Down for the Count

I'm blogging to you today straight from my bed. We had such a great weekend, but I woke up today feeling "off". I thought maybe it was just morning sickness, but now I have a fever to boot. I can't stand fevers. Yesterday we took Blake to the Children's Museum over in San Luis Obispo, CA. It was a wonderful day, but I am wondering if maybe I picked up this bug from there. Thankfully, Blake does not have it and neither does Chad. My fever has been low grade but has me uncontrollably shivering to sweating out every pore. I despise going to the ER, so I'm going to keep an eye on this "thing" with Tylenol until I can hopefully get into my doctor in the morning. How often we take good health for granted! Can't wait to be back to my normal self! I may now have a fear of Children's Museums too. Who knows though. I thankfully have my hubby here taking real good care of us all. Hope to be back to blogging about happier subjects soon......

TGIF!

Gotta love Friday! Whether it's been a great week, an awful week, a zipped right by or moved as-slow-as-can-be week.....I think almost everyone welcomes Friday. I actually managed to pull out of that slump I was referring to on Wednesday. I really got some stuff done around here. I found that under the gigantic stack of clean clothes in our laundry room there was a counter. Who knew?!:) Yes, you can now see a clean counter top. I must admit the majority of this was done by my wonderful husband. He knew it was bugging me and I just couldn't seem to get it under control. So he stepped in and, wham, we can now not be afraid of the laundry room again! Thanks honey! He literally lightened the load that was weighing down my spirits.

Anyways, it is funny how things can have a snowball of an effect. In this case, it's a good snowball effect. Just having that done is motivation to keep it done. Each load is going away promptly and I'm hoping to stay on top of it. Also, I managed to put away all of my daughter's clothes that no longer fit! This one I did all myself! A year's worth of clothes neatly organized and put into storage. Awesome! Did my "big buy" at the grocery store yesterday and cleaned out the fridge. We are now full of good unexpired food and set for some healthy meals up ahead. Speaking of healthier meals, I am trying to kick a bad craving for every night ice cream. So I whipped up this bowl of pears, strawberries, and blackberries and still had fun with the chocolate syrup. It's gotta be better for me than a big old bowl of ice cream, right? Right? Well, it was delish and like I said... I'm kicking the every night ice cream habit. ;)

I don't mean to sound all "look at me", but I'm proud of getting some things done around here. I'm hoping to keep knocking down that to-do list, and I must admit it feels better than just thinking about it. Whatever your week was like, it's over, so here's to a great weekend everyone!!!:)

PREGNANCY 101: How to Grow a Human (2nd Trimester)

Hi there! We are back at it this week! Meet Kristi, Stacia, and Tasha. We are all pregnant bloggers, friends from high school, and have due dates just trimesters apart. We are also moms to toddler girls, which means we aren’t exactly new to this whole song and dance. In this special pregnancy series, we would like to take you on a three trimester journey of our pregnancies written from each of our points of view at our current trimester.

 Are you curious about what goes on during the second trimester? Every pregnancy is different for every woman...and every woman can have different pregnancies herself. So today Kristi, who writes Whine & Cheez, is going to give you a glimpse as to what’s in store. She is 17 weeks pregnant (2nd trimester).

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Second Try at the Second Tri

Bagel with cream cheese.
Pancakes.
Pasta Salad.
Medium Pizza.
Orange Chicken.
Chicken Lo Mein.
Moose Tracks Ice Cream.

That’s what I ate today. Yep. Just another food filled day in the increasingly tight shoes of a pregnant-gal. And sadly, this is a somewhat light day in the food department.

That’s right. I just hit my 17th week of pregnancy today-- which means Baby Boy Gilbert is now the size of an onion -- a mere onion -- which hardly explains why I am already sporting a beer belly that now hangs over my elastic pants. Blasphemy.

During my first pregnancy (with Ava) I LOVED being pregnant. I floated around, all happy, full of energy, glistening with that “pregnancy glow” that everyone talks about. It was wonderful. I didn’t show until 20 weeks and I managed to gain just 26 lbs throughout the entire pregnancy. To top it all off, I had absolutely zero issues with morning sickness, fatigue, etc.

Not this time around, pal!

At 12 weeks, you could already see the beginning of the Buddha. Also, I’ve not only experienced nausea, but I’ve been sick -- violently sick (I will leave it at that and spare you the graphic details). And my complexion?! Let’s just say that I could be a “Before” picture for a Proactiv advertisement. Hell, even my dreams have become super wacky!

Yep, it’s completely different this time around. Perhaps it’s because I’m having a BOY! That’s right! The ultrasound confirmed the gender at just 12 weeks -- and let me tell you, my husband felt an overwhelming sense of pride about the size of our son’s genitalia, already appearing on ultrasound at such an early age. Boys -- Ay ay ay! He says that “obviously it’s hereditary”. Um. ok...?

