non-maternity maternity clothing and 33 weeks!

With the ushering in of the cooler weather this week, I've had to make a bit of a wardrobe change... What I've conveniently discovered is that I have about four non-matertnity cardigans that actually fit my maternity body.  All of them were purchased in the last year or so, between having Henry and getting pregnant again.

So, should I a) be happy that I have stuff to wear in this weather, b) be unhappy that the type of clothes I was purchasing one year post baby were suitable for an 8.5 month pregnant belly, c) get over myself?

Clearly, C is the answer.  Admittedly, A would be a good response.  Not shockingly, B was my initial reaction.

Since I did not post a 28 week or a 32 week pic, I figured why not post a 33 week pic?  I literally took this 20 minutes ago, after having been up since 5:45am.  My laziness beat my vanity today, because what I want to do is blur out my face, but that would take too much effort. The truth is that this is probably how I look about 90% of the time (minus the un-brushed bedhead and tank top).  So be proud, I'm getting over myself - or at least pretending.

 

I did some comparing, and my belly definitely looks bigger this time around than last time.  I don't have a good, post-able picture for comparison, but during the last pregnancy, I looked about that pregnant when I was 36 weeks, so that is lovely.  (In my defense, I'm pretty sure Henry was a lot lower, and this baby is hanging out up top.)  The good news is, assuming I don't gain more weight than I should over the next 7 weeks, I will end up weighing the exact same at the end of pregnancy #2 as I did pregnancy #1... even though I have worked out probably 1/2 as much or less.  The bad news is, after Henry was born, Matt lost a perma 10 pounds, and I will be passing him in that dept. shortly. (Something I was very happy did not happen last time.)

Happy Friday!

it's still hot

I never stop sweating.

I turned the AC down just two measly degrees lower than we normally keep it tonight, and Matt was seriously concerned that we were all going to freeze to death.  (Which, by the way, it was NOT that low.)  I then informed him that I sweat in my sleep every single night.  Have some mercy on the pregnant lady for crying out loud!  He's more concerned that our sweet child is going to be cold.

Back in July, when I told people that the baby was due in December, they'd say, "At least you don't have to be huge in the heat of the summer..."

It's officially mid-October, I am ALMOST 32 weeks into this pregnancy, and I am pretty sure the high has been in the 90s at least twice this week.  Am I glad it's not 112? Absolutely, but it's not exactly cool outside.

This also poses a problem for Halloween Costumes.  Most retailers probably assume that on October 31st it will be cold outside.  So if you do a quick search for toddler and baby costumes, 95% of them are "plush" or made of fleece, or of some material that would make a Texas toddler sweat like a maniac... which Henry does anyway when he's wearing cotton.

So, get excited, I MIGHT ACTUALLY MAKE HENRY'S HALLOWEEN COSTUME.  And, for once, I have successfully decided what he is going to be.  Until about 10 minutes ago, I had not decided.  I suppose this is the week for decision making.  Maybe a name for #2 will also be decided upon before the week's end... but let's not get ahead of ourselves.

You might be wondering why in the world I am up at 2 AM.  This is where confession comes in.  After my post about stopping caffeine, I fell off the wagon (is that the correct terminology), and made a very poor decision to get a cup of coffee at 4:30 PM today.  So, even though I am exhausted, I am awake.  I'm about to crash though, so I gotta get outta here. Peace.

gastrointestinal issues

Since I know you're all dying to know about my GI.

No but really, let me start by saying this.  When my stomach growls, it's all on the left side of my abdomen.  I've concluded that the baby is on the right side, and my stomach has somehow been pushed to the left side of my belly.  It is so weird.

Next. I've had some stomach issues this pregnancy.  In addition to the virus heard 'round the world, my stomach has not been able to handle anything too fatty or greasy.  When we were at the beach in August, I woke up in a cold sweat (actually it was more like a hot sweat) with a yucky stomach "bug" that was probably just my body's way of telling me that fried shrimp wasn't the best choice for dinner.  Sunday night it happened again after eating some fatty, greasy, cheesy Italian Fare.  I've never had problems like this before; my body tends to embrace fatty goodness.  I guess I should be thankful that this has been a nice, easy way to regulate my diet.

I'll spare you the details, but I have also had some general digestion problems over the last two to three weeks, and after cutting 1- caffeine and 2- artificial sweetener out of my diet, the GI issues are all resolved!  I find that simply amazing, but that's probably because behind this cool cover up, I am a little bit of a science and anatomy nerd at heart.  I totally chose the wrong degree.

Oh, and you read that right, no coffee or diet coke in this diet anymore - for now.  (And let me defend myself by saying that my doctor approves of less than 300 mg of caffeine a day during pregnancy, or about two caffeinated beverages a day.  Sure, maybe I overdosed a handful of times, but mostly I was in the range. ;) )

TTYL, Alligator.

not to us, not to us...

"Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory,
    for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!"  Psalm 115:1

That is perhaps one of my most favorite verses in the entire Bible!  It's so easy to make our lives about being a certain type of person.  We long to be great and to do great things.

But there is nothing more freeing than losing my desire to be great and living to exalt the one God who actually is GREAT.  Only then, when we are nothing and Jesus is everything, will we ever be able to truly do anything "great."  And all glory will be His.

hiatus much?

I'm not going to lie, I've tried several times to post over the past week but to no avail.  It's difficult to decide just what to post after not posting for such a long time... though that's clearly not the only decision I've had difficulty making recently (see below).

I suppose I owe it to you all to explain what in the world I've been doing.

First, I took a girls' trip to L.A. with my two best friend's from high school.  

Here we are outside the Chinese Theater.

Santa Monica Pier

Villa Blanca in Beverly Hills - Owned by a "Real Housewife"

 We've been enjoying the last two days where we got to watch this stuff called "RAIN" fall out of the sky.  We felt like modern day Noahs.  Henry for sure felt like Noah, since we realized that he probably has not seen rain since he can consciously remember.  Needless to say, we were soo soo thankful that God gave us some real rainfall this weekend!

 

He was totally fascinated.

We have also been watching some college football (and by "we" I mean Matt). I was so excited for Henry to get to sport this shirt my cousin gave him for his birthday!

It says "genetically confused.  So cute, huh?

Today, we realized that we officially have TWO MONTHS till Baby #2 is due to enter the world.  I like the way Matt put it, "You only have two more months of this [pointing to belly, referring to pregnancy], then you get a break for awhile."  Ha ha.  Gee thanks.  With that said.  Here is a list of the things we have NOT been doing.

1. Choosing a name.
2. Decorating a room.
3. Nesting in any form or fashion.
4. Exercising.  (Matt has been, Leah has not.  Just thought I'd throw that in there.)

Although, I FINALLY think I decided on what to do with the rooms tonight, and so Matt will get to work on that next weekend.  After we made our game plan, I sternly told him, "DO NOT LET ME CHANGE MY MIND."

You see, I have suffered from a complete inability to make up my mind regarding almost everything during this pregnancy.  It's not unlikely that we will be taking our name list (which currently has about 5 or 6 names) to the hospital.

More posts to come soon.  Love!