Hi all - I know, it's been a while and I'm starting to get messages from some of you. I appreciate your interest! Life is just busy and somehow blogging is just never prioritized.

I did think, though, that it would a little ridiculous to have my next entry be the announcement of baby #2, so I'm making an effort to do some posting before the new little one comes along. I'm 33 weeks now (due July 6th), so the arrival isn't too far off, as absolutely crazy as that is. I thought it would be fun to do some photo comparing - pregnancy 1 (33.5 wks, tan shorts) vs. pregnancy 2 (33 wks, black pants). I wore the same top thinking that would be a sort of control for interpretation purposes.


Although early on I was pretty sure that I was carrying bigger this time than I did with Kate, these photos make me think that maybe my belly growth is pretty balanced between the two pregnancies. Jay did say this morning, though, that my belly "doesn't look as big in the photos as it really does" (lovely!), so maybe that's playing a role in making me look about the same in both sets of photos. In support of that idea, I was only ~4lbs shy of my entire weight gain with Kate at my 31.5 wk OB appointment, and I'll tell you right now that there's no way that I'll have only 4 more pounds put on before I deliver! So, that is also support for the notion that these photos may be deceiving me...

In any case, I've had another amazingly smooth pregnancy. No morning sickness, no heartburn, nothing really too terrible. The thing I'm noticing more this time around is how achy my abs are at the end of the day - I simply cannot bear to have to stand up and even sitting up with any kind of correct posture is very uncomfortable. I'm attributing this to 1. my abs are being stretched like crazy for the 2nd time, 2. I'm taking care of a 2 1/2 yo who I do, sometimes, carry - at a minimum, I lift her in and out of her carseat twice a day, and 3. I wasn't in nearly the physical condition at the start of this pregnancy as I was with Kate, so my overall muscle strength is simply less (note my arms in profile - much less tone this time around!). On a positive note, I'm not having the general sleeping problems that I had with Kate (as a reminder, see this entry and this entry from this timeframe when I was pregnant with Kate). I haven't had any of the hip pain and my general insomnia level is pretty low. I think the pain issue is due to the fact that I'm in a different bed now; we bought a king when we moved into the house in August and it doesn't have springs - it's all latex. I'm pretty sure that the lack of springs is helping me keep comfortable. In terms of insomnia, it seemed worse earlier on, but at this point I can get up to use the bathroom/check on Kate/etc and fall back to sleep pretty easily. Maybe I'm just more tired this time around, too, with the full time job and Kate to keep me going! I certainly can't afford insomnia, so I'm glad it hasn't been a problem.

OK, I said this would be quick so I'm off. We have a bunch of pretty new pictures of Kate - I'll get them off of Jay's computer soon and start a new album...

Oh, one last thought - everything looks great with the baby him/herself! We had an ultrasound (our 3rd!) a little over a week ago, and the baby is measuring ~4-5 days early and was estimated at 4lb. This is a very active little kiddo, too, with lots of hiccups just like his/her big sister had. Things have been so straightforward with this pregnancy that it almost seems like a given that the baby is doing well, but that's not a fact to glaze over, so I figured I should make a point to mention it.