My first trimester must haves for this pregnancy

Here's a list of things that helped me survive the first trimester this time around:

Water!  I was/am so thirsty this time.

These were such a lifesaver!  But stopped being quite as effective after a few weeks.

I still chew this gum on occasion.  Best thing ever!

Easier to get down when your gag reflex is on overdrive.

Sleep!  I'm so thankful for hubby, as soon as he got home from work I would go to bed.  Every.Day.

Like I've stated before, this pregnancy really shocked me.  I'm so thankful for all the support I've received thus far.

And this is one thing that I could have done without.  True story!  My husband really did do this (several times actually):

How?

Despite being happy about our upcoming new addition, there are still moments where fear and doubt creep into my head.  Trying to figure out exactly HOW everything will work eludes me.

HOW will I get sleep?  Sure, newborns sleep a whole lot (during the day at least), but 2 year olds don't!  After being up all night with Baby V 2.0, how on earth will I be able to function well enough to keep my 2 year old from jumping off her dresser or painting the walls????

HOW will I shower?  Of course I can put the baby in a bassinet and bring him/her into the bathroom with me, but what will I do with my rambunctious 22 month old?  I guess I could put her in her pack and play for a few minutes.

HOW will my husband and I spend time together?  I very vividly remember pretty much being a nursing machine for the first three months.  Add to that chasing around a busy toddler and being sleep deprived by a newborn and I'm not sure how my husband and I will be sane enough to interact with one another.

HOW can I make Yorlee feel special and make the transition easy on her?  We plan on making special time for her, whether a relative keeps the baby for a few hours, or my husband and I switch off and take her somewhere fun.  But she has absolutely no concept of babies, and doesn't care about them at all.  On the way home from picking her up from daycare, I'm going to stop by the store and get a baby doll and play crib so that she can get an idea of what babies are and how they should be touched very gently.

HOW will I cope?  I know I can do this, but I just can't see myself doing it.  That is what is the most scary part.  Usually I can visualize myself in a situation and think about how to handle it, but this two kids thing?  Yeah, I've got nothin'.

HOW do you do it?  To all you moms (and dads) out there, how did you make the transition from one child to two, especially if they are fairly close in age?

13 weeks pregnant with baby #2

How far along? 13 weeks exactly!

Total weight gain/loss: Still no weight gain.  Home scale showing I'm down 9 lbs.  I wonder how much weight I'll actually gain this time.
Sleep: Sleep has gotten a bit more difficult.  I haven't been as tired, but when I do sleep, I sleep HARD!  Which means that I'm not shifting positions enough and my ligaments are sore when I wake up.
Food cravings: I've been wanting fruit, water, fruit snacks, and root beer.  I find that I'm more hungry after I eat than I was before I ate, which can be very frustrating.
Best moment this week:  Seeing Baby V 2.0 via ultrasound during our nuchal translucency screen.  We saw the funniest thing, as soon as the tech started the ultrasound, there is Baby V 2.0 standing on its HEAD.  It was hilarious!!!!!  The tech actually had me change my position so we could get the baby to calm down a bit.
Movement: Still thinking I feel taps at times, but I'm unsure.
Gender: After our ultrasound I'm starting to think boy, we find out for sure on June 12th.  It seems SO far away, but I know that time will fly.
Labor Signs: No way!!!!!

Belly Button in or out? Weird looking and still tender.  Mostly in, but puffy.
What I miss: Normal hormones!  I've been driving my husband crazy and freaking out about things that I have absolutely no control over.
What I am looking forward to: Starting to feel some movement in the next couple weeks.
Milestones: According to some, I'm in the 2nd Trimester!!!
Weekly Wisdom: Don't worry about things that you can't control.  Worrying doesn't solve any problems, it only makes you feel terrible. 

12 Week Survey

(I'm a day late in writing this post, I hit 12 weeks yesterday.)

How far along? 12 weeks and one day!  Still in shock, can't believe time is flying by this fast.

Total weight gain/loss: -9 lbs.  I want to stay in shape with this pregnancy, mainly because I have no choice but to chase a toddler around.  But, knowing the truth about pregnancy, I probably won't feel like doing much about my "shape" in a few months time.
Sleep: I still get slammed with fatigue at times, but it isn't nearly as bad as it was.  I actually stayed up to 10PM this week.  My husband was so surprised!
Food cravings: A major change occurred, I'm now hungry ALL.THE.TIME!  And thirsty!  Thankfully I'm at the point where more often than not I feel pretty good after eating.  But on Wednesday I did have a huge case of nausea that pretty much lasted all day.  Not craving anything in particular though, just want FOOD!
Best moment this week:  Hearing movement via my doppler.  I'm SO glad that I bought it when I was pregnant with Yorlee.  Give me a bit of reassurance that all is progressing well.
Movement: I thought I felt some taps, but still think its too early for that.
Gender: No clue.

Labor Signs: No way!!!!!

Belly Button in or out? Puffy in some areas.  My stomach is definitely filling out a bit, and my poor belly button is taking a beating.  I've noticed that in the evenings, when I feel especially bloated, it starts to feel really tender.
What I miss: Being able to somewhat control my emotions, being a tummy sleeper, buttoning my jeans, having energy.
What I am looking forward to: Seeing the baby again.  We have another ultrasound scheduled for Tuesday.  We weren't able to get some measurements for the first trimester screen during our last ultrasound, so we go back again.  Score!
Milestones: Letting go of fears and worries.  Babies are such a precious gift, so I decided that I'm going to enjoy being a mom of two and kick my worries to the curb.
Weekly Wisdom: Friends and family can be very useful tools if you allow them to be.  After a few venting sessions with some friends of mine, I was able to get things off my chest and really start to relax.  We will figure out the daycare/work situation, I will have time for both kids, I will love both kids, etc. 

