Baby #2 :: Nineteen Weeks

Size of baby: An heirloom tomato according to Baby Center (makes me anxious for our awesome vegetable garden) and a mango if you ask The Bump - about 6 in and 8.5 oz.

Cravings/Aversions: Still with the sweet tooth! I'm trying to not let it get too out of control as that is NOT the way I want to gain weight!

What I love: Feeling more and more little movements, even if they're not very consistent.

What I'm looking forward to the most: Bryan's parents, grandparents and one of his sisters are all coming into town on Friday night. We're going out to dinner to celebrate the end of Bryan's grad school program!! We're going to Maxie's and I absolutely can't wait. Love that place and it'll be so nice to see family. We also have my work's winter party this weekend, which will be held at the Milwaukee Athletic Club - yay for a nice night out!

Worries: Nothing this week!

What is different this time around: My feelings toward actually having a baby have changed greatly. That sounds kind of odd and not very nice so let me explain. The first time around I was so nervous and anxious to actually bring a baby home. I absolutely loved being pregnant and sometimes thought I'd rather stay pregnant than deal with the nervous breakdown that would come with a real, live baby. The nervous breakdown came as we were packing up and getting ready to leave the hospital, but we have obviously survived! This time around I just want the baby to get here already! I want to fast forward 6 months and have all of our house and baby to-do lists completed. This weekend Noelle and I even went through her box of newborn and 0-3 month sized items to get a feel for what we still need. Nesting is already kicking in!

Symptoms: Heartburn is starting to weasel it's way in more and more these days. This is exactly the time it came up last pregnancy. I remember wondering what was going on as I had never had heartburn before!

Sleep: Getting better, but still not great. Recently it's been more due to an achy body than Noelle, the dog or insomnia. I think I'll be bringing up my awesome pregnancy pillow soon. Seriously, that thing was so amazing last time!

Boy or Girl: Starting to waver on this a bit - just don't have any strong feelings these days.

The belly: I feel like its huge already! My belly button doesn't look it can hold out much longer! Still fitting into flowier non-maternity shirts, but those are getting smaller by the day.

Movement: Getting stronger and more frequent.

Milestones: The baby's arms and legs are more in proportion with the rest of the body and baby has more control over these limbs. Sensory development is also exploding. The vernix caseosa is covering baby's body and hair may be starting to sprout on the head. If this baby is anything like Noelle he/she will have a very full head of hair at birth!

Best moment of the week: Bryan finishing his grad school program on January 29th!!! It hasn't been the smoothest of roads these last 2.5 years, but we made it through! I want to do a separate post in this, so I'll just leave it at that.

Weight gain/loss: Not sure where I am here as I don't usually weigh myself between appointments. Aside from completely switching to maternity jeans because of the belly, most of my clothes seem to fit the same. As of my last appointment at 16 weeks I was at minus one pound.

*I have to apologize for all of the typos in my posts recently. I typically post from my iPhone and autocorrect doesn't catch everything. I pride myself on having good grammar and spelling, but that just hasn't been the case lately! I promise to do a better job re-reading before I post.

Baby #2 :: Eighteen Weeks

Let's ignore the fact that I am currently 2 days shy of being 19 weeks. Pleaseandthankyou

Size of baby: A bell pepper according to Baby Center and a sweet potato if you ask The Bump - about 5 1/2 in and 7 oz.

Cravings/Aversions: I have such a crazy sweet tooth these days. Pretty sure I went through a container of butter pecan ice cream this week!

What I love: Feeling more and more little movements, even if they're not very consistent.

What I'm looking forward to the most: Bryan's last day of grad school! We are so close!!

Worries: I think I pulled a muscle in my lower abdomen early in the week. I was going back and forth about being worried about some discomfort I was having, but in the end I realized it was just a strained muscle. It went away over the weekend so I'm glad I didn't call the doctor or anything. Definitely would have done that as a first time preggo :o)

What is different this time around: We had our anatomy scan at this time with Noelle and we were also checking out daycares. We did this all in the same day - the scan, the follow up appointment, and 3 daycare tours - it was very overwhelming! Still have to wait two more weeks for the scan and we might look at another daycare, but it's definitely a different feeling this time around.

