He's HERE!

So this post is just shy of 5 days late.

He is here!

Miles Alan Talicska
12/2/2011
3:55 pm
8 lbs 9oz (actually 8.8oz according to official records-- which is super lucky for this Japanese gal)
21.5" long

Miles arrived after a fun adventure filled induction.  After thinking we were in for a long day, Miles let us know that he was good and ready to come right then.  Just a few pushes and his cute little face popped out sunny side up.

We have been home since Sunday and are all adjusting to being a family of four instead of three!

Big Boy Room

After much thought, we decided that it probably wasn't the best plan to do another nursery and then have to start doing big boy rooms only slightly down the road.  As you may remember, Charlie's nursery was, and is just about the most awesome nursery that was ever created, ever.  However, as time has marched on, we have found that we were changing the room quite a bit to keep up with a monkey, err toddler.  The room is perfect for a newborn and infant and quite frankly, I didn't want to do another baby room.  Hence, Charlie got to move into a big boy room!

This room was formerly our guest room.  It already was painted grey and already had shelves that I knew that I didn't want to remove.  So with that I decided the color scheme would be grey, lime, green and it would be Charlie's robot room.

The crib is in there just temporarily, so the wall behind it is pretty blank right now.  Once the crib moves out (in a year or so) we'll worry about decorating that wall to match the room.  We also already have a desk that will go in the space that used to be in the guest room and is now in our basement just chillin.

The room was definitely designed on the cheap.  The only things that we bought were:
Cordless Blind
Two Curtain Panels
Orange Fleece Throw for bed
Orange Spray Paint for Lights
Two Vinyl Robot prints that I made and then framed
LED Lights for the vinyl prints (a gift from Grandma Barb)
A couple clearance frames
3 Very clearanced bean bag ottomans from target (less than $10 each--- booyah)

Everything else was stuff that we already had... which was definitely a good thing.

And... ta da!!!! (Pardon crappy cell phone pics, too lazy to pull out the real camera)

There are three light switches for the room:  One for the overhead, one for the orange hanging lights, and one for the backlighting LEDs on the bots (this is what Charlie calls 'em "Bot Bot")

To the left of the shelves we pay tribute to some iconic Bots.  (Do you know how hard it is to find a decent picture of Bender where he isn't drinking or smoking??? Yeesh)

The chair to the left of the window is a chair that my great uncle Art made, and I recovered with fabric that an old coworker gave to me about 3 years ago.

And, because soft back lighting is the number one thing we loved in Charlie's first room--- here we are again.  This time it is a little more isolated in the room, but it is just as kick ass.

Pregnant Lauren looks like...

You may have noticed a lack of pregnancy pictures so far.  I'm not actively avoiding the camera, nor am I camera shy.  I just keep forgetting to take pictures and upload them.  So in other words, I am a slacker.

But, I do want to give you some sort of idea how I am looking.  Words can only do so much so here is a picture collage.

I don't look like this:

Or like this:

Definitely not this:

Most certainly not this:

Ah ha!  Finally, here is an accurate portrait of the current condition of my body!  And what a sight it is:

When are you due?

As with the last pregnancy, this is nearly the first question out of everyone's mouth when they find out that we are expecting.  I say "nearly" because we have had a handful of "what?!", "again?!", "are you f-in serious?!" Generally I don't really see these as questions but more as proclamation of inability to hold in one's emotions since the next question usually goes back to when we are due.

When we tell people our due date I honestly don't think that it registers.  Here are the two most frequent examples of the response we get, along with my thoughts.

Oh, December? You have a long way to go still.
Sure,  although I said December 2nd, as in the second day of December.  From today that is 122 days.  I wouldn't really say that that is too far off.

Oh, December? A Christmas baby!
Sure, although Christmas is three weeks away from December 2nd.  He'll be closer to a Thanksgiving baby.

I have actually started to say that we are due at the end of November.  Why? Because most likely that is when baby will be born.  Charlie was what my doctor refers to as a "good sized baby" and she has let us know that because of his size if we would like to be induced early she will totally back us.  So if I were a betting woman, you bet your ass I'd be guessing this baby will get an early eviction from Hotel Mama.