Finding out about Baby V 2.0

I have to be honest here and say that this pregnancy was a complete shock.  It took me awhile to grasp things, but now I'm excited (yet still a bit scared) about bringing another baby into our lives.
We found out on February 23rd.  AF was due to start that day, and I was sure she was on her way.  Absolutely no symptoms of pregnancy were present, however, I wasn't looking for them so may not have noticed.  Usually I'm greeted by AF first thing in the morning, so I thought it was odd when she hadn't arrived by lunch, but as things can get a bit off every now and then, didn't think too much of it.

Yorlee had been extremely clingy the past few days, and I had been a bit tired, but it's hard to sleep when your 20+lb toddler wants to sleep ON you.  On the drive home from work and picking up Yorlee from daycare, I passed my exit ramp.  It took me an extra 30 minutes to drive home.  I NEVER pass my exit, I think it's embedded in my brain.  Usually I'm on autopilot when driving home, so I thought that was weird too.  Once we got, I went to check to see if AF arrived.  Nada.  Yorlee wanted milk so I went to get some for her and walked back to the bathroom to turn off the light, when I got the idea to pee in a cup and dip an old OPK.  I searched and searched for the cup that came with my OPKs and finally found it and washed it out because it was dusty.  By that time, I had to go so bad I almost forgot to use the cup!  I dipped the OPK and before I could set it down on the counter it was positive.  I remember saying, "Hmm, I didn't expect that."  But I really didn't think that the OPK as HPT thing worked.  I had an internet cheapie HPT, so I dipped that.  Cue a faint line.  Like, so faint you have to squint and go cross-eyed while wondering if you are making it up.  But still, it was a line.  That's when I decided to pull out the big guns.  A Clearblue Digital.  I had one left from when I was pregnant with Yorlee, but I couldn't find it.  I knew I hadn't used it.  After searching in the linen closet, and under the sink, I finally found it.  My hands were shaking when I pulled off the wrapper and dipped it.  The timer started to blink on the display and I started pacing.  After what seemed like 20 minutes, I saw words on the screen out of the corner of my eye.  I snatched the test off the counter and there it was, clear as day, "Pregnant".  I think my legs gave out on me and I landed on the side of the tub.  With trembling fingers I called my husband.  No answer.  I called him again, and when he answered I said, "You need to come home, I'm pregnant!"  Classy huh?  LOL!  We both were trying to figure out exactly when it happened as we had been careful (so we thought), and I was freaking out because I thought my husband was going to be upset but he was actually really happy.

So there you have it, the story of how we found out that our family of three was about to become a family of four...

11 Weeks!

Baby V 2.0 measuring 10w3d (I was actually 10w5d at the time).

11 Weeks!

How far along? 11 weeks.

Total weight gain/loss: -10 lbs (I still can't believe that I've lost that much weight!)

Sleep: I'm sleepy ALL.THE.TIME! Thank goodness that the Hubs is so great, he takes Yorlee so I can go to bed at 7:30PM.  And I still wake up tired!  Can't wait to get some energy back!

Food cravings: Nothing, food still isn't really my friend.

Best moment this week: Seeing baby via ultrasound on Tuesday.  It's always so reassuring to know that things are going well.

Movement: Nada.

Gender: No clue.

Labor Signs: No way!!!!!

Belly Button in or out? It's weird, the bottom is puffed out a bit, but the top is still in.  I have a feeling that it is going to pop this time...

What I miss: Not feeling sick every day, brushing my teeth without gagging, eating a normal meal, not being hungry every 5 seconds while simultaneously being nauseous, being able to function without feeling like a zombie.

What I am looking forward to: Hitting the honeymoon phase, I can't wait!

Milestones: Going public with this pregnancy.

Weekly Wisdom: Rest, stay hydrated, and enjoy every moment.

Hugs and love to all of the ladies out there who are trying to become pregnant.  And a huge thank you to everyone who congratulated us!  :-)

Growing

Yorlee is growing by leaps and bounds.  I'm really starting to see what people meant when they told me that children are like sponges and soak up everything.  They watch what we do and immitate our actions.  It amazes me to see Yorlee act like me, or put her dirty clothes in the laundry basket.  She takes note of what we do, and tries to do it herself.  My big girl!

She says a new word every day.  I was making funny faces at her yesterday, and she laughed and said, "Silly!".   It was clear as day, I'd never heard her say that before, and she used it in the right context.  If she wakes up before I do on the weekends, she calls out, "milk, Ma Ma!" and If I don't answer her in time she will yell, "eat, eat!!!!" until I hear her and go get her out of her crib so we can get her milk.  She cracks me up.

Actually, our family has lots of growing going on.  As I've seen quoted all over the internet, "Our family is growing by two feet!"  Baby V 2.0 is on board and estimated to arrive around November 1st, 2012.  I am currently 11 weeks pregnant (as of today actually), and we are really excited.  Of course there are always worries when children are involved, I'm concerned how Yorlee will feel about someone else getting attention from Mommy and Daddy, but I know that things will work out.  We have lots to do to prepare for this little one, and I can't wait to start crossing things off of our list.  I also can't wait to get to the "honeymoon" phase of this pregnancy, as I have been really sick this time around.  But the baby is doing great!  We had an ultrasound on Tuesday and I was amazed at how much growth happened in the few short weeks between my last ultrasound.  I'll try to get pictures up as soon as I can.  And I guess I should get started on pregnancy surveys as well.  I really enjoyed going back and reading them after Yorlee was born, now I know to put more details because a lot was left out.

I hope everyone has a great day!