Approaching the one year mark

Charley turns one year in one week. Time flies when you have kids. I was warned. So does it speed it up when you keep having them? Or does it stay at the same fast pace? He's taking a few steps on his own every now and then...when he feels like it. He said the word "cheese" which we are counting as his first. We haven't really experimented with as much different table foods as I would have liked by now but soon enough and he doesn't seem to be in any hurry. The word cheese came about because I have been eating LOTS of string cheese. I've been sharing with him and I ended up saying "cheese" every time. I wasn't really thinking about it and then he repeated it. Nice. He repeated it for Dad and several others. Now, let's work on the basics, i.e. hi, bye, milk...
He is on his fourth ear infection. Poor little dude can't catch a break. We visited with an ENT. We are opting to hold off as we are pulling him out of daycare in a month and are hiring a nanny/babysitter. Not only will it keep him from having to see the doctor every 2 weeks for antibiotics but we also save a good 60-80 dollars a week (that doesn't include all the co-pays for appointments and drugs) plus he'll still get to interact with another infant who is 4 months old. So we'll see how this works out.
I'm 12 weeks along. I haven't taken a picture because I haven't figured out how by myself and somehow making it decent. SO, that will have to wait a little while longer but it'll be coming. I'll be taking pictures every 4 weeks or so again. I've heard that you start showing sooner with subsequent pregnancies. I feel like I'm showing but have been "reassured" otherwise. Eh, whatever. I'm still getting sick at night which is better than ALL the time as it has been for the past 6 or 8 weeks. I wasn't going to put in pictures, but I'm going to delay posting this until I get my ultrasound uploaded. Yes it's from 4 weeks ago but it's still fun. :) The first picture is 3d which is why it looks blobbish. Apparently, it looks like Serendipity, the purple dragon...