Baby #2: Week 22

Almost forgot to take pictures this week, so here's my finest from Monday night at 22 weeks and 6 days.

I started off week 22 with some CrossFit.  Tuesday I went to the 5 pm class because I had a dentist appointment on Wednesday morning and needed to pick up some Kettlebell Kitchen meals I ordered.

I miss handstand push ups, but the L-sit dumbbell presses smoked my arms and shoulders!  I used 20# and completed 65 reps.  For the WOD I did 6 calories on the bike, 8 regular pull ups + 8 dumbbell row, 6 cal bike, and I used a 20# DB for the snatches.  I probably could've gone a little heavier with my DB, but oh well.  I finished in 19:30 and felt great.   I blew off the gym Friday morning because Dave's friend was in from North Carolina (just for the night, because he was in York for work) so I stayed up way too late!

We continued our Whole6 through the week and it went really well.  I never really adjusted to drinking my coffee black and I craved chocolate all week, but overall it was super smooth and uneventful.  I lost 4 lbs which was definitely a lot of bloat, I feel like my face got less puffy and my love handles chilled out a bit.  I'm trying to keep the good habits going (like not keeping a candy stash at my desk at work and choosing veggies over mac and cheese with dinner...) but also this preggo needs some ice cream!

I broke my Whole6 with a sushi dinner with the gals on Friday night.  We had the worst service ever, but it was still nice getting together.  On Saturday we hit Jenn and Jason's annual pool party!  We've been attending for the past 6 years and it's always the best time.  It was awesome catching up with everyone and the weather was absolutely perfect.  Vienna wasn't so sure about the puddle jumper I just bought her, but she did have fun being a little daredevil and going off the diving board!!!!!!

Let be known that we put her puddle jumper on her right after this.

I almost had a heart attack.

On Sunday we moved V into her new room and she seems to love it!  Earlier in the week, Dave was hanging out in there reading her a book and I was peeking in, taking a picture and she looked up at me and said "happy" and I just about died!

As soon as we moved her crib, she asked us to put her in it and then hung out for a little playing with her baby dolls and reading a book.  The blackout shade is amazing and I don't know why we didn't install them in her last room.  Dave and I moved both the dressers, with the full drawers in them because apparently they don't just lift up and pop out, and they were heavy AF.  It was probably something that a pregnant lady shouldn't have done, but I did it and felt completely fine.  I had to laugh because in my 23 week update from last time, Dave's dad wouldn't even let me help them with the furniture at all.  I did tell Dave I'm definitely not up for moving the baby's new furniture from the garage though.  The room still needs some decor and final touches, but I'm really happy with how it came out.

I'll take better pics when it's actually decorated!

In other random pregnancy news:

• I'm feeling the baby kick all the time now and Dave felt her kick for the first time too!
• I started listening to my Hypnobabies tracks before bed, they are so relaxing.
• I'm loving the second trimester, I feel fairly normal and I'm enjoying it while it lasts.

In other random non-pregnancy news... THIS HAPPENED!

Jennifer Mooney Photography

4 months to go and life is good :)

Baby #2: Week 21

Thank goodness it was a short week at work, because I was still dragging from our weekend down the shore.  V must be teething or something because she woke up crying at 3:50 am on Wednesday, which is very unusual.  When my alarm went off at 5:10 for the gym, that was a big fat nope, so I skipped.  I think my days of uninterrupted sleep are over for a while.  I keep waking up and having these crappy dreams.  They aren't quite nightmares, but they are unsettling and I wake up feeling like I did something wrong.

Vienna's big girl room is officially painted!  We got two paint samples but ended up picking Waterscape from Sherwin Williams and I love how it came out.

My dad came over on the 5th and helped Dave, they did a lot of prep work and then painted the ceiling and trim.  Dave did the primer on Saturday morning and then painted two coats of the color on Sunday.  He was a champ!    Vienna seems excited when we're hanging in the room and tell her it's going to be hers, but to be determined how she reacts when we actually move her in there.

After helping Dave for the afternoon, my dad took V and Mela home with him, leaving Dave and I kid free for most of the weekend!  We took advantage of the opportunity and went out for a dinner date at Sage in Phoenixville.  Apparently we only go there when I'm pregnant, because the only other time we've gone was when I was 38 weeks!  But we knew the food was good last time and we had a gift card to use.  We split the falafel appetizer and then Dave got an ahi tuna special and I got a giant bowl of seafood pasta.  My dish included shrimp, scallops, salmon, and crab meat over linguine in a pink lobster sauce.  It was all delicious.

