Endless Entertainment

For most of my life, I didn't like kids, especially little kids. The only babysitting jobs I was interesting in taking were those sweet deals when you come over after the kids are asleep so the parents can go out. Babies and toddlers were a mystery to me and I couldn't understand why anyone would choose to spend all day with them.

Of course, now that I have my own I'm completely biased and think my kid is the most hilarious and entertaining thing on the planet. Biology is a funny thing.

Here are some examples of hilarious (to me at least) things that she does:

Insisting that her doll needs lunch too.

Mommy, I need an extra string cheese. For the doll...yeah.

It's so hard to keep your dolls hydrated

This is why the dog makes out with the dolls later

Oh Dolly, you're tired too? Let's go take a nap.

She insisted that her doll come take a nap with her (normally I make her leave her toys downstairs) and she even had me tuck it in next to her. Hopefully this isn't what she expects when the new baby comes in the fall. Isn't that the Duggar method for child rearing, let the older one take care of the younger?


She's starting to mimic us. It's so funny to see what she picks up (no curse words yet!) and the best is that she has started to yell out "I SORRY!" every time she bumps into anything. She even says it when we are at Target and our cart bumps into anything. Also now when she hands me something, she says "Pank you!" because I always say "Thank you" when she gives me something.

The mimicking means I can teach her to say things, like this:


Sometimes she holds up one finger, sometimes four, but I managed to capture flashing some kind of gang signal in this clip. Priceless memories.

Tomorrow is her actual birthday and I have no idea how to make it a special day for her, but I'm pretty sure a trip to get ice cream or Rita's italian ice will happen. Plus, we still have our presents to give to her and she's going to love them so much.

Peanut update:

Peanut is still really tired and not totally herself, but she was more like herself today than any other day since she got sick. We went for an early morning walk and she happily did the full loop (2.2 miles) and still had energy to chew her bone later. She's been doing a lot of this as part of her recovery:

If they loved me, I'd have a hammock out here

She'll go back to the vet next week to get checked over again and if she looks good, then I can start her on this medicine that makes her poop taste nasty (nastier?) to her. I've been picking it up as she goes, but it only took her 2 days to realize what I was doing and for her to start hiding it. I don't really have time to be doing a twice daily Easter Egg-poop hunt out in the yard, so it would be easier to just do it once a week.

Ok, I lied. I have time, I just really don't want to do it all the time forever. If I have to do that, I'm just going to start walking her on the leash again instead of using the yard because it's not as easy as you'd imagine to find every last pile of dog shit in the grass. Just the other day, I dashed outside to grab a fresh pile and I had to battle a freaking spider for it. It wasn't a small one either and I was shaking the plastic bag at it and it didn't want to retreat. Do spiders eat shit? I'm afraid to even Google that.

I'll be glad when Peanut can run again because then I don't have to do so much of my run on the treadmill. I like the air conditioned part of the treadmill and the watching TV part, but it's just too easy to talk myself down from whatever arbitrary mileage I've assigned myself for the day. For example, I wanted to cover 8 miles today, so that meant I needed to run 6 on the treadmill but at 5 miles I decided it was close enough. I know that 7 miles isn't exactly a fail, especially since I'm not training for anything (and 18 weeks pregnant to boot) but I still hate not running the full distance I set for myself for no reason other than "I didn't wanna". I like blaming the dog for this, so I'm going to stick with that for now.


Do you set guidelines for your workout (like "I will use the elliptical for 45 minutes!")? Do you let yourself change your mind mid-workout, or do you stick to the plan?


What do you think would be an awesome activity for a 2 year on her birthday? Keep in mind that I live in the middle of nowhere, so stuff like the zoo and Chuck-E-Cheese are hours away. 

That's not what I ordered

If you were to judge how I'm feeling in this pregnancy by my weekly mileage, you might assume that I'm feeling pretty good (even though last week was a weak 28 miles, but I blame the dog). That's not entirely correct. The thing to keep in mind is that I have to be REALLY sick to not run. Like, not able to stand upright level of sick or at least have some sort of short term sickness like the flu. If I didn't run everyday I felt like shit while pregnant, I'd probably average about 10 miles a week.

