11 Weeks

How Far Along: 11 weeks today

Size of Baby: Lime

Weight Gain: 0

Stretch Marks: Not yet - hopefully not ever

Maternity Clothes:  I want to get my BeBands out of storage because by the end of the day my bump action is a little stronger and its uncomfortable to have pants buttoned, but not quite ready for maternity clothes just yet. I've purchased a few new things from a resale site on Facebook that specializes in maternity and I'm excited to start wearing them soon!

Gender:  Not sure yet, but I keep thinking girl for some reason

Movement:  Nada

Sleep:  It's not great - I could use more (said every mom ever)

Missing:  Not too much

Loving:  My growing bump

Craving:  Lemon in my water.  Strawberries, soup of all sorts 

Feeling: Finally back to myself!  Praying it stays this way.

Looking Forward: Spending as much one on one time with CT as possible.  Looking forward to our next appointment on the 28th.  Excited for our little "baby-moon" I earned for us with my Beachbody business.

Best Moment(s): Laying in bed with CT before his bedtime and talking about the baby. This past long weekend we did a whole lot of nothing except putter and do little things around the house and it was really nice to just be us for the weekend.

See my 10 week bumpdate here!

How to make Yourself a Morning Workout Person

Ummmmmm.....yeah.  I am a morning person if and only if I get to wake up naturally around 7am or so.  So, setting my alarm a full 45 minutes before it needs to go off is not part of my idea of "happy hour."

But, it is my reality if I want to get my workout in.  Because if you think it's easy to make excuses at 5am, wait until 5pm - they come even easier!

If I waited until 5pm to get my workout in I would be tired, making dinner, chasing a toddler, greeting a hubby from work, cleaning yogurt off the floor, watching Real Housewives on DVR, you get the picture.  It just wouldn't happen, folks!

I'm just going to be honest and tell you - if you weren't a morning person before the first trimester, you aren't going to be one during it!  No way, no how.  So I wouldn't even push yourself to attempt it.  First trimester you are going to be extra tired because you are working on building a life-support system for your baby!  Building the placenta is particularly difficult on the body so normally by the end of the first trimester you start to feel better - there is a light at the end of the tunnel!

Once you start getting your energy back (and if your doctor has cleared you for exercise), you can start attempting those morning workouts again!  Here are a few tips on how to stay energized and be a morning person:

1. Listen to your body.  This is the most important thing you can do for yourself and baby during pregnancy.  Don't try to be SuperMom; just do what you can.  And keep in mind anything you do right now as far as exercise is benefitting you and baby so don't beat yourself up if you lose your breath easily, get tired faster, or need more rests/water breaks.
2. Ask for help.  This is soooo hard for me.  I want to be SuperMom - I really do.  I want to do it all.  Fact is, especially right now - I can't.  You can't.  So ask for help.  Ask your significant other to do the dishes, prep dinner one night a week, or get your MIL or parents to keep your toddler for a few hours on Sunday.  It's okay.  (Trust me - as I type this I'm trying to convince myself that it doesn't make me less of a SuperMom to ask for help)  In all reality, getting help in other areas might give you the energy you need to wake up in the morning.
3. Eat right.  I know this is especially hard in the first trimester, but do your best to eat healthy.  Filling up on cereal, bagels, chocolate, and any other weird cravings only weighs you down and makes you feel sluggish.  Try to replace those things with healthier options like these muffins, fruit, raw veggies and dip, etc.
4. Get an accountability partner.  I can't tell you enough how much it helps to share my workouts within my virtual challenge groups.  (I also have a prenatal group right now.)  They are cheering for me, for us!  And that makes a world of difference when I'm debating whether or not to hit snooze and roll over.
5. Get more rest.  I realize this would solve a world of problems, but it's important to keep in mind that when you're exhausted at 8:00 it's simply not worth it to stay up one more hour to get things done if you're going to feel awful the next day.  (At least for me, fatigue causes morning sickness.)

In reality, all of these tips are just going to make you feel better overall, but they will definitely help you in becoming a morning person and potentially getting that morning workout.

