25 weeks down and 15 more to go!

That’s right people~ I’m 25 weeks pregnant.. yesterday! I didn’t do a very good job at planning my blog posts so here I am, late a day. We haven’t picked out a name yet and decided to wait until he is born to name him. I want to look in his eyes to get a feel for who he is meant to be called. Our picks so far? Not telling. :)

[he looks just like Ariel!]

Cravings: Anything and everything chocolate. It’s my ultimate picker upper.

Mood: I average about 5-7 mood swings in a given day. I’ve been making a conscious effort to keep it under control but my grumpiness has slipped out a few times.

Physical discomfort(s): back pains… oh, the back pains. I have to roll to one side and slowly push myself up while attempting to not curse in pain. I seem to be walking slower and slower as well. I tend to get left behind at grocery stores… My ankles have gotten a lot bigger but I kind of like it overall. I have meatier calves too as opposed to my scrawny chicken legs pre-pregnancy.

Fitness routine & diet: This may be pushing it but I try to squeeze in two yoga sessions in a day. I have a daily yoga routine but it’s mainly focused on stretching so I’m adding a bit of strength yoga as well. Besides the tons of chocolate I’ve been consuming lately, I’ve also been adding more fruits and vegetables to my diet. I think it’s because the little guy can taste what I eat that I’ve been more focused on eating what I normally wouldn’t. Like cooked carrots. I hate cooked carrots.

Differences between my first pregnancy and current: This probably has to do with the age difference but I’ve noticed a significant decrease in energy with this pregnancy from my first pregnancy at age 19. I also feel more pregnant with the morning sickness, physical discomfort, mood swings, food cravings, etc. Maybe it’s because I’ve grown to become more in tune with my body? I don’t know. Whatever it is, I’m really experiencing every bit of pregnancy this time around.

Etc: I have no stretch marks yet and I’m hoping to get through this pregnancy without stretch marks. My love handles have really poofed out but it’s always been my trouble area so I’m not too surprised. But you know how they say that if you’re having a boy you don’t look pregnant from the back? Yeah, totally not true. I’ve also been having trouble falling asleep for the past few weeks… I miss the days (only two or so months ago) when I’d fall asleep as soon as my head touched the pillow.

+The little guy is moving a lot now and hiccups 3-4 times daily (or at least that’s what I’m assuming the rhythmic movements are).

+He prefers my right side than my left. He will move more when I’m laying on my right side as well and likes to push against my right. I like to play with him by gently pushing back. He also moves more during the early mornings when I speak (I think I stir him awake with my voice), late afternoons, and late at night.

Obnoxious Me

Notice the difference of color of my tummy from my arms. This bump stays hidden when I’m venturing out in the world but quite the opposite when I’m home.

Which leads to my first obnoxious pregnancy behavior!

• I find no shame in letting my belly hang loose and free at home. If I had a choice, I would walk in my sports bra all day but that might traumatize my nephew. Now you might say that this is an acceptable behavior in the privacy of my home, right? Except I do this in the front yard for all the neighbors to see as well. Well, not in my sports bra or anything but I’ll just lift whatever shirt I have on to expose my belly. I do this because clothes feel restrictive on my growing belly—I’m talking oversized t-shirts too—and will just lift up my shirt to let it breathe.
  
• I fart. So. Much. Luckily it rarely stinks (I naturally have non-stinky farts!) but when it does, I run from it like an immature child. Yup, I run from my own farts AND will blame it on everyone and everything else. Inanimate objects included.
  
• I eat like a slob. Omgoodness I eat like a freaking slob now! Maybe I’ve always eaten like a slob and my belly wasn’t there to catch whatever food fell from my plate/mouth/wherever but I have stained just about every clothes I own.
  
• Nobody will admit it but I think I’ve turned into some evil tyrant. You can find me requesting the dumbest things because I’m pregnant, heavy, and can’t don’t want to lazy. For example, I’ve lost count of the many times I’ve asked little T to go in my room to retrieve something today alone. Why? The stairs. I hate the stairs. Water? If I’m upstairs someone else is getting it for me. You want to refuse my simple (yet annoying) request? I will throw a fit and will probably cry because you don’t love me enough to get the heavy, pregnant wife/mom a cup of water.
  
• Dude, I cry over everything now! Now I am far from being depressed but my sensitivity level has shot up sky high since my hormones decided to go pregnancy mode on me. You know that meme of the woman crying with her hand on her forehead? I feel like her 60/60/24/7/12/365.
  
• This one is extremely TMI but I have tried strenuously to take a peek at where the sun don’t shine a couple of times… and failed. I probably cried over that too… I don’t remember.
  
• You can remind me to do something like make a dentist appointment for little T and I will forget. Over and over and over again until three weeks later. Or the laundry in the dryer that everyone in the house has to get out and fold for me to have it delivered to my room because I always forget the last load of laundry. Always.
  
• I’ve turned into a garbage disposal. I’m always hungry and will complain about having ate so much because I can hardly breathe… only to eat again once I am able to breathe.
  
• Ariel and I rarely argue. We’ll argue maybe once or twice in a year over something really dumb and will immediately make up. We haven’t slept angry with each other before but it has happened twice—one week apart— this past month because one, he wouldn’t paint my toenails and two, my imagination went crazy, psycho woman and I thought he called me fat. I’d like to blame him and say it was all him but honestly? I over exaggerated so hardcore it’s not even funny. What’s even more pathetic is I couldn’t remember why I was angry with him a few hours into arguing and would have to sit there and try to recall the reason. Yes, feel sorry for Ariel folks…
  
• Oh, and I’ve become so fascinated of my growing boobies. Need I say more?

