Due Date: June 4

Say it with me: “Aaaahhhhhh!”

Hopefully this explains my recent blog absence. We’re expecting a baby!

I have been dying to write this post for ages. We found out in September and waited until Thanksgiving to tell everyone in the family, and now we’re officially shouting it from rooftops.

Can we talk about how hard it is to keep a secret this big? It seemed like within a week of us finding out, so many bloggers had news about expanding families – Julia, Amy, Katie and Sherry, to name a few. But we managed to wait out the first trimester (and then some) before spilling the beans.

So, some details: Baby B is due June 4. Yes, I see you doing math over there. Alaska was fun, thanks for asking. I’m coming up on 15 weeks this week. We intend to find out if it’s a girl or boy. It’s a little early for me to divulge birth plan details, but we want to do things as naturally as the baby will allow. I’m not showing yet, but my skinny jeans stop fitting so well in the waist around lunchtime (but I managed to wear them throughout Thanksgiving!).

Really awesome* symptoms (*not really): I cannot sleep through the night without waking up to pee. I don’t have a pregnancy glow, but I’m full of chin pimples! I haven’t had any cravings, but sweets repulsed me for a good two months. My Tom’s deodorant with “long lasting 24 hour protection” does not work – I can smell myself after a few hours (note: I’ve always been a sweaty person, but I’ve never smelled. Now, I smell). I’m prone to car sickness, even if I’m driving (another note: normally, I can read in a car and feel fine). I’m looking forward to making a nursery, but haven’t felt any real nesting or nursery decorating urges. But that’s probably because of my two major pregnancy symptoms: fatigue and morning sickness.

About mid-October, right when I dropped off the blogging radar, my energy levels plummeted. Like, I was going to bed at 8 p.m. at the absolute latest. So, “projects” quickly fell off my to-do list in favor of “sleep, sleep and more sleep.”

In late October, at nine weeks, morning sickness struck. I read it tends to kick in around four or five weeks and subside after the first trimester. Going a month past that, I thought I was in the clear. WRONG. Honestly, I feel like such a wimp complaining about it, because it’s not that bad relative to the experiences I’ve heard from other moms, but it’s truly exhausting. Imagine having on-again, off-again flu, and you don’t know when it’s going to happen. I haven’t had hormone-induced emotional outbreaks, but I have broken down crying a few times just because I’m so. damn. tired. of the morning sickness. And for the past ten days, it’s been at its worst. I keep telling myself it’s just going out with a bang. I could go on about it, and if anyone wants to talk about it/share advice/throw me a pity party, leave a comment and we can email back and forth. But know this – women who have children and are going through morning sickness: you are all my heroines.

That said, we’re massively excited and very pleased to finally share the news with everyone!