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.

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.

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!