Pregnancy...This Time Around

I'm thrilled to announce that I'm twelve weeks pregnant today. Tomorrow begins my second trimester. Time has flown and honestly, I'm just so thrilled to be this far along.

When my first pregnancy resulted in a miscarriage in the first trimester (before week 12, but after we had already heard the heartbeat), I left somewhat emotionally scarred. When I found myself pregnant a second time (with India) , I kept waiting for the bleeding and cramping to start. When it never did (Thank You, Lord!), I felt too frightened to do anything. No exercise, no hair dye, no pool swimming (chlorine), etc. I also never ate sugar or anything conventionally grown. Seriously, organic or bust.

<-- About to pop with my Dia girl...

This time around...well, remember how I said I hadn't sugar in at least five years? I've made up for that in the last few weeks. Honest to goodness, the only edible thing I can stomach is...Laffy Taffy.

What??? Oh I know. I gross myself out. My head wants salad. My brain dreams of greens! Fresh veggies! Vegetable juice from my own juicer! Ah...someday. But for now I will literally throw up just the vegetables in whatever I eat. Brown rice with cooked cabbage? I'll be re-living that cabbage (and just the cabbage, mind you, the rice stays put) in a few hours and suffering from a stomachache for two days minimum. Slightly ridiculous, I think.

When I was pregnant with India, I followed my midwife's and the Bradley Method's high protein diet to a tee. I took it literally and would sit up til midnight if that's what it took to get all 80-100 grams of protein in. Think that contributed to my excess weight gain? Ha!

And here I am eating just about everything I hate about the standard American diet (SAD). Strange sense of justice? Karma for my high standards? Nah. I think it's just that subtle reminder that once again, by the grace and miracle of the Lord, my body is not currently my own.

This second time around I'm also exercising. Not just to keep my weight in check, but it's honestly just so good for you. Plus the doctors/midwives recommend keeping current with your pre-pregnancy activity level. So while I'm temporarily abandoning my half-marathon training, I am still running and attending Stroller Strides. And tomorrow, I'm getting my hair done. (Mind you, I won't color my hair with any dye on my scalp. I use highlights that, for the most part, don't touch skin or scalp in an effort to minimize the toxins my body absorbs.)

If this time is anything like last, hopefully the junk food will abate by trimester two. I scarfed taco supremes from Taco Bell like it was the last food on earth with Dia but just through the first trimester. This baby is all about the candy, though. It's definitely Rory's child.

I have no more sense of control or idea of just who exactly is about to join our family this time around than I did with India, but I do know that I'm in love just like I did with my first girl. I'm smitten. I'm thrilled. Tremendously honored to have not just one miracle, but two. TWO! If anything, I'm doubly humbled, doubly impressed with the grave responsibility before me. I spend an unnatural amount of time scheming up unique baby names (can't wait to find out the sex!), planning the nursery and playroom and just generally trying to imagine the next summer with two kids. Two. I do not know what tomorrow holds, but Lord, I am so grateful for today. Today--the chance to be here with my daughter and husband, to be pregnant again, to play dollhouse, build towers and feed my girl. I love being pregnant.

I just pray the Laffy Taffy doesn't screw the baby up too much.

Why, Hello There!

I'll be honest with you: I have lots of good excuses for not blogging. Lots! But I'll let the pictures do the talking for today...

As you can see, we are now dressing ourself. We like to layer.

Although it was months ago, we celebrated Passover as a family. It's one of my favorite holidays of the year and this year was very special doing it at our house and personally preparing all the specialties (roasted lamb shank, anyone?). Dia helped with the delicious haroshet.

We may very well be the corniest family on the planet! But we love each other. Lots of family nights out...although, not sure why Dia looks like we've tortured her.....I promise she had fun!

Dia loves Anthropologie! She relaxed while I tried on clothes. She also managed to bite into a $45 bar of soap...but if you happen to come across that bar in the store, I'll deny it!

We have also been ridiculously blessed with amazing neighbors. I can't tell you how wonderful it is to be able to just walk across the street and ring the bell for friends to come play. Dia and our neighbor Scarlett became best of friends (even fought like sisters!) and we have loved getting to know their whole family.

We've also been busy with Stroller Strides. It's a fabulous mommy workout where you bring the kids (in the stroller). Dia not only loves the other kids, but she also loves to workout herself. She has been known to randomly drop and do push-ups, squats and lunges. Here I came into her room to find her using the dog leash as a resistance band and doing bicep curls! Talk about "children see, children do." Dia is my number one best workout buddy!

Just too cute not to share. I was in the kitchen when I kept hearing her call my name, but I couldn't find her. Hee hee.

And when Dia hit eighteen months, she and Papa dressed up for a nice dinner out.

He sent me this shot from dinner....they held hands while they ate. :)

And ordered extra olives. D's personal favorite food.

We've also made good use of the top deck at the Deer Valley Airport. It's so fun to watch the planes and even helicopters.

More Papa and Dia dates....

And then one day we were reading this favorite Dr. Suess when Dia stopped me to look closer at this illustration. She tends to find things to focus on in the books and will literally just analyze every little thing on the page. After a few minutes of staring intently at this image, she said, "DD Mama eat." Ha ha!

Proof that while we yes, do eat together, we don't look exactly like those Suess characters.

Dressing up with our amazing play silks. Thank you so much, Heather!

And now for the big news: WE'RE MOVING!

Grammy came to help pack and show Dia how a bookcase is really a fishing boat and painting stir sticks are the perfect fishing rods.

And as for those amazing neighbors, well, they threw us a farewell block party!

Can you believe it? They literally are the world's best neighbors and Rory and I honestly reconsidered moving just because we didn't want to leave our friends!

These are the neighbor kids Dia considers family. We miss you guys!

The party was complete with an old-fashioned popcorn stand

And of course, fireworks a la Rory.

And since we had renovations to do at our old house in order to attract some great renters as well as some major updates to do on our new home, we moved in with Oma and Opa six weeks ago and basically have taken over their formerly lovely (and quiet) home.

Which means we pretty much spend every day either at Oma or Grandma's house. Dia has especially enjoyed her all-access pass to her auntie's jewelry, make-up and hair accessories...

Not to mention quality bonding time...

Delicious home-cooked meals

And spending lunch breaks with Opa.

Oma and Dia are master zoo builders/keepers. (Here it was nap time at the zoo.)

Grandpa knows how to build the best towers!

FYI, Dia loves jalapeno potato chips. These things are SPICY but Dia literally licked the jalapeno powder from the bottom of the bag...ok, so maybe not all of our food has been healthy or home-cooked.

And even though all her toys are in boxes in the garage, she has really shown me the power of her own imagination. All on her own she turned a few boxes and some kitchen appliances into her own kitchen and often makes me tea. :)

We've also logged many hours at the local splash pad

And even the local Summer Movie program. Last week Dia sat through a movie for the first time in the theater! "How To Train Your Pet Dragon" now owns the title of her first in-theater movie! She's crazy for dinosaurs and while she has no idea what a dragon is per se, we told her they were flying dinosaurs and she was hooked!

And to save the very best news for last....I'm also 11 weeks pregnant!

Horrendously sick and exhausted, it's been a rough few months. We could not be more grateful to have both my and Rory's family supporting and literally housing us as we transition into our bigger home with our expanding family. They feed us, entertain us, help us get our car out of the shop (that was a fun time, ha ha), help us re-surface our floors (DAD.....you are amazing), paint, pack, clean and so much more. I have never felt more blessed than to sit down at Father's Day not only with my amazing husband but also for the both of us to be able to look down both sides of a long table and see two families who so truly love us and our daughter.

We are blessed!