No, that's not fat. It's a baby.

I love being pregnant. Really, for me, it has been a breeze. I have not thrown up once, have no stretch marks, no back or leg pain, I can eat anything, and I've done really well on not gaining weight to quickly. It is very apparent to me that I am really blessed with this pregnancy. It makes everything better that the daddy is very helpful and loving. Jesus always kisses my tummy hello, goodbye, and before we go to bed. He talks to the baby and is already planning all the fun things he and the baby will do together. He also just painted the baby's room last week, and soon he will put up the crown molding in his room. Everyone has been extremely nice and helpful and I am very grateful for it.

But, of course, there are some people who are just plain crazy when it comes to seeing a pregnant woman, confusing a pregnant belly for a fat filled belly. (But really....wouldn't the rest of you body be significantly chunky if your stomach was that huge from fat? Yes. It would be. Fool.)

For instance, I work at H&R Block in administration. Because it is tax season, HRB is doing many marketing events. This weekend, our team had a marketing event at an apartment complex, and to prepare for this event, I had to go to the grocery store and buy loads of breakfast bars. So here I am in this store, with the cart, on a mission. I go to the breakfast aisle and empty the shelf of all Little Debbie Honey Buns  (they look like cinnamon rolls) and fruit filled breakfast bars. I'm serious, I emptied the whole shelf of those items. I go to the check out line and start emptying my cart onto the counter. There was this stick thin woman in front of me, and her food selections consisted of all vegetables, lean meats, and fruit. She looks at what I am loading onto the check out counter, looks at me, glances down at my stomach, and then looks at all of the boxes of sugary food again. Then:

"Are those any good?" She asks, pointing to the boxes of Honey Buns and fruit bars.

"I have no clue, I've never had them," I respond.

She pointedly glances and my baby bulging stomach and says, 

"Really? Because it looks like you really enjoy them." And then pays for her food, and walks away.

Okay, jerk face. Watch me punch you and then slash your tires. Then shove 100 Honey Buns down your throat.

The clerk couldn't believe what that lady said either, and when it was my turn to check out, he was extremely nice to me.

Basically the moral of the story is, don't be rude. Because lady, that's not fat from gorging myself on Honey Buns. It's a healthy, growing baby boy. And let me tell you, mistaking a pregnant woman as just a fat woman is asking for your home to be burned down. However, even if I was just that fat, it's rude to say things like that. So be nice to everyone, just to be on the safe side! (And because it's the right thing to do.)

Anyway, everything is going well with our little family. Little Benjamin Eli (that is the name we picked out for our baby boy) is growing like crazy. He loves to hear his daddy's voice and use his momma's body as a punching bag alllll day long. Our little doggy Texas is starting to get jealous when Jesus pays more attention to my stomach than he pays to her. When I am sitting down and he's talking to my stomach, Texas will jump up on my stomach and try to push Jesus away from me so he will play with her. Oh, rivalry.

That's life.

We are finally moved into our house with most boxes unpacked! Actually, the only boxes that are still packed are filled with my books. And those boxes are so heavy we are just too lazy to move them. But we're working on it.

While it is a great feeling to have our own house, it is also stressful. For example, after we moved in, we've found all these little problems (that I think should not be here, since it is a BRAND NEW house after all). Want to know what we found? Here, I've listed it for you.
1. The window in our  bedroom wasn't installed correctly, so when it was raining outside, the water was coming inside. Therefore, the brick work around the window had to be taken out so the window could get fixed. Then they had to repair the dry wall inside and repaint. It also happened that while they were trying to put the window blinds back up, the broke them. So we also had to get those replaced. Oh and while they were  taking the brick off the house,  they ended up having to repaint the garage as well because of the brick hitting and scratching it as it fell down to the ground.
2. We also had a leak in our bathroom because instead of them putting in a drain in the shower that would fit, they put one in that would look really good. And it did look good. But hmmm...a good looking drain cover that doesn't fit, or one that does? So many options. Anyway, since the drain cover thingy didn't fit, the water wasn't going into the drain pipe, therefore making it leak everywhere else outside the shower. How did the plumber first try to fix the problem? By warping and pounding in the cover until it was so jammed into the shower that it fit. And looked like crap. We had them come back out, because that kind of shoddy work just doesn't work with us. They finally figured out to put in a drain cover that fit and fixed the leak and voila! That problem is taken care of.
3. Next, the floor boards in the upstairs level were not completely nailed in. Resulting in loose and noisy floor boards. (We could actually feel them move when we walked on them because they weren't set correctly.) The framers came back out, had to remove the carpet, and fixed the problem.
4. There is a leak in our garage. However, the plumber can't figure out what its from, so he doesn't want to start cutting into the walls until he can see the water leaking for himself. I showed him the picture documentation that I have, showing the pool of water and leak, but since he can't see it with his own eyes, he is doubtful about the problem. Oh plumbers. You gotta love them. So we still have that problem.