Symptoms: Aside from being tired (and coming to the realization that that will never change), there really haven't been too many issues.

Sleep: As I mentioned before and alluded to above, I am definitely struggling in this area. Between the dog making noise overnight and Noelle all of a sudden having to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, almost every night lately, I've been struggling to sleep through the night. We are trying to teach Noelle that it's ok for her to get up on her own, go to the bathroom, and them go back to bed. But even if she does this, I'm such a light sleeper and the bathroom is right next to our room that I know I'd wake up anyway.

Boy or Girl: Starting to waver on this a bit - just don't have any strong feelings these days.

The belly: I feel like its huge already! My belly button doesn't look it can hold out much longer!

Movement: Getting stronger and more frequent.

Milestones: The reproductive organs are formed and in place. Baby is yawning, hiccuping, sucking and swallowing.

Best moment of the week: It was a fairly quiet week so I will say that spending more and more time with Bryan as school winds down has been wonderful!

Weight gain/loss: Not sure where I am here as I don't usually weight self between appointments. Aside from completely switching to maternity jeans because of the belly, most of my clothes seem to fit the same. As of my last appointment at 16 weeks I was at minus one pound.

Noelle's Life :: School Days (Part 2)

If you’re just tuning in, you’ll want to start here to read part one. Again, this a long one and I ramble a lot!

Obviously our next step was to figure out where Noelle would go to school. Ideally, we'd send her to the neighborhood public school and all would be hunky dory. Unfortunately, and I really don't want to get into the whole MPS debate, Milwaukee is not known for its great public school system. While I'm not completely against sending Noelle to a good public school, I'm just not completely on board either.

Even if I found a great school and was totally on board with MPS, it was out for a few reasons:

1. There are no Milwaukee Public Schools anywhere near my house. It’s actually kind of strange, but the closest public elementary school is about 5 miles from my house (not that far, I know) and it’s one of the better MPS schools so they have a crazy waiting list. After that, the closest one is…well, I can’t even think of the next closest school. Now, I’m sure this isn’t a big deal to some people, but I think it’s important to go to a school close to home if you can. I grew up two blocks from my high school, and my elementary school was across the street from the high school. I think it provides a good sense of community and I’d like that for my children as well.

2. My reasoning mentioned above. The majority of MPS schools are not great. And I know that if more than 2 people read my blog I would stand a good chance of getting blasted for my opinion. But my brother and sister went to a "good" MPS school for a portion of elementary school, and having been in both public and private environments, they will tell you that at the MPS school they learned 10% of what they learned at the private school.

3. Regardless of the above reasons, MPS schools do not start until 4K, which brings us back to our original problem of keeping Noelle out of school for too long.

I know that there are so many different factors to what makes a school good or bad, but for us there just isn't a public school near us that fits the bill of what we're looking for. I also know that not all MPS schools are "bad" and if we lived in a different area or city, we would definitely look at public schools.

If we ever moved outside of the city limits, we would go to Wauwatosa (and we do hope ti be able to do this in the next couple of years) It's still in the middle of the city and gives us everything we're looking for: proximity to the city, diverse neighborhoods, non-cookie cutter houses and actual neighborhoods, not subdivisions. Another appeal to Tosa is the school system. While it’s not perfect, the public school system in Tosa is one of the best in the metro area. Something to note is that all communities in the metro area have open enrollment during which students in neighboring cities can apply for eligibility to attend schools in those other communities. So why not go the open enrollment route in Tosa public schools and save ourselves some moolah? Due to the schools’ reputations and the number of school-aged children living in the district, open enrollment is pretty much a joke. Out of the hundreds (thousands?) of open enrollment application the district receives, only 7% of open enrollment students are admitted.

But again, even if we wanted to take our chances with open enrollment, we’d still have to wait for 4K enrollment. So we’re back to our original predicament – are ya sensing a theme here??

So! That was a whole lotta talk to let you know we’ve decided to go the private school route, for now. This was a pretty easy decision for me as I went to private Catholic schools for 4K through high school. I greatly appreciate the educational environment I was raised in and I can’t thank my parents enough for the sacrifices they made to make this a possibility. I hope I don't come across as a snob in this post, with the public vs. private thing. My family is as blue collar as they come and I grew up with not a lot of money. But as I said in part one, education was a priority for my parents and that has definitely become a priority of mine. Bryan took a little more convincing though. He grew up in a public school system, but one in a city that had decent schools. It took a while to convince him that it was a different ball game in this city, but in the end he realized MPS wasn't what he wanted for Noelle either.

