Well I survived my 'vacation' (read: obligatory trip) to Michigan and surrounding areas, only a little worse for wear, and am HAPPILY back home with my routine, my internet, and my house rules!

I gained some weight on the trip and I am still waiting to see what is 'real' and what is residual airport bloat, so my first official weigh in will be the normal one on Monday. Due to almost everything being homemade and in unmeasured quantities (I was dealing with a 93 year old woman, I wasn't going to offend her or put her out in any way with my preferred food habits!) I did not log my food the entire trip, but now that I am home everything is being accounted for and written down again.

All in all it went well, but traveling with two small children over a huge time change and with lots of car and plane time is EXHAUSTING. I think my husband and I were honestly more tired DURING and AFTER the vacation than we were BEFORE it, which is absolutely amazing given what our schedule was looking like!

In other general news I feel pretty good - I did score some new walking shoes that fit better and am looking forward to doing some walking during the week, and I also got a new maternity wardrobe that is ALL XL's!!!!! I was in 3x for most of my tops and 1x-2x for my pants, and now I can shop a CLEARANCE RACK and find things that fit in normal sizes! 75% of the store I couldn't even look for clothing in, I was reduced to a plus-sized 'corner', and now I can look at something cute and almost guarantee the store will have it in my size. The only trick is that, due to my HUGE bust (which has not reduced in size even with 45 pounds of weight loss) some cuts of tops (empire, mostly) with seams under the bust do NOT fit, even in a 3x... the seam just cuts right across my boobs in a VERY unflattering way. But having certain styles that don't flatter/fit me is a heck of a lot different than not being able to shimmy into STRETCH pants in a normal size!

Needless to say, it was quite a thrilling NSV. And since these clothes were purchased at Birch Run, arguably the US's largest outlet mall, I also paid about $219 for over $400 worth of clothes! SCORE!

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In pregnancy news, I am quite popped out now, and feeling great. I had an appointment yesterday and everything looked good - baby's heart rate was found immediately and chugging away, my blood pressure was 100/69, my fundal height was 18 cm (I always measure large because I am short :)... everything was as it should be. I was given a referral to schedule my second trimester biophysical (the sex ultrasound, to most people) and my next appointment is scheduled on my birthday, May 12th. The ultrasound will be scheduled sometime earlier in that week, I think, as they want me to be about 19 weeks for the scan.

I'm excited and feeling pretty good for the most part - back pain worsened on this trip due to eight hour car rides and seven hours on a plane, and nausea has come back badly, along with some migraines, but nothing has been too debilitating for my daily going-ons to be terribly affected.

Now that I am home I am moving my focus to improving my fitness and continuing to stick to my calorie budget. I really am less concerned with what my weight does, as the baby is actively putting on poundage and adding amniotic fluid at this point, and I know that if I am eating healthfully and being moderately active that the weight will take care of itself. So wherever the benchmark is on Monday, I will hold my head high for the next six months and let the pounds fall where they may. I am in control of my behaviors, not the scale, and will not fret over the random number generator if everything else is in line.

It's good to be back, loves!