Six Feet Under the Table

To my son on his SECOND birthday: Yesterday, you turned your favorite number: 2. It's quite fitting that you are also 22 lbs., which is roughly the size of a 1 year old. Though our doctor informs us that you have the vocabulary of a 3 year old (at least). You know a lot of words, can string together 4-word sentences (including 4-syllable words), and you ALWAYS have something to say. You are polite—most of the time, saying please and thank you at the appropriate times. You STILL don't love to sleep (much to our dismay), but you love to laugh and sing and tell me when Baby is crying... even when she's not. You love big trucks, big clocks, and big jumps. You are an excellent hall monitor at the YMCA, pointing out when someone is running... though most of the time, that someone is you. You love to run. If I asked you your favorite color, you would without a doubt tell me, "lellow." But the truth is, your favorite color is blue. I suspect "lellow" is ju...

Baby Girl is almost a month old already, and I haven't finished documenting my thoughts/reaction to her. I need to get it down in writing before I forget. So here it goes... When Toddler Boy was born, my first thought wasn't "Oh, yay! My baby is here! He's so cute!" Rather, I didn't even look at him for maybe 2 minutes. Instead, my first thought was, "He's going to be an only child." But what would you expect from someone that just went through 31 hours of labor? With Baby Girl, it was different. Because we didn't know I was pregnant until a week before my second trimester, she didn't feel new to me. Rather, when I saw her, I looked at her face and took it in... because in my mind, she's always been. I don't know when she came to be, she just was. Our associate pastor came to visit us in the hospital and before praying over her, he read Psalm 139:13-18: For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mot...

After reviewing my first post—something I rarely do hence all the typos and grammatical errors—I realized that I forgot one detail. Remember how I said the nurse didn't see any water after I told her I felt the "popping"? Turns out, Baby Girl was acting as a cork... the water broke behind her. So it didn't come out until she was delivered. I thought this was weird, though I'm sure it's not uncommon. Now enter the days that followed. That night, Toddler Boy, my parents, siblings and their spouses, and my in-laws came to visit. It was a late night, but it was so nice to have them there. Toddler Boy was really confused. He wouldn't talk to me and didn't want to sit in bed next to me. Of course, he was also in bed sleeping and then woken up to come to the hospital. (And I'm so glad he was. In hindsight, I would've been disappointed if he wasn't there.) My brother took some amazing photos, and eventually, our family left, and we turned out t...

I can't believe it's been two months since I've last written. I suppose I didn't have anything new to share. But now I do! And here's my story... or Baby Girl's story, if you will. About a week before my due date, the baby moved and planted herself somewhere that inhibited my ability to walk. This made keeping up with Toddler Boy near impossible. My parents came to the rescue and stayed with us while we waited Baby Girl's arrival. At my 40-week appointment, it was clear she was still comfortable. But I was not. After a few tears and complaints that I just didn't feel well, and I couldn't walk, my doctor agreed to induce on my due date. Except while I was in the office, my blood pressure rose significantly high. If my blood pressure remained high, I was to go in that night. My mom checked it that night, and though it was higher than usual, it wasn't dangerous. So we waited. Because my due date was four days away, the hope was that she would co...

I don't (think I) complain very often, but I really feel like it, so I think I will. Consider that your warning. I generally enjoy being pregnant. I have it really easy: never sick, only mild heartburn, still have a decent supply of energy to wake up early, go to work, and keep up with the ever-busy Boy. But I think I'm ready to be done with it. This is not because I'm miserable or sick or anything. I'm just... kinda over it for right now. And I'm sure it's just me being hormonal. My 3-hour glucose test revealed that I have low blood sugar. Therefore, I have to test my sugar levels 4x a day. I'm on day 2, and I just don't want to do it any more. But lucky me, I get to test 4x a day for the rest of my pregnancy (<10 weeks), then 3x a week for 6 weeks, then get another 1-hr glucose test. Checking my sugar level doesn't hurt. But remembering to do it does. Baby Girl finds the front of my body to be the most comfortable. This means, I have to go...

This has been the year o' travel. My patience has grown exponentially, and Toddler Boy has become quite the frequent flyer. Of course, my pregnancy hormones have been through the roof, so that makes traveling alone with a toddler a little more interesting. Want to know how it went? Here it goes: On Wednesday, our flight was set to leave at 9:15p. Toddler Boy's bedtime is 7p. However, I scheduled the flight this late so that Toddler Boy would sleep. (Fun fact: Toddler Boy is too much like Mommy. He doesn't sleep on planes.) I brought the umbrella stroller just in case he got tired while waiting at the airport. (He didn't.) He explored every nook and cranny of that place, climbed up on the seats, looked out the windows, gave fist bumps to every passenger in line, and loudly applauded the pilots that FINALLY showed up to the gate 45 minutes AFTER the plane was supposed to depart. It was exhausting. (Fun fact #2: While flying SWA, if you travel at night with a toddler, ...

