Great Expectations II: 15 weeks

How Far:
15 weeks

Weight/ Clothes: Still in all my normal clothes except one pair of my jeans are in need of a bellyband in order to wear them comfortably. They're my oldest skinny jeans and sit a little higher on my hips than my more recently purchased jeans, which all sit just below my small bump. I can button and wear the rest comfortably still, which is so nice since my maternity jeans are probably the clothing item that got the most wear and I'm most tired of compared to my maternity tops and such. I didn't even wear a bellyband with Levi because I jumped right into comfy maternity pants whereas I'm in no rush this time around, so I'm loving the bellyband. It's a GREAT invention!

Cravings: Nothing special this week. Still loving Mexican and soup.

Gender: Name suggestions anyone? We have a few boy names we're pretty excited about, but again girl names are throwing us for a loop...why are they so much harder for us to find, agree on and fall in love with. And none of the names we had left over from our pregnancy with Levi are even in the mix this time around. Isn't it funny how that happens? PLEASE COMMENT WITH NAME IDEAS!

Movement: Still feeling the occasional bubbles...could it be movement...still seems too soon to me...but perhaps.

Symptoms: Guess what's already back...MY EYE TWITCH!! Ahhh not this soon...but low and behold there it is every now and then with one eye or the other. Thankfully it's more a pain than anything else.

I've also started having trouble falling asleep. It doesn't matter how tired I am, falling asleep is a challenge and this is NEVER a challenge for me. It's interesting to say the least and means I'm staying up way later than I should, which is making the mornings that much more challenging. Talking with a friend, she had the same issue when she was pregnant and we both agreed it had to be hormonal. Hopefully my body adjusts and things get better.

Mental State: Same as last week. Thinking a bit about a double stroller (we're going to get a City Select...I've been debating between red or black...Adam convinced me to go with the black).. and thinking about life with two in general. We even washed and put the infant car seat away after using it one final time in California. Now it's all set back to its smallest settings for the new baby since Levi has just now officially outgrown it according to its height requirements (He was just at the max height in Cali). Adam commented on how crazy it is how small Levi once was to fit in the seat with the straps at their smallest setting and how crazy it is that we'll soon have a new baby that's that tiny to fit in it all over again.

Appointment Updates: I had my ultrasound where they screen for Downs Syndrome. Everything was looking good thankfully. I have one more blood test to get in a couple weeks before we receive the results. This test is just a predictor with no guarantees but it's a nice chance to see the baby.

Best Moment of the Week: Seeing Jellybean squirming all around at the ultrasound. This baby is VERY active already maybe that's why I feel bubbles already, but I still think the baby is too small for me to really be feeling any sort of movement.

Great Expectations II: 14 weeks

How Far:
14 weeks

(Weeks 13 and 14 are kind of blended together since we were on vacation in California for part of it and then we got back and started taking bump pictures.)

Weight/ Clothes: Pretty much normal though this week I saw the first signs of a tiny bump...I am officially entering the "I look like I ate too many donuts" phase of pregnancy. I have to be wearing a really tight shirt for you to really be able to see a bump otherwise you would never know anything was going on.

Cravings: Man oh man did I have a craving for hot and sour soup! Luckily I got to eats LOTS of it at a great restaurant in Chinatown while we were in LA.

Gender: Won't have news until after Easter...we shall see...EVERY guess so far is that I'm having a girl. It's so fun to hear what people are basing their predictions on since it can't really be based on the manner in which I'm showing yet. We'll see!

Movement: Occasionally I feel bubbles but I feel like it's too soon to be feeling the baby.

Symptoms: At times I can be very sensitive to smell this go round. I also had some sciatic nerve pain while we were in LA. I literally couldn't walk at one point, but after getting some rest it calmed down. Thank goodness cause not being able to walk comfortably is THE WORST!

Mental State: Not much to report this week...Levi has thankfully been sleeping well which has really helped my brain fog...we had a short disruption this week when he had a major molar teething spell...but that too has passed thankfully, so I'm feeling good mentally.

Appointment Updates: We had a second appointment with the OB this time. My normal OB is out on maternity leave herself, so I saw a new guy to the practice. He was very jovial and even let Levi sit on my lap (more like hips) while he did a quick ultrasound on my belly. With finding out later this time I haven't had to have any internal ultrasounds, which has been pretty nice. This is the first picture we have in print, so I was able to use it to send out some messages to friends and family with the good news! Then we made our news Facebook official, which was pretty exciting.

