Pregnancy 23 Week Update {With Belly Pictures}
I’m doing a horrible job at keeping up with taking consistent belly pictures with this pregnancy. But, this week I actually planned to get a picture {or twenty…bless my patient husband} before church on Sunday. I feel so accomplished!
Today, I’m 23 weeks along. I’m feeling really great. I get tired in the early afternoon which is perfect because Ridley naps, so I can get my feet up and work on my computer for a while. I occasionally have very, very mild indigestion.
My appointment last week with my midwife went spectacularly. The baby’s heartbeat is good. My blood pressure is great. And I’m actually measuring a smidge small…for which I’m thankful. 🙂
I can feel my little baby man doing backflips, punches and kicks. It’s hilarious to watch my belly jump sometimes! My hubby finally was able to feel him moving around. Awww!
The weather has been incredibly warm, so I’m enjoying spending time outside soaking up some sunshine. The fresh air is good for the soul…and the body.
I’m still following all the pregnancy nutrition tips that I shared with y’all in my Week 17 update.
23 weeks with Ridley | 23 weeks with Cameron
I’m wearing the same skirt {and no maternity clothes} in the above photos. Can you see the difference in my face? I’m so much healthier this time….although I’m “bigger” all over than during my pregnancy with Ridley. Haha!
Sweet, sweet brother love. Ridley loves talking about “baby Cameron” and how he’s going to be gentle with his itty bitty baby brother. I’m imagining that it’s going to be quite an adjustment for him with the new baby arrives in four months.
For those of you with two or more children — What did you do to make the adjustment to new siblings easier for the older kids? I need all the advice you can give me. 🙂
XO
*****
Katie was only 22 months old when Benjamin was born, so I’m sure it will be a little different for Ridley since he’s older.
But, for what it’s worth–I found it made a big difference if I made sure to spend (at least) one of Benjamin’s nap-times with Katie one-on-one, doing fun stuff. Reading books, baking cookies, playing with her toys. I wanted to make sure she knew that, even though I was spending so much time with Benjamin (nursing every 2 hours for several months!), I still had time for her and *wanted* to enjoy her company still.
So excited for you! Can’t wait to see pictures of your sweet boy in a few months. :o)
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Mine are 2 1/2 years apart. We just made sure we talked it up while I was pregnant. We never talked about how it would change her world or how big of an adjustment it would be. It was always just positive.
We had a small bag of goodies for the oldest at the hospital…snacks, puzzles, etc.
I think the biggest thing is just always making it an exciting thing…no fear, no worries, just happy…at least in front of the oldest. 🙂
It’s such a wonderful time watching your only child learn to love their sibling! Enjoy it!
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My two boys are only 19 months apart. We talked a lot about having a little brother, and explained to Hendrix that he needed to set a good example for his little brother. Pretty sure he had no clue what we were talking about, but hey, it made us feel better!
We also made sure we spent a lot of special one-on-one time with Hendrix after Jameson was born. I actually took him to the swimming pool (I only sat on the edge and supervised, of course) the very day after we got home from the hospital (some might call me crazy!). There was a lot of jealousy, of course, but we just worked through it.
It absolutely makes my heart explode with love now, though, when Hendrix talks to Jameson in his sweet baby-talk voice, and kisses him at bedtime/naptime. And pretty much every time Hendrix walks into the room, Jameson squeals with laughter. It’s just beyond amazing.
Good luck with the rest of your pregnancy!
Awe…. look how sweet! Myra, you’re gorgeous.
What we did was designate times just for the older kids. Whether it was an hour or a whole afternoon we purposed to spend quality time with them. That seemed to help a lot.
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I have three now ages 5, 4 and 4 months. Each addition has been relatively smooth. I just try to be patient with the older ones as they adjust. I also remind them that they got the same kind of attention and care when they were babies and now its their sibling’s turn. That appeases any jealousy very quickly..
I found that it was helpful to read to big brother while I was nursing the baby. Since so much time is spent feeding a newborn its nice to find ways to make that time special for the older sibling too.
Congratulations, Myra! Somehow I missed you were expecting, along the way. What a happy blessing!
Our first child went from being an only child, to a big sister of triplets! But despite everyone warning us of jealousy issues, etc., she handled it all with grace, at 5 years old. I am not sure it is anything we did or didn’t do, but love her and include her like we always had.
