It may just be me, but I truly don’t like being pregnant during the holidays. Part of this comes from the fact both of these pregnancies I missed and will miss Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, Valentine’s Day and my birthday(30th!) not that I am truly keeping track or anything… This doesn’t mean I am not excited about my little one, but that I have a hard time enjoying getting dressed up and going to family and friends houses when I am pregnant.

First of all, not that I am a fashionista by any means, but none of my clothes fit like I want them too. I go through a million outfits, which I have had for years, but nothing looks right. I personally did not purchase many maternity items my first pregnancy because we did not go out much. When both you and your husband work in the fitness industry you primarily wear “pajamas” or fitness clothes all the time. Even with my pregnancy those clothes still fit, just with the waist dropped a bit and a few shirts were a bit stretched. So when it come to dressing “up” it is hard to justify buying a bunch of maternity clothes I will only wear a couple times.  Therefore, once I finally find something I currently own, that looks nice and sorta fits, my husband is threatening to leave me behind.

Second, I can’t eat or drink any of the fun things that I want….wine, egg nog, fancy unpasteurized cheeses, and of course WINE. Not that I’m WINEing or anything. I am not a huge drinker, but it never fails that when I am pregnant all I really crave is the latest beer or wine. I know you can have a glass or two here or there, but at the holiday parties you really want to enjoy more than one while mingling with your friends or hiding from your family members. Just kidding – I really do love all my family members. It never fails someone always complements my husband on how awesome it is to have a “designated driver”! While I may be sober as ever, the fact that belly is in the way, my feet are killing me and I am exhausted from growing another human being do not also mean that I would love to drive drunk people home all the time!!

Third, all of the conversations I get to partake in typically revolves around your pregnancy and not other things in the world. I truly don’t mind talking about my little leach inside for a while, but by the tenth conversation I am over it and would like join an adult conversation.  At a holiday party the other day my girlfriend (who had her two little ones with her) and I were joking about we don’t get to socialize anymore and when we do it is typically about our kids or our soon to be. Not to mention everyone without a child was chatting upstairs and the two of us with kids were playing toys and dishing out snacks in the basement.  Again, don’t get me wrong I love my son dearly and am ecstatic about my newest little one, but boy do they take over your lives. The one joy I do find in all of these shenanigans is that those friends who don’t have kids now will be more understanding in a few years when they do decide to start their family and by that point I may loose my sympathy and enjoy the dues have paid.

Finally, all of the events and gatherings that take place can really change up your fitness and nutrition plans. While my goal is to eat as many healthy meals as possible and keep my workouts up, scheduling makes fitting these in a bit tricky. This means instead of my 7am workout I may be up at 6am sweating my butt off just to fit it in.  Or instead of indulging on the food they will provide at the party I will be eating at home and munching carefully at the party. I know, everyone tells me that I am pregnant and I shouldn’t worry about what I eat, but I do! I don’t worry about adding a few sweets in here or there but I do worry about getting all my vegetables and protein in. Veggies and protein are normally in small quantity at holiday parties, which leads people to indulge on a large amount of sugar and carbs to keep your tummies satisfied! If this happens at just one party this season it isn’t terrible, but chances are if you are not careful this could happen at several parties and can add up! As my kind friend still informs me, “Once on the lips, forever on the hips”.

Working out on the weekends always proves to be difficult! Between football games, parties, and getting everything done for the holidays  time just seems to slip away.