Number two

My journey has come full circle and I find myself back at the beginning asking myself when the perfect time is to have a baby. But this time it would double my current offspring quota.

I definitely have baby fever... I am ready to do this again. I have been for a while but I didn't dare share and sound like a psycho with my month-old baby at my hip. Now that said month-old is 10-months old it seems more realistic to be pondering these decisions. I didn't think I'd blog about it because I've been there and done that. Plus Lil' J gives me so much material to write about anyway (sometimes). But what kind of mom would I be not to at least try to give Number Two the same sort of pre-conception attention?

How far apart in age should they be? Will I be able to handle two kids? How much will childcare cost once we have two and both my husband and I are working? Then what about #3?

Alright,  I'm getting ahead of myself but one can never be too prepared. Well, maybe you can if preparing is driving you crazy, but I'm not crazy just yet.

Like in this stage last time there are some things I need to take care of before I'm in any condition to spawn again. For one, we need a bigger place. Our lease isn't up until next March and I'd like to move into a three bedroom house. I'm not sure if we'll want to rent again or be ready to buy, all I know is we'll need more space because our two bedroom won't cut it.

I've gotta start taking prenatals again, eating better, cutting caffeine, yada yada. Then the biggest obstacle one again is convincing my better half that two are better than one. This is particularly more difficult than the first time because I have to time my strategic non-subtle hints when Lil' J is in a good mood. For instance I can't say how fun another baby would be if she's screaming her head off. It's when she's laughing and playing these notions are best shared.

There are a few things I plan to do differently this time around. I shared 10 things here. But I've thought of a few more.

For one, I'm not going to be as concerned with the birth. I learned a lot the first time and if it ain't broke don't fix it. Unless I have a change of heart between now and then I plan to use the same OB and hospital, and focus most of my planning energy on after-birth things.

Secondly, I'm not against pre-baby shopping/ saving. Before I was pregnant with Lil' J I didn't save baby things. As if it was bad luck or something. This time, I don't have a problem storing some things. I donated in a charity raffle on my friend's blog and won a Wonder Bumpers bedding set. I chose a neutral blue/green style to use for Number Two. I may trade it with another friend who has another bumpers set, also neutral that I may like more but obviously there's not rush at the moment.

About the neutral thing... Since I went crazy with pink on Lil' J, I think I got that out of my system. If we have another girl I want her to have a royal blue/green theme, which I'd love to use with a boy too. And since most of my pre-birth planning surrounds decorating the nursery, it's not really necessary to find out what I'm having beforehand. So it's decided. I don't want to find out the gender of Number 2 until birth.

If we have another girl I'd be SO HAPPY because we already have girl things, and Lil' J would have a sister she could grow up with and be close to. But if we have a boy we'd have one of each and how can you get any better than that? I wanted a girl so bad and I already have one, so it honestly doesn't make a difference to me what the next one is. I'm completely split 50/50 with my preference, so it'll be a fun surprise.

That said, there's still SO much time before we're even close to that point. My heavy "Let's Make a Baby" campaign won't start until late this year. At this point it's about raising campaign dollars and getting supporters. By the time I win the big deciding vote (aka my hubby's) and move forward with the proposition it will probably 1212. But who knows, I may get lucky.

The good news is until then, this time around I at least still have a charming mini me to keep me company on my journey until the stork comes by my house again.