Dana Burland

Today I’m officially halfway through a full term, 40-week pregnancy. 20 weeks down, 20 to go. Wee! This is a tougher pregnancy than last in so many ways, not limited to the time and toll spent chasing a toddler around. So far I’ve got a round tummy, a mostly-nighttime little kicky baby and aches galore. Mr. C has some idea of what’s going on as he’ll give the baby a hug around my middle and a quick kiss too. He’s pretty certain on his name suggestions too, switching out between “Pizza” or “Baby Benny”, which is the name of our neighbor’s newborn. Not to spoil or tease too much, but neither are the name Ben and I are feeling quite confident, and almost certain, in. Our big to-dos over the next few weeks are to transition C to his new big boy room (pictures to come!), and to enjoy one last big trip we’ll take just B & I . More to come on that, too, of course.

I know, waffles are not dinner, but the Eggo frozen waffles were a staple of mine in the morning while dealing with first trimester morning sickness , and thus they became reallll interesting to C. Lemme say up front I hate carrot cake! Ugh. Carrots do not belong in cake. Spices do not belong in cake. No, no, no, no, no! However, I live with a toddler (did you see my string of no ’s up there?). There are times I need to sneak some veggies into his life, and this works. I start with this Alton Brown Basic Waffle Recipe , which is a time-consuming luxury leftover from my childfree days. You could start here, or with a pancake or waffle box mix--whatever. Then I throw a handful of carrots and a peeled/cored cut up apple into my food processor, and add the chopped up mixture to the batter. I sprinkle in a little nutmeg and a bit more cinnamon and cook them up. You know, for my aforementioned hatred of carrots in baked goods, these waffles are good and more importantly toddler app...

And just like that my first trimester is done . I had forgotten some of this experience , and experienced some new things this time around too. My greatest feelings this trimester were excitement and secrecy. We found out about babe #2 in early May, right before Mother’s Day. And because two healthy pregnancies resulting in two healthy babies feels nothing short of miraculous, we opted to keep the news to ourselves for a while. I’m not an anxious person, but I’m not completely calm and confident while pregnant. In first trimester especially, there’s no bump to see and no baby kicks as reassurance that everything is going well. I had also forgotten how intense and regular “morning” sickness can be. I had it worse this time than I did last. For two full months I felt incredibly sick, every day, throughout the day and night. This time, unlike last time I experienced a weird sensory sickness too, where sometimes watching TV, listening to a podcast or reading a book made me feel sic...