My babies!

More later :)

A Few of My Favorite Things

Hey everyone, I hope you’re all doing well.

I have been doing a lot of reading and researching about all sorts of things, including blogging. There is so much information out there, it’s pretty crazy. Anyway, some advice I found said to make a list of the five most important things to you that you want to feature on your blog, and stick mainly to them. So, I thought it would be fun to make that list here and tell you my five favorite/most important things!

(1) Faith. My personal beliefs are a huge part of me and my life. Beliefs can also be pretty controversial, so I don’t know how much of them I’ll talk about on here, but I’m sure they’ll peak through. I think when you read about people’s lives and thoughts, you get a window into their beliefs regardless.

(2) Family. My family is my priority. I include my closest friends and kiddos in this category. I’m sure you’ll hear quite a bit about all of them, especially the furbabies.

My little man.

(3) Food. I love my food and I take it very seriously…especially the cooking part! I love getting in the kitchen and creating something new and different! It’s easily my favorite thing to do!

Roasted sweet potatoes.

(4) Health. Having a healthy life is of the utmost importance to me. To me, this includes the food I cook, the activities I take part in, and just every day decisions I make to keep my family as healthy and happy as possible. I’m sure I’ll get into my personal health philosophies later! There are a lot of them!

(5) Challenges. I like to give myself random-seeming challenges to see how the changes affect my life. This started when I went gluten-free and vegan and has continued to grow into new and interesting adventures. I’m toying with a few new ones that I’ll let you in on soon!

There are a ton of other things that I love, too, that I’m sure I’ll include here as well! But a lot of them will surely fit into these main categories.

What are a few of your favorite things and topics? 

20 Weeks!

I still can't get these pictures to load right on this site. Total bummer and incredibly frustrating, but I guess that's what you get when you use a free host site instead of paying for your own domain and all that. Oh, well! 

So we hit the 20 week mark! That means we are about halfway through, halfway to meeting our little girl. Talk about surreal! 

No new and exciting changes to report. She's pretty much in a constant state of motion from what I can tell. Lots of kicking and flipping go on in there, which is always a bit of a surprise to feel when I'm in the car or cooking or whatever. Feeling a baby kick inside you is one of the most bizarre experiences, though, that's for sure!

My energy level has still yet to come back. I feel epically exhausted 90% of the time. Which totally sucks! I'm just going to say it. I miss having the energy to do anything. I really miss exercising. I feel like a blob of skin since I haven't been working out. Boo. 

No cravings, but my appetite seems to have picked up a little bit in the past couple of days. 

The bump seems to be getting bigger and rounding out, so the fact that I'm pregnant versus just having a chubby midsection seems to be more obvious. Woo!

Now we are just focusing on researching products, registering, and debating discussing baby names! (SO STRESSFUL!)

There should be a few recipes coming your way in the next week, so stay tuned! :)

16 weeks!

So, the 16^th week is almost over (or technically, the 17^th week). Not a whole lot is different from last week! My nausea has definitely gotten better for the most part (yay) but I am still beyond exhausted all.the.time. I think it may even be getting worse! Oy!

Last week we drove down to Tybee Island to spend about 24 hours with his mom, stepdad, and brothers. We spent several hours on the beach (under the protective shade of a nice, big tent) and had some good meals at local restaurants. We got ice cream on the strip and ate it while walking right across the street from the beach. So nice.

The only down side was that we couldn’t spend longer! It would have been great to hang out for a few more days. We realized before heading out that that trip is likely to be our last “us” trip for a while. We probably won’t get a chance to go away (especially to a beach) before January, meaning our next vacation will probably include a baby! That’s so weird to think about!

I wish I had taken more pictures, but I was just too busy lounging in the sand, soaking up the sun, and enjoying quality family time. Sue me. ;)

Since our trip, the hubby has been working most days and I’ve been researching millions of baby things (car seats, carriers, strollers, etc.). It is beyond overwhelming! I’ve also been looking at jobs (also overwhelming). I guess that’s just how life goes sometimes!

It would also definitely appear that I’m getting a legit baby bump going on. Before too long I’m going to need new clothes. Eeek.

Hope you all had a good week! 

How I ended 2012

My 2012 definitely ended with a bang... or perhaps I should say it ended with a chop. Or maybe a slice. If you have heard from me in the past three days, you likely know what I'm talking about; if not, here's the story.