Chuck Norris approves my running logic

Over the past 4 to 5 weeks, I've been dealing with light-headedness and headaches, enough to make me feel like I need to lay down and rest for a bit at least once a day, which is awesome when you have a toddler. It got annoying enough to bring up to my OB last week and he told me to go see my primary care doctor about it, even though I'm positive it's pregnancy related. He also told me I wasn't anemic (and that's my primary theory on what's wrong) based on my 9 week pregnancy blood test...all the way back in March. I didn't feel like arguing, so I just went home and called my primary doctor and made an appointment.

Today was that appointment and instead of getting a doctor who was coming off a night shift and was too tired and busy to listen to me, I got the Chicken Little of physician assistants and a 2 hour appointment (all with a toddler assistant). I told her my symptoms and she decided that I needed a full work up, including heart testing, even I told her I just wanted my blood iron checked. I tried to explain that if my heart was having any issues, then I shouldn't be able to still run 8 miles and feel fine, but I guess I should stop speaking in Swahili because she didn't seem to understand my logic.

Luckily, I'm seeing an actual doctor next week to discuss the results of the ridiculous amount of testing done today and I'm 98% sure his treatment plan will be for me to give birth in November and then feel fine again. My dream is that it's something simple like anemia that can be treated with a supplement and maybe diet changes (although my food intake is still really limited by morning sickness). Otherwise I'm just going to have to man up and quit my bitching. A little dizziness never killed anyone, right?

You have to be drunk for this to make sense

The best part of the whole appointment was when the PA walked in and said "You look so pale and tired!" Thanks lady. I tried to explain that I don't normally look that shitty, but I was up at midnight changing a poopy diaper and then up again at 4:30am-ish with a moany teething kid and never got back to sleep because the moaning didn't stop...and again she didn't listen and thought it was another sign of my impending doom.

After 2 long hours of trying to keep a toddler content in an examination room, I decided to bag my run today and just nap instead. I needed a day off anyway, so it was an easy decision. The dog was more than happy to keep me company for a nap. I think her recovery is spoiling me because I didn't take her for a walk today (it was pouring rain) and she doesn't seem to care. I wonder if this is what it's like to own a normal dog?

Faith was ridiculously high energy today. There must be something about rainy weather that makes kids nuts.

My shirt is right, I'M AWESOME!

Daddy's shoes are the best for stomping

At least if I'm going to have to lay down to deal with feeling light headed, now I have a new book to read. Kari sent Peanut and I a present in the mail and it's pretty perfect:

Guess which is mine and which is the dog's?

Incorrect.

I feel like I've heard so many people talk about reading "50 Shades of Grey" in a negative light that I have really low expectations, so that probably means I'll enjoy it. From what I hear, this could be made into a pretty interesting show on HBO, mostly because the only thing HBO likes more than violence is explicit sex.

I also got a Kindle Fire as an early birthday present from my mom over the weekend and it's pretty much the most fun thing ever. My husband has developed quite the Angry Birds addiction already. It's hilarious how much he enjoys using the birds as bombs and Faith is his biggest fan/spectator. Every time he hits anything she cries out "BOOM!" and then laughs. The Kindle Fire was a life saver at the doctor office this morning because there are so many toddler friendly apps for things like learning the alphabet.

I've never had a smart phone or tablet (neither has my husband) so what apps are "must haves"? So far, I really enjoy Words with Friends and Draw Something, but I could also use suggestions about favorite apps for toddlers!

Death Wish

Dog's Log, Stardate 65874.3

I came so close to fulfilling my mission today, only to be foiled by that vile woman once again. She may even be catching on to my overall plan! After my botched attempt last week to end it all, I had the perfect opportunity today and I had to go for it.

It all started when that vile woman took me for another one of her death marches through the neighborhood. I don't know where her compulsion comes from and the really twisted part is that she thinks she does it for my benefit. Luckily, her concern about my "recovery" made her end the march early. Once back inside, I was again subjected to drinking lukewarm water from a bowl outside, like some kind of animal!

