Wordless Wednesday: Family/maternity snapshots

About a month ago, I had this sudden urge to have maternity photos taken. I went back and forth, in true indecisive pregnant lady fashion, and finally decided that I didn't really want to pay a lot of money to have my huge belly photographed. I did, however, want to capture my pregnancy. I didn't take a ton of photos during my pregnancy with Elle except for my weekly bump photos, and while I've taken weekly bump photos with this pregnancy, I wanted some photos that were a little more artistic and posed. I also wanted to capture Tim and Elle in some of the photos.

Although it was already super Florida hot, we asked one of our babysitters (hi Ashley!) to watch Elle for a few hours while we ran some errands together and went out for dinner. Then we came home and went to the river to take some photos - Ashley helped by taking some photos of the three of us and also keeping Elle safe and happy during the rest of the shoot.

I'm glad we did it, and I'm glad we didn't spend a lot of time and money on the photos. I managed to jam my wedding ring on my swollen fingers for the pictures, although I had to wear different shoes than originally planned because my feet were too swollen. My hair didn't appreciate the humidity, and Elle and I were both sweaty messes within five minutes. In 10 years, though, I think I'll be happy to see how close I was to meeting our son and how we were preparing for Wesley as a a family, but I don't think we need to plaster the walls with photos of my giganticness :)

Here are some of my favorite photos:

She's going to be an amazing big sister.

We actually bought Wesley's little shoes about two hours before these photos were taken.
Props for the win!

Love Elle's face in this one.

Tim is convinced this pose is going to explode on Pinterest.
I call it "pregnant woman split in half by lamp post."
He calls it "brilliant."

Yup, that's our kid.

We promised Elle some playground time if she cooperated in the photos.

Pregnancy and fitness: Past, present and future.

About a month and a half ago, I hit a point where I realized I was starting to freak people out at the gym, and I enjoyed their looks of amusement/terror when they saw me run on the treadmill or hop on the elliptical with my big ol' belly. I enjoyed the same reactions during my pregnancy with Elle, although at the time I think I was more self-conscious about it and knew everyone was worried I'd go in to labor while at the gym (and actually, I kind of did, as the first signs of labor started during a weight lifting workout almost 24 hours before Elle entered the world). This time, I'm kind of impatient with the stares (and basically everything in the world) and just want to work out without being judged.

Apparently my pace isn't fast enough anymore to keep her awake.

During my pregnancy with Elle, I did a lot of strength training, but at this point my strength training is limited to carrying a 35-pound toddler and heaving myself out of bed several times a night to attend to said toddler or go to the bathroom. The cardio, though, I've been pretty good about - at least, as much as I can. It's getting harder to amble around - I haven't run in almost two months just because I don't have the energy. Elle has been a good sport and has indulged me in stroller jogs/walks a few nights a week after work, which I was eating up as long as I could, but now we're pretty much at a point where it is too hot to do much at the end of the day. (I figure at some point in the near future, we'll start hitting the pool after work for some large belly gravity-free time.) When I have crazy soreness, stiffness or pain, I hit up my favorite prenatal Pilates workouts. Not as couch potato as I feel like being, although I certainly have my moments.

At this point, 33 weeks pregnant and heading in to the thick of Florida's sticky, humid summer, I'm pleased with how active I've been thus far but also aware that I'm winding down. And while I don't feel like I'm in as good of shape as I was during my last trimester with Elle, I just don't have the time (or energy) to hit the gym 4-6 times a week. I'm getting in a workout 2-4 times a week, and my doctor says my weight gain and Wesley's growth are good, very much on track. I'm up about 20 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight so, and I figure I'll probably gain another 5-10 pounds in the next seven weeks or so (I'm leaving room for the fluid retention that I anticipate happening as I head in the final stretch of my summer pregnancy). Dr. S. also said that three workouts a week is good right now, so to meet or beat that makes me feel good about things overall, even though I feel like a huge, fat cow 90% of the time.

Working out on vacation in the hotel gym -
27 weeks, 2 days pregnant.

 My feet have started to swell when I do too much or am on them all day. I'm physically exhausted by the afternoon, and by the time I finish working a full day, pick Elle up from daycare, make dinner, tidy up the house, bathe Elle and put her to bed, I'm completely dead. To fit in a walk after work is a huge feat (and often results in huge feet). I usually get in a walk or quick workout on the weekends.

