Life Lately...

21 weeks!

I've been radio silent for a hot minute over here and that is for two reasons... 1.  I have a  crazy active 11 month old who keeps me literally chasing him around the house from morning until night.  2.  We are 5 months pregnant with BABY GIRL NILLES!  This  pregnancy has been totally different than my first.  With Cole, I was only about 3 months post-op from my last surgery, so I was still recovering from that and not working.  I could lie down whenever I was tired... I only had the dog and myself to take care of.  I did have horrible hyperemesis- so I was throwing up constantly and had a Zofran pump in 24 hours a day for the nausea/vomiting, but other than that, I didn’t have a ton of symptoms until closer to the end. I remember NOT feeling tired... sick, yes- but not tired.  With this one, I had bad vomiting for about 10-12 weeks but after that, that part is pretty normal.  I throw up about once a day, but that’s nothing.  The difference is that I feel EXHAUSTED this time.  Chasing a baby around is not easy when you feel like a train hit you most of the day.  I think the girl hormones are just affecting me totally differently than the boy hormones did.  These pregnancies are night and day different- I knew deep down this had to be a girl the whole time because I felt so different than I had with Cole.

At 21 weeks, I am finally starting to feel a little less exhausted.  I started feeling her move about a month ago (really early this time), but it still feels a little surreal. When I was pregnant with Cole, I was thinking about it 24/7.  It was all I could think about.  With this one, I'm so busy with Cole that I'll go a whole week without saying the word "pregnant."  It is just flying by.

We announced our news to the world about 3 weeks ago... I can't believe we waited until 18 weeks this time.  Actually, it was quite easy to keep the secret.  Our immediate families and some close friends had known for awhile, but I had started seeing people post about pregnancies with babies that weren't due until May, and I was like, geez, I guess we better let people know, since ours will be here 2 months before all of these babies! (side note- there are alot of babies due in May, TONS.. everyday I see another Facebook announcement for a May baby... labor & delivery is gonna be crazy busy in May)...

So... what have we been up to over here besides pregnancy?  Cole is doing great... he wakes up between 6 and 7, runs around all morning keeping me insanely busy, takes a nap around 10 for a few hours, runs around all afternoon, takes a mini nap at 3, and then we go to the gym at 4.  The kid does not sit still, he doesn't watch tv or an iPad... all he is interested in is moving, exploring, and talking.  I chase him all day long and try to keep him from hurting himself or breaking something.  He's really funny and definitely has Jon's personality.

My gym has an amazing childcare center and Cole loves it.  The babysitters fight over him and there are so many toys and things he doesn't have at home that he plays with while he's there.  It's a good little break for me to not have to chase him for an hour.  Being a stay-at-home mom is hard because there are NO BREAKS.  The days are incredibly long.... don't get me wrong- I am cherishing every second of this time with my little guy- not many people get to do this. I love that I get to experience every moment and teach him what I want to teach him... but it's crazy hard.

I've been doing good with running during this pregnancy- sometimes I overdo it and then have alot of pain in my bad leg and hip, but I've been consistently at the gym 6 days a week during this pregnancy.  I've definitely had to slow my pace down during runs and am generally running anywhere from 4-7 miles a day.  On the days I'm tired, I do the elliptical.  On the days I'm really tired, Cole and I go for long walks.  Staying active during my last pregnancy helped me recover faster and I was able to get back into running alot quicker after Cole was born because of it.  So I'm trekking along.  Mainly, the running is my sanity in this very crazy stage of life.

After we get home from the gym, it's usually about 5:45, so I give him a bath, feed him, and then he plays until Jon gets home while I'm cooking dinner.  Jon gives him his last bottle and puts him to bed.  Even though putting him to bed is the BIGGEST sigh of relief most nights, I usually end up missing him a few hours later.  He is just the sweetest, happiest baby.  He's energetic and crazy and active, but he's just so happy, and he and I are buddies.

