I have been eating my way around town.  Being pregnant while also chasing after a 2 year old makes for one hungry mama.  And yes (UNC Midwives if you are reading this) most of the time I choose healthy options.  I do want to bounce back post-baby afterall, as if I am Angelina or JLo, but without the expensive personal trainers.  But sometimes a girl, a pregnant girl, needs her sweet treats!

And this town giveth.

First of all, there is the insane Frozen Yogurt boom that is going around.  I am not sure how this got started or why, but I am a fan.  It turns out that YoPop in Timberlyne is right next to the UNC Midwives.  As if they planned it for pregnant ladies.  So I get to go, hear baby boy #2’s heartbeat, then get myself some vanilla FroYo with strawberries and Reese’s on top.  Yeah, I lied.  I always make it a point to go before the appointment.  Once I step on that scale it tends to kill whatever desire I had for YoPop.  (And I don’t always get strawberries on top.)

Governor’s Village just added Igloo Frozen Yogurt.  While not as large as YoPop, it was still tasty and hit the spot for us!  Plus, it’s organic.  So you can feel good about the cows that provided that FroYo.

If I am trying to be even healthier, I’ll go for shaved ice at Rita’s.   Not the same caloric pop but on a hot summer day it feels decadent.  LocoPops also has some “healthier” options and always an interesting flavor if I am feeling frisky. Suffice it to say, I rarely am these days; I have a hard time straying from my mojito pop.  (Don’t worry, midwives, it’s alcohol free.)

And if I REALLY want to go all-in with this sweet treat, I head to Maple View (any of them will do).  Or even to La Vita Dolce in Southern Village.  My son loves the Orange Dreamsicle flavor they sometimes have there. 

I also have to give a shout-out to The Loop for their fantastic Oreo milkshakes.  Thanks to those things I gained an extra 2 pounds in pregnancy 1.  I am more careful now with pregnancy 2 but some days when you are hormonal and raging for no good reason, your husband just knows to bring one of those home for you and the world is right, even if your swollen feet haven’t reduced.  And your husband knows that he will escape the brunt of one of those hormonal rages.

If I am pretending to be heart healthy and want to convince myself that “no, this is good, I need this, it’s for the baby,” then I head for chocolates.  The Chocolate Door on Franklin Street is my heart-stopping heart booster.  I love their selection and creativity.  Miel Bon Bons, of course, has a great location, although I generally want to eat one of those wedding cakes instead of chocolate when I am in there.  And Matthew’s Chocolate in Hillsborough is great because it’s a twofer: I can get lovely chocolates while my son gets a LocoPop.

And one other final piece to my dessertful dining guide: sometimes ice cream, gelato, chocolate, all these little tiny nips just don’t satiate.  Sometimes you want some carbs with your sugar.  And I am talking more carbs than one measly little waffle cone.  Well, enter Krispy Kreme (how do you control yourself when the “Hot Now” sign lights up?!  I am like a tween at a Justin Bieber concert.) and Sugarland.  So yeah, you can get gelato at Sugarland, but you can also get fabulously iced cupcakes.  Yum.  I am a girl known to go crazy for a cupcake here and there.  In fact, I drove to Cary this pregnancy just to check out the frosted-for-royalty cupcakes at Gigi’s.

Yikes, I just looked at the clock and realized it is almost 3 o’clock, my slump time.  And writing about all these sweet shoppes has created some incredible cravings.  So I am off!  See if you can find me today at any one of these gorgeous places.  It’ll be like a Where’s Waldo? of sweet treats.  Fabulous.