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.