Homemade Zupa Toscana in the Crockpot

You know me - you know I love a good crockpot recipe.  What you may not know about me is that I love Zupa Toscana soup from Olive Garden and when I'm pregnant I loooooooove me some Zupa Toscana.  Like my hubby and I have driven 30 minutes to Olive Garden just so that I could sit there and eat endless bowls and breadsticks.  And good waiters and waitresses send me home with a takeout container (and get an extra sweet tip when they do)!

So last year I started playing with the idea of making it at home and I did, but it was a lot of work because I used frozen spinach and did it on the stove and I just knew there had to be a better way.  A way that involved me throwing ingredients into the magic crockpot and then walking away for 4 hours.  Love that magic pot.

I found a few recipes and tweaked them to come up with this:

Ingredients:
1 bunch of organic kale (washed and chopped)
3 large potatoes (washed and sliced)
1 carton of chicken broth
1 pint of heavy whipping cream
1 lb sweet italian sausage (browned and drained)
salt & pepper to taste

1. Brown and drain sausage.  Drain extremely well to cut down on greasiness of soup.
2. Place broth and whipping cream in crockpot.
3. Add sausage, potatoes, and kale.
4. Salt & pepper to taste.
5. Let it sit on high for 3 hours then turn down to low for 1 hour.  (You could probably just have it sit on low for 6 hours)
6. Continuously stir and submerge the kale/potatoes under the broth.
7. Enjoy!

10 Weeks

I didn't start doing Bumpdates with CT until 13 weeks because we didn't announce/find out we were pregnant until later in the pregnancy, but this time around we knew what to look for.  And obviously there isn't much bump action yet, but I really want to document this pregnancy as well as I documented my first because I love looking back on those posts.  So, I'm starting now!

How Far Along: 10 weeks today

Size of Baby: Kumquat - no clue what that is

Weight Gain: 0

Stretch Marks: Not yet - hopefully not ever

Maternity Clothes:  No; still fitting into all my regular clothes, but I did find some AMAZING sales at Old Navy on clearance the other day so I've started a stockpile of summer clothes.

Gender:  No clue, but this pregnancy is verrrry different from my first so I'm thinking maybe it could mean girl?

Movement:  Nada

Sleep:  Waking up several times throughout the night and requiring more sleep than normal; being a toddler mom and working full-time - I'm exhausted!

Missing:  Nothing.  

Loving:  The way CT talks to the baby - He says, "C'mon baby!" and gives the baby kisses before bedtime.

Craving:  Lemon in my water.  Citrus fruit.  

Feeling: So sick.  This pregnancy is so different from last time.  My sickness is 24/7 and lasts days in a row.  Then I will feel good for a few days. 

Looking Forward: Spending as much one on one time with CT as possible.  Looking forward to our next appointment on the 28th.

Best Moment(s): Laying in bed with CT before his bedtime and talking about the baby.

From My Dining Room Table

I know what you're thinking...

You're thinking you can't do this for a number of reasons.
Number one being you don't even really know what it is, how it works, or why I talk about it as much as I do.  You're thinking that you don't have the time, money, patience, body, network, or space to make it happen.  And I know.
I get it.

I get it because I was you a year and a half ago.  I just knew I didn't have the time as a wife/mom/full-time teacher or the money to invest in a business plan.  Or the patience to make it work.  Or the body a coach is "supposed to have."  Or the outreach/network and friends to make it sustainable.  Or the space to actually do the work that needs to be done in my little home.

For whatever reason, I decided to jump in and do it anyway.  I really don't know why to be honest.  I guess it was that last pair of pants I tried to pull on and couldn't button or the winded breathless state I was in as I climbed the stairs at Yankee Stadium or the desire to do something for me after having done so much for my son for so long.  But, for whatever reason, I did it.

For the first year of my business I worked from my dining room table on a laptop I carried to and from work each day because I didn't have an office and I didn't have my own computer.  I worked out in my living room amongst my son's toys and stored my weights on top of my washing machine because there was no other place to store them.  I worked my business once my son went to bed for the night after teaching middle schoolers all day.

I'm telling you all this because I want to show that this is real life.  In the last 6 months I've been able to help move my family into a much larger, more accommodating home where I not only have an office to work in, but I have a much larger workout space (that I still share with my son's toys) and I'm growing this incredible team of women who are doing the same thing!

