Shortest month of the year but was it though? Probably for those of you who aren’t nearing the finish line of pregnancy. It was a lot of fun, a lot of pain/discomfort/frustration, and a good opportunity to reset in many ways.

My focus for February was Family. I wanted to focus on my girls’ birthdays, Valentine’s Day love for my husband and special people, and thinking about family culture we want to create with a new little babe joining our gang. Although I didn’t meet all of my goals for February, and I spent a lot of time discouraged, I feel proud of what I did accomplish and that I did hit the target of focusing on my family for February.

Good

• Happy Birthday Girls! Reese turned 5, Loney turned 3, and we had a lot of fun celebrating them. They had a small, combined, low-key friend party and then family celebration right after because #pregnancylazinesshack.
• I took each of the girls on birthday dates – Reese to get manicures and Loney to the Puppy Place. It was so nice to get one-on-one time with them and this is a tradition I want to continue every year no matter how old they get. I think it will be helpful to keep their birthdays distinct and special, even though they’re just three days apart.
• St. George! Semi-last minute we decided it was a good time to run away to St. George. We knew we wanted to head down for a little babymoon and to get a little warmth, but we were planning on March. Contractions and other plans made me feel that it would be smarter/safer to do this in February rather than March, so we took advantage of the President’s Day weekend. Loved it. We played outside, the girls rode their new bikes, I read a ton, mmmmm.
• Reese is registered for kindergarten! It’s crazy and exciting! She’ll be going to our local public school and she can’t stop talking about it.
• I read 4 books that I really enjoyed
  • The Things We Cannot Say – beautiful story about families, WWII, and sacrifice
  • I Capture the Castle – cute British romance
  • Siblings Without Rivalry – must read parenting handbook
  • More Than Enough – a blogger’s take on modern, practical minimalism
• I dropped, I think, 3 books? This is big for me. I used to feel a lot of failure and disappointment around dropping books, but I’ve worked on it. Why read something you’re not stoked about?
• We scheduled our induction! So far my body doesn’t go into labor by itself, but it responds RAPIDLY and EASILY to pitocin so we’re signing right up for that again. WOOOOOO!
• I got a massage. MMMMMMMM.
• Our hospital and “go” bags are all packed! Shouldn’t surprise you if you know me at all. It just makes me feel better to know they’re ready, ya feel?
• The girls are healthy and on track, according to their yearly physical. Reese is short, statistically, but she can finally ride Splash Mountain so that’s fun.

Bad

• FREAKING NAUSEA. Apparently this is a thing. Morning sickness/pregnancy nausea can return in the third trimester. I had a touch of this in the first trimester, which was a first for me because I didn’t get sick at all with Reese or Loney. But I was even more unsuspecting of it COMING BACK. It hit the day we were coming home from St. George and I was terrified it was flu. Nope. I’ve been battling it ever since. That week of Presidents Day was really bad but I’ve gotten it to a manageable level now, thankfully.
• FREAKING CROWN. That should tell you how bad the nausea was because getting crown ranks below that. I hate dental work but pregnancy ruins my teeth and also I compulsively crunch wintergreen mints constantly so I guess this is my cross to bear.
• This entire season of the Bachelor. Only barely beat out by nausea and dental work.
• I had to cancel a lot of stuff due to those two unexpected sucky surprises. I missed girls nights, had to work some of my office days from home, and spent a lot more time in bed and whining.
• From the end of January through all of February I was having multiple painful contractions a day, with lots of random uncomfy Braxton-Hicks between. My sciatica was bad. Heartburn returned with the nausea and puking. There were a lot of days where I thought “I cannot. I cannot do this for another month+!!!!” I’ll admit my attitude was pretty poor for most of the month. It hasn’t been easy.
• Re: all the above bullet points, we did a lot of takeout, DoorDash, and general garbage-eating. In my defense, when a Costa Vida burrito is the first food that has sounded good in days… you get it. Not great for our budget goals but damn did that burrito bring me back to life.

On My Brain

• Coronavirus has me all over the place. Some days I’m like “whatever, it’s a common cold. My family is healthy and it largely targets older, compromised people in the affected areas. We’ll be fine. This is an overreaction.” And then I’m like “well. It’s coming to the US no matter what. My in-laws were just in Thailand and South Korea. I’m pregnant with a tiny vulnerable little baby. I do not have food or Diet Coke storage. This could be a disaster. Everyone stay away from me and my family until June!!!!!!!”
• I just finished More Than Enough and a few of her points/approaches resonated with me in a way that other spending challenges and minimalists haven’t. I’m thinking pretty seriously about how to incorporate some type of spending/minimalist challenge into our lives this year. No Spend Summer is what I’m leaning toward right now, since we’ll have a new baby and lots of free/outdoor/at home time and resources.
• Who is this little baby? It’s so weird to think that Reese and Loney were once inside me, boxing my ribs, and I didn’t quite know them yet. One day I’ll know this little demon inside me so intimately that it’ll seem bizarre that she was ever a nameless (pray her name comes to us), faceless little tornado who seems to have a vendetta against my right hip.
• Gender gaps in the workplace. I’ve been at Divvy seven weeks now and I’ve had lots of opportunities to see the difference between what Ryan has to think about and what I have to think about. He’s an equal partner who totally encouraged and enabled me to do this, and I’m so grateful. It’s not that. It’s just the general, societal differences between working moms and working dads. I’m currently researching and campaigning for mom & baby friendly work policies. I’ve had discussions with my working mom friends about nannies and when kids are sick who stays home from work? and if dads should do more of the pediatrician visits and who makes dinner when you’ve both been at work all day and a billion other things. I am loving working. So much. So much good outweighs any inconvenience or mom guilt. But it’s still been eye-opening and a lot to think about. More on this to come, fo sho.
• Something weird is happening in my body… is that labor? Nope. Ohhhh there’s something else maybe it’s…. nope. So many contractions! Baby so low! Maybe I’ll actually go into labor this time!!!!! No, Danica, don’t get your hopes up and just wait for your scheduled induction like a good Type A planner. *repeat cycle endlessly*
• I’m stockpiling shows and movies and documentaries to binge when baygul gets here! I like sitcoms, true crime, and thrillers so if you have other recommendations HMU. Here’s my current list to try:
  • Love is Blind
  • Sex Education
  • The Pharmacist
  • The Outsider
  • Reno 911 rewatch!!!!
  • Cheer
  • I Am Not Ok With This
  • To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before & P.S. I Love You
  • Queer Eye
  • Younger
  • Probs gonna rewatch The Office, Parks, and 30 Rock bc obvs

My theme for March is “Rest & Nest!” I’m scheduled for induction on the 26th, so I really want to reset from the frustration and discomfort of February and instead utilize each and every day until my induction to prepare and enjoy every second.

I have some plans for nesting. I want my house to be clean, decluttered, and well-stocked for baygul’s arrival. I have some plans for resting. Good books, new strategies for alleviating nausea, insomnia, poor sleep, soreness, impatience.

We’ve got warm weather, March Madness, baseball, and the official start of spring. After this week it’s pretty much open season in case baygul decides she wants to join us early, and we feel ready.

I’m keeping this month open for whatever we need, whatever she needs. I’m keeping it open to appreciate the last chapter of our family of four, budding spring, the smell of cleaning products, and contractions caused by obsessively vacuuming stairs and wiping baseboards.