Now, while we decided on a Catholic private school, we also looked heavily into Montessori schools. We did a lot of research and talked to a lot of Montessori teachers who were friends of friends. In the end though, we realized that style of teaching just isn’t for us. Not to mention the tuition for non-public Montessori schools is in.sane. The public Montessori schools are pretty far away from our house and have long waiting lists anyway.

We have a couple different options for schools in our area and based on recommendations from friends and other parents, we focused in on one school in the heart of “downtown” Wauwatosa.

Bryan and I took a tour a couple of weeks ago because we thought we’d be enrolling Noelle in the near future. We absolutely loved the staff and the school! It just felt like the right place for our family.

Truthfully, the 3K program is similar to what Noelle has at daycare now, but it just feels like more of a step up. They have set times for different subjects and they even go to other classrooms for Art, Phy Ed and Library.

We found out that birth date doesn't make a difference for "second semester" and we briefly thought about enrolling Noelle in the school right away to help save some money. Unfortunately it ended up not working out because they only had openings in the PM session, which just so happened to be Noelle's exact nap time. Noelle still takes and NEEDS a nap everyday and it wouldn't be fair to anyone involved to try to make her sit through school when she's used to sleeping. I know that she would probably get used to it, but we just weren't comfortable pushing something on her like that before she was ready.

Also, even though she could enroll in 3K now regardless of her birth date, she would still have to be 4 on or before September 1 to move on to 4K. Since she wouldn't be, she'd have to go through 3K again. This made these last few months of the school year seem kind of pointless to us.

She'll also have a friend in class with her (assuming they go to the same session). A friend of Bryan's from his MBA program sends her son to the school and her younger son will also start 3K in the fall. Hopefully we can set up some play dates so they can remember each other come fall!

So the end result is that she will start in the AM session of 3K this fall. We don't know if this will be her only elementary school - if we do move to Tosa we would more than likely enroll her in the public schools - but I think it's the perfect place for her right now. I'm very excited to watch her thrive in a new environment and as hard as it is to see your first born grow up so quickly, I know she's ready!

Whew! I congratulate you if you made it through that craziness! It's definitely been a process for us and I really hope going through it makes things easier for future situations. Obviously everyone's situation is unique and you have to make the right decision for your child and family, but if any of my random thoughts can help out another mom or dad, then I'm glad I put it out there.

Noelle's Life :: School Days

Can I just start this post out with a big sigh?? I can’t believe we’re already talking about school for my baby!

This post took me such a long time to put together because my thoughts were all over the place and there are so many parts to the situation and our decision. So I hope this isn’t too convoluted and hard to follow! But it is going to be long…marathon long. So only read this if you really care about my feelings toward putting Noelle in school or you are in or will be in a similar situation.

Bryan and I have been talking about school for Noelle for about 6 months now. The main reason for this is not because we’re eager to force her to her next age-related transition, but we have needed to keep in mind the fact that her birthday is 8 days past the state-mandated cutoff date for enrollment. EIGHT DAYS!! This is so frustrating but I know that we are, by far, not the only parents who have to deal with this.

When we first started talking about school, we automatically thought about starting her in 4K. But because of her September 9 birthday, we would have to wait until she is almost 5 to get her started. Online research will give you a hundred pros and cons for both sides of holding a child back because of age – also called redshirting (taken from the college sports concept of the same idea) - but it wasn’t something that we were interested in doing.

Now I am sure there are parents out there who see zero issue with holding a child out of school. And I'm sure there are parents out there who think 4 is even too young to start school. And I absolutely think that it depends on the child and the parents. Bryan and I truly think Noelle is ready for this. Which is why we decided to look into 3K programs.

Honestly, another (huge) factor in our decision has also been financial. Noelle’s daycare is not cheap. Like, more expensive than college…yeah, that kind of not cheap. And yes, there are other daycares we could go to and other places that money could go – to vacations, to a savings account, to a new house or new car fund – but Bryan and I were both taught from a very early age that education is the most important thing and we are not hurting financially in any other area, so it's very important for us to give her this awesome starting place.