New Baby looks Suspiciously Like Old Baby

On Tuesday we got to take a little peak at the baby.  And of course we were excited to find out the answer to the whole he/she debate.  But we also wanted to make sure that baby is growing and healthy.  And boy is he. 

Little man is right on track just like his big brother.  He weighed in at the same, measured the same, and is sitting breech just like Charlie.

Also... he looks just like Charlie.  Now the pic we have is at a slightly different chin angle, because this is when the little guy was still hiding his goods.  His head is thrown back a bit because he is most definitely laughing at us. 

So what do you think? 

 

And just as a reminder of how cute our original recipe baby is... here are some of my favorite photos from this past hot as hell weekend.

What a doll!

Slacker Blogger- Retrospect #1

It is no secret that I was quite the slacker extraordinaire with this blog over the last few months (ok, so more like year).  It is with renewed vigor that I once again ask you if I can enter your homes with my poorly written stories and musings.

In honor of my top notch blog avoidance I hope to bring you all up to speed in a series of retrospects in no particular order.

Retrospect #1- "Charlie's First Birthday"

On the 16th day of this past hot and humid June, my baby turned one.  He was unimpressed by his chosen outfit, but he did like that he got special cake cookies at school.  It's the little things.  His official birthday party was to be Saturday at the lake, so his actual birthday was less than glamorous.

On Saturday, I was sick.  My mom was sick.  My dad was sick.  Charlie's Auntie Amanda was sick.  Matthew felt less than 100%.  ANNNND we had 24 guests scheduled to drive 1.5 to the party.  It was tough, but at 10am we called everyone and told them not to come. Part of the family was already there (or already infected) so we just kept it to a tight crowd that wouldn't get mad if they became insanely ill afterwards.

We felt sooo guilty for Charlie.  But, you know what, he didn't notice and didn't care.  He ran around like his little mad man self and had a blast.  He had a few friends show up to play with and that meant all the world to him.  That--- and cake of course.

Here is also his video/slideshow that I put together as a gift to him.  (More like a gift to his future wife, who I am sure will demand it for the rehearsal dinner)

Mmmmm... Cupcakes.

If you are a friend on facebook, you already know.  But of course, it is time to share with the world at large. Which cupcakes did we share with friends and family?

Yesterday at 10am we made our way over to our doctor's office for a little date with the ultra sound technician.  First things first she wanted to see what baby's sex was.  And, fail.  Baby was sitting very comfortably with legs crossed.  Poke poke poke.  Nothing.

At this point I starting thinking that neither pink or blue sprinkles would make an appearance.  But, undeterred, the scan went on.  We got to see all of baby's toes, baby's healthy heart and all of the wonderful bones.  Baby is measuring exactly on time and weighed about 12 oz.  

So, back we were to investigate between the legs.  Baby started wiggling toes and all of a sudden, boom, there it was.  There was no mistaking it, our next little one is a baby... BOY!

Charlie will have a little brother for his partner in crime.  I will be officially outnumbered.  I suppose now would be the time for me to learn to actually throw a ball, eh?

We are so excited to have another little guy.  It will be an easier adjustment in the household, although I will miss out on making little dresses.  But, one of these days one of our siblings will bless us with a niece, and you can bet your hat that I will spoil the heck out of her.

So where do we go from here?  My two main concerns now are names and lodging.  

It is weird, the names that we had picked out as back-up names when Charlie was born don't feel right anymore.  It feels like they all fell off the table because they weren't for him.  This leaves us with a blank slate and two very opinionated parents with different ideas of what makes a name right.

The second concern is nursery.  I love, and I mean LOVE Charlie's nursery.  I love everything about it.  That being said (because yes, I just said it) I don't know how I can compete with it.  I feel like everything that we do will fall short.  So, do I just put together a nursery?  Theme it up and move along?  Or do we make a new bigger boy room for Charlie and switch him out?  Ahhhh decisions.