Saturday I slept in and then finally went to workout at the Y.  Since we've joined I've gone for Vienna's swim lessons and to enjoy the outdoor pool, but I hadn't actually used the gym yet.  CrossFit has been my priority, but I did not want to set an alarm and I figured I'd go sit by the pool for a little after my workout.  I hit a few sets of heavy back squats, ending with 130# for 6 reps.  And then I did the strength metcon that I would've done at CF.

DL = deadlift, HPC = hang power clean, PJ = push jerk

I did 45, 50, 55, 60, 65 as the weight for my sets.  I intended on going heavier, but those weights felt plenty heavy and using a thick men's bar smoked my grip.  I was able to do the first two rounds unbroken and then the last 3 I took a break between the deadlifts and the hang power cleans.  I ended my workout with some bicep curls.  The Y gym was fine, but after 6 years of CrossFit watching people do nonsense at the Y was... entertaining.  Sitting at the pool afterwards was perfect.

Saturday night we attended Dave's cousin's wedding in Elizabethtown.  The ceremony was outside and it was intense.  I believe it was almost 90 degrees, but the sun and humidity made it feel like almost 100.  The chairs were way too close together and we were jammed in shoulder to shoulder.  Midway through the ceremony I had a moment where I started to feel ill.  Thankfully the sun went behind some clouds and the moment passed, but I was real happy when it was finally over.  The  rest of the evening was in AC and it was lovely.  The dinner was yummy, the flowers were gorgeous, and the band was awesome!  We danced all night and had a blast.  The drive home wasn't terrible, except my pregnant bladder forced us to stop at a random gas station only 30 minutes into the drive.

Sunday I got to sleep in again and spent most of the day catching up on some shows with some house tidying sprinkled in.  We started a "Whole6" so I made a sweet potato hash, bacon, and dippy eggs for breakfast and then Dave helped me put dinner in the crockpot.  We had beef, carrots, potatoes, and onion and it really hit the spot.  To be clear, I'm not trying to diet, I'm just trying to rein in my habits.  For example, we've been enjoying our coffee with tasty flavored creamer, it legit tastes like dessert.  But we really don't need to be drinking all that sugar.  That first sip of black coffee was a rude awakening!  I'm hoping that after the week is done, I'll be a little less addicted to sugar and some of the good habits will stick around.

My self esteem has been taking a bit of a hit lately... I thought I'd be able to avoid gaining so much weight again, but the past few weeks the scale has been climbing.  I feel HUGE and I know I have a long way to go.  I'm trying not to dwell too much because I know pregnancy can be different for everyone and the fact that I lost 30 lbs in the week after delivery tells me that my body may just need to pack on the pounds when I'm growing a human.  But I'm hoping I can get things under control a little bit and I certainly don't want to find out that I have gestational diabetes.

Ah the joys of pregnancy!

My Pregnancy: Weeks 23 & 24

Week 23:

I didn't make it to the gym most of the calendar week, but I went Friday and had another great workout.  The strength was back squat but my left knee has been a little cranky, so I decided to do the snatch complex from the day before and I made it up to a 90# power snatch!  Then the workout was Jackie, rest 3 minutes, and then a half Jackie (only 35# for women).

When I first started, I was thinking maybe I would do less time on the rower.  My hands were still kind of ripped up from Murph, so I was thinking about cutting some of the pull up reps too.  I also considered doing Jackie and then skipping the half or making it just 1/4.  And then I felt good on the rower, turned my brain off, and just did the whole damn thing.  I finished Jackie in 15:53 and then crushed the half Jackie in 6:23, with everyone around me cheering while I finished.  I felt so proud and remembered the first time I did Jackie in 2013 when I could barely do the pull ups with two resistance bands!

On Saturday we attended a perfect little farm wedding.  The weather was absolutely gorgeous and really made the night.  They had a Quaker ceremony which was incredibly simple, but it was short and sweet and really suited the couple.  The flowers were dazzling and the reception barn decor was so cute.  It was a wonderful evening full of friendship, love, and dancing.  And photo shoots, thanks Heather!

My weekend ended with a rough Sunday night.  I either ate something crappy or picked up some germs off the train because I was up 5 different times sitting on the toilet and decided to skip work Monday.  I laid on the couch all day and tried to rally, but ultimately decided to skip our last birth class.  I was really disappointed, but getting in the car and driving to Philly was the last thing I wanted to do and I didn't want to risk getting the other girls sick.

