16 Week Updates: Baby 2.0

This past weekend, we had 4/6th of BC's siblings in town for a brief and lovely mini family reunion. It all started as a planned golf weekend for BC and his brother Chad, who resides in Kansas. Then- in a completely random coincidence- BC's sister Amy (who lives in Denver) let us know she was to be in town that same weekend for a girls' trip. Having heard this, BC's sister Christie (who lives in Boulder) decided to come in for a night, and of course we had to have sister Julie drive in from Houston to join in on the fun! It was sweet to watch how quickly Iyla warmed up to her family, as this was not always the case with her. She definitely reveled in all the extra attention from her Aunties and Uncle!

Selfie with Aunt Christie

The 3 Jules (Me, Chad's wife Julie & BC's sister Julie) & Christie

On to my 16 week updates!

How far along? 16 weeks today

How big is baby? My baby apps say baby should now be about 7 inches long- about the length of a carrot. The app also notes that in the next few weeks baby will go through a huge growth spurt, doubling it's weight and adding inches to it's length. Can't wait to see what that does to my already burgeoning belly! This is also the week that baby starts being able to actually hear, due to tiny bones having developed in its ears. I have this weird feeling that this baby may be our musical one (Iyla- bless her heart- LOVES to sing and is the cutest little singer in the the world, but appears to have BC's voice… meaning: tone deaf). Given that development, this is definitely the time to start really talking and singing to baby! 

Weight gain? It slowed slightly this week... I am up another 1.4 pounds as of this morning, for a total gain of 11.4 pounds so far.

16 weeks with baby #2

And for fun, here's my little belly (thought I'm sure I felt huge!) at 16 weeks with Iyla:

Sleep? It's been better the last few nights, likely from taking a Benadryl before bed due to a nasty cold I've been fighting. 

I also have to give BC huge kudos here for a moment. About a year ago his snoring picked up, and that coupled with my extremely light sleeping proved to be a not-so-great combination for sleep. In an effort to help, we got a new king sized bed and I started sleeping with earplugs. When that didn't help, we resorted to having BC sleep many nights of the week in the guest room. While we both slept well that way, neither of us wanted that to be a permanent solution.

This past week BC took it upon himself to do some in-depth research into his own snoring. Did you know there is an online quiz one can do to determine what type of snorer you are? This is the one BC took, which led him to learn he was a 'tongue snorer." This information helped him find and order this super sexy device, which lo and behold has proven to be a small MIRACLE. The snoring has been cut to almost nothing, and we are both happily sharing our cozy king size bed again.

Food cravings/aversions? Not much different this week. Still having aversions to seafood and craving veggies. Last night I cooked up a big pot of Green Curry Soup, which was the perfect remedy for both my cravings and my cold! I also made a batch of homemade chocolate chip cookies because, you know, balance. 

Symptoms? I feel like I am finally coming out of the first trimester fog. This past week my nausea has been much better and I am also getting into a better groove with my body- fully used to the belly and having less overall ligament pain. I did start my day today throwing up, but I think that was fully due to the combination of an apple slice + elderberry syrup + prenatal vitamins on an empty stomach. Poor Iyla G came into the bathroom mid vomit with a concerned look on her face asking if I as ok, then sat down behind me hugging my back while I retched over the toilet. That's love for you! 

Big sister? I had a super fun weekend with Iyla. BC was busy golfing & entertaining family, so she and I had lots of quality time to adventure together. On Saturday I took her to a toddler art class at a local Gymboree (which she LOVED) and on Sunday we ventured out to Dinosaur Park- a place I'd heard about several times but had yet to visit. When I mapped it out and realized it was only 20 minutes away, we were a GO! This is a kid who loves dinosaurs, and the gorgeous 65 sunny weather made for a perfect day hike. 

Here are a few photos from our past week:

Dinosaur Park!

Rawr!

This is a baby dinosaur hatching, in case that wasn't clear

Look out Iyla!

She was making all the dinosaurs gather for a "dinosaur party." It's so funny to me how differently girls and boys tend to play!

Meanwhile, at school, the teachers reported that Iyla spent an entire morning hand in hand with this little firefighter named Socrates

She worked on her back float at swimming lessons

Delighted in new presents from her Aunties

And rocked some seriously adorable braids! 

Most looking forward to? Right now, just getting over this cold and hopefully having energy again! 

16 Weeks (The Hormonal Roller-Coaster)

Today I am 4 months pregnant.  While out shopping earlier, I was loving catching glimpses of my wee baby bump in mirrors- it is definitely noticeable now to anyone who knows me (though strangers may just think I am bloated!)

