14 weeks!

14 weeks pregnant (12/31/11)

Today marks the first day of my second trimester. I think that I'm not going to really feel pregnant and like I'm having a baby until I actually feel the presence of this baby. Once you can feel movement, then you get a constant reminder and reassurance that there is an actual person growing inside of you. Up until that point, it's easy to wonder 'is there really a baby in there?' I felt Jack move between 18-19 weeks and I've heard you'll notice a second baby sooner because you'll be more aware of what it feels like. We shall see!

I'm in a phase right now where some days I feel so big and obviously pregnant looking and then other days where I don't feel that I'm really showing at all. I like wearing tank tops under my shirts as I feel it helps smooth out the bump :) I'm wearing only maternity pants and love my corduroy (supposed to be gray but they look purple) pants from Gap!

We had a big week here with an AWESOME trip to Jackson Hole to celebrate Christmas with my family. Jacob and I got a serious vacation from the stress of the new house and lots of help with caring for Jack, who had the time of his life. Highlights were downhill skiing for Jacob, a spa day with my siblings for me, cross country skiing for the whole family including Jack (who was pulled in a sled), lots of Christmas cookies, and good eats.

All bundled up

Playing in the snow

Jack can walk this year!

Christmas Eve present: a fireman sleeping bag!

Santa brought Jack a double-decker bus, but he turned it into a "car carrier" by putting play doh on top and sticking cars on top :)
Opening presents with Uncle Chris

A shared Christmas present from my parents' Ireland trip

Grammy and Big Papa took Jack "skiing" - so cool!
Jack LOVES Frosty so he really loved this big Frosty :)

Uncle Chris rose to epic status with an up close visit to the machines that work on the mountain with him.

Uncle Chris also arranged a visit to the mountain fire station - oh yeah!
Getting strapped into a makeshift sled so he could join in the cross country skiing trip.

That's Jack being pulled by Daddy and followed by Mommy.

We ended the week with some minor surgery. Jack has had persistent ear infections all fall/winter so he was referred to an ENT who said he needed tubes put in. We found ourselves back at Children's Hospital yesterday for the surgery. It was nice that this surgery didn't come with the high levels of anxiety that came along with Jack's open heart surgery, but we did have to navigate the experience of preparing a toddler for a hospital trip. Jack loves going to the doctor and talking about ambulances and hospitals, so I messaged it as "Tomorrow, we are all going to go to the hospital so the doctor can fix your ears. The doctor said you can't eat any yum yum until after your ears are fixed. He will wait until you are sleeping to fix your ears. Okay?" I said this throughout the day on Thursday to the point where he was telling me what was going to happen on Friday. He did awesome even to the point of letting the nurses wheel him away to the OR without tears. The doctor found that his ears were infected yet again, so we were glad that we went ahead with this procedure. Jack didn't like the IV in his foot and was upset for the first hour post-surgery as he came out of anesthesia, but he quickly recovered. Hopefully this means an end to ear infections!

Week Fourteen Stats:

How I know I'm pregnant: Still peeing nightly, have the bump, and still dealing with some lingering nausea though it is DEFINITELY improving

Diet: My sweet tooth is back! I still want to eat bread and cheese and red delicious apples almost every day for lunch, but my aversions are becoming fewer.

My healthy pregnancy intentions for last week (how I did):

1) Take advantage of the extra help I have for the next few days as I visit my family and take better care of myself: more rest, some downtime, and less stress! √

2) Start doing my Kegels and other Bradley course exercises. I was pretty good about the exercises last time but never remembered to do Kegels. Only did these 1 day

3) Look into attending a prenatal yoga class in New Orleans as a way to carve some quiet time for me (and baby) into my week and to meet other expectant mothers. Didn't investigate, but Jacob gave me a coupon for 10 classes + his babysitting services, so I'm definitely going to go!

My healthy pregnancy intentions for this week:

1) Bradley course exercises and Kegels - shooting for at least 3 days this week

2) Go to my dermatologist to make sure the rash I've been sporting on my belly the last few weeks is nothing to worry about

3) I feel like maybe I'm getting both me and Jack stressed out by trying to do too much, so I will try not to set too many goals for myself with getting the house together as I will be going back to work this week