We are also madly in love with our daycare center. Everything about it is perfect for us – the teachers, the other staff, the care, the educational components, the location – I will cry when Noelle leaves daycare for school.

Seriously, we have had very short conversations about the possibility of sending the baby to a different daycare to help cut costs and my stomach just twists into knots even thinking about it. I would feel like I was breaking up with the world’s most awesome boyfriend. I know it makes me sound like a crazy person, but shouldn’t every working mother feel that way about the place her child(ren) spend the majority of their time during the week? Absolutely.

Now even if finances weren’t a part of the conversation, I would truly think that Noelle is ready for this transition. She has been in the preschool room/program at her daycare since shortly before she turned 3 so I feel as if she’s already in “school” and not just daycare. In fact, that’s what we call it at home now. We don’t usually refer to it as daycare because it’s so much more than that. And honestly, if she stayed at daycare another school year, she would mostly be going through the same lessons she learned this year. The preschool room is for ages 3-5, so she wouldn’t be learning a ton of new things. And while it might be positive for some kids to do that, I’m pretty sure Noelle would just get bored and would flourish in a new, more challenging environment. I 100% believe she is ready for this next step.

How does Noelle feel about this? Well, as any mother of a toddler or preschooler knows, what they say is one thing and what actually happens can most definitely be another. But we have explained what it will mean to go to a “big girl school.” She knows that it means leaving her current school and that her friends won’t be at the new school. [Although she does have some older friends who have already left the center and are attending the same school she will go to, they will just be in a different class.] We have talked about it quite a bit to judge her reaction on different days and she is always excited to talk about it. Her best friend at school is Chase and we asked her how she felt about leaving him and these were her exact words, “Chase will miss me a lot, but I’ll come visit to give him hugs and make him feel better.” She was more worried about how he would feel about it than her own feelings!

As I mentioned before, I know the actuality of the situation will be a bit different than our conversations now, but I really don’t think we are in for a big challenge on this one. Knock on wood, oh my gosh am I knocking on wood right now!

How do I/we feel about this? Honestly, this is one of the easier decisions I’ve had to make in relation to raising a child. I am the mother of all worriers and anxiety is my middle name. But there is just something about this transition that just feels right. I am so excited for the road ahead of Noelle and I truly can’t wait to watch her transform from preschooler to elementary schooler and beyond (although, admittedly, that part of it is not something I like to think about!).

Ok, I think I’ll cut it off here…this is just getting ridiculously long. I’ll be back with part two which involves figuring out where Noelle would go to school and all the fun that comes along with that!

Baby #2 :: Seventeen Weeks

Size of baby: A turnip according to Baby Center and an onion if you ask The Bump. Baby weighs around 5 oz and is around 5 inches long from head to bottom.

Cravings/Aversions: Oh my gosh, I have been obsessed with Ramen noodles/soup this week. At first I thought maybe I was craving the salt, but there’s something about the noodles themselves that I just love. I got one of those awful-for-you instant Ramen lunches yesterday and it was so delicious. I think I’ll have to stop at the store on the way home and get some regular packs!


What I love: I can’t tell if this one is what I love or what I hate. This pregnancy is going by so.fast. I knew it would go by pretty quickly because a lot of my focus is on Noelle, but I really had no idea it would go by this quickly. When I was pregnant with Noelle I wanted time to stop and I was so anxious about having an actual baby to take care of that I would freak out if the weeks were going by too quickly. This time though, I’m so excited to have another baby at home that I’m not even thinking about the stressful stuff and I just can’t wait!


What I'm looking forward to the most: Anatomy scan on February 8 and a friends mini-vacation to the Dells that same weekend! And ohmygosh, howcouldiforget – Bryan is done with his MBA program at the end of the month. No more grad school! I can’t wait to have my husband back :o)


Worries: Still a little worried about the weight gain, but I’m mostly over it. I haven’t even gotten on the scale since my doctor’s appointment so I don’t really know where I am. Things are still fitting the same – with the exception of my belleh – so I’m just not going to worry about it until my doctor tells me to worry about it.


