Well, that certainly flew by! Between the holidays and moving into our house, these last weeks have really gone so fast. Pregnancy definitely seems to be moving faster the second time around. Here’s a little recap of everything pregnancy & just life in general since the halfway mark. It’s crazy to think that I’m in my third trimester and in the last third! We’re going to be welcoming little baby N into the family before we know it and I can’t wait! Except I can wait until I get our house together and baby boy’s room ready haha!

Week 21:

This week was Thanksgiving week, which was full of LOTS of family time for all of us. It was so much fun, the only downside was that I got sick and it was one of the hardest weeks with T (before we were with everyone). I was so run down and tired and then he got sick and wouldn’t sleep at night. A few of the nights, Thomas and I had to bring him in bed to sleep with us. Being sick with a toddler is rough. But being pregnant and sick with a toddler is extra rough. But being pregnant, sick, AND having your toddler sick was one of the hardest weeks of my life. Thankfully we had a lot of family around by the end of the week, but was definitely my most challenging week of pregnancy so far haha! Glad that one is in the past! Otherwise, we had a low stress and very enjoyable Thanksgiving. I made my first apple pie, which was a very proud moment. And then I lived off apple pie and vanilla ice cream for like 5 days straight. It was glorious.

On another note, I do wear a lot of the same thing everyday haha, but some favorite places I like to buy maternity clothes are: Ingrid & Isabel (I find some at Target), Pink Blush (my favorite black & white tanks are from here and so are all my dresses), & Gap (I found some good workout tops/ sweatshirts). I also have the Lulu Lemon Align leggings, which aren’t maternity, but I’ve been wearing them the whole time. I typically wear a 6 in their leggings and I sized up to an 8 and they have been the best purchase I’ve ever made. I heard people rave about them, and I didn’t believe them, but honestly they’re amazing. I wear them every single day. They are pricey, but I have gotten my money out of them easily haha!

Week 22:

We all started feeling better just in time for me to go to New York City for an event with HelloWellness. Thomas stayed home with T and my dad actually joined me in the city. We stayed an extra day so that we could spend some time together. It was so nice getting to have uninterrupted time just the two of us. We walked A LOT, ate yummy food, and I enjoyed a bath each day at some point, because my pregnant body was tired and it felt so good to take a bubble bath without anybody needing me haha! At the end of the week when I got back home, we went over to my mama’s house and decorated Christmas cookies with my sisters and some friends and all our babies! Being pregnant during the holidays is fun (I was pregnant during the holidays last time too), because there is so much good food around and all the desserts, and I love sweets even extra when I’m pregnant!

Week 23:

We really got hit with so many sicknesses this winter. T wouldn’t take a nap 4 days in a row and had such a hard time going to sleep. Turns out he had an ear infection, poor little guy! The only way he’d nap was in our arms or in the stroller (like the picture above haha, those lips though). He was so fussy and tired and that’s always such a challenge. Just keeping it real, because sick kids are HARD.

On a more positive note, I had the opportunity to attend a Pure Barre Pregnancy Workshop. It basically went through the whole class setup and showed you the best modifications to take depending on your trimester, etc. I’ve loved doing Pure Barre so much when pregnant. I did it all the time when I was pregnant with T, but it’s definitely more difficult to get there this time around. If they had childcare, it would be perfect, but they don’t haha so it’s not always possible to go! As far as the workout, I swear it helped me so much with my pregnancy and recovery last time around. This time around, I’m just doing what I can when I can and trying to just walk and be active! But honestly, most days, just chasing T around is all I have the chance to do and it feels like enough!

Week 24:

This week was such a good one. T was feeling back to his normal self and was as joyful and happy as can be. I had my 24 week appointment, and everything came back looking good and normal. I’m so thankful for that! We ended the week at mom’s and did an early Christmas with all my siblings, spouses, and the cousins. My family is crazy and we all have had kids basically at the same time. My sister has two girls, my oldest brother has two girls, my other brother has one boy & one boy on the way, and I have a boy and another boy on the way. It’s so crazy, but we seem to be having them in pairs haha so total we have four girls and four boys (two in the bellies).

As far as products I’ve been using for my belly, I literally just use the Primally Pure Almond + Vanilla Body Butter. It smells so good and is SO SOFT. I used it with T too, and I just love it so much! Their chapstick is also my go-to. It’s been cold out, but I feel like my lips have been more chapped than usual so I always use it on my lips. I also use the body butter on my dry hands!

Week 25:

Christmas week, which meant no preschool but lots of family time. We made so many yummy things like cheese boards, this delicious pasta, cinnamon rolls (these are Ambitious Kitchen’s recipe and they are truly the best thing in the world). T was back to being himself and sleeping so that felt so good! We all got a lot of sleep, which is much needed to stay energized these days. Thankfully, I’m still able to sleep pretty good so I’m thankful for that. Last time, I used a pregnancy pillow, but it’s currently in storage. I’ve just been stuffing a big pillow between my legs and under my belly, and honestly it’s done the trick just fine! Here’s the pillow I have though, because they are definitely helpful!

