Bumpdate: 22 Weeks

Due Date: July 2, 2011. 18 weeks to go!

Weight Gain: 15 lbs

Symptoms: Regular pregnancy symptoms remain very mild, but pregnancy + a cold has meant for a very symptomatic week in general. Husband and I got sick at the same time early last week, but he is better while I'm still completely stuffed up (thank you pregnancy rhinitis). Nausea has also returned and I found myself puking my lunch on Saturday with enough force to get what my friend Lindsey calls puke freckles (those little broken blood vessels on your eyelids). Ick. I feel a teeny bit better today and can almost breathe through my nose, but I am SO READY for this cold to git gone.

What's different this time: I continue to feel not as aware of this pregnancy. Probably because I'm not all caught up with setting up the nursery, researching cloth diapers, figuring out a registry, or thinking about an upcoming shower.  I had fun with all the fanfare around my first pregnancy, but I'm OK to not have it this time. However, I have to keep reminding myself that there are a few baby-related things to do/buy! Poor Baby 2.0 will be wearing a lot of pink otherwise.

Cravings/Aversions: Still weirdly wanting candy like cinnamon bears and licorice. I'm cutting myself off - don't need the artificial dyes. (Nevermind my nearly daily diet coke consumption. LALALALALA!) As far as aversions, I'm surprised at how I'm still very, very bothered by certain smells that caused gagging/vomiting during the pukey first trimester. Specifically, the smell of Mrs. Meyers Basil-scented dish soap and homemade chicken enchiladas are still nauseating enough to make me leave the room and maybe give a half-hearted dry heave or two.

Sleep: Pretty bad this week, but that was cold-related and at least not toddler or pregnancy related!

I am loving: Getting settled back at home after our too-long trip.

I miss: Breathing. Going outside.

I am looking forward to: Meeting baby Vivian & seeing my sister, bro-in-law and CT friends next weekend.

I'm spazzing about: Leaving Bella for the weekend. Oh, she was be just fine with her daddy and they'll have a great (though no doubt exhausting) time, but it's still hard for me to leave her for a full 48 hours.

Best moment this week: When Husband was so excited about the chance to take a trip to NYC in June as his workplace won a big award. It really took him a while to figure out why I wasn't so enthusiastic about a June trip. Haha. I guess when you aren't carrying the baby, it's hard to remember those little details like cross-country trips at 9 months pregnant are generally frowned upon.

Milestones: Husband felt the baby move and this has sparked a lot more interaction between him and Baby 2.0. Lots of talking through the belly & singing to him.

Movement:Yes and often. I think this baby might be more active in utero than Bella was.

It's a...: Boy! Still shocked by that - I suspect I might remain a teensy bit shocked until he gets here and I meet him.

Exercise: Nada, too sick. I think we are going to do a family fun run that's a whopping 2K on April 30. Bella loves running, especially after other kids and I will be able to walk/run the whole thing. But then again, at 30 weeks I might not want to run a single step.

Diet: Broken record here, but I would like to really re-train myself to live without dessert in large-ish daily quantities. I need to treat myself & this growing baby with the same guidelines I put in place for Bella.

Exercise goal for the upcoming week: Workout 3 times and do a yoga class and simply get back to moving after this week o'sickness.

Belly Pic:

Like the slightly creepy looking little head in the corner? She announced "Bella stand here" when Husband was prepping the camera and that was that.

Letters to Bella: 21 Months

From here on out I'm going to share only the greatest hits in pictures and maybe videos from the past month rather than publicly sharing the full monthly letter to Bella. Those letters were getting a little awkward to share and besides - aren't they uber boring for everyone but the parent, anyway? (Also - at least one person thought I was lying about things and uh...yeah. Promise I would come up with way cooler things to lie about than what my child is up to. Things like having a past as a back-up dancer for Justin Timberlake or maybe that I'm actually best friends with Natalie Portman, but we totally don't make a big deal about it because she is so not Hollywood and we have so much fun talking about our pregnancies, and, well, we even planned to be K.U. at the same time! She's so fun, guys. Wish you could be as close to her as I am.)