What is different this time around: As I mentioned before, the speed with which we are going from week to week!

Symptoms: The morning nausea has dissipated, but the insomnia has not. I haven’t any heartburn since last week either. Ugh, the insomnia. It takes me about 0.2 seconds to fall asleep at night, but it’s guaranteed that I will wake up at some point during the night and there is just no telling Pretty much the same as last week - nausea in the morning and being so tired due to this semi-insomnia I've got going on. Heartburn has also reared its ugly head a few weeks earlier than last time.

Sleep: Pretty rough this week, especially with the nasty head cold I’ve been dealing with since Sunday.


Boy or Girl: Still feeling boy lately.


The belly: Definitely there! Loving my maternity jeans! I also found some belly bands in my dresser so that has expanded my pants wardrobe a bit. I only wear them when everything else is in the laundry because I actually really hate them. They’re comfortable, but there’s a weird line that shows through most shirts and the always ride up in the back. Also? I don't think my belly button can hold out much longer! I have a pretty shallow one to begin with and at the end if the day it is so close to being flat!


Movement: Haven’t been feeling much movement lately. I was feeling the (very) occasional thump starting at 14 weeks, but I haven’t noticed much in the last week or so. At this point with Noelle I was feeling fairly regular flutters. I remember I was exactly 16 weeks with her when I first felt them. Oh! Of course - I just got a little thump right now :o)


Milestones: The baby’s skeleton is changing from soft cartilage to bone and the umbilical cord is growing stronger and thicker. Both the fingers and toes are developing fingerprints [I didn’t know your toes had prints!] and sweat glands are developing.

Best moment of the week: Sounds kind of silly, but I got to spend an entire day with Noelle when she had to stay home from school because of a fever and bad cold. The cold hadn’t gotten me yet, so I was able to get a bunch of stuff done around the house and spend some good cuddle time with my beautiful girl!

Amusing comments from the public: Oh boy, have these started already? On a day when I was feeling particularly large in the belly area a woman told me that I didn’t even look pregnant. I took a little offense to that because 1. I don’t have this belly all the time thankyouverymuch! and 2. I am 17 weeks pregnant – I want to look pregnant!

Weight gain/loss: Haven’t been on the scale since my appointment at 16 weeks so I’ll just stay with a total of minus 2. This includes weight lost during the first trimester and then some gained back after I started feeling better and then some lost for who knows what reason in the last month.

Baby #2 :: Sixteen Weeks

Size of baby: An avocado according to Baby Center and The Bump.

Cravings/Aversions: Avocado? yes please! Not too much going on in this area this week. Nothing really stands out to me.

What I love: There's just something about the number 16 that makes me feel so far along! Noelle is still so excited. At daycare the other day they did an art project and when Noelle was finished with hers, she asked her teacher if she could make another one for the baby! She will be such a sweet big sister.

What I'm looking forward to the most: Exactly four weeks until our anatomy scan. I can't believe it's already that time!

Worries: Nothing for the week until my doctor's appointment Thursday. My thyroid levels were a little but high on my last blood test and I lost a pound since my last appointment. My doctor didn't seem too worried and when they retested my blood, my levels were back to normal. Still, I thought it was a little odd that with all of the holiday eating that took place since my last appointment that I lost a pound. Aside from chasing Noelle around, there's not a whole lot going on on the exercise front. Even though my doctor made absolutely zero deal out if it, I know it's odd for my body to not gain weight when I'm doing little to stop it. Especially when my belly is getting bigger every week. Shouldn't that account for some gain? I guess it's just tied to me being a natural worrier and hoping the baby is healthy. We'll see how things look next month.

What is different this time around: Nothing new here either. Still dealing with morning nausea a lot longer than I did with Noelle. Also, the speed with which this pregnancy is just absolutely flying by! I knew it would be crazy with Noelle keeping me busy and the holidays, but I feel like we just found out last month!

Symptoms: Pretty much the same as last week - nausea in the morning and being so tired due to this semi-insomnia I've got going on. Heartburn has also reared its ugly head a few weeks earlier than last time.

Sleep: Pretty rough this week, but I've been making a concerted effort at getting bed early during the week.

