Comparing the bellies

 36 weeks with Rowan 

 36 weeks with Baby #2

I really don't see much difference, aside from my belly sticking out an inch or so more this time. I think if I was posing the same the bellies would really look mostly the same. Interesting...

32 Weeks

Only (but still not soon enough) 8ish weeks to go! I am still feeling good, just achy all over but that comes with the territory. I think Christmas prep has been distracting me from nesting and baby prep. Now that shopping is done though, I am starting to panic...we are not ready at all for this baby to come so it better not come early! 

26 Weeks

I have been horrible with getting things done on time. This pic is 26 weeks but I am actually now 27 weeks, officially 3rd trimester! 

Baby has been moving around a TON! We had another ultra sound last week to get a clearer picture of the baby's heart. All looks great! The heart rate was 144 this time which is a lot lower than it has been. We've been talking a lot about names lately and think we have settled on a girl name but we just cannot come up with a boy name we love yet. 

Lots has been going on with Rowan too. We just celebrated his 2 year birthday party. It was so much fun and he was really into opening presents. This makes me very excited for Christmas. 

24 Weeks

We've got lots of movement going on. At our last appointment the baby's heartbeat was 163. This says girl which is really what I have been feeling. We'll see in three months! :) 

Kicks

Nick finally felt some kicks tonight! I'm glad I can share them with him now. It might be one of his favorite things. :) Now I'm getting ready for the dreaded hiccups to start! 

Half Way!

Here we are at 20 weeks!

 I'm feeling great, just about the same as I did the first time. We went for our 20 week ultra sound this week. We stuck to our guns and didn't find out the sex. I can't wait for the surprise. I do have a strong intuition that it is a girl, however. 

I am feeling TONS of movement, Nick, on the other hand, hasn't been so lucky. I'm sure he could if he was a little more patient but he's not. :) It seems the baby likes to play games with him. 

Rowan still doesn't understand the concept, and probably won't until suddenly there is another being around here taking up his space. It is cute though that every time I tell him there is a baby in my belly he always lifts up my shirt to look. The other day he lifted his shirt and said "baby in there!" 

16 Weeks

This is the first bump pic for baby #2...I'm already slacking!! I never wanted to be that mom that slacked after the first one, but it's tough staying on top of things with a toddler to chase after. 

I've decided that if this baby is a boy I will be SHOCKED! All signs are pointing to girl. The Chinese Gender Chart says so, my intuition says so, EVERYONE else thinks so, and I can't seem to find any boy names I love. We'll see if we're all right...in only 24 more weeks (hopefully)! 

Feeling Different

Even though my pregnancies have so far been the same physically, things seem to be much different emotionally. As soon as we found out we were pregnant with baby #1 I felt an instant connection. I really think because it took us so long to get pregnant and because I didn't have anything else to focus on. This time, I still don't feel like it's hit me. I have to convince myself that there really is a baby growing in there and I'm not just getting chubby. It's not until after each visit to the doctor that I'm convinced...but even that only lasts a day or two. I think both because we didn't try at all for this one and were blessed with a miracle and because I am so busy with Rowan that I don't even have time to think about being pregnant. I wonder when it will actually hit me?

Baby #2 is Due!!!

Rowan is very proud to announce that he will be a big brother in February! He actually got to tell daddy the news himself (handed him the pregnancy test). Nick and I were actually somewhat, kind of surprised about this one. We were just about to start "trying". We had met with out fertility specialist to make a plan. Well, God had his own plan and we didn't have to use ours! We are able to conceive naturally this time. It was actually very hard to believe for the first 8 weeks, until we saw the flickering heartbeat in the ultra sound. Once again, that truly proved to be the most incredible experience. 

So 27 more weeks to go! I need to start taking belly pics...

Sooo Big!

