19 Months and 30 Weeks!

Brady turned 19 months-old on February 26th and we're pretty shocked that that amount of time has passed and it feels like only yesterday we brought him home from the hospital.

Hangin' out in the hamper?

What's even more shocking is that in about 10 weeks, we'll bring home his little brother or sister. I used to make fun of my dad when he would say, "The older you get, the faster time goes," but I so get it now! I don't necessarily think it has anything to do with age, though; I think it has to do with having children. Five years ago, everything Zach and I did was about US; today, everything we do is about Brady. It's very easy to lose track of time when there's a little one in your life who makes your world go 'round. That's not to say we've lost sight of ourselves or of one another, but rather than look in the mirror and think about trying a new eye shadow, I now look to make sure I don't have any oatmeal bits from breakfast aftermath stuck to my face. And what's weird is that neither Zach or I would change it for the world.

30 Weeks!

Who puts a child in a hamper? Hint: his legs and slippers are in the background...

Brady and I went shopping today for his Easter outfit and a little something for his sibling. Rather than allow my "instincts" to do the shopping this time, I wised up and made this purchase:

:-)

The only thing more adorable than these two outfits is possibly Brady's suit, but you'll have to wait until Easter to see that one :-)

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I've heard of kids doing things repetitively or preferring one thing to another, but Brady has taken this whole repetitive preference thing to a new level. He has grown accustom to a very particular schedule of morning events from which he will not deviate unless physically removed from the premises. Here's what a typical morning now consists of for us:

* Brady wakes, yelling out either what he wants for breakfast or announcing that he has made a poop.

* The boy enjoys a breakfast of oatmeal with raisins, half a banana, and milk (he seriously eats more than I do).

* During breakfast, we say good morning to Jesus (courtesy of our Last Supper painting), say "Cheers!" while clanking our glasses (okay, cups...) together, and practice the alphabet and numbers on his place mat.

* After cleaning up the breakfast scene, Brady goes to the refrigerator and names the remaining magnetic letters that he has yet to lose or stuff some place for all of eternity.

* Using that bit of brain power requires refueling, and Brady promptly requests Cheerios. At first I tried to fight him on this; how could he seriously still be hungry?! But it's not like he's asking for a bowl of sugar, so I give the poor starving child some Cheerios.

Piggy.

* And then the real demands start: "Mickey."

Mesmerized

* I would like to please make a request that the On Demand Powers That Be update their kids' shows on a more regular basis. At this time in our morning routine, Brady insists he watch the same four episodes of The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse right in a row.  He is no longer interested in the new episodes and far be it from me to introduce a DVD with extended versions. Nope, he wants the SAME, SAME, SAME and he wants them when he wants them. As soon as the hotdog song comes on, he's asking for the next episode. While I realize allowing him to watch all of these right in a row might make me the worst mother in the world, I have to admit that I enjoy the bit of predictability to my day and the opportunity to be productive. Judge if you must.

Getting his Mickey fix from afar

In good news, Jen and I celebrated her 30th birthday in style, with a spa date and brunch, and both were heavenly. I honestly don't know which I enjoyed more: the raisin French toast at Pamela's or the expectant mother massage...

In not so good news, we found out that Uncle Larry will soon undergo chemotherapy for lung cancer.  We wish him the very best and keep him in our prayers. Brady enjoyed some Uncle Larry snuggles during his last visit, and we hope that they can snuggle some more in the very near future.

Nap time snuggles

Snots, Sneezes, and Coughs Oh, My!!

This past week has not been easy on poor Brady. Unlike the fevers and other illnesses he's encountered recently, none of them left him missing out on his precious Zzzz's. But two nights this week, Brady was awake for hours at a time coughing, sneezing, and fighting off the dreaded suction bulb, or what Zach calls The Snot Sucker. We set up shop in the spare bedroom and I tried everything in my power to help him feel better, but there was little I could do. If only he knew how to blow his nose! Despite 48 hours worth of sleepless nights (and horrible afternoon naps--it's hard to sleep when you can't breathe), Brady somehow  managed to be his happy self. In fact, once in the middle of the night on Thursday, he requested "tiddles" (tickles), and when I started to stroke his belly, he smiled and said, "Niiiiice. Tank you."

