PAMPERS AND PEARLS: I've Been Keeping a Secret...

Surprise! We're adding a pumpkin to our patch! I am currently 13 weeks pregnant and getting to the point where it was hard to not only hide my little "beer gut" in photos, but also not slip and share things. Really I've just been wanting to make snarky comments but keep catching myself. So there...phew, it's out! This is also why I've been slacking on the lacking with my posts. Not only did I decide to go back to work part time (see post here) but 2 weeks after starting the new gig I found out I was pregers. YIKES! So keeping it all together has been a little difficult but I'm starting to come out of the fog now.

Anyways, I'm sure y'all have lots of questions so I'm going to try and answer as many as I can think of, however if I forget something please feel free to ask. Thanks to Annie at Home of Malones for basically giving me this "template" of questions when she announced her pregnancy with Madelyn.

* How far along are you and how are you feeling? I am 13 weeks pregnant and feeling tons better! Weeks 6-9 were brutal...I felt like I was constantly on the tilt-a-whirl. I was nauseous 24 hours a day, so that whole "morning sickness" thing was complete BS; it was all-day sickness. Thank god I never vomited, but I always felt like I wanted to. I was also dizzy a lot which sucked. I survived by keeping cheerios next to my bed and eating a couple handfuls before I even moved in the morning. If I kept something in my stomach I was at least able to function. I ate lots of pizza and napped as much as possible too.

I've been getting asked a lot if I was like that with Wake, and the truth is I'm not totally sure. I was really lucky when I got pregnant with W because I was still teaching full time BUT it was summertime so I literally slept ~14 hour a day. So yeah...I could have been sick but I napped right through it - haha.

How did you find out? We found out the Sunday after we got back from our Anniversary trip in Ponte Vedra Beach in August. I had taken a pregnancy test that Friday before we left and it was negative, but that Saturday night when we met up with some of our best friends for drinks and my friend Amanda said she had this crazy premonition while running earlier that week that I was pregnant and believed it in her gut. She was so convinced (and convincing) that when I came home on Sunday I second guessed the test from Friday and dug through the trash to find it. Sure enough, there was the smallest, faintest line that obviously showed up after the 3 suggested minutes of waiting. So yeah...my friend was right!! I told her to go buy a lottery ticket that day!

Will you find out the gender? Don't kill me...but no! We never find out; it's a family thing. We didn't find out with Wake, and of my 7 nieces & nephews we only knew the gender of one. We just love surprises in our family.

Do you think it's a boy or girl? My guess is that it's a girl. I'm still in my regular clothes, but I can tell that my body is changing in a different way then with W. With W my hips spread a little and then I was all belly, but with this one I feel like I'm growing an inner tube...like my love handles are pregnant! Joe thinks it's a boy because he believes that if you will it, it will happen! HA!

Food aversions or cravings? Not really. Definitely no aversions yet. I'm craving protein; cheese, meat, beans, etc... and sugar. I have hidden bags of Halloween candy all over the house and made pumpkin chocolate chips cookies with cream cheese frosting & homemade pumpkin frosted pop tarts this weekend. I have a problem!

Are you going to post weekly bump dates? No. That's not my thing. I'm going to keep things as normal as possible around here. Sorry! I will continue to post yummy food & fashion related posts that are applicable to everyone. I still like normal shoes, handbags & accessories, AND a lot of my "maternity" clothes are regular hi-waist dresses and tunics that I've just gotten in a bigger size. Obviously my pants will be maternity...but you'll just have to work with me on those. I will be giving you occasional updates regarding my pregnancy as a whole.

What do you miss so far? I miss my booze. Is that bad? You know how much I love my margaritas and with it being Fall & football season...the pumpkin beer displays are killing me. I also miss my exercise. This isn't necessarily all because of the pregnancy (my new job has definitely messed with my schedule), but any free time I do have is not spent in the gym where it needs to be. My goal, especially with how beautiful the weather has been recently, is to try and start walking every day after W gets up from his nap. I also miss feeling rested...I'm tired all the time...which in turn makes it hard for me to keep up with the blog as much...which I miss and feel guilty about.

Okay...I think I covered most everything but again, please feel free to ask me anything and I will gladly share. It might take village to raise a child but it also takes a village to bring that child into the world. Knowledge is power and I will gladly share whatever I have for you! Thanks for all the love and I will see you soon!