8 Months Preggo!

Guys. In less than two days (I'm typing this at 10:00 at night) I will be EIGHT MONTHS PREGNANT. There's something about saying that that just makes me feel....actually I'm not sure how to describe it. Accomplished? Large as a whale?  Like part of some exclusive group..when in fact, its just a milestone. A milestone for sure, but just a milestone. I'm not sure how I feel. I'll get back to you on that.

But I am definitely feeling it though. Eight months, I mean. Large. I've gained 18 pounds so far. I don't sleep through the night EVER anymore. The culprits take turns each night- waking up to pee at least once, but sometimes up to 4 times IN A SINGLE NIGHT KILL ME NOW, or I get hungry and have to visit the fridge for some string cheese, or I'll visit the medicine cabinet for Tums, or the most evil of them all- back pain. I mean it is just RIDICULOUS.

The only nice culprit I've found for keeping me up at night is the reason behind all this- my sweet Grayson. Are anyone else's babies wild at midnight? He is a maniac!

 I definitely feel blessed and am not complaining though- I've read it over and over: at this stage, check your baby to make sure he's moving if you haven't felt him all day. I was almost worried by how big of a deal they make it. Is my baby okay? Is he going to move? What if I can't get him to move? But no. Even with him running out of room in his little home, he's probably the most active he's been thus far (which probably explains my insane backaches!!).

Shane, I'm hesitant to admit, is jealous of my pillow. I am OBSESSED with my pillow (its a Snoogle if anyone was wondering! BUY IT NOW). Try to take it away from me, I dare you. 32 weeks and I will still take you down. Seriously though, I don't know how women go without them. I would realistically say I wouldn't let myself have a second pregnancy if you told me I couldn't have my pillow the next go-round. I'm that dead serious. It blows my mind that I have to adjust my belly when I get in bed at night. For everyone who's never been pregnant, let me spell it out for you. I literally have to kind of pick up my belly and position it so I can get comfortable. It is the weirdest thing! I feel weird even typing that for fear no one would actually believe me...but anyways. Back to Shane. The poor guy finally gets to be home every night with me now, and I want very little to do with him while we sleep. 1) He's not soft and cushy like my pillow and 2) I get SOOOO hot at night, but he feels like a hot coal to the touch. I feel like I'm suffocating. Two more months, babe, two more months.

On a lighter and less whiny note, I had an AWESOME workout yesterday. The trip to the gym started with a leg workout that would make a grown man cry. Okay, minus a LOT of weight...I went light...but it was still tough, mind you. My legs today are impressively sore. I'm not sure if I've waddled more today because I'm preggs, or from being the day after legs! I did my yoga afterward, and finished with a killer treadmill routine. I was feeling superb and had nothing pressing on my schedule, so I pushed on. With 3 minute increments, I increased the incline by 2- so when I got to 15 minutes, I was at incline 10 and DYING. I mean, dying. I was borderline pushing my pregnant limits to being foolish I admit, but luckily that was time to start backing it down again- same increments. I continued walking another 20 minutes for the cool down. I'm still not sure if that was the smartest thing I've done this week....maybeeee should've gone a little easier, but at the same time, all is well, so....all good, right? I was crazy tired today though. Didn't do a heck of a lot other than run errands with my mom and a teeny bit of yoga.

I feel like I should go to bed here soon...but....who is to say I'll actually be able to sleep?! Sighs. 

The Pregnant Life

Has it been almost a year since I've blogged? My bad, guys. BUT! To my credit, I have tried to log in a few different times over the past few months, and my computer-illiterate self could not log in. It just kept sending me to Google+. Did that happen to anyone else? No? Just me? Thought so. 

Soooo....incase you missed my title, I am pregnant!! 29 weeks to be exact, so...pretty far along. For a quick game of catch up....

• I was SO SICK my first trimester! I was nauseous every morning, but the action ::rolls eyes:: was mostly in the evenings. I HATED food (me? hate food? something's VERY. WRONG.) and as a result, felt extremely weak. My saving grace was having high quality prenatal vitamins. You can find these at many places, but I found a low price at Vitacost. 

The key to a good prenatal vitamin in the first trimester is one that you can take on an empty stomach. Some lower quality prenatal vitamins can make you sick if you're already feeling low and can't eat. These are gluten free, organic, and have high quality foods and amounts of each vitamin. 

The only thing they lack is fish oil- which is fine for me. The recommended amount of fish oil for pregnant women is 200-300mg per day, but my chiropractor told me early on that, in his opinion, we need 3000! HUGE difference, right? But let me tell you...once I stepped up my intake, it made a huge difference- especially with "pregnant brain." I didn't feel like such an incompetent idiot anymore. Now that I'm further along, I think it is part of the reason I AM SO HUNGRY. ALL THE TIME. Fish oil shoots up your metabolism, and with the amounts I'm taking...well I think it has been my saving grace with all the pizza I eat. (Enter monkey emoji covering his face)

Fitness during first and second trimester was....spotty at best. No I mean, at least once a week, sometimes more on a good week. Definitely more towards the end of second trimester. I was still working as general manager of a local restaurant in town, and with coordinating all catering events too, my life felt completely upside down- even before I got pregnant. At the first of the year, we started opening only for dinner, so my work day did not end until 10:00 or later....and I didn't get to sleep in. I wasn't sleeping nearly enough, and by the time we actually opened every day, I was exhausted and ready to be finished. After a long debate, I turned in my notice. I ended up being taken out less than a week later due to a lot of anxiety from job stress. Not the best way to end my career, but taking care of my baby is number one priority, hands down. Luckily, I worked for great people (and with 5 kids, they get it) who totally understood and wished me well.

Now for the last month, I've been home playing stay at home mom- minus the baby, of course. I've been painting the outside of the house (it still looks like a shack, so....), getting the nursery ready, and actually, I've taken over my Mother's candle company. We completely rebranded the company, check it out! www.cleancandlecompany.com It lets me bring out my semi-creative side, and this fall once Grayson (oh yeah, that's his name by the way hehe) gets here and is a couple months old, I can start going to trade shows and trot my candles around for people to grab. 

Another plan, because I love having a different day every day, is start doing online coaching. This is something I've wanted to do for years, and started studying to get my certification, but with work and renovating my house, it was hard to study and didn't feel like the right time. I knew this is what I wanted to do when men and other trainers started coming up to me in the gym (not creepers, just actually nice guys) and telling me they had noticed my routines, and I really knew what I was doing and they were impressed. I understand how to write workouts based on the different muscle groups and then of course different goals each individual could have, and I want to bring that to help others understand it and achieve their goals too. 

All in good time though! For now, I'm enjoying growing my bambino. He is due July 14th. :) 

Hopefully from now, since I know how to log in (pshhh), I will start blogging more again!

-Erin