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Sunday, February 26, 2012

Thank GOD For Family Food

So first let me recognize that most of my posts are about food. How delicious food is, how much I love food, how much I crave food and so on. But, if you know me, you know that I have this very generous love hate relationship with food. In the past it's because food was my comfort and my pain. Around about August 13, it will again become that for me. However, right now, I am just enjoying that I don't have to track every calorie that I eat. I am also enjoying being freed from the constraints of healthy recipes that include products I have never heard of or seen in any regular grocery store.

Marvel's Jedi food stare

On Saturday, I woke up and enjoyed a breakfast of grapefruit, cheese and toast with peanut butter and homemade raspberry rhubarb jam. I am just so thankful for the small things in life like homemade jam. Every time my parents come to visit, they bring enough raspberry jam and mucky duck mustard (not homemade but only found up north so far) to get us through the year. Every time we go back to Michigan, we buy enough maple syrup to last us until our next visit.

I really do cherish family recipes. I have asked my mom to work on collecting family recipes for me as she thinks of it so I can continues to carry of the joy of food. The funniest thing happens when you collect recipes sometimes though. Sometimes you find out that although you thought it was a family recipe you find out it's actually a recipe off the back of a box or a well known cookbook. My grandma's butterscotch oatmeal cookies are found on the back of the butterscotch chip package. My mom's beef stroganoff, a recipe that I couldn't seem to duplicate no matter how hard I tried, is actually from the Betty Crocker cookbook that has been in my kitchen for probably 10 years now. Despite all this, these recipes will still be family recipes to me because they feel like home when I am eating them.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

What?! Is THAT How I Look??

I finally broke down and cleaned most of the house on the Monday holiday. I also rearranged the furniture and did some laundry throughout the week. It feels a little bit like life is getting back to normal after 14 weeks of nausea and complete and utter exhaustion. 

The cats and dogs are still fighting like, well, cats and dogs. The weather has been so incredibly beautiful that we have been keeping the windows open on a daily basis to freshen up the house. And, Will and I are falling back into the routine of making dinner at home. In fact, since his day off was today he is making a steak dinner and brownies as we speak. Yes, you read that right, steak. I have been avoiding meat for the past 14 weeks like a kid avoids a bully. Week 15 has been a little different for me. Last night we went grocery shopping and all I wanted was meat. I broke down and had my favorite spicy italian sub from subway and I ate the whole foot long sub, without regret. We bought steak and hamburger and chicken and I enjoyed it, or will after it is cooked.

The other thing that has changed this week my desire to post a picture of myself. Will just took the weekly picture and all I could think was, is that how I look? I'm pretty sure it's not body dismorphia. I'm not a preteen going through the awkward years. This means I cna only chalk it up to growing a person in my belly. As will would say, I look a little "thick" in the waist so this week, we are going to forego belly pictures until my humor returns next week and I can stomach the thought of going public again.

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Diet Destroyed!!!!

If you were in the house right now you might witness a loud, hulk like, rawr. I just finished off a pint of Ben and Jerry's Phish Food (side note: I ate it in three sittings, I do have some self control). If you have not discovered this heavenly ice cream treat you need to. Every bite is like eating a piece of love. Well, that is how it is for me anyway. This may be just the case for a pregnant lady but I have loved this ice cream since my mother let me splurge on it when I was a wee little pre-teen having sleep overs that were entirely centered around large amounts of food consumption and watching the newest version of Scream. Yes, you read that right, Scream.

So other than me overly enjoying ice cream like always, there is not a lot going on this weekend on the baby bump front. My newest focus is eating healthy. My doula sent me a bunch of things to read and refer to regarding pregnancy diets and they are crazy! I haven't been able to meet my daily protein quota yet and I am constantly over on my grains quota. I used to love meat but that's just not working out for me. I do love me some pasta but realize this isn't the best thing to eat every day. My quest for perfection will go on and on and on.

On other fronts, we started Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University and just got home from out second class. It's funny the things that you learn from other people. Some things are really helpful and reflective where there was one particular comment tonight that outraged me. One of the people in class talked about how she was trying to teach her child the process of budgeting. In doing so, this week she told her child that he had $20 to spend on his choice of groceries while she was buying the essentials. She was amazed that once he was given control of the money how carefully he spent it. Bravo. However, he decided to spend it on the cheapest items he could buy so he could buy more. Those things included ramen noodles, HEB sports drinks, etc. All I could think was, isn't health as equally important to teach your children? Your teaching your child about one important aspect of life while completely sacrificing the quality of another very important aspect of life. Blows...my....mind.

So, like I said, my road to perfection is ongoing and apparently, so is everyone else's.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Celebration and Determination

Valentines from co-workers and leftover candy
Ahh, Valentine's Day. A day of celebrating love and....gluttony? Well, in our office it is a day for celebrating both whether that is traditional or not. CASA decided to host one of their regular holiday cook-offs and for Valentine's Day this translated to a bake off including lots of chocolate and rich, delicious desserts. We had cookie dough truffles, popping strawberry cake balls, cream puffs, various cookies and brownies and my absolute favorite, lemon blueberry cheesecake. It feels like pregnancy should allow you to partake in eating as much as you want. The truth, it doesn't. I figured this out about 10 minutes too late, right after I ate a half piece of every dessert. It tasted amazing going down but for the rest of the day I rotated between being ridiculously sleepy and being so hyped up my I was shaking from sugar rush. I came home and crashed like I had just binged on alcohol but instead it was sugar.