I am humiliated daily

Soon after we returned, that vile woman dressed her spawn in loudly colored clothing (they think I'm color blind, the FOOLS) and left. I had faked sleeping so she wouldn't put me in that horrid BOX again and it worked. Finally, I was free to try to find a way to end it all at last! I know another spawn is coming and my existence with just one of them is awful enough, I can't be outnumbered. There is only one way out!

I hop up on the kitchen island where I know a bottle of salvation resides. I've been plotting this for over a year now by ignoring the bottle to make that vile woman think I'm not interested. In fact, I've even avoided eating any non-food items off the counter in my short life to foster a false sense of comfort in her.

I was distracted by a box of cake on the island, but NO I must focus! I have to knock lots of stuff down, but finally I find it! I guess that vile woman must know my plan because there is some sort of lock on the bottle! I work and work at it, but just as I'm about to get it, I hear the garage door open! I hide and hope the spawn will distract her enough to not notice my plan in action.

As proof to the importance of my plan, that spawn betrayed me by finding the bottle and handing it to that vile woman! Blast it all to hell!

You win this battle, but the war will  be MINE!

End Dog's Log




Other than thwarting the dog's suicide attempts, I also took Faith to her second to last dance class. She got to wear a new outfit and new shoes, which is apparently overly exciting.

Stand still? NEVER!

I'm wearing my dancing shoes!

So much adorable in two little feet

Stomping is dancing, right?

After dance class and cleaning up the dog's mess (and condemning her to never roam free again when I'm not home), I also ran on the treadmill for a total of 6.5 miles for the day, but there was walking mixed in. For simplicity's sake, just assume that all my runs have walking mixed in at this point. I need the breaks to either catch my breath or cool off a little. Before pregnancy, I didn't count walking miles toward my weekly totals, but now I count all forward motion.


Do you count walking in your weekly mileage?


Ever have a pet with a death wish?

Balloons and harassment

 There is nothing like a long weekend to make you feel like you need a weekend to recover! We had a family-packed weekend because we were celebrating Faith's 2nd birthday. She doesn't actually turn 2 until Friday, but she didn't mind celebrating a little early on the long weekend. The day started with the most exciting thing possible for a toddler: BALLOONS!

My precious....

She dragged the balloons around with her all day, even when she was trying to "help" my brother-in-law stretch out his back in the morning:

Uncle Nick? What are we looking at? 

 Even before the party started, Faith tired herself out with the balloons and gave herself a little time out...and even for that she held on to her balloons:

I swear there is a toddler in that mound

We waited until after nap time to do presents (otherwise she wouldn't want to leave her new toys to sleep) and she woke up ready to party:

I love my new hat! I feel so pretty.

 Apparently I should have also put my little brother down for a nap with Faith because he passed out on the floor during present opening time. How anyone can fall asleep while a toddler unwraps loud musical presents is a mystery to me, but that didn't stop me from setting up props to take hilarious pictures while he slept:

Hold me.

Marines have to study how to use the potty. Tinkle tinkle toot!

After cake, Faith got to go outside and play with her new sand and water table. This was a big hit (I really liked that it came with an umbrella to keep the sun off my ginger spawn) and if you were wondering, it takes about 10 minutes for a toddler to realized that the point of the table is to dump sand into the water side and laugh manically.

It will never look this clean again.

Hey Peanut, stop drinking my water! That's for splashing only!

The party was a success and I wasn't even lazy like last year (when I got BBQ catering) and made a ton of food for everyone. In all honestly, one of the main reasons I didn't do the BBQ again was that the BBQ place recently burned down. You'd think a BBQ joint would have a good handle on fire management, but I guess not. Faith really enjoyed the party, especially how she was the center of attention the whole time.

Because I really enjoying giving my little brother a hard time, let's laugh at his newest tattoo. Here is an example of his typical tattoo:

Oooo, a big tough badass Marine with a flying swirly head skull. So scary!