But I'm also at the point where I'm motivated to reclaim my pre-baby body. Not that I'm dieting or going to kill myself to lose the baby weight after Wesley arrives, but I'm looking forward to having a waist again. To being able to run again without discomfort. To not only be fit, but also clear my mind during my workouts. To eat well and not have the old "But you're eating for two!" comment thrown in my face. I see people at the gym with their flat(ter) stomachs and quick movements and simultaneously feel jealous and self-righteous (I am, after all, a vessel of life).

I plan on breastfeeding Wesley, which I know will help with calorie burn, but I also distinctly remember how my flexibility for fitting workouts in between nursing sessions (and being engorged or "on call") was affected during Elle's first few months of life. In short, I might not be able to work out as much as I want to for the first few months after I resume exercise, and I'm just going to accept that.

After Elle was born, my sister and I ran a half-marathon relay. I trained for it as much as I could, and while I wasn't super speedy, I prepared enough so that I wouldn't kill or injure myself during the race. Most of my "me time" came in the form of my training runs, and I also enjoyed the added benefit of breast feeding+relay training that resulted in my weighing less - and being in better physical shape - than I had been in more than a decade. I'm looking forward to getting back to that point - being healthy and fit, feeling that sense of accomplishment after a good workout or crossing a finish line. I want to be a good fitness role model for my kids, and I am eager to incorporate them in to workouts (Elle told me tonight that she would do planks with me, although it's been months since I've done a plank and will be quite some time before I resume planking, haha). Whether it be showing Elle some stretches or packing Wesley in to the jogging stroller for a quick run, I hope I can set a long-term example for them and get back in to - and stay in - shape after this pregnancy.

Linking up with Ashley for Move It Monday:

 

Random ramblings of the 2013 variety

* I feel like I've reached one of those "you know you're adult when ..." milestones. I woke up this morning in the middle of a dream where Tim and I were sitting at the bank talking to someone about a mortgage, and I was busy trying to figure out how much longer we could stay because we had to get home in time for the sitter to leave. Sigh.

* Heard in the house this weekend: Elle telling Tim "Daddy, I don't understand what you're talking about" and "Daddy, get. off. the. couch."

* I'm starting to cook more again, and I used the slow cooker for both meals this weekend. If you use a slow cooker and don't the Reynolds Slow Cooker Liners, you're working too hard to clean out your slow cooker. They. Are. Amazing. I've been using them for at least a year now and am in love.

* I asked my Facebook friends for some book suggestions, and I'm totally engulfed in "Divergent." I started it late Saturday night and by the end of Sunday I was already more than halfway through. I don't have a ton of time to read with the toddler around, so my progress says a lot about how the book sucked me in.

* I had a bad experience with my DHA pill last week. I know it's important to take, but I'm also not a fan of things coming back up, so it was hard for me to take it without feeling ill. I found a gummy prenatal + DHA/folic acid supplement, though, at Target, and so far, it is a miracle worker for me. I get the stuff I need without the gagging I hate, and the baby wins, too.

* Speaking of the baby, I'm super excited about one of the gifts Tim gave me for Christmas - I asked for another copy of The Belly Book to chronicle this pregnancy. I know it's likely that I will not be able to capture every moment of Baby Bean's life like I have Elle's. But I'd like to not start off on the wrong foot. It's been easy for me to keep up with the book since I do my weekly updates on the blog, and I like being able to compare the two pregnancies.

* I'm also digging the same prenatal Pilates DVD that I blogged about last pregnancy. I love that it has 10-minute sessions that I can do alone or combine in whatever way I choose - I'm a fan of the flexibility, core and buns/thighs segments. They almost always make my aches and pains feel better and definitely helped my back as my pregnancy with Elle progressed. When I'm not up for cardio but want to feel like I've done something, it's nice to stretch and move for 20 minutes or so. The postnatal segment kicks my butt, too - a day or two of doing those ab exercises and I already started to feel toned. A-mah-zing.

* Today, I read with (more) interest (than I'd like to admit) that Kate Middleton's due date has been confirmed(!). She's due in July (ooooh, just like me!). An actual day hasn't been announced, but I've been intrigued by the royal pregnancy since my sister pointed out that Kate and I were probably around the same gestation when Kate when hospitalized last month. I was sick, but not as sick as the Duchess of Cambridge. I thought it would be cool if Kate and I had the same due date (or heck, deliver on the same day!) since we already share a connection, what with her deciding to get married on my 30th birthday and all.