Wow. March? Really??? That's the last time I posted? Well, since I posted last, I planned two baby showers, am working on a bachelorette party, am planning to be a bridesmaid in two weddings (so... dress shopping), took a family vacation to Alaska/Seattle, met our newest niece, AND we found out we are having a girl. Phew. With that being said, this girl has me craving all sorts of sweets and bad-for-you foods. There isn't a day that goes by that doesn't include one (or many) of the following: a cookie (or 4—chocolate chip, white chocolate chip macadamia, peanut butter, oatmeal with cinnamon chips, oatmeal with reese's pieces... excuse me while I wipe the drool off my protruding belly), ice cream (Ben & Jerry's Coffee Toffee Crunch is my JAM!), candy, s'mores, breads, pastas, CAFFEINE (pop, coffee), crystal light... and the list goes on. I'm telling you, it's all sorts of bad. Then, throw in the fact that we've been traveling a LOT, and ther...

What's that? You're working out super hard, exhausted, and starving all the time, but not losing any weight? Chances are, you're pregnant. Yup. Mystery solved. Didn't exactly happen according to "plan," but as with everything, it's right on time. I've been feeling great! Of course, it helps that I missed all but 1 week of my first trimester. And I haven't been packing on the pounds like I did with Toddler Boy. AR has restructured my workouts, and they're considerably "wimpier." On Monday, for the first time in over a month, we got back on the TRX ropes. It got me pumped up for getting back into shape after we add two more feet under the table. Now that the shock has worn off, I'm so excited! Life is good. It may not be how I pictured it. And sometimes we fly by the seat of our pants. But we're always okay. Even in uncertainty. Toddler Boy is happy as happy can be, is (finally!!!) taking a daily 2-hour nap, is learnin...

Every winter, it's the same thing: fruit on the brain. I don't know if it's the craving of out-of-season berries or what. But this week, I hit the jackpot. So many sales on a good crop of fruit. Toddler Boy and I put away about a quart of blueberries before we decided to make a fruit salad. (Okay, I did all the deciding. He did most of the eating.) The best thing about fruit salad? You really can't mess it up. Our bowl of awesome included blood oranges, crunchy red grapes, blueberries, and bananas. What's that? You've never tried a blood orange before? Slap yourself, and then get over to the grocery store STAT! They can be rather expensive (some stores sell them for $1 a piece). But, if you can find them sold by the pound, you're golden. In other news, have I mentioned how much I love TRX? Yesterday, I had my first workout in over a week. AR went "easy" on me. But the challenge begins next week. Today I'm thankful for a body that heals it...

This week, I felt encouraged from the most unlikely person… Kim Kardashian. I read that she has been very public about her difficult time losing the baby weight. That stupid 15 pounds. It felt good to know that I'm not alone, and that she's still battling it, too. (Her daughter is older than my son, and she's in the public eye. I guess I don't have it so bad.) The mind can be so messed up sometimes. You read about all these people that just lose the weight right away. And no matter how many encouraging blog posts or articles you read about how you should love your body because of the miracle that came out of it, sometimes, it just doesn't help. But I'm trying. I'm trying to be conscious. I still haven't weighed myself, and I don't intend to. I'm still trying to refocus. I've been making better food choices, but once again, I desperately need to go to the grocery store. Toddler Boy ate pasta, corn, and a slice of ham for lunch. Most random...

TRX. It's no joke. And doing it two days in a row? I think I might be stupid. Or stupid awesome. I'm not sure which. I'll explain. I've had one personal training session with AR. That was on Monday. And I only had to stop because I thought I was going to pass out once. The entire session was a TRX session. What is TRX? TRX is a suspension training system created by a Navy Seal. The whole idea is that you use your own body weight. After that one TRX workout, I am addicted. Here's a basic intro.  Our local Y has TRX set up right next to the pool, and the room is heated to a warm 85-ish degrees. This adds intensity (and flexibility). And I LOVE it. Because of the weather, my session was rescheduled from Wednesday to Friday. Then AR got called in to sub a class, so the program director stepped in and invited my sister to join. TRX again. Holy ouch. And because I'm competitive, it was a fun (and oh so tough) session. KD (my sister), and I decided to start a littl...

Back when Xanga was a thing, I used to do what was called "Recipe Friday." Then I got lazy, and it quickly became "Okay, it's Tuesday, and I haven't done Recipe Friday in about 6 months, but you should try this anyway." And I'd talk to friends and relatives that ACTUALLY tried the recipes and they said they looked forward to the posts. Well, friends ... guess what I'm bringing back! I've been doing A LOT of cooking the past couple of weeks. And all out of the cookbooks of my most-favorite chef, Tyler Florence. These two recipes I made this week. And Toddler Boy loved them! If you make one or both, tell me what you think about it! Seared Brined Pork Chops from Inside the Test Kitchen — These pork chops taste just like bacon to me. J laughed and reminded me that they come from the same animal. I KNOW THIS. But pork chops generally do not taste like bacon. If you love bacon, try this. And even if you don't, try this. Serves 4. Almond Milk ...