This is a picture of our new house. 

Two story, three bedroom, 2 1/2 bathrooms, and HUGE backyard!

On to better news....we have one lucky baby boy!! Want to know why? Well don't worry, I made a list for this also.
1. At our mid pregnancy ultrasound, the doctor found cysts in the brain. It's not a huge deal, it doesn't cause any learning defects, but it is a marker for genetic disorders. We had to go to a specialist and genetic counselor, but when they did their own ultrasound, all the cysts were amazingly gone. Thank you to everyone who kept us in their prayers!
2. We were in a car accident when I was 22 weeks along, with the other person's car hitting me on the passenger side. He didn't t-bone us or anything, it was a side swipe, from him illegally trying to pass us on the right hand shoulder. Idiot. Anyway, he ended up denting the car along my side and completely taking off the front. Nice. And of course this happened right after we got our taxes done, finding out that we owe the IRS over $1000. The paramedics were called out since my stomach was tight and the baby stopped moving. I ended up going to the hospital later that day because after 6 hours, I still hadn't felt him move. At the hospital the wonderful staff let us listen to his heartbeat for a while and then did an ultrasound. The baby was completely fine! The doctor said he was probably just scared from the jolt he felt in the car accident, and that he could feel all my anxiety, resulting in him not wanting to move so much. Thank you again to everyone who kept us in their prayers!
3. Of course this baby is super lucky, because after all, he has me and Jesus as his parents! Automatic winner!

Our poor car......it's nose is gone!

Everything else in our life is going great. I love my job, our car is fixed, and the insurance placed the blame 100% on the other guy (so he gets to pay for the car, paramedics, and hospital). We have really nice neighbors that live next door and our new ward is great. It is the best ward we have been in since moving to Texas. I am going to Fresno March 22-27 to visit family and have a baby shower. Family and presents...always a good combination!

Here is a bump picture for all of you that have been waiting for one.

That's all for now, but I'll keep you updated!

It's a BOY!!

In case you haven't heard the good news, we are having a boy! 

When I told my mom the news, she said, "Do my kids know how to have anything else?!" Haha which is true...all of her children have had sons. What can I say? Boy's are pretty great. Jesus is super happy that it is a boy, and can you guess for what reason? So he can dress him in Green Bay apparel. I'm not joking. 

Speaking of Green Bay and my husband, did you know that a while ago I walked into the bathroom and found him using my razor to shave a "G" into his chest hair. I'm serious!! Gah it was so funny (because he really messed up), but I was slightly sickened by it since he was using my razor...thanks honey.

Anyway, Little Baby Boy is strong and healthy and we couldn't be happier! 

A Bun in the Oven

Life has gotten a lot busier. And all in good ways. In case you haven't heard already, Jesus and I are having a baby!! I'm 15 weeks along so far, everything is going great and the baby's heartbeat is nice a strong. Jesus is loving the fact that he is going to be a father. You can always find him rubbing or kissing my tummy.

I found out about being pregnant after taking 4 pregnancy tests (I just wanted to make sure), which all came out positive. I was so excited with all the evidence that I had to tell Jesus right away. Instead of trying to be a wife that thinks of a cute way to break the news, I ran to find him. Which was in the bathroom. (I know, perfect timing right??) Anyway, in my excitement, I couldn't wait, so I ran into the bathroom, giddy with joy and told him about the great news. He was soo excited! And then remembered he was in the bathroom, so I told him to hurry up while I wait in the other room. 

In case you don't realize it, a lot of our best moments happen in bathrooms. Jesus proposed to my while I was putting make up on in the bathroom. I told him about our new baby in the bathroom. Yep. Bathrooms are special places.

In a few days we are going to California to visit our family and spend Christmas with them. I can't wait to see them again and see our friends there. Too bad we can't stay for longer. Besides our own addition that is baking in the oven, two of my brothers just recently recently had babies. Jackson was born to Jonathan and Michelle, making it so they have four kids. Oliver was born to Brian and Liz, making him their second child. Along with our future addition, my mother will have 7 grandchildren. Not a bad number, right??

 This was at our first ultrasound at 8 weeks. 

Here's a look at the little thing. 

And for this being 8 weeks along, you can see the baby pretty well.

Anyway, life is going great, and I know it's going to get better.

Blessssssssings

Have you ever had certain years where it doesn't feel like the holiday season at all? And when you think about up coming holidays it seems like you just don't care? Well that's how I've been for a while, but this year! I'm already listening to Christmas music, Jesus and I made a Fall wreath, we've planted fall colored flowers, the whole shebang. I'm am soooo excited. And not just for the holidays, but because I love this weather. Especially after moving to Texas, I am definitely loving the cool weather. So nice. Love it!

