Baby and me, we are finally at terms. Full term that is. I have been carrying him for 37 weeks now and hope that he has baked enough to enter the world. Things could go down any day any time now and we are as ready as can be to meet the new little guy. Let’s check real quick:

• All major home renovations finished or not planned until next year 
• Mama not sleeping well anymore
• Baby room set up
• Newborn diapers bought
• Two final name choices on hand
• Have one last date night for the next half year
• Hospital bag packed
• Functional washing machine delivered
• Find camera charger

Yep, I think we are pretty ready. Stay tuned for baby news within the next three weeks.

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!

More or less 3 weeks. That’s all that’s left of this amazing experience called pregnancy. A part of me is looking forward to the end. Birth is gonna be exciting, I will finally get to meet this little boy, and will have a little bit more freedom to do with my body what I want to do: Sleeping on the belly, eat junk food, run and sweat, … not to mention having fewer bathroom breaks. (more…)

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!

Auch das zweite Trimester der Schwangerschaft ist nun erfolgreich überstanden. Langsam werde ich echt gut darin, schwanger zu sein. Das fleissige Studieren zahlt sich aus. All die Veränderungen im Körper und in der Babyentwicklung sind so spannend, dass ich kaum aufhören kann darüber zu lesen. Ich will immer ganz genau wissen, was gerade da drinnen abgeht und hab sogar eine Application auf meinem Iphone dafür. Die vergleicht die aktuelle Größe meines Babies jede Woche mit einem Gemüse und erzählt mir davon, wie er mich jetzt hören kann, immer neue Gehirnwindungen formt und warum ich trotz Noch-Minibaby 10 Kilo zugenommen habe. (more…)