One of his new favorite toys, Pink. (My highlighter!)

So we did a lot of trouble-shooting to figure out what made him most comfortable and think we found the winning combination: a humidifier that emits Vicks right into the air! A few of my friends had told me about this magic weapon when I was sick, but I never picked one up. But when Brady got the bug, we made a beeline for the thing and it has worked WONDERS! His bedroom is so incredibly humid that the windows fogged up and the tissues were limp in the box, but hey--whatever works! He slept so much better the last two nights (only woke up a few times to cough and whine but then went right back to sleep), and the afternoon naps have been fantastic, too. He was certainly exhausted, and I feel his pain!

Using his "drider," AKA: screwdriver.

In the course of the aforementioned events, I have come to learn some things about toddlers that I hadn't yet discovered. Because my experience with these small people is limited to only Brady, I'm not sure if a blanket statement about "all toddlers" would be accurate, but I do know that the following is true of my little guy:

1. Brady doesn't stay still in his sleep. At all. I was not prepared for the incessant thrashing about, nor for the numerous kicks and punches to the face. At one point, I was sure he had broken my nose. He is also directionally challenged in a bed, which is why he will remain in his crib until he's ten.

2. Brady talks in his sleep. I guess I should have assumed this would be the case seeing as how his father holds entire conversations while unconscious, but the kid has a lot to say and he doesn't even know he's saying it!

3. In addition to his gibberish, Brady also coughs, sneezes, whines, sighs, giggles, cries out, and calls for the dogs while completely asleep. Every sound he makes wakes me instantly, but he doesn't seem to mind...or notice!

4. Brady doesn't respect personal space. He wanted to be smack dab up against me when we shared a bed and while I was totally fine with it, I did prefer his little feet not to be nestled so deeply into my flesh.

Using his sidewalk chalk!

Hello, Third Trimester!

This Monday marked the first day of our third trimester! I can't believe I'm in the last stages of this pregnancy. I keep reminding myself to enjoy it as much as I can, but being sick every week hasn't helped maintain the appreciation for the fact that I can't overdose on NyQuil. Oh and remember how in my last post I was so happy that Brady was finally over his illnesses? Yeah, I lied. He's sick with a cold, too. Gotta love these western Pennsylvania winters...

Anyway, we've been pretty busy lately. Jen and Doug's little girl Lani turned one (I can't believe it! I remember the second she was born--incredible!), and my Gram turned 80. We celebrated both milestones this weekend so it was a lot of good food and great people!

She needed a little help blowing out the candles :-)

Brady's last play date with the two-year-old Chase was...interesting. Little Chase met us at the door wearing his PJ top and no bottoms, not even a diaper. His mom was in the midst of cleaning up the poo he had just rubbed onto the walls and carpets when we arrived, if that's any indication of how the rest of the play date went! Chase enjoyed Brady's light-up Thomas shoes so much so that he tried to take them off of him...while he was still wearing them. It's difficult to walk with a toddler attached to the bottom of your shoe, but Brady managed. Chase also didn't allow Brady to hold anything that belonged to him...or to Brady for that matter. Any time my poor kid had something in his hand, be it one of Chase's toys or his very own cup, Chase would rip it from his grasp. I observed this happen quite a few times, and was pretty impressed with the way Brady handled it: he just picked up something else. My kid never got upset, never grabbed or hit back, and eventually just put his hands behind his back as if to say, "FINE! I don't want any of your stuff!" I was extremely proud of my son especially because I was on the verge of a volcanic-like explosion; leave it to the 19-month-old to teach the 30-year-old a lesson in patience. We left after about an hour and that's all I have to say about that.

Hehe :-)

Our fabulous doula Gretchen was originally scheduled to visit Sunday, February 20th, but she wanted to meet us before my next doctor appointment (which was today), so she graced us with her presence this past Saturday. She is exceptionally down-to-earth, very straight-forward and honest, and since she has had two successful VBACs herself, knows exactly how I'm feeling and what I hope to experience in doing this. And I need to make a correction: in a previous post, I wrote that her VBAC success rate was 90-something. I was wrong. Her overall vaginal birth rate is 90-something; her VBAC rate is 100%! She talked with Zach and I and got to meet Brady, and I feel like we're all in good hands with her. Zach is particularly impressed with the fact that she makes homemade pierogies; I think he's secretly hoping to cash in on those at some point.