Best Moment of the Week: We had a couple for this installment...Visiting the San Diego zoo with Levi, Adam and my parents! Such GREAT memories! AND....

Getting over 300 likes on our Facebook announcement and 85 comments on our announcement photo and over 200 likes and 54 comments on the photo of our parents finding out the news. Isn't social media fun! Thanks everyone for all your love and support.

Great Expectations II: The First Trimester

12 weeks along

How Far Along: 12 weeks

(The bump photo series didn't fully get started until week 14, next post...in the meantime enjoy this eclectic compilation of photos that were taken while I was pregnant but for many of which I didn't know it yet. So fun!)

So we found out quite a bit further along that we were expecting this time (probably around 8 or 9 weeks along..so bump pictures started a little later). I conceived sometime in December before the holidays but didn't find out until a couple weeks into January that we were indeed preggo for the second time when I started having symptoms and realized that I had yet to get my period. It was quite exciting since I didn't have any spotting this time around! I'll write a separate post about finding out and telling Dad we were pregnant again. 

Very early on...and Christmas Eve

Weight/ Clothes: I'm happily in my everyday wardrobe even at 12 weeks, which is nice since I continued to wear my maternity clothes a number of months postpartum rather than purchasing in between sizes of things. I have actually lost a couple pounds starting out this pregnancy because I haven't been feeling good. Lots of nausea this time around, so the good news is I made it back to my pre-pregnancy weight which I had been holding onto 3 or 4 pounds with nursing still and such, but those pounds are no longer. I don't feel like I'm seeing changes to my body as early on this time around either probably because my stomach isn't as tight as it was prior to my pregnancy with Levi...wonder why;) haha.

Joined the club!

Cravings: I'm all about some Mexican cuisine this time around. If it's tacos, enchiladas, chili or Chipotle I'm all about it. Thankfully I've been making most of this food myself so I can watch what goes into the food and be healthier with it than if I was eating it out all the time.  Thankfully chicken chili and turkey tacos aren't foods I have to worry too much about packing on the pounds.

In VA for a shower and gender reveal.

Gender: We plan to find out again, but we're going to do something fun just the two or three of us this go round. We'll have that ultrasound soon after Easter...so still a ways away. I am so curious this time around because I feel like there have been some major differences in this pregnancy, which could mean it might be a girl or another boy just affecting me completely differently. We'll see.

Movement: Too early for such things...but I know what to be on the look out for.

Found out this week in VA!

Symptoms: I've actually thrown up a hand full of times this go round and not because I made the mistake of taking my vitamins on an empty stomach like last time. I've also been nauseous ALL THE TIME for a few weeks. This nausea and fatigue is what made me first wonder if I could in fact be pregnant.

I have to eat fairly regularly to keep the nausea at bay and in the morning only a high protein source like eggs will keep me full enough to stave off the sickness. I've also been keeping almonds handy AT ALL TIMES because they help in a pinch if I've waited to long to eat. I even had to eat a few almonds in the middle of the night one night because I couldn't get back to sleep on an empty stomach...WEIRD!

Levi's first birthday party

Mental State: Had a funny pregnancy brain moment at the youth group pancake breakfast where I had black coffee in one cup and syrup in another and I poured coffee on my pancakes before realizing I'd picked the wrong cup. Oops and at that point people weren't in the know about my pregnancy, so I just looked REALLY silly.

We told all the grandparents, Tati and Chris this weekend.

Appointment Updates: We had our first office appointment with the midwife (Adam, Levi and I) and because I found out a bit later this time around, I didn't get into the office until about 10 weeks along, so there wasn't any anxiety involved because there was a beautifully strong heartbeat from the get go. We even got to take a peak at the baby on the ultrasound. Everything looked good and I didn't have many questions having just been down this road a year ago. After this appointment we decided it was safe to start sharing our news with extended family and friends, but we'd hold off until the second trimester to share our news more broadly...facebook...but it has been really fun finding creative or in the moment ways to tell friends and family we're expecting #2.

Fun bump series coming soon!

Best Moment of the Week: Best moments of the first trimester have been telling Adam, telling the grandparents, choosing the nickname Jellybean, and hearing/seeing Jellybean's heartbeat for the first time. I'll probably write a few posts about each of those fun moments in the days to come.