Winter is here.

This last week we received our first snow fall.  I guess I can officially say that winter is here.  Of course, winter isn't my first choice when it comes to seasons, but it is fun to have an excuse for snuggling up and drinking lots of tea.  Plus, you can't beat a white Christmas!

It's crazy to think that the season has arrived in which my baby will be born.  Time sure does fly.

Babysitting

This last week was nuts.  Definitely up there in regards to the toughest weeks of the semester.  I only had one big exam, but clinic was crazy and my tailbone was killing me.  It's tough to get things done in a timely manner when you're hobbling around like a cripple.  Lame excuses, but that is the reason for the radio silence.

A friend of ours asked us to babysit on Monday.  I was very close to useless, because I was coming down with a cold and generally not feeling well.  Danny was a champ though!  It was so cute to watch him :)  He got the 2 yr old fed, entertained, bathed, brushed his teeth, and got him to bed.  He's going to make the best dad!  Can't wait for our baby to arrive...only 2 more months!

The Little Things.

Just enjoying the little things this week, including:

-buying the baby girl cloth diaper supplies, excited to try this out!

-learning about doulas...if only we had as much money to spend as we wanted, I would definitely splurge on one...I might still.

-snuggling with my honey under the covers.  This week, it has felt that winter is here/just about here.  I'm not a huge fan of the cold, but I love snuggling!

-yummy tea.  Broke out some honey vanilla chamomile, can't go wrong.

-meeting my brother and mom for breakfast and enjoying a delicious cinnamon roll (I had been craving one for awhile now and it definitely hit the spot.)

I feel like my brother and I look nothing alike, it's quite strange.

Nursery Loves.

Just a couple things I'm loving for the nursery lately...

1 is from here and 2 is from here.
I have always been leery of ordering something off the internet...something I've never seen in person.  I'm going to have to get over that!  Because I sure do love that dresser.  I'm giving it one more weekend though, we're going to the bigger city close by to see if I can satisfy my picky-ness.
I'm definitely going to have to make that mobile, it is so adorable!

4 Simple Goals, before 2014

I saw this end of year project over at A Beautiful Mess a couple of weeks ago and instantly loved the idea.  I think I did the original challenge back in the day...but since I'm not great at documenting regularly (obviously), I don't remember the details.  I love having goals, even if I don't always attain them, just having them written out is a huge motivator.

1. Document this time in my life consistently.  At least three times a week.  A professor at school was telling us just how great this time in our lives is, and to make sure to thoroughly enjoy it.  Those are very true words.
2. Eat greens every day.  I'm bad at eating greens, I have to admit.  But I'm keeping this simple, at least one green, leafy thing a day.
3. Create more often.  Sure, I get to build up and restore teeth every day, but I feel like my personal crafting has taken a hit because of it.  To be more specific, pick up a project at least once a week for the rest of the year.
4. Eat out less often.  We go through phases and right now there's a lot of eating out going on.  I don't like it.  My goal is to cut back to one time a week or less.

Doctored Boxed Carrot Cake.

My mom's birthday is this coming week.  It's tradition to take a cake to that month's church potluck.  There's nothing like celebrating with the church family!  I wanted something good, but didn't want to put too much effort into it, because it's been a rough few weeks with school/pregnancy/life.

Cue the semi-homemade cake:

Doctored Boxed Carrot Cake Recipe:
-1 box carrot cake mix
-4 eggs
-1/2 cup melted butter
-8 oz. pineapple juice
-Pineapple chunks (I used about a cup)
-1/2 cup raisins
-1/2 shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease pans and such.  I used two 9 inch round pans.
Mix carrot cake mix, eggs, butter, pineapple juice, and pineapple chunks for 30 seconds on low with an electric mixer and then for an additional 2 minutes on medium speed.  Stir in the raisins and coconut.  Pour into your pan(s) and bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick in the middle comes out clean.

Cream Cheese frosting
-8 oz. cream cheese
-1/2 cup butter, softened
-2 cups powdered sugar
-2 tsp vanilla
-juice from 1/4 of a lemon

Mix the butter, cream cheese, vanilla, and lemon juice together with an electric mixer.  Slowly add the powdered sugar to prevent clumps.  Try to resist eating the whole patch!

Everyone at church loved it!  They all thought it was completely homemade.  The one thing that was slightly annoying is that the cake was pretty crumbly.  If I could do it over, I would add one less egg to see if that helped the situation...or hard core google to see if I can figure out why it did that.

Happy Birthday, Mom!! Love you!  You are honestly the best mom,  I am so blessed!

Pregnancy is kicking my butt this week.

It feels quite literal actually.   My tailbone has felt like it's broken, it doesn't help that I've had a busy week in clinic-don't get me wrong, I love clinic time, but my body is just loudly protesting this week.  It's been taking all my energy not to wobble around like an elderly person.  My entire body hurts...I'm not quite sure how that works.  The worst part is that I don't wake up feeling better.  A good nights rest used to leave me spry in the morning, apparently those days are gone!

Despite all that, I can't help but feel so blessed by this baby girl growing inside of me (and I mean growing! my mom comments on how "huge" my belly is almost every time I talk to her :)).  She makes it all worth it.  It's strange how much I love her without even knowing her.

Enough grumbling. I've had fantastic patients this week and after Friday I don't have another exam for 3 whole, entire weeks!!  I am so excited.

