Feb 2

Yay!!!  Long story short: I've generally stopped taking nausea meds since Dec 21st.  I've had to take four pills since then b/c it got so bad, but haven't puked once since then and have only had to take the rare pill.  I'll totally call that a win.
I'm also now a good 10 pounds heavier than when I got pregnant (yea).  I'm honestly grateful to be able to eat *most* things again and not feel wretched, so now I've gotten to the point where I need to really focus on eating a balance of healthy things and delicious bad-for-me things while still moving my body (aka exercising) which I've not been very good about these last two weeks.
I'll be honest:  this is our last pregnancy.  I'm 100% sure.  We've already made plans to ensure this will be our last biokid.  I'm good with that.  However, I do still get the rare feeling where I'm semi-sad...like with Alien Belly (which seriously creeps me out): Fester's now so big that he doesn't really kick/punch all that much b/c there just isn't space.  Instead, you see this huge lump move slowly across my belly and it's really freaky.  (Seriously, it freaks me out.)  But then a small (very small) part of me thinks "Enjoy it; this will be the last time you get to be creeped out by Alien Belly on/in your own body, yo).
I don't remember getting middle back pain with Gabriel, but it happens pretty much every day with this pregnancy.  In the middle of my back?  That doesn't even make sense!
And Fester still prefers my right side.  Previously, he would try and kick through the right side of my belly (it hurt pretty bad sometimes b/c he'd kick and/or kick/stretch so hard).  Now, though, he seems to love to be nestled up under my right ribs...  I have no idea what body part it is, but it's always there...and it's generally just a weird type of uncomfy...Yesterday, though, he moved crazy fast and it felt like he almost broke my rib.  I literally gasped in pain.  Ah...  Good to know he loves me.  :)
So I have about a month left to go.  We'll see how long it takes.  I'd *thought* I'd read somewhere that second pregnancies often were slightly shorter than first times...but almost everyone I've talked to has said their second pregnancy went longer than their first (which is sorta scary since Gabriel came a half-week late).  Now it's just a guessing game.  I prefer him to stay in there for at least three more weeks or so...  We'll just see what he decides to do.

Took me a while to write it... (TMI)

Long story short, 3.5 weeks ago, I ended up in the ER.  I'd stopped taking Zofran (thinking that Gabe's nausea started getting better at 20'ish weeks and was pretty much totally gone at 7'ish months) and had been six days "off the stuff."  But then I felt worse and worse and worse and finally took a pill at 3/3:30 on Thursday.  And puked at 6...and again at 7...and again at 8 (this time, it caused several contractions, but I could tell when they started and they ended up going away, so I figured it was all good).  Thank *goodness* Yost got home just after that.  I tried sipping a bit of water and went to bed (and would take a small sip of water each time I woke, because I could tell I was dehydrated, but still felt REALLY bad).  Then I woke up at 2'ish and ran into the bathroom to puke...only to wake up on the floor.  I'd passed out.  But I still had to puke.  I *tried* to call to Chris (who'd finally come to bed at midnight or one or whatever), but was too afraid to get on my knees to puke in the toilet.  I ended up crossed legged on the floor, afraid I was going to pass out again, puking all over myself, the floor, the dirty clothes, etc.  Poor Chris tried to help, but there was nothing that could be done...  So anyway, once I was done, he helped me get my puke-covered body into the shower...Okay FINE.  I also puked so hard that I'm pretty sure I peed myself.  Thanks for making me say it out loud, you mean-farts!  Chris helped me into the shower and stayed close in case something happened again, and he also cleaned up my vomit by the time I got out.  Then we struggled to get everything ready (me dressed, him and all of his work gear ready to go, the animals squared away, and finally get Gabe up...poor child) and went to the ER to make sure everything was fine.  Fester was/is fine.  They never said anything about the contractions and pass out'age, save that it was probably from the strain of pregnancy, then puking and dehydration and had no hints to make sure it doesn't happen again (save for continuing to take my drugs).  So they monitored Fester for a while, pumped me full of fluids (felt MUCH better) and gave me a liquid zofran then sent me on my way.  Poor Hubster still had to go to work after absurdly small amounts of sleep.  Gabriel and I ended up back home and pretty much lazed (and dozed) in front of the tv watching Disney movies all day.  I'll be honest: it took me about two weeks to recover...and I'm still utterly terrified of puking pretty much all the time (worse than before).  But I guess I'm extra glad that Fester's doing well and seems so strong (and sometimes mean...like when I'm about to puke and he goes frickin' nuts and flails his entire body everywhere making my stomach feel even worse).
So I'm almost to 30 weeks and just started weaning off of zofran again.  I figure we'll just see how it goes.  I really *shouldn't* be that nauseous anymore.
Ooh!  And due to the fact I can finally eat again...and eating more carbs this last week, I'm finally almost up to a positive four pounds.  Be jealous.  Be very, very jealous.  We shall see if it happens like Gabriel's pregnancy...where I gain pretty much all 30 lbs in the last three months.  That would be...funny?

