Gender Reveal Party

Saturday was our Gender Reveal. I've been imagining this ever since I heard of these parties becoming popular and I always knew I wanted to have one! My mom and sister put everything together and they did an AMAZING job honestly I couldn't have asked for anything more! The party was mostly family and a few of my close friends. I didn't want anyone to bring gifts or cards but some people didn't listen to me. 

IT'S A BOY!!!

Everything was so cute and decorative! My sister got paint swatches and had people write if they thought it was a boy or a girl and name suggestions. The above were a few of my favorite, though they were just jokes. We opened a box of balloons and people got a lot of nice video. I'm so so grateful for my friends and family coming to celebrate with us!

I got some amazing news work-wise today. I have been working full time nights (7pm-7am) for the past 3 and a half years. At the beginning of this year I started having a really hard time sleeping and I put in a request to go to day shift. Nothing was panning out so I then requested to drop to part-time nights. That was also denied, so I was actually in the process of applying for part-time positions elsewhere, however, I can't leave the company that I am with because if I do my OB that I'm seeing for my pregnancy will be out of network. Yesterday I was literally so so frustrated trying to think of any possible solution to this problem. Today I found out that there are TWO day shift positions opening up on our unit. I was second in line for days and the girl ahead of me didn't have any interest in either of them! (One is weekends and one requires NICU training). My manager said that I will be able to get one of them, we're just waiting to see which one! I am SO SO SO relieved, I've been stressing about this and praying about this for so long, and with the baby coming it couldn't have been better timing. I'm still continuing to pray that all works out and I really am able to transition to days. So much has gone wrong with it so far I'm cautious to celebrate but I can't help it!

How far along - 17 weeks.

Baby size - Size of a pomegranate.

Weight gain - Back to pre-pregnancy weight.

Maternity clothes - Soon.

Stretch marks - None.

Sleep - A little better now.

Gender - Boy.

Movement - I know it's hard for first time moms to tell, but I've been feeling things I think could be.

Best moment the past week - Getting increased to 6g protein a day and our Gender Reveal.

Looking forward to - Being able to enjoy my pregnancy more as PKU gets easier.

Food cravings - Pizza!!

Labor signs - None.

What I miss - Being able to eat whatever I want.

Symptoms - None.

Nursery - Might be doing a Narnia nursery.

Belly button in or out - In.

Wedding rings on or off - On.

Mood - Good this week.

Workouts - My 12 hour shifts are my workout for now.

Hello, Second Trimester!!

Last week I got to celebrate finally making it to the second trimester! Because of the PKU and restrictive diet I have to follow, this pregnancy seems like it is taking FOREVER. For those of you who have been pregnant, just imagine not being able to eat ANYTHING you want, having to drink a disgusting supplement 5 times a day, and having to be conscious and document every morsel of food you put in your mouth. Pregnancy alone is difficult even without what I'm going through, this is truly the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. I know it will be far worth it in the end, but the end seems so far away at this point. 

I was lucky enough to be released from bed rest in time to attend my sister's wedding on September 9th. I will do another post about that in a couple days, just wanted to do my pregnancy update for this post, since I've missed the last 2 weeks!

How far along - 15 weeks.

Baby size - Size of an avocado.

Weight gain - None this week; Down 2 lbs.

Maternity clothes - Not yet.

Stretch marks - None.

Sleep - A little better now.

Gender - Gender reveal party on October 7th.

Movement - None felt yet.

Best moment the past week - Getting to eat one more gram of protein a day.

Looking forward to - My protein tolerance increasing, finding out gender.

Food cravings - Everything I can't eat.

Labor signs - None.

What I miss - Being able to eat whatever I want.

Symptoms - Round ligament pain.

Nursery - No plans until gender is known.

Belly button in or out - In.

Wedding rings on or off - On.

Mood - Good this week.

Workouts - My 12 hour shifts are my workout for now.

Happy Labor Day!

We're celebrating today - Labor Day and also our 7th wedding anniversary by announcing that we are expecting our first child in March! 

I am very excited. I've wanted to be a mom for so long, but I've had to overcome a lot of different struggles before attempting to get pregnant. I have a genetic disorder called PKU that can negatively affect the growth and development of a baby if it is not strictly under control. The hardest thing about the pregnancy so far has been that I can only eat 3 grams of protein a day from food. Everyone always says, "Well I don't know how much that is." Essentially it means that I cannot eat anything besides fruits, some vegetables, and foods with sugar, and oil/butter. I have special low protein bread and pasta I can eat, but it's nowhere near as good as regular bread and pasta. I also have to drink a supplement four times a day that doesn't taste good at all. It's honestly the hardest thing I've ever done in my entire life. Imagine being pregnant and not being able to eat basically ANYTHING that you really want. That's my life. No pizza, no pasta, no chocolate, no dairy at all, and of course no meat, eggs, legumes, nuts/seeds -which I never eat anyway even when not pregnant. In addition, I have to take blood twice a week and send it to a lab where they monitor my blood levels. 

