Good evening & happy Monday! Life has been a bit all over the place lately, so today you’re in for a long 2-week recap. I hope you guys are doing well & enjoy today’s post.
Now grab your coffee, tea, or wine (😉) and get to reading:
At the end of my last recap I told you that we decided to set up camp at Jordan’s parents house after losing power at our apartment. We ended up staying there for about half the week & the day that our power finally returned, Jordan’s parents lost power… Jordan whipped the family up a delicious breakfast cooked on the outdoor grill under the much needed heater before we got all packed up and headed back home.
The winter storm was absolutely nuts with the amount of families that dealt with power outages, water damage due to pipes bursting, loss of work the whole week that we couldn’t drive, major car accidents, etc. I know that many people up north deal with these sorts of things annually, but in Texas it is so rare. The lows we endured were historically low in our state and our housing, roads, and tires are not typically built or up-kept for these sort of weather conditions. I’m just so glad that people are able to have their homes restored and start to get back to normal.
My Tuesday appointment & ultrasound had to be postponed due to the storm, but luckily my doctor was able to squeeze me in the following Friday so we didn’t have to wait an entire week and a half to see our baby.
Baby Muse was such a wiggle worm during that second ultrasound. We couldn’t believe how much the baby had grown in just 4 short weeks. During the appointment I also had my blood drawn for prenatal testing & the NIPT test, which is the test that will tell us what gender our baby is.
We got to spend some time with our sweet girl that weekend. We spent most of Friday and Saturday hanging out watching movies, but we decided to take Mila over to Build-A-Bear Saturday afternoon to use the gift cards Santa brought her. She was able to get 2 super cute stuffed animals & accessories. Did you guys know that Build-A-Bear now has Harry Potter themed clothing & accessories for their bears? It’s the cutest thing ever!
After tirelessly building her bears, Mila was starving. We all made our way to an empty Torchy’s Tacos to grab some delicious dinner. I enjoyed 2 breakfast tacos with poblano sauce and we all split their amazing chips & queso!
Saturday also marked 13 weeks of pregnancy, which meant that baby Muse was now the size of a peach and Mama’s belly was growing/rounding more & more.
Sunday was a very relaxing day. We spent some time watching movies, eating yummy food, and I even set up a little painting station for Mila to enjoy. We are having to spend most days at home to limit our risk to exposure and I’m starting to run out of creative things to do at home or places we can safely, socially distance. If you have ideas to share please send them my way!
I started off on a fantastic foot last Monday. My energy levels started to feel a little more normal and I felt super motivated to be productive, eat healthy, and exercise so I did just that!
I was very excited to find my apartment gym completely empty and got an entire workout done with the whole place to myself. I conquered 4 sets of 15 dumbbell chest flies, chest press, and bicep curls + a 2 mile indoor bike ride. It felt so darn good!
I enjoyed some H-E-B Cranberry & Turkey Salad on Honey Wheat bread with a side of carrots & vegan ranch for lunch. For dinner, I had some Garlic Pesto Salmon with a side of Basil Herb Couscous.
Tuesday was another healthy & productive day. I woke up early to make Jordan & I fruit smoothies before work, went for a 2 mile walk at the park, got some cleaning done, and enjoyed another Turkey salad sandwich with carrots for lunch before heading back to work that late afternoon.
Paige’s Fruit Smoothie Recipe:
•1 cup of coconut water
•6-8 fresh strawberries
•1 whole banana
•2 tablespoons of low sodium PB (my personal fave is Jiff)
•1/2-1 cup of ice
**Servings for 2 smoothies. Would recommend cutting the recipe in half if you’re using a single serve blender**
I ended my Tuesday with breakfast for dinner and some studying before calling it a night.
Wednesday was yet another productive day. I was on such a roll the first half of last week. I spent about 3 hours or so that morning sipping on my coffee while going through all of the clothes in my closet. I decided it would be a good idea to go through things that we don’t necessarily need anymore prior to the move plus it will give me something to do at home while having to semi-quarantine. I guess you could say I’m also starting to nest lol. I filled up 2 giant trash bags and our closet looked so much cleaner.
I also got in another good workout in an empty gym! I accomplished 3 sets of 15 squats on the smith machine, sumo squats with a dumbbell, & leg curls followed by a 1 mile walk around the apartment complex. My legs were shaking as soon as I walked out of the gym, but it felt so good to workout again.
Come Wednesday evening & Thursday morning I was in some pretty extreme pain in my lower to mid back, cramping all over my stomach, and lots of pressure on my lower abdomen. The pain got so bad that I could barely stand up straight and was shaking trying to get out of bed… I ended up going into the doctor on Thursday morning to be checked on and thankfully the baby was doing okay. My pain was from over working myself a little bit in the gym during my Wednesday workout + what seems to be the beginning of round ligament pain which happens when you’re baby & uterus are rapidly growing.
I felt much better emotionally after hearing the baby’s heart rate and knowing that the pain was being caused by normal reasons, but I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t pretty terrified on Thursday morning. Being pregnant is crazy. You hear all of the stories about other mom’s symptoms and how pregnancies go, but you don’t truly understand it until it’s actually happening to you. The things I have felt his past week are strange, painful, but also amazing because they are the result of a healthy baby growing inside me. This Mama however is going to try her best to listen a little better to her body during her workouts so that pain (hopefully 🤞🏻) never happens again.
We decided to skip ice skating this past Thursday while my body got some rest and went to look at the latest home update instead with our girl. We now have concrete!! Our slab was poured for the house on Wednesday and it was amazing being able to go see it and walk on it. I loved being able to walk around and show Mila where each room would be on the first floor. Next up is framing & I can’t wait to see that all finished as well. Stay tuned…
Jordan & I spent pretty much the entire weekend relaxing and it was glorious. We watched movies, played games, organized/got rid of more things around the apartment, and ate some delicious food of course! My favorite day with him had to be Sunday though. We enjoyed a home-cooked brunch (made by yours truly), went out to my favorite park for a nice 2 mile walk, snapped some photos together & of my 14 week baby bump (hello 2nd trimester!), and grabbed some Tex-Mex from one of our go-to spots.
As hard as it has been to try to think of things to stay entertained while being primarily at home, it has also been so nice getting to soak up one on one time with each other before the baby arrives. Jordan has always been my greatest supporter and best friend, but this past week truly showed me just how incredible of a husband he is. I couldn’t have gotten through this rough week without the emotional & physical support he gave me. 🤍
After a very typical Monday, I am absolutely worn out and ready for bed. I am hoping for a better day tomorrow & hope that all of you have a wonderful rest of your week.
I’ll be back to write again very soon!
Questions for y’all:
1. What was your hardest pregnancy symptom?
2. What is or was your favorite exercises to do while pregnant?
3. Give me some ideas for fun & COVID-safe things to do with the hubby and when we have our little one with us.
4. What did you experience during the Winter Storm this February?
XOXO, Paige.
Paige Muse 