Changes on the Horizon

As I mentioned in my last post, one of the reasons for not blogging as much as I wanted to was because of a secret I was trying to keep. I'm pregnant!!!

After a few days of feeling suspicious that I was pregnant (animals following me around more than usual and always laying their heads on my stomach, feeling a little "off," and, at one point having a bizarre fluttering feeling in my stomach), I took a test the morning of February 11th while getting reading for work. Almost, immediately, it came up positive. Being the unbelieving person I am, I took a second test: same results.

I always dreamed of doing something cutesy to tell my husband we're expecting, but I honestly could not hold in my excitement. I immediately told him, completely throwing him for a loop while he was getting ready for work. I decided to take the day off, so I could go to the doctor, and, you guessed it, her test said I was pregnant as well.

We immediately told our family, but decided to wait until we saw the first sonogram and heard the heartbeat before telling any of our friends. My family almost puts social media to shame. I told my mum, and, before I knew it, my entire family knew. Even those in the UK and Australia. Pretty impressive, no? The only people we ended up telling that weren't family was my coworker, since he has to put up with me, and Ben's best friend. There also may or may not have been an instance where my soon-to-be sister-in-law spilled the beans to two of our good friends. *ahem*

On March 17th (St. Patrick's Day), we finally went to the doctor to get our first sonogram and to meet my midwife. The sonogram was completely surreal. The baby's head was about as big as the body, and you could see tiny arms and legs, so it kind of looked like a snowman. However, the baby seems very active. It's little arms were waving around like crazy, and my heart just about stopped when I heard our baby's heartbeat for the first time. It was like I had woken up and the whole baby thing wasn't a dream, it was actually real!

That night, we posted up an announcement on Facebook and Instagram. We decided we couldn't have an announcement without our brood of animals somehow being involved. Luckily, our animals are so well behaved and mellow, that they let me make this adorable announcement:

Coming October 2014!

Since then, I've been more or less in a daze. I know I'm pregnant, but, somehow, I just can't get my head around it. I'm sure I'll start feeling the reality of it hit sooner rather than later. Until then, I've been giving myself a little more grace than usual about chores, I've been trying to relax more and go to sleep earlier, and I've been waiting for the first trimester to finish up, so I can hopefully get that fabled energy boost that some women get with the second trimester.

Broken Resolution

I very obviously have broken one of my resolutions: to stay up-to-date with this blog. I believe my last post was made in January?? Whoops.

It all started with me doing a social media fast for a week with my church: no Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, blogs, nothing. Then, I was "catching up" with everything and feeling a little overwhelmed about the state of the blog. Finally, along came a secret that I knew I was going to have a hard time containing. So, once again, I did not blog. It is now almost April. Apparently I am quite the procrastinator.

Time to bite the bullet, ask for forgiveness, and just do better. Spring is also a time for renewal, yes?

Mason Jar Mini-Project

Before the New Year hit, I decided I wanted to set up a mason jar for 2014 where my husband and I put notes about all the good that happens this year. The goal is to continuously put in mementos about every good thing that happened to you or funny things to remember during 2014 and then read them all on the following New Year's Eve. I wanted to do one for 2013, but my lazy self never got around to it. So, it was imperative I did it this year, fresh starts and all. You've probably seen a Pinterest picture or two that look like this:

Obviously not my jar. We're only 6 days in, people! So far, I have two things in my jar: a ticket stub for the Heart of Dallas Bowl with the final score written on it, and a sticky note talking about our "Christmas" with my brother-in-law and his girlfriend. I'm looking forward to re-reading all of the happy/funny memories at the end of this year, and I hope this jar helps my husband and me focus on the positive this year and not get bogged down with the negative. This will be a positive year!

Resolutions

I find that the best way to hold yourself accountable for New Year's Resolutions are to write them down where others can see them and hold you accountable. So, be kind, but here they are:

1. Make a bigger deal about holidays, birthdays, and anniversaries. Now, that doesn't mean that I don't celebrate stuff, but I could definitely do a whole lot better about sending cards, decorating, texting those people, and generally making a bigger deal out of the "big deal" days. 
2. Do The 52 Week Money Saving Challenge, as seen on The House of Rose blog. I won't be doing the portion that asks you to open a new saving account since I already have a shared one with my husband, but I love this idea. My husband also loved this idea. So, instead of having $1,378 extra in our savings account by the end of the year, if all goes well, we should have $2,756 extra in savings because we're each going to do it with our individual incomes. This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the overall plan to be more financially stable...
3. Get rid of as much debt as possible. We know we need a reliable savings should anything go wrong ~I'm looking at you, vet visits and random ER visits~, but we also need to snowball this debt. I've taken a little chunk out of it from my same resolution in 2013, but I'm planning on going even bigger this coming year. I'm done with owing companies money. The more debt I take down, the more I can save and relax. 
4. Become more active. Notice how I did not say lose weight. I'm done with that resolution. You can lose weight and be completely unhealthy. I'm more in it for the health factor. I already eat pretty well, if I do say so myself, but I am awful at just getting up and doing something, especially after a ~12 hour day at work. I need to be better at just getting up and doing something: walking the dogs, doing yard work, doing a work out DVD...something. Again, not for weight loss. I'm actually pretty okay with the weight I'm at. I just would like a little more definition and strength. How else am I going to be able to put up with all of my nephews, nieces, and, one day, my own kids? 
5. Don't let myself get bogged down with work. As you saw in the last resolution, I'm exhausted by the end of every day. Then, I make an excuse to just sit on my butt and be lazy because I'm exhausted. Well, that makes for a very boring life. Because of this, I don't exercise as often as I should. The house that we moved into this summer is still not as decorated ~ or even painted ~ as much as I would like it to be. I'm constantly "catching up" on chores that I haven't gotten around to during the work week, which makes for a very lame weekend most of the time. Time to change that. And hopefully be a little more efficient at work, so I can leave at a little bit more of a decent hour. 
6. Keep this poor blog up to date. I've finally gotten all of the events from this past winter up, and I can finally not just blog about what I've been up to, but what has been on my mind. Maybe even a few more everyday moments, not just the giant trips we've seemed to take a lot of this year. I just need to keep up with what I plan on blogging about and not putting it off. Then I won't feel overwhelmed about what I have not done and instead be excited about what i have done. And, lastly...
7. Enjoy every moment of this year. I don't want to get bogged down with work and chores, walking around like a sleep-deprived zombie. I want to soak in everything this year has prepared for my husband, myself, and my family. I don't want to miss it because I'm checking my work email on a Saturday and get upset. I don't want to miss it because I'm so exhausted from the work week that I sleep in until almost noon and miss half the day. I want to bask in all of the glory with whatever 2014 brings. 

