List-mania

First, you know you're pregnant when you're so hungry on the 30 minute drive home from work that you have to stop at a cupcake place and proceed to eat an entire cupcake in your car when it's 95 degrees out.  Seriously, I really need some healthy snacks tucked in strategic places around my car so that I can snack on the way home.

Once I got home yesterday, I demanded that we go out for pizza. I was still starving, despite my cupcake indulgence. But I think the cupcake ultimately was a bad decision because once I ate some salad, I started feeling really nauseated and could barely eat any pizza. Oh well, pizza leftovers for lunch today!

I'm eleven weeks pregnant today.  The past two weeks have resulted in some major stomach expansion. I tried on some pants that fit two weeks ago, only to find that I could barely zip them up.  Luckily, I saved all of my maternity clothes, so out came that trusty belly band.  Also? What am I going to wear to our friends' wedding next week?  I have a dress that fit, albeit tightly, a week ago, but will it still fit a week from now?

Here's a picture of my favorite girl, who, by the way, astounds me by the new words and things she learns every single day.

Little diva says "Cheese" every time we put a camera in front of her, which makes the beginning of videos sound pretty funny

So anyway, I feel like I have a lot to do to prepare for Baby Berry Part Deux to arrive. Here is my list:

• Transition Charlotte to a "Big Girl Bed" - we have the headboard, footboard, toddler rails, and sheets, we just need a twin mattress and comforter. I'm excited about this, but all nervous
• Get Charlotte potty-trained. Seriously. This girl sits on her little potty and exclaims "I did it!," but never actually goes in the potty. She also demands a "tissue pwees" and wipes herself, even though she never goes.  It's pretty cute, but I'm about to get super serious about this one, even if it means extended naked time.
• Get rid of that damn pacifier!  We haven't had any more tantrums about it, but she's still as addicted as ever. She's also addicted to her little baby "banket" but at least that one's not ruining her teeth.
• New furniture for the baby's new room. We were lucky to get all of my old furniture for Charlotte's room, but this means we need a new dresser and bookshelf for the nursery.
• Blackout curtains. The nursery, which is currently unoccupied, gets pretty bright in the morning. The plantation shutters just don't do the job.
• New closet shelving for the nursery. The existing shelving is all white wire and is really impractical. It's hard to hang up anything. Plus it's ugly.
• A lot of organization overall. We have all of our suitcases in the nursery closet, so we'll have to find somewhere for those to go.
• Research strollers that have those handy toddler seats in the back.
• Find a full-time preschool/daycare for Charlotte to start at when she turns 3, thereby opening up her spot for the new Berry at Miss D's.

I guess that's it for now, but it's a lot on the brain, particularly the potty training! 

Five Years of Fun

Today is our fifth wedding anniversary. I am really astounded when I think about how fast five years has gone by.  It really has been a great five years.

This morning I was ticking off all the fun places we've been to in the past five years: St. Lucia for our honeymoon, France in 2007, Australia in 2008, Maui in 2010, Costa Rica in 2011.  This doesn't count all the ski trips to Tahoe and Mammoth, or the other road trips we've taken, or the trips Chris has accompanied me on for work (Orlando and D.C.).

Plus, of course, we've had a baby, which is by far the best thing we've ever done. And now we have a new one on the way! I'm so lucky to have such a great partner and friend as my husband. I couldn't ask for a better person to have joined me on this journey.  Chris is such a great dad too.

And now some pictures from our amazing wedding, which was such a special day.

The wedding party

The "berry" wedding cake, and a traditional French wedding cake

The Beautiful Serra Museum

And tonight, we're headed to The Kitchen for an amazing meal. I can't wait!

Shh...

Shh... Come close. I have a secret to tell you.

Actually, I'll let Charlotte tell you.

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She's going to be a big sister!

That's right, Baby Berry 2.0 is on his/her way!  She/he is due on March 9, 2012, so I'm about 9 1/2 weeks along right now.  It's still early, so we're not out of the woods yet, but I had my first prenatal appointment two weeks ago, during which I saw the baby and its strong and steady heartbeat.  They say the chance of miscarriage goes down once the baby's established a heartbeat, so I thought why not divulge it to my small readership?

(Oh and don't you love Charlotte's shirt? I ordered it from a seller on Etsy, purposely in a big size so that it will still fit when the baby comes.  And I can order a matching onesie. Yay! Those poor kids are going to hate being in matching clothes)

I've been feeling pretty good.  No morning sickness, just a crazy heightened sense of smell that has made me avoid the break room during lunch, and exhaustion that causes me to pass out in front of the TV at 8:30 or 9 each night. Seriously, Chris is annoyed that I can never make it through an episode of Mad Men without falling asleep, but I can't help it.  I'd say that apart from the sheer exhaustion, I feel  better even than last time, and I had a pretty easy first trimester the first go around.  The one difference is that I haven't been quite as hungry. Last time around if I didn't eat often enough I would get extremely queasy and shaky.  It's only just in the past couple of days that I've noticed that my appetite has considerably increased.

I still fit in all my clothes, which definitely was not the case when I was this far along with Charlotte. I guess it makes sense, since all my clothes I wear today were purchased post-Charlotte, and I'm down to my pre-pregnancy weight. Point is, I still have room to grow in my pants and shorts for at least a few more weeks.

As I mentioned above, I've had one prenatal appointment so far. It was pretty routine, until the doctor reviewed my information from the last pregnancy.  Because Charlotte was over 9 pounds at birth, I have to be monitored more closely for both regular diabetes and gestational diabetes.  I was so disappointed to learn that I'd have to do a one hour glucose test right away and then again at 28 weeks. So right after my appointment ended, I went down to the lab and drank the disgusting orange glucola drink.  The good news is that I passed it with flying colors, so no three hour test! What a relief.  Let's hope the trend continues at 28 weeks. Oh, and because of Charlotte's enormous birth weight, they're going to keep an eye on how large this baby is too.  It doesn't mean I'll have to be induced early (unless I have gestational diabetes), but it could play a role in how long they'll let me go after the due date passes.


I ask Charlotte every few days if she wants a baby sister or baby brother, and she pretty much consistently says baby sister.  When I ask her boy or girl, however, her response changes every time. Still, I think she's ready to have a baby to read books to.

Here she is reading a Strawberry Shortcake book about Strawberry Shortcake's little sister, Apple Dumpling.

Anyway, there's the exciting news that I've been wanting to share for a while. I just told my new boss today, and her reaction was much better than expected, so I figured there's no reason to keep it a secret. I am, however, going to hold off just a little while longer before posting on Facebook.