15 Weeks, Zoo, "Hi Pepere"

15 weeks! 

We will hopefully find out the gender later on this week - I'll be drinking lots of OJ to ensure tons of movement. Ha! 

• How far along?  15 weeks

• Total weight gain:  Looks like I gained 1-2lbs. 

• Maternity clothes?  Still nothing yet. We'll see where I sit at the end of this week with work clothes. I know it doesn't look like I've grown much, but at the end of the day I definitely bloat enough to be uncomfortable. I bought very few maternity clothes with G and am hoping to do the same with this pregnancy (it looks like it may be easier seeing as how I seem to be growing at a much slower pace this time around) 

• Stretch marks? None. I didn't have any with G and hopefully I won't get any new ones! 

• Sleep:  Fine

• Best moment this week:  G sleeping until 9am Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We have no clue where this came from...he's usually up between 6:30 and 8...most of the time 7.

• Miss Anything? a glass of wine and a mimosa! 

• Movement: Those flutters, pops and kicks seemed to have died down a bit...insert anxiety. Ugh.

• Food cravings: Nothing in particular this week. 

• Food aversions: Still the coffee thing

• Gender: Still thinking Girl

• Labor Signs: too early!

• Symptoms: I've gotten really tired here and there, but for the most part I just work through it. 

• Belly Button in or out? Still in...but I'm thinking it will be out within two weeks. Literally half my belly button is sticking out. LOL!

• Wedding rings on or off? Well...on...BUT my e-ring is off because I lost a diamond out of the band! Boo. 

• Looking forward to:  Finding out the gender on friday (hopefully)

• Workouts - same as last week - 40 minutes 3 days a week (20 minutes cardio, 20 mins weights) 1 day of 20 minute at home workout while G naps

• Feelings: I still feel really good this pregnancy. I've been a little freaked out lately because I'm almost positive I've been feeling kicks, and noticed I hadn't really felt anything the past couple of days. I know it's really early to be feeling anything consistent...and Dan and I joked that I would have this issue because Grayson was SO active in the womb. Other then that, I am still wayyy more relaxed this pregnancy and my hormones are not as "off the walls" as they were with G. No crazy crying over nothing, no emotional breakdowns. I love it. 

We have seen a huge word explosion from G - and it's so cute and fun to hear him repeat everything we say. Our favorite by far is hearing him say "Hi Pepere". We finally got it on video (sorry it's sideways!)

This weekend Dan's company had their summer picnic  - at the Cincinnati Zoo! We had gone to the Zoo last year at about exactly this time when G was around 10 months old. Things were a bit different seeing as he can run/walk. We brought his stroller and tried to keep him in it, but that proved to be difficult when we had to take him out to see animals. We let him walk around on his own, but he's 2 and it's really hard to convince him to "hold my hand" or go in the stroller. ha. 

We thought he'd really enjoy this zoo this year...but he was kind of unimpressed. The only part that got him SUPER excited were the monkeys. DUH. That would be G's favorite part. He started jumping around when they would fly from branch to branch. I guess all the other animals didn't move around enough for him :) 

He was getting pretty wiped towards the end! 

He enjoyed the petting zoo a bit! 

Hopefully the next time I post we'll know if we're having a little boy or little girl!

Happy Momma's Day!

Happy Momma's Day to all the Mothers and TO BE Mothers out there! 

We are having a super relaxing Mothers Day Indoors. It's a rainy mess out here, and it's been the perfect day to run errands and chill out....

Why YES, that is a picture of my smiling toddler. And NO, he isn't always smiling..but he is generally very happy:) This week has been a tough one in terms of terrible two's. Grayson is definitely pushing/testing limits and has been increasingly cranky. He did cut a tooth and has allergy issues, so we assume it's one of those. Today he seemed MUCH better and we're hoping that last week was just a fluke of feeling bad. 

On another note, Grayson figured out how to open the front door. We didn't have a child lock on the handle because he can't reach the deadbolt. WELLL....he finally figured out that he can push a kitchen table chair ALL the way over to the front door, unlock the deadbolt, remove the chair and BOLT. Sneaky kid I tell ya! 

And since I mentioned the outdoors, I know that I've said a couple times Grayson is obsessed. But I really mean. GRAYSON IS OBSESSED with outside. On my days off with G, I spend roughly 2-3 hours out with him. If he's been at daycare, that number is usually the same since the daycare provider likes to have all the kids outside as much as possible, too. 

Below is my weekly Quiz:

• How far along?  14 Weeks

• Total weight gain:  0lbs. The midwife wasn't concerned at all. I eat very healthy and she doesn't want me to change my eating habits at all....we will re-evaluate at my next appt if there isn't any gain, but both her and I think that I will definitely see a change at the next appt. 

• Maternity clothes?  Nothing yet. I don't even have to use the elastic band trick on my pants. ALTHOUGH my work pants are getting a little snug by the end of the day! 

• Stretch marks? None. I didn't have any with G and hopefully I won't get any new ones! 

• Sleep:  Fine

• Best moment this week:  Dan got to feel a kick! I know I thought I felt some kicks last week, but this week it was pretty definite. 

• Miss Anything? a glass of wine and a mimosa! 

• Movement: Starting to feel flutters, pops and kicks!

• Food cravings: Nothing in particular this week. 

• Food aversions: Still the coffee thing

• Gender: Still thinking Girl

• Labor Signs: too early!

