baby #2 at 37 weeks I howsweeteats.com

It is so, so crazy to me that we are in the home stretch! I mean, like really in the home stretch. I could have this baby any day now. Get ready for some wordy rambles!

So. I’m not ready at all, so I’m secretly hoping that I have two-ish more weeks or so. I have some more work to do to prepare, more things I want to do in our house and I also would like a full day (or, um, four!) to snuggle the heck out of Max as my only babe. But I also know that every thing that reeeeeally needs done is almost done. So we’re good.

Another thing – I barely have taken any pictures! This is totally a recycled picture that my friend Erin took for an article we shot for the Kitchn a few weeks ago.

I’ve been feeling really good – normal, all that jazz. I am pretty exhausted at the end of the day but I spend most of the day on my feet so come 9PM, I basically want to collapse! But I’ve been on my feet for my entire pregnancy so I’m not worried about that. I think it helps keep me distracted like it did while pregnant with Max.

One crazy thing that I’ve been feeling lately (well, honestly, like the last two months) is this weird, intense anxiety about the labor and birth. If you read my pregnancy posts with Max, you may know that I was so terrified of childbirth my entire life but once I was pregnant, I was more relaxed about it. Um, this time? NOT AT ALL. I am so, so worked up about it for some reason. It’s like this constant anxiety I feel every day. I am so scared of the pain. Like WHY?! My mom thinks I’m crazy – heck, even the doctor and nurse looked at me like I was crazy when I told them. They are all like YOU JUST DID THIS NOT SO LONG AGO AND IT WAS GREAT!

Yeah yeah, I know. Ooooomph.

I think it’s just the place that I’m putting my stress and worry. About another big change and new normal. Worry about getting everything done I want to get done before the baby comes, worry about managing two kids and a full-time career. Eeeeep! Worry about the labor going too fast and having the baby in the car (seriously I’m going immediately this time). Worry about getting Max taken care of so we can get to the hospital in time.

I’ve always been a huuuuge horrible worrier but this is, like, over the top. It’s so weird. I was not this way the first time around!

Funnily enough, Eddie is also sort of in the same “OMG we’re about to have a newborn and therefore we will not be able to do anything ever again” mode, because he told me he was looking up tickets for breakfast with Santa in December. I just about died. This is coming from the person who gets us tickets THE MORNING OF the event usually. I know what he means though – it’s like we put all this pressure on ourselves because it feels like the first few weeks/months/YEARS? (ha) will be nuts.

And they will!

But at the same time, in another weird way, I’m more relaxed about that because I have nearly three months of my own work done and plan on taking a lot of time to snuggle the heck out of both kids. And do lots of fun things in these late fall and early winter months. I’ve been working so much lately that once the baby IS here, Max will probably feel like I’m around all the time compared to how it’s been lately!

baby #2 at 37 weeks I howsweeteats.com

Some extra things!

A bunch of you have asked what freezer meals I’m making this time around. You can find the freezer meals I made here for when I was pregnant with Max, and then an update here on what we really liked and didn’t like.

Honestly… I’m not really making any. I don’t have as much time as I did then, and I know that we will be up and about more quickly since I have a toddler running around. It’s also a different time of year (more fall than the dead of winter) and there are still a bunch of our favorite (super easy) recipes I want to cook! Next week, I may throw a few things in the freezer (meatballs? Pulled pork? Veg lasagna?) if I get the itch, but the only thing I’m really planning on doing is making my favorite lactation cookies. You know, PRIORITIES.

I’ve also received a bunch of questions about strollers and car seats! You know my all-time favorite car seat and stroller system was the Orbit Baby. It was amazing. But they discontinued the products, shut down and then all of their products were recalled (for using some flame retardants and carcinogens, etc?), so we were like… ugh, okay, done with that.

I got the Nuna Pipa car seat because my sister-in-law loves it and I’ve seen it in action a few times with my niece. It’s super light and easy to install. I also wanted a double stroller ASAP that I could snap the car seat into but also have a seat for Max, so I went with the Uppababy Vista after watching a million reviews on double strollers. The Nuna snaps in perfectly and Max loves the rumble seat (like he wants me to be using “HIS NEW STROLLER!” already) so I think it will be great for our walks and trips out of the house. We often frequent the mall with my mom for a good six to eight hours so we need some comfort!

My first choice was the City Mini GT Double, which I still want. But I already had the Nuna car seat and it doesn’t work in that stroller as of 2017. So later next year, that stroller might be one we purchase so we can do the side-by-side rides. We also have a single Uppababy G Luxe umbrella stroller that we LOVE, and I know they make a double of that, so it’s a possibility too.

As of right now, I’m planning on using the Bassinest again because it was theeeee BEST purchase I made right before having Max (like days before) – and was my favorite thing ever. I grabbed a new mattress and sheet for it, but otherwise ours is still in perfect condition.

And that’s really it! Max is so excited but I still don’t know if he really “gets” it. I’m pretty sure once the baby is here he will still say he wants to “cuddle the baby” and kiss my belly and what not. Like he knows but he has nooo idea what is to come. Also, every day he changes his mind and says he is having a brother and a sister, depending on who asks, when you ask, etc. His names still range from Pink to Orange to Yellow. Hehehehe.

I am still feeling a little more pull towards thinking it’s a boy, but not as 100% as I was with Max. I can’t wait to find out!! Hard to believe that in the next few weeks, we will be snuggling the heck out of a newborn again. I can’t even wait. xo