The Prego Diaries: Week.... 9?

I had my first ultrasound this Wednesday and I was told that baby is almost a week older than I thought she was! I was sure I was at 8 weeks, but according to the size, I'm at 8 weeks 6 days! (Nine weeks today, that I'm writing this post).

I cannot say that I particularly enjoyed the whole "first prenatal visit" thing, but seeing my baby for the first time sure made up for all the other discomfort. I got to see her size (2.42 cm) and see a tiny fluttering that was her heart. She even wiggled forward a little bit, at which point I exclaimed "look! she's moving!" and teared up a little bit, causing the nurse to give me a look that said only too clearly how much she wanted to roll her eyes. 

So prenatal visits... can't say I'm a big fan. We showed up at 9:30 am and didn't leave until 1 pm. I only had an apple for breakfast, so by around 11 am I was in the "hungry pregnant girl" stage of impatience and by the time we left I was like gremlin angry for food. Pair that with a urine test, a vaginal ultrasound, a pap smear, blood work, a breast examination, and a bimanual internal exam to measure the size of my uterus and pelvis and a grumpy, super childish husband that wouldn't stop complaining... ugh. I think I'd much rather go by myself next time. Needless to say I was pretty tired of getting stuff shoved into me, being poked and prodded, and having Phil complaining about HIS discomfort at having to sit and wait while chewing on Skittles and drinking Dr.Pepper. 

Luckily I do have a wonderful doctor... not only is she nice and understanding, but she's also a church member in my ward, so I see her every Sunday and she's always only a text away. Seeing my baby's heartbeat and talking to Dr. Nowitzky were definitely the silver linings of the appointment.

The Prego Diaries: Week 7 Shenanigans

I am sooo looking forward to next week's doctors appointment and see if she can recommend any new prenatal vitamins that don't make my stomach (and esophagus) so irritated and uncomfortable. I realized that I don't actually have "morning sickness", I just get sick when I take the vitamins and I'm ready for it to stop. They have the same effect if I take them with or without food, and at any time of the day. I keep having to tell myself that they are good for baby even if they feel bad for me. I did learn a lesson though: if I want to get any sleep, do not take the vitamins before going to bed, it will not be fun.

So week 7 stuff! This week baby is the size of a blueberry, just 1/2 inch in size. She's doubled in size since last week and will continue to do so for a while! She's generating 100 brain cells per minute, developing kidneys, growing arm and leg joints, and growing a more complex heart. Wow!
Here are some updates:

• The crazy hormone stuff is toning down a lot; on good days I don't feel pregnant at all because I'm not as bloated anymore. 
• The annoying jabs of pain in my lower abdomen (round ligament pain) that were so common in weeks 4, 5 and 6 are almost nonexistent now.
• I have started eating meat or craving things that have meat in them... but the idea of ground beef is still absolutely disgusting. I feel like eating all the time and my favorite food for this week is Frosted Flakes with bananas. 
• I really have to watch what I eat, or else I'll swell up like a balloon. I need to cut my meals by about half of what I normally eat or else I won't feel good for hours afterwards, and also throw in several snacks here and there. 
• I feel like eating pickles, jolly ranchers, blow-pops, and granny smith apples all the time. Anything sour or with some tartness will do. 
• I dread wearing jeans. I guess I got used to comfortable yoga pants, loose shorts, and sweats... which is pretty much the only things that fit now. :(

Sacrament Talk: The Joy of Repentance

I gave a short talk in the YSA Sacrament Meeting this past Sunday about The Joy of Repentance and I'm posting my talk in here so that a record of it is kept somewhere should I ever need it again.

Converts to the church are pretty lucky because they can always call on their “conversion story” whenever they are asked to give a talk; these are personal stories that are easy to tell, entertaining to listen to, and that much of the audience can relate to.

Although I am also a convert to the church, my conversion story is a little difficult to relate to because I was baptized when I was 10, so I was young enough to feel like I've been a member of the church my entire life. I do, however, remember my mom dutifully taking my brother and I to Catholic Mass every Sunday. I also have pictures of being baptized in the Catholic church when I was a baby, I remember the catechism lessons I had to attend so that I could have my First Communion, and I can probably still recite the Hail Mary prayer in my sleep. My parents had dutifully taught us all the biblical stories, and so when we first met the sister missionaries, much of what I learned as an investigator sounded familiar.

