Monday, December 5, 2011

Talk About Absent-Minded...

I completely forgot I had a blog. Really and truly, I completely forgot. I just remembered while I was in the shower - most important things come to me while I'm in the shower. Now I'm really excited to go read everyone's blogs that I also forgot existed in the month of November. Merry Christmas to me! Now go post something.

Monday, October 31, 2011

Cabo San Lucas


Alright, people. It's time for me to share my excitement over something that is completely unrelated to a baby. Pictured above is just a small portion of Riu Palace in Cabo San Lucas. This is also where I will be in 10 days from now - in this very pool.

No, really. I'm serious.

Brian was one of the winners of a contest at work and this was the prize - an all inclusive vacation for two to CABO!!! We've actually known about it for over a month now, but when I got the news I was so sick that I didn't even want to think about traveling - especially not in an airplane. And, at that point in the pregnancy, I was so sick that I was convinced I would never come out of it. But lo and behold, a month later and I'm feeling like a million bucks. Well, maybe not a million, but any large sum of money will do. Pretty much all of the nausea has left me over the last couple of weeks, and all the other weirdo side effects of pregnancy have at least softened a bit. So now I'm REALLY excited for a paid-for vacation!



Above is a broader picture of the "palace".

And this is where I'll be sleeping. Well, maybe. There are a few different suites and I have no idea which one we'll be in. This is the most quaint of all the pictures of the rooms I saw online, so I'm assuming this is it. And, if we end up getting one of the more luxurious rooms, I'll just be pleasantly surprised :) However, this looks luxurious enough for me.


This is one of the many eating places in the resort. I plan on visiting ALL of them. I also plan on eating my weight in tropical fruit. And, that's a lot of weight now :)


Said fruit.


This is where I'll be relaxing, or leisurely swimming, while I, again, consume my weight in tropical fruits. This time in the form of slushy drinks.


At least I know the option is there. Not making any promises.




The only problem with this entire vacation is I do not own a maternity swimsuit. Nor do I want to purchase one for this lone event.

Friday, October 28, 2011

BOY!


Boy! It's a boy! BOY, BOY, BOY! Pretty cool, huh? We went in for the sonogram yesterday morning and found out that there's definitely a small boy in my stomach. He was so stinking cute. I think he's going to be just like me. Speculation? Of course. But, he would stretch all the way out - arms above his head and legs straight out. Then he'd switch positions and put his legs up on the side of my uterus. Then he'd stretch out again and flip over and do the same thing on the other side. He was just moving all around, getting comfy and chillin' just like I do when I'm lounging or in bed. The leg thing is especially familiar.

However, while we were in the sonogram room, Brian became a little antsy to tell his family. And, that was a contagious feeling, so I consented and we ended up forgoing the cupcake idea and just called our families to tell them the news. At the end, Brian said, "But,
we can still eat cupcakes." I thought that was kind of funny.

Now we have to get serious at some point about picking out boy names. It's so hard, though. Brian and I have fundamentally different tastes in names. It just doesn't work. However, there is one name that I'm trying out in the back of my brain for a while to see if I still like it in a week - or a month. Sometimes I really like a name one day, and then dislike it the next. So, we'll see.

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Baby cake

I'm going to start out by saying something that is unrelated to the rest of my post today: I love my in-laws. Really and truthfully, I can't even imagine having married into a better family. I even claim my grandparents-in-law as my own.

Okay, now onto business. Pregnancy business. I know, I know - how boring of me to blog about my pregnancy - again. But, alas, it cannot be helped. It's kind of my life right now - more or less. If it makes you feel any better, I don't talk about it very often in real life, nor do I even think about it all that much. In fact, I've been telling myself from day 1 to not get excited about this. So, for the last 18 weeks I've just felt sick, tired, and fat without letting myself really believe there is a baby growing inside of me - despite the sonograms.

This week may prove to be different. We find out the sex of this alleged baby on Thursday morning. If all goes well, I may actually take part in all this baby excitement. We haven't even bought anything yet - that's how closed off I have made myself. I just keep expecting the worst. This pregnancy has been totally normal, so I should have no reason to feel so skeptical, but I am obviously just scarred from the previous miscarriage - even though it was only in the first trimester.

Anyway, enough back story. If all goes well Thursday, we plan on revealing the sex of the baby to our families by backing cupcakes with white cake mix. In just one of the cupcakes I will place a blue or pink M&M in the center. All family members will receive said cupcakes and have to take a bite to find out! The person with the M&M cupcake will get to announce what we're having. At least this is how it works in my mind. I'm assuming baking an M&M into a cupcake will work out. And, hopefully the hard candy shell doesn't get totally absorbed by the chocolate of the M&M. I guess we'll find out.

