A lame excuse for a bumpdate.

Poor baby #2.

Already getting second child treatment.

As evidenced by my first bump pic. 16 weeks into my pregnancy, while running out the door to a cookout, with the worst ever background chosen for a photo.

Oh. Don't worry. I got one more bump pic for you, sweet baby #2. This one with your big sister in it, of course. Something tells me she's going to be in most of your photos.

I'm 16 and a half weeks and just doing my first "bump date" post. If you can even call it that. And sadly, I don't really feel bad about it. There's not a deep desperate desire to track every little thing with this pregnancy. All the symptoms, the cravings, and belly pics. I don't even have a clear vision of my new babe's nursery yet {gasp}.

I just don't have the energy.

I'm terribly sorry, sweet second child of mine.

And although my pregnancy motto tends to be "Thanks for your concern but I'm not dead, I'm pregnant", I really do think I was partially dead my first trimester. All I had the energy to do was curse my harsh wake up call of 5:30 a.m. every morning, go to work, make nightly dinners of cheese and tortillas, and barely brush my teeth before the ripe bedtime of 7:30 p.m.

Not to mention the constant dizziness, 24/7 debilitating nausea, and super-fun dry heaves.

Pregnancy is a hoot, I tell you!

But we're out of that phase, folks. And I truly can't believe it. Because I felt the exact same symptoms during my pregnancy with Lyla for seven months.

Seven. brutal. months.

So, I'm trying not to get my hopes up. But we're going on 2 weeks of no nausea and much less fatigue. So I'm really hopeful that we've moved on and are completely done with "morning" sickness.

Please oh please, jinx gods, be kind to me.

So what else have you missed out on in the past four months?

- Telling everyone our news. For the most part, telling others this time around has been significantly more anticlimactic than the last time we shared the exact same news. {Again, I'm sorry sweet babe #2}. Don't get me wrong, everyone has been excited, of course. It just seemed that most everyone else was much less surprised than we were to find out we were expecting #2. It's funny when your mom or mother-in-law don't nearly pass out this time around, or when you have responses such as "I knew it" or "I figured it would be any day now". Especially when we ourselves didn't even know nor had the plan to get pregnant with a second just yet.

Regardless, spreading the news was so much fun as we had several different variations of sharing: Lyla walking out in a Big Sis t-shirt, holding up my margarita glass in a group toast only to interrupt with a "cheers to baby #2 on the way", ending a simple phone conversation with "Well, you're going to be an uncle/auntie...again", and my personal favorite {which happened multiple times} - when a friend sarcastically asks me why I'm not drinking "Are you pregnant or something?" and I respond with a simple "yep."

Fun times.

- Most commonly asked questions when finding out I was pregnant. It always tickles me to hear the questions and responses people have once they find out you're preg. I really got asked the exact same things over and over. And just because we all have a little bit of a nosy-nancy in us, I'll ease your mind and answer a few for you. {Because I'm sure it's kept you up at night...simply itching to know}.

Were you trying? Err...no. And yes I know how babies are made. Gabe actually brought up the "maybe we should start trying for a second" talk over Christmas. But I panicked and decided I wasn't ready. Well, clearly there was some carelessness involved a time or two. And...now we're expecting babe #2.

Have you told Lyla? Yes. We told her right away that we were so excited for her to be a big sister and that mommy was going to have a baby. And I point to my belly and say "baby". She gets terribly confused. And she has no clue that her world is about to be rocked in six months.



How have you been feeling? Thank you to those who have asked this question! {Which is pretty much everyone who has been pregnant before}. The answer is absolutely rotten. But I think I'm in the clear at this point...fingers crossed.

Are you finding out the sex? Nope. {Insert lots of dramatically loud gasps, "but how will you ever do the nursery???", and annoyed, blank looks.} Oh. And several people have bet that I'll never be able to go through with not finding out because of my control-freak nature. But those people obviously don't really know me...because the very thought that I can't do it only fuels my fire and makes me absolutely giddy to prove them wrong. Besides, it has been SO MUCH FUN watching quite a few of my friends not find out the sex of their babies. Best surprise in all of life. And I really don't even feel tempted to find out at our next sonogram. Honest!

Will you have a natural birth this time around? Oh dear. This is a tough one. I love labor and birth so much. And I am so, so happy I had a natural childbirth with Lyla - it was the most cathartic, spiritual, and beautiful experience of my entire life. In fact, I just read my 11-page personal birth story this morning (the one that never got published to this here blog). And I teared up throughout, incredibly thankful that I wrote out every single detail just 72 hours after Lyla was born. That being said, as truly amazing as the experience was, the jury is out on this one. Still thinking about it.

Cravings. I always thought the whole idea of cravings was a load of bull-honky. I think it's an excuse for us deprived, American women to indulge in the things we've ban ourselves from eating since we were in middle school. {We need to take advice from the French who always indulge but in moderation , therefore not going crazy during pregnancy. Currently on my nightstand and loving: Bringing Up Bebe.} That being said, I really have only had two cravings this pregnancy: cheese and fruit. Oh my dear word. I could eat a block of cheese a day. Or a tub or two of cottage cheese. And I would probably sing the national anthem at a Red Socks game completely naked just to get to a bowl of fruit. Pure decadence.

This pregnancy versus my first. I would say there have only been two major differences between my pregnancies. For one, the blasted sickness. Although I felt identical to the way I did when I was pregnant with Lyla, the nausea went away in the second trimester this time around.

The other difference has been when I started showing. I swear my belly peek-a-boo'd at 5 weeks. And has only gotten progressively bigger much, much sooner than it did with the first. As we speak, my current 16 week belly is as big as it was at 21 weeks last time. {Believe me, I compared photos}.

Oh. And I'd say my mentality is different his time around. A huge part of that is the lifestyle changes I've made - mostly leaving a job I wasn't crazy about and feeling much less stress. But also, I'm just not as obsessed about researching and reading and preparing as I was while pregnant with my first. I'm much more laid back and relaxed. Sadly, that also includes how I'm treating my body. While pregnant with Ly, I was psycho about working out every.single.day. and eating like a health nut. I simply don't have the time or energy {or willpower} this time around as I still have a full time job...and a toddler.

This *ahem* could be the contribution to my protruding-much-sooner belly.

See there, baby #2. I've completed my first bumpdate while pregnant with you. And look at the bright side, you're getting much more delicious food than your big sister AND your mama isn't nearly as crazy with you as she was with her.

You win some, you lose some.