Sunday, December 23, 2012

It's the Final Countdown. Dadadadum. Dadadadadum.

Last Friday, we hit 37 weeks. Thirty-seven freaking weeks. For those of you who are kid-free (or pregnancy ignorant), 40 weeks is end goal. That means that we are less than a month away from our house transitioning from a 2:1 to 1:1 adult to kid ratio. That is slightly daunting. The one kid is wearing us out!! Our baby training camp has consisted of watching our friends with multiple kids to get a better understanding of what this second kid will do to us. Just like watching our friends with a single kid prior to having Mackenzie, I am not convinced that watching others gives you any indication of what your life will be like when a change of this magnitude occurs. We are in a whole world of who knows what is going to happen when little man comes out to say hello. A coworker of mine had a great analogy for the the difference between kid #1 and kid #2. When you have kid number one, you essentially add an extra activity or hobby to your life. The second kid is like picking up a second job. I can't wait for that second job, to be honest. I anticipate enjoying this job more than my first job (although the pay is terrible!).

One of the mysteries of human nature is that the same thing can happen to a person multiple times and be absolutely nothing alike. Pregnancies are one of this strange things - the differences between the CASH pregnancy and the Buckshot pregnancy have been ridiculous. Sarah's been the beneficiary of one of these differences (no nausea this time) and the victim of another (anemia leading to ridiculous fatigue). However, both of us agree that the biggest difference between the pregnancies has been the perceived amount of time that it has taken. With Mackenzie, it seemed to take forever. The anticipation of that first child, the preparation that takes place, and the mystery of the future make those months feel like years. Compare that to little Buckshot, where I feel like we just found out that we were pregnant last week. Possibly two weeks ago, max. Despite how quick this pregnancy has felt, we were on top of things fairly early. His room is ready, the baby stuff is out of storage, our bags are packed for the hospital, and Sarah's telling him that his reservation is over. Let's do this, little buddy!!

One last point - we have been prepping Mackenzie (as best as we can) for this slight variation from her normal routine that is oh-so close. She is starting to understand that a little brother will be coming. The other day we asked her if she was ready for her brother to come and she said, "Baby brother is going to POP out of Mama's belly." If only it were that easy, buddy. Someday, she might learn the error of that statement!!

The next time you hear from me, I hope that I am proudly displaying pages and pages of pictures of a happy and healthy little boy!

Until the next post,
Mike