this is the year.

This is the year. I can feel it... or I think I can feel it. I'm hoping it's the year. The hubs and I have spoken quite a bit about the B word this past month. He's gotten slightly more comfortable discussing it though I think it's probably overkill for me to bring it up every day. I don't mean to, but it happens. I see an etrade commercial with the talking babies or our neighbors walking their baby around the neighborhood and I can't help but think about what it would be like to have one of our own. A friend of ours just posted belly shots on facebook and another friend went into labor last night. We're babysitting another friends newborn next weekend, I'm attending a baby shower the following weekend, and two of my cousins are pregnant, due around the same time. Needless to say, there are babies everywhere I turn.

This is the year. We're not getting any younger, I know we're not that old to begin with, but we're not getting any younger! I'm ready. I can feel it, mentally and emotionally that is, physically... well, that's another story. I'm not where I hope to be weight-wise (I hope to be 20lbs less when it happens) when I get pregnant knowing how much on average a woman gains when pregnant but I'll get there before it's time to start trying. I'm certainly emotionally ready. In the past I've felt pangs of anxiousness and nervousness at the thought of having a baby and though those emotions will never completely disappear, I've never felt so calm and ready. Sure it's a big change. Sure it's demanding, but I'm ready.

Is a guy ever ready though? Very rarely do I hear someone say that their husband is ready for a baby but they aren't. More often than not, it's the woman pushing for a child and the man constantly resisting. Hubs isn't so much resisting as he is trying to push it off into the unforeseeable future. It doesn't help that his mother continues to state her opinion that we are too young (we are both 27 - she had her first when she was 27...). Sticking to my timeline, we will have been married 2.5 years and we'll both be 28 by the time baby number one arrives. This feels really comfortable to me in that we didn't rush into having a baby (the hubs couldn't rush into anything if he tried... 10 years of dating before popping the question...), we enjoyed 2.5 years of wedded bliss sans child (and doesn't the birth of a child only make the love of a family grow that much stronger and greater?) Also, by the time we're ready for #2 and #3 (hubs wants 3 mind you...) we will be around 30 and 32 which seems pretty perfect to me.

I'm filled with joy at the thought of starting a family. The nervousness and anxiousness that I feel lies with my husband. I want him to feel ready. I want him to tell me he's ready. I don't want to feel like I've pushed this onto him; that I've pushed a baby that he's not yet ready for, onto him. I'm almost certain that this would ahem, ruin the moment, you might say... the time comes (no pun intended) and all I can think is "he doesn't want this, he doesn't want this" - doesn't seem like the way things should go, if you ask me. But how do you help a man prepare himself and feel ready? Is this how the majority of men think? Do most women ignore the un-readiness of the man and just go for it when they know they are ready? I almost feel like I have to push him in order for it to ever happen. If I didn't push and I just waited for him to come around, I'm 99.9% sure that I'd be in my late 30's, early 40's before having #1, and I don't know many women who want to wait that long.

I'm ready. I hope this is the year and I hope the hubs shares the same sentiment...

tick tock.

Baby fever continues. This past weekend hubs and I went out to dinner with some friends. One couple has a 2 year old and one on the way. In an effort to dissuade me and my desire to get pregnant, the hubs thought that if I sat next to the 2 year old I'd be completely turned off - especially because the baby would be cranky, hungry and tired. Boy did that plan backfire. Not only did it not dissuade me, it made me want one even more! The crying/screaming didn't really make me panic or make me think "shut that kid up already!", it made me want to hold him and play peekaboo to get him to calm down. I could also see how thrilled and excited our pregnant friend was to have their second child. She was radiant and glowing and ready to pop!

Hubs and I always talk/talked about having kids, and I know that it will happen but it has to be right for both of us. I hate feeling like I am pushing the issue but honestly, is the guy ever the one to say, "honey, I think it's time to get you preggo?" I think not. Research shows that by the time a woman reaches the age of 30, she loses up to 90% of her eggs. After learning that both of our mothers had their first child at 27, I think he is starting to realize that sooner is better than later especially since he wants 3 kids! He not so secretly hopes that we're blessed with triplets and "get it over with all at once". Lovely way to think of it, don't you think?

Until then... my biological clock is ticking...

love this clock (from esty) by the way!

getting a little ahead of myself...

Too cute! All from Etsy! If I had a baby or was even pregnant with one, I'd sooo be purchasing these things immediately. I swear I'm not crazy!

buy it here

As I think I mentioned, the paint color I chose for our smallest guest room which will some day become a nursery is a color that can be paired with "boy colors" or "girl colors". White furniture will definitely be a must. This is almost the exact same color we painted the someday nursery. Love this!

check it out here

so cute!

oh. my. gosh!

so stinkin' cute!

baby fever...

As if my desire for a baby wasn't great enough, cute little babies wearing oversized, water logged diapers, shoveling hand fulls of sand into their toothless mouths, wobbling in water on their chubby, recently discovered legs, sporting the cutest little baby sunglasses you've ever seen surrounded me on the beach. Mommy's in their tankini's hiding baby weight and daddy's wondering how they were going to get sand out of their little one's bathing suits amused me and captivated my attention for much of the time I spent on the beach and I couldn't help but smile while watching parents enjoy each and every special moment with their new baby.

Too frikken cute! My baby fever is through the roof.

he'll come around...

Almost immediately after we were married I started feeling the urge to have kids. Yes, we’re still young. Yes, there are still many places we’d like to travel. Yes, we still have a lot of work to do on the house. None of these things however make me want a baby any less or any later in life. With my husband, it’s a different story…

His ideal age to have kids is late 30′s. My ideal age would be, well, now! We both agree on 3 kids, so that’s a start, but ideally I’d like to be finished having kids in my mid-30′s. Discussions over what time is the right time leave me frustrated, wanting a baby more and more and feeling like it’s never going to happen. Now, I know that’s not true. I know that he’ll come around. I just wish I knew how to help make him more comfortable with the idea and I wish I could figure out how to help us meet in the middle… he’ll come around. Right?

How did you and your spouse decide what time was the right time?