Yes, we are expecting! It’s been a hard secret to keep, but since this is my first baby I was superstitious about sharing the news before I was 3 months along (now all my complaining about being sick, exhausted and unable to tend to my blog might make sense!). On our anniversary (two days ago), my husband and I were remarking on how incredibly eventful our lives have been this past year—wedding, honeymoon, trying to find a new state to move to, job searches, buying a house, living with Alex’s mother for 2+ months, moving, pregnancy. But really, our lives have been eventful from the beginning of our relationship. When you unite two people who don’t have the slightest capacity to remain complacent in any area of life, who happen to have ridiculously itchy feet and a drive to get things done and make changes…..well, their life together is going to be eventful. It’s overwhelming, but I don’t think we’d have it any other way.

Back to the baby though—we found out we were pregnant 2 days before our big move to Massachusetts! Overwhelming? Just a little. Exciting? Beyond words. Frustrating for a girl who likes to live life in an over-productive tornado, who under normal circumstances would have unpacked this house in a day and a half flat and had every room painted and decorated in less than a week? Umm, YES. I am very good at relaxing and enjoying lazy days, but ONLY when they are sandwiched between totally crazy, hectic, productive days. My first lessons in pregnancy/parenting: slow down, I am no longer in charge (and haven’t been since only a week after I conceived when this tiny bean began calling all the shots), and it’s okay to not have a pristine house because there are more important things in life (and I’ll never have the time to be that neurotic ever again…well, until my children go off to college:).

I have to say I am giddy as heck to begin my second trimester, to leave behind the face full of broken blood vessels on account of all the puking, to start loving food again instead of cursing my biological need to ingest it, to stop sleeping 3/4 of the day and to be able to leave the house/my bed/the bathroom more than once a week. I always looked forward to experiencing pregnancy, but (as excited as I am) I’m not going to lie about it—the first trimester (for many of us) is horrendous and when it’s your first child and the concept of an actual baby being the reward at the end of all of this isn’t yet comprehensible, it simply feels like you are living with the worst stomach flu, motion sickness and hangover all rolled into one, 24 hours a day, and that can really sap your ability to enjoy life. Now that that’s said, I will go into a self-imposed state of amnesia on the subject of first trimester woes from here on out and just be happy/giddy/glowing pregnant-lady. At least I’ll try:)

One shocker for me—my belly popped right away. I am sure, at first, a great deal of it was typical pregnancy bloating, but the fact is I have not fit into any of my pants since a few weeks after I conceived. I’ve always been a complete stick figure and it’s my first baby so this is a big shocker. We were worried this meant I was carrying twins, but those worries were quickly quelled when we caught our first glimpse of our little one via ultrasound yesterday (phew! one at a time, please!). I will take some new photos sometime this week, because I haven’t been photographing my belly (also a shocker coming from someone who usually never puts her camera down). Here are two shots of the initial pop that I took at 7 weeks (I’m now 13 weeks and much rounder, but these pics are all I have at the moment). Something tells me the bulge in these photos might not be apparent to everyone, unless you know how thin I was before….but, it is the beginning of a new life….