Pregnancy 2.0 because I can't think of anything more catchy

15 weeks

16 weeks

Why, yes, I am wearing the same shirt in each photo. 

I am struggling to think of anything to update on about this pregnancy, which is quite sad. 

I have not even really taken notice at how much I am growing because I have been way to occupied with other things. I did weigh myself at the gym today, still just a 7 pound weight gain. I am pretty proud of that considering I tend to gain like 3 pounds a week. I think it is because my appetite and food cravings are normal again. I am not being forced to eat fast food every meal anymore.

I also feel more like myself again. I did get pretty sick in Durango and threw up several times, but other than that, I have been feeling much better. 

So my advice, if you get pregnant and you feel like you will never feel normal again for 13 weeks, just keep holding on, it gets better. Even though I have done this before, I thought I was destined to eat Wendy's for dinner every night and never remove myself from the couch.

I am starting to feel the baby spasms again. Soon those spasms will turn into full fledged punches, so I am enjoying the little, non-painful flutters.

I am already coming up on the big ultrasound. Since we are not going to find out the gender, I am most looking forward to seeing if this baby has Will's nose. Here's to hoping this child will resemble me in some way. 

the winter blues

It happens every year, but every year it takes me by surprise. I find myself in a bit of a slump. I thought that I was really embracing the Christmas spirit and would be able to joyfully celebrate another year passing, but no such luck. Even though this year was incredibly full and wonderful, I still mourn the passing of time. With every new year, I get a bit freaked out about the date, 2013?? It sounds so futuristic, right? I also had a bit of a hard time with out family. So mix the winter cold with pregnancy emotions and I am just a mess. 

But, yesterday I decided to take ownership of my funk and do something about it. I joined the 24 hour gym that includes child care. Lets be honest, the child care is actually the only reason I joined. I am tired of constantly complaining about how I never get a break, blah, blah, blah. I am also joining a group at a church in the area called MOPS (mother's of preschoolers). I can chat with other moms while someone else watches my kid for free. And my mother gifted me a membership to the children's museum and zoo for Christmas. So I have several options now to get out of the house without much of a expense to us. 

Enough about my seasonal depression... (I should really live somewhere where the sun shines all year round.) Here are some pictures of our last month as a family. 

We went to the Zoo lights one evening before Christmas. Madison enjoyed the lights and the Christmas music playing in the background. 

Then it was Christmas. We only really took pictures of Madison opening her stocking (which I made, toot, toot my horn). I think she was pretty overwhelmed with the day, luckily we did not go overboard with gifts. We purchased one gift for her. 

The very next day we headed to Durango. The parents of Will's longtime friend have a house there. We split up the drive over two days and Madison did pretty well in the car and hotel. Once we got to Durango, our plans of a ski trip were put on halt due to a little thing called pregnancy. Will got to go snowboarding two days and I had the privilege of watching Madison. It was still fun to get away for a few days.

Now we are back into the swing of things. 

Our anniversary is tomorrow, 4 years! So we are going to celebrate by watching the Cotton Bowl, go Ags!

 

sharing the news

I have been a bit more hesitant to share the news of this pregnancy. With Madison, I practically shouted it from the rooftops. I think nearly everyone knew when I was about  6 weeks pregnant. I kept waiting to feel that same desire this time, but it just was not coming. I guess I was and still am extremely nervous about having two children. But when Thanksgiving rolled around and Will's family would be visiting, I knew we should break the news in person. So I quickly made a onesie for Madison to share the news with the family over Thanksgiving dinner. 

It was not until Will asked his mom, "Do you like Madison's new shirt?" That she noticed. She even had to read it aloud before the message clicked, we got a pretty good laugh out of that. 

Even though sharing the news of this pregnancy with our friends and family has made it more real, I still can not fully process we will have another child. All I can imagine is Madison, how can a whole other, unique child be forming inside me right now? I am hoping that when I can feel the baby move the reality will hit home a little more because I am still a bit in denial.

i guess it is about time...

to share what has really been going on.... 

14 weeks pregnant!

and, no, that belly is not the result of a few too many holiday cheers (I wish), that is baby B number two! 

I kept hoping that some creative way to share the news would come to me, but no such luck. I finally decided to take a picture of the growing midsection because, well, I actually got dressed.

Even though no one has actually asked me any of these questions, I thought it would be nice to include answers to some questions someone out there might possibly be wondering, so here it goes. 

-But you just had a baby, was this, um, planned? 

  

Lets just say that, after Madison, we pretty much figured out where babies come from. 

The baby is due around June 17, which will make the babes roughly two years apart. We decided that we would rather finish the baby years while we were still in them, instead of waiting until Madison is 4 or 5. This will likely be my last pregnancy and two years age difference seems ideal to me. 

-How are you feeling?

I have felt better. 

When I was pregnant with Madison, I literally had nothing to do. Just sit and watch my belly grow. I worked out everyday, I got dressed, I cleaned, I did normal everyday things, except for feeling extra emotional, I felt pretty good. 

This pregnancy, has made me a zombie. I think that the sheer energy it requires to keep up with Madison is taking everything  I got. I have still attempted to work out, but every other day is about all I can manage. Often times I am already exhausted from getting us all dressed and out the door for a run.  

