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Showing posts from March, 2016

month 1 {january}

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the very first time I ever put on this 2014 christmas present shirt :) How Far Along: 4 weeks 6 days Size:  A poppyseed! I can't even believe something so tiny turns into a full fledged baby . . . that is also tiny. Ha! :) Gender: Obviously not sure yet, but I'm feelin' girl. I heard "Way I Are" during a workout this week and at the part where it says "Baby Girl" over and over, I was thinking, "I'm totally going to sing this song to my baby!" Hahaha made me feel like Ross & Rachel singing "Baby Got Back" to Emma. But on that gender note, feel free to cast your vote in the sidebar on the right until April 24th-ish :) Name: I'm calling it Little Love or Baby Love at the moment :) Movement: Not yet, of course.    Fun Fact:   The Ovia pregnancy app lets you choose a theme for how you want the size of your baby to be told! The options are fruit/vegetable, Parisian bakery, fun & games, and we

TCOYF -- life-changing information about fertility

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So obviously, it took Russ and I a while to get pregnant. But after giving all the credit to God for our little miracle, I give all the credit to the book,  Taking Charge of Your Fertility . If you struggle with infertility, I cannot recommend this book highly enough. And actually, if you're a woman, I cannot recommend this book highly enough. The book is not a miracle worker, so if there is something seriously wrong, it can't make things happen for you. BUT the book does teach you how to know your own body, which is helpful whether or not you are capable of getting pregnant. And whereas most gynecologists will tell you to try for a year before you come in to talk about infertility, if you chart, you can know within about 3 months if you need to talk about infertility, and you can bring evidence into your doctor to tell them why you want to get started with infertility stuff right away. I'm one of those people who never ever tracked a period before trying to get pregnan

{finally pregnant}

February 1, 2016 Whatttttt theeeeee! I don't even know how to start this thing. I'm so used to being sad about not being pregnant, so actually being pregnant is something I don't know how to navigate! In the weeks leading up to the test, a couple things happened. About one week after ovulating, my morning temperature jumped to a third level of highs. In the book that I read about infertility, that means pregnancy--if it continues. So I was a little bit devastated the next day when my temperature went back to a normal level of highs. I was positive that it was another failed month of trying. In the days that followed, I started getting all of my normal symptoms that I get leading up to another cycle: sore breasts, infrequent cramping, and moodiness. In fact, my angst and moodiness is what really made me think I wasn't pregnant. I always spend the two weeks before I start angry because I'm not sure if I'm pregnant and I'm convinced that I'm not. Base

infertility, pregnancy, and social media

While Russ and I were trying to get pregnant , I read this amazing blog post written by Charlotte from Small & Trivial. I mostly just want to re-post it here, because I have all the same feelings. But I'll write it in my own words, though you should definitely visit her post because she's much more eloquent. Russ and I tried to get pregnant for 19 months before we were finally successful. In the grand scheme of things, 19 months isn't all that long. But when everything is an unknown, 19 months can seem to be an eternity. During that time, I saw countless announcements on Facebook and in blog posts about women who were expecting. For a little while, I was okay with it. I knew my time would come. But as the months kept passing by, it got harder and harder to see those announcements. I even wrote a whole blog post about how I hated seeing those announcements. I knew it wasn't nice, but I couldn't help but feel annoyed and angry. Why wasn't I having succes

hey sooooo.....

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In case you missed it on Instagram or Facebook . . . There's a BABY in my belly!!!!!! :) :) :) I'm due October 3rd, which means I'm almost 13 weeks along right now :) However, since I'm diabetic, I'll most likely be forced to deliver early, so I'll probably have a September baby. Before I ever got pregnant, I thought all the time about how we would announce it when it finally happened. Although I got tons of ideas from Pinterest, I ultimately decided I didn't want to do anything clever or cute -- I just wanted to shout it from the rooftops! So here it is, my first ever baby announcement for my first ever baby :) #beyondhappy **ashleynicole

crazy dreams

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Lately I've been having some crazy dreams. Well, nightmares, really, but with some of them, it's funny that I consider them nightmares. Thanksgiving I'm reading Intuitive Eating right now, and one thing it talks about is having "last supper syndrome." It basically means you treat every meal as though it is the last time you will see food, or at least that particular food. Let me tell you -- I've got this issue. It's not that I don't think I'll ever get that food again, it's just that I don't know when  I'll eat it again, and it's tasty so I want it. Haha, hence why I'm reading this book in the first place. Anyway. So I think that's why I had this dream. In the dream, we're having Thanksgiving dinner, and everyone is dishing up their plate, but it seems like every single dish is being dished by someone else, so I can never get any food on my plate. By the time I finally started dishing up, my dad was already putting

book club

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So I'm starting a book club. Officially, I'm the only member at the moment. Russ claims he is, but he has yet to start a book soooo I think that's debatable ;) My main purpose for this book club is to have Russ and I read about things that we're both interested in so that we can expand our conversations to a deeper level. We love to talk about deep things, but deep things require a catalyst -- in this case, books. I've mentioned it before -- I pretty much hate fiction books. I don't see the value in them because I don't get enough entertainment from them. If I really want fictional entertainment, I'd much rather watch a 2-hour movie than read a 400-page book. Even all the books that are recommended constantly on Facebook, blogs, and Pinterest (like The Fault in Our Stars  and Me Before You  <--don't even get me started on that one...) fail to interest me. What I do  like are research-based self-help books. I just find them fascinating. I am re

life lately

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+     way too much working. 40 hours is so many! +     lunch dates as often as possible with my friend-cousin kristalyn +     yard work on the weekends +     cultural celebration rehearsals twice/week +     healthier lunches -- for a while it was salads, this week was tuna sandwiches +     walks in the spring sunshine! +     and therefore a rosy complexion +     date nights and as much cuddling as possible with my favorite human +     road trip dreaming . . . and some actual planning +     multiple trips to rockwell's because it's sooooo good. go there!