Any other pregnant women out there turn into a monster like me? Please, share your story! It’ll make me feel better… and normal. :)

P.S. The photo is of little T and I warming up for our daily yoga.

Morning Yoga

T and I have been doing yoga every morning to start our day. Two days ago however, O wanted to join in on the fun so I let him use my mat and took this opportunity to take photos for my blog! :D

  

I’m just glad that I worked out routinely before I got pregnant. I’ve been so tired lately that I don’t know just how much more tired I could have been had I not kept myself fit pre-pregnancy. I haven’t been able to do much in the beginning because I lacked so much energy (and my anemia going whack) and even went a few months having the most difficult time getting out of bed. Now that I’m feeling human with my energy level back to normal, I have been easing myself back into staying fit through light yoga every morning and a walk late afternoon. Plus, my arms are getting so flabby it’s depressing.

Free Summer Fun: Blanket Fort!

I’ve been really focused on free summer fun for the kids partially due to a trip we booked for 3 weeks and 1 day from today (YES! I’m keeping track!). It’s actually a wedding anniversary trip but we decided to bring the kids along this year and looking at it now, the trip is more for them than it is for us. More on this later though!

Anyways, FREE SUMMER FUN! I’ve been really digging into my creative side to come up with something both kids would enjoy. I made a list of a few things and wrote each down on a piece of a paper then put them in a paper bag. Little O got to pick our first activity and he picked “Movie in a Blanket Fort!”

 

At first I didn’t know how the fort would look but I wanted it to be awesome. Although setting up a few chairs around to throw a blanket over would have worked, I wanted this fort to be something the kids would REALLY like. I tend to over-do things a little (it’s why I stress over birthdays and holidays because of the gifts!) and everything had to be perfect. At first I planned on using the family room as a place for our fort (I would have actually preferred the backyard but the deck is being worked on right now) but I decided that Trina’s room would be better. That way they could sleep in it as well! It took me just a little over two hours to complete this but I’m sure I could have finished it a lot sooner without the extra weight of pregnancy. Climbing up and down on chairs, reaching towards the ceiling, tacking blankets just right on the walls, and just going with the flow without a blueprint (yes, I said blueprint!) really made this work a lot longer than it should have been.

I wanted to take this down today so getting ready for church tomorrow would be a breeze but the kids asked that it be up for just one more day! That’s how much they’re enjoying this! Victorrrrrrry!!

I just hope that they enjoy the rest of the activities as much as they’re enjoying this…

Cooling off.

  

I once heard someone say that Washington State has the best summer in the world. It’s difficult for someone who grew up in the state to agree without being biased but I can tell you that mid 80 degrees weather is pretty darn perfect here. It was a hot (mid 80s is hot for us!), bright day and I couldn’t have the kids cooped up in the house. We had a few things planned but it consisted of me requiring to join them in the pool—my nephew being young requires an adult supervision within arms reach at all times. With an awesome weather like this, a pool packed with kids was inevitable and I don’t feel so comfortable being near excited kids with my big belly. So~ with no one else available to play adult-within-arms-reach, a visit to an actual water park was out of the question. Instead we went to splash at an open water park near my Step Mom’s house. It wasn’t the best but it sure beat running through the sprinkler in the backyard!

Trina’s summer so far

The extra weight I’m carrying since getting pregnant has been more than enough for me. But when I am able to, I do lug around my DSLR to capture moments. These are what I have so far with the rest being stored on my iPhone. I’ll get to sharing those later but for now, here’s Trina’s summer so far!



At the last day of school! The girls enjoyed looking at photos of themselves jumping and being all sorts of goofy. :)



She loved this outfit and so did I! We just paired her swimsuit top with a skirt she rarely wears. When Trina was a little girl, she preferred to dress herself with her hair tied back into a ponytail. She didn’t like it when I would play “dress up” with her but she has been more willing lately! It probably has to do with her friends telling her how cool they think I am that she finally trusts me. ;)


Ariel and I took her to Gameworks in Seattle one day. The last time I visited this place was about 13 years ago so everything felt so new to me. It probably had to do with the fact that the entire place has been remodeled… or so it seemed.


I finally got around to ordering a tire pump for Trina’s bicycle. It has been sitting in the backyard because you know, Washington State’s weather is pretty much rain all year round. With the sun coming out and the weather getting warmer, we took out her bike, gave it a tune-up, and a nice wash while Ariel worked on his car. We They also enjoyed a bit of water fighting.

 

Washing away the three weathers except summer off the deck to get ready for the many, many BBQs to come. :)



Trina had a lot of little kids to play with on Independence Day! I’m sure she would have been happier to have kids her own age but she gets along with anyone of any age. Here she is watching a movie with her cousins Orlando (from Ariel’s side) and Christie (from my side) on the deck. I brought out a mat with lots of blankets and pillows for them to get comfortable in.

+As you can see, her hairstyle has been the same throughout the summer. It’s because her hair part was just down the middle for as long as she had hair to tie back and we’re trying to have it parted sideways now. She’s been wanting to have her hair parted on the side but it was impossible during the school year—she’s a very active girl and no amount of bobby pins would keep her hair in place! Three weeks and counting, braiding her hair nicely braided to keep everything in place has worked whereas nothing did before! Now she can keep her hair down and the part will stay, but it’s been too hot to not keep it tied back!