Hump Day Bump Day

It's been a long time since I've posted a belly pic, so here you go. Probably more than you bargained for. I know how some people are about bare belly pics, but I don't care. I happen to like this one.

I still feel guilty that we've been so bad about taking pictures this time around.

 

 

I also like this one, because it makes me feel like a badass chick :)

 

 

28 Weeks - Eggplant

My favorite eggplant application is eggplant parmesan. It's totally a great idea to take a healthy veggie and cover it in sauce and cheese.

 

How far along: 28 weeks - hello third trimester!

Total weight gain: 20ish. I'm really stressing out about the whole weight thing. I can see a total of 35 in the distance, and that scares me. I've been trying to eat well and I'm obviously still exercising, but I'm so terrified that I'm never going to lose all of the weight again. TERRIFIED. I keep hearing stories from other second+ time moms about how much harder it was to lose the weight with the second one than it was with the first and it just makes me feel stabby.

Stretch marks: I'm pretty sure that I can see them, but Charlie swears they aren't there.

Sleep: I did ok last week, but then something happened on Sunday night and I couldn't sleep at all. I kept rolling onto my back and waking up because I couldn't breathe, and then rolling onto my side and waking up because the heartburn was unbearable. I think it's time to build a pillow pyramid. Or sleep on the couch.

Exercise: Running, lifting real weights, kettlebells. I had an awful, awful time on my Saturday run. The plan was 16 miles, I got in 14.5 before I quit. It wasn't a cardio issue, my legs just didn't want to go anymore. I've slowed my runs down, for sure, which is fine. I'd say a good 1:30/mile slower. Also doing a lot of run/walking - I run with my neighbor, who is new to running, and she does 6 minutes running /1 minute walking. When I run on my own I've been walking a minute out of every mile to make sure I'm drinking enough and walking up long, steep hills. I think part of it is a fueling issue, I obviously can't pound the caffeinated gel packs every hour and I probably need to up the calories I'm consuming while I'm running. Maybe jelly beans aren't the best option. We'll try again this weekend and see how it goes.

Movement: Still inconsistent, still has me guessing.

Food cravings: Sweet stuff

Happy or moody most of the time: I have no patience. Especially at work. I try to swallow the bitchiness, but sometimes I just sit there while someone is talking to me and I'm annoyed at their mere presence in my space.

Looking forward to: More organizing. Sorting through clothes I'm buying from a friend. A re-do of my shittastic long run.

The Name Game

When we had Charlie, the name decision was easy. If we had a boy, it was going to be Charlie. If we had a girl, it was going to be Charlotte. Neither one was really up for debate or discussion, they were both family names and were pretty much 100% set.

Nearly 5 years later, we're having a girl who obviously can't be named Charlotte. Well, obviously to husband, not as obviously to me. Sure, it would be kind of odd, but I still love the name, and it's still a family name on MY side, so we'd have both family trees well represented. But it's off the table because husband doesn't want people to think he's in any way like George Foreman. Ok, that's fine.

So I made a list of names, pulling from favorite literary characters and distant branches of the family tree and names that I had heard and filed away over the years. And then I made a second list of names, and a third, and used a site called Nymbler where you can put all of your favorite names in the search engine and it brings you back a new list of additions that have the same style as the ones you already know that you like, so that you can continue adding to the list of possibilities. And then I brought that final gigantic list to the husband. And he started vetoing and crossing things off left and right. And I was kind of sad, because some of those names were good names, but of course it's important to agree on such a big thing like the name of your child. So I brought him another list  - which may have included some of the same crossed-off names from the first, just to see if he was paying attention (he was) and if he had changed his mind (he hadn't). And at the end of the lists and the crossing offs and the discussions and the debates, we're down to two names that are very promising. Two very different names, though, which means there will probably be no final decision made until we meet her in 12ish weeks and see which one she looks like. And then I started thinking about middle names (which, hi Charlie, I think I get more say on, because our first child is 100% named after you, after all) and decided which ones I liked best. And so I've been thinking about our child and what her name will be and didn't ever really stop to write out the initials, but then I did. And we're either going to have an LAG, an EKG, or an EGG. Lucky girl.