Side note: I feel like my stomach is larger than it should be at 18 weeks. I guess I don't have much to compare it to. Maybe it's because all I want it sugar. And heavily seasoned french fries. Also, sugar. With some french fries. Ice cream, too, which is sugar plus dairy.

Friday, September 30, 2011

I Refuse to Scramble

There's little more I love for breakfast than over-easy eggs sitting nicely on a piece of whole wheat toast, plenty of salt and pepper - and if I'm in the mood for something a little sweet - just a tiny drizzle of honey or maple syrup over the masterpiece. It's filling, satisfying, and I've started off my day with a little bit of complex carbs and protein. This is usually accompanied with a cup of skim milk and a side of strawberries or cantaloupe. Yeah, I'm not shy about my food in the morning. Truthfully, it helps me feel more satisfied throughout the day so I don't cave and have three plates of dinner later on. But, I digress. Let's go back to the eggs.

It's usually two, cooked over-easy and no other way. I need that yolk to run all over the place. Some folks are afraid of the yolk, but not me. Yes, it's the "fat" part of the egg, but it's also packed with protein and tons of other good stuff. If the fat from 1 or 2 eggs is the majority of the fat I get in my daily diet, I think I'll be okay. More importantly, I think the benefits far outweigh the - whatever the opposite of "benefits" is. Disadvantages, I guess. When I was in the beginning stages of P90X, I followed the nutrition plan exactly. It called for only egg whites, instead of the whole egg for breakfast. I decided to give it a try. However, after a couple days of throwing out egg yolks, I started to feel seriously wasteful - especially because you now had to use 6 eggs instead of 2 in order to reach the same amount. That was the only issue I could ever find with the nutrition plan. I felt it was a tremendous waste to throw out what would end up being hundreds of eggs over a longer period of time, just to save a couple grams of fat that are actually filled with a lot of other nutritious benefits.

Back to the method of cooking. I refuse to scramble my eggs. Not because I don't like them, but because I happen to be a bad scrambler. I overcook or undercook every time. I always have. But, over-easy - well, I'm pretty good at that. At least I was until about a month ago. I've never had a problem until lately. Now I find that I find a way to completely screw up my over-easy eggs every time. It's been seriously disappointing. I've finally decided to chalk it up to pregnancy. I feel like everything I do now is self-sabotaged. Last week I attempted dinner three times in one night. After butchering it not once, but three separate times, Brian called in pizza. Not everything I've ruined lately has been food-related, but I think about food all the time now. I've started to have overwhelming cravings for food. It is ridiculous. All morning I've been thinking about delicious foods we can have for the General Conference brunch that I haven't told Brian we're having yet. Growing up my family always had a huge brunch on General Conference days with food that we normally didn't get to have during the week, like big fruit salads made with more tropical fruits, orange cinnamon rolls, guava juice, etc. I'd like to keep that going. Luckily, I rarely act on my food urges, or else I'd be eating Ben & Jerrys, cinnamon rolls, Chick-fil-a, and fruity pebbles at every meal.

Speaking of pregnancy, which I have been for about the last three posts (sorry), Brian and I got to hear the baby's heartbeat yesterday morning. It was loud and fast - 150 bpm. The doctor said that according to old wives tales, that mean's it's a girl. But, I just think that means the baby's already starting in on the massive anxiety attacks that it will inevitably inherit from both it's mother and it's father. Sorry, little baby, we really didn't leave you with any chance of normalcy.

Also, you will have hazel eyes and do poorly in mathematics.


Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Might As Well

I know I just posted this picture on facebook, but I figured I haven't updated in a while so I might as well throw one up here, as well. The picture is taken on my phone (obviously) so my skin looks orange and my shirt is actually off a shade, as well. But, I suppose that isn't the focal point, anyway. So, anyway, here I am at exactly 14 weeks. I feel like it's kinda large for just 14 weeks, but then again, my whole body became a little large for 14 weeks. This picture does not do my true weight gain justice - which I am perfectly okay with!

I don't know where my mind is today. I am truthfully very good at working from home, in that I am able to focus for hours and hours without getting distracted with other fun things around the house: phone, the internets, skype, food, household chores, naps, the pool downstairs, etc. Today, however, is another story. I keep finding myself at stumbleupon.com and facebook. At stumbleupon.com I refined my "interests" to baking and holiday decor, now that's all I can think of. Oh, and that picture above? Taken today. While I really should have been working. Granted, all is not lost - I can just sit at this computer for the rest of the night and knock out my work. I suppose that's why I decided to procrastinate today. Because I knew I could. Time management was never a skill I feel I really embraced throughout life.

