16 Weeks Baby Rials 2.0

Today I turned 17 weeks, so I'll be discussing our 16th week with this babe!

Baby: Size of a avocado, weighing in at 3.5 ounces, and 4.6 inches long.  Baby can hear my voice, thanks to tiny bones forming in his or her ears.  Baby's growing hair, lashes and eyebrows, and forming taste buds

Mama: Feeling good!  My hips and back were achy this week, but some prenatal yoga helped with that.  I'm "fitting" into my pre-pregnancy clothes still with the help of hair ties to hold buttons together and I've introduced the belly band. Craving cold, juicy fruit especially mangos... and ice cream ;)

Physical Health: I got a few workouts in this week.  Chalotte and I met a few friends at the zoo on Wednesday.  So I pulled two 30+ pound toddlers around in a wagon for 4 hours which was no small task!

I did a Beachbody OnDemand workout (which is like Netflix where you're able to stream from any device, but workout videos instead of movies) from Yoga Booty Ballet: Baby On The Way.  I actually REALLY liked this workout!  It incorporates yoga, ballet, and sculpting moves; fast paced and fun.  I also did this Prenatal Yoga video from YouTube.  I'm going to try out a few different ones and decide which I like best.

My plan for March is to clean up my eating habits with my clean eating challenge starting Feb. 29, and then start 21 Day Fix again with modifications when I return from SD March 7.  I'll be adding 300 additional calories when calculating my bracket for my container count.

Mental/Emotional Health: I have had a really great week emotionally.  I actually told my husband I'm anxious for the baby to get here... in a good way :)  I want to meet this little one, nurse, hold, love on.  I can't wait to see how Charlotte is with the baby.  I know she'll be a little mother hen and pretend like the baby is her own... so we'll have to see how that goes.

I'm in a REALLY GOOD place with this pregnancy right now.  Trying very hard to focus on the here and now and not get too caught up in the future/unknown.  That's where my anxiety likes to hide.

I've been nesting ALREADY!  We bought a few new cube cabinets to surround our TV in our living room.  I'll post pics next week.  They have storage bins for me to put some of the baby toys, diapers, etc.  Bought a few newborn diapers at Target too... they're SO TINY!!

Anyhow, here are a few more pics from the week.  Check out my IG account @tessrials for more detail on these.

13 Weeks: Baby Rials 2.0 - Emotions

We just turned 14 weeks, so today I'll be reviewing our 13th week pregnant with this sweet babe.

13 Week Update:

Baby: Size of a peach, weighing in at .81 ounces, and 2.9 inches long.  Baby's vocal cords and teeth are forming.  Even though baby's still teeny, he/she already has fingerprints.  Finished up the last week of the 1st trimester, which means we've completed one whole third of the pregnancy!

We had a doctor's appointment this week and baby's heart rate was 168. 

Mama: There is definitely NO hiding this belly anymore! Still fitting into my pre-pregnancy clothes.  I've gained nearly 4 pounds already (thanks to some Girl Scout cookies... I won't name any names haha).  Craving cold, juicy fruit especially strawberries... and cookies ;) 

I've been getting sharp shooting pains around my belly button and my OB said my abdominal muscles are being overworked.  I've been unconsciously holding my belly in which is causing them to be over used and spasms.  Round ligament pains have also made an appearance, OUCH!

Physical Health: I got one workout in this week... which was more than last week, so I'll take that.  I did a Hammer and Chisel workout at home where I lifted weights.  I also walked 3 miles pulling Charlotte in the wagon one day this week.

My goal for this coming week is to workout Mon, Wed, and Friday.

Mental/Emotional Health: As I stated earlier I had a doctor's appointment this week.  We talked a lot about my anxiety with labor, delivery, and recovery.  I LOVE my doctor, she really let me lead the conversation, asked all the right questions, and what I came away with was that I'm letting my emotions control me WAY too much... in a negative way.

So today I wanted to discuss my 6 Steps To Controlling Emotions.  Emotions are the most present, pressing and sometimes painful force in our lives. We are driven day by day by our emotions.  In my case, it's the negative emotions that must be handled with extreme care.  It's the negative emotions that tend to spiral out of control for me, especially when triggered.

Here are some tips that I use, often daily, to control my negative emotions:

1.  Don't react right away. Take a deep breath and stabilize the overwhelming impulse to react, you'll most likely regret something later if you do. Continue to breathe deeply for five minutes, feeling as your muscles relax and your heart rate returns to normal. As you become calmer, affirm to yourself that this is only temporary.

2. Ask for divine guidance. When burdened with emotion, close your eyes, envision a positive solution to your problem, and ask the universe to illuminate the best path forward.

3.  Find a healthy outlet. Now that you've managed your emotion, you'll need to release it in a healthy way. Emotions should never be bottled up. Call or go see someone you trust and talk to them about what happened.  Exercise, meditation, or taking a relaxing bath are other ways to release.

4.  See the bigger picture. Wisdom means being able to see past the moment and figure out the greater meaning of any given situation. You may not understand it at the moment, but as time goes by, you'll begin to see the bigger picture falling into place.

5.  Replace your thoughts. Negative emotions bind us to recurring negative thoughts, creating cycles of downright negative patterns. Replace those with a different thought. Imagine the ideal resolution to your problem playing out, think about someone who makes you happy or remember an event that makes you smile.  Concentrating on what I can control is my biggest sense of relief.

6.  Forgive your emotional triggers. Your emotional triggers may be your best friend, your family members, yourself or all of the above.  When you forgive, you detach from the resentment, the jealousy or the fury lingering within you.

I hope these steps can help you, as they've helped me, to take more control of your emotional well being and live more in the present, happy, and healthy.