STRESS!

Lately I haven't been able to do a lot of things I'd like to do. Sleeping late. Eating WAY too much candy. Potty training Brenden. Writing on our blog. Uploading pictures. Finishing putting the house together. Did I mention sleeping?

We have so much coming up. Thanksgiving, everything that needs to get done for the Bartlesville Christmas Spectacular (the annual production that Art of Motion puts on), anything and everything for Christmas, a trip out to Colorado (yay!), and oh yeah...I'm trying to grow a person. A very wiggly person who picks right when I'm trying to fall asleep to remind me they are in there. Add on top of that other lovely forms of drama that I will not bore you to death with and you have one stressed out pregnant lady.

Normally I think I would be just fine. Unfortunately, one of my side effects of pregnancy this time around is anxiety attacks. Nothing that leaves me curled in a ball (yet) but it's enough to give me a stomach ache and make me want to cry. The best thing for me to do to combat them is to 1.) eat and 2.) sleep. Eating is NOT a problem, but sleeping sure is. I still try to nap when Brenden naps but my mind won't settle down long enough to let me fall asleep in time for it to really count. When I lay down to go to bed at night I have the same problem. I always feel like my gas tank is running on empty, which doesn't make me feel very confident when I look ahead to the many days/nights of very little sleep after the baby is born.

I really am trying to focus on the positives. As of today I haven't gained nearly as much weight as I did with Brenden. I'm definitely carrying lower and maybe a little smaller since I can still fit into some of my pre-pregnancy jeans with a little help from a hair tie through the button hole. That wasn't possible last time. Brenden has started sleeping later in the morning. (although I'm jinxing myself by typing it) He's also becoming much more verbal and I can usually understand him at least 3/4 of the time. Having the bigger house has made a HUGE difference for us, especially that wonderful thing called a dishwasher. We're actually having Thanksgiving dinner at our house since our living/dining room will accommodate 15 people easier than my mom's house or Mike and Connie's house.

My main goal is to focus on December 1st...our 20 week ultrasound where hopefully we'll find out if the baby is a boy or a girl. After that we can really start planning, which I think will help me a lot. We're also having a 3D/4D ultrasound done about a week after which we've never been able to do. We're very excited to see if this baby will resemble Brenden like I think it will.

I definitely wouldn't mind having another one like this running around. :)