Practicing What I Preach

Thank you all for your kind words, whether here, Ravelry, email or FB.  Thank you!  My Mister and I are beyond stoked and really can't wait to meet our little Geekling this summer.  And, yes- I bought this cute onesie for Christmas

along with this shirt for the proud papa.

To show just how in sync we are, he bought me this for Christmas:

Haha!  Oh man- forget a silver spoon, our poor kid is going to be born with a pocket protector....either that or a wiimote.

I do have some crochet projects I've been planning and just hope I have enough time to get them done before I pop out the little squirt.  My work hours have increased in the last few months which- along with me being sick as a dog and tired as, well, a pregnant woman- has not left me with much crafting time available recently. However, I'm hoping that will change now that I'm in the 2nd trimester. Supposedly things are supposed to ease up now.  Although, my mom's maniacal laughter after I told her that does not instill much confidence in me.  (For reals- she busted up when I told her that, according to all I've read, I should not be so sick and tired anymore. Thanks, mom.)

And that's where the whole "practicing what I preach" comes into play.  I actually work primarily with pregnant women- giving them nutrition advice throughout their pregnancy so they will hopefully have a healthy weight gain and get their little ones off to the best start possible.  Yes, I have a bunch of nutrition education to back me up on what I advise, but this is my first time being able to actually try out my advice and helpful tips for myself.

For instance, how can I control this dang indigestion???  I'll have an hour long belching episode which ordinarily is a thing of pride, but when my Mister asks, "When are you going to be a lady??" it's definitely crossed a line.  (Not to mention the pain!!) For me, it doesn't matter what I eat- it hit me hard last night after having a bowl of raisin bran and rice milk for dinner. Of all the things I've tried, I found that ginger tea is what works best for me- calms the indigestion and stops the burps.  My Mister made me a cup last night and I was finally able to sleep. Seriously- it was a miracle.

This is part of the nutrition project I mentioned yesterday that my friend Ronda and I have been planning.  So many women do not have access to a nutritionist during their pregnancy and many times they rely on the internet to sort of guide the way.  Believe me, I've been on many of the pregnancy message boards and some of the advice given by fellow moms-to-be can be downright frightening.  So, I'm not only going to be practicing what I preach, but I'm also going to be letting you practice what I preach, too. I'll be focusing on a healthy pregnancy- healthy weight gain, eating well, exercising, controlling the unwanted gas, etc. so if you know of any pregnant friends, let them know so they can follow along.

Now, you may be saying, but I'm not pregnant!  I want to be healthy, too!  Well, that's where my friend Ronda comes into the equation.  She's a mother of three and also has some weight loss and exercise goals of her own and wants to practice what she preaches, as well.   We are going to be here to document our journey to being healthy (and hopefully non-hypocritical) dietitians in the real world.  We're hoping to pass along some helpful information, tips and tricks, inspiration, and, of course, laughter along the way.


We're going to start up our own combined blog next month so we'll be blabbing about crochet, crafting, homeschooling, pregnancy oddities, and healthy nutrition stuff on here for a couple weeks until my geeky Mister gets our new site up. Yay!! 

Thank you, again, for all your kind words and inspirations. Here's to an amazing 2011!!

A Tale of Two Januaries

2010: It was the worst of times; 2011: It was the definite better of times....

Oh dear, neglected blog readers (yoohoo! Anyone still there?):

How insanely ecstatic I am that 2010 has finally bit the big one.  That year couldn't have ended soon enough for me and yet it seemed to drag on...and on...and on.  I know I'm not the only one who was only too happy to lay Old Father Time in his final resting place while joyously dumping the dirt over the coffin and dancing a jig over his grave (a bit macabre, but it makes me happy).  It seems like 2010 was a pretty sucky year for many folks, so I know I'm not alone when I say, "Sayonara! Auf wiedersehen! Adios! Good bye, sucker!" to 2010.

Ok, so maybe I'm not being entirely fair to the first year of this decade.  There were some definite ups for me amongst the many downs: I won two Ravelry Bobby awards, I won a Best Actress Award at a Film Festival, I got to visit our awesome neighbors to the north, and I got to go on a great Disney Cruise vacation with my Mister, to name some highlights.  However, 2010 was unfortunately doomed for me from the very beginning, starting at this time (almost to the day) last year.

I know, I know.  I've mentioned that 2009 ended very badly and 2010 began horribly and that it affected me in ways that I wasn't ready to face for many months afterward.  However, I never shared what exactly happened because I just wasn't able to put it out there for so many people to see.  However, as I know I'm not alone in my rejoicing in 2010's demise, I also know I'm also not alone in what I went through last year.

You see, in mid 2009, after many years of being very happily married, my Mister and I finally decided it was time to add to our little family.  In November 2009, we very happily found out we were expecting and I couldn't wait for Christmas to make the announcement on this here blog.  However, December 2009 brought our first sonogram which, unfortunately is the reason 2010 sucked so much.  By January 2010, one year ago this past Saturday, we were no longer expecting an addition to our family.

It took many months for me to be able to process everything we went through and many months for me to even be willing to start trying again.  My erratic blog posting and long disappearances are a testament to that. I hope you'll forgive my most recent blog disappearance these last few months since it's not been the easiest time of year for me.

However, now that 2011 is here, and this Saturday has past, I must admit I am so very excited for 2011.  I've got many plans for this year, including a new venture with one of my BFF's.  She is also an avid crocheter AND she's a Registered Dietitian, as well.  Her name is Ronda and we've been wanting to collaborate with each other on a Nutrition based project ever since we were cramming for finals while eating fried mozzarella sticks at JBs.  (Hypocritical much?) She'll be a guest blogger for me every once in a while giving you all some great Nutrition tips, which is quite timely since I know some of you are still trying to keep up with your New Year's Resolutions.  Put down that mozzarella!

There is more to be revealed soon, but her first blog post will be sometime this week- I know you'll love her as much as I do!

As for me, I've not been idle during my blog-break.  I've been exhaustively working on a new creation these past 3 1/2 months- it's easily going to be my best yet- which is going to be the definite highlight of this year.  Even though I don't like revealing too much about my work before it's done, I'm going to have to this time since it has a big part to play in my endeavor with Ronda.  I'll be keeping you updated (with regular blog posts- cross my heart and hope to die!) but for now, I'll leave you with this teaser.