Here were my thoughts on that for us:
It’s great to make them feel part of it all by referring to them as a big brother/sister, but remember….there is more to them than that. Yes, YOU know that, but you want to show them that YOU remember that too. (They hear a LOT of it, from EVERYONE, for the first year or so.)
Also, I let our oldest daughter help with the babies IF she wanted to. She’d let me know. I never asked her to do anything, but if she asked, I’d happily accept. I wanted her to know that the babies were our responsibility, and she was welcome to help with most anything. They were gifts from God for her as well, not just us as parents.
One on one time with each child….even moments in every day, is wonderful, and confirmation that they each matter to us and we love them all equally, but that they are each special and unique to us as well. Of course, a new baby requires a LOT of our attention. But making special efforts to get some with our first child/older children, goes a long way in love & family, too.
All of the suggestions are great! I also tried to find ways to let Caedmon help me, so he wouldn’t feel left out. I always kept finding myself saying, “I can’t play now. I have to change the baby.” Or, “Mommy’s feeding the baby right now.” Letting them help like bringing you a diaper or the wipes, or letting them pick out a toy for the baby to play with seemed to help. Girl, you’re going to be exhausted with those ‘up all nights’ with a new little one, but taking some one on one time with him while the baby is sleeping will mean so much to him! You’re gorgeous, by the way! 😉
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I found that when the older siblings have a “special job” to help mommy it makes things easier. Getting mommy a diaper, helping pick out the baby’s clothes for the day.
The older ones want mommy, of course, when mommy is feeding the little one. I have taken this time to read to the older ones.
What a blessing! 🙂 Congrats again! 🙂
Oh and you are so adorable!
I have to awesome boys 3 years apart. Conner my 5 1/2 year old was 3 when his baby brother Cole was born and til then he was my life. I knew that I needed to prepare him to not have mommy to the drop of a hat. Everyday I would make it my goal to make him wait for something. For example if I were working in the kitchen and he wanted me for something I would clean my hands and be right there. So to help prepare him I would simply expain that mommy is busy right now and will be with him as soon as I was done ( I think this was harder on me) Conner is the best big brother and never was upset of the time that I was spending with the baby. Baby was always positive talk and he was so excited. Best of luck. Boys rock!!
I have three girls, and when another one was born, I would let them help with the baby. Sometimes I would let the baby stay with daddy, so I could have mommy time with my older girls. I still take special time with each daughter!
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Mine are older now, 18, 12, and 8, but I let them help out! When they did that, they felt included and knew the baby needed their help in order to grow! When the baby started crawling and then walking, that was another adjustment, because then they were a little more “threatening!” It all works out with prayer and you get so many opportunities for “teachable” moments!
You look beautiful!
My first two are 23 months apart. I really did not do anything special to try and help my son adjust to his new baby sister. But he did amazingly well and I don’t remember any kind of jealousy from him at all. I am currently 38 weeks along with #3 and my daughter is almost 3 years old, so there is a bit more space between these two. Which I think will be good this time around. I have a feeling she is going to be a little mommy. I talk to the kids about the baby in my belly and we have been reading a homebirth book to prepare them for what they may see and hear if they are around during my labor and birth. They seem pretty excited about the new baby coming, but it will be adjustment just like it always is when you add another little one to the family. I wish you all the best, you look beautiful! 🙂
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I have 4. there is 6 years between my first 2 and the 3 younger ones there is less then 2 1/2 years between them. Before the baby comes just make it a positive thing with big brother. read books about becoming a big brother and talk about it often. After the baby comes include him as much as possible with the baby. If he feels like he is apart of the baby he will not have jealous issues. All my kids adjusted great to each new baby and we really thought we would have trouble from 3 to 4 because 3 was so clingy to me. But as long as she was in with mommy helping she was ok.
We are working on number 4. We have 3 boys ages 8, 5 (6 next month), and 15 months. We are due in August. What we have found that works for us is to just involve them as much as possible in EVERYTHING. Talk about how fun it’s going to be (even though as adults we know it will be lots of hard work). We would tell our boys it’s going to be hard for a little bit but we are going to have so much fun. It is going to be great. You will be the best big brother around. We personally tried to stay away from the tv shows about siblings because most of them teach the kid to be jealous. I don’t think they mean to but jealousy was never even an option on the table, so when they saw the kids kicking and screaming and being ugly they began getting ideas. I would say just stay as positive and excited as you can and that will emanate throughout your house. Just involve him as much as you can. Good luck and congrats!!!!