Love from Daddy

Today's doctor appointment was fabulous! The baby is growing as she (more on that in a minute) should be, my blood pressure is actually a little lower than it was before but still in that "very healthy range," and my weight...drum roll please...hasn't changed one pound since last month! When I told the doctor with whom I met today, Dr. Goetz, that I was scolded last month, she just rolled her eyes and said, "Men have no idea what the body goes through in order to grow a person." Well, amen to that sister! She also said that, once in labor at the hospital, I can be monitored and stay mobile. This is huge because I was told by my original practice that I would need constant monitoring, some of which was internal, and that I would pretty much be stuck to my bed. Not the case, says Dr. Goetz; there are radio-like signals that transmit through the mobile monitors and that allow me to walk the halls if that's what I want to do. I'm pretty excited about that! I'm feeling better and better about this birth every day!

The chalkboard at Grammy and Pappy's house!

As for my direct reference to Baby J-2 being a "she," I couldn't help myself: I came across a $3 onesie that I just had to have:

We shall see!

Because Brady has all these shirts that say stuff like, "My Grandma Loves Me," I couldn't leave out the Grandpaps this time! Granted, I have probably just jinxed us into having another boy, but so be it! This was $3 well spent, dang it!

28 Weeks--whoa baby!

Baby J-2's Early Arrival...

Yep, you read that correctly: Baby J-2 has arrived and his name is Zachary. I certainly expected a bit of sibling rivalry between Brady and his little brother or sister, but never in a million years did I anticipate the father-son antics that I have witnessed over the past week. In the last four days, I have watched my husband debate our son on matters like music, milk, and other pertinent life topics. For instance, on the way back from the mall, Brady was (loudly) requesting his favorite CD. Since we still had 20 minutes left in the car, I was happy to oblige so I didn't have to listen to "Ham! Peeze! Ham!" the rest of the way home. Zach, on the other hand, had another idea. He promptly put in his CD and started singing along at volume 20. This infuriated Brady; he began yelling over Zach's off-key attempts to match Frankie Valli's falsettos and I was stuck in the middle of it all.

Father-son bonding without debate...

Then last night close to bed time, Brady asked for milk. We told him no because too much to drink late at night is never a good combination, but I guess the mere mention of milk was pretty enticing to someone else. Directly after telling his son no, Zach walked over to the fridge and poured himself a nice cold glass, right in front of Brady. This, of course, started World War III, and Brady started screaming and crying. Zach, ever the realist, tried explaining why it was okay for big boys to have something to drink right before bed but not little boys who still wear diapers. As you can imagine, this did not go over well. It took ten minutes to calm the child who then went to bed still whimpering, "Milk..."

"Miiiiiilk..."

Despite going head-to-head with the patriarch of the family, Brady has been feeling so much better. I swear he had been sick since Christmas Eve when he had a low fever that turned into a cold that turned into vomiting that turned into diarrhea that turned into constipation. The poor kid wasn't able to shake the sick bug no matter what we tried, but finally, FINALLY, he seems to be back to his old self. He's smiling again and acting silly again and I can't tell you how happy that makes us! He's also back to purposely defying me (only me, he listens to Zach...), so I know that he's making progress!!

Really starting to resemble his Dad!

 We've done a nice job keeping our goal to hook Brady up with some play dates. Last week, my friend Ashley and her daughter Madison came over for a bit and the kids played pretty well together. Toward the end of an hour and a half, though, Brady was starting to get a little antsy; Madison isn't as mobile as he and therefore, he was starting to get bored with her. At one point, he walked over to her and waved in her face and said, "Byebye," and I was beyond humiliated. Thank goodness Ashley isn't the type to be offended so easily; she took the hint and the girls left so Brady could eat his lunch.

Thankfully he's amused by me!

Tomorrow, we're meeting up with one of my old high school friends and her son, Chase. We're going to their place and I think Brady will appreciate the change of scenery. Also, Chase is 2, so he'll probably be a better match for on-the-go Brady. And if not, I'm sure he'll let us know...

