Hello Second Trimester! I’ve been waiting for you!

Yippee! Hallelujah! Let me do cart wheels across the parking lot! Today is the first day of my second trimester!

My first cart-wheel is to celebrate the little exhale (okay – Really big exhale) I think all expecting moms experience when they hit their second trimester.  Our babies have made it through the rough water.  It’s okay to get attached now (as if we weren’t before). It’s time to start shopping and planning and decorating.

My second cart-wheel is to celebrate what is supposed to be the blissful stage of pregnancy.  My energy is already back. I hope the rest of my body takes the hint.

First Trimester Superlatives

Biggest Struggle – accepting my changing body!  Although I have to say that yesterday I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror as I headed out for my evening run, and I started cracking up laughing.  Where did my belly come from? I think it gets bigger as the day progresses. Is that possible? It always seems smaller in the morning, and it appears to take over by the end of the day.  It’s also time for new running clothes. I was proud of my belly and body yesterday! Such a great feeling! Maybe it’s because I was heading out for run or maybe it just took a few weeks to mentally adapt.  Either way, I’m hoping it sticks around majority of the time.

Greatest Sickness – For about 2 weeks I felt nauseous the entire time, but fortunately I haven’t thrown up a lot. It has only happened a handful of times.  My biggest frustration has been exhaustion and headaches.  They just won’t go away. Tylenol helps a little. Christian rubbing my neck and shoulders also helps.  I went for a run yesterday to see if that would help some too.  Knock on wood, I woke up with a head ache this morning but since I’ve taken Tylenol it is gone.  I hope it stays away.

Best Moment – Telling Cole he is going to be a big brother.  Well….Cole guessing that I had a baby in my belly.  I love how he somehow knew without us even telling him!

Favorite Craving – French Fries.  Don’t mind my child if he/she is born smelling like chick-fil-a waffle fries.

Biggest Discussion – Baby Names! We are pretty committed to our girl name, but are still up in the air on boy names.  We will share more when we know the sex of the baby. In the meantime, if you’ve got a great idea for a boy name, send it our way! I’m not a fan of the top 100 list, but I’m always open to suggestions.  In fact, our top boy name contender came from my friend at work Kandice – the same wonderful friend who is letting me borrow all her maternity clothes!

Biggest Surprise – All the baby love we are receiving from everyone! I’m amazed at the generosity of people.  My sister bought us our first baby gift just days after finding out we were expecting. My parents surprised us by buying all the baby bedding. Christian’s parents sent us an email today asking if they could buy the crib for us.  Kandice at work has loaned me all her maternity clothes.  The list goes on and on.  Thank you to everyone! And not just those who have given us material items. I’ve had so many friends sending me emails to see how I’m feeling.  We have had the best congratulations from people we barely know.  Baby love is amazing!

To kick off my second trimester, I am officially wearing my first pair of maternity pants (Yes! From Kandice!). I have been wearing skirts and dresses for weeks now. It feels good to have on a real pair of pants!  We will also be ordering our crib this week thanks to Christian’s parents (I’ll post more about that when it arrives!).  We have a healthy baby! We have the most cozy baby bedding thanks to my parents! We have a baby mobile!  I also found 3 boxes of Cole’s baby clothes in my parents attic yesterday!

It’s starting to feel more and more like a baby is really on its way into our world! (Today the baby is a size of a lemon!)

And a few loose ends to tie up –

 I didn’t get the job with the fire department!  I know! Sad! But it is truly okay! I might not need to focus on a new job right now since I am about to become a mom again.  And now I’m free to be open to even better experiences after Maute Moo arrives!

I did win a contest I entered last Friday at Women’s Running Magazine.  All you had to do was email in a picture of your favorite place to run.  I had just had the best run at First Landing State Park, so I sent in the pictures I took along the way to make sure I enjoyed myself. Remember this post? I sent the big picture on the post.  And I won! I won a book called Fit by Nature.  I can’t wait to get it in the mail.  I think it’s going to be the perfect complement to my marathon training post-baby.