Family Changes...

Well getting my period today coincides nicely with going back on birth control, which I got in the mail this week. Since I am done breastfeeding and we wont be trying to get pregnant again until the summer/fall, I wanted to go back on birth control – my periods are WAY heavier now post baby and off of bc then they used to be. So Im hoping they will be a little more manageable now when I start bc again. (Although I cant complain, my “heavy” is still most women’s light days. Some of you may want to shoot me for calling 4 tampons a day heavy.)
Speaking of heavy, a not so fun side effect of not breastfeeding anymore; gaining weight! I was doing really well and was back down to 142 at the tail end of breastfeeding, then when I stopped I crept back up to a high of 147 again. I’ve been watching it the last week or so and am down to 144 but clearly I need to be more careful. Besides, I want to get down again for the summer, and stay there before I get pregnant again. Its not really ok with me to be heavier starting this pregnancy than I was the last one; it would be way to easy to just keep gaining a few pounds here and there between these things and never really loose it before the next event, and before you know it, Im 175 lbs! I do exercise when I can (Ryan and I take walks and I try to go jogging once a week), but it’s so hard when all you want to do is spend time with your little one!

So the reason that we decided to try again this summer/fall is a long story. It shouldn’t be, but it is. Well, originally we wanted to have as many kids as we could afford. Hopefully 3. Stretch goal of 4. Minimum of 2. And we had thought that 3 years apart was just about right; not too much time between them that they couldn’t relate to each other, and that my eggs dried up, but any less time between them they might compete and might not be enough recoup time for us between kids. Well then we realized we would be spitting kids out for the better part of a decade. That’s a little overwhelming. Then we realized that the limiting factor for getting on to the next stage in our lives (after the whole child having stage) to be able to actually do stuff with them was when we had the final kid, and that kid finally was in school. (Finances freed up from childcare, expected career development and raises on our part, etc.) sooooooooo we finally came to the conclusion that it would be better to space them out more like 2 years apart. All the advantages of having them closer together but still far enough apart that it wouldn’t be overwhelming.

Then came the discussion of how many to have. We have known for some time time that if we had more than 2 kids it would be a serious financial strain, and the biggest factor was housing. Our current place really only comfortably can fit a family with two kids, and preferably of the same sex so they can share the 2nd bedroom comfortably. (The 3rd bedroom downstairs really isn’t a viable bedroom). And we knew that we couldn’t afford a bigger house anytime in the next decade. We realized that we would rather be able to do all (or most) of the amazing things we wanted with our kids (travel, etc.) if we just stopped at two, and were able to stay in our current house. Since we have come to terms with this, we both feel better and more comfortable with the future of our family. YEA!
Sooooo, back to the storyline, we will be trying again this fall, to get them spaced out about 2 years.

Aurora is having tons of fun playing with more things, “talking” up a storm and has turned into a one woman band with all the fun noises she makes. She loves to run the back of her hand over her mouth and make the “bibble bobble” sound as we call it, run her “motorboat” mouth, and cluck like a chicken. Recently she started sharing her pacifier with me too; if I ask her to share it and open my mouth, she’ll take it out of hers and put it in mine… for like a second before popping it back out and back to her – patience isn’t a strong suit for kids that young. She has traded in her favorite word of “daddy” for all these sounds, but we are working on some basic baby sign language and some words too. (Like “again” to repeat a fun game or movement that she likes). She hasn’t quite mastered the wave for hello and goodbye but we are working on that too! We also need to work on “kisses” since she thinks that means open your mouth as wide as you can and see what flavors you can suck off of the other person’s mouth. It would be gross coming from anyone but Aurora. lol

She has one cupboard that she is allowed in, with all the plastic and metal kitchen stuff, and she loves taking everything out and playing with it while I’m cooking and cleaning. Still no walking yet; she’s great at crawling and cruising and seems to be very content at this stage. (Compared to her friend Luke who just came up, literally, out of nowhere and is now walking!)

At nearly 10 months, still no teeth! I’m beginning to doubt she even has any of them underneath those deliciously pink gums. But I still practice brushing my teeth with her. She gets to suck on and hold her toothbrush while I do mine, and I let her have a little taste of the minty freshness, which she loves.

She is finally fitting well in all of her 6 month old clothing. (Although many clothes that don’t have a height limitation - like her jammies - still fit; she still has shirts that are newborn size that fit her perfect with jeans now.) We just bought her easter dress, so cute; white with little sunflowers all over it!