Thank goodness my sugar rush was cured by a good nights rest because today we had a very important appointment. Today, we had an appointment to tour St. David's, the hospital we are thinking about delivering at. There is a little background you need to know before I venture into how the tour went. I am completely obsessed with having everything in place for giving birth. It has basically consumed my every thought outside of work and the more information I know, the better I feel. So because I have this determination to control the uncontrolable, Will and I have met with a doula, toured a birthing center and toured a hospital in the past two weeks. The meeting with Julie, the doula, was really great. Both Will and I left feeling like we found someone we could identify with and feel comfortable with in the whole pregnancy and birthing process. I was hoping the birthing center would be the same way. Unfortunately, our experience with the birthing center was less than ideal. After we toured the birthing center we were confronted with the amazing large amount that it would cost to have prenatal care and labor and delivery there (although according to the birthing center it would cost much less than the hospital...if you didn't have insurance). We also met with one of the midwives who proceeded to tell us how horrible hospitals and medical practitioners were and how they force all these procedures on you because they are afraid of law suits. She also complained about how rushed and impersonal OB's generally are which has not been my experience at all. Right before we left they even tried to pressure us into setting up our first appointment and putting a deposit down. Needless to say, we left with a bad taste in our mouth's.

On to St. Davids. It was everything that the birthing center was not. They didn't make any assumptions or judgement about anything. They fully informed us of all of our options at the hospital even if it isn't general practice there. They were thorough yet to the point and remained friendly and professional through the entire tour. It was really great. We had a doctor's appointment immediately following the tour and we debriefed with our doctor about the past few weeks. I just really like our doctor and appreciate her attitude and openness with everything. So, we are defiantly sticking with a hospital delivery and will be enlisting Julie, the doula, to help support and guide us along the way. Yes, I am feeling in control.

Monday, February 13, 2012

Belly Pictures Are Not Easy

In all actuality, I generally and very uncomfortable in front of a camera - ask our wedding photographer. Add on to that the fact that when Will takes pictures, he feels the need to pretend he is photographing models and giving idiotic directions while he is doing it. Then he sits and clicks away, even if you aren't posing or ready for a picture to be taken. So, I am forewarning you, and belly pictures will most likely be for the sole purpose of documenting belly growth and will most likely not be flattering in any way.

11 Weeks
The first picture we motivated ourselves to take wasn't until I was 11 weeks along. At this point, I really felt like I was just bloated. No one tells you that you start to feel bloated almost immediately when you are pregnant. I'm not sure if it's a mindset thing or if it's a real side effect but I didn't feel bloated until I actually knew that there was a human being growing inside me so you decide. At this point, I also feel like I really just look fat versus pregnant since when I do gain weight, I tend to gain it in my belly. As you can see at the picture to the right - gain in the belly. Since you can still see where my belly button is, I'm not quite convinced that it's a pregnancy bump just yet.

However, with all the bloating and belly gain I do have to give a big shout out to maternity pants. Now, I am not a religious person but thank God for maternity pants and all the glorious comfort that they offer. Also, a generous thank you to Target for selling maternity clothes on your clearance rack.
14 Weeks


The pictures above were taken tonight. Blogging was the motivation to actually take the weekly picture. I was busy making my Grandma's butterscotch oatmeal cookies so I could satisfy my belly cravings. Ok, that's not actually true. At work we are having a bake off tomorrow to celebrate Valentines Day and I thought that since this is one of the easiest and most delicious recipe from my Grandma that it would be the best route. My belly did enjoy the one cookie that I had to taste to make sure they weren't poisoned.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

If This is How it is, We Can Do It!

First ultrasound at 8 weeks
Last night, Will and I had an adventure in babysitting. When I asked Will if he would go with me, I was immediately surprised that I was met with absolutely no resistance. Then, when he found out there were dogs involved, he was all in. We spend the night eating pizza and cheese sticks and playing with the coolest toys ever with our new little buddy Kambri. It was probably one of the easiest nights of babysitting I have ever had and most likely, the only night of babysitting Will has ever had. When we left, Will looked at me and said, if this is what it is like to have a kid, we can totally do this.

He is right, we can totally do it. I'm not saying it's not going to be difficult or that we won't experience moments of complete panic or extreme delusions due to lack of sleep. The good news is that we are only 13 weeks into the whole process and have plenty of time to prepare.

One of the best parts of the process is getting to see your baby on the ultrasound. It makes it real and allows you to really start forming an attachment to that little person growing inside your belly. Both Will and I will sit and just look at the pictures thinking, "wow, this is really happening."

