Paul said I looked like a boy. He said it was “fine.” I say he’s a jackass. But whatever, it’s gone now and I like it. And really, since I have to live with it, and do it, I get to decide (even if he has to look at me). I win.

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I’d love to be able to compare pictures of myself from pregnancy #1 to Pregnancy #2 but I don’t have any pictures from the first go around. I didn’t take any and apparently my husband doesn’t take any pictures of me either. (Which is 100% apparent with the number of pictures of myself over the past 19 months. In order to get pictures of me with Courtney, I have to hire a professional…) But I digress, here are two pictures of me, before I was pregnant (February) and now, 24 weeks.

Before

Please ignore my fat face...

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I spent about 2 hours on Sunday night trying to finish a dress I’d started for Courtney a couple of weeks ago. I should have just thrown the pattern in the trash and figured it out on my own.  I’m hoping it fits.  I may be able to get it on her but may have to cut her out of it.

Feel free to say, "Oh, that's cute." Even though it's not.

The fancy back button.

I do remember buying some bigger, flowy shirts way earlier on.  By the time that I told people at work, around 12-13 weeks, my clothes were definitely NOT fitting and my boobs were completely out of control.  ALREADY.  Now I’m 15 weeks and some of my clothes aren’t fitting but many of them still are.   Some better than others.  I did have to wear my Bella Band a couple of weeks ago when going out for girls night and I’ve retired a few pairs of shorts.  But so far so good, I’m growing here and there but I’m still exercising and trying to watch what I eat.

When I was on vacation last week, I went to a spin class and sweat my fanny off.  It was the first spin class I’d been to in YEARS.  I made it to another one on Sunday and while I was sore after Thursday, I didn’t realize how sore I was until I sat own on that seat.  My butt was SORE.  Is.  Ouch.  But (no pun intended), I think if I can make it to 3 classes a week, I’ll be in pretty good shape.  I need to supplement that with some other exercises here and there (hopefully more kettlebells), and eating well, and maybe I won’t gain as much weight as I did last time.  Or maybe I’ll gain more but after Segundo arrives, I’d hope to be in better shape.  Of course, lugging around a 22+ pound kid never hurts with some of those arm muscles.

I just need to stick with it.

OK, that last bit is not how I feel but you get the idea.  In the past 2 weeks, I’ve worked out twice and I don’t like myself for it.  After I got married but before Courtney was born, I gained about 15 pounds.  Happy Wedding gift to you, Paul.  I stopped working out, was eating like crap, and all my skinny clothes didn’t fit.  I was all set to get serious when I found out I was pregnant with Courtney and I was stuck with that 15 pounds.

For 3 months I’ve been back on the wagon.  Or the treadmill, as the case may be.  And I’ve been eating better.  More fruits and veggies, whole grains, yada yada.  My trip to Connecticut has completely derailed me.  I’m having a hard time getting back on the treadmill.  I went and joined the Y on Tuesday when we got back.  (I couldn’t get C into swimming classes, the class was full, total crap.)  I didn’t actually work out on Tuesday while we were there due to the work people coming to the house and the need to buy food in my limited time frame.  Yesterday I was going to go in the morning but C took a nap almost immediately after waking up.  For two hours.  The problem with the Y is the day care is closed from 1:15 – 3:30 so by the time C woke up from the nap and had lunch, there wasn’t enough time to work out.  I did the whole “is she going to nap is she not going to nap” dance in the afternoon and after I decided she wasn’t going to nap, we headed back to the gym.  And wouldn’t you know that as I was making the right hand turn into the Y parking lot, C fell asleep.

Being a stay at home mom is awesome.  I love it and wouldn’t trade it for anything.  But it’s so hard to balance taking care of myself while taking care of my family.  I NEED to exercise so that not only am I healthy for me but I’m able to keep up with my little bundle of energy.  I’m also a huge fan of clothes that fit.  And the clothes that I’ve been wearing being too big.  Big fan of that.  Way back in the day, before C, I would get up and be at the gym at 6.  I’m kind of thinking I need to get back to that.  The only time I can really guarantee hours to myself is when Courtney is sleeping, during the night.  Sometime between dinner and breakfast, there are hours for myself.  I’m not a fan of less sleep.  But I need to take care of myself.

Today was going to be my first day in the gym at 6.  I failed.  I’m pretty sure it had everything to do with being up from 1-4 with a not sleeping, kind of crying, unhappy toddler.  Well, tomorrow is another day.  I hope.