Another issue is that I have been on bedrest for the past 3 weeks. I started having some bleeding a few weeks ago and I had an ultrasound and thank goodness the baby was fine, but I have a subchorionic hemorrhage, which was causing the bleeding. It can continue so my doctor took me off work and instructed me to take it easy and not leave the house. The first week was kind of nice but after that I became really bored. I have an appointment with a high risk doctor on Wednesday and my OB said that if all goes well he may clear me to return to work. My sister's wedding is coming up this Saturday so I really hope to be able to fully participate, as I am the Matron of Honor.

Even with all of these bumps in the road so far, my husband and I couldn't be happier and we are just hoping and praying for a smooth pregnancy from here on out. I work in labor and delivery as a nurse and so I definitely wish I didn't know so much about potential complications, but I'm trying my hardest to just put my faith and trust in God that everything will work out! 

I will be posting a weekly update every Monday from now until delivery! 

How far along - 12 weeks.

Baby size - Size of an apricot.

Weight gain - None this week; 2lbs total so far.

Maternity clothes - Not yet.

Stretch marks - None.

Sleep - Better than in previous weeks, but still not great.

Gender - Still too early, but we will be finding out.

Movement - None felt yet.

Best moment the past week - Announcing the pregnancy today. Hard secret to keep!

Looking forward to - My protein tolerance increasing, being off bed rest.

Food cravings - Everything I can't eat.

Labor signs - None.

What I miss - Being able to eat whatever I want.

Symptoms - Cramping sometimes, tender breasts.

Nursery - No plans until gender is known.

Belly button in or out - In.

Wedding rings on or off - On.

Mood - Good this week.

Workouts - None; bed rest.

Update on the Past Year

My last blog post was 10/07/2016. Obviously, much has happened since then. 

On December 23, 2016, I lost my Papa. Papa was my mom's dad, and I was always close with him and my Nana - from living with them for awhile when I was 3 years old, to attending church together every Sunday when I was in grade school, to Sunday family dinners and holidays at their house throughout my entire life. In 2012, he was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis and had to be on oxygen continuously. He started getting worse throughout 2016, my mom was essentially his primary caretaker along with working her full-time job. On December 21, my Papa really felt like his time on Earth was coming to an end and asked for family to come and see him. He was so deteriorated at that point and it was killing me to see him suffer. The night of December 22nd, I decided to stay overnight with my mom - I slept on my Nana and Papa's bedroom floor. In the early morning hours of December 23rd he passed away. I've never lost someone that close to me so it was very difficult. My dad's parents had both died awhile ago but they lived out of town and I rarely saw them, so it wasn't the same. My Papa was honestly the most incredible person. He taught me everything I know about how important faith and family is. He was a Veteran of the Korean War and very patriotic. He worked for MetLife until his retirement in 1985, and then took another job at a funeral home, where he worked until age 85 (a year before his death). He was loved and admired by so many; we counted over 500 people between the visitation and the funeral. I miss him so much, and I'll love him forever. I am so thankful to have had him in my life for 33 wonderful years.

In January, I became certified in my nursing specialty of Inpatient Obstetrics. I had to take another exam that was similar to the NCLEX. I had much more confidence than when I took the NCLEX and I was thrilled to pass on the first attempt. Becoming certified is essentially proving that you're an expert in your specialty, it is a pretty big deal and was always a goal of mine. 

I was blessed to go on two amazing vacations this year. In April, I went to New York City (my absolute favorite travel destination) for the ninth time. I can never get enough of NYC. I went with a friend from work and we did so much. We went to four Broadway shows: Hello Dolly (Bette Midler was fantastic), Miss Saigon (with my favorite girl Katie Rose Clarke), Phantom of the Opera (my first time!), and of course Wicked (my ninth time seeing my favorite show)! We also did Central Park, Top of the Rock, the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, the Ground Zero Museum Workshop, a harbor cruise, and tons of other things including eating tons and tons of delicious NYC food! I absolutely couldn't love NYC more and I can't wait to return.