This past week was the first where I felt some strong hormonal tides commandeering my body. Wednesday night's sleep was racked with insanely manic, busy, stressful dreams- constant frenzied stories in my mind. I slept though the night, but b/c of the crazed dreams woke Thursday in a sluggish fog which hovered over me the entire day. I proceeded to have one of 'those' days- where full glasses of water were spilled, knees were bumped, calls were dropped, horrendous drivers were cutting me off, etc. The energy was seriously awry.

I started the day trying to be very zen about it all- "I have a towel right here to mop up that gallon of water!" "What's another bruise on my knee?" But as the day progressed, I became a grouchy, ornery mess. It also didn't help that my nausea had come back to taunt me.

To test me further, one of my colleagues left town Thursday- and I was set to cover her business while she was away. She had left me a list of buyers, sellers, contracts, etc, and said that things should be pretty quiet.

*Famous last words.*

Within 2 hours of her leaving I'd heard from two different clients of hers, one of which had a new listing they wanted to see ASAP.

Did I mention my own business has been quite busy as well?

The best way to describe how I felt with every call coming in (from her clients and my own) was:

"GrrrrrRRRRRRrrrrrrr."

Thursday evening before bed I said a little prayer to please please PLEASE calm the manic dreams. Let me rest and feel rested. The Universe listened- no manic dreams! However, it threw me another curveball; I awoke in the middle of the night to a massive headache. A throbbing, nauseating, pulsating headache. I took 2 Tylenol, drank a glass of water, & eventually fell back asleep with my knuckles lodged into the nubs on the back of my neck. Thanks, Universe. I'll be adding that little gem to the nightly prayer list of items to please avoid.

Needless to say Friday was another "grrrrrRRRRrrrrr" day. Little patience, little energy, and an overall feeling of being extremely drained. It was a non-stop business day- writing offers, showing property, answering calls, etc. As the day came to a close, I took a MUCH needed catnap before heading out with BC for date night.

And as such, my batteries were gently recharged. We had a fabulous dinner, and I even allowed myself about 1/2 a glass of white wine as a naughty treat (it was a-mazing). I watched a documentary called "First Position" that I'd been wanting to see, and got to bed nice and early.

I slept soundly. No manic dreams, no headaches.

This morning I woke up with rainbows and butterflies all around me. An email came in from my colleagues' clients wanting to go see homes about a 35 minute drive away.

"Well, SURE! Does 10am work?"

As I was returning from my country house viewing adventure, another colleague who was out of town texted me, asking if there was any way I could show his buyers a few homes in East Austin later that day?"

"No problem- send along those MLS numbers!"

And thus was my Saturday. Admittedly I was a bit exhausted by day's end from it all, but oh so grateful for the abundance of patience and ease and sunshiny happiness I awoke with today. It was needed.

I attribute the hormonal surges to a lot of activity going on with the babe- which is a nice segway to my 16 week updates:

How far along? 16 weeks

How big is baby? The size of an avocado! The coolest thing about this week's development is that tiny bones are forming in the baby's ears, meaning he/she can now start to hear our voices! Knowing this, I am going to be singing more to the little one, in the hopes that he/she inherits my ear for music (unfortunately BC, as much as he tries, is tone-deaf). The little one is developing eyelashes, eyebrows, & more hair, and also forming taste buds.

Total weight gain? Up 2.2 lbs this morning. Sadly, still constipated.

Sleep? The manic dream episode this week was something else- like my system was oozing with stress hormones & using them to create an exhausting nocturnal adventure. Between that and the horrible headache I had two really off nights. Other than that- as long as I get to bed at a decent hour- I sleep well. Reading prior to bed helps a LOT- I can only go about 10-15 minutes before getting bleary-eyed, but it definitely puts my mind in a state of ease.

Food cravings/aversions? We had sushi last night, and it tasted like pure HEAVEN (don't worry- I made sure the rolls I ordered had allowable, cooked fish inside). My body needs a healthy dose of protein daily, and I am definitely wanting to eat more often. I don't feel well if I eat too much or too little- leaving me feeling on most days like poor little Goldilocks.

Symptoms? My nausea kicked back in the last few days, on/off throughout the day. The crazy manic dream episode was new and something I hope I don't revisit. I am still feeling pretty fatigued, and had quite the hormonal mood swings this week.

Most looking forward to?  Some ENERGY. Where are you, oh so elusive 2nd trimester energy? I promise to put you to good use should you choose to gift me with your presence. I am also very much looking forward to starting to feel the baby move- apparently that often begins between 18-20 weeks... not too far off now!