On Tuesday, one of my mommy fairy godmothers came over with a van full of goodies for Baby M!  Aunt Kimber brought over a glider, a pack n play, a high chair, some clothes and toys.  Then on Wednesday Dave picked up our nursery furniture from Babies R Us!  The staff at the store kept asking him if he wanted to make two trips, but he said nope!

Dave and his dad lugged all the furniture in the house and set up the dressers.  Dave's dad wouldn't let me help carry anything, he didn't want me to hurt myself.  Insert all the eye rolls haha.

Week 24:

On Thursday I had an OB appointment and the doctor finally acknowledged my weight gain.  She was very nice about it and the topic didn't come as a surprise since I've gained over 30 lbs already.  She started tell me how I should be eating, focusing on protein and fiber and watching my carbs and I just laughed.  I know exactly how I should be eating.  I'm not doing a Whole30 any time soon, but I'm trying to take things down a notch.  Maybe I'll stop eating ice cream directly out of the carton.  Maybe.  We also talked a little bit about Hypnobabies and she was really open to hearing more about it, which was nice because some of the mothers in my natural birth support group on Facebook have posted about receiving a lot of negative feedback from their OBs.

On Friday I attended a golf outing for the American Society of Highway Engineers and I was really unsure of how I was going to play.  All week my coworkers had been joking with me about swinging around my belly, but I figured either way it would be a nice day out of the office.  And then I played the best game of my life!  I drove the ball straighter than ever, had a lot of nice hits in general, and my putting was actually decent.  I had a lot of fun and the weather was perfect.

On Sunday my dad came over to help Dave finish putting the furniture together.  I'm so happy all the furniture is ready to go in the nursery, it is so beautiful.

And now I can nest!  I started going through all the hand me down clothes we have and I washed all the newborn and 0-3 month clothes.  The clothes were killing me, I was literally getting emotional.  Everything is SO tiny!  I just can't believe we are going to have such a tiny little baby to care for in a few months!

Our Long Weekend in Arizona Part 2: A Wonderful Wedding & Climbing Cathedral Rock

Part 1: Courthouse Butte and Bell Rock Hike, The Hudson, and Midgley Bridge

The ceremony was held in Red Rock State Park under the shade of a huge tree.  The weather was absolutely perfect (after the forecast was calling for rain all week) and the ceremony was really touching.  I couldn't help but tear up during the vows they had written for each other. It was beautiful.  Congrats Drew & Alexa!

After a few family pics, we were on our own for a few hours before the reception started.  The venue was the Tlaquepaque Arts & Crafts Village, a really cool little complex with art galleries, shops, and restaurants, so we headed right there to check out Oak Creek Brewery.  Dave drank, I ate some fries, and we got to know some of Dave's cousin's long time family friends.  And soon enough it was time for the party to start!

The reception was wonderful.  The space was so cute with a lot of special touches from the couple including a Polaroid camera setup to fill their guest book with fun shots.  The chicken marsala dinner was delicious.  The DJ was great and we even got Aunt Linda on the dance floor for the cupid shuffle.  It was a really fun wedding and I think the couple really got to enjoy it!

After jamming all the decorations into the groom's car, we headed back to the house for the after party where I somehow managed to stay up until 2 am to laugh with/at all the drunk people.

Sunday had a slow start.  Dave was hungover and I was pretty tired too.  I spent the morning soaking up some sun on the back porch until we were finally ready for another hike!

We headed up the road to Cathedral Rock for a 1 mile hike up to a look out point.  The hike was labeled moderate difficulty so we figured we'd just take our time with lots of breaks and see what I could do.  A mile seemed doable.  The first part of the hike was fairly easy and when we got up to the base of the rocky portion the view was so cool.

Then we started heading up the rock and about half way, it got pretty steep.  There were foot holes in the rock and we started to use our hands for part of it.  When we got to the top of that section I suddenly felt a bit of regret, I really didn't want to go back down it.  We took a little break and I was feeling slightly anxious.  I wanted to continue and we were so close!  But my gut was telling me no.  The portion above us looked even more difficult and I decided that it wasn't a good life choice to keep going.  I am not a rock climber!

 

I went back down the steep portion with a crab walk, dragging my butt along some parts, and it wasn't that bad.  As soon as we got back down, I was so mad at myself for not going all the way.  I was really bummed, but just had to remember that I was better safe than sorry.  We hiked a little around the base of the rock and then called it a day.

We spent our last night in the house hanging with our family and enjoying delicious steaks on the grill.  Then we said our goodbyes and headed to bed nice and early.

To be continued with our awesome day at the Grand Canyon...