Update :: 15 Weeks

I am 15 weeks pregnant as of today and still feeling good.  Not much has changed since last week, but here are the highlights:

*Baby is now about the size of an apple!

*Still not nauseous, still tired.

*No new cravings.  I did feed the fried fish craving last night (YUM!!) and continue to drink apple juice almost daily.  Oddly, I haven't been very interested in food this week.  Nothing sounds all that good.  I'm still eating, it's just not as fun.  Haha!

*Weight:  Holding strong, no weight gain!  (I just wanted to mention that I know it probably seems like I am overly concerned about weight gain.  I really over-did it in this area while pregnant with Emilia.  So I am trying to do better this time of watching what I eat and exercising regularly.  Also, I started this pregnany a little overweight, so I'm not supposed to gain as much during the pregnancy.  Don't worry about me- I'm still eating plenty; I am just trying to make better decisions this time around!)

*According to Jason and my mom (and me, if I am being honest), my belly has started to poke out a little.  This is probably my least favorite stage because I don't look pregnant...just like I gained a few pounds.  I don't like the "chubby belly preggo stage" and hope it passes quickly.  My regular clothes still fit well, you can just notice my belly more than before.

*Zumba is starting to kick my butt!  I have to modify several moves and I Really don't like having to do that.  I want to be able to give 110%, but I know it isn't a good idea for me, or the baby.  So I do all the moves I can and modify the rest.  Again, since I do not exactly look pregnant yet, I feel like announcing to the class that "I am pregnant, not just a wuss".  I doubt anyone else cares about this as much as I do anyway. ;-)

In other news:

The search rages on for a good double jogging stroller.  I have been looking into a friend's recommendation about the Baby Jogger City Mini Double Stroller.  From what I am told, they actually fold down to the size of a regular single stroller.  This would be great because we would be able to take it on the planes- not just on our initial move to Saipan, but anytime we visit surrounding areas.  The trouble is- these strollers are EXPENSIVE!!  Way outside our budget, for sure.  I have been scouring Craiglist and even eBay for a good deal on one.  I feel like I am really obsessing over this one item, and maybe I am.  The reason I am overly concerned about finding a good double jogger is because Walmart does not ship strollers overseas.  So far, everything else I have looked up (pack n play, swing, car seat, etc.) will ship for $1.97 each (YAAY!!).  But, strollers are just too big.  I don't really want to test my luck about finding one once on island, so I am trying to plan ahead.  I honestly don't entirely care about the brand, as long as it has kid trays and a swivel wheel.  But, I am trying to find the best (and most cost-effective) option for our family.

J and I also discussed baby's sleeping options this week.  I looked at a couple mini-cribs and came across a review that mentioned putting a mini crib mattress in a pack n play.  The reviews said it fit perfectly.  Soo, I think we might give this option a try.  Baby will be sleeping in our room for who-knows-how-long (only a 2 bedroom apartment and we don't think Emilia will do well with a roommate...she's not a great sleeper).  But our room is pretty small, so we were worried about how much space a full-sized crib would take up.  A pack n play seems like a perfect solution.  It is small and with the added 3" crib mattress, it will have the same level of comfort as in a crib.  That's the opinion of the week, at any rate.

I have a little collection of white onesies already underway, yay!  I decided to start looking for them at yard sales, clearance, etc. so that once we know the gender of our baby, I can start dyeing some, appliqueing others, and fill the wardrobe this way.  If we have a girl again, I have most of the onesies we will need.  But if we have a boy, I am seriously lacking.  (Notice I didn't say empty-handed...yes, I have a tote *or two* of cute little boy clothes I have picked up over the years, just in case we ever had a boy.  I'm THAT girl.)

I have an appointment this coming Monday (5/9) for a regular check up.  I think I will get the results of my blood tests and that should be about it.  I am trying to psych myself up to ask for a sneak ultrasound (which my doctor is known for doing from time to time).  I want to test this theory I was told about by my friend Lacey- The Nub Theory.  She says she was able to tell her second baby was going to be a boy at 12 weeks.  She was right!  I have only done minimal research on the subject, but I think it would be fun to test the theory.  I am planning to ask my doctor if she has ever heard of it and say I would love to test the theory if we had time for a quick u/s.  Wish me luck! (O:

OK, so I guess a thing or two happened this week, now that I look back at this post! Haha!  I hope I didn't bore you too much! ;-)

My Daniel Fast Experience

Last month, my family and I participated in something called the Daniel Fast.  It was my father-in-law, Mark's idea and since he and Treasa (my mother-in-law) were going to do it, and we currently live with them and share all our meals with them, we participated by default.  The two anchoring Scriptures where this fast comes from are

1:  Daniel 1:12, which reads:

¹² “Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink..."

