First of all, I feel HUGE! At one point I was honestly concerned I was having twins. I haven't gotten a scan or anything, so I can still convince myself that's a possibility sometimes, although it's totally not. I mean, I would KNOW if there were twins in there. At least my midwife would.
How far along? 24 weeks, believe it or not!
Total weight gain: 25 lbs. It is shocking how much I've gained already. I kind of worry about it, but since I haven't really gained much anywhere except my abdomen, I don't feel too bad about it. All the weight came pretty much right after my last midwife appointment, so I'm kind of anxious to make sure everything's alright with my next appointment.
Maternity clothes? You better believe it. I'm already out of my early-stage maternity clothing.
Stretch marks? Only the ones from the last pregnancy, and they haven't gotten dark or anything. I feel like my skin is totally taking this in stride, like it remembers from last time how to stretch. I wouldn't be surprised to get some more marks though.
Sleep: I was sleeping like a rock, comfortable, only getting up once or twice a night...until I hit 21 weeks. It's been a bit more difficult to get a good night's rest since then, but not bad overall.
Best moment this week: I can't decide between watching Aurella and Calvin run back and forth from one end of the house to the other, just screaming and laughing and chasing each other, and eating sushi with Todd. I can't stand the cuteness but there's also...well...sushi.
Miss Anything? Being able to carry Aurella for as long as I want to, put her down to bed comfortably, etc
Movement: SO MUCH MORE than when I was pregnant with Aurella! It's awesome! Todd felt his first really good kick yesterday and I just love it. It's like my baby is saying 'hello' every time I feel him move. Definitely my absolute favorite thing about pregnancy.
Food Cravings: Not having as many cravings as I did in the first trimester. For a long time I just needed Cupbop, spicier than I normally like it. Actually, anything spicy was sooooo good. Also, pineapple on pizza, something I normally hate. Now I don't crave those things at all anymore. I'm back to loving fried eggs with runny yolks and extra-meaty spaghetti sauce.
Aversions: Used to be meat, sugary treats, fast food...just really random things that would keep me from eating a whole lot. Basically, my first trimester was food Russian Roulette. I never knew what would make me wanna barf. Thank GOODNESS that's over.
Gender: Unknown, but I feel very strongly it's a boy. Guess we'll see!
Labor Signs: Nothing, except for a few Braxton Hicks, which are only just strong enough that I notice them. One kind of took my breath away but it was only for a tiny moment.
Symptoms: On a scale of 1 to TOTALLY UNCOMFORTABLE, this pregnancy is different from my first. I mean, with Aurella I was still uncomfortable in my growing body, but this time around I can feel more aches all around my belly and sometimes when I stand up or walk for longer than five minutes, I can get really sharp pains. And let's not even talk about my equilibrium...
Belly Button in or out? So out. Ugh.
Wedding ring on or off? Still on! Woot! By this time last pregnancy, the ring was off. All the time.
Happy or Moody: So moody it's insane. I mean, I'm a happy person. I love my life and I'm normally pretty emotional, but I seriously just lose control a lot lately. Crying. A lot. So much. Hormones.
The day I found out I was pregnant
Looking Forward to: my next midwife appointment so I can make sure I haven't developed some kind of horrible condition that is making me feel this crazy and achy. Also, I just love prenatal appointments in general! (no, seriously, I do. Whether it's with an OB or a midwife, it's just exciting).
Now that we've covered the pregnancy update, I can move on to everything else. As soon as we found out we were pregnant, we knew this was finally the time to look for a house. We had wanted to get a house a few times earlier but really couldn't justify moving when it was just us and Aurella, but with a new baby coming it felt right. In November we started looking with a realtor we heard was great, Bryan McKinnon, and he did not disappoint! The first time we went looking for houses, we found the one we felt strongly was for us. A month after we put an offer on the house, we closed, and moved in a few days later. It was all so fast; it still kind of seems like a dream! We have loved it here in our new ward. Our neighbors are kind and very friendly and we feel like we just were meant to be here. A few weeks after we moved, I got called to be in the Young Women's again, this time as Laurel Adviser. I feel so blessed to be working with the Young Women again, although I so much miss the young women in my old ward in Provo. Aurella cried the first time we dropped her off at the new nursery, but every week after that she's been so happy to be there! She always leaves nursery with a smile on her face and a picture that she's colored on.
