Second Child Syndrome

I hear it from everyone: the second child never has it as good as the first.  The first one gets all the accolades, the new stuff, the leather-bound baby book with every little detail of his or her first year of life.  Well, the jokes on them because I haven't finished Ruby's baby book (oops).  Seriously though,  I'm already seeing this type of thing happen with our family.  We announced this pregnancy later than we did with our first (much of that was due to morning sickness and just feeling crummy).  With Ruby, I started taking belly photos around 15 weeks, whereas today was the first time I had an actually belly pic taken (I'm almost 19 weeks!).  And this baby doesn't even get a "real" nursery since we'll be moving this summer and we want to keep our guest room as is until then (the baby will be bunking with us).

But, I'm determined to try to fight second child syndrome as much as possible.  I want to celebrate this pregnancy and this growing baby.

I'm starting with the belly photos.  I tried to do them myself today with the tripod outside.  It didn't work out so well.  I was having focusing problems and kept coming out with shots like this:

That's not gonna work (not only is it completely out of focus, but Gunnar snuck in there behind my shoulder).  I was pretty frustrated after several shots like this (it makes me realize how much I have to learn about photography...sigh....someday...).  I had grand aspirations of taking belly photos different outdoor backgrounds, like our yard, nature trails, water, etc.  My idea was sparked from looking at amazing belly photos online.  Pinterest has pins with elaborate chalkboard backgrounds, fancy fonts included with photos, or little signs and notes about the week's progress of the growing baby next to the perfect belly shot.  After looking at these pins and reading some really cool blogs, I started to view that as the standard that I have to keep up with, especially if I want to fight second child syndrome.  In my mind, I start to think that I'm a horrible mother for not making everything picture perfect.  But the reality is that I just can't pull off something like that with the way my life is right now - between work, Ruby, and other commitments, it's just not going to happen.  Still, I can't let life stop me from keeping things special for this baby - like I did with Ruby.  This baby will be celebrated and documented -  I just need to let myself be real and not worry about everything not being perfect.

  

Tomorrow marks the beginning of my 19th week of pregnancy and I was determined to get an 18th week shot (not a blurry one) no matter what.  I have to take the opportunities when they come.  Tonight we planned on visiting Noa at the hospital since he's on call.  I decided it was just going to have to happen at the hospital.  So, on the way out the door, I grabbed my camera and had Noa take photos in the hallway of the Family Practice department.  It was totally not ideal, but to our surprise they didn't come out too bad with the horrible lighting and pale walls.

Here's the official first belly pic at 18, almost 19 weeks!  Boom.  Nailed it! 

Meanwhile, Ruby was running around and laughing.

She recently learned to point to my belly when we ask her, "where's the baby?"  It's pretty cute.  She's blurry in these photos, but you get the idea.

Our visit was short, but sweet.  We brought Noa did favorite fast food (Taco Bell).  Ruby brought her daddy a picture she made today with markers and stickers and then had fun playing around with him a little bit.  I think her favorite part was running up and down the halls into his arms.  This photo makes me melt.  She is so happy.

I'm looking forward to sharing more photos of this pregnancy and talk about the growing baby - even if it's not Pinterest-worthy.  It's special to us and that's what really matters.