William has an announcement...

We are thrilled to be expecting Baby #2 in September! Due date is 9/28, but because William was almost 2 weeks early, I'm going to make sure our hospital bags are packed starting mid-month. My 30th birthday is the 24th, though, and I think having a baby would be a very productive way to mark the occasion!

I am 12 weeks today (remember the fruit size comparisons from the very beginnings of this blog?)... and Baby is the size of a plum! I had a few weeks of morning sickness which was not fun, but it disappeared at 10 weeks, and I am feeling well now. Biggest symptom is (as it was with William) just being exhausted. Some days I take a nap when William does, and am still ready to fall asleep at 8 p.m.

We are not going to find out if it's a boy or girl this time... I think it will be fun to have that big surprise to look forward to, and to have Esch tell me in the delivery room, "It's a ____!" Along the same lines, William can do the honors of telling his grandparents (who now that we are in PA, I am sure will be waiting in the waiting room!) if he has a baby brother or sister.

We've already got our names picked out, but William, (who is surprisingly fascinated by the fact that Mommy has a baby "in her tummy") has suggested a few of his own. The very first time we asked him what he wanted to name the baby, he said, without missing a beat, "Eschy Doggy McCombie." Lovely! There have been a few days that he suggested "Thomas" (we are in the middle of a love affair with Thomas the Tank Engine)... and this week he started flat out calling the baby "Mavis." When I asked him who Mavis was, he said simply, "The baby in Mommy's tummy." Tonight when I tucked him in and left the room, I heard him from the behind the door, call out "Night night, Mommy! Night, Mavis!"

What in the world? I could not figure out for the life of me where he had heard the name Mavis, but Esch solved the puzzle: it's another one of the train characters on Thomas. Oh dear.

The big brother-to-be is really interested, which surprised me. He's not even 2 and a half, but comments on the pregnancy often without any mention from Esch or I.

He'll come up to me and suddenly hug my belly, and say, "I love our baby." (Of course this also melts my heart and he subsequently gets out of any trouble he may be in... maybe he's figured that out)!

We're all so excited, and counting down the days to September 28th, or thereabouts. It makes me so happy just to think about William meeting his new sibling, and eventually seeing them play and grow up together.

Looks like we'll need to change the title of the blog from William Wesley. Any suggestions?