21 Weeks

First of all, I have to say that I have completely given into the fact that, unless my brain does a total 180, belly photos with weekly updates will not be happening, at least not regularly. Once and awhile, maybe. But all last week I kept telling Hank, okay today we'll snap some quick photos, and every night when he got home I'd say, oh no, tomorrow would be better. And then tomorrow came and it would be the same thing. And I felt guilty! How silly, right? Guilty over the BELLY PHOTOS I kept putting off. SILLY. I mean, who cares? For some reason though I felt like I should do them regularly, like that's just what I was supposed to do. Does that make sense? Oh, blogging.

As far as the pregnancy though, I'm loving it! I'm officially 21 weeks today and smack dab in the enjoying phase, now that I'm fully out of the first trimester and have been for some time. It's still crazy to me to feel these little kicks and flips and pokes, and be suddenly reminded that yes, there is a baby in there. I can't tell if it's because I had more time to think about it before I was chasing around a toddler all day, but I swear, I just felt more pregnant last time.

Right now our main focus is getting the house ready for baby! We're changing one of the guest rooms into a nursery this weekend, and will probably get painting on Sunday. I'm thinking all white walls, and I'll share the rest of our plans once we get going. Since we bought our home just a month or so before Henry was born, I feel like I never really got the chance to get it exactly how I wanted. I love it, but now I'm just excited to get his "big boy" room up and running. Doing two rooms for two boys at once is interesting, because I gravitate towards the same things and I have to remind myself that the rooms shouldn't be carbon copies of one another, no matter how much I want to put the same curtain panels and rug in both.

It's also still WEIRD to me to imagine having two boys running around. It's not like I was set on having a girl this time, but I think my mind wandered a lot more that way than it did to the boy side. So when we heard "boy!" it took my brain a second to process it, and I'm still laughing to myself thinking of the wild chaos that will be happening once baby is here, and both of these dudes are able to run and play together.

I've gotten a few of the same questions on my IG/blog/email/Twitter, so I thought I'd answer them here, even though I've already touched on a few of these things before.

Do you guys have named picked out?

Yes!  First and middle, ready to go. Some people like to wait and see the baby before they name them, but I like being set on the name and being able to call the little one by name during pregnancy. Henry also uses the baby's name and it's just about the cutest thing ever.

Why are you having a planned c-section? Why not try for a VBAC?

I already answered this in an earlier post but I'd say this is one of the most common questions I've been asked lately. I had an emergency c-section with Henry after almost two days of natural labor and three hours of pushing, and although my doctor didn't tell me I couldn't try for a vaginal birth, I'm just not interested. I had an easy recovery with my c-section, and although the actual labor wasn't bad (up until the end when they told me NOT to push...try to stop that phenomenon from happening), I just have absolutely no interest in trying it again. So instead I'll be scheduled with the same doctor, and I'll know what day our little guy will be born. That is totally strange to me, to know in advance when I'm giving birth, but that's the plan!

Do you guys want to have more kids or is two boys it?

I would honestly have six kids if we could. Ideally we would like 4, but like my Mom says, have two and see.

Are you still working out? What is your workout plan?

Yes, still working out regularly. I'm a total morning person and usually get up super early, way before Hank and Henry (around 4:45am) and go to the gym. I usually do about 45 minutes of cardio- a mix of the elliptical, stair stepper, bike, etc- then some weights. I'm used to lifting heavy but while pregnant I don't at all; the most I do in free weights is about 12 lbs. in each hand if I'm doing biceps or something. But that's it. I also have been doing prenatal yoga and barre, and going on long walks most days with Henry. With all of that said though, some days I just don't feel like it and I don't push it. Besides our walks, I haven't worked out the past couple of days because I've been a little tired and couldn't fall asleep, and the only way I'll wake up early is if I got to bed by 9 or 9:30. Usually this is easy to do, but some days it's hard. So my motto is just do what feels good, and that's been working for me.

21 weeks has been good to me. Although I have been a little up and down with my energy levels, all food is tasting good (reeeaaal good, people), skin and hair are behaving, and I'm feeling pretty wonderful. My stomach is about the same size it was with Henry at this point, although one difference is that this baby moves a lot less. It will be interesting to see if that corresponds with their personalities, like it apparently did with my sister and me. My Mom says that I didn't move a lot, and I ended up being a super laid back kid, content to read for hours on her lap...and then my sister moved a LOT and ended up being a super wild kid. Henry moved a lot in my belly and is my energetic rascal of a boy, so we'll see if this next baby is a little more subdued.

It's hard to believe I'm past the halfway mark, and before we know it summertime and new baby time will be here!

xoxo