16 Weeks

16 weeks .. a few days late.

To avoid the bathroom mirror selfie (and the next best thing is the bathroom, next to a mirror, non-selfie), I am trying to get Dan to take the pictures. The number of times that he is home AND I'm not sweating or covered in bubbles is very rare, apparently. So I drug him out of bed at 6 am to take this before running off to work.

I chopped all my hair off. I'll grow it out again, but right now its so light and easy.

I'm up 10 pounds. Which, if you are counting, is 8 pounds higher than with Olivia at this point. BUT, this baby currently weights 0.25 pounds. So it's not all me, yall.

Still not sleeping well. If it isn't insomnia, I'm up every hour to pee. That never went away with Olivia until I had her, so I think I just better get used to tired. Tired with a toddler is a whole new meaning of tired.

15 Weeks

15 weeks, 100% in maternity, and finally caught up with the weekly pictures!

 

Two things:

• 2 more weeks until I have to fit into the size 4 bridesmaid I ordered - #whoops #queso #can'tstopwon'tstop
• My male coworker told me, "wow, you look huge compared to yesterday." Things not to say to a pregnant lady #784932.

14 Weeks

14 weeks. The last week that my pants buttoned. And probably the last week with any sort of beautiful scenery. 

13 Weeks

13 weeks pregnant, with my favorite little sidekick. 

This was actually a 'crap hold her hand so she doesn't run into the ocean' picture. 

Same swimsuit as 26 weeks with Olivia. Only, the baby is not the size of an eggplant. 

First Trimester Novel

In case anyone is interested, I kept a log of the first trimester. Glad these weeks are behind me, but still so many more to go. February is far away!

Week 4: We just found out we are expecting baby number 2. It all seems so surreal. It definitely hasn't sunk in yet. Two babies. (Olivia. Obviously. Don't think twins). Something we have always wanted. But I'll admit, I had a lot of drinking planned for the summer. I keep forgetting I'm pregnant. At work I went straight for sushi for lunch. Crap. Then I got in the lunch meat / sandwich line. Crap. Settled for a salad. 

Olivia keeps saying "mama baby" which is 1) adorable and 2) two of the ten words she knows, so, mostly, just a coincidence. We have just as good of a chance of her saying 'mama bubble.'

I am 100% convinced this one is a boy. From the moment I found out. I keep saying "he" which is weird because I accidentally call all babies "she" because of Olivia. I knew Olivia was girl from day one - so we'll see if I'm right on this one. 50 / 50 chance. 

Week 6: The insomnia is bad this time. I keep waking up at 1 am for the day - and don't go to bed until 10/11. By the time work rolls around, I'm exhausted. I've started drugging myself to sleep - but that can't good long term. With Olivia, I never slept well until I had her. Which wasn't often, but at least the 2 or so hours I would get were hours of solid sleep. 

I've thrown up twice, and the gag reflex is on high alert - like when I brush my teeth or someone says something gross. I have been more tired - which is magnified with full time work and a toddler and a husband a million miles away. (Dan was in Korea for two weeks). I took two naps this weekend - which is unheard of in my life. I get nauseous a couple times a day for about 20 minutes. Overall, much more manageable than when pregnant with Olivia.

Week 8: Ignore my last sentence. Although the nausea started earlier, it slowly and steadily made its way to just as awful as when pregnant with Olivia. Which is awful. Dan had to throw out his coffee because I couldn't stop puking / gagging in the car. He now uses it as an excuse to buy those Starbuck's frappuccinos instead of brewing coffee here. It's all I have in me to get my prenatal vitamin down. The food aversions haven't been quite as bad. Luckily. Usually there is one thing in the world that sounds edible (unlike nothing with Olivia) and Dan has been a great sport in following me to who-knows-where to go get that for dinner. I get super sick if I don't eat for longer than 2 hours. Once that happens, eating doesn't help, I'm SOL the entire day. So I'm eating so much more than normal and probably much more than I should be eating, but anything not to throw up. 

They are so so so worth it though. I had forgotten how bad it was with Olivia. But I just look at her face and know that this is all so worth it - and eventually I'll forget again and might even be nuts enough to have a third. Or a fourth. 

On the fun side, I bought boy clothes this week. I'm so convinced, there's nothing that makes me think this one is a girl. I'll give them to friends with boys if I'm wrong.

Week 10: Guys I'm huge. I mean at 4 weeks I went to a bachelorette party, and my super supportive friend was all "yeah, I mean, you look pregnant." Now I look like I did at 22 weeks with Olivia. I have a picture to prove it. My NT scan isn't for another 3 weeks and I'm running out of work clothes. 90% of it is queso, but I mean, the baby is the size of a grape. That counts for something, right?

Sheet washing day, and a screenshot from last time, to send to friends who didn't believe me.

Cannot handle the heat well this time. I was 34 weeks pregnant labor day weekend when we were in Charleston and it was in the high 90s. We averaged walking 11 miles a day. I get third trimester hot. But this is so different. It's like I'm going to pass out. I get dizzy. I feel like I'm going to fall over. Olivia wanting to play on the playground every day after daycare, me in my work clothes (long pants and, many times, long sleeves) and high 90s is not a good mix right now. 

We got to have a quick ultrasound and the heartbeat was 169. Much lower than Olivia, which was 183. Boy. 

Week 12: I'm dyingggg to tell everyone. I mean, we've told a lot of people, but I just want the NT scan to come back with everything okay. I'm also wondering if people at work noticed that I was wearing maternity jeans. Elastic waistbands for life! 