Here's a photo from last Sabbath of Danny holding a cute new baby (6 weeks old).  He's going to make the best daddy!

27 weeks

27 weeks marks the beginning of my third trimester and I think you can definitely tell ;)
I'm finally starting to seriously work on the nursery.  I organized all the baby's clothes today by size and lots of other little things.  After this week, I won't have another exam for a few weeks, so I'm planning on getting my bigger projects under way.
I'm already so anxious to meet our baby girl!  We love her so much already.  But I know the time will come soon enough.

Glucola

Today I had my test to make sure I don't have gestational diabetes.  The fact that I was a bit nervous about shows how non-healthily I've been eating recently.  This is something I'm not proud of.  I'm determined to improve my eating habits!  Goals are good, right?  I'm looking to get a bit more specific in the near future. (Haven't found out the results yet.)

Side comment on the taste: not bad.  I chugged it though, because I heard the more you sip, the worse it is.

Books I'm reading.

*Pregnancy Edition*
I am a serial multi-book reader, when the book is informative instead of being a story.  Here's what's currently on my nightstand:

1. I'm hoping to do this childbirth thing the old-fashion way-no drugs.  Basically everyone I mention this to things I'm crazy or wishes me luck.  Not a whole lot of support around these parts, except for my hubby and my mom, which is all I need!  I really believe natural is the way to go.  So I figure I'd better prepare, prepare, prepare if I'm going to make it. I've been loving what I'm reading-exercises to help prep my body, learning all about the birthing process, and encouragement about giving birth naturally.  I'm definitely glad this book was recommended via my centering group

2. This is a huge hippie book....and I love it!  I skipped the first half, because it's birthing stories, which I'm not terribly interested in.  Every birth seems to be really different, so I sometimes  see birthing stories as expectations that I may not reach.  The second half has been great though.  It talks about how emotions affect the birthing process and there's this great theory called the "Sphincter Law" which makes complete sense to me.  This one I heard about via a Facebook group I'm a part of called "Mommy Support".

3. Amazing book about how to raise your child.  It's amazing how early kids start developing their character.  Character development is the thing that scares me the most about this whole parenthood thing-it's so important as far as how my daughter will interact with others throughout her whole life.  Everything makes so much sense, I'm glad my mom gifted this one to us this last Christmas.  In hindsight, that was a clear sign ;)

If anyone stumbles about this little ol' blog of mine, I'd love to hear your recommendations, leave them in the comments!

26 weeks.

Goings-on:

1. Baby moving A LOT, at random times.  Danny says he feels her being really active while I'm sleeping (he loves sleeping with his hand on my belly and "we" like it too.)
2. Chocolate chip cookie dough ice craving!  I-WANT-IT-ALL-THE-TIME
3. Starting to get tired again.  The 2nd semester has been my sweet spot...not tired, not sick, just perfect.  With the 3rd trimester looming, I'm not ready to give this glorious period up!
4. My mom took some photos of us this last Sabbath...when did I get swallowed by someone else? (see photo)  I'm feeling a bit anxious about this baby weight.  But I suppose I'm putting it on for a purpose.  Though I'm sure point #2 is not helping...must resist these cravings!
5. Will be doing my first root canal treatment this week (as long as my patient shows up...)->milestone!
6. Danny starts his preceptorship.  Six more weeks until his graduates with his BSN.  I'm so proud.
7. Baby was gifted her first diaper.  In the words of Danny, "how does this thing even work?"  We have a lot to learn about babies!

Our 1 year anniversary

Again, our anniversary was July 29.  But these photos that Terra Schwartz took are just too cute not to post ;)

It's fun to think about how much things have changed in the year and a bit that we've been married.  I feel so grown up-I suppose I should since there's a baby on the way.  Grown up in a good way.  In a "I love waking up next to my 'media naranja' every morning" and a "there's a little human growing in my belly" kind of way.

Pregnancy Announcement.

(Nevermind that the whole pregnancy thing was announcement to the world, via facebook, July 29.  Again, I am attempting to reform my bad blogging ways.)

Our good friend, Terra Schwartz, was kind enough to take photos of us in the Haymarket.  It was so fun, because we were very ready to finally let the "secret" out!

Our baby girl is due on January 22, 2014.  Every day I wake up thinking I should pinch myself, we are just so incredibly excited to expand our little family.  We are truly blessed!

Body Transformation

I officially joined bodybuilding.com's body transformation challenge today.  I'm excited to eating right and lifting heavy.

January 6, 2013.  The first day of the rest of my life.

2013.

We rang in the new year at a friend's home with some of our closest friends.  It was fun and low, quite perfect.  

I have always loved the feeling of a new year.  A fresh start, a time to take a chance and try new things, set new goals.

So, what are my goals for 2013?
-A 365 photo project! Daily thanksgiving-I am going to try to focus on taking photos of things I'm thankful for. I was inspired by Elsie's 365 project.
-Work on eating healthier.  Specifically, less sweets and more vegetables.  Fruits are easy for me, but I need to cultivate my taste for veggies.
-Study by Bible and read my devotion/Sabbath school lesson every day.

I'm excited to continue to improve my daily life and have some fun along the way.  

2013, we're going to best of friends, I just know it.

I'll leave you with our New Years Eve midnight kiss. (Sorry about the blurriness.)