Bye Bye 1st Tri

Today I'm 14 weeks pregnant and I'm so happy to say goodbye to the 1st trimester. (Side note: I know I'll be having this little one by repeat c-section at 39 weeks, so I officially thought of myself as out of the 1st trimester last week, when I hit 13 weeks.)
I thought this would be a good time to do a little update about all things preggo-related.  

How Far Along: 14 weeks!

Weight Gain:  4 lbs (At first I was thinking....yikes! Then I looked back at my baby journal from Gia and at 14 weeks I'd gained 3 lbs, so 4 isn't too bad!)

Maternity Clothes: Kinda. I definitely wear only maternity pants or this cute pair of yoga pants that I love that I bought in a size large. I can't stand anything tight around my stomach right now. Some of my pairs of underwear drive me nuts too. I know a lot of it's mental, but that's ok. Being uncomfortable is NO FUN!

Sleep: Can't get enough! I'm in bed around 10 every night, and I'm up with Gia around 6:30 or 7. I'd nap if I could, but since Gia doesn't nap anymore, there's no way I can.

Gender Prediction: No clue! One second I'm sure it's a boy and the next I just know it's a girl.

Feelings/Mood: Pretty emotional :) I cried at the new Johnson & Johnson commercial the other day. You know, the one where the newborns are telling their moms that the moms are doing a good job? Yeah that one gets me every single time.

Symptoms/Health: Much less nausea now. If I let myself get too hungry, I get nauseous. And, if I eat too big of a meal, I get nauseous. So, for now, I'm all about lots small meals and snacks throughout the day.

Food Cravings/Aversions: I still prefer savory foods to anything sweet. If I see something on tv or read about it, I tend to want it. Right now I'm dying for Pizza Hut, because I saw it on tv last night. But, when I was pregnant with Gia, we had PH one time and I overdid it and threw up from it. Too greasy for my preggo belly, I guess. That was the only time I threw up my entire pregnancy. So, this time, I'm kinda scared to eat it!

I'm sort of addicted to the Veggie Delight sandwich from Subway. Something about the soft bread and all the crunchy veggies totally does it for me. I espescially love the banana peppers and the jalapenos. YUM.

What I Miss: Sleeping on my stomach. I haven't been able to sleep on my stomach since a few weeks after I found out I was pregnant--it's just not comfortable anymore.

Movement: Haven't felt it yet. Hoping to soon!

Belly: small, but round.

Best Moment this week (pregnancy-related): Scheduling the anatomy scan & starting to plan our Father's Day BBQ/Gender Reveal party!

What I look forward to: Doctor's appointment tomorrow! Can't wait to hear that heartbeat again!

Please excuse the less than stellar photos I'm about to share...

No matter when, where or how I do these pictures, they are horrific. So I've kinda given in and now I'm just taking them more as keepsakes than as a gorgeous shot of my growing belly. That's what {professional} maternity pictures are for anyway.

14 weeks pregnant with Gia: starting to lose my waistline.

It's says Happy Birthday behind me, but I have no idea who that was for. Not me...this was taken in Jan. 2010.

Dreams

Being pregnant is such a dreamy time. You dream of the little person inside of you. Is there a boy in there, or a girl? What will he or she look like? Will she be calm, easygoing, someone who goes with the flow? Or more will he be demanding, someone who needs your attention and needs it now? Will he be like his siblings? Or the total opposite? What traits of mine will this little person have? What traits from my husband?  

Photo credit: Sara Eden Photography

    Every morning, when I wake up, the first thing I see is this gorgeous wedding picture of Jon and I. It hangs on the wall of our bedroom. It's a simple pose and picture, one that most brides and grooms probably have. In it, we're looking straight at the camera, smiling. It's a full body shot but it's relatively close up, so you can see my dress in all it's glory. We got married in the fall, so in the background there are brightly colored leaves on the trees and you can tell the sun is about to set, off somewhere in the distance.    Over the years I've grown to love this picture even more that I originally did, but not for the reasons you might think. Yes, we look wonderful in it, but that's to be expected. It was a perfect day: we were so happy, in love, and we were dressed and made up to nines.   But now I look at that picture and I see two people who had no idea, on that day, how much love and life was ahead of them. The girl in that picture couldn't have dreamed that, less than five years later, she'd be here. Here in her dream house, with the amazing husband, a two and a half year old angel of a daughter and another on the way. Here is so much better than anything I could have dreamed up.    And this baby inside me is the same thing. I know he or she is more--more adorable, more loveable, just more -- than anything I could possibly dream.  