Our five children are now 24, 22, 18, 16 & 14. As each new addition came along I encouraged the others to “use” the nursing sessions to get some “mommy” time. The would climb onto the couch next to me with a book for me to read or just to snuggle & talk. We spoke of our family as a God-created unit that required “all hands on deck” and the fact that everyone has a role (ie: “jobs”) and everyone took their jobs seriously.
I’m a grandma. One thing I did was to buy a gift for the older child and have it ready for when we came home from the hospital. I gave it to the older one and said it was from the baby to them. You may be asked if the baby went shopping while it was inside of mom.
When our youngest son was preparing to make his arrival we bought some books to read to our older son (2 at the time) that told about being a big brother. They explained things in a way a child could understand, showed nice pictures and talked a lot about how the big brother is important to mommy and daddy and special and loved. I think it really helped to prepare our little guy to meet his brother.
Blessings, Grace
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There is 3 1/2 yrs. between my boys, they are in there 30’s now and very close. I remember asking my older son if he loved me and did he love his daddy, of course he said yes, I told him that if he could love 2 people that we could also love 2 people.
I have three girls (6,4,1) and it was helpful for us to have them get special “big sibling” things. If they ever acted like they wanted to be the baby again I’d say how the baby couldn’t have chocolate or chips (or whatever your child really likes) I asked them for help like getting a diaper for me so that they feel special and important in their new role. Talking about what it was like when they were born was helpful as well. How much I LOVED to hold them when they were a newborn and showing them pictures of themselves at that age was good too (my girls love looking back at the scrapbooks.) A new special “big sibling” toy was helpful as well. We let them pick a baby doll so that they could take care of a baby while I took care of my baby. Some people don’t like this idea for a boy, but I figure that he can pretend to be the daddy right?? Boys need to learn how to be daddies after all! But of course that might depend on your child. Some boys would care less and some might like a boy doll or a stuffed animal perhaps to be their baby to take care of (or robot.. seriously.. I had a robot that I treated like a baby, might be because I liked baby dolls to begin with, but it’s still an idea… I liked it because it would talk and I thought that was cool. Probably the first “Alphi” on the market or something.) Be very aware of your stress level. My husband got pretty stressed out when we had our third last year and I had to rest a bit more than I’d had to with the other two. We’d moved away from family the year before so it was just him and me here and he tended to yell at them to pick-up the toys faster and so on. I noticed my oldest looking depressed because of this. It’s important to realize how you talk to your child and not go from the loving patient parent to snapping all the time. Special alone times with the oldest one is great. Think of how you’ll need to rest right after the baby is born and plan on buying bubbles to blow for your child and special new books to read or projects that your child would especially like that you could do in bed or on the couch while nursing or holding a sleeping baby. My oldest did a lot of coloring and we also bought a special new movie that we watched a lot during that time. Lots of snack foods that they can get themselves is really helpful too. Pre-fill cups of milk or juice and teach them to get those things out of the fridge themselves it can turn into a fun game for them and also help them to feel grown up to learn how to be more independent. My girls know that if they are hungry they can always get the baby carrots or an apple or a banana or nuts or string cheese… all things that they can get on their own and all healthy! (the trick of course is to teach them to throw the things away that are garbage or at least put the apple cores on the table rather than on the floor! But it’s totally worth it!)
Also, know that it is easier to go from one to two that it is going from none to one. Going from none to one changed your life. You became a completely new person in a way because you’d never been a mother before. Now you are just going to need to figure out how to fit this one into your schedule and re-arrange a few things to figure out the puzzle of adding another personality to the mix. Taking your time at the grocery store so that the baby is sleeping or happy. A sling or baby carrier is GREAT for going out. I don’t use it very often at home to get things done, but wearing the baby helps my peace of mind at the store (because she won’t cry and enjoys just cuddling the whole time) and my older kids are still in their accustomed positions in or beside the cart (they don’t get bumped out of their seat right away because of the new baby.) The best time for me to go to the store was after I’d nursed her so that she’d go to sleep while I walked around. Everyone needs to figure out the best times, but be prepared to sit in the car for a minute if you need to nurse or get the baby to a point where he will be happy in the store. I’d bring a snack for my older ones so that they could have a little snack and we’d talk or listen to a kid tape for 10 minutes or however long it would take me and that seemed to work much better than trying to rush.
