The Countdown Begins

Today it has really hit me that I only have about 14 weeks left until baby Natalie arrives! Time is just flying by and I think it's because I don't have everything already bought like I did with Maddox. It seems like as soon as I found out Maddox was a boy I went out and bought everything all in one whack! We haven't saved a big sum of money all at once this time as we did with Maddox, so I've just been buying things here and there. I also really want to wait to buy clothes for her until after any baby showers we may have and also wait on the consignment sales to come back around again in August. I ended up with double the amount of clothes & baby things I needed with Maddox because I did not wait for my baby showers, so I don't want to spend excessively when I don't need too. She's has her diapers and she'll have me for food, so at least we have the necessities! ;) Some days I just can't wait for her to get here and some days I think I am glad I still got about 3 months because I want to have everything prepared for her and also to prepare Maddox. 

I'm glad he has learned over the past few months what it feels like to have to share mommy where I've been babysitting. It's definitely been a learning experience for me. I'm hoping that when Natalie comes it will come a little more naturally though. I babysat my nephew who is exactly a year older than Maddox while I was pregnant with Maddox and there is just something about it being your own baby that makes the day to day tasks easier. I guess because with Maddox I don't have to really think about when he is going to be hungry, I just know. So with babysitting, I have to constantly remember to make sure I feed him every two hours and be more conscientious about taking care of him because where I'm not his mother I'm not in tune with his every need like I am with Maddox. On days that I babysit, there are some points of the day where there's so much going on at one time that my brain feels like it can't process fast enough! The Lord will never give you more than you can handle though and He always gets me through! 

Maddox has been wanting to snuggle after he wakes up from his nap the last few days, which I am loving. He usually isn't the snuggling type anymore, but yesterday I held him and rocked him back to sleep for about 30 minutes. Then today, he did the cutest thing ever and brought me his blanket and climbed up in my lap in the rocking chair and let me rock him like a baby almost to sleep, but he probably laid there a good 30 minutes. It was so precious! I just soaked up every minute of it because he hasn't let me hold and rock him like that since he stopped nursing! I miss nursing him so much some days, but I can look forward to nursing baby Natalie when she gets here,Lord willing. I told Bryan the other day I planned on nursing her as long as she wanted because it such a special bonding experience and if they are hurt, sick, teething, or just having a rough day it works so well at calming them and making them feel better. Not to mention how great is for their immune systems! Maddox was never sick a day until a couple days after I weaned him and he caught a virus. There are just so many wonderful benefits to breastfeeding that it could be a post in itself!

The only picture I managed to take today! All tucked in his toddler bed like a big boy!

Did you prepare differently for your second baby than your first??

-Hannah