I've been able to purchase my own laptop so I'm no longer carrying one back and forth from work each day and I've rank advanced three times.  I've make enough money each month to cover my car payment/insurance/mortgage and then some and I've become the best version of myself.

I share this with you not to brag, but to show you that I've done all this being a wife, mom, full-time teacher, and now with Baby #2 on the way.  I'm telling you, YOU can do this.

I've got a Glance into Coaching event starting on Facebook Monday January 11th if you'd like more information on the business opportunity.  Or we can skip all that and you can complete this application to get started now.  I'd love to set up a phone call and get you on the path to help others while also helping yourself!

Remember all you need is space and a dining room table.

How to Keep Your Pregnancy a Secret

This is probably the hardest thing in the world especially your first go 'round.

That first time you have no clue what's about to hit you.  The nausea, the cramping, the up all night, the headaches, they hit and you just go for survival of the fittest.  Really...it's your only option.

But there, are a few things you can do to try to mask those early signs of pregnancy.

1. Live in leggings
Seriously...why wouldn't you wear the pants that really aren't pants all the time anyway?  I mean, elastic waistband, stretchy fabric, and no zipper when it's time to potty?  You're not truly living until you're living in leggings.

2. Drink through a straw
Just do this 24/7 and no one will know that the one thing you crave is Sprite out of a can through a straw when your stomach can't find a way to stop rolling.

3. Eat citrus
I don't know if this works for everyone, but every time I started to feel queasy with this pregnancy, I popped out a clementine and my symptoms started to go away as I ate.

4. Nurse your wine glass
I really had people guessing on Christmas Eve when I happily accepted a glass of red wine (even my husband gave me a sideways glance).  I carried that sucker with me everywhere - even to the bathroom each time I had to go where conveniently I had a sink to slowly drain the yumminess making it look as though I'd been drinking.

5. Lower back problems
First trimester = extreme fatigue meaning I wanted to sit on my butt all the time so I started telling people my back was bothering me.  It wasn't a total untruth - it was sore, but not unbearable or for the reasons I gave people.  I also got myself out of a staff dodgeball tournament this way.

6. Do your hair and makeup
Just do it.  You won't want to, but if you don't people will notice.

7.  Avoid the sushi joint
It will just upset you anyway.  But if people notice you aren't eating any raw rolls, they will know why.

8.  Peppermint stash
Keep peppermints on hand for those moments when nausea hits and you ned to cover it up.

9. Depends
Just kidding - but you will pee a lot.  I guess you'll just have to blame your upped water intake.

10.  Enjoy every single second of it.
Don't let ANYONE take this moment from you.  If they ask questions, give whatever answer you want - don't feel obligated to share until you're ready.  There is something special about just you and your significant other knowing about the baby on board.  And then another special moment when you tell your parents.  It's a secret worth enjoying.

Babies are the best!

2016 Word of the Year | BOOM

I do this every year.  I marinate on a word that encompasses where I see my year going.  A word that resonates with me based on the goals I've set for myself and the year.

Last year my word was shine and the year before it was embrace.  I think putting a word out there into the universe as opposed to a list of things to-do gives me more freedom to do what I want with it; make it my own.  Do you have a word for 2016?

This year my word is

BOOM (verb)

to progress, grow, or flourish vigorously

This year is definitely going to be a BOOM in so many ways!  Not only are we growing our family with this little bundle due in August, but I have some huge goals for myself, my business, my family, you get the picture.  We are going to flourish...we are going to boom!

I want to help other women grow a business like I have.  I want to show them that they can contribute to the household, work from home, live their dream, make their own schedule, do the things they dream about doing!

I want to grow our family and build a unit that is so tight no one can get in unless we let them.  I want my children to grow up loving and leaning on one another.  I want the bond to be unbreakable.

I want my marriage to be the same way - to flourish.  I want my husband and I to be a team (even more than we already are) what one cannot handle, the other tackles.

You get the picture.

What is your word for 2016?

2016 Special Announcement

We are so excited to share our special news with the world!

2016 is going to be our best year yet.

I can't wait to share my journey becoming a mama of 2 and my healthy/fit pregnancy.