I will share these tidbits- Bella continues to be fun, though tantrums are starting to happen.  The biggest thing from this past month is the need for independence and the chance to do things herself (in which lies much tantrum potential). Lots of "Bella do dis!" or "Baby do dat!" (BUT THIS COULD ALL BE LIES! YOU DON'T KNOW! Oh, gotta go anyway. Natalie's on the phone.)

Highlights from my girl's 20th month.

Stevie is getting less excited about Bella these days.

She is now into diapering her (scary-looking two-toned) doll that used to be my MIL's

Her "Uncle John" face. Her great uncle made this face once in November...it made quite the impression.

Bella singing her ABCs. I love how you can actively see her little brain working and then she gets so exhausted by the end.

Project Organization: Grocery List

I have continued to tackle organization projects left and right (this must be some symptom of pregnancy nesting) and I thought I would share this particular project with you as you might find it helpful for your own home.

I operate off a weekly meal planning system and have for a few years (meal planning post to come in the very near future). This means that I grocery shop weekly, too. Well, in theory I grocery shop weekly, but in reality I grocery shop a few times a week at different places. Once at Super Target for basics and some organic produce, once at the co-op for meats/dairy/bulk foods/the rest of the produce, and usually once at the expensive neighborhood grocery store for random ingredients or additional produce. Whew! This is probably overly complex compared to what most of you do, but it works for us as it keeps our grocery budget somewhat under control while still allowing me to be very particular about what products I purchase.

Here is the grocery list that you can download as a pdf (feel free to email me if you want the word doc). I presume it won't be useful to most of you in it's current state as it's super specific, but it might be a good guideline for creating your own.
Master Grocery List

The first page of the grocery is for Super Target and the second page is for the Co-op. I organize it by sections of the store. We keep the grocery list on a clip board hung next to the fridge. If we are running low or out of something then that item is circled or filled in on a blank line. Husband is now trained in on the system and this keeps him from ever being without his beloved PBJs on the weekend. I generally do not specify the brand names or if an item is organic as I am the only shopper, but I do have very specific brands for each item (i.e. only Muir Glen canned tomato products or Organic Valley milk - don't I sound like a fun person? Ha!). Should Husband ever take over grocery shopping the list would get a whole lot more detailed. I imagine this list will keep changing with time and changes in our consumption- already the Coke Zero & Cranberry Juice on the list is obsolete.

I also include my weekly meal plan at the top as a reminder and the Dirty Dozen/Clean 15 in small print at the bottom so that I can remember what produce I don't have to purchase organic.

I have found this system to be very streamlined and happy-making in my state of over-zealous organization.

Boom boom pow!

Thinking...

• That nursing multiple times each day on vacation last week was exactly the right move when trying to wean completely. Also? ZING-ZOW PAINFUL.
• About belly buttons. And how my linea negra puddled in the belly button region last time and then it just looked dirty for months after Bella was born and yet the dirt would not wash off no matter how hard I scrubbed and then one day it did and WOW that was gross. Will that happen again? This time I will surely take close-up pictures for you all to enjoy. (No. No I will not.)
• That my humidifier always sounds like it's digesting things. Full of random gurgle gurgles. Need a Tums, Humi?
• That I probably shouldn't have said something about Bella de-pansting me and yelling "Nakee bottom!" on Facebook today. There are ex-boyfriends on there. Ones who have seen my nakee bottom. No need to remind them.
• That it's really special the way Husband likes to face me and be near me when he blows his nose. (No. No it is not.)
• That this post is random enough for right now.

Buenos noches, amigos.

There's No Place Like Home

Remember how at the end of It's a Wonderful Life, Jimmy Stewart is just so dang happy to be back in his own life that he yelps with joy at everything, including those irritating thing that have bugged him for years? That old Savings & Loan building that kept him in Bedford Falls his whole life! That banister piece that always comes off! Zuzu's petals! (Can you tell I've seen that movie maybe more than once or twice in my lifetime?)

I felt like that arriving home last night. I was so happy to see the ugly snow, and the carpet that always looks dingy in my house, and especially the blind/cleft-palated cat who left snot sneezes all over the leather furniture. Hurray! I am happy to see these things because they mean WE ARE HOME. Finally. Sick with nasty colds, but sick with nasty colds at home.

