A male baby to be more specific. There you go. So much for my planned big reveal of the new baby’s sex. Sorry for not coming up with a super creative photo post, I already channeled all my energy into finishing the guest room before our first guests will use it this weekend, being sick, and caring for a sick child again. A child, that also just discovered the joys of fully blown temper tantrums. Ah, the joys!

It’s gonna be interesting to see how this next little boy is gonna differ from Milo and in which ways they will be able to connect. We are really hoping that in about two years they will be fully compatible play buddies that can entertain each other for hours with only minimal supervision.

My next couple of days will be spent designing a completely new nursery for baby nummer two. And we could really use your help to come up with a cool name. Milo was kind of the only name ever Linc and I really loved, so it will be hard to find an equally cool brother name.

My criteria for a name are pretty ambitious anyway and I’m gonna tell you right now that I usually have to reject about 90% of all suggestions that are given to me. Not to discourage you, but to set a challenge, this is what the name should be like:

• Uncommon. As much as I like the name Noah, I don’t want him to be one of three Noah’s in his class.
• Not too crazily unique
• Easily pronounceable in English and German. We don’t want the poor kid to have to spell out his name everywhere he goes.
• Short. If everyone calls the kid Alex, then why name it Alexander?
• Not easily to abbreviate or made into weird nicknames

Ready? Set. Go!

The most frequently asked questions from people when they realize that I am pregnant are:

1. Is this your first? (unless they know)
2. When are you due?
3. Do you know if it is a boy or girl?

Since question number 1 and 2 are already answered on this website, let’s get to question number three. Just so you know, there will be no answer here today. Our anatomy ultrasound is in two weeks, but I get this question so frequently that I can’t help but have sort of an answer as to what our preferences are. Lincoln is hoping for a little girl. And I honestly don’t care at all. I always wanted a girl, but now that I have Milo I think it totally doesn’t matter what sex the baby is. Therefore I see the date in two weeks pretty pragmatically. I don’t care what the result will be, but I do want to know so that I can plan ahead. I need to know if I have all the clothes or should buy some girls stuff. And starting to look into names will be fun too. The biggest reason for me to find out though is so that I don’t have to call the baby an “it” anymore.

Whenever I have to decide about which option to chose I make a pro and contra list of the options. Not that I have any choice in this particular matter, but if I had to determine what my preference is, here are my considerations:

Pro boy:

+ We already have all boy clothes

+ It would probably be nice for Milo to have a buddy to ramble around the house with

+ I don’t really like pink. Actually I hate pink. The bright girl clothes kind of pink at least. I can deal with a pale muted pink, but not with all the girls stuff that is on the market. I know, I know – I wouldn’t have to get any of it if it was a girl, but honestly it is really hard to find anything without cars on it that is not pink and also I am pretty sure all 100 relatives here wouldn’t care what my color aversions are and buy right into the mainstream girl stuff.

+ I am actually not so much a girly type of person. I have always had plenty of guy friends, played soccer on the street with them, and got dirty in the woods rather than getting a manicure.

Pro girl:

+ Girl names are way easier to find

+ If a girl was anything like Milo, the cuteness would probably be tripled.

+ Supposedly girls tend to snuggle more than boys. And I do need my regular cuddle time.

So, what do you think it’s gonna be? Any wild guesses out there?

Not in Milo’s tummy. Although he might begin to think that that’s what is in bellies because we started preparing him for some major expansion and eventually a baby coming out of mommy’s tummy. Of course Milo has no plan what that means until the new baby will actually steal a good chunk of attention from him, but we are pretty sure that underneath it all he will eventually be thrilled and thankful to have a sibling. He is just a people person and needs his own little play buddy always available.

Now, considering that we are doing him a major favor here, Milo didn’t make it very easy to make baby number two. Seriously, once kids turn 1, they switch on some natural birth control mode that makes it almost impossible to find time to do what you gotta do. There is teething, sicknesses, and other random night wakings that set off a second round of sleep deprivation that not only leaves no time and energy for parent time, but also makes you seriously doubt that you want to go through this whole baby thing again. Against all odds we were able to make it happen somehow, but trust me, it was hard work.

