The Latest

The nausea is gone!  Thank God!  I was so relieved when my symptoms started fading.  I feel pretty much back to normal except that my gag reflex is still stronger than usual.  Sometimes I walk by a certain chemical at work or catch a sniff of a garbage can in the work break room and I gag.  I'm still having trouble when I brush my teeth and when I cough (which has been dumb because I've had a cold for pretty much this entire month).  I'll take gagging over gagging AND nausea any day.  It's definitely a step in the right direction!  Other than that, I've been feeling pretty good.  I'm back to cooking normally (Tom is pleased about this!), eating normally, and even working out once in awhile.  I finally have a little pep in my step again and I feel like I am enjoying my days rather than just trying to make it through them. 

 I've made it into the second trimester!  Along with that, I've felt the first nudges from baby. It's really exciting to start feeling the baby move.  It's so much different for me this time around because I am already a mom.  I don't feel like my brain has to transition into being a mother and try to grasp what it will be like when this baby enters the picture and changes life.  I feel like I am already in "mom mode" and my brain doesn't need to shift gears as much as last time.  I'm also not as mesmerized by each and every change taking place in my body like I was last time.  The days and weeks are going by faster this time around because I am distracted by a sweet and energetic two-year-old.  

We've been keeping as busy as ever.  Tom and I both judged speech this year.  I judged my last tournament for the season about a week and half ago.  While I love the speech season, it's always great to get my Saturdays back.  I feel like we can start to have a life again now that speech is over and I don't feel like I'm going to throw up all day, every day. My position at work is changing and I will be moved into a sales/customer service role.  This isn't really different from what I have been doing, but now I am being recognized for it and paid for it.  It got a raise and I will be moving desks as soon as they hire a replacement for my current job.  Getting a raise is always good when a baby is on the way and when the daycare informs you that rates will be increasing (ouch!).

 Thomas and Weston lounging on a weekend

 This picture more or less summarizes the result of our potty training attempts.  CHAOS.  It seems there are always trucks in my bathroom, potty seats scattered about the house, a half naked boy running around, and unrolled wads of toilet paper trailing through the hallway. I can no longer count the number of times I have come back to the bathroom to check on his progress only to find an empty toilet paper roll and a pile of tissue three feet high right beneath his feet. To top it all off, Weston pooped in his diaper twice this week.  It seems we aren't making any progress. He's become very curious about my bathroom habits.  For example, he'll stand at the bathroom door while I am in there and say, "What are you doing in there?  Are you going poopy on the toilet? Can I flush?" It's kind of endearing and definitely makes me chuckle.  Sometimes I humor him and let him flush which makes him ridiculously happy.  Will it be weird for him to read that when he's 20?  Eh.

Per request from a certain someone, here are some belly shots.  Baby is just starting to make his/her presence known to the general public.

 Week 13 baby bump! Just starting to show.

 Week 14

 A couple days shy of 15 weeks.

 15 weeks front view.

This crazy little boy got a haircut today.  It was the 2nd real (as in not from me) haircut that he has ever had.  He really hates when I cut his hair.  He screams like he has been seriously injured and tears roll down his cheeks as if I am torturing him.  I thought maybe he would do better if I brought him in to somebody else.  Nope.  There were still screams and tears, only they lasted for 10 minutes instead of an hour because Mommy is really slow at cutting hair and the nice lady at Fantastic Sam's was very speedy.  It might be worth the ten bucks not to have to listen to him cry for an extra 50 minutes. And, admittedly, the salon worker did a much better job than what I normally do.

So, that's the latest.  I might try to post a video before I go to sleep but I'm kind of sleepy so I might not.  We'll see :)