Friday, September 9, 2011

Don't Need No Title


Okay, I've been wanting to update, but have been either working or feeling positively vomitous. In fact, I should be working right now, but I guess that's the beauty of working at home - I do what I want. Actually, I took a break because my new foot pedal came in today and it takes hours off the time I normally am able to do it in. Transcription, that is. In case you missed my last post, I work from home transcribing audio files for a transcription company based in California. I LOVE it, and the people are really pleasant to work with - albeit online. Anyway, since I have this new-found freedom, combined with my new foot pedal, I decided I could spare a few minutes to blog.

WE LIVE IN TEXAS! It's a truly wonderful feeling to be back. I don't feel like I have to miss my families anymore - I can enjoy them. And, it's awesome how close we live to them. It's a five minute trip, including the walk down 3 flights of stairs to get to the car.

The only thing I haven't so much loved is this absolutely insane heat. It's CRAZY! I know I'm not that far along, but the heat was killing me when we first arrived a few weeks ago. It intensified my morning sickness and exhaustion by ten fold. By the way, where did the term "morning sickness" come from? I'm actually at my best in the morning.
Until about an hour later - then it just worsens as the day wears on, until all I can do is sit completely motionless on the couch at night because any kind of movement might have me reaching for a barf bowl. Anyway, I'm just so happy that we've had a week of beautiful weather. It makes me excited for fall. Not that Texas has a fall.

Speaking of fall, I spent entirely too long looking up Fall/Halloween decorations online this morning. My entire life I've loved summer and detested every other season because, well, it wasn't summer. But this summer has totally changed my mind. I'm especially excited to make caramel apples. I used to call them candied apples, but when I was searching for images online today, I found a distinct difference between caramel apples and candied apples. The main difference being that candied apples look disgusting. Anyway, I have this terrible craving for them now, so I will be watching for when apples go on sale soon. So I can buy a million. And make a million caramel apples. That's why I need them to go on sale.

Speaking of cravings, let's talk baby for a minute. I feel like I can do that more safely now that I've made it through week 11. I've really not let myself get very excited in fear of miscarrying again. I tend to do that in all aspects of life. My secret motto is, "Don't get your hopes up." Kinda sad, right? I mean, I don't really act like that, but it's usually in the back of my mind. Anyway, after my doctors appointment a couple weeks ago I finally became slightly excited. Not only did I see a tiny baby, but I saw it move. It was actually more like flailing - or dancing. I didn't even know they could move that early. So, that was pretty cool. I also happen to love my new doctor. He makes me completely comfortable. So, here's a
little picture of my very little baby.




This little thing has caused so much discomfort and grief already! But, I truly don't care. When it is no longer leaching off of my insides, my body will be mine again, and I'll have a cute little child to teach how to be awesome. I am actually very impressed with how I've handled it thus far. Just like Dafni, and probably every other woman on earth, I have always battled with how I really felt about the way I look. Fat being a large factor. No pun intended. Okay, somewhat intended. Last year I did P90X and I felt great, and for the first time in my entire life, I was totally comfortable with myself. And, I have been ever since. Until now. When I hit week 5 or 6, I experienced the worst "morning sickness" I've ever felt in my life, and that lasted for 2 or 3 weeks straight. It trumped any time I've ever had the flu, or any other illness. Not only in intensity, but in duration. What's weird is, you'd think that would have caused me to lose 10 lbs. Not so much. My body has a way of ruining a good thing (of course I say that jokingly - it was horrible). For some reason, I found that if I kept my stomach full, it would lessen the nausea. But, the trouble with that is suddenly I was STARVING all the time. I thought being hungry all the time didn't come around until second or third trimester. Guess not. So, I was hungry all the time, so I had to eat all the time in order to not vomit. It got so bad that it would wake me up literally every single freaking hour at night because my stomach wasn't full enough. So every hour I would run to the kitchen and shove anything close into my mouth. So, now add sleep-deprived on top of nauseous and already exhausted. I gained 7 lbs in the first week of morning sickness. And let me tell you, I was freaking out. I was freaking out because I had absolutely no control over it. This continued for another 2 weeks or so, and it was during those first 2 or 3 weeks that I gained all the weight I have put on thus far. I didn't gain any before, and I haven't gained any since. I am still nauseous, but nothing like how I was several weeks ago, so I was able to stop eating every hour at night. Anyway, in those couple of weeks I put on probably 15 lbs. I'm not 100% sure, though, because I refuse to weight myself - simply because it wasn't something I could control. And soon I will start gaining weight from the actual baby, higher blood volume, etc. So, I had to teach myself really quick to just go with it and know that P90X is waiting for me in 6 months. I also had to realize that there are women out there who have had it much worse than me. So, I'm cool with it now. In fact, I believe I have instigated 100% of the fat jokes at home.

