It's Official

We are expecting baby Fanning #2 in February! Yes folks, I am finally pregnant--about 13 weeks so. After having surgery and an IUI (basically, insemination in the doctor's office) it happened. I feel very blessed that after more than a year of trying, things have worked out. I have several friends for whom it was not so easy and their journey was much longer, and after dealing with the whole infertility racket (I have a whole new level of sensitivity now and will never ask a couple again when they are going to have kids and to hurry it on up already...you just never know what they are going through), I know how stressful it can be. We are very lucky indeed.

So far I've been feeling pretty good. I've definitely had more "morning sickness" this time around (which actually strikes at any point of the day), but nothing horrible. Just some slight queasiness or general "blah" feelings here or there (and for a few weeks the thought of eating a vegetable or salad made me want to hurl). I didn't have any of that with Will, so that was a new phenomenon.

I did have a blood clot in my uterus a few weeks ago that caused some bleeding, but luckily it seems to have resolved itself and it's gone now. Apparently this is pretty normal and most blood clots get reabsorbed into the uterus.

So now I alternate between being very excited and thinking "oh, sh*#. I'm going to have two kids. How will I manage it all?". I suppose I will figure it out just like everyone else does, one step--and sometimes mis-step--at a time.

Mission Accomplished: Potty Training

Will is officially potty trained. How did we do it, you might ask? Well, quite honestly, we didn't really do anything at all. Will turned 2 1/2 in May, and for the last few months he's been using the toilet on and off on his own without much consistency. He had pooped a couple of times, but then never did it again. Until about a month ago. He pooped in the potty and never looked back, so to speak. We have not had a poopy diaper since---it's been all toilet, all the time. Same for pee-pee. Now, that's not to say we haven't had an accident here or there (when he gets busy playing, he doesn't want to stop go to the bathroom, so we've realized we just have to stop him and make him go). So that's it. It just sort of happened on it's own without us really doing anything. No fighting, bribing, weekends of running around naked. It just happened.

So while I'm very happy about this milestone (good Lord, it will save us some dough. I'm done paying nearly $20/week for diapers and wipes), it's also a little more challenging in some regards. Now when we are out and about, I have to make sure we make pit stops every so often (when he was in diapers, this wasn't a concern) and it's inevitable that we'll be driving down the highway, in a hurry and I'll hear his tiny voice shout "mommy, I have to go potty!", which leaves me frantically looking for a gas station or convenience store or nice patch of grass somewhere. And then there's the issue of unhygienic public bathrooms and the filth that comes with that.

But overall, I'm glad we made it here. Pretty easily and seamlessly. If only all of parenting were this easy...

Finally, a post. Oh, and Hilton Head.

Wow, have I ever been neglecting this blog. Well, to recap, we went to Hilton Head, South Carolina two weeks ago with Billy's family. To celebrate Billy's parent's 40th wedding anniversary, we all got together, rented a house near the beach and spent a week hanging out enjoying each other's company. The house his parents rented was incredible--4 bedrooms each with their own bathroom, a huge playroom with beds for the kids and a pool out back. It really couldn't have been a better set up. We spent mornings on the beach, afternoons in the pool. We took a dolphin watching trip one morning, watched fireworks by the water one evening and spent a day in nearby Savannah, GA touring that very cool, historic southern town.

It was great spending time with family and getting to meet our new niece, Ally. She's only a couple of months old and it was so nice to hold such a tiny baby again--I forgot how small they are! And she is a dream--she's basically been sleeping through the night since day one. We should all be so lucky, eh? And best of all, watching Will and Kiley play together was so much fun. At 2 1/2 and 3, they are at the ages where they actually play together, on their own, and they were the best of friends. I just wish we lived closer to them so they could spend more time together (they live in Atlanta, GA).

Last week I had to go to NY for work for three days. Two of them were spent in the city and one was in Long Island. I'm glad I went and got some face-to-face time with my co-workers and boss, but boy was I glad to get home (albeit on a delayed flight last Thursday that didn't land in Austin until nearly 2:00am, but home nonetheless). Oh, and it was 102 degrees up there--hotter than Texas. So much for escaping the heat. (And it was all over the news about the "heat wave" in the East. I had to laugh at a news clip where they were trying to see if they could fry an egg on the sidewalk...silly Yankees.)

So I'm happy to be home this week after traveling the last couple of weeks. Here are a few pics from our South Carolina beach trip (the second to last photo is a shot of Paula Deen's restaurant in Savannah, for all you Food Network lovers):