Boy or Girl: Still feeling boy lately because of the differences in pregnancies. Noelle still says girl! But again, even with the excitement if the looming anatomy scan, we still won't be finding out until birth day.

The belly: Definitely there! Felt especially big this week. Brought out the maternity jeans and it's wonderful! I can still fit into most of my regular jeans, but they get more and more uncomfortable as the day goes on.

Movement: Still feeling the very occasional thump.

Milestones: Measuring at about 4 1/2 inches long (head to rump) and 3 1/2 ounces. Baby's legs are much more developed, his or her head is more erect than it has been, and his or her eyes have moved closer to the front of the head. Your baby's ears are close to their final position, too. The patterning of his or her scalp has begun, though hair isn't recognizable yet. Your baby has even started growing toenails. Baby’s starting to be able to hear your voice -- and will recognize it at birth -- so feel free to chat her up.

Best moment of the week: Hearing the heartbeat! This was the first time I'd heard it as the doc or nurse couldn't find it at the last two appointments. At least that got us some ultrasound sneak peeks!

Weight gain/loss: Well, after the appointment I'm at total of minus 2. Not exactly happy about that, and I'm looking at healthy options for packing in the calories.

Baby #2 :: Fifteen Weeks

Still playing catch up, but only by a few days!Fifteen weeks on January 3.

Sorry for the blurriness

Size of baby: An apple according to Baby Center and a naval orange according to The Bump.

Cravings/Aversions: Still not digging eggs or anything really salty. Dairy has also not been my friend lately, but that’s been more of digestion issue. Still in love with pickles and sweeter fruits. Craving red meat like a cave man, but I want nothing to do with chicken or turkey.

What I love: Noelle’s reaction to everything so far. She is just so beyond excited about this baby it’s ridiculous. I’m glad she’s older and can truly understand what it means. She's seen a lot of moms at daycare and friends whose bellies have grown and grown so she understands that there is a baby in there and she gets that the baby will be born and will live with us! She is always giving the baby hugs and kisses and will call me back into her room at night if she forgot to give the baby a good night hug and kiss. Cue heart melting!

What I'm looking forward to the most: Feeling more consistent movement and even though this is so far in the future, I absolutely cannot wait to watch Noelle interact with her new little brother or sister.

Worries: Finances. Not that we’re in dire straits (or anywhere near it), but we’re just putting our budget under a microscope to figure out how we can have two kids and still live comfortably, while continuing to put money in the new house and new car funds. There has been a lot of talk about new school/daycare and there is a distinct possibility that Noelle will be leaving her daycare for a local school’s 3K program within the next month. This gives me such anxiety that I can hardly handle it! Hopefully I can write up a post about all of our school/new daycare discussions soon.

What is different this time around: The second tri switch still hasn’t been flipped and I deal with a really strong gag reflex and nausea every morning.  Feeling the baby move earlier and two other symptoms I forgot to mention in the fourteen week post. My skin looked terrible during the first tri. With Noelle I had blemish-free skin my entire pregnancy. Things are starting to look better, but it was not fun. I have also been dealing with frequent headaches,something else that disappeared completely with Noelle.

Symptoms: Pretty much the same as last week - a very sensitive digestion system, and being very tired due especially to continuing pregnancy insomnia.It was pretty bad one night this week and I tossed and turned like crazy.

Sleep: Again, aside from the insomnia, I’ve been getting plenty of sleep and even got a nap in over the weekend!

Boy or Girl: still feeling boy lately because of the differences in pregnancies. If you ask Noelle though, her reply as always been girl! If you ask her what she thinks if it ends up being a boy, she says, “No, it’s a baby sister.”  And if you ask her what she wants to name the baby, her answer is always "Elmo", which is funny because she's not that into Elmo anymore. This answer will likely fluctuate until birth day because after much back and forth we have decided not to find out again! It was so amazing last time that the reasons in the “findout” column just weren’t major enough. (I’ll probably leave these last two sentences in for most updates.)

The belly: Still there! Not much different than last week other than maybe looking a little rounder.

Movement: Still feeling the very occasional thump.