(At this time, Daniel was brought to train to be part of the King's service.  His guard was ordered to feed him all the royal food, but Daniel would not defile himself in this way.  He urged the guard to give he and his fellow Israelites nothing but vegetables (this would have included fruits) and water for 10 days, then compare their appearance with the other servants.  After the 10 days, they were better nourished and healthier than the servants who ate the royal foods.)

From this Scripture the first two guidelines of the Daniel Fast were formed:
1. Only fruits and vegetables
2. Only water for a beverage

2:  Daniel 10:2-3, which reads: 

² At that time I, Daniel, mourned for three weeks. ³ I ate no choice food; no meat or wine touched my lips; and I used no lotions at all until the three weeks were over.

From this Scripture, the third guidline was formed:
3. No sweeteners and no breads

Two additional guidelines were derived from Jewish fasting principals and the creators of this fast:
4. No leven- Yeast, Baking Powder, etc.
5. No artificial or processed foods nor any chemicals

I will admit that I was not entirely excited about this fast when Mark first mentioned it.  I have had mirgraine trouble for years and generally use large amounts of caffiene daily to keep the migraines at bay.  I was not looking forward to giving up Diet Pepsi and the headaches that would most certainly occur.  But guess what?  I did not have any withdrawal headaches. Not One.  I took myself off Excedrin as well, so it wasn't like I was even masking the lack of Diet Pepsi with other caffienes.  I drank strictly water (I did cheat and add flavor packets).  I may not have followed the diet super strictly, but I made every effort to follow most of the basic guidelines.

As I mentioned, I was not overly excited to start this fast, but now that I have completed it, I am SO glad we did it!  It has been over a month since we started the fast and we still try to center most of our meals around the Daniel Fast Guidelines.  What types of foods do we eat?  Here is a glance at what a day in the life of Annie's Daniel Fast would look like:

*Whole wheat tortilla with peanut butter, strawberries and bananas- rolled up.  Yummy breakfast on the go!

*Clementines - these were a great snack to always have on hand.  Easy to peel and so sweet!

*Veggie soup - my MIL added spicy V8 to her regular old veggie soup recipe and swapped vegetable broth for the chicken broth, then added any veggies we wanted.  I could eat this every day for lunch, it is SO good!

*Peanuts, cashews, almonds - take your pick, they are all on the Yes List!  I found them to be great fillers to get me from lunch to dinner.  Plus, they are crunchy and salty.  Yumm (O:

*Whole wheat spaghetti with all-natural tomato sauce - See!  You can eat "regular" dishes but make them so much better for you!  Add garlic salt, pepper, etc. to taste and it is as delicious as ever!

*Water, Water, WATER!  I currently drink at least 72 fl oz of water a day, most days even more.  (Yes, I am the kind of girl who is always drinking something...it's so much better/cheaper now that it is water instead of soda!)


Another great thing about eating better is FEELING BETTER.  Yes, the first few days were pretty rough.  I was super tired and felt somewhat lethargic; I think this was my body dealing with caffiene withdrawal.  By day 4 of our official 10 Day Fast, I felt great!  I had lots of energy and felt great.  I started enjoying and *Craving* fruit for snacks and the thought of soda lost all appeal.  I started going to Zumba classes twice a week with Treasa and my sister-in-law, Amy- and Love it!  There is something about the combo of eating well and working out that makes me feel so good about myself.  (How dreadfully red my face gets and how beyond-nasty sweaty I get are a different story...refer to this post. haha!)