Boy, Girl, Cupcake?

So tomorrow is the big day.  Yep, the BIG day.  I am so giddy I don't know how I will ever sleep tonight.
With this pregnancy I have been feeling a lot of guilt.  Most of my guilt is that since being pregnant is old hat I am really not treasuring all of the experiences like I did with Charlie.  I have no idea when I started to feel this baby move.  I know it happened one day and I wasn't surprised and I moved along with my day.  Same thing with my bump sticking out.  With Charlie I would practically measure to see every millimeter of growth.  Now every time I have to pull a short top down in the front I am surprised that my tummy is bigger.  I don't want baby to ever feel like he or she hasn't had the same love in the womb--- because baby has.  It's just that love now comes in quiet moments when I have time to sit and be with baby.
However, tomorrow this baby will have something that Charlie never had.  That is right, we are giving this baby the chance to show us the goods.  Not finding out the sex of the baby last time was my idea.  Finding out this time was a MUST and we both were gung ho.
Will it be a boy?  Will Charlie get a little partner in crime.  Will I be forever outnumbered in the Tal household?  Or will it be a girl that I can craft the world's cutest dresses for.  A baby that Matthew will never allow to date until she is 30 years old?  I can't wait to find out.  Eeeeee!

So let's take a peek at our odds...

Here are the BOY facts from Matthew and my families:
Number of Siblings that are boys- 3
Number of 1st Cousins that are boys- 10
Number of Uncles-7
Total-20

Here are the GIRL facts from Matthew and my families:
Number of Siblings that are girls-0
Number of 1st Cousins that are girls-11
Number of Aunts-1
Total-12

As you can see, the numbers are a little bit more than skewed.  In fact, if it were not for Aunt Jeanne and Uncle Perry's family line the girl numbers would be very sad.

So, let's look a little bit further out in the family lines.  The numbers get hard to calculate at this point--- so we will look at specific case studies of babes born in the last--- let's say 2.5 years, and only born to first cousins...
Kristi (first cousin of M)- BOY
Sara (first cousin of M)-BOY
Marissa (and Scott, first cousin of M)-BOY
Kelli (first cousin of M)-BOY
Chrissy (and Nick, first cousin of M)- BOY

Now in my family NONE of my first cousins have kids.  But, quite a few of my Grandma's siblings grandchildren have kids.  So, just so that my family tree looks somewhat represented, here are the stats from that branch.
Shaelie (and Cliff, second cousin of L)-GIRL and GIRL
Katie (and Brent, second cousin of L)-GIRL
Melanie (and Al, second cousin of L)-GIRL (also note that they already have 2 boys--- but they are older than the cutoff age)

Wow.  That took a lot of brain power.

So to tell the news we are using a very sturdy, dependable and much loved cupcake.  The cakes themselves are funfetti... simply because funfetti is awesome.  They will be iced in white ahead of time and we are taking two jars of sprinkles with us.  When we get to work we'll either have pink cakes or blue cakes.  Or in the case of having a shy baby there will be no cupcakes as I will have consumed them all in efforts to sugar shock the baby into exposing him(her)self.

Re-Birth Pre-Birth

An event like this calls for a re-birth.  Guess what world?  This blogger is back, baby!  And welcome to our newer, cleaner, cooler home on blogger.  I hope you like what you see because you are going to see it at least once a week now.  And that is an almost guarantee.
To say that a lot has happened since my last post is an understatement.  I think when you see my highlights you might see why we were a teensy bit busy. For brevity here is the low down.

• Charlie started walking in April
• Charlie found out he was going to be a big brother 
• Charlie started running in May
• Charlie started CLIMBING in June
• Charlie got his drivers license in July 

Okay, so that last one is a slight exaggeration, but you get my point.  This little guy is growing up so fast it is making my head spin.

