Dailies | I Have A Great Excuse For My Absence

Why does it seem like every time I abandon this blog for an extended length of time, it's because I'm pregnant?  Yes, it happened again.  We found out at the beginning of March that we are expecting Baby #2 in mid-November!  This was very much a planned pregnancy and we couldn't be more thrilled.

What I'm not thrilled about, however, is that this pregnancy has been a repeat of the last one in that I have been knocked flat by debilitating nausea that lasts all day, every day.  Last time I could just set up my workstation in bed and try to be as productive as my gag reflex would allow, but staying in bed is no longer an option when I've got an 18 month old that needs things like food and clean diapers.  I've been told those things are important and cannot be neglected.  Thankfully, Matt works from home and was able to handle a dirty diaper here and there or handle Jasper's meal times when the mere thought of food was enough to send me running to the bathroom.

My midwife prescribed me some cute little pills with pictures of pregnant women printed on them (Diclegis).  It's the only FDA-approved drug for treating morning sickness and though I get nervous about taking any medication while pregnant, I was assured that as a "Pregnancy Category A" drug, it's the safest medication out there.  Too bad that cuteness is the only thing these pills have going for them, because while some days it seemed like they took the edge off of the nausea a little bit, really all they did was make me incredibly drowsy.

So between being unable to eat much and losing 15 pounds (bringing me dangerously close to the 'underweight' category for my height) my food-heavy blog got shoved to the very back of my mind.  Seriously, I couldn't even think about the blog because my mind would start picturing various recipes I've shared here and I would start to dry heave.  My food aversions are no joke, people.  And it sucks.

Anyway, I'm now 13 weeks along and while the nausea is still plaguing me, the food aversions have mostly dissipated and I'm able to eat like a normal person again.  Even better, I feel like I'm able to blog again!  I love blogging.  It's very therapeutic and useful as a creative outlet for photography.  I've been blogging online since high school (over 15 years!) and I don't see myself stopping anytime soon.

So because I obviously don't have anything food or travel related to share with you all, here's a recap of the very few things that have been going on over the past 8 weeks.

In late March, while I was still able to function here and there, we picked a warm Saturday afternoon and took Jasper to a local park to play on the playground.  Even though he's a fussy dude and has been since birth, he's fairly low octane as far as little boys go.  He's content to play quietly on the ground and prefers that to running around or being loud.

This has been a fun age because he now understands so much of what we say.  It's much easier being able to talk to him like a regular person and have him respond appropriately (with actions... not many words yet but he's working on it!)

At the end of April there was an air show!  I haven't been to one in over a decade and was determined to go, nausea be darned.  I'll be honest, a lot of the day was spent breathing deeply and trying not to get sick, but it was a beautiful day and it felt nice to get out of the house.  I'm so glad we went.

This is my "trying not to barf" smile.  Also, big floppy hats are a must when you have fine hair and no shade.  Scalp burn is real.

Hats for daddy and baby too, of course.

Jasper surprised us both and was a champ for the entire day.  He even noticed many of the airplanes and pointed and hooted at them.

And though we had to fight for it, we managed to get him a halfway decent nap in his stroller.

A few weeks ago I was browsing Amazon looking for kiddie pools and came across this one.  We chose a warm sunny day and inflated it while Jasper was napping so he had a very big surprise when he woke up!  I spent the whole time sitting or lying on a picnic blanket in the yard, but at least I felt like I was able to participate in something.

I think he had himself a good time.

There are little squeaky button things around the outside of the pool.  They were his favorite feature of the whole thing.

He's not sure about the slide yet, but we have a whole summer ahead of us for him to get acquainted with the water.  Every time he sees the deflated pool in the garage he points at it and does his signature whine for "I want it".  I don't know which is worse, the whining or the day that he's able to actually TELL me that he wants it... over and over again.

While sick, the only food I'm able to stomach is complete junk.  I go through phases of only being able to eat plain white carbs to only wanting red meat or high-sodium frozen food.  One of the only semi-healthy meals that I was able to eat consistently is eggs and cold, crisp apples, and those puppies better be ice cold or else I can't eat them.

Last weekend when my food aversions started to lift, I started craving salad and vegetables like nobody's business.  We went to Chili's for dinner, which was the first restaurant I'd stepped foot in in months.

I'll say one thing about this kid, he is a fantastic eater.  He'll try anything and, shockingly, he likes most of it, even his veggies!

I was craving a grilled chicken salad like you wouldn't believe, and this one really hit the spot.  It was loaded with corn and black beans with pico de gallo.  The honey-lime vinaigrette was tart and delicious!  It feels so amazing to eat real food again.

Sweets are off the menu while I'm in my sickhole, but I found myself really wanting a dessert.  I made a carrot sheet cake with homemade cream cheese frosting.  It was wonderful, but after eating a slice on Saturday and Sunday I'm totally over it and don't want to look at it anymore, so I'll be slicing up the rest of it to freeze for a rainy day.

Before I sign off, I want to give a BIG HUGE WELCOME to all of my new email subscribers!  I felt guilty watching the new subscribers come in while I wasn't able to create any new content, but hopefully that is all behind me and I can resume a regular blogging schedule.  If you aren't yet signed up to receive our e-mail updates, you can do so over there in the sidebar!

Rounded corners indicate photos taken with mobile device.