First, a huge thanks to all the messages of congratulations, well wishes, and love on here, Twitter, and Instagram.

As I welcome this second trimester with open arms, I wanted to give you a wee bit more details, rather than just dropping a bomb on you like I did Monday. We have gotten such mixed reactions to our pregnancy announcement, both “yeah I figured it was coming” to “wow!”. We actually were the latter ourselves. Completely surprised. Looking back, it obviously wasn’t out of the realm of possibilities, we just didn’t think it would happen so soon. After the first pregnancy test (on Saturday, March 2nd), we sat at breakfast in shock. I proceeded to take two more tests the following days…you know, just to be sure. There was some confusion with our due date, originally October 21st (which was Kenley’s due date), now October 30th, and we’ve already had two ultrasounds to see the tiny little nugget.

This pregnancy has definitely been different. For about three to four weeks, I was nauseous 24/7. I never threw up (knocking on wood right now), but I almost felt like I would feel better if I did. Everything smelled, sounded, and tasted horrible. On top of that, I was and am insanely thirsty…all…the…time. Which means I’m drinking a lot of water, which is great, but then I have to pee…all…day…long and all night long, which is fun for no one.

Last time, I took a nap almost every day after work…oh the luxury of being able to nap. This time around, it hasn’t been as easy, but there have been times that I would take a nap after Kenley goes to bed and end up sleeping on the couch until I just moved into the bed for the night. Other times, Greg has played with Kenley when I absolutely had to lay down for 30 minutes to survive the rest of the day. On the weekends, I am fully back into the “sleep when the baby toddler sleeps” mode, which is really only like an hour nowadays.

Speaking of… Greg has been the glue that has held our family together the past 8-10 weeks. He literally has sprayed almost every diaper, made every breakfast, lunch, and dinner for all of us, did loads and loads of laundry, etc. He literally did it all when I was feeling absolutely horrible. There were days that I couldn’t even think straight because I felt so miserable, so I cannot tell you enough how amazing it was to just not worry about anything other than dropping Kenley off at school and getting through the work day. Of course, he will say that it’s his job, but regardless, I appreciate it.

While I was squeezing myself into regular clothes as long as possible last time, I was pretty much in maternity clothes by 10-11 weeks this time. I swear to you that I had a belly at 10 weeks. It’s amazing how fast that thing pops out the second time around. I am soaking up every minute of stretchy pants. My maternity wardrobe has already grown because I have no idea how I survived last time around, I swear I must have worn a tank top every day. My previous job was a lot more casual, so I have already picked up 3-4 pairs of pants and a couple dresses on sale or clearance with our beloved Banana Republic card (read: Gap & Old Navy). If you have suggestions for cute maternity clothes that aren’t too expensive, let me know.

I have had several people ask me if I’m still running. I am proud to say that I ran one mile (at 12 weeks) right after the bombing at the Boston Marathon. It felt like the right thing to do, to get out and run. I fully plan to start running jogging again very soon. One of my biggest regrets during my pregnancy with Kenley was not exercising much. My doctor said to keep my heart beat around 120 (which is basically only walking), and that’s what I did. Since the half marathon, I feel like I am in much better shape now and at my last appointment, my doctor gave me the ok to do some jogging. So I intend to do just that. I am looking for a couple 5K races to run before it gets too hot. I did a little bit of a prenatal yoga DVD I had the last time around, but I am hoping to finally make it to a prenatal yoga class that is not too far from our house (so I really have no excuse).

I am hoping to write a little bit more about my pregnancy experience this time around. Looking back, I didn’t write as much about my experience as I thought I did… and it’s crazy how quickly you forget the little things, so I’m hoping to change that. There is also a good possibility that this could be the last pregnancy for us, so I want to soak it up. If pregnancy posts aren’t for you, feel free to skip those days. We are excited to start planning another nursery…this time a gender neutral nursery, even though I have no idea where to even start. The looks of the nursery right now gives me anxiety, so I just keep the door shut.

This turned into quite the post, but you are now caught up to speed on what’s been happening around here the last three months. Now that I’m feeling like a normal person again, I’m hoping to better keep up with the blog and start back on some house projects now that we have somewhat of a deadline coming up this fall!