How We Found Out

I wrote this post on Saturday, February 16, 2013.

 

We just found out that I'm pregnant and we are so so excited.    We'd been trying so it wasn't a total surprise like Gia was, but it's still so exciting. In fact, this time around is such a different feeling, it's really incredible.
When I found out I was pregnant with Gia, it was a shock. A very happy shock, but nonetheless, Jon and I weren't trying and we were so so surprised. We were both nervous. One of us may have asked to go to the gym upon hearing the news.    So this time has been a whole new experience. Although it took a few months longer than I thought it would, we still got pregnant relatively quickly. And it was well under the "it takes a healthy couple up to a year" time frame that's so popular with the trying to conceive crowd.   On February 15th, Jon was up and getting ready to work and I knew that it was early, but that I could probably take a pregnancy test. I used a cheapie test because I wasn't too hopeful. (There's a brand called Wondfo you can buy on Amazon. For $20 you get 50 ovulation tests and 20 pregnancy tests. Usually 1 pregnancy test is around $15 alone.)   I took the test and hopped in the shower, certain I'd only be seeing one line.    Five minutes later I stuck my head out of the shower to peek at the test and I thought I could see a shadow of a line. I never finished a shower so quickly before!   Upon closer inspection, there was definitely a very very faint line.  Jon was downstairs giving Gia breakfast and I called him up to the bathroom.   "I think I'm pregnant!" "Really?"  big smile "Yup! Look at this test." I shoved the test in his face. "Do you see that right there? That line?" "Yeah I see it. It's light but I see it!"   We were cautiously excited all day. At dinner we discussed the fact that I was, quite possibly, pregnant. We asked Gia if she wanted a brother or sister and she said "Brother!" with the biggest smile on her face. And then we asked what we should name him and she said, "Bobby!" in this goofy voice. Jon and I looked at each other and burst out laughing. It was a perfect moment.   The next morning  I woke up and took another test, this one a regular one I picked up at the food store. Within the 3 minute time frame there was a 2nd line, this one much clearer and more noticeable than yesterday's.    I said to Jon, "Looks like I'm pregnant".  He gave me a kiss. "Much better reaction than last time, right?" he asked.   Yes. Yes, indeed!

I can't wait to do this all over again!

 

Oh, Baby!

I know I've said it a bunch of times these past few months: I haven't been blogging as much as I'd like.     Well, here's the real reason:  

    I've been busy baking a little bun in my oven! Gia is going to be a big sister!
The past few months have been really, really rough. I was nauseous all.the.time and it's much harder being pregnant when you have an active 2.5 year old to chase around. But, I'm 12 weeks today and I'm hoping the yuckiness is on it's way out.    So even though I wasn't posting much, I have been diligently blogging about this pregnancy these past few months and I have so many posts about our journey to baby #2. I can't wait to share them with you!

