12 weeks

Nausea
Boo. Feeling like you have the flu everyday for a couple of hours is obnoxious. Thankfully, my husband is awesome and has really been hanging tough when he gets home. 

Skin

Awful. Where's my glow, dammit? When did it happen last time? I have to go back and look. I remember having AWESOME skin and hair when pregnant, and this is not.the.same. 

Weight/Clothes
I think doing pretty well, still smallish and able to wear non maternity clothes, buttoned and zipped and everything! Woot woot!

Cravings/Aversions

Mexican and sushi. Just like last time. Though I don't have crazy cravings for tortilla chips...instead it seems a it more like a bite of ice cream or something sweet, but just a bite and i am satisfied. Which is also weird, because one time I ate an entire 9x13 yellow cake with chocolate frosting by myself, in two days. It might have had something to do with the fact my boyfriend had just left for OCS and I am a stress eater. Maybe.

Cramps/Pain
More of the same. Periodic stretching and moving pains.

Sleeping

Sleep. I need it. The Olympics are NOT helping things. 

Heartburn

Not too bad so far...KNOCK ON WOOD

The Girls

Not that sore. Weird. Also, not getting bigger which is totally lame. When this belly finally pops, I am going to need bigger boobs to look proportional for at least a while.

New this time around

Feelings of lightheadedness. It has happened twice so far, which is weird because I don't really remember that as a symptom with Ev.

Oh yeah, this again.

Gagging when brushing my teeth. The miracle of growing life, people. THE MIRACLE.

Mental State

I think I am starting to be in a bit of denial. It is weird because the husband and I are in a bit of a holding pattern with a bunch of different things in life, so we are just hanging and not able to really plan or react or be proactive...which does not generally sit well with people like us.

12 weeks, last go round

Evelyn Rae is one year old, and I am 12 weeks along with Ferris 

... and is that a ridiculous nickname for an in utero baby? I kinda like it. Ferris wheel being the big reveal spot and all. Hrm. 

Why, friends, why?

Why must I tempt fate by writing about my lack of pregnancy symptoms in comparison to my last pregnancy? WHY?

Hubris, that's why.

Will I never learn?

The last few days have.been.miserable.

It is as if all of my lack of pregnancy symptoms that could have been spread over the last 11 weeks have gone ahead and compounded into the last 72 hours or so. My hormones are all, "HA! You thought you were on the downhill slope toward twelve weeks and happy go lucky fun second trimester? Just the calm before the storm, sister."

As I write this, I am awake next to my snoring and sleeping peacefully husband, with a pounding headache, nausea and heartburn. Insomnia AND feeling kicked by some wacko flu illness? Sign.me.up.

Oh, and I will probably have to get up to pee again here in a minute.

I mean...

Let me reframe.

Thank God for my husband. He has literally taken over the house the last few days are coming home from work. He has cooked dinner the last three nights whilst I lay on the couch under a blanket trying not to throw up all over the place from the hours of 4-9 pm. He didn't even blink when I, no joke, RAN from the kitchen last night to avoid the smell of grilled chicken.

He has also done bedtime for Ev for the last three nights.

Bless that man.

It is just so.weird. To feel fine and dandy all day and then just BOOM, on the couch, blanket, wanting my Mommy, watching awful summer TV, blah-ness.

Dear second trimester, I am eagerly anticipating your arrival. Like, very eagerly.



Evelyn Rae is twelve months old and I am 11 weeks and 5 days along with my newest little miracle

...and Miss or Mister Miracle and I had a good long talk earlier today about helping Mommy feel better in the next few days.

Crackers.

Where did my adventurous eater BLW baby go?

Girl used to eat EVERYTHING and LOVE it.

Now? Now she wants crackers. And that's pretty much it.

Granted we have these babies for her...

...so I don't feel too bad about her eating them all the time, but seriously. This is getting ridiculous.

Maybe it's that dang molar coming in?

Maybe it's just a phase.

(It has only been like this for maybe like 4 days or so...)

God, please don't let it be that she is actually developing her own tastes and opinions and hates my cooking all of a sudden.

I don't think I could take the criticism.



Evelyn Rae is one year old

...and she really does eat other things, but the only thing she is happy about eating are those dang crackers.

Baby Swap

Last night, we finally saw The Dark Knight Rises, thanks to our long discussed and finally realized baby swap plans with our friends.

Yup, that's right - baby swap. We dropped Ev with our friends last night, and sometime in the next week or so, we will grab their kids so they can do the same.

Everyone should do this!

If you have friends who are interested, that is.

We have talked about baby swapping for so long, but we kept wavering about it because when we do get a night out away from the kiddos, we don't want them all to be just date nights with our spouses. Sometimes we would like to see our friends as well, the very friends who are willing to swap.

But, when your friends are your babysitters...well...right...doesn't work.

Finally, we realized that we can do both.