It was a weird thing not being able to go home - a very helpless feeling, really. One I would be happy to avoid ever experiencing again. But loss of control at times is sort of a given in life, isn't it? Anyway, all's well that ends well and we actually got quite lucky and snagged two seats next to each other on a direct flight yesterday afternoon, which meant we arrived several hours earlier and spent far less time trying to corral Bella in our laps. And as a bonus there was some insane tail wind which shaved 40 minutes off the flight. I felt so fortunate for all that.

Here are the last pictures from San Diego. The weather really turned into normal California weather for those last days, which certainly helped us make the most of our extended (and holy moly expensive) vacation. We did get our time in the sun after all.

Am not crabby. Just never sure when Husband is going to take a picture.

Husband took this from the top floor of our hotel.

So that's it for the San Diego trip.  And now I'm going to take a nap in my own bed to try to make up for the bazillion lost hours of sleep last week and get this cold-thing to go away sooner.  My own bed! With my sneezy/shedding/claw-digging cats and sheets that probably need to be changed. Oh, it's just so wonderful.

Bumpdate: 21 Weeks

Due Date: July 2, 2011. 19 weeks to go!

Weight Gain: No idear.
 
Symptoms: Noticing more reflux at night, but otherwise smooth sailing.

What's different this time: Nothing comes to mind this week.

Cravings/Aversions: I have been wanting a lot of candy (licorice, hot tamales, gummy things) this week, which is unusual for me as I usually don't really care one way or the other about candy. Also been craving a lot of red meat and things like burgers, which I also typically ignore on menus.

Sleep: Terrible, but it was all toddler-on-vacay-and-sleeping-in-the-pack-n-play related and nothing to do with pregnancy.

I am loving:Bella's reaction to my belly. She will kiss it and pretended to feed it Fig Newtons last night. (I did not love the belly button full of crumbs quite as much!)

I miss: Home

I am looking forward to: Seeing my cats back in Minneapolis.

I'm spazzing about: The whole family coming down with a cold. Feel bad to hear my girl coughing in her sleep. I'm also still really dreading seeing the weight-nazi midwife and hearing ridiculous recommendations like "cut out all juice and beverages with calories and desserts." Debating changing the appointment just to avoid her...

Best moment this week:Seeing Bella run outside while yelling, "Happy!"

Milestones:Over halfway there and the belly button is getting more and more shallow.

Movement: Indeed.

It's a...: Boy.

Exercise: Some walking, but not what I had hoped given the rainy weather some days (it was too risky to stray too far from our hotel/car). I am thinking my attempts to run might be over, but maybe I'll be up for it this next week.

Diet:Pretty decent for vacation as I regularly was stopping by Whole Foods & co-ops for fresh fruit & yogurt, but the candy eating was a little high.

Exercise goal for the upcoming week: Workout 3-5 times.

Belly Pic: 

Fighting the February Doldrums: Week 3

Another week of things that I am grateful or amused by - this week was the California edition. Sadly, it seems that sunshine isn't the cure-all for my doldrums; it's a more complex mix of seasonal depression, pregnancy hormones, and now probably some sleep deprivation thrown in there. Bah. I'll keep vitamin D-ing & omega 3-ing and light therapy-ing and exercising until it disappears. 

February 15

LOCAL California produce in February!

February 16

Rain boots in all sizes.

February 17

Sunshine & no coat for the first time in a long time.

February 18

Red Velvet cupcakes - my favorite - for dessert.

February 19

Husband being done with his work week (thus giving me a break).

February 20

The healthy baby boy in mah belly. (Um, don't mind the double cardigan + scarf look.)

February 21

Warm enough to go swimming in the heated pool. And by warm I mean high 50s. Pretty sure there were no Southerners out at the pool with us!

San Diego Trip: Days 4.5-6,000,000 and counting

So! Guess what? We didn't go home when we were supposed to yesterday because all Delta flights to Minneapolis were canceled. And then today when we got to the airport? All flights canceled! There is a horrible blizzard happening in the Midwest and nothing can be done, but I'm kind of at the end of my rope here.

To be perfectly honest, this vacation has been really rough on me mostly due to Bella's out-of-control sleep issues. She is fine at home, but since arriving in California she has been getting only about 8-9 hours a night and that is generally broken up in two chunks (naps are still okay, thankfully). In the middle of the chunks of nighttime sleep is this dark and dreary 1-4 AM period of painful breastfeeding/letting her fuss/Husband laying with her/Husband and I having sleep-deprived arguments in hissy voices. Ay-yi-yi. And so I have been ready to go home since, well, Thursday. But! Here we are. And here we will stay. (Forever?)