• Symptoms: Nothing really

• Belly Button in or out? In, but that will be short lived. I have a very narrow "innie" so I'll most likely pop out early. 

• Wedding rings on or off? Well...on...BUT my e-ring is off because I lost a diamond out of the band! Boo. 

• Looking forward to:  Finding out the gender in a little under 2 weeks! 

• Workouts - same as last week - 40 minutes 3 days a week (20 minutes cardio, 20 mins weights) 1 day of 20 minute at home workout while G naps

• Feelings: I feel really great. I'm still super calm about this pregnancy compared to G's and have a much more "peaceful" idea/feeling towards the pregnancy and afterwards. I wanted to go into this pregnancy feeling more relaxed, and I feel I've achieved that. With Grayson I had a lot of anxiety, and for some reason (maybe being a mom already) those feelings are completely erased. 

13 weeks -seeing a bump

Not much to update since Tuesday, but I'll start the weekly quizzes now! I've added "Workout Routine" to the survey since there are times I've wanted to look back and see what I was able to do "at this point in pregnancy" 

I totally see a bump. Thankyouverymuch

How far along: 13 Weeks

How big is baby: baby is the size of a peach - you can totally see a little peach in my bellly:) 

Total weight gain: 1-2lbs (I'll get the official weight gain on tuesday. It looks like I fluctuate a 1lb or 2)

Sleep: Good 

Best moment of the week: I think I'm starting to "feel" stuff. I'm not 100% sure, but I SWEAR I feel little pops here and there. A few weeks time will tell.

Food cravings: Powerade. I have the healthiest cravings when pregnant. With Grayson is was water and ice, now when I get thirsty, I really want a Powerade or Gatorade. Random.

Food aversions: Coffee. BLANK STARES. Yep. I am able to drink iced coffee, though. There is just something about regular coffee that makes me want to puke. 

Symptoms: The migraines have started - hopefully they won't last very long.  

Gender: Right now I'm thinking girl, but we'll see how I feel in a couple weeks. We have an appointment at the end of May to {hopefully} find out the gender early (around 16 weeks). 

What I'm looking foward to: Meeting with the new midwife on Tuesday, getting to hear a heartbeat. Getting the house organized these next couple of weeks. We've already cleaned out most of the office so we're really just working on getting rid of the odds and ends around the house. We had done a MAJOR cleanout last year and it was really refreshing. We knew we'd have to do one more cleanout before everything was done. 

What I miss: Not much right now. Although we ARE going to a BBQ tonight and I really would like a glass of wine. I'll probably bring some grape juice. 

Next appointment: Tuesday!

Workout Routine: 3 days - 20 minutes of cardio, 20 minutes of weight lifting. 1 day of 20 minute workout while G naps. Free Weights used: 5-10lbs weights. If using the weight machines, 25-40lbs depending on the machine used.

Baby News: Weeks 8-12

So where do we begin??

Dan and I found out we were pregnant with baby #2 Tuesday, February 28th, which put me at approx 3weeks, 4 days pregnant. While I thought it would feel like forever until we were able to officially announce the pregnancy, these first 10 weeks or so flew by. I guess having a toddler to chase around keeps your mind a little pre-occupied. Honestly, I would've been able to "hold off" telling longer, except I've been eyeing nursery stuff on Pinterest and really wanted to update the blog for baby book purposes. 

We are actually very relaxed and calm about welcoming another baby into our worlds. We aren't stressing about much - just hoping to have a healthy baby at the end of this 40 weeks. It is so nice to feel this way! I remember with Grayson it was a big question of "what will our lives be like, ect" That guessing game is over now and we totally understand that things always work out in the end. We take on a team philosophy in our household, and I feel like that works really well for us...neither of us ever got completely overwhelmed with Grayson, especially as a newborn, because we balanced and do balance responsibility equally. Allowing each to have his or her own time with Grayson, time away with friends, and also time with each other was really key. 

I haven't been doing my weekly updates on purpose because I was afraid I would jinx something, but I do have an overall update of the early on weeks and some pictures:

So far this first trimester has been a bit different then Grayson's:

•  This pregnancy I've had a little more morning sickness between weeks 7-9, and feel relatively tired on and off throughout the week. Nothing terrible, though. I'm not sure if it's because I know what "tired" really means now...or maybe I'm really not that tired. Not sure.
• I'm much smaller this time around - even though this is my second pregnancy, I am still in all my regular work clothes and weekend clothes. With Grayson, I had already gone up to my "fat pants" at this point.
• I was never really bloated during these first 12 weeks, which is the most common annoying trait of 1st tri and was a huge reason I had to wear my larger size pants with G. 
• No weight gain yet, my next appt is May 8th and I'll be 13.5 weeks, so we'll see if there's any change by then.
• I'm working out roughly 40-45 minutes 3 days a week, and then 20 minutes on the 4th day since I workout during G's nap time. My workout consists of 20 mins of cardio and 20 minutes of weight lifting. I prefer free weights and usually go between the 5-10lb weights. My happy medium is a 8lb weight which the gym unfortunately doesn't have. 
• Gut Feelings from both Dan and I- that we've got a girl in there. We'll see soon! 

I will start the weekly updates at the end of this week

For the time being, I've been taking pictures from weeks 8-12

8 Weeks

9 weeks 

10 Weeks

11 Weeks

12 Weeeks (ok, you can definitely see a bit of a change, here! )