Little Tran number two is expected to arrive on the same due date that Milo had (August 15th), and hopefully he or she will not come out three days early so that both kids can have their own separate birthday. Six more months to convert the basement into a guest room and the guest room into nursery. After three extremely tired, mildly sick, and lazy months, the home makeover blog will be back full force very soon!

We’re happy to update everyone that Milo is still the happy, healthy baby he was on day 1. Milo has grown so much so fast. He just had his healthy baby check up and everything is A-OK. He’s growing and eating well and is in the 70th percentile on growth charts! Everyone has said the first year is going to fly by and to enjoy this time. Let me tell you, everyone was right. Although he is still relatively tiny, he is getting more and more active and alert everyday. Pretty soon, he’ll be running around discovering the world and won’t want to be carried like a baby anymore and I’m surely going to miss carrying my little big guy.

As far as our experience has been, being parents is definitely interesting. Its a mixture of so many things: tiring, invigorating, challenging and instinctual, pain in the ass, joy of our lives.Our perception of time has changed — from hours and minutes to feedings and diapers. The whole experience is new and exciting, but we are still clinging to our old ways before the baby and trying to be both active and social.

Also, please let me give a heartfelt thank you to everyone who sent us gifts for Milo! We really appreciate the generosity and thoughtfulness of these gifts!

So that’s it for now, check out some of the pictures below that we snapped along the way and again, thanks for thinking of us!

-Linc

Dear friends and family,

Thank you all so much for the wishes and congratulations to Milo‘s birth. It is so nice to se how many hearts he is touching and how much you all care about us. We would love to thank each of you individually and I am sure, eventually we will. But right now there is sooo little time and so much baby in our life that everything else is on hold.

It’s been a week and three days since little Milo was born and life hasn’t stood still for a second. Or at least not that we know of. Time and space have become some distant concepts that no longer mean anything to us. What time or day it is does not matter any more. Life is completely in the moment and determined only by what baby needs. Our brains are completely outsourced to very useful iPhone apps that keep track of Milo’s feedings, diaper changes, and bath times.

As far as that record shows, we are currently living a busy 2 hour rhythm. Every two hours the little guy is getting hungry and longing for boobie. There he stays for about 15-30 minutes, gets a diaper change and then decides whether he wants to be awake or asleep for the following 1.5 hours. That is when our timer starts to get as much done as possible before the next feeding. It’s like a kitchen timer ticking away and the end of the free time is very definite. Most of those breaks are currently being used to take care of baby stuff: Express breast milk, clean his supplies, do laundry, stock up on diapers, etc.

Then we have about half an hour left to do anything else: take a shower, take a nap, eat, maybe clean the house a little bit – very basic things to keep our own sanity and level of hygiene to a minimum standard. Me, usually a pretty productive overachiever, I had to learn to limit my daily goals to two small items: Maybe a trip to the store and cutting my nails. That’s it for the day on top of the regular routine.

Although parenthood and caring for a newborn is as demanding as we expected it to be, Milo is making it very easy for us. He is the most chill baby and rarely ever cries. At least not without a good reason and only after we missed his cues. Usually he is very good in showing us whether he needs food, a diaper change, or to be burped without crying. Everything else comes naturally. He sleeps without fussing when he’s sleepy. He looks around with big eyes when he is awake and is perfectly content. He makes the funniest faces in between sleep and awake periods. And he is just the cutest guy on earth. Sometimes he smiles unintentionally, which is so heart warming, encouraging, and makes us look forward to all days to come.

If you would like to visit little Milo, feel free to give us a call and we can arrange a meet and greet with him. If we don’t answer the phone, one of the many reasons above apply, but we will get back to you as soon as our beloved son allows.

Dear friends, thank you all for coming to Baby Tran’s first party. He had a great time inside Nicola’s belly and enjoyed all your wishes, love, and hugs. Everything is super prepared for him now and he might turn out a gear head like his dad.

The food and entertainment provided by the three aunties was especially enjoyed by the little guy. Thanks so much for organizing all of this, Fati, Emily, and Debbie!