Whatever street cred you get from a skull tattoo is completely voided by something like this:

Yes, seriously. 

Fun fact: that tattoo took 8.5 hours. I told him that he can't give me a hard time about the stupidity of running 50 miles in 9.5 hours if he's going to sit for almost that long with a needle repeatedly digging into his flesh. I told him to get a Cookie Monster tattoo next because Faith would like it, but it turns out that Stitch is "cool" but Cookie Monster doesn't make that same cut.

Peanut update:

Peanut still isn't 100% and it was really hard to keep her quiet with house guests and the party. I think she might have overdone it with her excitement and I'm a little worried about how tired she seems. I'm not really sure what to expect as far as recovery, but I may call the vet tomorrow if she still seems so "blah" to me. I know her pretty well and I think she must still feel pretty sick to be so out of sorts.

My mom and older brother even bought her a brand new toy (her favorite kind: the fleece ones that you can shred and make a mess!) and this is all that she did with it:

In my dreams, I'm making a big mess of this on the white carpet

I did have to save her from some harassment during the party. Apparently being male means you think using static electricity to stick balloons to a dog is HILARIOUS. Well, Faith also thought it was really funny. Poor Peanut was just looking at me like: "Please end this".

GET IT OFF GET IT OFF GET IT OFF

I went on a group run this morning (8 miles) and Peanut was mad to have to stay home, but my husband said she kicked up a fuss for only a few minutes after I left and then laid down on the couch with her head on his lap because she wore herself out. For reference: normally if I leave her home from a run, she cries the whole time. We don't actually miss the whining, but it's concerning to see a dog who can run for hours become exhausted from 3 minutes of activity. I'm pretty sure I'm worrying for nothing and in a few days I'll be complaining about her driving me nuts asking to go for runs!




What's the funniest tattoo you've ever seen? One time I saw a big dude with a Big Bird tattoo on his calf. That struck me as an odd choice.

Home again

Everything is right in the world again.

Yay, Peanut is coming home! Time to dance in our seats!

She's nowhere near 100% yet (she had to lay down and nap mid-dinner to have the energy to be able to finish her tiny bowl of food), but I feel so much better having her home!

So...did you get me any "Get Well Soon!" presents or what?

Huh, no new toys. This is bullcrap. 

I thought we were pretty clear that I earned a new toy.

Peanut still has some recovery ahead of her and isn't even allowed to run with me or play fetch in the yard for 2 weeks. Since the vet thinks she got sick from eating old poop in the yard that had grown a toxic mold, I cleaned up the whole yard today and from now on I'm going to pick up her poop as she goes, just like I would do when we used to live in an apartment. I'm not super excited about doing clean up all the time, but I also never want her to get sick again.

When I picked her up, the vet came out to see us and I thanked her for everything and said "I was so worried about her. I really thought she was going to die" and the vet laughed and said "Me too!". See, I knew it would be a funny story one day!

Thank you to everyone for your supportive comments about Peanut. If she could type, she'd say thank you too.

I know I'm the real star of this blog

The longest walk

My  husband and I have a running joke about how he wishes we could get rid of the dog, so after the dog got me up at 5:30am this morning to go take a dump in the yard, I jokingly told him that he might get his wish because I was going to kill her for waking me up so early. At that point in the day, I thought she just had an upset stomach from eating her own shit in the yard (she really chows down).

By 7:30am she seemed to be fine, so I fed her like usual. As background, my dog will randomly vomit and/or have bowel issues for no reason and it can be completely isolated so I don't really freak out when it happens. About 2 hours after she ate, she was bugging me to go for a run by poking my Brooks and whining so I figured she felt better.

It was a cool, but very humid morning but I still wanted to try to get 4 miles done before I went to the party store to get supplies for Faith's birthday party this weekend. We got over a mile from the house and Peanut just starting vomiting, but she didn't stop running. It was fairly impressive, since she was just vomiting as she trotted along. At first I wasn't too concerned, but after the 3rd time she vomited in about a minute, I turned around to head back home. I had to make her stop running because she's so used to just running next to me without stopping that I wasn't sure she'd let me know she needed to walk.

