First, the basic facts:

What we Need: Still need to pick a nickname...some suggestions were Roo (like a little Kangaroo), Jellybean, or Dumpling.

And here is the growing bump...

2. Shoes. These are Kane's new shoes. They make him run fast, but they also make him look like a 4 year old. He loves them, so we'll let him keep them.

3. Hair Cut. By the end of our hour at the park, it was obvious that Kane needs a summer haircut. We've never cut his hair and weren't planning on it. Even though it's a little mullet-esq, everyone says he's a baby and can have crazy long hair. Plus, it curls in the back and I love it.

But...after an hour playing in the warm weather, it was stuck to the back of his neck. And his forehead. And his ears. Poor guy needs a trim just to survive the summer.

4. Splash Park. We had our first visit to the nearby splash park this weekend. Kane loves anything water related, so he had a blast.

5. Speaking of water. Last night, our neighbors pulled out their slip-n-slide so we walked over to say hello. Even though Kane didn't have a swimsuit on, he jumped right in and played in the water. And we let him.

6. Whitest Bum Ever.  Pretty self explanatory...

get ready for it...

BAM!

7. Morning Outside with Trains.

Tomorrow will be another Bump Watch...I better go put on some makeup so I can take a decent picture.

First, the basic facts:

What we Need: A nickname for this baby! Any suggestions? I've already vetoed "Baby #2" and "New Baby".

Here is the bump...obvious, but not huge (yet).

Then, I found this picture from April of 2010 - when I was 19 weeks pregnant with Kane. The bump seems to be about the same size, although it feels bigger this time around.

Me and Gertie, just days after she became our dog.

Back to Week 17 pictures...Matthew figured out a way to launch Kane into the air even higher than usual. Kane loves it and has great form.

Arms out, maintain eye contact, giggle like crazy.

The biggest lifestyle change when you have a kid is free time. It vanishes. You no longer linger on the couch on lazy Saturday mornings. Heck, there is no such thing as a lazy Saturday morning. Or a lazy morning for that matter. Sure, you stay in pajamas a little longer than some people, but you can still be busy in your pajamas.

It's not that Saturday mornings are instantly full of soccer practice or dance class (at least not at Kane's age). It's that having a baby/toddler around means constant mental awareness. You can't let your mind wander for more than a few seconds. Sure, they go play by themselves for a while, but you're always listening for a crash or a cry. Or the call of "Momma!", which used to be a sweet, heart warming sound but reached the status of annoying the first day you heard it 836 times.

"Momma - come play with me" or

"Momma - juice" or

"Momma - I just want to yell your name because I think it sounds awesome."

You just don't have free time like you did pre-kiddos. But kids aren't the only time suck of adult life. Home ownership gets it's fair share of blame too. More often than not, our weekends are spent working around the house. Sometimes on fun, elective things like the garden. And sometimes on less fun things like cleaning the gutters. Or organizing the garage. Or insulating the attic. All necessary and not terribly bad, just time suckers.

And try finding time to meet up with your not-yet-parent friends. I'm pretty available between 7 - 9 am on weekdays. How about you? Oh, lunch won't work - that's when Kane naps. Weekends are for house work and family time. Dinner? Sure - I eat at 5pm because I'm asleep by 9 most nights. It's quite a challenge to get together with someone who works any kind of normal (ie: non-toddler) schedule.

But you know what, sometimes you make time. Like this weekend. Since it was Mother's Day, I volunteered to get out of the house so Matthew & Kane could make me a gift. I know, I should win Mother of the Year for that alone. I was whisked away (a friend came and picked me up, which was so nice because I didn't have to drive) and we met up with a girlfriend for some mani-pedi-massage pampering. It was great.

And then my real Mother's Day gift was some checkmarks on the honey-do list. Our house has three bedrooms in what I call the "residential wing" and then it has a kinda hidden, tucked away by the garage fourth bedroom. Apparently even friends who have been to our house several times do not know about this mysterious fourth bedroom. Probably because it's been the office/junk room since we moved in two years ago. You know what I'm talking about when I say junk room. Boxes, piles, mess, clutter.

Well, now that we are expecting another addition to our family and need all three rooms in the residential wing, we had to move our guest room to this hidden fourth bedroom. That meant cleaning out the junk, painting, installing a ceiling fan, moving the furniture over, hanging curtains, and on and on.  I spent last week cleaning and de-cluttering. Matthew pretty much did the rest. He' so good to me.

So now when you come stay at Casa de No Free Time (<--copyrighted), you get some privacy in your very own wing of the house. No babies to wake you up. Unless you bring your own of course. 

We're booked thru June, but accepting reservation requests for the rest of the year.

As if Kane doesn't keep us busy enough, we decided to have another baby! Really, we always knew we wanted a sibling for Kane and he loves babies so much, we know he will be a great big brother.