The new addition to our family, brings not only excitement, but also concern. Ava has reached the age of 21 months, which means she is in the thick of her terrible twos; I have concerns for her reaction to this change: Will she act out? Will she react with jealous behavior and lash out at the baby? Will she digress so I will baby her, too?

At times, she can be a walking advertisement for birth control: She won’t sit still for dinner anymore. She refuses to sit in the cart while shopping. She rarely listens to directions. I seriously feel like almost everything has become a battle. She is still darling as can be, don’t get me wrong -- she is just deciding what she does and does not want to do now -- which creates it’s own set of headaches -- and requires a ton of patience -- something I’m working on -- reeeeeeally working on.

I ask her if she is excited to be a big sister and we get both answers. I don’t think she will fully realize the magnitude of this change until it is here. For one, she’ll be losing her playroom because its will soon become the new nursery. And as for another change, there will be another child to share her Mommy & Daddy -- something that will definitely shock her. “What do you mean I have to wait?!”

And she’s not the only one who will experience a major adjustment with the addition to our family. I, for one, am scared stiff. I’m scared of changing the dynamic of our family; just when we get into a good groove, something changes. I’m also scared of getting the dreadful postpartum depression again. I’m scared that with two kids, I will most definitely be losing my identity. How do people keep it together? I fear I will turn into a recluse, afraid to leave the house for fear of not knowing how.

I sometimes think about that show with the Duggar family. That lady has been had like 70 kids. Bitches be crazy. She has been pregnant for nearly two decades. Can you imagine being sober for that long?! I would open a vein. I have enough trouble going the first 20 weeks without having a glass of wine!

Now that I’m over the hump of the morning sickness and fatigue, I look forward to enjoying the fun part of the pregnancy, which comes with the second trimester: planning the nursery, dreaming of what our baby will look like, and having an occasional glass of wine (keep your opinions where they belong -- to yourself!).

Having said that, we couldn’t be more thrilled with the expansion of our family. I’m sure there are struggles and celebrations to come, with this addition, and we welcome them with open arms. I am lucky to say that I have been blessed with all I ever wanted and that I could not ask for more. I hope this little bugger is ready for the ride of his life!

As my sister said during her wedding toast to me and my husband, “As a family grows in number, it grows in strength”. Here’s to having an even stronger bond within our family, and even more love under the roof of our home.

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To see more of Kristi's posts, hop on over to Whine & Cheez. There you can see how this hilarious pregnant mom keeps the order in her beautiful home with her hubby Ken, daughter, Ava, and two labrador retrievers, Biscuit & Willy.

Then stay tuned next week as Stacia will continue with our series! Her blog, Dried on Milk, is always a good read as well. She tells it like it is, and has a real knack for creativity whether it's making it all work as a full-time working mom or informing on a new ways to go green. Yes, Stacia will be pulling up the rear with the final installment of... dun dun DUUUUUN!!... the 3rd trimester!! So hang on to your uteruses ladies this is going to be fun!

P.S. All three of our blogs (Whine& Cheez, Dried on Milk, and Daily Cup of T) have their own Facebook pages! So if you'd like to keep up with any of us, just hit "like" and we'll see you on your news feed! Thanks everyone for reading and letting us share this time in our lives with you all!:)

A New Start

Okay, it's a new month! It doesn't make today much different than yesterday, but I am starting out on a new mission and a new set of challenges for myself. We are now 12 weeks pregnant. Plenty of time until our December due date for baby#2, but I have got some changes to make. I need to get it together. To re-charge. To fine-tune my routines and ways of getting things done. Maybe everyone with a small child feels always behind in something, but lately I have been feeling overwhelmed with everything I am not getting done.

Some of it is me being hard on myself. Some of it is just a mix of procrastination and pure laziness. I can open the same junk drawer a million times, and then be annoyed by it a million times. I have a never ending cycle of laundry that I just need to catch up with, and keep up with. I need a better system. I looked into www.flylady.com (an on-line tool for keeping up with housework) and it looks great. My list is going beyond housework though. It's new recipes that I need. It's better photo-book keeping. It's an exercise routine. I'd like to read more for myself. On and on and on. You may be thinking "join the club" or you know some great secret that I do not. Either way, I saw this quote on Positively Positive the other day and it spoke to me....

"If you really want to do something, you'll find a way. If you don't, you'll find an excuse." - Jim Rohn

Brilliant and so simple, isn't it? My problems are small in the big scope of life. I need a change though. I want to kick some bad habits (like being a clutter-bug) to the curb. I really want to have it together by the time I have two children to take care of. Will I become perfect? No way. Will someone or some article tell me how to get there? Probably not. Starting today though, I am going to start somewhere and just get things done. The first of the month sounds like a good place to start. I don't have a set plan, but I am declaring that I'm starting a work-in-progress plan of action, and I'll let you all know how it goes. Maybe I'll discover something worth sharing or at least a laugh or two. Gotta go for now! Hope you all have a great start to your month too!