 Look at the pretty wreath we made!!! That's right, we made it!

This is the wreath hanging on the door. Super cute, huh?

So if you read my previous blog, you'll know that we've been working on our marriage and it is working out pretty well. But I do have to admit, right after I wrote that last blog about trying to be nicer to my husband, he did something (I don't even remember what it was) but I reallllllly had the urge to kind of strangle him. Just a little bit. How pathetic am I?! But for the record, I kept my choking urge to myself and instead counted a bunch of numbers until I relaxed. And I have found that trying to count in Spanish works much faster. Who knows why? But if it works, it works. Anyway, by us being more patient and less snappy with each other, our marriage/communication/life is getting a lot better and there's hardly been any strangling urges! Yes! Obviously we are still going to keep improving since, you know, improving yourself and you marriage, basically, takes like, oh lets say, forever! But with each other and God, it's not such a bumpy ride.

Recently a HUGE blessing in our lives is that I stopped working at Target. I loved the people I worked with and it was a really good environment, but I would work just about every Sunday. Which means I never really went to church. I remember how in primary and young women's the leaders would always talk about not working on Sundays because it's the Lord's day and we should keep the Sabbath Day holy and let me just say, follow their words! They were right, by not working Sunday's, you get mucho grande extra blessings. Even though I didn't like working Sunday's I felt like I had to (for money so we can pay rent/bills/etc.), but after lots of prayer and conversations, Jesus and I decided to have faith and trust in the Lord that He would somehow help us so we can keep His Sabbath Day holy. And while it's scary taking a jump like that (after all, there are a lot of doubts. Example: What if we don't have enough money to pay our bill/rent?), we definitely made the right choice. It was actually pretty amazing. After we had a long talk about me quitting Target and how it would all work out financially,  I got a call from my old job at H&R Block and they wanted to hire me again, but this time in a better position (both in a hierarchy and monetary sense) and guess what? Weekends off! What I make there now is about double what I made at Target working the same about of hours. It is pretty amazing and I am thankful everyday. So the moral of this story is: Listen to what your leaders say in church and follow it! Because the Lord will provide for you when you are doing what He asks of you. True deal.

The Gratitude Project

I realize that reading this post title makes it sound like one of those "Oh my gosh I love this, this, and this, and I'm so incredibly thankful for that, that, and that" but relax, it won't get that sappy or boring. Because I mean really, when am I ever sappy or boring? Like, never.

Anyway, I decided to make my blog more about gratitude and less about complaining. The reason for this? No, it wasn't because Jesus came to me in a dream and told me to have more gratitude so people will follow my example (although that would've been nice), it was because, like all newlywed couples, we kind of argue a little (lot) bit.

So after this particular arguement, all I could think of was poooooor me, and how wronged I have been, and how I deserve soooo much better. I had this whole plan worked out to where I would make a new blog with an unknown identity, and write about all the problems and frustrations of marriage. In my little dream, the blog would become famous. Super famous, like Julie and Julia blog famous. And then the search for my identity would begin, it would come to light that I was the creator of that masterpiece, and I would become a celebrity over night. I would then be on radio shows, write books about marriage and how husbands just don't understand wives, blah, blah, blah. Oh, and I would become a multimillionaire. Obviously.

But then, after thinking about what a good idea that was, I thought to myself, "wait, if I write a blog like this, I don't think my husband will be too happy. And it will probably lead to another argument, but probably 100 times bigger." And I have to admit, it's a good thing I have these second thoughts before I jump into something head first. Because let's be honest, I probably wouldn't become famous, people would probably in fact think that my honesty was just a bunch of complaining (which, really, it would be). And the most important thing that I realized in my second thoughts, was that I wasn't thinking about my husband at all. I was thinking just about me, me, me (which is never smart in marriage). So instead of writing that new wannabe famous blog, I thought about what I could do to improve my marriage. And just so you know, I am not saying I have a bad marriage. I love my husband completely, and I adore being married to him. But no matter what stage of marriage you are in, it can always be improved. Always. 


I realized that it is so easy to look at our married friends, and judge them, thinking, "Oh my gosh, I can't believe she/he did that." But it's so much harder to look at myself and say, "Oh my gosh, I can't believe I just did that." Because that would be admitting I did something wrong, not the other person. It is 100 times easier to deny something than to accept it, but it feels 1,000 times better to accept it.
So here is a list of what I am no longer denying, but accepting that I do in my marriage that has a negative consequence.