I am 15 weeks along, so this little one should arrive near the end of October. It's been a little rough so far...mostly exhaustion from having a toddler + first trimester raging hormones. I've had lots of nausea, but no vomiting so I can't complain too much. I've just been napping with Kane quite often.

I hope that explains a little bit of the slow posting lately. Since I nap during my "free" time and have been asleep by 9pm most nights, I haven't had time (or energy) to blog.

I don't fit into any of my regular pants anymore, but I'm not showing enough for people to ask if I'm pregnant. Unless they're a close friend and notice the new gut. One of the joys of pregnancy! This past weekend, I got all my maternity clothes back from my sister-in-law's house and I'm in heaven. Maternity clothes are so comfortable! I wish I could wear them all the time. No kidding.

Pretty soon, I will start taking pictures to document my growing belly and I will keep you informed of how everything is going. And hopefully I will get some energy back and be able to blog all the things that are in the queue!

Lately, I've noticed two big "mommy issues" coming up again and again. We all know what started the whole Mommy Wars 2012 discussion (the comment about Ann Romney, which I have to admit did not offend me one bit), but I've also seen several blogs and writers bring up the "Mommy Competition" issue.

One blogger said that she noticed the "phenomenon" of parenting competition when her baby was only a few days old. People were asking how long the birth was, if she was breastfeeding successfully, how much her little one weighed, etc.

Ok, here goes. I have a confession to make. I don't feel the Mommy Competition, at all. When someone asks me about my labor, I assume it's because they are curious and like to hear stories, which is exactly why I ask someone else about their labor. And while I'm on the subject...which labor story is "better" - the easy labor where you pushed for 20 minutes and the baby popped out like it was coated in butter or the long, hard labor where you should get a medal for all the suffering you put up with? I don't even know who wins that competition!

(We decided these two were practicing their Romeo & Juliet audition)

I guess my friends and I are on the opposite end of the spectrum - we compete in whose kid sucks the most. I'm kidding (kind of). We love, love, love our children, but they also have quirks that drive us crazy or skills that are still undeveloped. Which is okay. Heck, I still have some skills that are undeveloped.

Like this conversation I had recently:

Me: Kane learned how to jump last week and now he's obsessed with it.

Mom 2: My kid can't jump yet and he's 3.

Me: Well Kane thinks everything is yellow.

Mom 3: My kid won't go to story time and cries when I take off her shoes.

Me: Kane won't eat my PB&Js, but he will eat those less than healthy frozen ones.

Mom 2: Ha, we live on those frozen ones.

(My kid also licks things)

(And plays in dog houses)

What kind of twisted competition is that? An honest one, that's what. And funny. Because as SAHMs, we need to laugh at something. And we admit our children's lack of skills because it makes us more connected. We don't always hardly ever put on makeup for play dates so we certainly can't act like our kid is superior when we didn't even bother to cover up our blemishes or highlight our cheek bones.

(This little one is so cute, I don't think she has any faults yet.)

Sure, we cheer each other's kids on. We all clap when they do jump. Or when they go potty. Or when they burp. Whatever their skill is, we clap and cheer. And when it's important, we support and encourage. The rest of the time, we just tell it like it is and take comfort in the fact that no one else has a perfect child either.

(And we cheer when they try to pick up two balls at once. And when they fail, we say "Good try!")

So everyone who feels like parenting is a competition, just relax. Gather some friends, have a beer, and let the little ones play with the broom. Because that's what parenting is really about.

I have a big family. Not a large immediate family, but a massive extended family. My mom has 40 first cousins and my dad has somewhere close to that. And every so often, all those cousins want to get together which means a family reunion.

When I was younger, I probably missed a reunion or two and didn't really care that much. I was in my early twenties and didn't feel the need to go mingle with people I didn't know (who didn't know me) just because we share the same great-grandparent. It always felt forced when I was a kid, like we had to talk to the weirdo cousin with the dragon t-shirt because they were in the same generation as us. [Janet and Emily - I hope you're nodding your head in agreement here].

Oh, how times have changed. As they so often do. We drove four hours last weekend to spend time with those weirdo cousins at a family reunion. And they're still weird. And funny. And loving. And witty. And smart. And good people to know. And even though it seems like we don't have anything in common other than that great-grandparent, I found the opposite to be true. Because I'm weird. And funny. And loving. And witty (obviously). And smart. And don't forget humble too.

But the most surprising amazing thing was how they all love with seemingly endless bounds. How can you love someone you haven't seen in 15 years? I don't know, but it happens with family. And how is it ok to be your true self with people you haven't seen in 15 years? I don't know, but it happens with family. Maybe blood is thicker than water. [And by "maybe", I mean it is. About four times thicker. The internet says so.]