Milestones: Measuring about 4 inches and weighing about 2 1/2 oz. The baby is busy moving amniotic fluid through its nose and upper respiratory tract. Legs are growing longer than the arms and all those tiny joints and limbs are on the move! The baby can now sense light and little tiny adorable taste buds are forming.

Best moment of the week: Spending way too much looking all over Craigslist and different websites for some new baby gear. We won't need to much, but will definitely need a new carrier as the cheapie we had last time didn't last very long. This was fine as we only had one kid, but I know the second kid will spend LOTS of time in carrier (ohmygosh I really hope this baby likes the carrier!). I am absolutely sold on the Ergo and will be getting the performance one since it will be nicer in the summer.

Weight gain/loss: Repeat from last week - total of minus 1. I lost about 5 lbs during the first tri because I just had zero appetite. But, thanks to Thanksgiving, Christmas and a lot of treats and pot lucks at work, I’ve gained 4 of those back. For the most part I’ll just use this section as a tracker. As long as I’m eating smartly and the baby and I are healthy, I will ignore the number on the scale.

Baby #2 :: Fourteen Weeks

Playing catch up - was fourteen weeks on December 27.

 

We waited to make the announcement to the interwebs until a little before 14 weeks because we wanted to tell Bryan’s grandma and his extended family in person on Christmas Eve. We told my immediate and extended family and Bryan’s immediate family on Thanksgiving, so it was a long wait! This is the first update I wrote because I just wasn’t up to writing much before then.

Size of baby: A lemon according to both Baby Center and The Bump.

Cravings/Aversions:  A lemon sounds really good right now. I love anything sour these days. Pickles, lemon,vinegar-y foods – yummy!  Ever since I started feeling “the bad” symptoms – around 6 weeks – aversions have been a big thing. Eggs, salads and tomato-based sauces are just a few of the things that make me turn green. Sugary cereal is a plus for me and I remember this being a huge thing when I was pregnant with Noelle!

What I love: Making it to the second tri! Also, finally having a bump that doesn’t look like I just ate too many Christmas cookies, and telling anyone and everyone our good news!

What I'm looking forward to the most: Feeling more movement, of course! And despite what I’m about to type below, no longer wishing I had a Doppler to check the heartbeat obsessively!

Worries: Not too many right now. Although I am a world class worrier, I’m really making it a point with this pregnancy to give myself a break and focus on positive things.  

What's different this time around: Absolutely showing more this timearound. The morning nausea won’t go away and it’s super annoying because Iremember the second trimester being like a switch being flipped when it came tothose pesky first tri symptoms.

Symptoms: A suuuper sensitive digestion system, being very tired(although with a very active 3 year old, I don’t think this is so much apregnancy symptom alone as it is a life symptom), and something new this timearound – pregnancy insomnia! That comes and goes depending on the day andobviously doesn’t make things any easier for my already tired self.

Sleep: Aside from the insomnia, it isn’t too bad especially since I nolonger have to pee 4 times a night…for now. Thankfully Noelle is a champions leeper and a late one at that. On the weekends we all sleep until about7:30-8:00 if we don’t have anything going on. Keep it up Noelle!!

Boy or Girl: Been feeling boy lately because this pregnancy is justd ifferent enough to make me think that. HOWEVER, this answer will likely fluctuate until birth day because after much back and forth we have decided not to find out again! It was so amazing last time that the reasons in the “find out” column just weren’t major enough.

The belly: Definitely popped more over the last week or so. Feels really good to have this visual reminder that, yes, I am indeed having another baby!!

Movement: I think maybe I’ve been feeling a random thump here and there,which is 2 weeks earlier than when I first felt Noelle. It’s also a completely different feeling. With Noelle I described it as bubbles popping, but this time it’s definitely more of a “thump.”

Milestones: Baby can now squint, frown, grimace, pee and possibly suck his or her thumb! Baby is also stretching out and measure about 3 1/2 inches and weighs about 1 1/2 oz. Lanugo is starting to grow and will keep baby nice and warm for the rest of the pregnancy.
Best moment of the week: Realizing those little thumps I'd been feeling very occasionally was the baby!
 

Weight gain/loss: Total of minus 1. I lost about 5 lbs during the first trimester. As long as I’m eating smartly and the baby and I are healthy, I will ignore the number on the scale.