Random randomness

Since I know you didn't get enough randomness from me here, I give you a collection of some of the thought-snippets that have been floating around my head recently:

Kevin Bacon what?: Ever think of how incestuous the blogging community is? Like, instead of six degrees of separation it's 1.5 comments of separation. I'm turned in to quite the blog-reading addict. I get transfixed, absorbed, as I read the stories of others. Then I click back. Then I click on comments and click on THOSE blogs. Rinse, repeat. It's vicious.

Super size me: Gerber baby onesies run suppppeeeerrr small in my opinion. Elle was able to wear the newborn ones once, and since then, I haven't even tried except putting her in 24M onesies this past week. They fit her excellently, which is sad considering she's not even nine months old yet.

Gerber onesie in question.

A rose by any other name: Any one else have several nicknames used by specific people? I've been sending a bunch of e-mails to family members lately. My mom, sister and youngest brother usually call me "Bug." (Short version of the story: I've always been a pest but "Bug" sounded cuter than "Pest" or "Nuisance.") My dad and other brother call me Kris. So when I send an e-mail to my mom and dad, I sign it "Bug/Kris." Sometimes I have to pause a minute and remember who I am e-mailing before I sign it. Weird? Maybe.

Squeaky clean: There were some comments on my cloth diaper post (whheeeeeeeee, Earth Day!) about  natural/homemade cleaners. I'm planning to switch over to a lot of these, mostly to eliminate chemicals but also to save money, as we run out of the cleaners we currently have. I've been doing research, and some of the best information I've found is on one of the coolest blogs I recently discovered, Young House Love. They have posts about unexpected natural cleaners as well as a plethora of recipes for all natural, homemade cleaners.

Guess who has two thumbs and a pregnancy mask?: This guy. Er, girl. I found a new, small mole on my face about a month ago, and I realized I hadn't been to the dermatologist in two or three years. I'd gotten married, moved, changed insurance and then was pregnant during that time, so an annual check kind of slipped through the cracks. I made an appointment after finding the mole, though, and my new doctor deemed me without worrisome spots but "mole-y." As in "mole-y enough to require yearly checks." Plus, this is Florida, y'all. (And I never SAY "y'all," my fingers just itched to type it.) We have sun coming out of our ears. Usually I'm not in it a lot, because I hate, hate, hate being hot and sweaty, but in the "winter," outside is the best place to be. At my appointment, I also brought up the pregnancy mask (that I self-diagnosed around week 36 of pregnancy) on my forehead, which seemed to be returning/getting darker in the last two months or so. (Coincidentally, about as long as I'd been seriously training for the half-marathon relay with my sister.)

The doctor said, "Oh yes, I see some on your forehead, cheeks and chin." WHAT?! I hadn't even realized it was anywhere other than my forehead. But after I looked more closely, I could definitely see it on my cheeks - it had been camouflaged by freckles, age spots (because I am approaching ancient) and general face-flushedness. The chin I'm not so sure about, but holy geez, it's everywhere!

A decent look at the dark spots
near the center of my forehead.

She asked me how long ago I'd stopped nursing. "I still am," I said. She looked at me with a smile and said, "That's why. It's all about hormones and melatonin." Awesomesauce. Which means that it could take a few months after I stop breastfeeding to fade ... and if it doesn't fade on its own I can try some over-the-counter face creams ... and if those don't work I can try some prescription options ... but at that point I'll probably be gearing up to get pregnant again ... and will then breastfeed again .. and the whole cycle will continue. So get used to it, folks. This mask is likely here to stay (for at least the next few years, anyway).

Bright side? At least I'm set for Halloween.

Biceps of steel: Ever vacuum approximately 800 square feet of carpet with one arm because the other arm is holding the baby that is deathly afraid of the vacuum cleaner unless she's being held? I don't recommend it. She's getting better - last time I vacuumed she refused to look anywhere but over my shoulder. This time she actually watched. But I think I got more of a workout vacuuming our condo the other day than I did from my 3-mile run at the gym.

Beware of flying objects: I sometimes wonder if our childbirth education/safety instructors are the only people in the world who warn of attaching toys to car seats. Has anyone else heard this line of thinking? The women made very good points that we never would have considered: In the event of a car crash, those toys (and everything else in the car) become projectiles. I can tell you that my car is much cleaner on a regular basis now than it was pre-baby, just because I fear every empty soda can or random box could become a dangerous weapon if we were ever, God forbid, involved in a crash. We'll throw a toy on the car seat handle when Elle is in her stroller (her infant car seat snaps in to her Snap N Go stroller), but we always keep the bar of her seat empty and down when we're in motion. If anything, we might give her Sophie the Giraffe to play with, but usually, she's pretty toy-less. Luckily, she's content with that.