I am also filled with a bit more apprehension about welcoming a new baby into our lives. With Madison, we lived in a state of oblivious bliss. I thought that Madison would be my own real-life baby doll. Because Madison is somewhat of a struggle still, I am extremely nervous about handling two children. Those newborn days are incredibly fresh in my mind and they were some dark times for me. My prayer is that this baby will give me only what I can handle and that my mom moves up here in June!

-Are you going to gain 50 pounds again? 

Looks like it. I have already gained seven, so that puts me right on track to gain those lovely 50 pounds. 

With Madison, I had extreme anxiety over how much weight I was packing on. So much anxiety, that my normally low blood pressure, would sky-rocket after they told me my weight. 

Before I got pregnant this time, I told myself to just enjoy this pregnancy, especially since its my last. I am attempted to do that. I am giving into my cravings a lot more this time and just kind of letting the weight gain occur. I am still trying to be healthy because exercise and eating right help me mentally, but I am trying not to freak out over the numbers.

Pregnancy is such a short period of time and I want to try to enjoy this time as much as possible because I can not get it back. Lets hope that the second trimester will give way to more energy! 

-Will you be finding out the gender?

We have decided to keep the gender a surprise until the birth. Since I already know what it is like to find out the gender before the baby is born, I would like to know what it is like to wait.   I think that waiting will be a lot easier this time because I am so preoccupied with Madison, I hardly give this pregnancy much thought. I also already got the feisty girl I wanted, so I am fine with either one. If I had to guess, I would say this baby is a girl because the heart rate has been extremely high just like Madison's was.

-How is Will doing? 

Will is much more enthusiastic about this baby than I am. Which I am really thankful for. With Madison he was a bit concerned, considering he was still in graduate school with no future job lined up. His peace of mind comes from knowing we have a stable living environment coupled with a stable income. He also knows now how much fun children can be and is looking forward to having another.  He is a bit nervous that this baby might be a girl and he will be forever surrounded by emotional Stephanie 2.0s. 

And there you have it, all the details you may or may not have wanted to know.

Oh, I forgot.... 

-What does Madison think about becoming a big sister?

a november recap...

Since I have been out of the blogging routine for some time now, I have quite a bit to catch up on. Life started happening really fast and I did not even slow down enough to document it with pictures. We thought that October would be our crazy month with all the trips, but turns out November was just as wild. 

1. The last of October we spent trick or treating. Or rather making sure we did not lose our little lady bug in the unlit streets of Denver. 

2. Then the first weekend in November, Will's sister Erin came to visit us. This was such a welcome, last minute visit. Madison fell hard for Erin and totally ignored me the entire weekend. We were also able to enjoy a meal with out the wee little babe for the first time in a veeery long time. We went to super nice breakfast and enjoyed the simplicity of not having to wrestle a toddler. 

3. Then the very next weekend, my sneaky brother and husband surprised me with a visit from Grant. He was on his way to North Carolina where he will be based for the next year and a half while he trains to become a Special Forces super ninja or something. 

4. We then had about a week and a half of no visitors and then we geared up for Thanksgiving. Will's family drove up from Texas and stayed for several days. Our house was the most full it has ever been and I am still trying to recover, ha. It was great to have them all here and have them get to see our new house. We also ate a lot of delicious meals. 

5. In between all the visitors we have been dealing with an extremely moody, sleep rioting 16 month old toddler. She has made our duty as parents a bit trying lately. Who knows what is ailing her, maybe those four molars popping in? Maybe her evil twin is taking over? But, she is making us bananas with all the crying. I am thinking about looking into seeing a homeopathic type doctor, maybe a chiropractor visit, anything to help the babe out (and us...). 

6. I am almost finished with my second class for graduate school. Is it bad I am already tired of doing school? I am thankful that the course work is not that intensive yet and with every class I am just one step closer to having my Master's. 

Now that November is over and we only have one month left in this year, I think we will finally be taking it easy. We are staying here for Christmas and it will be the first Christmas we are not surrounded by family. I am a little bit sad about that, but also thankful we have each other and a wonderful home to celebrate in. We are purchasing our first Christmas tree from a lot this weekend, and I am really excited to decorate with Madison (all our ornaments are plastic so nothing will be too badly damaged). 

Hopefully, I will take more pictures this month and we will finish this year with Christmas cheer!

whoa, where did november go??

Hello there, where did we leave off? Oh, ya the elections? That is so last week or three weeks ago news. 

So turns out that my post about declaring everyone should visit, actually did just that. We have had back to back visitors for the entire month of November. Will's sister, Erin, came into town, and then the following week, my brother surprised me by coming in. Don't get me wrong I have loved having all the visitors, but I have been exhausted. We have had just enough breathing room, to gear up for hosting almost all of Will's family tomorrow. Whew! 

Madison has absolutely loved all the visitors. It has been really neat to watch her bond with our siblings. Each one taught her a little something new and added a piece to her. She was pretty distraught once the reality of only being around me sank in. 

There are not many other adventures to share right now because our time has been filled to the brim with our loved ones. I am sure it will take sometime to get back into whatever rhythm of life we once had. I am just in disbelief that Thanksgiving is in two days. Then Christmas. Then the New year. 

I am actually not that upset about how fast time has gone this year because we have truly lived every minute of it. We have traveled, accomplished, and enjoyed so much of this year. If we can live every year as full as we did this one, then I guess time passing is not so bad.

Will's family arrives tomorrow, they are driving from Texas. So we will have three more adults, plus another dog, living with us for a couple of days. Wish us luck! 

Hope everyone else has a wonderful Thanksgiving!