There are some definite lemonade things in this lemon situation: the weather is finally sunny and warm enough to not wear the only sweater I brought for the nth day in a row, our hotel room - which we got on the cheap as we are considered "distressed" guests given the canceled flight situation - has a GORGEOUS view, and - hey - it's forced vacation, right? I keep trying to remind myself of perspective. Sometimes it works. And sometimes I'm the sleep-deprived pregnant lady tearing up at the Delta counter at the airport. But the important stuff is all just fine in my life, so this is nothing in the grand scheme. Perspective.

OK, so let's pick up where we left off. Bella ended up napping through the last of the sunny weather on Friday and it started to sprinkle as soon as we got to Coronado. I was hoping that the rain would go away, so I took us to the beach by the ferry landing for a few minutes but then it really started coming down.

Bummer, yo.

Cupcakes make everything better.

 The rest of Friday involved avoiding the rain by going to a cafe & the bookstore, picking up Husband from the convention center, and then putting Little Crabcakes to bed. After yet another terrible night of sleep, we were up and at 'em way too early on Saturday. My friend Heather went to San Diego/Coronado with her husband to celebrate her 30th birthday just the weekend before and she blogged about eating at Tartine for breakfast. I'd actually already spotted it as a place to check out before realizing that it was the same as the place she recommended. We had a nice French breakfast there while it drizzled outside.

We spent the rest of Saturday avoiding the rain showers and taking full advantage of the moments of sun.

Sun! For reals! HURRAY!

During some daddy-daughter time while I rested.

View of San Diego from Coronado. The hotel I'm in right now is on the left.

Saturday night was a lather-rinse-and-repeat of the previous nights and Husband and I decided to trade off on hanging out with Bella in the morning on Sunday to give each other a chance to catch up on sleep. Bella and I stopped by Starbucks and then walked around the beach near Hotel Del Coronado. After Bella took a long nap, we grabbed some lunch at a pizzeria and spent more time on both beach ends of the island. It was nice to be outside, but kind of chilly with the wind.

Awkward belly picture angle that I yelled at Husband about when I saw it.

Where's mah dune buggy?

Last night was another doozy, but this time I let Husband deal with the bulk of her wakefulness (thank you, Husband!). Besides - we were going home so it was the last day of this nonsense! We checked to make sure our flight was still on, returned the rental car, got to the airport and...HAHA. All flights just cancelled. We were given all sorts of terrible options for tomorrow - long layovers, weird times, multiple stops. We even looked into Home-Alone-type travel plans that would involve flying somewhere else and renting a car. Nothing good panned out so we finally settled on a 4:30 pm departure with one layover tomorrow (but it's all still iffy as there is now a backlog of stranded travelers). Did I even mention that I only agreed to this trip if we could do direct flights? Indeedy.

I am VERY VERY VERY thankful that we didn't try to get out of here yesterday as Husband's boss left San Diego at 6 AM, flew around/waited at airports and then was re-routed back to LA by 6 pm. 12 hours of traveling for nothing and he has to do it all over again today or tomorrow. Oh my god, what if we'd had that situation with Bella who has now been sleep deprived for days? I shudder to think of it.

Anyway, here's that view from our current hotel room that I told you about.

Quite fab, right? Worth the extra hundreds we are spending on hotels, food, the rental car, and the pet sitter? Erm, no, but such is life. In the end, we are all just fine and there are far, FAR worse things in the world then getting stuck in a sunny and beautiful place.

Here's hoping that there will only be one more day of San Diego pictures! My cats need me!

San Diego: Days 3-4.5

We woke Thursday morning to a much more promising day weather-wise and after dropping off Husband at the Convention Center around 8 AM, Bella and I went in search of fun.

But before I go further, I feel compelled to mention that we had been up since 4 AM because OH MY GOOD GOLLY MISS MOLLY Bella does not sleep in. Not ever. Her record at home is something like 6:30 AM. We put her to bed at 8 PM on Wednesday night thinking surely she would not pop awake at her usual early-bird time. And yet, at 4 AM (which made it 6 AM Central) she was up and no amount of letting her fuss or nurse did the trick. So! Yes. 4 AM. An improvement over the previous day's 2:30 AM wake-up, but still. The world would have been very bleak indeed without the Starbucks that opened at 6 AM two hotels down. Today I gave up on trying to force California-time on her and I put her down for her nap at 9:45 AM...after all, we'd already been up almost 6 hours. (Again! Starbucks, I thank thee.)

