13 weeks

Now that I get to be public with the news, I thought I would post a 13 week belly shot  (let me say a girl comment-- my legs, heck, all of me... looks skinnier from the side!) Excuse the bad shadow!:

It's hard to compare in photos but I felt like I was showing sooner with this one.

Symptoms:

• Still have to be very picky with what I eat because it's hard to find something that sounds good or doesn't have a smell that makes me feel sick!
• Still getting sick on occasion and nauseous.
• LOTS of headaches... at least every other day!  Ick! 
• Can't sleep well right now due to allergies, headaches and sinus gunk.

Pregnancy Similarities:

• Weight gain seems about the same
• Sick/nauseous (but not as bad as with #1, and not as much vomit)

Pregnancy Differences:

• Harder time sleeping early on (at least for now)
• I still feel sick when I run (symptoms went away when I ran with #1)

Exercise:

• Running 3x a week.  My long runs are up to 10miles.
• Did my first race with this kid, a 10k at 56:47pace.
• Usually a walk of some sort everyday when I don't run
• Chasing a toddler (that counts, right?)

So, I'm not going to guess a gender, but we actually plan to find out around 20 weeks this time instead of waiting until the birth.  So about 6 weeks +/- and we'll know if this is a boy or girl!!

Last minute 10k and a revealing photo...

About 5 minutes after posted yesterday that I was going to have to do a 6 mile run without my running buddy, my sister called and said she had a friend that couldn't run the 10k race the next day and did I want to run it?  I said sure, went to packet pickup and lined up how to get downtown for race day!

It was such a fun race and reminded me that I need to do short races more often! 

I was happy with my time of 0:56:47.  I ended up running into a friend (we both rode the bus and both did not plan to run until the day before when given a free race bib) and decided to run the race together.  It was a really good pairing and I think we helped push each other more than if we had run alone. 

And the most exciting part... this was my first race as RUNNING FOR TWO again!!!  Yep... I've been holding out on you all... we're expecting #2 at the end of September (or if this kiddo is late like their big brother then we'll meet him/her in early October instead!

And I did break out my prego runner shirt again for the race... It's a logo I created the first go-round.

Soapbox and 8+ miles

Ran 8.3 miles yesterday.  We ran at a 10:25 pace.  It was a cold run but felt pretty darn good.

Will you allow me a rant for a minute?  I am around several pregnant ladies again lately and find they fall into two catergories of people.  The happily pregnant catagory shall go unmentioned.  The other I shall take the opportunity to vent about now... Because I ran during my pregnancy along with doing other "normal" people things I am finding that I don't have much apathy for young healthy people who suddenly think they are disabled the second they become prego.  (I am not talking being 9 months pregnant when you may start to feel "done" with the whole thing or if you genuinely have health problems!) 

I was out pulling weeds and mowing the lawn when I was VERY pregnant.  I was sitting on hard chairs and sweating my widening bootie off during the hottest summer in (Kentucky recent) history and I like to think I did not do much complaining about suddenly not being able to handle doing anything normal because I was in such a pregnant "condition."  Other than the very sick weeks of 6-14 in which I mostly was not telling anyone I was even pregnant and trying to hide my puky episodes... I don't think I felt disabled by the whole thing.  I feel annoyed when people feel the need to have their spouses accomodate them because they are now pregnant and are actually as healthy as they were just a few weeks before.  People, if you get pregnant and keep moving on with your life-- you'll find you don't feel miserable and might actually feel pretty darn good again after the baby is born too.

Ok-- side stepping off the soapbox for a less grumpy note to this post. 

Have I said lately that I LOVE being a mom.  LOVE it.  There is really no comparision.  I have had the honor of designing buildings and spaces. Seeing them come to life really is a cool feeling for about 5 seconds.  My wedding day was amazing for day and weeks around it.  Marriage is wonderful.  Having a baby grow inside of me, giving birth and nurturing a kiddo that I can watch grow into a boy and eventually a man is downright the coolest, toughest and most rewarding experience I have had to date.

Dear Belly...

Dear Belly,

As if there was any doubt, these past couple weeks have made it officially-- you are popping!  Holy moly!  My skin feels like it is stretched to the max already and everyone tells me-- this is just the start... you (and baby) will grow like crazy in the coming weeks.  Can we say-- stretch marks, here you come.    I don't know if I am ready, but they say there is no turning back now, and this little bambino only has about 1 way out! 

So, Mr. Belly-- if you would, go easy on me.  I have not invested in maternity clothes and need time to find things to wear.  For some reason, my office does not think running t-shirts count as "business casual" even though its starting to feel like that may be all that fits me soon.

Do we have a deal?

Sincerely,
Running for Two

PS-- here is a photo of this growing belly at week 23 (last Friday).  As if the running snapshots below don't capture enough.  Compare to week 20 here and you can see what I mean has happened in a couple weeks!!