What a horrible mom I am! I always said I would never get behind on things like baby journals and books. Huh, yeah about that!
Anyway, Rowan is now 5 months, almost 6 in just a week and a half. He is now eating barley cereal and we are getting ready to introduce him to veggies this week. He can sit up on his own, although he is still a little wobbly. :) He has also rolled over just a small handful of times. Still no teeth...just A LOT of drool.
In the last few months, Rowan has met a few more new friends that have been born. He has traveled to Pittsburgh and gone to his first NHL game. Of course he wore his favorite Kunitz jersey!
We got to celebrate his first Easter with Uncle Mirek, Aunt Sarah and of course Laila. He still behaves so well in church, for some reason Father Lam puts him straight to sleep! ;) Last week, we sat in the cry room/donut room with all the elderly ladies. They were more focused on Rowan than they were the homily!
Nick and I are getting ready for a much needed all inclusive vacation in just 8 1/2 weeks. So we need to get the grandparents trained (teehee) for a few (7) overnights! AHHHHHHH! I think I will need to be trained too! It's coming up so fast, so I think that we need to have a few training nights between now and then.

In the next few months Rowan will be visiting Canada family again, meeting a few more new friends, eating fruits and veggies, I am sure rolling over more, a tooth or two hopefully and who knows what else is to come. It is all going so (too) fast!!!

Baptism

Rowan got Baptized on Saturday February 11, 2012. We were lucky to have many of our family and friends there for the special occasion. Megan and Bobby came as well as Great Grandpa Smith, who were all meeting him for the very first time! Rowan was such a good boy during the whole Mass...he just kept smiling at Father Dave. Afterwards we celebrated with pizza and cake at our house. Rowan's Godparents are Aunt Sarah and Uncle Mirek.

3 Months Old

Our big boy is three months old, believe it or not! We are going for his three month pictures this week.  He is really getting stronger, taller and heavier! His eyes (dark blue/gray) and hair color (light) have not changed yet...not sure if they will. We shall see. :)

He's Looking Like His Mama!

I love when people say Rowan looks like me. Today though, I really saw it!!! I took this pic of him today after school and right away saw me! We have a lot of the same features. Just thought I would share! LOVE!

Moving So Fast!!

Well, our time together on maternity leave has officially ended and it's sooooo hard! Last week was one of the toughest weeks of my life and I know that tomorrow is going to be hard too, after being with him for two days straight. It will be a long week because it's our first five day week of day care. Lots of things planned this week too with basketball games and Friday night out. Lynne and Bill are babysitting for the first time!!!
As you can imagine Rowan is growing super fast. Tomorrow we have his two month check up where they will gather all his stats and find out where he ranks. He also gets his shots which I heard are just horrible so I am kind of dreading that.
He is really starting to be able to hold his head up on his own. He smiles all the time and he is even starting to find is voice. The ladies at day care say he is such a "chill" baby. He is very relaxed, happy and content. Best of all though he is sleeping through the night!!! Most every night we get 6 1/2 hours straight, but some nights if we are lucky he sleeps for 8. Either way, we are a happy, rested family.
Just a few pics...enjoy!

First day care drop...toughtest thing ever!

Big boy!



2 months old already!

1 Month Old Already!

This month has just FLOWN by...and it's all such a blur of wonderful memories and firsts! In the last four weeks or so Rowan has grown in weight and height...he has grown out of all of his newborn clothes. He has met a few cousins, aunts, uncles and lots of friends! He has learned how to follow voices with his eyes and with his head. He is now sleeping in his big boy room. My favorite of course...he started to smile!!! He experienced his first Thanksgiving, met Mr. and Mrs. Claus and helped to pick out his very first Christmas tree.

 This is such a bittersweet time; I am sad every day that he is getting bigger and that he'll never be as small as he was yesterday, BUT it makes me so excited for all of his "news" and "firsts" and what's to come. :)

How we are doing...

Well, Rowan has been home now for about a week and a half. Things are going pretty well. My mom was here for the first week and it was amazing to have her here. She did the laundry for us, took Rowan for us while we napped (which we miss the most). When she left it was so sad. We miss her tons!

