good shape' mentality, but being the baby of the family myself I think it will be top of mind to make sure there are new things for him... starting with his baby room! Although it would be easy to move E into a new room and leave the current nursery as is, all set-up for The Sequel, I don't want to do that. I feel like so much effort went into planning E's room and this baby deserves just as much thought and planning. E will still get a new room, but The Sequel will also get a new nursery... maybe not a complete makeover, but new bedding, new wall decals and new things to call his own.

Of course, PC, being a first-born in his family does not see the point... he thinks its a lot of work and money for something The Sequel will probably not remember, but this is where the 'happy wife equals happy life' theory comes into play. I won't back down on this one, because as 'the baby' of my family, I know starting things off on the right, non-hand me down foot, is crucial!

All this say, I get to go baby bedding shopping again... YAY!

What do you think... are you the baby of the family, or a first-born? Did you feel one way or another about your siblings getting new things, or getting hand me downs?

A look at The Sequel at 20 weeks!

Just a quick peek at our newest addition.... from my 20 week ultrasound. He is cute as a button and resembles E so much ... during the ultrasound he had his hands behind his head for the majority of the time... much like E when he was first born and still is like that today! Already E and his baby brother have so much in common.

Big News!

So... I haven't visited the blog in over 3 months... CRAZY, I know, and totally not like me, but I've had a very good excuse ... I'm pregnant with number 2 or as I like to say: The Sequel. This baby has been draining the life outta me for the last few months, or perhaps just the blogging life out of me.

Either way... while I love to write and rant, I just couldn't bring myself to spare a moment for the blog... and sadly enough I haven't even been reading any blogs lately. All things bloggy have just dropped out of my life. But... no more! While I can't promise to blog on a regular basis, I can promise to TRY to keep my little space of the blogosphere a little more interesting than the last little while.

For starters, I had my 20 week ultrasound yesterday and we found out some pretty exciting news. My first pregnancy we decided to do it the old fashion way and wait until the baby's arrival to find out it was Baby Boy. This time around... we did the opposite and utilized the fabulous technology to get to know the newest addition to our family a little bit earlier.

There were two choices.... BOY or GIRL, Baby Brother or Baby Sister for E....
After a lengthy ultrasound... we got the good news, E is going to have a...
Two boys for this family... and we are pretty excited! It's so weird knowing... because in my head I am already picking out the coordinating outfits they will wear to special events, and I am sure PC is thinking they will be close enough in age to play on the same sports teams! I think the bond of brothers is a special thing... and I am so happy it will be part of our family!

I have just under 5 months to finalize all the details for the arrival of: The Sequel - and I really can't wait. From moving E into a new room and picking out new things for this baby boy - its going to be a busy couple of months - yet a lot of excitement as we build towards December 6th.

I promise to keep you updated on all things baby, but also few pregnancy hormones stories. I don't anticipate flying tacos this time around - or anything too crazy, but ya never know when pregnancy takes over and my filter quits working... I've come close a few times this week!

At any rate.... thanks for checking back with me - and I am so happy to be able to share my exciting news with you!

Baby BOYS! Yay!