I believe I have spared all the moments that I can for now. I've got a 4 hour audio file waiting for me to transcribe, and transcribing takes 2 - 3 times the length of the audio.

Until next time, happy 85 degree weather!

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Test Answers

Ok, let's see how you did. Everyone can grade their own tests. Actually, scratch that. My high school teachers had us grade our own work and I absolutely hated it. Maybe I'm a bad person, but it was an intense inner struggle every time for me to be completely and totally honest. I never ended up cheating, but the whole ordeal sucked. Also, I disliked it when the teacher had us trade our papers with our peers to grade them. My "friends" would always try to give me a better score than was true and then I was forced into an uncomfortable situation where I either had to rat them out to be truthful, or live with my false grade (or get caught). And on the flip side, when I was grading someone else's paper, they ALWAYS expected me to cheat for them. Someone was always upset with me for that. And all this just because my teachers couldn't be bothered to grade, which is part of their job description. Ok, I digress. This is no longer for a grade.

1) Brian recently received a promotion that is moving us out of Tennessee. We are being transferred to...
A) New Mexico
B) Texas
C) Oregon
D) France

2) We've already signed the lease on an apartment that is located five minutes from...
A) A water park
B) the beach
C) A famous museum
D) our families

3) I just found out that I have been hired on with a company where I can...
A) Work from home
B) learn a different language
C) get free lunch everyday
D) have a company car

4) We are gaining a new addition to our family! If all goes well, we will have...
A) A puppy
B) A baby!!!
C) A fish
D) A kitten

Yup, Brian is being transferred back to Texas. Wylie, no less! We've already signed a lease with Los Rios Park right off of 544, just as you come into Plano. Five minutes from my in-laws, 20 minutes from my brother and his family, and 5 minutes from my two most favorite places - Yogurtville and Sprouts. We pack up and roll out of Chattanooga in exactly 7 days. We are somewhat sad to leave, though. We have really loved Tennessee. It's beautiful, it has nice weather (all four seasons), and we love our ward. We've also made really good friends here! But if we have to move somewhere, I'm really happy we're moving home because...well, that brings me to my next point...I'm pregnant :) It's all worked out so perfectly I keep wanting to pinch myself to see if I wake up. I've always wanted to live close to family when we start having kids, and we thought we would probably never end up back in Texas. So this is really, really, really perfect timing. Really. Of course, there's always the chance this pregnancy might not come to fruition. I have experienced that before. But I'm hopeful. Also, my symptoms are seriously strong this time around. I'm about 6 weeks now and starting last Sunday I've hardly experience a minute when I didn't feel like I needed a barf bag. Nice imagery, right? Lots of other unpleasant symptoms, too, but I'll spare you.

I also was just recently hired on with an transcription company. I will be transcribing for them from the comfort and convenience of my own home. So when my "morning sickness" should really be called "all night sickness, plus the rest of the day, too" I don't have to call in to work and tell them I will be late. I don't have to waste gas. I don't have to look pretty. I don't have to worry that my employer is breathing down my neck all the time. Not that my current employer does, I just always feel this way. I always worry that employers don't understand that life happens sometimes and there will be days when you have to come in late because you have to get your DL renewed, or the flu shot, or pick up your husband because his car broke down, or take my own car in for repairs, etc. But now I don't have to worry about that at all :)

So that's my life in a nutshell. Those are some big changes, huh? And all within a few weeks of each other. And truly, we didn't see any of those coming. But these are all huge blessings, and we couldn't be happier. I feel very watched over and incredibly blessed.

Anyway, we are scheduled to move next Sunday after church. Seven days from now. We have not even begun to pack. Luckily, we still live somewhat like college students, so we don't have a ton of stuff. It's the extra-long drive that I'm not particularly looking forward to. Let's hope I make it, despite my queasiness.

On a side note, does anybody know of someone who is looking to sell their washer and dryer? We are now in the market for one of each.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Multiple Choice

I've decided my previous blog needs a rest, permanently. So much is happening, and is going to happen in the near future that I'm starting to feel like this is whole new chapter of life that we're entering into. So here's the run-down in the form of a multiple choice test. And anyone can try to take it! You have unlimited time, and you can ask your neighbor. And your time starts......now!

1) Brian recently received a promotion that is moving us out of Tennessee. We are being transferred to...
A) New Mexico
B) Texas
C) Oregon
D) France

2) We've already signed the lease on an apartment that is located five minutes from...
A) A water park
B) the beach
C) A famous museum
D) our families

3) I just found out that I have been hired on with a company where I can...
A) Work from home
B) learn a different language
C) get free lunch everyday
D) have a company car

4) We are gaining a new addition to our family! If all goes well, we will have...
A) A puppy
B) A baby
C) A fish
D) A kitten



Answers will be posted here at a date that is TBD.