23 weeks

I am now 23 weeks- almost 6 months! Things are going well. I am feeling better, I have more energy and I am not too big yet. I feel lots of baby movements- a lot more than I felt with Ainsley at this stage. I suspect I feel more earlier because he is the second baby- that is what they say anyway. Dan was finally able to feel him kicking around which was pretty cool. Sometimes it feels like he is doing flips which definitely gets my attention.

My belly is much more prominent now than it was - baby is getting big! I am having a much harder time physically with regular every day things than I did with Ainsley. My back aches at the end of every day and my belly muscles hurt daily too. I think this is largely due to me having a toddler to care for, lift up, clean up after, etc. I swear I drop everything and have to bend over way more than usual. Clumsiness is part of it too. Ainsley will sometimes help out with picking things up and getting things for me which is really nice. I say sometimes because she can be a bit moody- I think the terrible twos continue. Overall, she is very good, cute and happy. However, she can have some very abrupt and unreasonable mood swings that are set off by the littlest thing.

I am having some trouble sleeping. I have always had insomnia to some degree, and it is worse during pregnancy. I have lots of pillows and wedges to help me sleep, but I still wake up almost hourly to change position. If I get woken up in the middle of the night, sometimes I can't go back to sleep for hours.

Ainsley is doing well at her school. She does not like for me to take her, she would rather stay home with me. Drop offs are still a challenge and I am sad because she cries most days. But, she is really happy and chatty when we pick her up. She does lots of good artwork and seems to have made lots of friends. She is learning yoga- they have it at least once a week. She practices yoga poses at home all the time and is really happy to do it. I am amazed at the number of poses she knows.

We painted the baby's room last week. It looks really great. It is not finished yet, but the basics are done- will post picture later. We have not yet gotten furniture or bedding- still to come!

We gave Ainsley a double bed ( previous guest bed) and I just ordered a quilt for her. She picked out the quilt- it was actually the one Dan and I liked best too. I found 4 that I liked and let her choose from those. Hopefully she likes it when it arrives!