Oh, also.. it’s great to think of ways you could parent your next one better compared to how you parented your first one, but just realize that they will probably be very different. It’s funny how opposite my first two are from each other. They get along quite well, but they needed different parenting from me and still do. Our goal should be to know our children well… so don’t get bogged down by advice! Just use what works and throw out the rest. :}
Hope these ideas help!
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My girls are three years apart. While getting the nursery ready, I got out our oldest’s baby clothes and we looked through them together. I talked about how she was too big to wear them now, but would it be okay if she shared them with her baby sister? She was so excited that her new baby sister got to share her clothes! I also had a present from the baby, to her, at the hospital, so that it wasn’t all about the baby. She felt special too. Also, I read a book to her every time I was nursing. She felt “big” that she got to pick out the book herself. I would also let her help with picking out clothes, since the baby was too little.
God’s Blessings on the rest of your pregnancy. You look gorgeous!!
I’ve got three kids two boys ( 3 and 4) and one daughter ( 1). Our newest baby arrives in four weeks. It seems to help to remind the kids that the baby is coming, let them feel the kicks, and keep reminding them that they are going to be a big sister and brother. Our oldest can’t wait to hold the newest guy. It helps to for them to see the baby stuff/clothes/bed, etc., when we are getting ready. I think as long as you make sure to include them in helping take care of the baby when the baby comes, they will be just fine with the adjustment.
First of all, congrats!!!! So exciting! And how ironic, just yesterday was our second child’s bday, and I did a post on things I’ve learned since I became a mom of 2! http://naptimedecorator.blogspot.com/2012/03/on-becoming-mom-of-two.html
Good luck to you, and you are giving Ridley the greatest gift! He’s going to love his baby brother:)
One fun and special thing that we did when Zachary became a big brother was to get a “I’m the Big Brother” shirt and gave it to him as a gift the first time he saw his little sister. He wore that shirt all the time and was so pleased to be a big brother!
When Betsy was born, I couldn’t find any shirts like that where we currently live so – I left T-shirts with decals and fabric markers at home for Zachary and Molly to make their own shirts (found that stuff at Michaels). It kept them busy that morning while waiting to come to see the new baby and they were excited to wear them to the hospital to make the first visit with their new sister!
I think just make him feel special and important for being the big brother – it’s an important job!
You look amazing, Myra!! Absolutely beautiful and what a miracle you’re producing with your strong and healthy body!!! Birthing a baby will always be a miracle to me!!
Although, I now have a 10-yr old grandson and a 4-yr old grand daughter, my own daughters are only 19 months apart. So, it was probably a bit confusing for Danielle to comprehend what was actually happening.
We really talked a lot about her ‘new’ sibling and what a wonderful big sis she was going to be. We had baby dolls, blankies, etc….for her to play with and hold.
Once we brought Devon home from the hospital, I just made sure to spend quality time with Danielle. It was pretty easy to do since they were on TOTALLY different sleep schedules! *No peace for Mama* We were stationed overseas (in Italy) so I didn’t have family around to help out. But, I survived and my daughters are beautiful, healthy, well-adjusted women—-and they love each other and are friends as adults.
Just follow your instincts—-you’ll know what Ridley needs to feel ‘included’ and loved. You’re a good Mama…..
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I just recently had a baby (7 weeks ago) and my oldest is 2.5 years old. While I was pregnant, we talked to her about the baby, let her draw on my belly, put stickers on my belly. If she ever wasn’t gentle with my belly, I would tell her about the baby and that we didn’t want to hurt the baby. After awhile, she’d get up in the morning and say “good morning” to my belly first, then to me 🙂
I’m a planner and I think I tried to plan and plan how I would adjust to life with more than one child, but to be honest, it just works once the new baby arrives! It took me about 3 weeks to adjust to life with 2 (or 3) and after that I forgot what it was like to have just one. You will do great!
ps Have I told you that every time I eat something unhealthy I think of you and your “clean” eating at Blissdom. I swear to you that I constantly think “I really wish I had the discipline to eat like Myra.” LOL! One day one day.
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