If you have read my blog or know me even a little bit, you know that my niece Victoria has been very special to me since the day before she was born.  Her brother, Matthew, is equally special to me, although I haven’t gotten to spend nearly as much time with him.

I’m now getting to watch Mark’s brother and his girlfriend get to know Will in much the same fashion as Mark and I got to know Victoria.  Being a mother or father is a special relationship, but being an Aunt or Uncle is also pretty darn special.  I know I discipline Victoria at least a little bit, but I also get to spoil her more than I guess I will spoil Will.  I guess that might not be true overall, but I get to spoil her more at one time.

I can see the same spark in Will’s eyes for Kurt, that Victoria had for Mark and I too.  Because we get to spoil our nieces and nephews when we see them, they get really excited to see us.  While Will isn’t quite able to express that yet, I can see it developing.

I’ll always cherish my relationship with Matthew and Victoria, but now I will cherish Will’s relationship with his Aunts and Uncles too.

As hoped, before the end of March, I became a new mom!  William James was born on the 16th, just 3 days early. It appears Kevin was the closest with his guess of the 17th.  Congrats Kevin, you win…a reason to post on your blog!  Technically, I had guessed the date right on months ago without even realizing it when I setup my maternity leave on my work calendar to start on March 16th.  Go me!

It is all the overwhelmingness that people tell you it is.  But even with all the emotions and the exhaustion, it’s still the most amazing thing ever.  I’m laying on the floor right now next to my son (!) and he’s snoozing away perfectly happy.

I probably won’t get to post as often as I used to (cause I was so good about posting you know…), but I hope to keep this somewhat up to date with non-trivial posts.

It is now March and, God willing, I will be a Mom by the end of it.  (I do realize that this pregnancy could linger into April, but I’m sure praying it doesn’t.)  I’m not really sure what else to say.  I could explain how excited I am (duh of course I am).  Or I could explain how uncomfortable I am, but you don’t want to hear that.  So yes, I will just stick to the slightly overwhelming, but very exciting fact that it is March and I hope to be a Mom by the end of it.

Mark and I never really followed up on the cat situation.  I wouldn’t say the situation is “fixed” per se, but at the persistant advice of a wonderful veterinarian we know, we have learned how to handle it.  We were getting a bit down because it seemed like Hera was never going to stop having fits.  Mark has even suggested that she’s bi-polar (not that you could diagnose that in a cat).  The vet we know insisted that if we just relax and let them do their thing, it will get better.  As we started to do this and got used to how to do this, the difference was amazing!  It was so obvious that they were feeding off of our nervous energy then.  Hera’s fits have gotten fewer, but when it does happen we can keep it to 5 minutes max instead of 4 hours or days!  If it turns out that she is just reacting to my hormones and stops after Will is born, all the better.

My favorite part – its a lifelong lesson that will help us be better parents too.  A crying baby is going to feed off of our energy.  If we relax, we can help Will chill out faster too.  This is what my dad tells me at least.  We’ll find out for ourselves soon enough!

Under 3 months (whoa!) and if you haven’t heard, we are pretty sure that we’re having a boy!  I have to say pretty sure because the ultrasound is never a perfect indication.  This does mean that we have just as certain of a name: William James.  William is Mark’s Dad’s middle name, while James is my dad’s first name. There have been quite a few ‘nicknames’ so far.

1. Baby Beluga
2. Cantaloupe
3. Lizzy Bill or Billy Liz (we knew it would be William or Elizabeth)
4. Billy Jim
5. BJ
6. Big Willy Style
7. Silly Willy (courtesy of one cute 4 year old niece of ours)

And if Will is anything like his mother, you’ll get your foot stomped on for calling him any of these names!

We have a crib setup now and the cats are getting used to NOT sleeping in it.  I took sticky paper and put it sticky side up.  They hate it!  Purrball jumped in once when I was around.  I didn’t scold him.  I let him figure out on his own that he didn’t like the stickiness.  I was really amazed when he couldn’t figure out how to get out.  I’ve never seen the sad look in his eyes when he turned to me to help him out.  We have a bassinet in our bedroom now too.  I’ve read that it’s good to get them used to the furniture early so they only have to adjust to baby later.  We’re using the sticky paper in the bassinet as well and it is having equal success.  They love sleeping in the under carriage where we’re supposed to store diapers and such.  I suppose I’m okay with indulging them a little bit though since they’re lives (and ours) are about to go topsy turvy.

I can feel Will kick more and more lately.  I like it best when Mark feels it (or sees it) because he reminds me how amazing it is every time.

That’s all the baby news I can think of right now!  I’m sure there will be more and more news as we get closer to March.  Leave any questions or fantastic advice in the comments (or email me if it’s the private kind of advice).