It seems that it has been almost six months since I last posted here! I didn’t intend to be gone so long but a lot has happened. If I’m being honest, my priorities have shifted a lot in the past six months. It’s not that I wouldn’t like to regularly blog again – I would love to. But the reality is, I just don’t have the mental bandwidth these days. I think in a perfect world I would like to make a post once a month again. But we’ll see. Anyway… for those who might be interested, I thought I would post a little update about what has been going on in the last six months. (I’m going to try to keep it somewhat in order.)

+ Julia turned 4! And started preschool about a month after her birthday. She has been enjoying school a lot and it has been a great adjustment for her. I am constantly amazed at how much she already knows how to do that I didn’t even do until kindergarten or the 1st grade! She can count (with some assistance) to 100. Knows her ABCs, and how to write her name. She loves arts and crafts at home and at school. We try to do a craft together at least once a week, even if it’s just painting. Her favorite thing to do at this age though is still imaginative play. Her imagination is wild! She has an imaginary friend who is pretty much another member of our household at this point. My favorite thing about this age is being able to have real conversations. I must answer 100s of questions a day! I won’t lie, it can be exhausting. But I also love how much she loves to learn about absolutely everything.

+ We got a pet! In August we also adopted our very first pet, a male parakeet who we named Milo. My sister-in-law has a parakeet and we wound up petsitting him a weekend last summer. My husband had grown up having a bird so he knew what they were like but this was a new experience for me. Two days with my sister-in-law’s bird Charlie convinced me that a bird would be the perfect first pet for Julia. Now that he’s had time to adjust, Milo loves to fly around the living room and perch on the windows. Julia is his favorite person in the house. You would think that he’d be afraid of a high-energy little kid but she is actually his favorite person in the house! Julia is very gentle with him, talks to him all day, and loves to give him millet (his favorite treat).

+ I majorly cut down on social media (specifically Facebook). I have a lot of mixed feelings about Facebook, but mostly, I didn’t like how easy it was to waste time scrolling on there. Over the summer I deleted the app off of my phone and only check in once in a while when I use my computer. The less I use it the less I miss it and I think it’s been a good change for me.

+ I’m pregnant! I found out in August that I was expecting again and we couldn’t be happier about it. I will say pregnancy after a loss has definitely been different. I’ve been dealing with a lot of anxiety this time. Although I’m already halfway through, it still doesn’t feel entirely real. Julia is over the moon with excitement. She has been asking for a sibling for a long time! I was able to find out the sex of the baby super early this time by doing the NIPT testing. I found out at 11 weeks! This is way sooner than I did with Julia, with her I found out at the anatomy scan around 18 weeks. I have always opted to know the baby’s sex. Especially in this case, as it would help me know what we would need to buy (girl = we have a ton of clothes from Julia. Boy = starting from nothing. All our baby gear was neutral). It also has helped me connect and bond to baby a little more knowing what they are. I’m trying to stay hopeful that things will go well, and also, that this birth will be different than Julia’s. Pregnancy anxiety aside, I do feel differently going into this as a second-time mom. I feel after being a mom for almost five years, I’m a lot more confident in my choices and have an idea of what I’ll be doing differently or the same this time around. I’m also very aware of how exhausting – but short – the newborn stage is. This is my last baby, so I’m going to try to soak it all in as much as possible. The postpartum experience I had with Julia was really difficult after her birth and NICU stay. I am hoping to have a more “normal” experience this time, but either way, I am trying to prepare for multiple scenarios.
I am mostly excited to see Julia come into the role of big sister. We talk about her sibling every day and she likes to sing to and feel my tummy. I can’t wait to see my two babies together.

That’s about it for now! I’m hoping to publish a post within the next week or so about some of my favorite children’s books for the pre-school age… so be on the lookout for that if it is something that interests you.

If you’re reading this around the time it is posted, I hope that you have a wonderful and safe holiday season with your loved ones.