At the young age of 10, I did not have any difficulty believing in God, in Jesus Christ, or in the Holy Spirit. I believe that children brought up by goodly parents, as I was, are more in tune with the truth, and the existence of holier beings just makes a lot of sense. I also had no problem with the principles of faith and repentance and with the ordinances of baptism or receiving the Holy Ghost.

When I sat down in my very first primary class, one of my classmates asked me if I was a member or an investigator, but since I was not familiar with the Mormon lingo, I didn't know what to answer. Then she asked me if I was baptized, and I said “Yes, when I was a baby”. She responded “oh, you’re an investigator then.” And left it at that. I felt left out because, according to her, I wasn't baptized, even though I thought I was.

Learning about Joseph Smith, the golden plates, the Nephites and Lamanites, partaking of the Sacrament, the prophet Gordon B. Hinckley, the plan of Salvation, and Temples was sometimes a little confusing and too much information for me, but none of it sounded unreal. My parents were learning just as much as I was, and so I reasoned that if my parents believed that the Mormon church was true, then I believed it as well.

After we were baptized, we quickly became swept up in the whirlwind of activities that is the LDS life. In primary, I was having fun working on my Faith In God booklet on Wednesday evenings, and on Fridays we got together to prepare for an upcoming talent show. I made new friends at church and was always excited to see them, in fact, the girl who had asked me if I was a member during my first primary class remains my best friend to this day. My parents were welcomed with open arms into the ward as well. They were invited to FHE at a different member's home every week, my mom fell right into Relief Society and all of their crafting and sewing and cooking activities. My dad was called to work with the Young Men and never missed a Wednesday evening of playing basketball. And as a family we welcomed the sister missionaries for dinner at least once a week.

Today I was supposed to talk on The Gift of Repentance, and I was trying to remember a time when I was really in the wrong path and I had to repent and change my life around.... But I couldn't because there aren't many wrong ways you can live your life at the age of 10.

My family and I became so immersed in the Mormon culture that I have no recollection of ever making the big choice to repent and follow Christ, so I was a little stumped and couldn't find a personal experience to share with you today.

We are all familiar with the stories of repentance in the scriptures such as:

Alma the Younger, Mosiah 27

After causing destruction and persecution of church members, an angel of the Lord appeared unto Alma the Younger and the Sons of Mosiah and commanded them to cease their evil course. Alma was struck down and after two days and two nights he regained consciousness.

- repented of his sins and redeemed of the Lord

Enos praying far into the night, [Enos 1-6]

We also know the story of Enos, who prayed for an entire day and night.

-mighty prayer and supplication for his soul

King Lamoni, Alma 18 and 19

King Lamoni thought that Ammon was the Great Spirit, and Ammon taught him many things, including God, the creation, the fall of Adam, the scriptures, the rebellion of Laman and Lemuel, and the Plan of Redemption.

These 3 spiritual giants had a mighty change of heart, they had faith in the Lord and repented of their sins, and were born again. They had a definitive date of when their lives were changed and they sinned no more.

Although these stories are extremely admirable, I haven't been able to relate to them too well.

The BoM story that I relate to is that of the Lamanites mentioned in 3 Nephi 9:20. Here we have the voice of Christ speaking in the darkness, and he is inviting men to come unto him and be saved. Verse 20 reads:

20 And ye shall offer for a sacrifice unto me a broken heart and a contrite spirit. And whoso cometh unto me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, him will I baptizewith fire and with the Holy Ghost, even as the Lamanites, because of their faith in me at the time of their conversion, were baptized with fire and with the Holy Ghost, and they knew it not.

They were baptized by fire and they knew it not...

That one small sentence sounds more like my story than any other. I was too young at the time of my baptism to really understand the great change I was making in my life, but it doesn't make my faith, repentance and conversion any less real. I too was baptized by fire and knew it not, but the process has been long, slow, and steady. Through almost 15 years of being a member of the church, I have had the joy of continual repentance and conversion unto the Lord, and this process continues still. Day by day I have moved closer to the Lord, mostly without realizing it. Each day has given me a new opportunity to repent and become more in tune with the Spirit and living my life how the Lord would like me to live it.

This, I believe, is one of the greatest joys of repentance. Not all of us will have huge, life changing events like Alma the Younger, Enos, or King Lamoni.... We might, but they are the exception to the rule. Most of us will become more Christlike throughout a lifetime of acts of service, church attendance, prayer, commitment, and daily repentance.

The joy of repentance is the joy of living the gospel day by day. We are in the middle of the plan of Happiness and we should treat it as such... Living life with happiness.

The Prego Diaries: Week 6 Shenanigans

This is the week I'll start taking belly pictures... mainly because today I discovered that some of my pants don't fit! What is going on here!?! Baby is the size of a sweet pea this week, how am I so fat!??

Ugh, crazy hormones, ya'll suck.

Just so it's noted, a week ago this outfit fit perfectly, no yucky fat rolls and stuff. These are my volleyball clothes almost every Wednesday, and my yoga pants are never this tight. Also, Holy stretch marks, Batman! I'm starting to look like a tiger! This is happening way too soon for my liking.

{Haha if I stare at this picture too long I start laughing because it looks like I have no neck. Anyway...}

So some things that are happening this week:

• Meat is absolutely disgusting. All kinds and flavors, even chicken which usually makes up 80% of my diet is gross, I cannot stand even thinking about it. Phil thought he was being nice several mornings ago and brought me chorizo & egg in bed. I didn't want to be ungrateful, so I forced it down and then threw it all up when I was brushing my teeth. Chorizo puke on my toothbrush = major yuckage. 
• As previously mentioned, some of my snuggier pants aren't too happy with me these days, they feel so tight! I dread having to put them on and usually opt for my exercise/yoga pants instead. Looks like I'll have to start investing in some more of those.  
• It is now the middle of the week and I am glad to report that the extreme exhaustion is slowing down some, I now have energy to do "normal stuff" like washing dishes and folding laundry without passing out as soon as I touched the couch. 
• I am also very happy to report that I no longer feel like puking every morning because I may have found the culprit: my prenatal vitamins. They're a little too much for my sensitive stomach and make me feel quite queasy after I take them. With the baby's interest in mind, I will continue taking them until my first Dr. appointment, and maybe then she can recommend different ones. 

The Prego Diaries: Week 5 Shenanigans

So far I haven't had any terrible pregnancy symptoms, but this week gave birth to some odd food cravings and repulsions.

• Strange thing #1: Sometimes the thought of meat disgusts me. I'm 95% carnivore, so this is totally unexpected. For dinner one night I made chicken thighs and vegetables, loaded up my plate, and only ate the vegetables. Weird.  
• Strange thing #2: Baby carrots. I ate almost an entire bag of baby carrots in one sitting. 6:30pm found me sitting on the couch, watching Hulu, crunching away. Maybe I was channeling the Easter Bunny. 
• Strange thing #3: Around 9pm one night I found a lonely, old grapefruit at the back of my fridge. I ate it, and for some reason it tasted like the most heavenly grapefruit I have ever eaten. I keep wanting another one. 
• Strange thing #4: Sam told me she craved things like cucumbers and mangoes when she was pregnant. By 4pm I had to make a quick run to HEB and buy mangoes. I was drawn to the pre-cut section and purchased a little tub of them. They were the greenest, hardest, most unripe mangoes I have ever eaten, and they were delicious and I gobbled them up like they were my last meal. 
  

My body has started to whisper "change is coming" in some subtle (and not so subtle) ways:

• Subtle Change #1: I smell smells that don't exist. I have gagged several times while walking by the kitchen garbage can, even though it's empty and (presumably) odor-less. Phil thinks I'm crazy. 
• Subtle Change #2: I get winded a lot faster. For the past 3 years I have taken great pleasure in playing volleyball for 2 or 3 hours each Wednesday. I usually don't feel tired until the last 30 minutes or so... but now I start struggling after 2 games. I will really miss playing. 
• Not-so-subtle Change #3: Boobs. Argh. Boobs hurt. Always. And they're bigger. And won't quit hurting. I can no longer run up the stairs or drive quickly over speed bumps. This sucks. 

The Prego Diaries: How To Spill The Beans

I have been daydreaming/planning on my pregnancy announcement for years now... literally years. We can blame Pinterest for that. I had tons of Pins and ideas, but in the end we went with none of the above and came up with an easier, more novel way. At the kid's section of Barnes and Nobel! 

It is suggested that we wait until 12 weeks so that we know the baby is in the 'safe zone' and there's less chances for miscarriage, but Philip wanted to tell his parents a lot sooner [I'm not even 5 weeks here!] and I thought... heck why not? Great news are meant to be shared. 

We asked Autumn, Philip's sister, to meet us at the bookstore without giving her any details, and then we broke the news! She's one of the first to know (besides my mom, of course). I chose some baby books and Phil chose to go the funny route (because, come on. he has to.) and picked "pregnancy for dummies". 

Picture taking took all of 15 minutes; I was trying to look cute and he was trying to look dazed and confused. I think it worked, haha. I plan to post these on Facebook tomorrow after he tells his family over Easter dinner. I can't stop looking at these, Phil makes the best faces. So excited!

         

         

The Prego Diaries: The Greatest News

I peed on a stick
And 3 minutes later
I smiled :)

Finally! Some of you may say...
I took a home pregnancy test on Friday, March 27th, and here was the result:

Aka: Totally Preggers.

The Story: This pregnancy test was no shocker, it just confirmed what I already knew. I was already 5 days late when I took the test, and since my body has been like clockwork ever since I turned 13, I knew what was up. This is totally a planned baby. After late-day-2 I felt like I should buy a pregnancy test, but didn't want to take one so early, and also didn't want to run the risk of running into anybody at Target while holding that little pink box in my hands. (I'm a big one for secrets.) So I went and ordered it on Amazon instead; two-day shipping is awesome. I figured that would give Aunt Flo a last chance to show up and keep this as private as possible.
So Friday night came, I got home from work, made dinner, ate it on the couch watching TV, and finally got my butt up to go shower. And pee on a stick. Those 3 minutes I spent kneeling with my head against the counter waiting for red lines to appear were the longest ever!
But then... that happened. And my whole world changed forever.

I am pleasantly surprised at the lack of symptoms... so far there has been no nausea, vomiting, weird cravings, strong repulsion to odors, or tiredness. I totally hope it stays that way, fingers crossed! Hopefully I'm like my mom: she told me she had zero uncomfortable symptoms throughout the entire 9 months, lucky her. I'm only just starting week 4, so there's still a lot of things that can come my way. I will sit and count my lucky stars that everything is completely normal so far.

                                             

Australian News: The Job Down Under

Alright, so to kick off this topic of a life of adventures, here's some news! Last week my hubby got a call from a company he worked for late last year... Remember the one that had him working in New Jersey and had me complaining because I only saw him for 5 days out of the month? Yeah, that one.
Apparently they are big on traveling. Philip was offered a 4 - 6 week job this summer in ... AUSTRALIA! {what gave it away?} He was crazy excited to tell me about it, and I am so excited for him! I am still not over how I didn't get to visit NY in December, so I am stubbornly refusing to stay behind this time.
DAMARIS. IS. GOING. TO. AUSTRALIA. One way or another, I'm coming too. There are a ton of details to hash out, but the plan is for me to fly out after his job finishes and us to vacation there for about a week. I'm super nervous already, and I know a lot of things can change between now and then, but hey... a girl can dream. Dream and plan obsessively.
It looks like I will actually be able to cross off my ultimate bucket list item: snorkel the Great Barrier Reef. Ahhh, can't wait!

Change is Coming...

Alright, so I've decided to tweak my blog here and there because I've fallen out of the habit of posting anything, and I'd really like to pick it up again. Some things are leaving and BIG things are coming, but it will be at least a month before most of them get published.
For now, we can say good bye to the following:

• the deal with dale : Work has become so routine and mind numbing that I really can't find anything funny to post about anymore, sad but true. Life outside of the office is still wonderful though, no worries. I'm a bit sad to let this one go, since it was the initial inspiration for blogging, but it's time to cut ties. 
• couponing : I know I sometimes get pretty excited about my shopping trips, but the fact is that I have gotten so proficient at couponing that it is now second nature and not that big a deal anymore. I have a continuously growing stockpile purchased with minimal out of pocket money, and no longer see the need to post things up. 
• Quote of the Month page : I love quotes and they are everywhere I look, so I think I want to change this page into something called In My Bookshelf. This will be a page dedicated to a book or books that I am currently obsessed with. No more than 5 at a time, probably. It depends on how booky I'm feeling. 

And we can welcome at least one new blog topic:

• a life of adventures : Ok so my life isn't that adventurous, it's gotten a bit boring, actually. But I do know that once in a while something crazy happens and I just need to write about it. Usually I'm living vicariously through my husband's work travels, but some other times I'm really doing something fun! Something tells me that 2015 is going to be a rather venturesome year. 

I know posts that don't have anything but words kinda suck, so I'm posting this picture to add some visual. It's the cover of a book of an author I recently discovered and fell in love with.