Remember back when I used to share daily meal log style posts with recaps of my entire day? Man that seems so long ago. It was a lot of work but I loved it. I do miss it from time to time, but clearly life things happen. Change and growth and all that jazz are to be expected, which, as it turns out, is reflected in my writing (both in style and approach). I share my dinners and occasionally my breakfasts (thrilling as they are), but I sometimes forget about the middle of the day eats. And that’s because I no longer do diary style blogging. But guess what? I eat all day long (duh!) including the middle of the day. Lunch is what most people call that meal between lunch and dinner but I eat a few smaller mini-meals (grazing if you will) so I hesitate to categorize them as such. It’s partially to do with the fact that I’m doing housework, errands, and other stuff with P, but I have also hit a point in my pregnancy where I have no more room in my digestive tract. Or so it feels.
Oh yeah, I’m pregnant. I never got around to sharing this amazingly awesome news for some reason here on HHH and I have no good explanation for that. At first it was kinda neat to have a little secret that only my immediate family and friends knew about…but then time passed and I kept putting it off. I’m now 33 weeks pregnant, which means I have 7ish more weeks to go as per my “due date” (which we all know is pretty much a shot in the dark). I’m having a girl this time, and we are all SO FREAKIN EXCITED. I think she will come early because she has consistently measured ahead of the growth curve from the get-go, but that’s probably just wishful thinking. She will come when she wants to come.
So back to my eats for a sec. Mid-day fare is quick and easy and more often than not involves sun butter or avocado on rice cakes. I don’t take pics of those because they are snooze (and happen over and over and over). P thinks rice cakes are popcorn, btw.
If I put Pacman down later I can usually sit down to a proper lunch, which is the best. This is when I make big salads. The above has chard from the garden and a bunch of veggies, avocado and beyond meat “chicken strips”. I took a brief hiatus from the faux meats, but sometimes I feel like I need more protein and I don’t like consuming meat more than once a day. The grilled and lightly seasoned flavors are my favorites.
On the left is a very mayo-ed up egg salad (with 1/2 an avo too) and the right is Quorn “chikn” with assorted veggies (and the best GF crackers ever on the side).
These are more typical portions though.
It’s rare that I go without avocado and carrots.
More Quorn “chikn” above; and curry tofu salad (with slivered almonds and dried cranberries) below.
Sometimes I eat half of my meal then leave it on the table and come back to it a while later. And I most definitely snack on something else before dinner. Favorites include plantain chips, banana chips, home-made date/nut balls, kombucha, kale chips, yogurt, etc.
I’m really really trying to focus on eating super healthy this pregnancy and my indulgences aren’t any different from what they’d be if I weren’t pregnant (as in – I don’t skip dessert. Ever. <– with a capital E means business). I’ve made no efforts to increase or decrease my diet in response to being pregnant, which I know so many people are prone to do. I can see the temptation of “eating for two” for sure, but it’s definitely not necessary. Breast-feeding, though. Now THAT’S when the calories bump way way up. I remember eating around the freakin clock when I was BFing P. In general I think I’ve been much more disciplined this pregnancy than my first, and I’ve really and truly listened to my body. I have days where I’m ravenous and days where I feel super uncomfortable after eating hardly anything, and I just go with it. My daughter is already running the show.
I’m still exercising regularly. And by that I mean every single day. Kyle thinks I’m ridiculous because “who doesn’t take days off!?” to which I agree. But I still feel so good when I work out that I don’t want to stop. I know a point will come, and I fear it’s rapidly approaching, in which exercising will become too difficult and uncomfortable, so until then I want to maximize my time. Plus, I know the postpartum exercise situation will be non-existent for a very very long time, so it’s kinda an “enjoy it while you can now” deal. I alternate running (usually ~2 miles) with Jillian’s Body Revolution DVD (30 minutes of intense core/strength training) which has been working great for me. Kyle is super supportive and helps me make time for it first thing in the morning (he plays with P while I sweat it out and then he heads to work). If I don’t do it first thing in the AM it won’t happen. It’s pretty much the only time that works for my body (I would have reflux if I tried to do anything physical after any food enters my body). Plus it allows Kyle to get dada time before he’s away from the fam all day.
“Meatballs” with kale, avocado, and chipotle sauce.
There are so many myths and old wives tales about the pregnancies of girls vs boys, or first children vs second children, or young moms vs older moms, and I have to say (now that I’ve gone through the flip sides) I’m not sure any of it is remotely reliable.
The beginning of this pregnancy was hard because I was exhausted all the time. That was my chief complaint – exhaustion. And as a person who used to eye roll at complaints of tiredness, I felt pretty humbled. By 3 o’clock I would have given anything to put on TV and let my son just sit there while I passed out. But of course I didn’t do that and I made it through that phase, and truth be told, it wasn’t THAT bad. It was very short term (in the grand scheme of pregnancy and life) and I have been sailing through the second and third trimesters now with ease. I hesitate to make it sound so glorious because there are so many women who have heinously difficult and traumatic pregnancies from start to finish, but I’m just sharing my own situation. I think I had more nausea with P than I did this time around although there were a few really really tough weeks. P went through some sleep stuff when I was 10-13 weeks pregnant and so I found myself up in the middle of the night and holding him for naps on and off during that period, which was extremely hard because I couldn’t eat when I was hungry or nauseous (which any pregnant woman knows, makes nausea even worse). I definitely remember a night of dry heaving into a trash can due to waking up and soothing P in the wee night hours with an empty stomach. But again, that seemed so fleeting, and SO long ago. Otherwise, I think these pregnancies have been basically the same. My nausea disappeared at 13 weeks just like with P. And my energy levels are about the same as they were with P during this middle “honeymoon” period. Obviously I’m not working in the hospital this time around, but I’m entertaining a toddler full time, so it’s not a cake walk either. So for all that girl vs boy, pre-30 vs post-30, first vs second kid mumbo jumbo…it’s been negligible. For me.
The most awesome part about being pregnant is knowing that P will be a big brother and that our little girl will be joining such a loving family. We are all so excited. Lately P asks if she (he uses her name) can join us every time we go out. He asks if she can come to the library with us, and play dates at friends’ houses, and music class…it’s adorable.
He’s also been sleeping in his big boy room for the past month and couldn’t be more excited about it, so I am glad we don’t have to deal with the nursery swap when she arrives. He has all but forgotten about his crib and that room entirely, which was our goal, so he wouldn’t have any associations with her presence being the reason for his move.
I’m sure we will deal with jealousies and sibling issues at some point, but for now he seems genuinely excited that mama is having a baby and he gets a sister. It probably helps that we’ve been talking the whole thing up for ages. The excitement is infectious over here, for sure.
So there…the news is finally out there and now you won’t be shocked when I suddenly disappear in a month…and return with pictures of an infant. 🙂