In April, I went to Arizona with my family and extended family to visit my brother and for my graduation! I graduated with my Bachelors of Science in Nursing with University Honors and a 4.0 GPA! I completed the program in just under a year and while working full time nights at my job. It was wonderful to have my whole family together (my parents are divorced and we rarely do things together with all of us)!

In June, I got a new car and we celebrated my sister's bridal shower! Her wedding is coming up next week! I'm the Matron of Honor and very excited for her and her fiancé. 

I have another update on the way about the rest of the summer that I will post in a few days!

So excited to be back to blogging!

Resurrecting this blog ...

I'm going to be returning to blogging in about a week. 

Very exciting life updates to share!! 

Looking forward to being a part of the blogging community again!

Five On Friday

So excited! Can't remember the last time I did one!! Five things I'm loving this Friday!

One. Season 11 of The Voice

I just binge watched the first six episodes in the last two days. It was good timing because the blind auditions are all done and the battle rounds will start next week, so I wasn't too far behind. I actually really LOVE the addition of Miley and Alicia, which I wasn't sure I'd like! And SO MANY talented people are on this year, there's so many I'm excited for!

Two. My Flashback Friday for today - one of our fall pictures from last year

I just love Fall!!! 

Three. World Smile Day

I love smiling!! And that there is a day for it!

Four. Having off all week.

Switching to a different schedule with work now and doing mostly weekends. Its really nice having off all during the week and I think I'm going to like the schedule more. I'll miss a few people that I work with during the week though.

Five. New Music is Coming!

My two favorite Christian artists are putting out new albums soon - YAY!!! I can't wait!

Everyone have a great weekend!

I'm Back

I decided to start blogging again. My last post was about a year ago, but I signed on today and was reading back on some past entries and realized how much I loved and missed it. I loved documenting my life on here, mainly for myself as something to look back on more than anything else! A lot has changed in my life in the past year and I realized there are some things that have fallen by the wayside - not by conscious choice but due to the chaos of everyday life, and I really want to get back to them. Blogging is one thing on that list.

Short Life Update

This past year has been wonderful. A good percentage of it has been filled with work and school. I am still working in the same hospital in labor and delivery and I've been increasing my responsibilities there - I have taken on the role of Charge RN and have just recently applied to take my certification exam for Inpatient Obstetrics. I will take the exam sometime in the next 4 months. I am now enrolled in a different RN/BSN program at Grand Canyon University online. It has been going great since I started in May of this year and I will be graduating with my BSN in April 2017 and completing the program in May 2017. I can hardly believe that I am almost to this goal!

D and I have been making our new house a home for the past year and I absolutely love it. I have been buying all kinds of new Fall decor for this year because I'm obsessed. We are so blessed to have found our dream first home and we could not love it anymore. We just celebrated our 6 year wedding anniversary on September 4th. My family is doing well and my sister just recently got engaged and is getting married on 9/9/17!

This summer I was fortunate to go on two amazing vacations. In June I went to New York City (yes, again) with my mom and two friends. NYC is always a blast and this trip was no exception. My big excitement was that I got asked for directions from people multiple times!! It makes me feel like an honorary New Yorker haha! In July, D and I went on a 12 day excursion to California that included stops in San Francisco, San Jose, a long drive down the Pacific Coast Highway, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, and San Diego! After spending such a long stretch out there I'm now positive I will move there someday! I fell in love! My favorite part was that in San Jose we attended the Olympic Trials for women's gymnastics!! This has been a bucket list item for essentially my whole life and the experience was indescribable! I also got to meet and hang out with one of my friends who is a former Olympian, Tasha Schwikert. 

I feel that I really need to work on my relationship with God and begin to pray more. In the busy-ness, sometimes that takes a backseat so my goal is to really work on it. I am singing in my church choir again this year, which I love, but I also really want to focus on daily prayer and also starting some kind of bible study. 

I recently was very unhappy with my weight. After my vacation, I was at my heaviest weight ever, and so I joined Beachbody and did the 21 Day Fix to jumpstart my goals of healthier eating and exercise. I lost 10 pounds in a month and am continuing the healthy eating currently. My weight loss goal is daunting, but I am going to do whatever it takes to get there. I have already stopped drinking soda, which was huge for me. I'm looking forward to my journey and the happiness I'm going to feel when I hit my goal. Once I get my weight down some more, I'm going to join adult gymnastics one night a week, which I am very excited about!

That is the update on my past year! I'm so looking forward to getting back to blogging regularly, I'm going to be checking out all of your pages for fun ideas for weekly posts! I hope you've all been well this past year and looking forward to catching up on your lives as well!