Peanut normally gets really excited to turn around towards home and wants to pick up the pace, but this time she didn't even seem to notice. She was continuing to vomit as she walked, but by this point it was just foam. As I looked at her walking, I noticed she was dripping something onto the pavement behind her: liquid dog poop was just running out of her. That's when I knew it was really bad because she obviously couldn't control it.

OMG, I can't believe you just told the internet that. I'm so embarrassed. 

I called the vet as we were walking back and arranged to bring her in for an emergency appointment as soon as I was able to get her home. In just a short time, Peanut was rapidly declining. I was starting to seriously worry  that she wouldn't make it back under her own power. I thought about calling someone to come pick us up, but then I looked at my vomit and shit covered dog and realized I don't know anyone who likes me that much (other than my husband who isn't even in this time zone right now).

I had to pep talk her up the big hill into our neighborhood and I squirted cool water into her mouth to rinse out the vomit foam. It felt like it took hours, but we eventually made it home and I quickly put her on the back deck so I could clean her up a little and then got Faith dressed and ready to go. By the time I brought Peanut back inside to go to my car in the garage, she was barely able to walk and I had to lift her into the car. She was eerily quiet the whole car trip (she normally barks and whines the whole way) wasn't even able to stay upright.

When we arrived at the vet, I had to carry Faith in first and park her in front of the big fish tank and then dash back outside to carry Peanut inside. Once I got her inside, she just sprawled on the linoleum and wouldn't move. I had to ask them to please hurry and take us back because my dog never acts like this and there is something seriously wrong, so they took us back as quickly as possible.

Even with our "emergency" status, we still had to wait a while (there were other emergencies there and I heard them talking about doing CPR on a dog in the back, so I was cool with waiting). I had to concentrate on keeping Faith happy by using Dog Fancy magazine as story book since I forgot to bring toys in my haste to get there. When they came in to draw blood from Peanut I had to take Faith out of the room because she got so upset. I don't blame her, it's not normally bad but Peanut's blood pressure was so low that they had a really hard time getting anything to come out.

Once it was noon, I went out and asked if there was anyway I could leave Peanut there and come back after nap time but they said the doctor was just about to come in to talk to me about hospitalization. I was shocked to hear that because I really thought they were just going to say that my dog just had an upset stomach and was being dramatic about it.

I'm not dramatic, I'm just very emotive 

It turns out that Peanut's liver levels were so high that they had to dilute the sample to even get a reading (normal liver level = 100, Peanut's level = 3600+). They don't know why it happened, but it could be from a toxin that she ingested or from an infection. Her anti-seizure medication is hard on her liver, but that would cause a gradual decline, not an acute situation like this. I asked the vet if she was in liver failure and the vet said "We don't know yet, but we will if she doesn't respond to treatment". I also asked her if Peanut was going to be ok and she said "I can't make any promises...but you need a liver to live".

The whole time we were at the vet Faith was getting increasingly upset about Peanut just laying on the floor. She kept repeating "PAY NUHH" and trying to hug her. I felt really awful about her being upset, but there wasn't anything I could do. Once I signed the consent forms to hospitalize Peanut, they came and took her into the back for IV treatments and Faith cried as they took her away.

Peanut, you're the only one who really "gets" me

Right now I have to wait and see how Peanut responds to treatment. If she's not stable enough by the end of the day, I'll transport her to a 24 hour clinic about an hour away so she can have supervision all night. Otherwise, she'll stay where she is until at least tomorrow. The vet assured me that the liver is a very forgiving organ and I'm hoping she's right about that. It's driving me crazy not knowing what made Peanut so sick and I'm also not thrilled that I can't sit with her. She's my velcro dog, my ever present shadow, and I hate the idea that she's wondering where I am.

My furry sidekick 

I will update this as I get more information and hopefully she'll bounce back to normal and we can laugh about my dramatic "My dog almost DIED" story later.