Cravings

So with Gabriel, the only things that stood out in regards to food was Blue Powerade and French Bread...but I didn't consider them cravings.  They were simply some of the only two things I never ever threw up and didn't make me feel horrible when I ate them (while still keeping up my caloric intake to keep me from losing more weight).  I normally like these things even when I'm not pregnant.

With Fester, I haven't had anything weird (like pickles and ice cream; NASTAY), but!!! I have been liking peanut butter/chocolate things a lot more than I normally do.  Normally, I like PBC things, but now I really *like* them.  Specifically, the peanut butter chocolate chip cookies I make.  So yummy!  Normally they're just good, but not good enough where I'd make three batches in three months.  Anyway, just throwing that tidbit out there.  I've also had the normal things.  I've eaten some french bread.  I've like gum b/c it settles my stomach.  And York Peppermint Patties/Andes Mints (which I normally love, but are extra awesome b/c they normally help settle my stomach as well).  But the peanut butter/chocolate things is the only thing that's normally just good, but is now uber great!

Finally there!

According to my weight the last three days, I'm finally back up to my pre-pregnancy weight (and it only took me to 21/22 weeks)! 
I'd like to send out a big thanks to peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, both delivered and frozen pizza, Andes Mints from Yost and Tierney, the amazing don't-throw-up-drug Zofran, and Halloween candy.  Without you fattening fellows, I'm pretty sure I'd still be at a negative number.
AND, I think, thanks to Ann for encouraging me to walk the half-marathon, which has made me either take a nap or be in best almost every day since by 9:30 b/c I'm so worn out.  I've pretty much been too worn out since then to do any real exercise at all (even though my body's not sore).  Yea?

20 wks - saw baby fester kick

WOAH!!! I thought it was all in my head before, but now I'm sure. Sucks to be you, Christopher Roth Yost. I just saw the baby move. From the outside. Too bad no one's here but Tigger, and he was just mad I woke him up. UGH. Seriously, though: Isn't 20 weeks too early to see a bump bump bump from the outside? I'm not even sure I felt Gabriel this early, much less saw him...

By now, I think everyone knows...

By now, I think everyone knows that I'm pregnant again.  I'm *almost* halfway through this pregnancy and all seems good.
I've decided this past week that I'm 95% sure that it is, in fact, the baby I've been feeling moving about.  With Gabriel, I remember feeling more like it was butterflies, etc.  This time, it feels more like bubbles popping and/or being flicked from the inside of my belly.  I could be wrong, but I don't remember feeling such "obvious" sensations this early the last time. 
Yesterday, Gabriel and I were reading the weekly babycenter post on Baby's development and when we were done, Gabriel said that he wanted "to read more about Baby Fester" (what we started calling Baby in this last week when I realized it would be almost another month to figure out the sex).  After reading next weeks post AND the following week, Gabriel kept wanting to read more and more and more about Baby Fester (and got upset when I told him we should wait to read more...the posts are about Baby's development this week, so if we get too far ahead, it's confusing).  I'm still not sure he "gets it" that there's actually a baby in the uterus in my tummy, but he is acting more interested.  And yesterday, we DID see him lifting up a friends shirt to try and "feel the baby in there."  Sigh.  Life is so confusing when you're two. 
Which brings me to:
We're having some serious trouble with boy/girl=his/her and are/is distinctions.  I figure when Gabriel and I have a 15 minute discussion about how he's a boy b/c he has a penis (to which he'll argue that he DOES have a penis, but he's a girl), he just doesn't quite "get" that boys also don't have uteruses (what's the plural of that?) and therefore can't have babies.  (I didn't even get into the fact that a three year old, whether boy or girl, can't have a baby.)
It's cute, though.  And it's great to finally have a bit of energy back.  I'm still on meds for nausea, but I'm *almost* back up to my starting weight (woot woot) and it's gotten better to the point that *most* nights (after the meds wear off), I feel pretty decent'ish.  Woot woot?
I'm now at the point in pregnancy where I'm trying to take hold of all obsessive tendencies so I can get as much done as possible b/c I know once Baby Fester is here, I won't get half of this stuff done for months and months.

2 year old conversations that rock

I don't remember how it came about, but we were in the bathroom this morning brushing/flossing/washing faces/LO drinking water from the sink out of an Easter egg, etc and this convo happened:
Me: You're such a big boy.
LO: No. I'm not a boy.
Me: I'm pretty sure you are a boy.
LO: No, mommy. I'm not a boy.
Me: Do you have a penis?
LO: Yes. I do have a penis.
Me: That means you're a boy.
LO: No. I have a penis. I'm not a boy.
Me: *sigh*
Numerous minutes later when I thought we were on to something new.
LO: Mommy, I have a penis. I'm a boy. *followed quickly by 'oh look a distraction'* ROAR. That's a lion.
My child is weird. I like it.