Week 23 Update

I am definitely still loving this second trimester! I have felt so, so good. Even with our long 3 week trip through the British Isles, I was able to go, go, go for a lot longer than I was expecting to be able to. Our last few days in Europe were so miserably hot (compounded by the fact that Europe doesn't believe in air conditioning) then when we got home we are having almost 100 degree days which seems way too hot for June. Due to the heat (I'm assuming) my feet and ankles have been starting to swell like crazy. Even if I'm at home for most of the day, not running errands or anything, by the end of the day, they are still quite swollen. So when I am at home and can lay down, I try to keep them elevated as much as I can.

We find out the gender of our baby TODAY and I am so excited about it :) We went to the doctor's yesterday for a normal appointment and everything was great. We even heard hiccups when they were checking the heartbeat :) I switched doctors and I already like my new place a million times better than my old one.

How far along? 23 weeks 

Size of baby? Mango (8 inches, 1.2 pounds)

Maternity clothes? Since my last update I have still basically been living in skirts and stretchy jeans. During our trip to Europe, I ended up packing a pair of jeans that don't fit! So I only had 1 pair of jeans and 1 skies that I wore for our 3 weeks. It worked out ok, but now I never want to wear those jeans again. 

Stretch marks? Nope

Exercise? Since we were on vacation, I didn't really exercise because we were walking so much! Most days were between 15,000 and 20,000 steps with my top day hitting almost 25,000 steps. But now that I'm back home, I am working on getting into a good routine that includes walking at the Rec Center or going to Aqua Zumba. 

Sleep? Definitely not sleeping super well lately. Mostly because it has been so hot! When we were in Europe, especially on our cruise, I slept really well most nights because we had been so active during the day. But now that I'm back to a not as busy schedule, I'm finding it harder to sleep through the night. I still wake up 2-3 times but it is taking longer to fall asleep. I've also been waking up and just starting my day around 5:00 since I can't get back to sleep anyways. (Plus it is cooler in the morning and easier to do things around the house.)

Movement? Yes! The first movement was on my last day of school and I wasn't sure if it was actually the baby moving or not, but after these last few weeks I know that it for sure was! It must have been happy school was over :) Throughout our trip it started to move way, way more. It was especially active while we were riding trains, watching the evening show on our cruise and when we visited castles! About halfway through our trip I felt it have hiccups for the first time which was a really funny feeling. And when I was at the doctor's yesterday listening to the heartbeat, we could hear it having hiccups :)

Food cravings? Not really. There weren't many times on our trip where something sounded especially good. But the few times I did have cravings it was for Five Guys which we actually were able to eat at a few times. 

Food aversions? Not really an food aversions these last few weeks. Now that I'm back on a regular schedule though I'm curious to see if things start to sound bad. I'm planning on making a salad with dinner tonight so we will see if I can actually eat it. (Salad has been one of my biggest, and longest, food aversions this pregnancy)

Milestones? Baby moving a TON. Successfully had a nice trip to the British Isles. Switched doctors. Finding out TODAY what we are having :)