Rants, Recipes, and Running

 While most of this blog since it's rebirth has been focused on "growing a watermelon" in terms of having a baby... I thought I'd take a more literal approach and do an update on the actual watermelons we grew! What is funny is that we planted our watermelon seeds back in April, and tonight we finally ate one. So that took about 9 months seed-to-table. And I'm on my 9th month of growing a baby!  Moral of the story - don't eat watermelon seeds.  We are in the midst of my absolute favorite gardening season in the Sonoran Desert -- The winter garden! (Yes, we get to garden year-round here). In the winter we grow things like: all the greens, carrots, beets, broccoli, Brussels. Right now we still are enjoying some of our long summer crops such as butternut squash, eggplant, and watermelon. Squash has a very long growing season - partly because we had such a dry summer.  Here is what we are enjoying currently via pictures :)  Here is a bowl of greens! We currently h...

How to piss off a pregnant lady in 1 simple step! Tell her how fast her pregnancy has gone!  I have heard or read those words so frequently over the last week from colleagues, friends, and a few people on social media.  They are so right. The part that's gone really fast has been the part where we have been on lockdown and my face-to-face social interaction and "outings outside the house" decreased by like 70-80%. Or perhaps the 3 months I spent on my knees in our bathroom floor dry-heaving. That was like a blink of an eye!!! Time flies when you're having fun. Or vomiting.  Okay, okay ... I'm just kidding around.  But seriously - don't tell a pregnant woman (during a pandemic) that time has just flown by because it probably hasn't for her. In seriousness, my pregnancy has gone fast in ways. And I've mostly enjoyed it and had it pretty easy! But when I look back at when I found out I was pregnant at just 5 weeks..that seriously feels like eons ago.  An...

Every year towards the end of December, I sit down and write down a "bucket list" for the year. I do that instead of resolutions or goals because it just feels more fun to check things off as the year goes on.  Well, in 2020 - I have a lofty bucket list involving different travel plans, career endeavors, and athletic accomplishments.  And then COVID happened. And then I got pregnant. So now when I read my 2020 goals, it kind of makes me giggle. While 2020 looked different than I thought it would -- it shaped out to be a pretty great year despite conditions out of our control! One thing I can't stand is making up excuses for things you didn't get done. Excuses = crutches. If you didn't accomplish something, you clearly didn't make that a priority. But this year...I think I can we can all use a"judgement-free excuse card". So here is where I came out :D  1. Run 50K -- I did that! It was January 25, prior to the world starting on fire and races shuttin...

 I haven't been writing too much about my pregnancy, because honestly, I don't have a lot to report.  At my last OB appointment, my doctor said "You're one of my most boring patients I'm seeing these days. Keep it up!" Which is the best thing I could ask for...  I'm currently 33 weeks and 2 days along. Not that anyone's counting. The baby is the size of a pineapple (those fruit comparisons make zero sense to me, by the way...).  But here are some updates that maybe I'll look back on in my future pregancies... Symptoms : Heartburn, Restless Legs, and Insomnia.  I'm having to be really careful about what I eat and when I eat - or I'm up all night with agonizing heartburn. It is not uncommon for me to be pacing the halls of our house chomping on Tums at 2am lately.  I always have wicked restless legs at night. No matter how much I stretch and try rolling out my calves - my legs seem to contort Emily Rose Exorcism style.  Ryan got me a Pregnanc...

 Many talked about how different their Christmas was this year given the pandemic, and their need to be isolated at home with no family. Fortunately or unfortunately, this Christmas was no different for me. As a nurse, I've spent most Christmases working in the hospital. As a military spouse, the last 2 years I didn't even spend Christmas with Ryan. 2018 he was deployed and 2019 he was on mandatory orders and worked the night shift through the holiday.  We live 1700 miles away from any family. So have always had to figure out a creative way to spend the holiday. As much as I love the Christmas season, the baking, the decorations, and the fun - the actual holiday is one that I have sort of come to not enjoy. I find myself in tears at some point either on Christmas Eve or Day in envy of people who get to spend holidays with their families. While we try to travel home for holidays, it has been a challenge - since we both have jobs that continue to work on holidays. So we always w...

I will pause for a brief intermission of all things baby to celebrate an exciting moment.  I am done with grad school!  This is the first evening that the reality is really settling in. For the past 2.5 years of my life, assignments were due by 9 or 10 pm Tuesday night (for me, since I'm in AZ and everything was on East Coast time)... I never waited until Tuesday to submit my assignments - but there were a few Monday nights that I was scrambling.  I got to add "MSN, RN" behind my name on my email signature today at work -  and it felt kind of cool! New letters behind the name are always fun, right?  I always wanted to get my master's, but honestly didn't think I'd actually do it.  Then while I was doing it - I had many moments where I thought about quitting.  Then I got pregnant and realized I'd be doing my practicum in the midst of the pandemic, and really thought about putting things on hold. However, I knew that if I put things on hold - that would ...

First, I would like to say that when I looked at the last time I did a "currently" post - it was September 28.  Which means >2 months ago. So 2 months from now, I'll be holding you in my arms.  And this is the kind of stuff that literally consumes my brain on an hourly basis.  I check the expiration date on the coffee creamer and think "February 20 - that means by then baby should be here!"  :D Wonder if other pregnant women do this... Reading : Indistractable by Nir Eyal. This is a book Ryan actually purchased, but he is reading "1st Time Dad" - so lended this to me as he wanted us both to read it. I love it so far!  It is about how many things in our lives distract us from what matter, and how to regain "traction" in our lives. It covers everything from how to manage email at work, to how to re-hack your smart phone, to time-blocking your entire day to assure you are giving the people and priorities the attention they deserve. Really goo...