Protective father alert: I bought Elle some shorts and skirts a few weeks ago at the mall.  I showed Tim how cute they were, and he responded with "They're too short."

Teething is officially a jerk: My sweet baby has been hurting for the last few days, and on top of the tooth pain, she had some congestion going on. But the kicker to all of this is that Orajel had been my savior - I knew I could fix at least one thing by numbing Elle's gums temporarily. Then my sister e-mailed, and Facebook assaulted, on Tuesday with the news that  the active ingredient in gels like Orajel and Anbesol, benzocaine, can cause a serious and adverse reaction and should not be used in children under the age of two. TWO. Have any of you heard about this? I don't feel comfortable using the gels until we speak with our pediatrician - Elle's next well-baby visit is in two weeks - so until then, I wondered what we would do. She has teether toys and is good with those, but the frozen washcloth thing doesn't interest her AT ALL, and I'm most concerned with helping her when she's sleeping. She's been crying out during naps and at night, and I want to take away the ouchies. The only other teething remedy that came to mind was Hyland's teething tablets, and the only thing that I remembered about them was that they were recalled last fall. Conveniently enough, we had mommy/baby group on Wednesday, so I asked for advice then, and my good friend Lara suggested these homeopathic teething strips. They also have tablets that dissolve in water to make a slightly thicker serum to rub on the gums. I've been using the tablets, the sitter has been using the strips, Elle is loving them so far, and they both seem to be helping.

Pick a card, any card: Elle has been extra fussy and clingy lately. It's hard to isolate even a stab in the dark guess at the issue, but it could be her recent cold, those effin' teeth or maybe it's a bit of separation anxiety. Or maybe a combination of any of them. Or something else entirely. I cuddle, cuddle, cuddle, but I hate hearing her so sad and upset when I have to step away for 2.3 seconds.

What a difference a year makes ...

Nov. 29, 2009:

Nov. 29, 2010:

Behold: Big Foot

When the Florida humidity gets really bad ... or when I over-do it early in the day ... or when I can't prop my feet up at work ... or when several of these happen on the same day ... I sometimes end up with painful, huge, ugly feet.

Even on a normal, non-pregnant day, my feet are rather large and not especially attractive as far as feet go. But last night I think they hit their worst point yet - Tim just stared at them and kept saying, "Seriously. Those are big. How much fluid are you retaining in there?!" I had lost definition in my foot, and while my ankles were fairly unswollen, my toes were huge Snausages. It would be one thing if this was just an appearance issue, but they hurt when they are all hot and puffy.

After staying off my feet as much as I could after work and then sleeping last night, they were better today, but still puffed up pretty quickly. I am drowning myself in water and have my feet propped up at work, so hopefully when I get home they won't be quite as gigantor.

Random observations

I figured I should publish these now before I've jinxed myself (especially with the peeing one!) :)

When you're seven months pregnant and you absently rub your belly while standing in line at the post office or craft store, people will quickly say "I can help you right here" or "Why don't you go ahead of me?" Apparently they think that rubbing my belly equals "the baby is going to drop out right here on this floor right now, get her out of here!"

* * *

I am probably wayyyyy too excited about the fact that I've got about two months to go in my pregnancy and I haven't peed my pants yet :)

* * *

An unexpected pregnancy perk: Growth of leg hair can slow. Which has been awesome. Especially since it is becoming increasingly harder to shave said leg hair. Maybe one of Elle's nicknames can be "Nair." But oddly, it seems armpit hair growth speeds up ...

* * *

One of the sheets from our infant care basics class dealt with pets and babies. One guideline was not to get a new pet right before you expected to deliver your baby. (Duh.) The others? "Have your pet well-trained." (Does having a cat that is well-trained in trying to sprint out the front door any time it opens count?) Another: "Cover your crib with mesh netting." (Right. And have the netting fall in to the crib when the cat undoubtedly jumps up in to the crib.) And another priceless gem: "If your cat goes near the baby's crib, shake your finger at the cat and firmly say 'No!'" (Seriously?! Have you MET my cats? You really think THAT will work?!)