11 Weeks Pregnant

The Belly:

Well my uterus is still tucked away inside my pelvis, but don't tell my belly that! It's pretty sure the baby is ready to show itself.

Yes, my belly still changes shape all day long. I look the most pregnant after a meal (conveniently that's when we took the night time photo) and the least pregnant first thing in the morning. (More proof, this belly is not baby yet, once baby is showing it sticks around.)

(We just took some Christmas photos of J. Hence her fancy duds.)

Ok here is an example of my shape shifting belly!

Taken 12/13/11

Taken the night before

12/12/11

I don't remember bloating like this with J.

I had a dream last night that my belly started sticking out really intensely, just in one spot, like an egg at the top of my pelvis! It looked crazy, and I was embarrassed. (That's what happens when I read too much about the size of my uterus at this point in pregnancy!)

Physically:
Well the week started out good, followed by getting kinda nauseous and weary on Wednesday night, trailed by a horrible Thursday. It was the worst day I've had this pregnancy. Just SUPER nauseous and ZERO energy. I spent that entire day on the couch, nodding in and out of sleep -- praise the Lord that J survived the day without, oh say climbing on the table or something while Sesame Street was baby sitting-- she was actually awesome and made it so I could rest.
I started to panic on Thurs and Fri because the house was falling apart since there was no way I could move, and Blake has been so busy with his dissertation that I can't ask him for help. And I was feeling like I would NEVER catch back up. And, not that I'm expecting much foot traffic durning the holiday season, but our house is on the market and it was NOT ready to be seen by any human eyes (mine included.) So I was worried.
But Saturday I got some steam back and was able to do a tiny bit of Christmas shopping in the morning while Blake hung out with J.
Sunday was good.
And Today --- well, today I felt like Wonder Woman! (Honestly, I was nothing like Wonder Woman, more so Normal Woman, but after weeks of feeling sick, normal is fantastic!) I was able to conquer my whole house. I mean my whole house! Not deep cleaning, but good stuff was done in every room! I was ready to dance in the streets!

In more body news I'm starting to feel some random stretching pains: some round ligament pain, and some sorta cramp like feeling at the top of my pelvis. I was told that for some reason you are actually more crampy with subsequent pregnancies, because for some reason your ligaments protest being stretched more now. (You would think they would just throw in the towel since they've been through it. hmm?) But nothing bad. Just random sensations.

Food:
This has been the week of chips and salsa. It was one of the only things that sounded good in my super yucky days, and it carried me through pretty nicely. I say its a good sign, its raw vegetables, so that means I'm able to eat more and more of that (previously it was like death in my tummy.) On our way to eating well.
I also have been lovin me some tuna salad. I just wish there wasn't that whole mercury issue with sea food, cause I would eat tuna every day instead of my limited once a week.
Oh yeah, and grapefruit. Me and J have demolished a bag of grapefruits in like 2 days so Blake went out and bought two more bags for us! :) Don't count on them lasting long!

Not a whole lot else sounds good. I still have a hard time convincing myself to cook meat. Or get it in my mouth, but once its there its ok. (But I haven't gotten too much in.)

Also, not that I have indulged this, but I need to mention the fact that throughout this (and probably the last) pregnancy no matter how nauseous I am, I could always go for cookies or cake. I mean seriously what is that about? I go to the grocery store and HATE everything I see and have to avert my eyes from everything but the bakery display where I try not to leave my puddle of drool as I drag myself away from it! Seriously? WHY BODY? WHY? Shouldn't you crave carrots or something? Why do you thwart my efforts to give this baby some good-for-you-ness? You would think the primal instincts would send me far from the desserts and straight too the vitamin laden produce and things! Life is soo not fair!

Feeling:
Well during those bad days, I was discouraged, weary and super sick of first trimester.
Since then,I've had 2 good days,followed by another really good day, so I'm feeling very hopeful that its second trimester time (well you know, sensation wise.) I just have 2 more weeks to go till its officially second trimester --- oh how happy that makes me!

I've also been feeling grateful because even though its a fairly crazy time in my life (with us moving soon, Blake being so busy, and me mothering while pregnant, and me needing to give birth in a new location) I feel really calm. And that's totally God. I know me, and "me" would be freaking out in this situation. God's really been upholding me with out me even asking. He just is. He's holding me together. And I'm really grateful.

Baby:
No flutters, but I do occasionally have this weird feeling, like when you go over a bump in the car and lose your stomach, only its not in my stomach, its low. Soooo I don't know what that would be. But its there. (Maybe the baby is jumping up and down, like you can do in an elevator while its moving and then it feels all crazy when you stop. :) I'm kidding. I have no idea.)

Other:
I've decided to do a section on J. She's awesome. She needs some updates in here too! (I know my fam will appreciate this!)

J:
She seriously is getting cuter and smarter by the second. She is saying more and more words, and this week she even said her first sentence, "I see you!" when we were playing hide and seek under the table.

When we count she tries her hardest to count along and sometimes she gets the right numbers in, she is best at 3 and 6.

She has really started loving music. She will spin and dance in circles by herself or with a doll when she likes some songs. She tries to sing songs with me that she knows. In the car she will try and sing with the radio. (Seriously, melts me.) And this week one day while Blake was at work, I made the two of us a bowl of popcorn and while we ate it, she sat with me on the couch and we watched a whole 20 mins or so of a Christmas Concert on PBS --- she was just enthralled by it, she even would clap and say "yay" when the audience clapped. Later we watched an old black and white Christmas movie which she also really liked seeing the singing and dancing, and she tried to dance along.

Her other new favorite thing to do is swish liquids in her mouth: her water, even tomato soup, and as of recently she has even been swishing her spit. Its pretty funny.

She loves changing her babies' diapers, using wipes and everything! (She needs help to get diapers on, but not off.) Today I realized she was playing patty cake with one of her babies, she was even rolling her arms while trying to sing the song. So cute!
She also LOVES to brush her teeth! She would brush her teeth all day long if you let her. She is constantly asking for "more" in regards to the training toothpaste -- if she had her way she would just suck it out of the tube!

Oh and one more new hobby I can think of is her new chair climbing skill. She loves to climb up on the chairs and is excellent at it -- too good actually. She's much too brave and will try and stand on the arm of her booster seat! So, our chairs are all laying on their sides on our floor to prevent her from turning them into a jungle gym until I can trust her a bit more!

And tonight Blake and I did a Christmas photo shoot with her in her Christmas dress and pjs.
S0, please enjoy these pictures! I know we do! :)