Ok, so where was I? Bella and I dropped Husband at the convention center and we decided to run around the park along the waterfront there. I actually spent a little time here myself when I had a conference in San Diego during my working days ('06-ish, I think), but it was way more fun with my sidekick.

It's always awkward to harass birds on your own, but it feels much more acceptable as a group activity.

After a half hour of bird chasing, we left for the San Diego Zoo in order to be there right when it opened. I had looked online ahead of time and knew you could leave and come back, so I planned to split our visit up in order to get a nap in. That worked out quite well and I'm glad I didn't try to force a 5 hour visit on us.

The actual zoo was...well...I hate saying this as it seems like an asshole thing to say, but I wasn't terribly impressed by the San Diego Zoo. Maybe because I've heard such great things about it my whole life and then it was talked up too much? I dunno. It was OK, but not the best! zoo! ever!

Bella's reaction to the size of giraffe poop.

Bella's favorite thing at the zoo was the release of several colorful macaw birds. We happened to catch this twice yesterday and she keeps talking about it. "Birdies!" "Noisy!" "Open gate!" "Fly away!"

The Macaws in flight

The rest of the day was nothing special - we picked up Husband, went back to the hotel and then got dinner (Chipotle & Pei Wei - we are really taking in San Diego culture here) and were sleeping by 9 PM.

Husband had this morning off from work and we took advantage of the not-yet-raining weather to go see the sea lions at La Jolla. We walked along the sea wall and there they all were laying on the little beach.

I had a mixed reaction to this experience. There were several people down on the actual beach with the sea lions taking pictures so we went down there too. Being the rule-follower that I am I read the sign and it said not to get too close to the animals, but that this little beach was shared between the seals & humans. In fact, it's called Children's Beach as it's a place where kids can swim. At some point a man approached us and very kindly explained that people standing on the beach prevents the mama sea lions from bringing their pups onto the beach and it's essential the animals are able to do that as they nurse outside the water. Pups have not surivived because of this problem and there was concern for these newborn pups. I felt - and still feel - horrible about this. Obviously we didn't know and the city should really block off the beach to keep people along the sea wall only. Once we went back up to the sea wall a mama came onto the beach with her pup very soon after, but the pup just lay next to her and didn't start nursing. Ugh. Anyway. Trying not to dwell on it, but as a pregnant/nursing mama the whole situation left me feeling icky.

After contributing to the demise of the world seeing the sea lions, we got some breakfast at a quaint little restaurant in La Jolla before heading back to San Diego.

Now Bella is napping and as soon as she gets up we will head over to Coronado for the rest of the weekend. Forecast sounds like...well...poo, but maybe there will be some dry patches during which we will pack in tons o'fun. However, it currently looks gorgeous out and it is supposed to be pouring already so maybe the weather people got it all wrong. Besides, I don't know if I much trust a meteorologist in a tight black mini skirt and a shiny hot-pink low-cut blouse with the shoulders cut-out. That was what the 5 AM weather person was wearing. For reals. We don't see the likes of that in Minn-e-soooota. No, surely, we don't. But maybe she came straight from the clubs? Perhaps that is the answer.

Lovely Lady Lumps after breakfast consumption.

San Diego Days 1-2

We have arrived in San Diego! Husband is here for a big conference and Bella and I are just here to tag along. B & I will tour around the city on our own through Friday and then we'll spend the weekend on Coronado as a family. The weather forecast is kind of a dud, but we were able to get outside for a couple hours yesterday at Balboa Park.

Mad Packing Skillz include rain-boot bringing.

A picture of my children (!!)

A sandwich break after a sudden and panicked, "EAT FOOD!"

Standing under my umbrella-ella-ella-eh-eh-eh

Today's adventure will revolve around the zoo as the forecast does not call for rain (HURRAY!!). Although Bella is currently saying, "Let's go post office!" so maybe that's what we will do instead. Anything for the children.