Golfing

This is the last week of my second trimester! I feel pretty good considering all of the aches and pains I could have, but I'm still not sleeping that well. I broke out the maternity pillow, but it's not doing the trick this time. Someone else is really enjoying it, though...

As weird as it sounds, I'm looking forward to going into labor! I see it as a challenge that I'm ready to tackle and I'm definitely ready to meet our little one! We've been trying to have the baby name discussion, but that's pretty impossible with a guy like Zach. I do believe that we've decided on a boy name, but his ideas for girl names include Wilma and Barb so we're clearly not done talking. While I respect the Barb suggestion since that's his grandmother's name, you don't see me throwing Helen or Merle into the pot!

Week 27

The Steelers obviously lost the Superbowl, but we did get some cute photos! If we can't get a win, at least we can get Pappy in an umbrella hat...

New bathtub crayons!

Very proud of his scribbles!

Zach's Sacrificial Lamb

You know in Greek myths, the mortals have to make a sacrifice of their best goat to please the gods? Well, that's basically what Zach did. Except the goat is his baseball coaching gig and the gods are his family...

In the midst of my computer meltdown and Brady's entrance into toddler hell, we were also dealing with a coaching dilemma. Zach had committed to coach at Kiski but some unpleasant factors reared their ugly heads making him think twice. As if an answer to his silent prayer, the Plum head coach contacted Zach and offered him his old assistant coaching job. For weeks, poor Zach agonized over what to do, where to coach, and weighed the pros and cons of each district. Finally, just a few nights ago we were talking in the kitchen after Brady had gone to sleep and he just looked at me and was like, "Your belly is huge!" It was true; my baby bump is burgeoning out over my pants and my bellybutton can probably be seen from space. I think that the physical changes, and witnessing me break out in a sweat when climbing stairs or putting Brady in his car seat, finally hit home with him: we are having another baby. And soon.

26 Weeks in the Making!

As a result, my selfless husband has decided to put his coaching career (which has been around longer than I have, by the way) on hold to raise his family. He said that he thinks he was unable to decide between Kiski and Plum because the third option--not coaching at all--was in the back of his mind. I am thrilled with his decision and I know that being involved in everything Brady (and new baby!) will definitely make him happy, but I also know how much he loves coaching and I recognize what a huge sacrifice this is, even if it is for us. I'm excited that we'll share more moments like this...

Family Breakfast on Saturday mornings!

And these...

After-school siestas!

Father and Son Shoveling!

In other Jankowski Family Fun news, Brady is finally shaking a virus that has plagued him for over a week. At first, we just thought he was fussy; he was constantly whining, sometimes yelling out, and extremely lethargic. It got to the point where the poor kid couldn't even hold his head up--he had zero energy.

Our little patient :(

We took him back to the pediatrician to see if it was teething, a reaction from his vaccinations, etc. Apparently, there is a latent virus going around and the kid's body was working overtime to fight it off. We're currently encouraging extra naps, baby Tylenol, and lots of love. I feel so bad for the little guy, but I will say that I am a HUGE fan of the "sick boy snuggles!"

Sick Brady

Baby J-2 is happy to report that our doula has been assigned and we've been in contact! We're going to meet Mrs. Gretchen McNary on Sunday, February 20th (she's making a house call, very convenient!), so Zach will get to meet her and then the remainder of the pregnancy, she and I will get to know one another. She'll come to a few of my prenatal appointments with me, and keep in touch until the big day! She's worked with the doctors in my practice before, so that makes everything a little more comfortable for everyone involved. She has three kids of her own, two of which were successful VBACs, and her experience with other mamas is worth its weight in gold. She specializes in VBAC candidates and has a very good track record; only ONE of the ladies with whom she has delivered did not have the VBAC. I like those odds :-)

Feeling better today, thank goodness!

Kiski canceled school today which was totally fine with me--I love having my boys home. Just remind me I said that when I'm complaining that their Easter vacation is cut short because the people in western Pennsylvania are afraid of rain in February. Oh, well; we had a good day anyway--got a lot of work done, celebrated Pap Rick's birthday, and got Zach and Brady some necessary hair cuts...

YIKES!!

Superbowl Sunday is in a few days--go Stillers!