Every emotion rolled into a teeny ball

Jenn said:
Happiness, excitement, anxiety, fear, sadness, and wonder are swirling around my head at a record pace these last couple of months. Everything around me has turned into a muffled hum as I try to contemplate in my mind what this will mean, and how it will change all of our lives. You see, we're going to have another baby.

It is very exciting, and we did plan it, but now that it's here it's kind of hard to wrap your head around! I look at Althea and think, WOW! How could she be a big sister? She's such a peanut! Plus, she's my baby! *sniff* Does this mean she's not my baby anymore?? And, she's so used to getting all of our attention, how will she deal? Will she be a helper? Will she start throwing tantrums? Will she start to revert backwards like everyone says? And what exactly does that mean, anyway? Is this going to ruin her wonderful disposition?

And what about Mike? He will have to take on more and more. Will he snap? He's so good as is, but we will both need to step it up in order to survive. Will he think I'm asking too much of him? He so easily adapts to changes so I don't know why I would think that. I wonder if he will end up spending more time with Allie or with the new baby? Will we each end up with one child that we are more responsible for, or we will both do both? I wonder what he's writing in his post right now?

Then there is me. Am I ready for this? Will I get more stretch marks? Will I ever be skinny again, or has that ship sailed? Will I have the stamina to wake up every 3 hours in the middle of the night again? Will I hear the baby cry? I've become more accustomed to ignoring Allie for a little while if she cries at night, will I remember that I can't do that with the new one?

UGH Breastfeeding. I want to be able to do it so bad. I do NOT want to bail on it like I did with Althea. I'll have more time off for maternity leave this time so I really have no excuse, but OMG it was the hardest thing I ever had to do. I KNOW that if I just pull through that hard time it will get better, but for some reason that didn't help at the time when I was crying my eyes out not wanting to feed Allie because it hurt so bad, and she was crying her eyes out hungry. I wonder if I get a lactation consultant this time, instead of pretending that I knew everything 5 seconds after becoming a mother, if it will help? I guess it couldn't hurt.

But also.......awwww I can't wait to have a little teeny baby again! Can't wait to show Allie her new brother or sister. Can't wait to potentially stay home with both of them and give them all my attention and not have to go back to work! (hopefully) Can't wait for that first smile, first roll, first sit, first word, first step all over again.

So, now you know what's going on in my head. Let's see how Mike feels:

Mike says:
So now that Jenn is pregnant with our second child, some things are going to have to change. We both want Jenn to be able to stay home with the kids, so that means that we're losing an income. Can you say, "Tighten that belt?" I knew that you could!

That means:

1. No more new cars for a while. (But I can keep buying different used ones over and over again, right?)
2. More bag lunches at work. (BOR-RING!)
3. Probably carrying a credit card balance for a while. (UGH! I hate this one.)
4. Possibly getting rid of some of the cable channels we have.
5. Making sure I behave at work and control who I want to mouth off at when they piss me off! (which already it's hard for me to keep my mouth shut sometimes)
6. Upgrades on the house may have to wait. (Even the ones I can tackle myself)
7. Making sure we use coupons and buying in bulk whenever possible.
8. More vacations to local destinations (like the Jersey shore..........ICK!).

But it also means:

1. I get to come home to my family every night. (Currently I love it when Jenn beats me home. She and Allie tend to sit in the living room window waiting for me to pull in the driveway. Allie gets all excited and runs to greet me.)
2. No more worrying about who's going to stay home when one of them is sick, or if it's bad weather.
3. I get an extra ½ hour of sleep in the morning since Jenn won't have to get ready too. (YES!)
4. Knowing that my kids will be brought up how we want them, with our values and not someone else's. (This is not a knock on daycare or my in-laws at all).
5. ........and that it's all worth it to have a family.

Jenn chimes back in:
HAHAHA Yea, your gonna get an extra half hour of sleep in the morning. Good thing too, cause your gonna need it from getting up every 3 hours!!! HAHAHAHA your funny.....extra half hour sleep. *snicker*