The other big time news is of course that Charlie is going to have a great responsibility in December when the littlest Tal will arrive.  Boy or a girl, what will it be?  Ahh you'll have to wait until... TUESDAY!  That's right dear friends, we are finding out this time around.  Stand by for our official guessing game later this weekend.
So, here is what you all come back for, my chubby gut.  Please, take it in.  It is a glorious preggo sight to behold.

Unfortunately, I don't have a 20 week picture from my pregnancy with Charlie.  It seems like I might have *gasp* been a bad blogger then as well.  So in lieu, I will compare with my 22 week picture from January of 2010.

 

Same jeans, same shirt, same... WHOA.. what?

 

 

I think it is pretty safe to say that I am bigger with this baby.  It may just be my body remembering what the whole "pregnancy" thing is.  Or, maybe this is a different kind of baby? Time will tell!

Thank You

Wow.  I never post anymore.   This makes me sad, and I apologize for my lack of sharing.  And, I promise to remedy it soon.  A lot of my extracurriculars are starting to slow down, so hopefully you will hear more from the Tals.

In the meantime, I wanted to share that on this Ash Wednesday I am starting 40 special days.  When I was growing up I always had a few Catholic friends who gave something up for lent.  It was usually something like pop, chocolate, candy and sweets.  Honestly, I never really understood how 40 days of no chocolate would make someone a better Christian.  I understand the symbolism, and appreciate it, but as a non-catholic, non-denominational gal, it wasn't for me.

Again this year I am not giving up anything. Instead I am committing to be more thankful.  Each day until Easter I will write a thank you card.  I have much to be thankful for and often times I forget to express my gratitude.  Rather than giving something up, I want to start giving something back.  If you aren't giving something up--- come join me.

And because no post is complete without a picture of Charlie...

Where have we been?!?

Yes, this post is approximately two and a half months late.  Somehow we have been so busy that we missed a 5 month post... a thanksgiving post... a 6 month post... AND a Christmas post.  Oopsies.

Forgive me for this abridged version of the past two months--- but all you are after are the pictures anyways, am I right?

So I guess that to officially update everyone I should go back in time to November 16th.

Ahhh.... November 16th.  The air was warmer than a usual November (50 degrees) and Charlie was enjoying every minute of it with near daily walks with his Grandma.  She was still watching him five days a week.  He was a big growing boy.  Two weeks before his 5 month Birthday he had started doing an army crawl.  By the 16th he was pulling his way along like a little champ.  Gone were the days of setting him down and walking away.

Not long after he hit 5 months Charlie took his first long car ride to the state up north for Thanksgiving.  He took the car ride like a champ and entertained all of his cousins, uncles, aunts and great grandmas to boot.  He even stayed at a hotel and went swimming in the pool with his mom and pop.  The trip was the kick off to a very busy holiday season.





Just after turkey day Charlie started daycare.  Three days a week he goes to see Miss Kim and play at her house.  It has been a hard adjustment for him since he is so used to being the center of attention.  He wants to constantly entertain and he is always out for a laugh.

On December 16th, Charlie hit 6 months.  It is hard to remember what our life was like before this little guy.  He is 18 and a half pounds and about 27 some inches tall and is the army crawl champ.  He is able to pull himself up on all fours and likes to rock a bit.  He rolls and coos and dances and cracks himself up.  He is obsessed with dogs and cats and grins from ear to ear.  He has also started eating some solid foods which has been both hilarious and messy.  He HATES peas, loves squash and is indifferent about most other things that we have slowly started trying.





Christmas was so much fun with the little guy.  We went to see Santa and although Charlie didn't like him all that much, I don't think we scarred him that badly.  Hopefully as he gets older he'll grow to love the old guy.  We had many a Christmas party that Charlie was the star of and Christmas Eve we went to the candlelight service at Church.

Christmas Morning we opened our gifts and spent the morning together with the three of us before heading over to my mom and dads for the day.  Charlie was spoiled of course.  And the next day we did it all over again with Matt's family.  Again, Charlie really cleaned up!

Now it is 2011.  I can't believe it.  And I don't know if it is possible for the new year to even compare to our last.  Happy New Year to all.