So while the cousins sat around and told stories about their childhood, our gracious host took the kiddos out to pasture for a hay ride and to meet some cows. He introduced Kane to his herd and let us feed them some "cow candy".

This guy in the purple shirt is my brother, Nathan. He has an 11 month old daughter, Madeline, who is pretty darn cute. She also has a birthday at the end of the month, so stay tuned for some more pictures of Miss Maddie.

Lloyd is my mom's cousin and has a beautiful home somewhere between Houston and Austin, in the middle of cow country. He's a cattleman and grows his own hay, because "any man in the cattle business needs to have three years worth of hay or he shouldn't be in the cattle business".  The massive drought in Texas last year was really hard on these cattlemen, but the recent rains have helped.

Did you notice those hay bales lined up behind Kane? Well, he thought they would be great to climb on, so we trekked across the field to provide a little adventure for a little boy.

He ran from one end to the other, then jumped off into his dad's arms.

Then he had to go back the other direction and let me catch him.

There's something special about family and it doesn't make any sense. I spend more time with my friends, even holidays with them, and while I know I could count of them for anything, I feel the same way about my family that I rarely ever see. And if nothing else, they will love your baby simply because he's part of the family. And a mother can't ask for anything more.

So if you have a family reunion coming up, don't skip it. You may realize the weirdo in the dragon t-shirt is the funniest person you've ever met.

And just because I can, here are some more pictures of my sweet baby Madeline. And her dad.

A few weeks ago, Matthew and I had an anniversary. We were on vacation so I never mentioned it, but we did go to dinner. Just the two of us. We were in Virginia Beach at the time so we walked to a little sushi restaurant and then strolled the boardwalk on the way back to the hotel.

It was a small reminder of how we used to be...back when our free time was spent doing anything with each other. And sushi was a regular date night. And we were making enough money that sushi could be a regular date night. I don't even like to think about how much we spent on sushi, sake bombs and Saturdays while we were dating.

But it was all worth it, so it doesn't really matter. It was all part of sealing the deal. Figuring out if we could live together forever. And if we wanted to. And when he asked if I would marry him, I didn't hesitate with an answer. Even if he did try to put the ring on the wrong hand.

This morning, I pulled out our wedding pictures and was reminded how much fun we had. And since most of my blog readers have never seen the pictures, I thought I would share. And if you have seen them, or were there, these can just be a reminder for you too.

We had a destination wedding in Playa del Carmen, Mexico (just south of Cancun) with just a few guests (24 people, including us). It was the perfect wedding for us. Our amazing photographer, Rafa Ibanez, took good care of us and shot all of the images below.

We also did a Trash the Dress photo shoot the day after the wedding, which was my favorite shoot ever. I didn't use my real wedding dress because lace provides the perfect place for sand to hide. And truth be told, I wanted to keep it nice just in case I needed it again one day. Not for another wedding, but in case I have a daughter and she wants to use it, or use part of it (like the lace).

Now our free time is filled with a toddler and a house and two dogs and life, but it's really spent the same way as when we were dating - together. We have very few hobbies away from each other and the life we've built together. And that works for us. We take Kane places, we garden, we play. We just eat a little less sushi. And I'm perfectly happy with that trade.

We live in Texas. And it's spring. Which means bluebonnets and wildflowers are popping up all over the place. On highway embankments. In undeveloped fields. In grazing pastures. In front yards.

And if you have a kid, like photography, like wild flowers, or want to be like everyone else, you just have to do a photoshoot in a field of bluebonnets. It's mandatory. And it's cliche. But I don't care, it's a small price to pay for being a citizen.

So at 7am, I called my good friend Mariola and we loaded up our little ones and headed to the nearest field where the wildflowers bloom. Because even though I love to look at bluebonnets while going 75 mph down the highway, there is absolutely no way I am going to pull onto the shoulder and let my very mobile, very fast, toddler out of the car. And I wouldn't suggest that anyone else do it either. There are better ways, and better fields, where you can get that bluebonnet shot.

Mariola is momma to Savannah and has another one on the way. Savi, as her friends call her, is just 2 months younger than Kane, but since he is a tall boy and she is a little girl, so they look a little further apart in age.

Their personalities are so different, it's fun to watch. She's a girly-girl, doesn't want to get dirty or touch yucky stuff at all. He is all boy, a magnet for dirt & dogs and loves to run. But they get along nicely when they're each in their happy place - Savi sitting high on a chair away from the weeds and Kane right in the mess of things.

Don't worry, Savi was sitting on a blanket. We wouldn't make her get her dress dirty. We let them run around and explore and even though it's illegal to pick a bluebonnet (because they are the sacred, and protected, state flower), we hope the cops don't come looking for us them. Because you know Marioloa and I didn't do any thing of the kind. It was all those law breaking toddlers. Go ahead and call them Bonnie & Clyde.