We've been busy this fall- we went to the apple orchard, pumpkin patch, 2 different zoos, the children's museum, story hour at the library, visits with my best friend Liz and her boys, visits with my brother and sister and my nephew Caleb, visits with Aunt Jess, lots of walks downtown Naperville at the Riverwalk, a trip downtown to have lunch with Daddy and meet his co-workers at Salesforce, a few trips to Grammy's, trick-or-treating and a really fun Halloween with Uncle Tony, Aunt Nici, Max, and Andie, and a trip to Houston for Uncle Brandon and Aunt Catherine's wedding this past weekend.

We have our babymoon coming up VERY VERY soon, so my mom is coming to stay at our house and take care of Cole for the week while we go to Turks & Caicos.. (just the two of us!)  I am really looking forward to being able to finally relax and spend some alone time with Jon after 11 months of being busy parents but I've never been away from the baby for more than about 24 hours, so I'm nervous to leave him... thank God he's in the more than capable of my mom, who will probably have him walking and reading by the time we get back. I'm just afraid of how much I'll miss him and I don't want him wondering where his mama is.  But we definitely need this time before baby girl arrives and we are excited to check out such a gorgeous and amazing location!

Christmas is coming soon, which means Cole's 1st birthday will be here in a month!  We are having a lumberjack flapjack bash at our house to celebrate our little dude.  He is really close to walking and hopefully will be toddling around by then. It's so hard to believe!  To know Cole is to love Cole... he is the sweetest little guy and is so loved and we have all of you to thank for that! Thanks for your prayers as I continue this pregnancy- 21 weeks means we are more than halfway there!  

BIG BIG Surprise! (A Throwback Post)

I am 20 weeks now, but I wrote this post around 2 months ago, when I was 12 weeks, right before we told the rest of our family our big news...

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I'm writing this post in secret, but I want to remember exactly how I'm feeling in this moment, and I'll post it after I shared the news.

Jon I got the biggest surprise of our lives about a month ago.  Okay, maybe the second biggest surprise.

We were shocked to find out that Cole is going to be a big brother in March!

I'm 12 weeks pregnant (3 months) right now, although it is flying by, because I was about 8 weeks along when I found out. I had my second ultrasound a few days ago, and everything is checking out great- baby was moving like crazy and Cole seemed fascinated watching.

It was easy to wait until 12 weeks to spill the beans this time... we found out late and time is flying!  I told my parents, brother, sisters, & best friend Liz right away but other than that, we kept it pretty hush hush. We are going to tell Jon's family this weekend when I hit the 13 week mark.

We were planning on waiting another 6-8 months before trying for a second baby, so finding out God already had one cooking for us completely blind-sided me.  One random Saturday, I threw up out of nowhere and had Jon buy a test on his way home from golf.  I was basically joking when I told him to pick one up, and if he hadn't brought one home, I probably would've gone another month without realizing I was "late" and should probably take a test.  Cole keeps me so busy that I hadn't even realized I was so "late."  Anyways, he happened to bring a test home, so I took it, and was literally speechless for like 3 days.  The doctor confirmed a few days later that indeed I was, and was already 8.5 weeks at that time.  Jon was absolutely thrilled and excited-- he was all about having another one right away.  I, on the other hand, was scared and not ready.  Ideally, it would've been great for Cole to be at least 2 when number 2 came along.  Apparently, God thinks we're ready now, and here we are, speeding along in our second pregnancy.

It is going by soooo fast.  Even if I had found out early on, it still goes by so much faster the second time around.  I am so busy and so concentrated on Cole that I forget I'm pregnant most of the time.  If it weren't for all the throwing up and exhaustion, I would literally have no idea that I'm already 12 weeks preggo.  Yes, the vomiting is back.  Definitely not as horrible as it was the first time though, thank God.   I probably throw up about 3-4 times a day (sounds like alot but it was like 10-20 times a day with Cole). Mostly, I'm just really tired, much more emotional (crying at every commercial) and having some hot flashes here and there.   They drew our genetic testing blood test last week that looks at the chromosomes to determine risk of any genetic problems, and also is able to tell the gender... I should know any day now whether Cole is gonna have a brother or sister.  I just want a healthy baby!  Will update and post this post when we are ready to spill the beans.  Until then....