At some point in the last two weeks, my stomach has absolutely exploded! Instead of the “I wonder if she’s pregnant or just overweight” look, it’s become unquestionable that I’m pregnant. As for baby…

At 21 weeks, he (yes, HE!!) is about 10 1/2 inches long and 3/4 of a pound. He has eyebrows and eyelids now, and he’s starting to practice swallowing amniotic fluid to get his body used to digesting. The amniotic fluid even tastes differently for him every day, so I definitely need to eat my greens every day so he comes out wanting salad! 🙂

Baby has also decided that my insides are the perfect jungle gym, because I swear he hasn’t stopped moving in at least a week. Thankfully, most of my stomach related issues have disappeared, so the kicks aren’t a problem. Fatigue has been a pretty big problem though — my new work schedule means that I have to be up by 4am, so I wind up wasting most of Baby Boy’s nap time sleeping instead of cleaning, working out, or doing homework. Even though I’m working less and taking fewer credits, I’m not really accomplishing anything throughout the day. I’ve found that setting little goals for each day is helping a lot; I’m less likely to start a big project I know I don’t have time for (like hang the 4 loads of clean laundry I’ve been neglecting) than a smaller project (spend ten minutes hanging clean laundry). At least that way I get a little bit done every day and I don’t feel so lazy. Now that I am part-time and hubby is the main breadwinner, I feel a tremendous amount of pressure to have everything done by the time he gets home so he can just relax in a clean house. It’s not really happening that way yet, but hopefully by getting a little bit done every day, that can be the case sooner rather than later. Plus, once the house is really clean I have a load of new organizational projects I want to start, so that’s been a big motivator as well. It’s past time to sort through the old baby clothes and pack away what I don’t need, cut down on the amount of toys the kids have (we’re drowning in so many toys that they haven’t touched in months), and I want to have time to make some of the things we’ll need for the baby. I’m supposed to be crocheting Big Sister a new blanket, and I think it would be awesome if I could actually make the new baby some clothes or blankets as well. I might even get super ambitious and make a matching quilt/bumper set, we’ll have to see how quickly I can learn. I have an awesome sewing machine and a huge collection of knitting/crocheting needles, so it’s about time I started using them again!

How do you stay motivated to accomplish your goals, even when life gets busy or difficult?