25 weeks and reflections

Woohoo. Another week down, only 15 left to go! Despite being sick for the past 10 days, I'm slowly on the mend. I'm hoping that come Monday, I'll finally kick this cough and be back to 100%.

 James took this one. I have no idea how he cast that shadow.

Self-profile from the other direction.

Guess what came in the mail today? My kettlebell plushie! Janie from Janiexy.com was kind enough to change the back wording from 1 ton to 1 pood, which made my day when I opened the package.

This kettlebell is really the only splurge I've purchased for Baby Hobson. I've avoided buying clothes and toys, though I've definitely given my opinion when my mom picked out clothing in Hilton Head. I keep thinking, if he's anything like his daddy, he'll be running around in just a diaper for a couple years. Hobson men hate wearing a shirt!

Reflections on Pregnancy

So I've wanted to do some reflections on pregnancy for a while now, just to get down my thoughts about what I love about pregnancy and what I won't miss when I'm no longer pregnant. Overall, I've had a great and somewhat easy pregnancy, and for that I am very thankful.

What I won't miss:

• Heartburn: I had this early on (maybe because I was craving chili) and it's been bad at night the past couple weeks. Twice, it was so bad I thought I might vomit. At night, I've learned to use two pillows to prop my head and shoulders up at an incline. So far, this has alleviated it.
• Limited medicine: Last week was the first time I've gotten sick while I've been pregnant. Only being able to take Tylenol has made it hard to get better. I'm just hoping I don't get sick again this fall.
• First trimester nausea and fatigue: Though many women experience this, I'm sure it's never fun. Luckily, I only threw up twice, and for the most part, I could curb the nausea if I ate every 1.5 hours. The fatigue was almost worst than the nausea since it was harder to manage with a full time job. But by the time 12 or 13 weeks hit, I was in the clear with both of the symptoms and have felt normal through the second trimester.

What I love:

• Movement: Feeling that first flutter around 17 weeks made me wonder if it was Baby Hobson or just digestion. By 19 weeks, the little kicks and punches were obvious, and like they say, they made everything all the more real.
• Working out: Many people shy away from working out while pregnant, worrying it will harm their baby. Luckily, I have no reservations about working out. My plan has been just to listen to my body. If something is too heavy or too hard, I scale back. Just this morning I did a 155lb front squat, and I felt fine. Then when I got to pullups, I decided to use the small band, even though I had done 30 without the band recently. I just do what feels right for me at that time.
• The right to say no: Don't get me wrong, I love being social and hanging out with people. But I'll be honest, a part of me thinks it's nice being able to decline certain social engagements or leave early because I'm pregnant. Maybe it's just because I really value my sleep!
• Daydreaming about our little family: Going from a couple to a family is a big leap, with many changes--some I can predict now, and I'm sure many I'll discover along the journey. I've always been a family person, and luckily I've got a great one to thank for that. As a new family, I can't wait to go to the beach, play at the park, celebrate holidays, etc. I also can't wait to see what James will be like with a baby. I think he'll be a great dad and very doting.
• That pip in my step: Though I may not always have that pregnancy glow that everyone talks about, I do feel like pregnancy gives you a new, bigger perspective on life. Even when it's a rough day at work, I've still got something going for me. Even when I'm sick, I can still be happy thinking about the future. 
• Nesting: I think I'm just now starting to get the nesting instinct. In the past few weeks, I've cleaned our place from top to bottom, thrown out 10 trashbags of stuff and donated 4 trashbags of clothing. I'm getting our place ready to paint the nursery and put in all the baby furniture. I'm working on crafts for wall decor, reading empowering childbirth books, planning out bulk freezer meals and also getting into canning. As domestic as all this may sound, I absolutely love it and can't imagine focusing on anything else.

6 months and sick

After a wonderful 5-day trip to Hilton Head over Labor Day weekend, I was excited to get back home to my normal routine and get ready for fall, my favorite time of the year. What I didn't expect was to wake up with a sore throat Wednesday morning, right after a 15 degree drop in temperature that felt great, and proceed to have one of the worst colds I've ever had in my life. By Wednesday night, I was pretty much worthless, and astounded at how fast and hard this cold hit me. I'm guessing a lot of it has to do with pregnancy and a weakened immune system. But that that's ok, so long as baby boy is still healthy inside me, I can tough this thing out with only some Tylenol to help reduce the low-grade fever.

Sidenote, but I saw this Kettlebell Plushie on a blog I follow and absolutely love it. It said the esty seller was sold out, but I emailed her and she sent me a direct link to order one. The back of the kettlebell says 1 ton. I told her that if she ever made a batch that said 1 pood, she'd get a lot of CrossFitters as customers :) Can't wait to see Baby Hobson playing with this in daddy's gym when he's a toddler.

Despite being sick, the good news is today I'm 6 months, or 24 weeks. I had my OB appointment earlier this week, and everything looks good. Though I found out I have to take the glucose test next month. Not looking forward to that, but hopefully I'll be able to stomach the orange stuff without embarrassing myself.

 (I think I look way larger than this in person. Maybe it's the fact that I had to take this shot myself and my arm is raised.)

When I'm not sick, I'm still working out at the gym about 4 days a week. At this point, I'm definitely getting a workout just from doing our dynamic warm-up, but I appease my ego with that well-known CrossFit phrase, "Our warm-up is your workout." Ha. It helps. We're still doing periodization at the gym, so I'm capping my lifts at about 95lbs for cleans and jerks, 85lbs for bench, 155lbs for deadlifts and 70lbs for shoulder press. I figure I'll stay at those weights for the next couple months until I have to lower them.

Today is CrossFit Addiction's grand re-opening at our new, large, chic location. I had planned out what I wanted to make for the lunchtime event a week ago, but as Thursday and Friday rolled around and I left work a couple hours early each day, it was all I could do to stay awake on the couch, much less whip up some paleo and gluten-free concoctions.

Yesterday, after an 1.5 hour nap at 4pm and going to bed at 9:30pm, I woke up at 5:30am this morning feeling not great, but alive, and knowing that if I was going to make anything for the event today, I might as well do it early. So by 10am, I had made Bacon-Wrapped Prune Smokies, Jalapeño Poppers, a homemade version of iced pumpkin spice latte and a gluten-free, refined-sugar-free version of this delicious looking cake I saw on the cover of the latest Southern Living. If my substitutions turn out well, I'll post the recipe soon.

After dropping off the food at the gym and making a brief appearance, I'll be heading back home to take a nap and rest up to get rid of this sickness. At least this gives me a chance to refine my baby registry and pick out things for the nursery online. Not much else to do in a house that doesn't have cable :)