So, if you want to try this out too, my advice is this - baby swap with your friends if they are:

1. Friends who are really, really interested
2. Friends you can trust to be fair and not take advantage (duh)
3. Friends you can be super honest with and again (duh) trust with your kids
4. Friends you will STILL hang out with other than hellos and goodbyes as you are dropping off your kids! You don't want to ruin a friendship for the sake of childcare

Luckily, we have lots of friends around these parts that we have known for forever, so we are really happy that we have finally realized this genius plan while we can. 

Who knows if this will work at our next duty station.

Evelyn Rae is one year old

...and you should try it if you can!

Happy Monday!

The Dentist was, not bad.

Surprisingly.

No cavities, or concerns....also surprising. And relieving. Whew.


And, in honor of baby girl and I getting our lives right, and finally recovering from vacation and party comas - we are back on schedule today...cleaning and blogging!

Which means that I have FINALLY posted Ev's Eleven Month update, per usual it was held up by my laziness about uploading photos. You can find it where it belongs, on June 11, or here.

Evelyn Rae is now TWELVE months old

...and we will get her 12 month update up in the next few days.

11 weeks

Nausea
Ugh. WHY did I tempt the fates and insist I felt so much better this time around?! This week has been awful. Still no puking, but much laying on the couch from about 5-7 every day going "uggggggggh."

Skin

Hello, my name is Courtney and I am not 16 and pregnant, so why does my face seem to think we are all of a sudden. Boo. 4 "blemishes" on my chin alone. Bah humbug.

Weight/Clothes
Gaining weight, still wearing regular clothes - I need to convince husband to snap a pic so I can compare to this time last time. Granted, I was able to hide it from everyone for a long time last time, so mayhap I look the same?

Cravings/Aversions
Ugh, Nausea = food sounds awful. Except when not nauseous and food sounds WONDERFUL. Meh.

Cramps/Pain
More of the same. Periodic stretching and moving pains.

Sleeping

I need more.sleep. I don't think I felt this tired when Ev was like a little newborn waking up every three hours. Now I just want to beg her for more time in the mornings. Poor baby. She wants to play and I want to SLEEP.

Heartburn

Bought Tums. Used them once so far. SIGH.

The Girls

Still not that sore. *Knock on wood* Also, not really increasing in size the way they did last time? Maybe that comes later?

Fetal Movement

Nope, not yet. I think I will omit this category until I feel something. 

Swelling

None, yay! Also - getting rid of this category until needed. Hopefully never.

New this time around

When I am feeling my worst, usually from 5-7pm or so, I am not coming home from work this time and flinging myself on the couch all dramatic like. Instead, A is coming home from work and I am handing him Ev all dramatic like. He is taking good care of me though, last night he actually cooked dinner. With no instruction. And it was edible! Yay husband.

Oh yeah, this again.

EMOTIONS. I just cried like a baby yesterday because I randomly caught the last 5 minutes of an old Friends episode where Ross finds out he's having a boy. Geeze Louise. 

Mental State

Doing ok. Slowly recovering from the shock of such an unanticipated transition. See here's the thing about transitions, thanks to my transition theory knowledge via grad school, you develop coping mechanisms for transitions by going through them in your life. You naturally pick things up along the way. 

I am a PRO at dealing with anticipated transitions. Things you know are coming - hello military life, amiright? But, unanticipated transitions? Welp, they throw me for a loop. See, just about everything in my life to this point has gone according to plan (with a few exceptions, you know like moving our wedding at the last minute and stuff like that). That makes me sound like such a SNOT, but it's sort of true. Soooo, I don't really have a whole lot of coping mechanisms in my arsenal for them. BUT, I am learning, and also wavering between hella excited and HOLY SHIZZ we are having another kid.

11 weeks, last go round

Evelyn Rae is one year old, and I am 11 weeks along with poor baby who still has no nickname

...and how do you tell your one year old they are going to be a big sister? Anyone?

Bad Example

Friends, today is the day. I am going to the dentist for the first time in, well, an embarrassingly long amount of time that I am choosing not to disclose.

Mainly so that I can keep up the charade I have going of being a responsible adult, who, you know, takes care of her own business.

Moving on.

Today is one of those days that I am really glad Evelyn can't quite understand what Momma is talking about, because I would be setting a very bad example. I know these days are waning, so I am thoroughly enjoying my ability to whine and complain about this appointment today like the 12 year old girl I once was. (Who, mind you, didn't mind going to the dentist at all.)

I know, you should go to the dentist, and prevention and blah. And I promise that this is the beginning of MUCH more regular visits as I strive to be a shining example for my kiddos of what a responsible grown up looks like, that taking care of yourself is important, etc.

But still.

I don't have to like it.

Harumph.



Evelyn Rae is twelve months old

...and one of her favorite things in the world is to have her teeth brushed. All six of em.