Pregnancy-ing

Is that a word? Not sure.

I just wanted to journal a bit about this pregnancy to help me remember the day to day of what life is like carrying this second bundle of ours. I am feeling great, just like I did with my sweet Ava. Pregnancy, at least when I carry girls, is wonderful after I hit the 12-14 week mark. Its been smooth sailing, besides the occasional dislike towards a certain food, which only lasts a day or two. Like last night, chicken was a no-no. It just depends on the day.

I feel Olivia move a lot at night after Ava has gone to bed and Brian and I are watching one of our shows. Usually thats when dinner has settled and when I let myself have a little dessert, so no surprise there. Her kicks are getting more noticeable and harder, while my belly seems to have popped out over night. I'm at the stage where I don't know whether to hide the bump, or just embrace the whole thing. I still feel like I'm at the stage where people might took at me and wonder whether I am indeed pregnant, or if I just really enjoyed an extra helping of dessert for the past month or two.

The nesting phase had seemed to kick in for me already. I have much more energy throughout the day, and already have plans in my head of how I am going to decorate the girls' new room, what crafts I can start working on, and what new items we are going to need the second time around. I've already started thinking about how I'm going to tackle breastfeeding (I wasn't able to with Ava), our hospital plan, what to pack, since I wasn't prepared for that at all with our first, and what my exercise plans are once she arrives. I am feeling motivated and prepared. If this girl is anything like her older sister, we have less than four months to get everything in order. We hope to move during those months, so we've got a lot ahead of us.

Although my pregnancies are almost mirror images of each other, there are some slight differences that I have had a say in changing. The biggest change for me has been with exercise. With Ava I was in school and working full time, which left little to no time for me to get a work out in. Plus, I had never been pregnant before and was afraid of any and all complications that could arise. This go around, I know my body a little better and what I can handle. So I have fully embraced exercising each day, which has been such a mood lifter for me!

I didn't have a routine set at first. I have been running occasionally, but mostly walking. Lately, however, I have been wanting to do more weightlifting and toning, but wasn't sure what exercises were safe. So, I bought this book online and today was day one of my new workout routine. It kicked my butt, I'll be honest. When reading through the exercises last night I was thinking "okay, this won't be that hard. Will I really feel anything from this workout?" I was wrong, and I take it all back! I had to take a good break in between to catch my breath and convince myself to keep going.

I am excited about this! I really hope that the author, Lindsay Brin, is right in saying that exercising while pregnant will help not only with the labor/delivery and recovery, but also in bouncing back to my pre pregnancy weight and body quicker. All of this excitement kept me up wayyy too late last night as I was researching this and that regarding pregnancy, breastfeeding, exercising while pregnant/the months afterward, and a few success stories from various blogging mothers out there. I became extremely motivated and wanted to head into the living room and start my new exercising journey right then and there.

Clearly, pregnancy is treating me well and there isn't much to complain about. Umm, besides the fact that Ava has been treating me like a jungle gym lately. Why suddenly does she need to climb on me every minute of the day? It is beyond me. What timing, little one!

More updates to come, I'm sure. Until then, I'm enjoying the second trimester and all of its glory.
Hello delicious food, goodbye nausea!