The days have been pretty good...easy so far. The nights on the other hand have been tough. I actually get anxious when bedtime is approaching. Rowan just seems to be fussy most nights making it very hard to get any sleep at all really.

Nick has gone back to work which also makes it tough at night because I try not to wake him unless it's totally necessary. Rowan on the other hand doesn't really care if dad has to work in the morning! :) I really hope we can get him on a schedule before I have to go back to work in January.

We got his newborn pictures done and they are beautiful. We've seen two so far...out of many! BUT we love what we see and we can't wait to see more!!!

Welcome Rowan Nicholas Scheible

Well we went in for a non stress test on Wed. November 2nd and followed it up with an appt with the OB. After finding out that everything was fine with the test the Dr., Nick and myself decided that we were going to be induced the next morning. The Dr. wanted us to go in that night though at 730 to be prepped overnight. So Nick and I packed up our things, got all set to go and enjoyed one last meal together at Schubergs before we checked in at the birthing center. We were thinking it was going to be a nice relaxing night at the hospital, we thought we were still going to be able to enjoy our Wed. night shows! :)
Well we got checked in and they gave me my first dose out of four of "the thinning pill". What do you know...it only took one dose and an hour later my contractions had started. This is not something we were prepared for! Even the nurse thought the night was going to be cake. Well, apparently we were having a baby! By 10:30 my contractions were strong and heavy but I was only dialated at 2cm. I decided then and there that I wanted an epidoral. They were only going to call once I had dialted to 4 or 5 so I waited...rather impatiently!
Finally at about 1:15am, after sitting in the shower, walking, curling up in the fetal position...you name it, they checked me and I was dialated to 5!!! Best news ever when they told me they were calling for the magic drug! They said it would take about a half hr for the guy to get there and  to get the meds all set. It was the longest half hour of my life and probably the most painful. Finally I heard the words "he's here, now just let me check you...oh dear honey you are dialated to 9cm already...you can't have the epidoral, sorry! Noooooooooo...I think I might have cried at this point in time, the good news though was that the Dr. came in and by the time she checked me I was ready to push. I think I pushed for an hour or so and then our miracle arrived! Rowan Nicholas Scheible was born at 3:18am on Thursday November 3, 2011. He weighed 7lbs 11 oz and was 21 inches long. The most perfect human being I have ever laid eyes on!

Nick's Nesting!!!

Nick decided two weeks before our due date that all the floors needed to be redone! He didn't want the baby sleeping in the room with old carpet so both bedrooms needed to be replaced. Once the carpet got replaced he decided that tile needed to be put in the bathroom and kitchen upstairs. He's so funny! I can't wait for him to be a dad. We LOVE our new floors!!! :) Thanks Lynne and Bill for helping us!

39 Weeks

Almost there!

So many people have been calling, texting, emailing, facebooking just to check in and let us know that they are thinking of us. So nice!

A group of teacher's at the high school told Nick that they have rallied together to make sure that we have the first 6 nights of homecooked meals covered when the baby comes home from the hospital so that we don't have to worry about cooking. Sometimes I am amazed at how thoughtful people are! :)

Shower #4

We had our final shower at Sarah and Mirek's house. It was great...just girls and the boys went golfing. Sarah arranged for a morning brunch shower because we had a wedding to go to that evening. Just like Sarah, she pulled out all the stops. She had the most yummy breakfast foods, punches (some spiked for those that could drink), she had a watermelon fruit dish that was shaped like a baby carriage. There were also the most delicious cupcakes. We played all the fun baby shower games; guess the smeared chocolate bar in the diaper, guests had to cut a piece of string that they thought was the size of my belly (Louise guess exact). Another game we played, I had to leave the room and the girls had to write down as many details about me that they could remember (nail color, clothes, etc.). We also got to guess baby pictures (that was really fun).
Of course we got spoiled with wonderful gifts, many of them were personalized which meant even more than normal. It was a great, traditional Canadian baby shower!