Big Brother in Training

I've wanted to officially announce our pregnancy on the blog since our 20 week sonogram, but that was 12 weeks ago and we are yet to scan the sonogram photos. Our scanner is older and doesn't have a compatible driver with Windows 7, and neither Brian nor I have fiddled with it enough to see if we can get it to work. So, finally, with 8 weeks to go, I am pleased to announce the expected arrival of Baby Pecorino #2, due on July 11! The picture of Brennan below was taken on Christmas Eve 2010. We were on Long Island and broke the big news to our family by making visits with Brennan wearing this shirt. Most everyone caught on pretty quickly and everyone was excited to hear the news.
We did all the standard 1st trimester genetic testing and the results were very good. Our 20 weeks sonogram went well - the baby is healthy and growing nicely. In fact, at that time, the baby was measuring a week large, but my doctors have assured me that it doesn't mean I'm going to have a gigantic baby! They are predicting another full term, 8 pounder, so we'll see. We did not find out the baby's sex, so that will be a delivery room surprise! At 32 weeks, I am feeling good, still staying active and can't believe I'm getting into the home stretch. This pregnancy has been easy and feels like it's gone by fast. Here is a photo of Brian and I from last night, on our way out to a wedding.
The baby will be taking over the nursery, which I had painted gender neutral when Brennan was born, so it is ready for a little boy or girl. Most of our baby preparations revolve around Brennan - getting him moved into his new room, picking and registering for preschool, potty training, etc. I feel like we have just about everything we need for a baby, so there hasn't been much to do, although I do need to pull out the newborn/infant clothes and at least wash the gender neutral stuff. The one big item I needed to get was some kind of a double stroller. Most of our stroller use is at the mall, so I decided to get a 1 1/2 stroller (a.k.a. a sit and stand), instead of a full double. After doing a bunch of internet research, I chose the Mia Moda Compagno stroller over the Joovy Caboose and the Baby Trend Sit and Stand. I think it might be the heaviest of the three, but it had a few features the others didn't, like a padded back rest for the standing child. The stroller arrived this week and Brennan helped me put it together. This stroller has a full front seat, that can hold the infant car seat, and a small jump seat in the back for the older child as well as a standing platform for that child, so he can stand while you stroll. Brennan often likes to walk when we are out shopping, so I figured this type of stroller would be perfect. He can easily hop on and off as needed. Here he is testing out the jump seat.

And, below, he models the standing platform. This stroller feels massive compared to my lightweight Maclaren, but I think that would be true of any type of double stroller! We tested it out with our infant car seat and it fits. Brennan is excited to get to stroll with the baby and likes that he'll be able to look at the baby when riding standing up.

Brennan often rubs my belly and we talk a lot about the baby. I want to try to prepare him as much as possible. He often asks, "when baby coming out?" He knows he is going to be a big brother and tells me that he is going to sing to the baby when baby cries and that he will help change diapers. He recently has been predicting a baby sister. Time will tell!