Oh Rosie

The sociologist in me wants to hate the co-opt of such an important icon, but i love this, anyway.

Tris

At dinner last weekend, a friend commented on my super awesome triceps. It was the most random compliment ever, but it gave me the warm fuzzies. It's nice to know that all of your hard work is paying off!

I'm confident that my arms are the same size they were pre-pregnancy. Also pretty sure that my belly area is just that - all belly. I've got maybe 2 pounds worth in my ginormous pregnancy boobs. Baby is about 2 pounds right now. That means that after the extra blood and fluid, the only other possible place for the extra pounds to be is in my legs and on my ass. My trunk is full of junk! Just like Princess Peach's room.

27 Weeks - Rutabaga

I don't think I've ever had a rutabaga.

 

How far along: 27 weeks

Total weight gain: 19ish

Stretch marks: I'm sure that a good 15 of those 19 pounds have taken up residence in my ass, so that's where my concern lies at this moment.

Sleep: I can breathe through my nose again, which is super awesome, but now my hips hurt and changing positions (limited to rolling from left to right at this point) is like an Olympic event.

Exercise: Running, lifting real weights, kettlebells. I think I'm done with the treadmill, it's wrecking my legs. I can't take it anymore. Bad run this morning makes me an unhappy camper today. 4 miles is not all that great, considering I did 12 on Friday.

Movement: Still inconsistent, which freaks me out at times. I'm usually woken up a few times at night, which didn't happen last night, so of course I woke up panicking.

Food cravings: Chocolate. Trying to keep myself in check.

Happy or moody most of the time: For the most part I'd say I'm happy, though definitely irritable. Also anxious about everything.

Looking forward to: More organizing. Long run on Saturday followed by a sleeve of Thin Mints. Because I can.

Happy Valentine's Day

I sent my kid to school with the ugliest, cheesiest valentines ever. Their party will have 40 kids, and most of the pre-packaged cards were sets of 18, so I decided to go the cheap route and bought 45 glowsticks for $3 out of the target bargain bin. Continued down the lazy path by printing out labels to stick on - "You make my heart GLOW!" (gag me) Even Charlie got into the lazy spirit - as the evening of writing his name over and over wore on he started skipping over the "R" in "Charlie." I don't blame him.

 

V-Day is just not my thing. Which is why I love this so much.

 

 

 

 

Clearance, Clarence!

In an exciting turn of events, I've been given permission to go ahead and run a marathon, as long as I feel good. Squuuuuuuueeeeeeeeeeeee!

 

 

I have one in mind that's sooner than Pig. As much as I want to "run" the Pig, to get one of the gigantor 15th anniversary medals, I think that may be a little much to expect of myself at a few days shy of 38 weeks. We shall see.

26 Weeks - Lettuce

Personally, I'm more of a Romaine girl. Preferably with Caesar dressing, freshly shaved parmesan, and gigantic garlic croutons. Yum.

How far along: 26 weeks

Total weight gain: Still the same 18 pounds I was up last week.

Stretch marks: I'm worried that the itching on my sides is going to turn into stretch marks.

Sleep: Sinuses are improving, which helps things a bit.

Exercise: Running, P90X, Kettlebells, yoga. Beat last week's 12 mile treadmill suckfest with freaking FOURTEEN. Thank you, shitty reruns of Dawson's Creek on Netflix. Still undecided about whether this week will be treadmill or road. I also made my triumphant return to the squat rack with husband's help. Whee!

Yes, I know it only says 4, but I promise this was 15. I reset the counters every 5 miles so that I can keep track of my minute walk intervals every mile so that I know I'm drinking enough water and eating enough food. Otherwise I end up with no seconds counting on the timer.


Movement: Still inconsistent, which freaks me out at times.

Food cravings: Our menu this week includes 2 nights of buffalo mac, 2 nights of buffalo chicken wraps

Happy or moody most of the time: Anxious. And hungry, right now, since today is glucose test day.

Looking forward to: Finishing up the room organization and picking up the last round of secondhand baby clothes. And finding out I passed the glucose test or getting my Girl Scout cookies, whichever comes first.

99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall...

Just looked at the calendar and realized that I'm 25 weeks and 6 days pregnant, which means I'm in the double digits! 99 days to go!