11 week 3D Ultrasound
I am constantly getting asked if I cried at the first ultrasound or when we hearing the heartbeat. If you know me, you wouldn't be surprised to know that I didn't cry. I'm much less of an emotional person in these kinds of moments and much more emotional during things like say, movies where animals die or Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Really, I cry every episode of that show. Will, on the other hand is much less of a crier and much more of a smiling from ear to ear and laughing type person. That is how he reacted when we first discovered I was pregnant and that is how he reacted at the 11 week ultrasound. At one point we were both laughing because the baby was flopping around like crazy and it was just funny. It made it incredibly hard for the doctor to hold the wand on my belly so I kept trying to hold it in but it just made me want to laugh more.

12 week ultrasound
The last ultrasound that I had was actually during the testing for down syndrome. Since it does run in my family and it's not an invasive test, we did decide to go ahead with that test. Although Will wasn't able to be there I did call him right after and send him a picture text so he didn't have to wait all day to see the pictures. It's incredible how much the baby grew in just the period of one week!

We won't have our next ultrasound until 21/22 weeks as recommended by the doctor. We do have family that really wants to know the sex of the baby but since this is our pregnancy and our baby, we get to decide. We want it to be surprise and gender neutral clothing is still super cute when it comes in such small sizes.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

I Burned the Bacon!

I made myself a delicious breakfast this morning including eggs, bacon and toast. I also had some fresh strawberries since I am trying to change my eating habits and move back towards eating healthier for both the baby and I. However, I did burn the bacon. When things like this happen, I do think things like, "I can't even make bacon without burning it, how the heck am I going to ever take care of a baby!"

For the first trimester, they say that it's normal to be exhausted along with everything else. Well, I was more than exhausted, I was incapacitated. There is a permanent dent in the couch where you could find me most days of the week, for the whole day. Although it was incredibly enjoyable to have an excuse to do absolutely nothing life has dragged me kicking and screaming out of the first trimester into the second. I'm told that the second trimester is called the honeymoon period and that most people are full of energy and radiantly glowing. I'm not sure I'm most people at this point but I am sure that I am sick and tired of cat hair tumbleweeds floating across my floor on a regular basis taunting me. 

I do have to give kudos to Will who has been amazing through this whole process. Despite the fact that my hormones have been ranging and I can be much more of a monster than normal he just rolls with the punches. He humors my food wishes and happily (and sometimes not so happily) avoids the foods that make me want to vomit. He goes grocery shopping on a regular basis and tries to buy healthy items to feed the baby inside me AND he makes me dinner on a regular basis.  He has been doing laundry regularly and dealing with the dryer leaking on a daily basis which is incredibly frustrating since it's pretty new and we can't find the stupid leak. Lastly, he has adopted the kitchen as his most prized possession that he cleans on a regular basis.

So, while Will is slaving away making money for the family, my task for today is to clean up the rest of the house. As much as I might complain that he doesn't do everything, I fully realize that's not a fair complaint given the circumstances and I have to start sucking it up and actually do something around the house. So mission: clean house will start....after the Millionaire Matchmaker marathon.

Friday, February 10, 2012

Breaking the Ice


I have a lot of catching up to do! This is for all of you (especially back home) who want to be there with us during our journey through our first pregnancy and all the experiences that brings along - good and bad. As of today I am 13 weeks and 5 days into my pregnancy. We officially found out on December 8, 2011 and have been slowly sharing the news with people starting with our close friends and family.

Since, we have officially started telling anyone who will listen that we are having a baby, I figured now is the time to start oversharing as promised. So here it goes!

Answers to commonly asked questions:

Q. When are you due?
A. August 13, or most likely a week later according to the professionals since this is my first baby and they don't like to let go of the womb

Q. Did you have any morning sickness?
A. If by morning sickness you mean a constant nauseated feeling throughout the entire day that lasts for weeks and causes you to eat nothing and everything at the same time then yes. Between Christmas and New Years I ate pretty much nothing but fast food (don't judge and if you are judging, don't tell me because my raging hormones will make me hate you)

Q. How are you feeling now?
A. Great! Especially since two weeks ago I was dealing with bloating, gas, nausea, sciatica, and a knee and foot that were bloody, bruised and healing from a very graceful fall onto cement as I was leaving the courthouse.

Q. Are you going to find out the sex?
A. Nope, I am just excited about a baby and I want to be surprised after all that pain and hard work.

Q. Do you want my advice?
A. Ok, actually I don't get asked this question. I would like to get asked this question so I could tell people, "If I want your advice I will ask you for it".



Enough of the Q&A. There will be plenty more pictures to come in the next few days and I catch up. The two above are ones that we used to announce our surprise to our family in January when we went back to Michigan for our yearly visit. A big round of applause to my very talented friend Callie who is a hobby photographer and helped us to create these awesome pictures. I was creating in my uploading of the pictures though which has caused them to be much less clear than they are in real life.






About Me

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My husband, William and I moved to Austin in July of 2008. We own two chihuahuas and a sickly cat that will never die. We are proud homeowners in a very stepwives looking neighborhood and are friendly with almost all the neighbors (the ones we like at least). We have been blessed with one beautiful baby girl and have another baby on the way of yet to be determined gender.