Big changes have come to Hackettland in the last few weeks. The largest of which is that we found out we're expecting a baby at the end of April! We had been hoping for this for exactly a year, so this has been a long time coming and very exciting news. Ben is so excited, too! I know he will be an amazing big brother!!
At my first OBGYN visit, my doctor said the heartbeat is good, and he/she is measuring exactly right. The actual time with the doctor was exciting, but the rest of the the doctor visit turned into a bit of a nightmare; Clay and I were there for 5+ hours. It turns out my doctor was on call that day and three other doctors were out of the office (she attended 4 births that day!), so instead of being seen at 10:30, it was closer to 2:45. I'm so lucky Ben was at my wonderful friend, Tina's, house, because it would have been really terrible if we'd had Ben waiting with us that whole time.
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| Little one's head is up top, and you can see one little arm sticking out |
Two other big changes in our home lives: starting potty training and Ben learning to sleep in his toddler Ben (instead of the crib).
A few weeks ago Ben had diaper rash so bad he had to go to the doctor. They suggested keeping him diaper-free as much as possible. He was in no way close to being potty trained, but I was willing to try anything to get rid of the diaper rash. We had wanted to wait until later in my pregnancy to begin potty training, but it didn't work out that way. Luckily all of this happened during a three-day-weekend, so Clay was at home to help clean up all of the many floor puddles. Weeks later, now only has a few accidents a day and often even remembers to tell us he's got to use the toilet. What a slow process, though!
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| Ben and Oz contemplate lizards on the window |
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| sleepy Ben after Mama's 5-hour doctor visit |
For some insane reason Clay and I decided we might as well transition Ben to his "big boy" toddler Ben that same weekend. In hind-sight don't know what we were thinking! The first night Ben was given the chance to sleep in his "big boy" bed, he spent two hours getting out all the toys in the room, turning on and off all the lights, and climbing on the dresser. Around 10 at night we put a stop to it all and put him back in the crib. The next day I formulated a better plan and told him that he'd be given three chances each nap-time/night-time and if he couldn't stay quietly in bed he'd have to sleep in his crib. He's done so well in the bed, I don't think he'll ever have to regress to the crib now.
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| fast asleep in his toddler bed |
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| potty training requires few clothes |
All of these home-life changes would have been rough enough, but with me in the first trimester of this pregnancy, things were pretty awful for a while. My nausea, exhaustion, and headaches were way way way worse than with Ben. So trying to help Ben with potty training and getting a good sleep routine going in his new bed was pretty horrible. At week 11 of my pregnancy, I'm feeling way better and things are definitely looking up now!
This year our family costume took a bit of work, but was also a lot of fun. We were dressing up as characters from the movie Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou: Clay was Ned, I was the pregnant reporter, Cubby, and Ben was the jaguar shark. Ben and I went to two different library Halloween events with friends, and then Clay, Ben, and I went trick-or-treating with a group of friends and their kids. Sadly, Ben KNOWS what candy is now; he had his first chocolate bars and first lollipop. The trick-or-treating was pretty idyllic until it started pouring rain and Clay and Ben got soaked (I'd already headed back by then). It really was an aquatic Halloween. 