An additional bonus for my personal experience with this fast and subsequent change in lifestyle is weigth loss!  I did not intend to really track this as part of the fast, since the fast is not about the physical but about the spiritual.  But I did check in from time to time just for my own personal knowledge...and I'm happy to say I lost 8 pounds in 3 weeks and have kept it off!  I still have a long way to go, but it feels so so good to be on the right track.  I'm not doing some crazy fad diet that will take the pounds off temporarily and then pack them back on if I sniff ice cream for too long.  As long as I continue to practice healthy decisions, the improvements will continue to progress.  (And yes indeed, I have definitely added ice cream back into my diet- but much less often than before and using a much smaller bowl).

I keep thinking about how this fast came along at exactly the right time.  I have only a few months left before we head for our island home, and I had a lot of bad habits that needed to be kicked.  I'm thankful to say that caffiene and soda are behind me- they were my biggest hurdles.  I am also on the road to reaching my goal weight.  I have much left to do, but now that I do not feel "deprived" from food, I know I can get there.  I am thankful for the tools this fast has given me as well as the encouraging words of friends and family.

If you have never head of the Daniel Fast before, I encourage you to follow the link I listed above and look into it for yourself.  I also encourage you to seriously consider participating- either in the 10-day or 21-day fast.  The severed ties to processed foods and chemicals is exactly what I needed to jumpstart my journey to a healthier lifestyle of living.  If you have any questions about something I didn't cover, please let me know!  I am by no means an expert, but I would love to help you if I can! (O:

I Admit it::

I

Love

ZUMBA!!

I just can't hide it any longer.  If you know me in real life, this is probably somewhat of a shock.  There is a lot of wiggling in Zumba, something which I do NOT do well.  But, Zumba with an instructor, in a big room full of other people is Waay better than trying to keep up with one of the Zumba videos.  Seriously, why pay so much for DVDs when you don't ever really know what they are doing?!  We tried Zumba once with a group of girls I worked out with while we were still in Herrick.  It did not go well.  I was pretty discouraged because I really wanted to like Zumba.  But my mind is just too controlled for those types of movements.  My hips don't jirate (is that how you spell it?), my top have doesn't shimmy correctly, the list goes on.  So I pretty well had written Zumba off my list.  I planned to stick with the Biggest Loser Boot Camp and running.  So let me tell you exactly how I came to this new-found love:

At the Warren Christmas get-together this past December, one of our cousins, Christopher, brought his girlfriend with him to meet the family.  This might not seem like that big of a deal, but Chris isn't really one to commit to any girl, so to actually bring her to meet this crazy clan of Warrens was a pretty big deal.  Her name is Paulette and she really held her own.  I was impressed. (O:  So, she was in the kitchen talking to my father-in-law, Mark.  I walked in and Mark told me he was going to pay for me, his wife/myMIL Treasa and my SIL Amy to all go to Zumba classes.  I just blurted out, "Oh, I hate Zumba!" ...it was at this point that Mark explains that Paulette is a Zumba instructor in town and he is going to pay for all of us to go to her classes...So much for welcoming her into our family! (He is really good about setting people up to get to know each other and was probably trying to make connections between some Warren women and Paulette- a Warren-to-be...but in my defense, he should have Started his story with, Hey Annie, Paulette is a Zumba instructor and I'm going to send you guys to her classes...).  Not that there is really any way to retract from my previous statement, but I did my best.  I tried to explain that I'm just not a mover and a shaker, and that my only experience was an advanced video version.  She didn't seem to mind that I hated her profession, or if she did, she didn't let on.  But, I said I would go with the girls and give it my best.

My first class was about a month ago and I will fully admit that I was wrong.  I'm hooked.  She is pretty intense, which I love.  She also doesn't do as much shimmy-shaking as I expected.  There are some hip rotations and shoulder shakes (polite way to put that..), but I just try to keep moving until those are over.  (haha).  It's a pretty high-cardio kind of work out with lots of squats, arm raises, jumping, etc.  The songs are up beat and fun.  They are mostly rap songs that I do not normally listen to, but something about a really thumping base beat keeps you going hard.  (Yes, I said thumping.  Don't judge me.)

So, that is my admission of the day.  My name is Annie, I love Zumba and I am determined to continue working on my fitness.  Maybe someday I will tell you all about how I am no longer addicted to Diet soda and actually prefer veggies and fruit to fries or chips.  (Not today, I don't want to overload your brains!) ;-)

Make it a great day! (O: