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Back at it

11 Jan

We’re back from Minnesota. It was a good trip. The Focus got us to Minnesota, we stayed in a nice hotel on Tuesday night in Grand Island, Nebraska, and I got to re-meet a lot of Travis’ relatives that I briefly met at our wedding (and couldn’t remember…). As far as traveling while pregnant, my only complaint is that I need my own bed and body pillow to sleep decently well. After 10 hours of sleep last night, I’m still pooped today. It was worth it though. (Now I just have to figure out how to bring my body pillow to Florida…)

I finally had a stranger comment on me being pregnant! We were at the airport going through security and the guy behind me was like, “Whoa, so are you like due really soon?” I told him I was due in April and he said, “So you can tell your kid that you took them through airport security.” Yep. It’s not the first time, and (if all goes according to plan) it won’t be the last.

Tomorrow is our first childbirth class! We’re both really excited, but bummed that it will overlap with the Broncos playoff game. We’ll still be able to see the end of it though, so at least we won’t miss the whole thing. (And worse case, we could just DVR it.)

Anyway, have a great weekend! I’ll be back on Monday with a third trimester pregnancy update!

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2012 Goals: End-of-Year Review

2 Jan

12 in 2012

2012 was an amazing year for Travis and me. Our Christmas card summed it up nicely:

In March, Travis started working from home for a small engineering company. He surveys and designs updates to outdated railroad bridges, which involves quite a bit of traveling, but he enjoys it.

In April, Travis took the Professional Engineer Exam.  He found out in June that HE PASSED!

In May, Travis completed his Masters degree! We also celebrated 5 years of marriage and Kathy was brought on as a permanent employee at her company.

In June, we spent two weeks in Alaska with Travis’ family, where Kathy ran her first full marathon. (That’s 26.2 miles!)

In August, we found out we are expecting a baby in April.

In November, we found out it’s a girl! Her name will be Emma Grace.

As we look back on this year, we are in awe of God’s lavish GRACE. We don’t deserve His blessings. He doesn’t owe us anything. And yet, He overwhelms our days with good. What a privilege it is to know this God — our God!

“Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.” (Revelation 7:12)

 “Praise the Lord! Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!” (Psalm 100:6)

May God heap His blessings on you this Christmas season and throughout 2013.

So in light of all the blessings God has given us, I can’t really say anything bad about 2012. I didn’t accomplish all of my “goals” but back when I set them, I wanted them to serve less as a measuring stick for how well I did, and more of a way to be intentional about doing things I enjoy.

With that said, here’s my 2012 goal recap. My goals were to: 

…get pregnant. Check!

…run 700 miles. Close but no cigar… 568.77 miles!

…finish writing my nonfiction book. Didn’t do this, but it’s still on my radar for 2013.

…read 27 books (one more than in 2011). I only read 17.

…consistently track my workouts so I have accurate totals on 12/31/12! Check! With the exception of dog walks during marathon training, I tracked all of my workouts this year using MapMyRun.

…grow in being a loving, supportive wife to my amazing husband. While I still have a long way to go, I do feel like I grew in this area this year. I’ve learned to support my husband’s hobbies, even when I don’t understand their appeal, and to verbally encourage him more about how much I appreciate his hard work in providing for us, taking care of our house and cars, making wise financial decisions, and loving me despite my failures and shortcomings.

And my ’12 in 2012′ monthly goals:

January – Forego sweets for an entire month. Done!

Update 1   |    Update 2    |   Update 3    |   Conclusion

February – Read or listen to the entire Harry Potter book series. Done! And we watched all 8 movies too!

Update 1 | Update 2

March – Try Bikram Yoga. Done!

Update 1 | Conclusion

April – Finish a memory book about our first 5 years of marriage. Still working on this. It’s on the ‘hope to get done before baby comes’ list. 😉

Update 1 | Update 2

May – Make a time capsule for our 5-year wedding anniversary. Done!

Update 1

June – Run a marathon… in Alaska. Done!

Race Recap

July – Bike 50 miles in one ride. Didn’t happen because of getting pregnant.

August – Climb a 14er. No go, due to being pregnant.

September – Complete at least one big home project in preparation for moving in 2013.  Done! We replaced the window in the nursery. Not as “big” of a project as I had planned but it still counts!

October – Make Pull-Apart Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Bread with Buttered Rum Glaze I wussed out on this one. Anything that involves yeast and dough rising intimidates me!

November – Make our own Christmas stockings. Done!

Update 1 | Conclusion (coming soon!)

December – Watch the movie classic, It’s a Wonderful Life. Not done yet BUT after being on a waiting list for about a month, I can finally check this out from the library. So it will get done, just not in 2012. I’m checking it off anyway.

As for 2013…

I am making no goals or resolutions for 2013. There are things I would like to happen – such as giving birth naturally (without medication, I’ll post about that in the next couple of weeks), having a healthy baby girl, being able to breastfeed, losing the pregnancy weight, getting back into running/triathlons, reading more, etc – but to be honest, the goals I set for 2012 ended up stressing me out. As much as I love the idea of being intentional and not going through life on auto-pilot, God has been teaching me to be realistic about what I can handle in the moment and to accept that I can’t do it all – and that that’s okay. So I might set monthly goals. Or I might not. We’ll see. But for now, I’m taking it one day at a time.

Happy 2013!

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A Christmas Wreath

30 Dec

Back when my parents were out visiting and my mom and I sewed the curtains for the nursery, we were standing in line at the checkout at Joann Fabrics and I saw a yarn ball wreath on the cover of Martha Stewart Living. It was ridiculously cute (of course) and it looked totally doable. I quickly paged to the tutorial, saw that they had just used a styrofoam wreath and balls, wrapped in yarn and glued together and knew it was something I could do.

So when I drew my sister-in-law’s name for Christmas, I decided that I would make her a wreath (and me as well, while I was at it). I didn’t want to actually buy the magazine for the tutorial so I looked online and found this tutorial, which suggested using crumpled up newspaper instead of really expensive styrofoam balls. I also saw on Pinterest a suggestion to use pipe insulation instead of a styrofoam wreath. Initially, I had planned on just going with the Martha Stewart way – it just seemed better. Well, the prices of styrofoam balls and wreaths are ridiculous. Seriously, it would cost just as much to buy a yarn ball wreath already made as it would to make it myself that way. So newspaper and pipe insulation it was.

The pipe insulation ended up being the perfect length, and I just taped the ends together into a circle. I covered it with white yarn and then was on to making the balls. I had chosen white yarn, red yarn and twine (inspired by the blog tutorial I used, above, and the colors my SIL likes) for the balls, and also bought some sparkly little balls to use as well. I discovered how much newspaper made what size of ball and tried to make a variety. Once I had about 15 balls, I started hot-gluing them on the wreath. After that, I made the balls as I needed them, so that I could make the perfect color and size for the spot.

Once all the balls were glued on, I affixed some beading wire across the back (like you do for a heavy picture frame) so she could hang it easily.

Voila!

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blendsgiving 009 (Large)

I LOVE how the wreath turned out and would totally have made one for myself like I had planned, except that the whole wreath took forever to wrap and glue. So I made one for my sister-in-law, took pictures and called it done.

Maybe I’ll get ambitious again in another life?

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Christmas 2012

27 Dec

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday! Our Christmas was very enjoyable this year (but how can you not enjoy Christmas?).

I worked from home Monday and we left around 2:30 to drop our dogs off at a friend’s and head up to Estes Park (about 90 minutes away). It started snowing as we got into Estes Park and snowed 4-5 inches over the course of the night. We were sharing a condo with our friends and their 2 kids, so we talked for a while, cooked dinner, played Ticket to Ride (love that game!), and watched Elf.

The next morning, we opened the gifts we had brought (Travis and I brought our stockings that his mom packed to the brim) and then ate breakfast. After breakfast, we packed up and headed out into the snow.

blendsgiving 020 (Large)

blendsgiving 018 (Large)

blendsgiving 021 (Large)We went to pick our dogs up and ate some cinnamon rolls with our friends. Then we headed home. We unpacked, tidied up, put our Christmas dinner in the crockpot and then opened presents. I got nice new headphones, baby bath stuff (hooded towels, washcloths and soap), $50 for a mani/pedi and… a Keurig coffee maker!

20121226_084005The coffee maker is for both me and Travis. We are really excited. We’ve already used it twice and love it. We used to make so much extra coffee (to get the blend right) so I think that even though the coffee will be more expensive than our Folgers, it’ll taste better and we’ll end up wasting less.

After presents, it was time to bum. We watched The Tourist and the rest of Downton Abbey Season 2, while enjoying the awesome surround sound and Blu-ray player that my parents gave us for Christmas. We are fans.

By then it was dinner time, so we ate our chicken wild rice soup and crescent rolls with some sparkling grape juice. Then we tried calling our families (unsuccessfully, though we did talk to mine a few hours later), started a puzzle and then watched The Bourne Legacy. I tried to stay awake but it was way past my bedtime.

We missed being with our families, but it’s really hard to not enjoy a relaxing Christmas just the two of us!

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Christmas Festivities

23 Dec

A couple of weeks ago, I got together with some friends from church to make Christmas ornaments. It was a lot of fun to see what everyone created!

blendsgiving 001 (Large)

blendsgiving 002 (Large)My ornaments

blendsgiving 004 (Large)This past Thursday night, we went to Travis’ work Christmas party. He works for a really small company (there are 5 employees) so we had dinner at a nice restaurant. Since my maternity wardrobe is pretty limited and I didn’t really want to buy a dress just for this occasion, I just wore one of my typical work outfits. I also convinced Travis that since the dress code was semi-formal, he couldn’t wear jeans. He cleans up nicely. 😉

blendsgiving 013 (Large)

My department at work didn’t have a Christmas party this year because there has been a lot of layoffs in the past couple of weeks and no one was in the Christmas mood. There hasn’t even been any treats in the break room! Very Grinch-like.

Then on Friday night, we had a Christmas party for leaders at our church (we lead the projection/lights team). We met at the church for hors d’oeuvres and then went to Too Hot to Handel in downtown Denver.

IMG_20121221_185359

I had been to Handel’s Messiah before and decided it wasn’t really my cup of tea, but this was a jazzy modern version of it and it was really good! We had a good time.

This morning, we had our Christmas celebration at church. I always enjoy the break from routine and hearing the adult and kids choirs sing. So fun!

Other things we’re enjoying this Christmas are our tiny little tree:

blendsgiving 005 (Large)It’s only 3 feet tall. Our ornaments don’t even all fit on it anymore!

downton abbeyMy boss let us borrow her copy of Downton Abbey Season 2. We’ve already watched 5 episodes. This show is so addicting!

What are you enjoying this Christmas?

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Choosing Joy in Exhaustion

19 Dec

snoozeMy blog has kind of turned into a weekly pregnancy update and nothing more. What can I say? I would love to blog. I have time to blog. But I have nothing to blog about. The only reason why I blog once a week is because of the whole “counting down the weeks” thing. Otherwise, my brain is useless.

I partly blame being tired. For the past week or two, I get up early enough to spend some time reading the Bible but my mind just won’t engage. I zone out in front of my open Bible until I concede that it’s useless and either start getting ready early or use that time to take a mini nap. (Usually the latter.) I finally understand what it feels like to not be a morning person. You stumble around in a half-conscious daze for the first three hours you’re out of bed. By noon, you feel mostly normal.

When I’m tired, I let everything slide. Making the bed sounds like too much work. Cooking dinner – too much work. I have energy for one thing and one thing only: doing nothing. Even the things that I enjoy doing and am always glad for doing later, are still thrown out the window with the excuse, “But I’m sooooo tired.” 

I know you’re probably thinking, “She’s totally screwed when she actually has her baby.” I’ve had that same thought. And that has spurred me to the realization that I need to learn how to live tired. Not survive tired. Not make it through another day tired. LIVE tired.

As a human, I love comfort. I love ease. I run from struggle, challenge and difficulty (unless its one I have intentionally chosen, like running a marathon). Being tired brings this all into the forefront because it’s a constant “I don’t like this!” feeling. My natural tendency is to focus all my available energy on wishing I wasn’t tired and to heck with the rest.

But I don’t want to look back on any time in my life and see that I sacrificed all of my priorities because I was tired. I don’t want to wish away the first months of my daughter’s life with longing to not be tired. That’s allowing my circumstances to dictate my response. It’s me playing the self-pity card and refusing to contemplate anyone else’s needs but mine. It’s a waste of life.

As I thought about this Monday on my way to work, I was brought back yet again to this:

“Life change happens when we accept life with thanks and ask for nothing to change.” (Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts)

I can acknowledge that operating with insufficient sleep is challenging. It is challenging. But like with any other circumstance, I can rise above it and refuse to let it have the final say. I can determine my attitude instead of allowing my circumstances to do so. But it won’t just happen – I have to be intentional. With every moment, I have the option to choose ease or to choose joy.

I CHOOSE JOY.

And maybe an afternoon nap.

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If she was born today…

15 Dec

baby_foot_print

 

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Today I am 23 weeks 6 days. What would happen if our baby girl was born today?

The Tampa Bay Times just ran a 3-part special about Juniper, a baby girl born at this stage of gestation – what they call a micro preemie.

Even if you’re not a mom, or pregnant, it’s an amazing story that will make you cry.

Read it.

{I can’t help but see the pictures of little Juniper and think, “That’s what I have in my belly right now! A little human!” But I am also so very, very grateful for each day that she stays in my belly, and doesn’t have to fight for her life on the outside like Juniper.}

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Random Friday

14 Dec

1. The school shooting in Connecticut is devastating and tragic. My heart goes out to all those affected, especially those young impressionable kids who witnessed the shootings and the kids whose lives were ended way too soon. There aren’t words.

2. I read in a childbirth book that one way of predicting your due date is to take the day you felt your baby’s first kick and add 5 months. Though I have only felt about 2 real kicks so far, the first was on November 9. Add 5 months and you have April 9 (just 2 days past my estimated due date). Interesting…

3. Since I’m not supposed to have cold deli subs like I’m craving, I got the next best thing for lunch today: a Veggie Guacamole sub from Quizno’s. It was a 15 minute drive from work each way but so totally worth it. Made even better by a side of Salt & Vinegar chips (my absolute favorite).

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4. I slept like a rock last night. Usually I wake up every couple of hours to shift positions (and drag my body pillow to the other side of me) but not last night. I probably slept in some pretty uncomfortable positions but was so completely out that I didn’t even care. And best of all, the dogs didn’t bark at the milk man for once! Usually they give us a heart attack at about 1 am (but only once a week).

5. I’m hoping to knock out quite a bit of Christmas “to-do’s” this weekend (buying and mailing presents, printing and mailing Christmas cards, etc) so that I can spend the next week and a half just enjoying the season!

6. My family has finally decided on where to go for our Florida vacation in February! We’re staying in a VRBO property in Siesta Key on the Gulf side. I’m so excited! And I’m praying that my pregnancy continues to be uneventful so that I can go. I’ll be 33/34 weeks by then! (My doctor said I could travel until 36 weeks, barring any complications.)

7. This past Monday night, Travis and I set up the crib in the nursery and hung the curtains. We’ll do more once we get the glider in there this Sunday. Hopefully I’ll have some pictures for you on Monday!

Dealcoholized grape juice

4 Dec

Last Friday on my way home, I stopped at the liquor store near our house to see if they had non-alcoholic wine. In hindsight, this was probably not the liquor store to go to for this – almost all of their wine bottles have a decent amount of dust on them and I’m not sure they’re high enough quality to be made better with age.

Anyway, they did have non-alcoholic wine. Well, technically it was called dealcoholized wine. Same thing right?

20121130_174957

I looked around to see if there were any other options, but it was just these two. I brought them up to the register and the Asian man that is always working when I go in looked at my selection and immediately tried to discourage me from buying them by saying, “It’s no good.”

“Really? Well, I’m going to try it anyway, since I’m pregnant and desperate,” I replied.

“There’s no alcohol,” he insisted.

“I know. I’m pregnant so that’s kind of the point.”

“Ok. I only charge you for this one,” he said pointing to one of the bottles.

“You’re only going to charge me for one bottle? It’s that bad, huh?”

“I special ordered for a guy and then he moved away. It’s no good,” he explained.

“Yeah, it looks like they’ve been sitting there for a while.”

I signed the receipt for $5.91 and left with my bottles of dealcoholized wine.

I got home and opened the bottle of red. It smelled rancid.

Hesitant, I poured a small glass. It didn’t smell any better out of the bottle.

I took a sip. Ok, not as horrible as I feared. Travis smelled it. Nasty. He sipped it. It doesn’t taste as bad as it smells.

I didn’t give up right away. But after 4-5 more sips, I finally decided, This is disgusting. No self-respecting person who enjoys wine would drink this.

So I poured the bottle out.

The bottle of white is still sitting in my fridge unopened. Maybe this weekend I’ll drum up the courage to try it.

Anyway, I guess when the owner of a dive liquor store tries to dissuade you from buying something, you should listen.

Travis had asked about non-alcoholic wine at another liquor store and the owner said, “You know what non-alcoholic wine is, right? Grape juice.”

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Christmas Stockings: November Goal

30 Nov

My 2012 goals took a major hit with the whole pregnancy thing. I really wasn’t expecting to get pregnant as fast as we did so I didn’t really make goals that could be done either way.

Climb a 14er… Couldn’t do this because that high of altitude when you’re expecting is a no-no.

Bike 50 miles at once... The only bike ride I’ve gone on in the past 6 months, I almost fell off due to slick roads. I quickly abandoned this goal. (I’m not sad.)

Run 700 miles… I’ve only “ran” 37 miles since the beginning of August which puts me at 563 miles for the year. (So close and yet so far away!) 4.4 miles each day for the next 31 days would get me to my goal… hmmm, let me ponder that.

Read 27 books… I’m only on book 17. And 7 of those books I didn’t even read! (I listened to audio books on my drive home.)

Finish writing my nonfiction book… No comment.

BUT!

I did accomplish my November goal. And I have plans to accomplish October (pumpkin bread) and December (watch It’s a Wonderful Life) as well.

So, about my November goal – Make our own Christmas stockings.

I always see other people do projects like these and think “Oh that looks fun! I should do that!” And even though this project involved sewing (which I am definitely not good at), the stocking tutorials here and here that I followed made it seem like even a sewing-challenged person like me could make them.

So I went for it. I got my fabric, printed out the template, cut out my fabric and started sewing. After a few mishaps and miscalculations, the stockings are hung.

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They’re not perfect and they were definitely more challenging than I had expected (but only because I sew like once every 2 years). I’m still not satisfied with Travis’ (the one on the left – the toe area is a little misshapen since I was still getting the hang of not sewing in a straight line with a machine). I’m planning to make a stocking for our little girl so I might remake Travis’ at the same time. The little ones in the middle were for our dogs but they turned out MUCH smaller than I had planned. They actually kind of look like little baby booties!

Nevertheless, at the end of the day, I made our own Christmas stockings so I’m counting this goal accomplished!

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