Health & Free Living

I'm 14 weeks and 3 days today and STILL waiting to see a pregnancy bump. I mean, I can totally see my body change and there is a little something there, but with clothes on, it is hard to see anything and no one would know I'm pregnant. My friend, Nikki, is due only three days before me and she has the cutest pregnancy bump! Oh well, it will be here soon, I'm sure. It's funny how you feel during the beginning weeks of the second trimester -- I find that my fatigue isn't so bad, etc., but you can't feel the baby move, etc., so now I can't wait until my appointment on July 8th so I can hear the heartbeat again. Maybe I should buy one of those at home ones so I can worry less. It's finally summer in Chicago. Yea!! 90s and humid this week -- makes for some good thunderstorms which I LOVE (but scares the dog half to death -- poor girl). I'm not a real dress girl, but I so want to get a couple of cute sundresses. They would be so nice and cool and easy to

The other thing about running the half-marathon this past Sunday is that I was 12 weeks pregnant. What?! Yep, you heard me. I'm now thirteen weeks pregnant. SURPRISE!! :) Walter and I are super excited and the baby is due December 18th (my birthday is December 13th!). Obviously, we didn't want to completely announce it until the end of my first trimester, when the risk of a miscarriage is reduced. I feel great and haven't had much morning sickness (just felt a little 'ugh' once in a while). I just had an INCREDIBLE amount of fatigue -- getting out of bed seemed to take everything out of me. So, if I've seemed a little bit out of it the past couple of months, that's why. Walter has been great, even though I've been too tired to even clean the house. :) Thankfully, I have started to feel TONS better this week. Gotta go to bed, but I'll post more later! :)

I am so incredibly proud of my sister! This past Sunday, my sister and I ran a half marathon in Chicago. This was a huge accomplishment for my sister. She had never really run before and decided three months ago to make this her goal (most people start with a 5k, but us Veermans like to take on a real challenge :) ). We signed up for the race and I created a training plan for her. I know it was difficult at times for her, but she persevered through the training -- even threw up after one of her runs. Now that's a champion! Oh yeah, did I mention that she just delivered her third child only six months ago! We got up EARLY Sunday morning and headed to the city. Kara was incredibly excited and nervous. She had worked so hard and had so many people rooting for her... I decided to run beside her the whole race and I'm so glad I did. I told here there was no way in he** I was going to let her quit and knew that I would drag her to the finish if I had to. :) I found myself tearing up