Pregnancy Insomnia

Yes, it's 2am. And I am sitting here drinking chamomile tea in an effort to calm my busy mind and soothe my rather uncomfortable self back to sleep. I'm not sure if writing a blog post really is the wisest thing to do at the moment, but, like all of the other tasks on my to-do list, I have a limited time before things become even more busy!

Yes, the baby is due in 27 days (or less, of course). And this short-torso is running out of room. That's what I get for being 5'2" and marrying someone who is 6'2". ;) Long babies.

I did want to update, however, that the weekly to-do list and f@cebook/n3tflix hiatus has been a huge success. I have never had such a productive time period in my life! But I guess I just should have put blogging on the weekly list! ;)

I have been exercising regularly, and really have never felt better, in spite of being pregnant. I'm looking forward to labor being different as well. Dailymile didn't get put on the daily to-do list either, so that didn't get updated. But I have been regularly walking and lifting weights (light ones) since this last spring.

I am very excited about the next few months. We have some really great Thanksgiving plans and Christmas plans, in spite of being far from home and on a military base, and due early December! Our amazing friends all happen to be in similar situations and unable to travel home for Thanksgiving, so we are planning a "Round Robin" progressive Thanksgiving dinner on the weekend following that thankful day. Though perhaps it should be called "Round Turkey" dinner! So I have to keep from going into labor before that, especially because one of the courses is at my house! Yes, 38 weeks-pregnant-woman is hosting, and thrilled about it!

Christmas is open thus far, but I am hoping to have my custom-made (by my handsome and talented husband and a friend) Moravian Christmas pyramid in my living room. I am looking forward to being able to set up a nativity at a focal point on our "tree." Our son is nearly 2 and this Christmas will be all the more delightful for being able to enjoy our own traditions as as family.

O look! It's nearly 2:30! I am finished with my tea and this blog post as well. ;) Nighty-night... again, for this sleepy pregnant lady!

Blessings to all 4 of my faithful "followers" and I remain:

F@cebook and N3tflix

So, the road to hell is paved with good intentions, right? Well for me, it's paved with f@cebook stalking and n3tflix watching.

So in an effort to curtail my more useless activities, I am taking a hiatus from both! It's time to build some really good new habits. Instead of sitting in front of the computer when I have a spare minute, I now turn to my notebook planner.

Exhibit A:

As you can see, it is a messy work-in-progress. But the key word is progress. And thus far, I have been making a lot of progress! :)

Here is my new cookbook. I pull the 6 or 7 recipes out to the front that I am cooking that week and then have easy access on the counter!



Here are my activities of the day, in photos:
I boiled 8 pounds of potatoes, and made mashed potatoes as a side dish and as a topping for Shepherd's Pie (to be prepared Thursday, then frozen).


I cleaned, peeled and diced a massive sweet potato to make home fries. Sweet potatoes are my son's favorite side dish!


I browned three pounds of meat with two onions. One of the pounds of meat and onions I set aside for the Shepherd's Pie. The other two pounds of meat I continued to cook with seasonings to make the filler for Empanadas.


I added a few ingredients to make it last longer: 1/2 cup quinoa, 3 celery stalks, 2/3 bell pepper, and some cayenne pepper.



Here are the sweet potatoes finished, and the browned meat set aside for the Shepherd's Pie.



And finally, the cook gets to eat! I used the Empanada filler and filled up two extra tortillas from the fridge! I have to say, it was very good!


It has been a full and productive day. I also made powdered laundry detergent, 5 gallon bags full. But due to a child hanging around my knees I forgot to take pictures. Needless to say, I am exhausted. And now, I'm off to bed!

Back in the Saddle, Again.

So can you guess what happened? Pregnancy, nausea, fatigue, and a month long battle with bronchitis and a nasty sinus infection have kept me both too busy with my 15 month old and household to blog. Not that I haven't been thinking of blogging and wishing for the time! But I've gotten through the worst and am ready to be back on track.

I have a plan. During first pregnancy I was in the mountains at winter time. Cumulatively over the winter we got over 9 feet of snow. And the snow was built on several layers of ice. Needless to say I was in pretty terrible shape from not being able to go outside. This pregnancy is going to be different. Now that I am through being sick, I am going to train, train, train! I have been told by many that being fit helps decrease the pain and quicken the recovery from labor and the postpartum period. So here is my trial: will I be able to tell a difference between the first and the second time of birthing a baby?

I am excited! I am so ready and done with being fatigued and out of shape. So here I go!

Three days a week I will participate with a group of other moms who walk 2.5 miles with their strollers and then do various resistance and weight training exercises. On alternating days I plan on walking/light jogging (cause nothing else helps my rear slim as quickly as jogging). And on the weekends, I will do something active with my hubs!

I will be using dailymile.com to keep track of my workouts and help keep me accountable. :)

See you on the road!

So there I was . . .

...Holding a pee-stick in front of my husband's face. On Saturday morning. Before 8 o'clock, poor man. I had just turned on the bedside lamp. The hubs was blinking bemusedly, trying to focus as I was wildly waving the pregnancy test under his nose.

"Two lines! Am I seeing two lines, or am I hallucinating?!"

Yes, there were two lines. There ARE two lines. And I am due in early December! Caution was the first reaction that we both had; I have had several miscarriages in our short 2 years of marriage. However, I am now feeling the blessed morning sickness and am confident that this child is going to be just as hale and hearty as his/her older sibling. I may be the only woman alive who actually prayed:

"Lord, it would make me feel better, if I felt a little morning sickness. Amen."

And so, every time the wave of nausea hits, I smile a little inside and am thankful. Our son will be 20 months old when his little brother/sister will be born. And we are just thrilled!

"Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep. Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward."

Psalm 127: 1-4

Turn this girl out of door!

TO THE THAWING WIND by Robert Frost

Come with rain, O loud Southwester!

Bring the singer, bring the nester; 

Give the buried flower a dream; 

Make the settled snow-bank steam; 

Find the brown beneath the white; 

But whate'er you do to-night, 

Bathe my window, make it flow, 

Melt it as the ice will go; 

Melt the glass and leave the sticks

Like a hermit's crucifix; 

Burst into my narrow stall; 

Swing the picture on the wall; 

Run the rattling pages o'er; 

Scatter poems on the floor; 

Turn the poet out of door. 

That is how I feel today! Can't the warm weather come, open Spring's windows and let the fresh, quickening air in! Please, turn this girl out of door!

It's going to be a beautiful spring! :)