Up until this weekend I felt like this pregnancy was just flying by, but now it feels like it's dragging again.

And now I'm going to be singing that song alllllllllllll day long. A cold beer sounds lovely right now.

The Sniss

In addition to the return of my buffalo sauce cravings (which, BTW, are still going strong. We're having two nights of buffalo mac and two nights of buffalo chicken wraps again this week. Yum!), one of my least favorite pregnancy side-effects also returned this weekend, slapping me on the back like a long-lost friend and hitting me twice within a 24-hour period just to make up for lost time.

I think it's one of the worst - sneaking up when you're least expecting it to embarrass you in public or send you running from the grocery store. Striking fear into the hearts of allergic moms-to-be.

That's right, I'm talking about The Sniss. Not content to just kick me when I'm sneezing, The Sniss also made an appearance during a particularly unpleasant coughing fit. And since it appears that I'm finally on the tail end of this god awful sinus infection, there's a lot of coughing going on. Guess it's time to start carrying around an extra set of clothes.

This never gets old

25 Weeks - Cauliflower

Have you ever seen those recipes for cauliflower-based mac and cheese? Or cauliflower mashed "potatoes?" Who are they kidding?

How far along: 25 weeks

Total weight gain: 18 pounds as of this morning, but I know there's no way I've gained 3 pounds in the last week. There are some extenuating circumstances. I'll spare you the details.

Stretch marks: I think I have a new one on my back. WTF?

Sleep: Nothing spectacular. Thought the sinus issues were going away, but they came back with a vengeance on Sunday night. Sad face.

Exercise: Running, P90X, Kettlebells, yoga. Put in 12 treadmill miles on Saturday. Wow, did that suck. This morning's run sucked even more, I think mostly due to the lack of sleep. I feel like if I am really up 18 pounds then it's mostly in my ass area, which has always been my least favorite part of me. I want to get back to lifting more interesting weights, the lower-body workout I've been doing really isn't cutting it.

Movement: She's clearly flipping around in there, because I'll feel kicks at the bottom AND at the top, sometimes within minutes. I wish she'd just make up her mind and decide that it's sooooooo much better to be head-down. Otherwise she's grounded.

Food cravings: Yeah, the chocolate thing isn't going away. The buffalo sauce craving from last time has also returned. Buffalo mac and cheese tomorrow!

Happy or moody most of the time: If I could breathe through my nose my outlook would probably be a little sunnier.

Looking forward to: Ordered the rings for my homemade sling AND the carseat. That was a big decision, I'm so glad it's over and done with. Trip to IKEA this weekend for drawer organizers and curtains.

Hello Cravings, My Old Friend

With my last pregnancy, I spent quite a bit of time thinking about ice cream. Quite a bit. I ate a different pint of ice cream every week, just to see how many different flavors of Ben and Jerry I could check off the list. This time? Not so much. I was just thinking to myself last week how interesting it was that I didn't really have any consistent cravings, just wild, short-lived desires for very specific foods. Sure, those foods were total junk (Doritos, anyone? Cheetos? Sour Gummy Life Savers?), but after one indulgence I was (usually) able to put it out of my head.

I guess I spoke too soon. All I can think about right now is chocolate and cookie dough and buffalo sauce. Not together, of course. Here I am on Day Three of homemade buffalo chicken wraps and I am absolutely DEVASTATED that we're out. Out of chicken, out of ranch dressing, and now scheming to find a Buffalo Mac and Cheese recipe that we can whip up as we work our way through our weekly meal plan.

And why did I not bring any chocolate to work today? That was dumb. Seriously.

You Know You're Pregnant When...

You get dressed in the morning, struggling to pull on the fleece-lined tights that bunch around the ankles and make you look like you have elephant wrinkles but you wear them anyway because it's so cold out that you're past the point of caring, and when you finally get them all the way up you realize that you have your underwear on inside-out and backwards, but it took so long to get the damn tights on that you just pull the skirt on over them and pretend that you didn't see the tag looking up at you from the outside front.

Also, when your shopping cart looks like this.

 

 

In my defense, the cotton candy is for the kid. Technically speaking, anyway.