Helping me clean the bathroom in our old house
Dining room and living room
Aurella officially 'broke' in our new house
The view from our back door
Back in October Aurella and I took yet another trip, this time to Texas with my mom to take care of my sister Beth and her new baby, Jesse. It was such a good trip! I did get a 24 hr flu...and passed it on to everyone else there...but other than that, it was so much fun. Little Jesse is just perfect and I'm so glad I got to meet him in person (BTW, he was spared from getting sick, thank goodness. I would have just died if I had given a newborn infant the flu. YAY for breastfeeding!!!). I loved reconnecting with Marci, Beth's oldest. She is such a sweetheart! We quickly became good friends again. When it was time to leave, we all promised to try and see each other again before too long. We're expecting to see them again this Thanksgiving and they will most likely be staying with us! We're crossing our fingers.
At a Mexican restaurant on the way to Texas
Todd wasn't able to hardly move without starting a debilitating headache for the next few days, and Wednesday night we had a repeat of the symptoms that had landed us in the ER, only much more intense. Among other things, the right side of his body went pretty numb, including his brain, and as time went on he lost the ability to speak the words he wanted to say. He just couldn't think of them. That night was such a hard one for us. Todd was in so much pain, Aurella could sense what was going on and so was wide awake and wanting to be by Daddy, and I felt like my world was being ripped apart. Todd's parents came with a close family friend in the middle of the night to give Todd a blessing. We thought things would calm down after that, and they did for about an hour, but the symptoms were soon back. We both felt very prompted to go to the ER again, so we did, leaving Aurella home with another kind neighbor. This time, they ran a bunch of tests, the last of which revealed that Todd had Viral Meningitis. He was admitted for a few days to be under observation, during which he got to rest and heal. Afterwards, the symptoms would start back up here and there, but never as severe as before. Eventually, the sickness seemed to completely leave his body and we haven't seen anything more from it since. We experienced so much love and support from our friends and family, including some new friends from our ward that didn't even know us very much yet. How blessed we are to have such wonderful people in our lives!
In the front yard after a snowstorm
Um, Todd, there's something I forgot to tell you...
In January we were busy just trying to get back to normal life. At the beginning of the month my friend Andrea got married to her soulmate, and Lindsay and Calvin got to stay with us from Idaho for a couple of days so Lindsay could attend the sealing, which was wonderful! At the end of the month, Todd and I attended another beautiful, perfect wedding. My sister-in-law, Amy, was sealed to her perfect match, Eric. We are so happy for them and to have Eric and his kids be a part of the family!
Lindsay got tickets to the Provo City Center temple open house for last weekend and so we got to have her and Calvin over again! The temple is so breathtakingly beautiful. I look forward to going with Todd when it opens.
Orange Peel with some of my favorite ladies!
Seriously. How cute are they!!
(Calvin's arm around Aurella MAY have been manipulated...)
Aurella is finally growing hair, as you've seen in the pictures. She is really into numbers, too. We started counting with her a few months ago and she's really taken off with it. She'll count to fifteen all by herself, and she'll count to 20 with our help. Todd will spell her name with her and she'll do it with him. When she's spelling her name by herself, it's spelled A-C-R-U-L. And then she says her name afterwards and cheers! We're trying to teach her the names of some of the colors. So far she knows yellow, blue, green, and pink, although she does mix them up sometimes. Aurella sings a lot. Every time we get in the car, she's singing. Sometimes she wants us to sing with her but most of the time she's making something up by herself and it's SO CUTE to just listen! She's repeating a lot of what we say, too. I'll say something random, like, "Gotta make dinner,", and she'll repeat it with the same tone and everything. She's still full of energy and always going. We love her and are especially excited to see how she handles being a big sister!
Aurella playing fix-it with Grandpa
Watching Music and the Spoken Word