First of all, I have to just lay the foundation by expressing how much I love to cook. Which is a lot. So I was very excited when my mom surprised with a brand-spanking new fancy schmancy knife. One of those super-sharp, will-cut-anything, expensive knives. (You can probably see where this is going...) Then, for my Christmas gift, Drew gave me a CrockPot. I have been wanting one for months and could hardly wait to make some amazing chili in it. 

On Sunday, Drew went to the Falcons game in Atlanta with one of his brothers, so I had the house to myself and figured I would try out my new cookware. It was about 1:00 and my brother was heading over to pick up a movie and drop off a printer. I decided it was the perfect time to whip out my new knife, chop some onions (my very favorite vegetable), and put dinner in the CrockPot to be ready for Drew when he got home from the game. 

So I chopped. As I was attempting to get the middle part of the onion out, I met a little resistance. I pushed through a little harder and came dangerously close to my left hand. I looked down and thought, "Hey, I may have nicked my finger." Then I saw a little blood and realized I had gotten my finger. I ran to the sink to rinse my finger off. That's when I noticed I had nearly taken off half of my finger tip, as well as sliced into my middle finger. 

Luckily, my brother was there within about five minutes after this debacle. We called my mom, who came over and drove us to the Urgent Care center (and we also texted Drew). 

At the Urgent Care place, we thought I would just get glued back together again and only really stuck around so that I could get a tetanus shot. But after two or so hours of waiting, I was told I'd need stitches. Blech. So I got about four shots of numbiness then got my finger sewn back together. It was pretty bad and very painful. 

I'll spare you the bloody pictures, but here is the final product.

I should be getting the stitches out on Sunday--the day before I go back to school! 

Needless to say, I'm taking it pretty easy this week. No real cooking. No chopping at all. Typing without my left index finger (which I now lovingly refer to as my Frankenfinger). 

It seems to be healing nicely, which is good because this semester if going to require me to have my A-game!

What vacation?

So, I got done with school a week ago. But the last week has been nothing short of crazy and hectic. It has thus far been a nonbreak and nonvacation. I suppose that is the perk of having a "Christmas break" as opposed to a summer or fall (or anything else) break. The past week has been spent cleaning (mainly doing copious amounts of laundry and folding load after load), Christmas shopping, and babysitting. (Did I mention that Norma Gene has been in a right state, as well--taking up a good bit of energy ensuring that she doesn't eat herself into an early grave? No? More on that later....) My hours--and life in general--have been erratic. 

Ideally, I would like to post on here once a week or so, but obviously I am failing so far. Hopefully, now that things have slowed a bit--done babysitting and Christmas is almost here, though the house does not seem to be getting any cleaner... Anyway, I have a few DIY projects to post and a few recipes to share, along with a nice little story about this short little redheaded hellion that has been wreaking havoc (what else is new?). 

Stay tuned! I promise I will follow through!

Until then, though, have a very merry Christmas! 

For my husband :)

Four years ago today, my dear husband asked me if I would spend my life as his wife. I gladly accepted, no idea how things would work out for us, only that we would be together. At 18, it was an unconventional decision to make—one that was criticized and questioned by the majority of people that knew us (I was even asked if I was pregnant by a friend!). As you hopefully have garnered, I was not. We opted to get married while we were both still in school and financially unstable. We had the faith that God would provide for us and did not want us to make decisions based on fear. We believed that the love we had for each other was the most important thing in our life, that being together was better than money, jobs, or school. We believed things would work out for us.

Over the past four years (almost three of which we have been married) that leap of faith has proven to be completely blessed. We have absolutely had many ups and many downs; we have dealt with things I never thought about before getting married; but time after time, we overcome. We band together as a single unit, a unified team, the two of us against any issue that comes up, and fight like crazy for each other.

I truly believe that that attitude is what makes us work. We fight for each other, not against each other. We take each issue with the mindset and heartset that any transgression is already forgiven; all problems are small in comparison to our relationship; we have forged a bond that we have vowed to defend come what may. There is no defeat. There is no “try.” There is no quitting, no giving up, no calling it off. We are in it for life and we are in it together. That is marriage.

I can honestly say that I cannot imagine having a better teammate, friend, confidante, partner, husband. When I think of the guys I dated before him, I realize why it never worked out with them (thank goodness!). All those problems, all the drama, all the crap—it was all more than worth it. I found the best guy out there and he found me right back. I am so unbelievably blessed to have him. I love him more today than I thought I could.

Happy anniversary, Drew. Here’s to a lifetime more!