Biscuits, Gravy, and Giraffes

his is a bit of a catch up post as I just uploaded the pictures from my camera and have several rather unrelated things to share. They do all involve Evie, so I suppose they're not that unrelated after all. First of all, we have a picture from one Sunday afternoon when Justin was holding Evie after she woke up from her nap, and she fell back asleep on him for another half an hour:

Next, we dyed eggs for the first time this Easter. It was a lot of fun; Evie mostly colored on hers with the wax crayon and then we dipped them in the dye. Sadly, I did a really poor job capturing the whole event, but here's proof that it happened:

And finally, we took a trip up to Oklahoma City this past weekend. The weather was just so gorgeous, we slapped on our sunscreen and climbed in the car. As our weeks dwindle here in OK, we had to take in breakfast at one of our favorite finds in OKC, Pioneer Pies. They have an amazing selection of fresh baked pies on hand all the time, but I must admit, as wonderful as their pies are, my favorite thing they do is breakfast. It is huge and hearty with choices ranging from fruit topped waffles to pancakes, eggs and sausage, bacon, french toast, omelets, breakfast burritos, country potatoes, and the best biscuits and gravy I think I've ever had.

We headed over to the zoo after breakfast and had a great time seeing the animals. I think Evie's favorite might have been the ducks in the pond, although the giraffes gave the ducks a run for their money.

Day Seven.

t's been a full week since my last post, and miraculously I have woken every single day for an entire week at 5 am to workout! I am really proud of myself and I also can tell that there is a great improvement in my energy; although I do have a pretty nasty midday slump. If I'm able to take a nap when Evie does I feel better, but I hate loosing that time in which I could be doing something else and often I find I'm not ready for bed by 9 if I've had an afternoon nap. If I don't take a nap I'm MORE than ready for bed at 9 pm.

I'm also starting the second trimester of this pregnancy. Where did the first one go? I remember with Evie it seemed to take forever for the days and weeks to pass because I'd sit counting days and reading about fingernail growth and what size fruit she currently most resembled. I guess mostly because of her now I just don't have the time to do that, plus of course having been through a pregnancy before it's not quite as disorienting. I plan to start taking bi-monthly pictures or so to chart tummy growth; I did that last time, although I wasn't keeping the blog at the time. I've heard that women often "show" sooner in subsequent pregnancies, and I'm interested to see if that holds true for me. I really didn't look pregnant until about 32 weeks or so. Until then I just looked bloated, and I was endlessly amused by the number of people who were obviously confused by the question of whether I was pregnant or just overweight. My favorite time was when the optometrist I saw somewhere around 7 or 8 months pregnant asked if I were taking any supplements or special vitamins, hoping to get me to admit to taking prenatal vitamins and thus settle the question of my status. Poor man, I can only assume he'd wrongly guessed that a woman was pregnant before and was desperate to avoid the mistake again. He was so relieved when I said, "Why yes, I am taking prenatal vitamins," but was quite surprised to know how soon I was supposed to deliver.

Anyway, I will be pretty excited if this time around I look more gradually pregnant, and less like I've indulged in too many coffee cakes until weeks before delivery.

What's going on:

1. I'm pregnant. 13 weeks tomorrow. Due Oct. 14.
2. I have a cold. Again.
3. I get nauseous at night; so far no sick-making.
4. This baby's name will be Mudd.
5. No, but seriously, this kid is kicking my butt in a way that Evie did not.
6. Justin thinks it's a boy.
7. I don't know one way or the other.
8. Evie likes going outside now that the weather is nice.
9. I worked out for the first time today in over a week.
10. I'm having a really hard time working out.
11. I have very low energy and motivation to do much.
12. I've just realized that we will be moving in about a month and there's a lot to do.
13. I made bunny finger puppets for Evie for Easter.
14. She wasn't that impressed.
15. Evie asked for "Thomas??" meaning Thomas the tank engine, whom she desperately wanted to watch. Unfortunately it was not time for Thomas the tank engine to come on tv. After finding some video clips online, we discovered that wasn't good enough--or perhaps only fueled her unquenchable desire for Thomas, and we were left to endure the repeated request for "THOMAS??!??" for about 15 minutes despite multiple explanations of why watching Thomas on television was impossible at the moment and the implementation of brilliant distraction techniques. Curse you, Thomas, all of your train friends, and Sir Topham Hatt too!
16. I'm itching to redesign the blog again.
17. I drew outside yesterday with Evie.
18. It felt good.
19. I have an exciting project in the works.
20. I miss Julia.
21. I woke today at 5 am to try (again) to establish a morning workout routine. The plan this time: For 10 days I will go to bed at 9 pm and wake at 5 am to do 30 minutes on the spinning bike, or some other equivalent cardio. Internets, you will help keep me honest.