Good evening, dear Internet peeps! I’m curious, who of you have not had a good dose of winter this week? Anyone? Even here in Austin, Texas, we’ve had the artic blast affect us all week. We’ve been sick this week, too, so it has helped alleviate the stir-crazy feelings. Our couch has a permanent imprint of our bodies, and I don’t want to admit how many hours of movies we’ve watched. I have, however, reveled in the sweet fragrance of my son as I’ve held him for many hours, even helping him get through naps because the fever and coughing were rocking his little body off its norm.

Last night, we received a beautiful 1/2 inch dusting of the fluffy white stuff. It’s our once-a-year joy: freezing cold weather with precipitation that brings the busyness of life to a stand-still.

Brennan is not a winter-lover. Unlike his parents who relish some snow and winter weather, Brennan complains about the cold. I guess he’s a Texas boy at heart. We tried to put mittens on him and he hid them behind a door. He didn’t want a hat. And he most certainly did not want to be let down in the snow. The same thing happened in Virginia over Christmas. It was only until we brought his truck outside that he endured sitting in it for awhile. Molly, on the other hand, was a frisky puppy and loved playing and trying to eat the snow. Eventually, Brennan got bored and too cold, so Matt and I did what any understanding parent would do. We put him inside to play with some toys while Matt and I continued enjoying playing with our puppy, throwing her stick and sending snow balls her way. Don’t worry, we continually checked on him and didn’t stay out too long. I think Molly liked the special attention.

Here’s a short video that captures the opposite nature of our children:

Snow Day from Meg @ Spicy Magnolia on Vimeo.

What was the other part of my title? Oh, yeah. Secrets revealed.

Yep, that’s right folks, we are going to have another baby! We are due August 2nd. I’m nearly 15 weeks along and everything is looking great with the baby so far. Brennan was known as “Polka” when he was in my tummy; the nickname for this precious one is “Skittles”. Here are a few notables if you’re interested:

• Our aim and intent is to wait to find out the baby’s gender again until he/she is born. It’s harder this time around!
• I had about the same amount of nausea as I did with Brennan, and it seems that ship has sailed, thankfully.
• I am more exhausted and drained this time around…probably because I have an energetic toddler to chase this time.
• My complexion was the best it’s ever been with Brennan. My face it completely broken out like it was when I was a teenager. Argh.
• I crave cheesy, comfort food.
• We found out we were pregnant the Sunday after Thanksgiving. I happened to be shocked as were trying to get pregnant again, but it had been a busy month <grin>. We were decorating for Christmas that day, so I thought I’d add a stocking to our mantle and see if Matt noticed it, as a way of surprising him. Usually it takes him days to observe such things, but he had a keen eye that night and recognized something looked awry:

• We told each set of our parents in person over Christmas which was a lot of fun to surprise them with the news.
• I am bulging out with a baby bump a lot faster than I did with Brennan!
• I have already started to wake up to go the bathroom during the middle of the night a lot, and am having a hard time falling back to sleep. One night last week was special though because as I laid there awake, I felt Skittles for the first time! That little one was active, punching and kicking in all sorts of places.

Anything else would you like to know?

I don’t have a creative way to wrap up this post because it’s 9:30 and I am ready to snuggle into bed and fall fast, fast asleep. Well, at least until 2 a.m. At that point, you’ll find me in the bathroom.