Second trimester

Well here we are at the second trimester and I was hoping that I would be starting to feel better. Not so much. I am still exhausted 90% of the time and gagging a lot. Maybe it's the pregnancy or maybe it's just all the factors of working and having a toddler and running a house (with David of course) all while being pregnant. There is certainly less time for naps. Also I don't think my body has fully recovered from the last baby (if it ever will) so things are certainly feeling different. However, all signs point to a healthy and happy baby in there so I will countinue to be grateful for the miracle of life happening inside me, all while developing a bit more empathy for women who don't love every aspect of being pregnant. 

With the second trimester, and still feeling terrible I have set some goals in hopes of making this a bit more tolerable. I'm hoping that energy begets energy and that if I do some energizing things then hopefully I will feel more energetic. 

First, I am not going to bed before 9:30. Going to bed before then often meant being up in the middle of the night anyway, so I may as well try and get some things done in the evening. I'm also saying no to facebook in the evening until 9:30. I found on days where I was just too tired to do anything but still felt that it was too early to sleep that I would just lay in bed facebooking for hours. It really became a waste. I'll still be seriously into naps on days off, but I'm hoping staying up a bit later and being productive will help put some gas in the tank. 

Next, I am actually going to try and exercise in the evenings. I have had the lamest reason for not exercising - I'm too tired to change my clothes. But I find that I'm having to change out of poorly fitting maternity clothes anyway (or pseudo maternity clothes), so it may as well be workout clothes. I also have a dvd to do at home that is a good pregnancy workout without being a sweat fest. Exercise has always helped me feel good in the past, so hopefully this isn't an exception. 

Last, I am going to get started on this baby room. We are going to find out if the little nugget is a boy or girl in about 4 weeks so I want to get started on the new nursery. We have decided to leave Ellie in her current room, so there isn't so much change all at once, which means that the new nursery is in what we call my dressing room. Houses built in the 1950s have tiny closets so we basically made a whole room my closet. That sort of luxury is not going to fly if I want all my babies on the same floor, so it's time to start paring down and putting clothes into a rotation. In August/September I tried a wardrobe capsule (you can google them if you're curious - it's basically living off a curated, tiny wardrobe for a season) and I hated it. I like to have more than 39 things to choose from. But that doesn't mean that I need to have shorts out in January. Also now that I have one maternity leave under my belt, I know what kind of clothes I prefer to wear and what kind can be put in the basement for occasional use. If you've had the chance to see my clothing, you know this is going to be a pretty big task and 4 weeks' worth of evenings doesn't seem like enough time with everything else that is going on, but I also know that I'm not going to want to take this on later or even after the baby has arrived. And getting to paint and decorate a new room will be so much fun and we can start to move some of the baby stuff out of Ellie's room. 

The next 13 weeks should be action packed and fun. Hopefully as I grow a bigger tummy Ellie will start to have a better understanding of what is going on. I really don't think she has a clue at this point but who knows? She surprises me everyday. 

And now for some adorable Ellie pictures:

As a cow at daycare during Farm Week

Wearing a swimsuit in an effort to get her past her bath strike (no luck so far, week 2)

At the corn maze with Kelly. All of the pictures were terrible but at least this one is also funny.