Mini Meltdown

My husband is an excessive cleaner-outer. He loves to get rid of things. Purging, he calls it. He is constantly holding up random pieces of paper or small parts to one of Gia's toys or the last bite of a sandwhich on my plate, asking me, "Do you need this? Are you done with this?"   He's even neat with his electronics. He likes to delete his call log and his text messages at the end of every week too, so that his phone is nice and neat. (If you're about to tell me that I should be suspicious of this behavior, you clearly haven't met my husband.) He also loves to clean out saved shows on the DVR.    I'm the opposite. I'm a saver. I'm a "what if I need it one day?" kind of girl. Gia has only been in preschool for 3 months and I've saved every single piece of artwork she's done during this time. I know one day I'll have to get rid of some it and just hang on to the really special pieces. But, for now, I'm content with keeping them all.    Well tonight I was taking a page from my husband's book and I decided to clean out the DVR and get rid of all the shows on there that I've watched or that I never intend to watch. I thought I was deleting an old episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show and instead I deleted an old episode of Rachael Ray. No big deal, right?    Wrong.   This was "our" episode of Rachael Ray. The one that Gia and I were on, back in 2010 when she was just 6 months old. The episode that survived on our DVR for nearly 3 years and through a move. The episode that Gia hasn't even seen yet and, at two and a half years old, she'd get such a kick out of seeing her baby self on t.d. (aka t.v.).   When I realized what I'd done, I nearly freaked out. My stomach dropped and I almost started to cry. I sent a frantic text to my husband and he called me right away, telling me not to worry. A few phone calls later and I discovered that my mom still has it on her DVR. Next time I'm there I'm going to play it and use my video camera to tape it off the tv. That way I can upload it to YouTube and save it to my external hard drive, burn it to a DVD, and make it more permanent in every other way possible.   But until then...I found it on YouTube! Ahhhh, sweet relief!   Here you go!

   

These are the days...

  The other day, while kissing Gia's boo boo, a song popped into my head. It's one I haven't actually heard in about 10 years and I don't remember really liking it much at the time it was popular.   These are days you’ll remember
Never before and never since, I promise
Will the whole world be warm as this
And as you feel it,
You’ll know it’s true
That you are blessed and lucky
It’s true that you
Are touched by something
That will grow and bloom in you      These days, though, it's kinda my mantra.   The other day Gia was playing in the playroom, all by herself. Every few minutes I'd hear "Ouch!" and she would run into the kitchen (which is right next to the living room that we turned into a playroom) and show me her boo boo. First it was a little hand bumped against the wall and then it was a stubbed toe, and later the tiniest scratch on her pinkie finger. Each time she'd insist that I kiss the boo boo and of course, I'd oblige. And after every single kiss she'd say "That feels so much better mommy!"   And then I'd melt.   See, all of a sudden it hit me that these days--the days when a kiss from mommy is all it takes to make everything all better-- are probably closer to being over than I can even imagine. Or want to imagine, for that matter.  It simultaneously warms my heart and breaks it.    She's growing up too fast. One day soon she won't want to hold my hand, or cuddle with me before bed or tell me every single thought that crosses her mind. Until then, I intend to cherish as many of these little, seemingly mundane, moments as I can. I'm going to store them up in my memory and on this blog, so that one day in the not-so-distant future and I can look back and remember that she was once this little innocent cherub and I was the center of her universe. So, yes, these are the days.

Easter Day

For some reason this year's Easter celebration was especially fun: it was filled with good food, family and a lot of love. Oh, and desserts. Lots of desserts.   I think a lot of the reason this year was so special was because of Gia. She's at such a fun age. Everything is new and fun and wonderful to her. She loves and cherishes each experience and it's just so amazing to watch and be a part of.  Her happiness & enthusiasm are contagious and you can't help but smile with you're with her. Jon had to work on Easter from 8-4 so the Easter Bunny came to our house on Saturday. Gia was so excited to see her basket(s) filled with fun little toys and gifts.

She had a ball looking at every single item and then asking to eat it or play with it immediately.  

    We spent the rest of Saturday relaxing and baking a delicious carrot cake from scratch.     

On Easter, Gia and I had a leisurely morning. She played with more of her Easter toys and helped me put the finishing touches on the carrot cake. (Notice the not-quite-evenly placed carrots? That was courtesy of my 2 year old helper.) She really enjoyed carrying the basket around with her. And, although we didn't get her much candy at all, she asked me to eat some of it every two minutes. In the afternoon, we got dressed up and headed to Yadi & Joepa's house (my mom & stepdad).

 

At Yadi's house there were more Easter baskets & presents.

So many presents! She's squeezing a light up chick here, hence the odd face.

Gia & her Great Grandma

Kim, Gia and Mummum reading the book from Kim.

And of course it wouldn't be Easter without dancing... 

 

 ...and the singing of Happy Easter to You, sung only so Gia could blow out some candles. 

So, as Gia would say, "Happy Easter Day, everybody!"