Week 26:

Started to really feel pregnant this week haha. MY hips feel like they’re expanding, and I’ve had a lot of lower back pain (I did with T too). I’ve taken a break from exercise and just focused on short walks. We celebrated New Year’s Eve at my brother & sister-in-law’s for their gender reveal. They’re having another boy just like us 🙂 Now, it’s officially 2020 which means we’re having another baby this year which blows my mind! So excited, but also so ready to get into our house so I can start nesting away.

You can’t totally tell in this photo, but my hair has not gotten that pregnancy thickness/ shine this time like it did last time! I’ve been having to wear all the headbands (most of mine are from Anthropologie), because I have so much breakage. After having T, I ended up experiencing postpartum hair loss and I feel like it’s been getting thinner again just recently for some reason! I’ve even been taking collagen peptides, which I feel like really helps with hair & nail growth and it still is thin, breaking, and brittle. I asked on Instagram stories for suggestions and got so many. I was also surprised how many pregnant mamas that are on their second or third saying they are experiencing the same thing. It’s always nice knowing you aren’t alone! Anyway, I’m going to try a few of the suggestions out and report back!

Week 27:

Finally back into the swing of things and preschool (seriously I’m so thankful for this break because being pregnant and chasing around a VERY busy toddler is exhausting haha!). Something about a routine always is so soothing to me after vacation, traveling, or holiday time. T went through a random 3 night sleep regression. Apparently a bunch of moms reached out saying that 18 month sleep regression is a real thing. Thankfully it only lasted 3 days and then it was over!

If you guys have been following along on my stories, I shared how I accidentally washed my FAVORITE jean jacket with my prenatals in the pocket. Well, they had fish oil in them, and my jacket smelled disgusting. You all turned in so many tips, tricks, and suggestions and I literally tried everything. Absolutely nothing worked. I had to throw the jacket away (VERY sad day), but thankfully they had a similar one on sale online. So I ordered that, and it’s not exactly the same but it’s close! R.I.P. jacket. Anyway, that being said I had to switch my prenatal (I was using Ritual & loved them), but the fish oil freaked me out after my jacket so now I’m taking these Garden of Life Prenatal Once Daily and the Vegan DHA. I’ve always loved Garden of Life products so these are always great!

Week 28:

Back to sleeping and regularly scheduled programming. Thank goodness. Being a parent is the most amazing & rewarding thing I’ve ever done in my life, but it’s also the most unpredictable, exhausting, love affair ever. & somehow, I still wouldn’t change it for the world, and I can’t wait to bring another little guy into this world. I had my 28 week glucose test this week & everything went well. YAY! Also, I remember everyone totally freaked me out about it before I went for T. Like how the drink was disgusting and it was so miserable, etc. Honestly, I didn’t mind the drink. It’s just super sweet, and waiting didn’t seem all that bad and they were done so quickly. So if you have to get yours done for the first time, don’t stress! It’s really not that bad.

They said took my full thyroid panel while they were at it. For those that don’t know, I was diagnosed like hypothyroidism years ago. I used to take Armour Thyroid medicine, but after having T I just never went in to get blood work again so I couldn’t get my medicine, so I stopped taking it and I felt fine. So weird, and honestly I’ve heard pregnancy can help balance hormones and help with hypothyroidism and I’ve had my blood work done since and everything is normal. I AM SO GRATEFUL! On another note, we Went out for a pizza night with Thomas’ family as our last dinner out living together. We lived with my mom for 4 months and Thomas’ parents for 4 months and they were seriously so amazing to live with. So helpful, kind, generous, amazing. I just love them and feel so blessed by them, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t excited to be in our own place! And we officially moved this week, yay!

Week 29:

We spent most of the week getting unloaded! Made chocolate chip pancakes for our first breakfast, cooked when we could, and then got takeout a few times (like our favorite Pupatella pizza!) Feels so good to have our own space and be able to walk around in whatever I’m comfortable in, especially being pregnant. There’s just something so comforting about it, and I’m really starting to feel that pregnant belly grow! It’s getting so much harder to bend over and definitely harder to carry T around. It was a busy week, but my nesting hit hard and we got a lot done so quickly. There’s still a lot to do, but now we’re chipping away at everything little by little.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve noticed that drinking coffee on an empty stomach was really throwing off my stomach and digestion. I’d usually drink it early and eat breakfast a couple hours later. I actually didn’t realize it was the coffee at first, but I ended up adding in a snack with my coffee (even though I’m not typically hungry at 6am) and it’s made SUCH a difference! I haven’t been experiencing the weird heart racing, uneasiness, etc now. I’ve been having a slice of toast with almond butter on top every morning & it’s really been hitting the spot in every way!

At the end of the weekend, I did end up catching the stomach bug. I was on the couch and basically couldn’t move, eat, or really drink from Saturday morning until Monday morning. Thomas swooped in like a hero and took care of me, T, and even made us all chicken soup. I could literally barely eat, but just focused on getting lots of water (even though it made me nauseous to drink it) because I didn’t want to get dehydrated especially pregnant. So I took elderberry syrup, drank lots of water, coconut water/ an electrolyte drink mix, emergen-c, toast when I could eat, chicken soup, but mostly just sleep. I slept more than I have in a long time, and my body must have needed it. By Monday, I felt almost completely back to normal so woohoo for that and having my appetite back!

That’s all I have for now, and I’ll do another check in in a few weeks!!

Xoxo,

Lex