When I was pregnant with my first child, I documented everything. I had weekly photos and weekly blog posts. Every night, I would recount to my husband all the different sources of protein I ate, how many miles I walked, and how often during the day I stopped to practice my squats.

This time around, while pregnancy is no less exciting or intentional, it looks a bit different.

  • There are no weekly photos. None. No blog posts, either. A few weeks back, while on vacation, my mother-in-law took a photo of me and my husband where I turned to the side so we could one day prove to our unborn that he did, indeed, grow inside of me. I suppose I might be visibly pregnant in the background of some photo here or there, but there is definitely nothing cutesy happening with a fruit or vegetable of the week.
  • We sort of JUST realized (in the third trimester) that we are really having a baby. Logically, we knew we were having a baby, but the actual logistics of what baby will wear, where he will sleep, and how we will transport him have just started to creep into our minds. This is a far cry from the carefully curated registry with our first that was, of course, completed by 24 weeks. My strategy is mostly to stick this baby in a diaper and a swaddle blanket for a few days while we figure out the rest.
  • My prenatal nutrition has definitely suffered this time around. The carefully packed snacks consumed at my desk while pregnant with our first have been replaced by stolen bites of my son’s cheese sticks when I feel myself becoming hangry walking home from the park. I’m prioritizing breakfast and lunch — if I can hit 60 grams of protein by 3 p.m. then I feel like the day will go OK. And drinking enough water has been so difficult this time. Here’s a tip to the Boston city planners: PLEASE, build more parks with public restrooms. The pregnant mothers of our city will be eternally grateful.
  • I felt this second baby move much earlier than my first, but I’m constantly distracted by chasing and playing with a toddler, so I hardly ever slow down enough to really feel him consistently until our older son is in bed asleep. I guess this a preview of when he’s born and I’ll just stick him in a sling or baby carrier as soon as he wakes to go chase after the first. We’ll look forward to some one-on-one time every evening.

By far the sweetest part of my second pregnancy is how my older son will remind me that I’m pregnant. He loves reading books about the new baby, talking about his friends who have younger siblings and, my favorite, climbing into my lap asking to snuggle his baby brother. That’s when I remember just how loved this little baby will be. We might not have a carseat for him yet, but from the very beginning he gets to have a mother, a father, and a very sweet, precocious big brother to show him the ropes.