The Cutest Boy Ever

Is it bad to vocalize that I think I have the cutest child ever created? Because I do. This little boy makes me giggle and smile and coo more than anything or anyone else ever has! How can one little 14-month-old have so much cute in him? I just don't get it!

On the not-so-cute side, Ax was going through some pretty crazy sleep issues last week and over the last month in general. About 2 months ago he naturally went from two naps to one nap a day, which is okay, but the timing has been questionable. He used to nap at 9am and again around 3pm. So now the question is.. when do I put him down? If I put him to sleep at 9 he'll just make noise in his crib forever. If I put him down after 11am, he has no interest in sleeping anymore. It's almost like he's so over-tired by that point that he's talked himself out of being sleepy. So I've been trying to get him to sleep around 10-ish, or at least into his crib by then. Last week though, he started waking in the night! He's been sleeping solid through the night for the past several months so when he started waking up at 12:30am on the dot three nights in a row I started to wonder. Not only was he waking up.. oh no.. there's more.. it wasn't a simple.. okay, let's-snuggle-and-put you-back-to-bed-routine. Once he was up at midnight, he was up until about 4-5am. I'm talking WIRED and ready to play! If I put him back in his crib he would scream, which isn't normal for him so I didn't know how to react. It was the first time since his nightmare infancy (colic, reflux, refusing to nurse...oy) that I didn't know what to do next.

I typically try to avoid medicating him unless I KNOW something is up. I took him to get his ears checked and his overall health, and he came back completely healthy. Finally someone suggested it might be some back teeth bothering him. Sure enough 2 rounds of baby ibuprofen and he was sleeping like a... well.. a baby! I can feel those sharp big back teeth poking at his gums from all sides, poor little guy. Now that we have the situation under control, I've also been trying to wear him out more during the day. We've been really taking advantage of the amazing fall weather here in Wisconsin and have had some great fun at the park near our place.



He braves the slide all by himself now, and loves every thrilling second of it. We like to find sticks, make noise on the bells (some weird part of the play structure that makes a bell sound if you hit it hard enough.. totally Axel's thing!), and chase the geese so they all honk and fly away :) He is so much fun to run and play with. Notice the picture of him walking. I always crack up when he starts to strut his stuff. I think he walks like the Berlin Ampelmann, hah.



As far as baby #2 goes, things are going great! Axel keeps me so busy that I really don't have the same time to obsess over this pregnancy as I did with Ax. With him I was on babycenter 24/7 and everything was new and surprising. This time around I already know what to expect. A few weeks ago baby #2 started kicking pretty hard! It's unbelievable how much earlier on I can feel him/her this time. With Axel I didn't feel any definitive jabs until about 22 weeks. I felt this baby around 15. What's also funny is how much stronger Axel has made me. When I was pregnant with him I really had no muscle definition in my abs or arms. Thanks to him being a solid 30lbs for the past few months, I've grown some really sweet lean muscle. I thought I would be much bigger much faster this time around, but comparing two photos from this pregnancy and my last, around the exact same time, you can totally see the difference in my shape and belly.



Did you notice it said 20 weeks? Well I'm actually just under that right now, and the first picture was taken just AFTER 20 weeks, so I'm about a week or so apart in the different photos. But did you also know.. that me being close to 20 weeks means we find out the gender soon! On WEDNESDAY! I am so so so excited! I haven't had a lot of time to think about it up until recently, and now that I know it's close I am sooooo anxious to know if we are going to have a boy or a girl. My intuition from day one has said this baby is a girl. I feel it in my bones every single day. Plus, this pregnancy has been totally different from Axel's. I know that doesn't necessarily mean anything but who knows. I would LOVE LOVE LOVE a little girl! I'm getting outnumbered around here! One of each would be so much fun! However, two boys so close in age would be an absolute blast and I know that Axel and he would be the best of friends (and at times, the worst of enemies).