We interrupt this blog...

Ellen is going to be a big sister! We are expecting our second child in mid-March 2014.

Ellie was the first person we told. At first she didn't believe us as, "mommy's tummy isn't big enough for a baby!". But we talked about how the baby has to grow and mommy's tummy will grow and get bigger as the baby grows and gets bigger. We also explained that the baby will arrive after her 5th birthday.

She has been fascinated by the baby growing and we have spent quite a bit of time looking at pictures of fetuses or illustrations in baby/pregnancy books. She has drawn a few pictures of the baby in my tummy as well. She has asked some really interesting questions also like, "what does the baby see?" or "can the baby hear me talking, what does the baby hear?" Her curiosity and interest is really interesting. She also has been preparing for when the baby arrives. She has cleaned up some of her small figurines and given them to me and told me, "these are too small for the baby, they might choke, can you put them away?" And she has asked me to teach her how to change a diaper and asked how she can help with the baby.

She is very excited...as we figured she would be since she has been asking for a "baby sister" since she started talking. The first two words she put together were "baby sister" which was the name of her coveted baby doll as well as often phrased as a question, "baby sister?" because she wanted a real baby so much. She told so many teachers and friend's parents that I was pregnant when I wasn't (starting rumors that kid since she was 2...) that when she did tell the exciting news to her teachers this time and her friends (who told their parents) nobody believed her. But after I confirmed that it was true, they were so excited for Ellie and us.

Answers to some questions people have asked:
Due date? - Mid-March, currently I am 18 weeks along
How are you feeling? - I'm doing well. I had more nausea in the 1st trimester than I did with Ellie, but I still didn't ever actually throw up.
Are you going to find out the sex? - Yes, we will. But not for another couple of weeks. Once we know, we'll let you know.
Still working? - Yes, I'm planning on working up until I go into labor (just like with Ellie). I will return to work, full-time, after my 12-week maternity leave. We have already looked into daycare and have a couple options.
Fetal Nickname? - Of course! Just like Ellie was nicknamed Barca in utero, this child has been nicknamed Numero Due (Italian for number two, clever huh?)
Name? - As with Ellie, we won't finalize the name choice till after birth, but we have a few names already short-listed for both boys and girls.
Is this pregnancy different? - Yes! This really feels different from the more nausea to the heartburn starting super early. Also this Numero Due seems to move around a lot more than Barca did at this age...kid never stops moving.
Did you keep Ellie's baby stuff? - Yep we did. We anticipate reusing whatever we can of Ellie's from clothes, to the crib, stroller, and highchair. However, we do know that we have to get a new infant car seat, as Ellie's car seat (and most infant seats) have a expiration date 5 years after the get sold...so we are out of luck there. 

We are all super excited to have a new addition to the family, especially Ellie. Although we think we remember having a newborn...five years ago...I'm sure this will be an entirely new and different adventure.