17 weeks

As you can see.......the belly has totally popped and there is a lot of activity currently taking place in my belly. I feel bigger than 17 weeks, but the doc says I just have a big uterus? So far, I am feeling lots of little flutters and soft karate kicks, which is super fun. The energy is SLOWLY coming back, but I feel a lot better than I did in the first trimester. The weeks are starting to fly by, and we find out the sex of our baby in just over 2 weeks. I am so excited for this day, I know I'll be losing sleep that week wondering what colors we'll be choosing for the nursery and if I'll have to learn how to correctly throw a football someday. I have to say, I am really wanting a little boy, as I would love to experience having one of each. However, I am trying not to get my hopes up (I have what, a 50% chance? LOL). And I know that I would love having two little princesses too!

At this point, all that matters is that baby Tran is healthy and that momma takes care of herself. These have been some pretty fast-paced couple of weeks with a lot of crazy scheduling and playing single mom while Q travels for work (which I know is hard for him too). I have been burning the candle at both ends and I know I can't keep this up for the whole pregnancy. I can sometimes get into a bit of a go-go-go mentality, and forget to chill out when I need it the most. During this time, I had some real conversations with myself (not out loud).  Had to do some real attitude shifting and lots of reminding myself that I can't always do it all........and that is perfectly okay. Finding balance has been a bit challenging lately, so I am making it a priority to prioritize--and do what is right for ME and this life that I am carrying.  At the end of the day, I want certain things to define who I am and those things have been blurry lately--work is certainly not one of them......so definitely creating some boundaries there.

As always, I celebrated my new attitude by just breathing and doing a little yoga.......and then I also scored myself an awesome pregnancy massage yesterday. It was HEAVENLY!!! So here is to reminding myself that we're human BEINGS, not human DOINGS. And that sometimes, by slowing down, we actually accomplish more :)

Last week was the first week of the year that I picked up Ellie after work and it was still light out. So of course, we visited the playground even though it was still cold out. She ran and jumped and sang her songs and loved every second of it. Basically, every time it is not raining or dark outside we try to venture out to the nearby playgrounds (luckily, we have many to chose from our neighborhood) and it has been so much fun to watch her grow and do things "by herself". Such a little independent lady I have on my hands.

 Rosy cheeks! Momma, I love to be outside!!! Yipeee!

I really wish I had captured a video of everything this little munchkin was saying......it included a lot of pointing out airplanes and screaming with joy.