Takeshi had his 2 year well visit the other day and he weighed in at 31.5 lbs (85th percentile) and measured 35 inches long (63rd percentile). I’m not quite sure how he went from the bottom of the weight chart to the top — must be all that cheese.

Baby #2 (aka Monster #2) was born on Sunday, April 6th at 3:02 in the morning. He weighed 7 lbs even, measured 19.5 inches and came out screaming (much like his older brother). He had a full head of hair (even more than Takeshi). It took us a few days but we finally settled on the name Kenji which means “second son who is intelligent.” (Jay was convinced he was a girl so we had a huge list of girl names and only 3 boy names.)

His gestational age was 38 weeks 1 day; he was 13 days early. He is currently battling a little bit of jaundice but since we went through all this with Takeshi we know the drill; we have been nursing very frequently and keeping him by the window (although the rainy, overcast days of April are not helping much) and the yellow/orange is already starting to leave his skin and eyes.

The first time Takeshi saw his little brother he immediately tried to give him the toy that he was holding. He still tries to play with him and loves to kiss Kenji on the forehead.

And yes, we did have a homebirth. It went smoothly (and quickly!) and I would definitely recommend it over a hospital birth (assuming pregnancy is free of complications and both mother and baby-to-be are in good health, of course). I will post a more detailed entry about the birth itself later.

The picture from 2006 was taken at 36 weeks (5 days before Takeshi was born).
The picture from 2008 was taken at 38 weeks — this morning.

Do I look bigger? That’s because I AM. Thank GAWD I can fit into Jay’s shirts because I can’t fit into my maternity shirts (and I absolutely refuse to buy more maternity clothes when this baby could fly out of me any day now *banging on wood*).

How is it possible that I am still pregnant? We just got back from the grocery store where the woman at the deli counter told me, “Oh honey, you look tired.” Thank you. Thank you very much. Because now, not only do I feel tired, but I also feel like shit knowing that I look tired. *sigh*

P.S. I can’t figure out how to resize the picture to make it fit so if you’d like to see the whole thing, just click on it.