4:45pm Update: Just talked to the vet and Peanut is doing a little better. The fluids have helped her blood pressure get back up to normal and she was able to stand up and go outside to do her business. It's crazy for me to think how happy I am to hear that when just this morning she was running around the house, but it's still an improvement over how she was when I left her. She is going to stay at the local animal hospital overnight and I'll get another update in the morning. We won't know for sure that she's getting better until they recheck her liver and that won't happen until tomorrow afternoon.

8:15am Update: I called as soon as the animal hospital opened to see how Peanut made it through the night and they said she seems to be in good spirits and didn't have any accidents overnight. I was really worried about her overnight because we had bad thunderstorms and Peanut usually needs to be held because she get scared, but they reported that she's in a good mood this morning so I guess she decided to not hold a grudge. The vet wasn't there yet, but I'll hear more from them later today. It was good to hear that she's standing up on her own and begging for people to come pet her and the receptionist promised to give her extra pets this morning.

9:30am Update: The vet called and said that Peanut is eating again (big relief!) and isn't having any accidents. Clinically, she has met the guidelines for discharge, but we still have to wait and see how her liver is doing because she might need another 24 hours of IV fluids. I should hear about that this afternoon!

2:45pm Update: I spoke to the vet about Peanut's latest blood work and we got shocking news: her liver levels have returned to normal! The vet was really surprised to see that and think that her case lines up pretty well with ingesting a toxic mold, like the kind that might grow in dog poop that's sitting out in the yard (yeah, my dog is gross). I get to go pick up Peanut and bring her home later this afternoon which is the best news ever. She'll be on medications for a few days to clear up the rest of the infection and she also had to go off her seizure medicine to give her liver a break, so it could be an interesting few days but at least she'll be home!

Al Roker can beat me at one thing

I might be able to beat Al Roker at running (even pregnant), but he is probably much better at reading a weather radar map than me.

An ewok humping Al Roker's leg. This has nothing to do with the post except AWESOMENESS

When I was up at 5am this morning for one of my many nightly bathroom visits, I heard it raining outside but I was hoping for clear skies when I woke up so I could fit in an outdoor run before Faith's dance class. It was gloomy when we got up, but I thought I could still do it. I looked at Weather.com and it said "Cloudy" and the radar map didn't have any green blobs, so I got our stuff ready to go. As you can tell, I have a deep technical grasp of meteorology.

Despite the lack of green blobs on the radar map, it started raining during our run and I stupidly left the stroller weather shield at home. I normally always have it with me, but I took it out to lighten my load for the 5K a couple of weeks ago and forgot to put it back in. So I got to be Mother of the Year with her kid out in the rain, but at least it was warm and she thought it was hilariously fun.  I had to turn around early and only got 2ish miles down instead of 4.

Faith's second dance class was just as funny as her first one. I brought my camera, but forgot it in the car so I only have the picture of the face she makes when I make her leave the dance studio when the class is over:

I don't WANNA go home! I wanna DANCE!

I did brighten her day when I shared my latest pregnancy craving with her at lunch: Cookie Crisp!

Whole grains my ass, these are COOKIES!

Peanut appreciates my throwing arm even if Mommy yells at me.

My kid might have a future in softball because she has quite the throwing arm on her. She was able to peg the dog in the face with a piece of cereal, which if you're wondering...is HILARIOUS if you're a toddler.

Once I was done eating sugary cereal with the kid, I put her down for a nap and ran 5.3 miles on the treadmill to make it an even 7.5 miles for the day. I actually had a good run today. There is a lot to be said for taking a complete rest day (like yesterday) and I should probably do that more often. I'm not too quick on the uptake and have to learn lessons over and over again, so you'll probably hear me say "It turns out that rest days are a GOOD idea!" again at some point in the near future.

Dinosaurs: Also slow on the uptake 

Have you ever been caught in the rain because the weather forecast lied to you?

