And so it begins (again)…

Once again, it’s been way too long between posts. There so many things I could tell you about – my car getting crunched by a distracted driver, my brother deciding to move in for the summer, having (excuse me, getting) to go to a dance recital for The Wife’s middle-aged dance class, etc…

All of those things, however, will have to wait. There’s one piece of news that we’ve known for a while but I haven’t had the freedom to blog about.

The Wife is officially pregnant with child #2.

We figured it out about six weeks ago and told the parents pretty shortly thereafter. I had wanted to wait a little bit, but The Wife was struck by the most common symptom of early pregnancy – the inability to not tell anyone that she’s pregnant. Although we had made a pact to just tell our parents at first, within 48 hours she had told her friends, some co-workers and I would imagine most of the people within our area code.

After talking about it and planning it for so long, the whole thing seemed to be rather unreal for the first couple of weeks. With no discernible pregnancy symptoms, for the first few weeks, you have to put a lot of faith in that little stick with the blue line on it. (Although not too much faith, as I required The Wife to submit a “B” sample before I’d buy into the initial test’s results.)

Our child, the beanpod

Pictures always make things a little more real, so we were pleasantly surprised when the doctor announced that he’d be doing an ultrasound during The Wife’s first appointment. With The Boy, we had to wait until the second appointment, a full month further along in the process, before we got to see his little alien torso and flippers for the first time.

It’s amazing that even at that point (7 weeks) we were able to see something – although I’m still taking the doctor’s word for it that is our child. Honestly, if I hadn’t been present during the photo shoot, I’d guess I was looking at some distant nebula through the Hubble or a smudge on someone’s radar screen. Like all proud parents, we passed along the ultrasound images to our relatives, and most of them were nice enough to pretend that they could see something.

But what really made me realize that the whole show was for real was when we heard the rapid little heartbeat over the monitor. There’s something about that sound that’s undeniably human, something real. Just like the first time, I teared up and nearly lost control when I heard it. It was a good thing.

Take me to your burritos

The first time around, The Wife’s insatiable food craving was red meat – specifically big greasy cheeseburgers. I thought was great because The Wife normally doesn’t eat beef (she’s a weirdo) and I didn’t mind making numerous runs to the local fast-food establishments for her.

This time around, though, it seems that the pregnancy hormones are instructing her to run for the border. In the past month and a half, I think we’ve eaten enough burritos, quesadillas, and tortilla-based food products to choke a small herd of horses.

I used to love a big burrito from Freebird’s. I now get sick just at sight of a Freebird’s sign - or Taco Bell or On the Border or anything else vaguely Mexican or Tex-Mex. People who live their entire lives in Mexico eat less Mexican food than we do now.

A second look

We (or rather The Wife) had our/her second appointment on Monday, which gave us another opportunity to look at the baby. Now 12 weeks along, it pretty much conclusively looks like a classic Roswell-type alien with the big dark eye places, oddly tapered mouth and chin, and disproportionately large head.

Unfortunately, the still ultrasound pics didn’t come out all that well, but The Wife and I were treated to quite a show as The Baby danced around during the ultrasound session. We were clearly able to see hands and feet, along with some small digits wiggling around as the child rolled around on its back and side.

The doctor assures us that everything seems to be progressing normally, which is good to know. I’m extremely pleased that it appears that the child has large feet. The more large shoes there are around the house, the less Bozo-ish I feel. Only two months until the big ultrasound – the “we’re-almost-100%-certain-about-it-but-can-point-to-a-ton-of-examples-were-we-got-it-wrong” gender determination.

I’ll be here all week

I am on vacation from work this week (i.e. sitting at home with nothing to do), so hopefully I’ll be able to churn out a few more entries over the next couple of days. As I noted at the beginning, there’s plenty of material stocked up, so I should be able to whip something halfway interesting.