It's All Good

This Christmas, my mother got me a copy of a cookbook I've had my eye on since I saw it at a bookstore in London: It's All Good by Gwyneth Paltrow.

Now, I know some people are skeptical about any cookbook by an actress. What do they know about eating healthy, right? Well, this one is a good one. It's chalk full of healthy recipes and gorgeous pictures of her *gasp* without make-up on. There's one thing I know: if you don't eat well, you cannot look that good. If you fill your body with crap, you skin and hair will look accordingly. 

I've been scrambling to try as many of the recipes as possible since I go back to work on Monday and won't have as much free time. Last night, we had a belated Christmas with my brother-in-law and his girlfriend ~ they were unable to make the Christmas in Phoenix ~ and I made the Grilled Salmon with Grilled Lemon Vinaigrette and the Grilled Asparagus + Portobellos with Shallot + Soy Dressing (I substituted an extra pinch of salt instead of the soy sauce). Holy cow, you guys, those were both ridiculously good. For lunch today, I made the Lentil Salad with Mustard + Tomatoes, which was very tasty,  and I currently have a big pot of the Chicken Soup with Kale + Carrots bubbling on my stove.

This cookbook has been a great way to get back to eating lighter after being with family because, let's be honest, stereotypical families eat nothing but rich food during the holidays. My in-laws are no exception: lots of heavy meals and snacks in between. Her recipes are light but comforting at the same time, and it's helping our stomachs lighten up a little and not feel so sluggish.  

New Years

My husband and I had a ca-ra-zy New Year's Eve, let me tell you. We went and saw Catching Fire. Yup. That's it. However, I did not mind in the least. I wasn't really in the mood to put up with the crazy crowds, and I wanted something more mellow and low-key. Plus, I heard great things about the movie, and I had read the book, so I was more than happy to check it out with my husband instead of freezing outside waiting for fireworks or feeling claustrophobic in a bar. Best. Idea. Ever.

Plus, we had to wake up nice and early to check out UNT take on UNLV New Year's Day at the Heart of Texas Bowl! Our friend was able to get a group of us tickets at student price, and we jumped on it. It was the first time my alma mater had been to a bowl game in almost 10 years, and they did not disappoint. Not only did we get to enjoy being with our friends and watching a great game, but we won!

Go Mean Green!

The crowd surged onto the field after they won. 

I have so many great memories from being in the Green Brigade. They did an amazing job!

After the game, we went out to eat with some of our friends before heading home for an early night. It wasn't until we got to the restaurant that I noticed how burned my husband got at the game.

His sunburn progressively got worse as the night went on. I'm diggin' the sunglasses tan line. 

There's Texas in the winter for you. One minute we're freezing, the next we're warm and sunny. Now we're back to freezing but still sunny...whatever.

Christmas

Christmas was absolutely insane ~ in a good way.

My husband and I alternate which family we have Christmas with every year, and, this year, it was my husband's family's turn. He's from San Diego, but his family has Christmas at his aunt's place in Phoenix every year. So, we had a little road trip on our hands.

My poor husband had just been on a bus trip across the US with some of his students from school, and had been back only 1 day when we left for our trip. We didn't leave until 9:30pm on the 23rd, so we decided to drive through the night so we could spend most of Christmas Eve with them. I drove from 9:30pm - 3:00am, my husband took over until about 10:00am, I drove again until about 1:00, and then he finished it out until we got to his aunt's house around 2:30pm. If you do the math, that's 17 hours worth of driving. It was a gorgeous trip once the sun came up, and coffee definitely helped.

We were able to spend a relaxing day with family on Christmas Eve, went to bed early, and then were completely refreshed in time for Christmas. It was so much fun watching everyone open their presents. In total, we had 8 adults and 2 kids at the house, so it was quite the eventful morning with wrapping paper and tissue paper flying. Our dogs did pretty well ~ they were 2 of the 5 dogs and 2 cats in that house.

We spend the next three days just hanging out with family and relaxing. On the 28th, we headed up the mountain to Flagstaff, and then we started our drive back on the 29th. We were a little kinder to ourselves this time though. We took 2 days. On the 29th, we drove from Flagstaff to Amarillo. On the 30th, I was so excited to wake up in Texas, but not very excited to drive more. We finally got home around 5:30pm that night.

It was an amazing trip. We wish family were closer, so we could spend more time with them. Eventually, we'd love to host Christmas at our place. One of these years, we'll hopefully be able to make that a reality.