I'm lazier this time

When I was pregnant with Faith, people always told me that "every pregnancy is different!" and I thought that meant you had different symptoms with each one. The most notable difference for me is how I am treating my current pregnancy compared to my last. Here are some notable differences:

Currently, I have no idea what size fruit my fetus should be. With Faith, I read the weekly updates and I could tell you at any given point that my fetus was the size of a jicama or something ridiculous like that. In fact, reading those weekly updates now make me feel like this (I think I overdid it the first time with cross referencing on different websites)

I don't care at all if other people think I look pregnant versus fat. With Faith, I was always concerned that people should note that I am pregnant, not just letting myself go. It also took me a long time to really show when I was pregnant with Faith and this time it happened a lot sooner, so that's a factor. One or twice I've wondered if people are looking at my stomach area and wondering if I still have baby weight from Faith or if they can tell I'm pregnant, but for the most part it never crosses my mind. I even had someone ask me over the weekend if I was pregnant or just fat (it was a dude and I'm pretty sure it was harmless), and I just laughed about it.

Atta girl Barbie, take away the doubt

I am so much more relaxed this time. With Faith's pregnancy, I was really cautious about everything, especially since I had first trimester bleeding, and I followed every single rule I could find regarding pregnancy. I wouldn't even eat vegetable sushi because I was worried about cross contamination with the raw fish. I still haven't broken any rules this time (even though I really want non-microwaved deli meat), but I sure feel more relaxed. In a way it would be better if I was less relaxed about my nutrition because I'm not pushing myself to eat a balanced diet because I'm still dealing with morning sickness. There isn't much I can do about it, so I figure why worry?

Just be as relaxed as this pig, that's my motto

I'm much more comfortable with procrastination. With Faith, I had her nursery pretty much done with the crib assembled and everything by 27 weeks. I still don't know why it was important to me to have that done, I think it was mostly because I was afraid that once I was "Oh my damn!" level of pregnant that I wouldn't want to mess with it. This time all that I've done so far is pick out bedding a room decorations for the new baby (baby farm animals will be the theme if you're interested), but the new baby's room is still currently my husband's office. Other than setting up the room, we have almost everything else we need (well, we have more of what we need if this next one is a girl too unless my husband agrees to let me dress a boy in pink ruffles), so I'm really ok with sitting on my ass and doing nothing for now.

This dog is so much cooler than Peanut

I'm eating a lot more this time. This is a direct effect of running 35-40 miles a week versus just walking last time, but it's a noteworthy difference. With my first pregnancy, I thought it was crazy that I had TWO English muffins for breakfast and this morning it seemed fairly reasonable to have four muffins for breakfast. I seem to be gaining weight the same way as last time, so I assume my muffin eating ways aren't going to give me a bubble butt this time (but we can all hope). At least if it does happen, then I can sing "Baby Got Back" more often.

Like Emma, Faith also laughs at that song

I feel confident about my ability to get back to working out post baby. I was concerned when I had Faith because it seemed like I met so many people who said that they couldn't work out when they had small kids and had to wait until they were older. It turns out that I probably prioritize exercise differently then those people (I don't wait for free time to appear, I schedule my workouts) and since I still run with one kid, why should two kids stop me?

I remember my first pregnancy as a cake walk compared to this one. It's probably selective memory, but I don't recall being so exhausted all the time and I definitely don't remember still feeling queasy at this point last time. Also, my last pregnancy was easier because I had a flexible schedule with two part time jobs (doing consulting work and teaching at the community college) and no toddler to constantly lift up and down. Looking back, I don't think I lived it up enough with naps for my last pregnancy. I was a fool.

Another dog that is cooler than Peanut

The key difference is that I'm so much lazier this time. Sure, I'm still running but that's because I really like to run. Stuff I don't like to do? Not getting done. I'm probably only cooking 3 or 4 nights a week and we're talking boiling water for pasta level of cooking, nothing fancy. I'm trying to be better about cleaning before it gets gross enough to motivate me (am I the only one who does that?) because it drives my husband crazy. I do plenty of other stuff that drives him crazy, so I try to streamline it a little.

Lazy cow feels my pain.

Do you ever look back at a point in your life and think "Man, Past Me had it SO easy!"?