Today I am 19 weeks pregnant

It's been five weeks since my last pregnancy update and I'm happy to report that I'm feeling MUCH better. The nausea has gone away completely, though the fatigue still lingers... though I'm pretty sure with two active boys to take care of, that whole tired thing isn't going away anytime soon.

Of course, the boys have done me a HUGE favor lately, by going to bed later (around 8 or 8:30pm) and not getting up until 7am. It makes such a big difference for me. Since they go to bed around the same time, there is no longer that discrepancy between when Hank's and Johnny's wake up times and bed times. So instead of taking care of children from 4:30am to 8:30pm, my hours are now from around 6:30am to about 8:30am. And those extra hours in the morning can be spent sleeping, which is absolutely glorious and quite fortuitously timed.

Otherwise, the belly is growing by leaps and bounds, but honestly, it's not even 1/2 baby. I was lying on my back recently and John looked at my abdomen and said, "Where did the baby go?" So yeah. It's mostly bloat and fat storage, courtesy of pregnancy hormones. But I obviously look pregnant since I got my first "Are you pregnant?" from a passing acquaintance.

One of the cooler developments started about three weeks ago (which is waaaay earlier than my other two): baby kicks! I'm just starting to be able to feel them on the outside, only if it's a really solid kick, though. The baby movements are one of my favorite things about pregnancy, so I'm excited to feel them early this time. :)

 I'm going to attempt to do this little survey thing at each pregnancy update so at least I have a little something interesting to post about. 

This week, baby is the size of a: mango

How far along: 19 weeks, 0 days

Next appointment: July 11th (ultrasound time! Nope, we're not finding out this time either.)

Exercise: Uh... chasing toddlers

Sleep: Getting it when the boys let me! Though I have been getting some awful back to left shoulder spasms that happen around 3am and will not go away unless I sit up and press a heating pad on my back for an hour. I know it's a product of holding the boys so much during the day and only on my left side, so I've been trying to hold them more on the right to even things out.

Food cravings/aversions: I thought I could kill someone to get some raspberry chocolate truffle cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory last week. But it was 5:30pm and the Cheesecake Factory is a good 25-minute drive away... John went and got me some anyway. :) Because he loooooooves me.

Movement: Flutters and the occasional solid kick/punch. He/she especially likes to hit me right where the waistband of my pants sit. Or maybe I feel it more because of the pressure?

What I miss: Sleeping a full night without having to visit the bathroom. Or just sleeping between the boys' wake ups without having a bladder to wake me up, too.

What I'm loving: Wearing maternity clothes that my friend Darcy loaned me. Yay for an expanded wardrobe!

What I'm looking forward to: Going to the East Coast next week to see John's extended family for July 4th. I think this trip is going to be a lot fun and so much easier than last year's trip. Hank is a whole year older this time and he won't be sitting on my lap on the plane, so yeah, easier.

Best moment this week: Hank's birthday party (as a whole) was a lot of fun. I'll blog more about it later, but it was a success on all fronts. 

To accomplish before baby comes: Figuring out all the sleeping arrangements. We haven't decided whether to put the boys in the same room to make room for a nursery, or to just leave them where they are since the baby is going to be with John and me for the forseeable future. The biggest trouble is where to put all of the baby's stuff if we keep the boys in their rooms. The diapers, changing table, clothing, burp cloths, etc are all in Hank's room and will be unable to be touched during nap and other sleep times... We have time to decide, but honestly, we're not doing much serious thinking about it. Probably a product of us still being in denial that we're going to have a third kid in 4.5 months.

Thoughts and feelings from Significant Other and Siblings: The boys have been told that they're getting a sibling and neither seems to really "get" it. John has done quite the imaginative reenactment of birth with an Elmo puppet and a small Elmo that gets stuffed into the puppet's hand-hole. They have now taken to calling these Elmos "Mommy Elmo" and "Baby Elmo". So... I guess they kind of get it?