It's no joke.

There are basically three stages (or trimesters, each being about 3 months long) of pregnancy:

The First: If you are so lucky to experience "morning" sickness, now is the time for it. Also, you are exhausted most of the time, from such excruciating tasks like folding a load of laundry. Bathroom breaks happen about every half hour.

The Third: You are huge, and tired of hauling your body around. You are eating small meals frequently, because that baby is making your stomach about the size of a walnut. Also, your bladder. So you are peeing a lot, too. Fun.

And now, the Golden Age of Pregnancy:

The Second: You start showing, eating more, and since the baby has moved off your bladder a bit, you don't need to pee as often. And best of all, you have this thing called ENERGY.

Folks, all of this is absolutely true. Even though my 2nd trimester started awhile ago, I have recently become very aware of the fact that I am able to accomplish multiple tasks in a day, and my trips to the toilet resemble more that of a normal human than of a dog on a neighborhood walk. Also, I feel that I am eating nonstop.

Let me expand further on the "tasks" part, rather than the natural body processes bit.

Yesterday, I spent the morning at my womens' Bible study group. Which means that I had a cup of coffee. This is one of the few regular times that I drink coffee, so pre-pregnancy I could usually count on a massive energy kick, leading to more chores being accomplished that afternoon than any other day of the week.

However, during my first trimester, I could come home from that cup of coffee, and immediately after lunch lay down and take a 1-2 hour nap. Even if I double-dosed on the caffeine and also had a Pepsi with lunch.

But. The 2nd trimester energy boost is nothing to be taken lightly. After the kids were settled in their nap/quiet time, I posted on my blog, folded a load of laundry or two, then headed downstairs. Our basement has been a mess of boxes of books and miscellaneous since we moved in. And it has been a thorn in my side. I went at it with fervor. I emptied several boxes of antique books into an empty bookshelf in our guest room, then did some shuffling and reorganizing of the leftover boxes so that it's easier to actually find what you are looking for.

At this point Ben woke up and required some post-nap cuddling. I was happy to oblige, since by that time my back was complaining. After he was up and moving, I decided to bring up some boxes marked "toys" and initiate the great toy swap I've been planning for awhile. To my delight, the first box was mostly smaller scrapbooks of various trips Aaron and I have gone on. The kids were thrilled to find new albums, so we spent some time looking at the photos.

Then I put a video on for them and went back to work on the other 3 boxes. Fortunately for my sense of guilt about overindulging the children, most of them contained puzzles or games. I did end up swapping some, including the Little People house for the barn, and put some aside right away for a garage sale.

Another box was retrieved from a "storage" room upstairs, and more sorting was done. Aaron was home for about 15 minutes before getting called back in to work, so I finished my job and put off making dinner. I finally did feed the kids, however, then finished laundry and cleaned up the kitchen after putting them to bed.

Folks, all this is more than I've done in one day in a long time. Here's hoping this is a trend and not a one-day occurrence.

Cause man, I'm not sure if my house can take more pregnancy exhaustion.