The weirdest part of this pregnancy is that I don't like sweets. WHAT. I know. I would have slapped myself if I was reading this not pregnant. Sweets are my favorite thing ever. I'd eat dessert all day every day if it were socially acceptable. I kind of do. Anytime those quizzes would say "salty or sweet" I'd be all, who the eff doesn't want sweet? You are clearly not human. Well. Nothing sweet. It started at 4 weeks with me wanting candy / cookie cake / etc. but it making me super nauseous after eating it. For hours. Then it turned to nothing sweet sounds good at all. I even bypassed all the cupcakes (and the people eating the cupcakes) at Blair's shower. We had a key lime pie in the house and Dan offered me some and I said "no but would you heat me up some more chicken?" Chicken? What is wrong with me??? Boy.

Still feeling sick all the time. Still not handling the heat well. It got better at 18 weeks with Olivia. I'm holding out hope for that. Lemon drops used to work, but now they are too sweet. Peppermints also. Ginger chews do help if I can get them down. That's a big if. I hate the taste of ginger. I'm going to buy those preggie drops that are super sour - maybe that will help? I have to keep ice water near me at all times and just keep thinking that I'm hopefully halfway through it.

Week 14: Still not feeling well, yadda yadda, sounding like a broken record. Those preggie drops are awesome though. Nothing cures the nausea, but they really do take the edge off. I have no clue why they work, but I'm not questioning it. Went to the beach this week and got a lot of sleep. Was able to sleep in until 7 everyday which was amazing. And had Dan and my parents there to help with Olivia - so it made everything so much more tolerable. Hopefully only a month or so left and I'll start feeling better. 

Baby #2

Thanks everyone for the sweet calls / texts / emails / comments with congratulations. We are over the moon! 

This was Olivia's face when we told her:

Clearly, Olivia has no idea what is going on. She keeps pointing to her belly saying "baby?" But I know she will love having a baby around. And hate that she is no longer the center of attention. And love having a sibling. And hate having to share.

To answer some questions:

I am due February 12th. Totally opposite seasons for maternity clothes. Pro: I have an excuse to go shopping. Con: I have to wear pants. February is too cold for dresses.

We WILL find out the gender. I may have asked my doctor for one of those high risk blood tests to find out at 10 weeks. And then asked the ultrasound tech for a guess at 13 weeks. To say we are impatient is an understatement. Even though I know its a boy, Dan is starting to think its a girl, and I've got to cut back on my non-returnable boy purchases just in case. 

After finding out, we will then start the 6 month name debate, where we still have no idea 24 hours after birth.

I've been feeling like crap, thanks for asking. But those little ones are so worth it!! I wrote something every other week of the first trimester, so there's way more information than you ever wanted to know coming.

I do want to take weekly bump pictures. They'll be no where near as in depth as with Olivia. If I have a free hour, I'm not going to photoshop myself with a fruit, I'm going to nap or watch Bachelor in Paradise. They'll probably be dirty bathroom mirror selfies 6 days late, because, second kid. 

But I'm currently using the ones from last time to further depress myself in how much bigger I am this time around, and how I really need to lay off the queso, and I'd like to continue doing that. And be able to in any future pregnancies. 

Olivia's Big News

I had high hopes of posting this picture like ... weeks ago. But then life happened. And then I forgot my computer when we left for the beach .. 10 days ago. Second kid. AmIright?

Hey you!

Look here!

I've got some big news!

And I'm so excited!!

Gotta unpack from the beach, but more to come.

Five on Friday

1. At daycare, they made handprint flamingos. This is seriously the best art we have in the house. If there is ever a fire, things I'm going to save go in this order 1) baby 2) dog 3) jewelry box 4) flamingo handprint.

2. Dan got Olivia up from her crib the other morning, and this is what he found. What a goon. We are working on getting dressed ourselves, so maybe she was practicing. PS - when do they learn to get dressed themselves? Is this something I'm going to have to do for forever?

While we are on the subject of crib pictures. After a long day at the pool, this one napped so hard we had to wake her up for dinner. But first. Let me take a selfie photo.

3.  Took Olivia to a toy store and she immediately hoarded all of the babies. She's all "what. you aren't buying these for me?"

4.  More playground fun. Because climbing up the slide is much more fun.

She looks like she's wearing make up in this one! Dan's mom got her the strawberry outfit and asked Dan to send her to daycare in it with the strawberry bow.

...in case you can't tell ... (Dan clearly couldn't) ... those are watermelons.

5. Our grocery store has only one child buggy and Olivia got it the other day for the first time. She was thrilled!! Apparently we need more early Saturday AM, PJ runs to pick up pancake ingredients.

Best Ever Margaritas

Since it was just national margarita day, I thought I'd share my favorite. I know. I was super confused too. You'd think Cinco De Mayo was national margarita day, but turns out there are two days a week year where margaritas are mandatory. 

Everyone has their favorites, but you should really try this one. I never loved margaritas - and turns out I don't like sour mix. But tequila and lime? Yes please. One evening, I sat down and made 9 margaritas all with different proportions to get everything just right. That was a fun evening!

Sorry, I drank half before taking a picture. Couldn't help myself.

Super Simple Best Ever Margaritas

1 part tequila (quality tequila is a must)
1 part lime juice
1 part St. Germaine

Mix it all in a shaker and serve over ice.

OR

Mix it all up and use your margaritaville blender to make the perfect slushie.

For the lime juice, I always use fresh squeezed lime. For every shot of tequila, you need 1 ounce of lime juice - that's totally squeezable. 

St. Germaine is only the best ever liquor that's been taking pinterest by a storm. It's elderflower? Idk. But it tastes citrus-ey and sweet. Try a splash in champagne. You'll be buying it on the reg.

These babes are strong.

And delicious.

So delicious.