1) I expect too much. I got a fortune cookie last week and do you know what it said? It said, "Keep your expectations reasonable." Seriously, it said that. I'm pretty sure God saved that cookie for me, because I really needed it.
2) I want Jesus to notice everything I do. If I vacuum/do laundry/clean the car/etc., I want him to say thank you, or some form of praise. I want recognition from him on EVERYTHING. And when I didn't get that praise, I would get my feelings hurt, and then would think, "Well. See if I do something for you again!" Which really is kind of ridiculous.
3) I snap at him really easily, without even knowing it (which is a big part of the problem).
4) I want him to baby me. Which in reality, I don't need him to do.
5)I don't express as much affection to him as I should. I actually take a lot he does for granted.

Now. After accepting these facts, here is was I'm going to do to try to change myself. (And I hope you notice I said, "change myself" because you can't change your spouse. Marriage isn't about changing the other person, it's about changing yourselves to become better and the best couple you can be.)
So here is my plan. I am going to make my expectations reasonable. If I ask Jesus to make the bed, and he doesn't do it the way I normally do it, instead of being critical, I am going to keep my mouth shut. Because in all honesty, as long as the job is done, does it matter how it happened?

Next, instead of doing things and thinking, "I can't wait until Jesus sees how I organized this, he's going to be so happy!" I am going to do things for me. The laundry needs to be folded? Ok, I'll do it because I like the clothes to be put away. The sink is dirty? I'll clean it because I love a shiny sink. I get crabby when my environment isn't clean, so now I clean for me (to help my attitude) instead of thinking that I do all this for him.

When it comes to snapping at him, I think changing this will be the hardest. But I'm going to try my best. And you know what is helping so far? Imagining that Christ is in the room. Because in all honesty, I should show him the same respect that I show to the Lord. I know that seems kind of extreme, but hey, if it works, it works.

I've realized I don't need Jesus to baby me. Sure, I adore the comforting hugs I get from him when I'm sad, but I don't need him to baby me. After all, I'm an adult. I am married to an adult, and I am pretty sure that the adult I married to would like to feel that he is married to an adult as well.
I am also going to show more affection. I am going to show more affection in my words and my actions. And this doesn't mean having loads of more sex. It means being more considerate of him, kissing him hello and goodbye, holding his hand more, being nicer to him when I speak to him, etc. It's like how when I first discovered my love for him, how I always wanted to touch him, gaze at him, hug him, kiss him, and by golly, it's gonna be that way again.

Last but not least, I am going to be more grateful. When I am upset with Jesus, instead of thinking of all of the things he does wrong, I am going to concentrate on all the things he does right. All the things we do right together. It's like when you focus on one thing, that is what you become obsessed about. So instead of focussing and obsessing about what he does wrong, I am going to focus on and obsess about all the great things he does and what great things we can do as a couple.

This is my list so far of the changes I'm making and I'm sure the list will grow. And just so you know, I'm not perfect, and Jesus isn't perfect. He makes a lot of mistakes too, just like I do. This isn't just about me trying to change myself. Jesus is also trying to change himself. After all, it takes two to make a marriage and with us helping each other to become the best, and with God's help as well, I know we will be the bestest couple ever (it just takes a lot of work).

Oh, and I'll keep you updated on how these changes are going ;-)

A New Leaf

Ahhhhhhh. Mmmm. That is the sound of our satisfaction over our new apartment. Ahhhh. It’s amazing!

So incase you didn’t know the drama, the apartment that we first moved into after moving to Texas turned out to be horrible. The management screwed us over and the tenants were super ghetto. Although it looked like a (somewhat) nice complex, it’s the kind of place where once I got home from work, I would call Jesus and he would walk outside to watch me get out of the car and come inside safely. It wasn’t a great place for our pup, Texas, either since she is afraid of black people and it was mostly black people that lived there. No matter what the personality of the person was, if they were black she was cowering away. Poor dear. It’s so ghetto that someone actually stole our windshield wipers. Before a storm. Awesome people. 

To make things worse, the location of our apartment was horrible. It was right next to the playground. After listening to how those little kids spoke to each other (always cussing, they knew more swear words then I do!), and how they acted towards each other (pushing each other down and shoving them up against fences), I have decided that if my kids act like that, I’m going to give them away. I will let someone else have them. Which is what I figure their biological parents did, because those parents sure as heck were never around. Jeez. They probably ran away from their kids. All the mean kids dominated the play ground while the nicely behaved kids stayed by their front door. I’m guessing the parents of the non-cussing children didn’t want them playing with the other meanies. Who could blame them?

Anyway, when our lease was almost completed we gave them our 60 day notice saying we’re blowing that joint. Later that week, we received a notice that since we had given them our notice, they could enter our apartment (whether we are there or not) for any reason. They gave the example that they may come in to show a future resident our floor plan. To which Jesus called them up, very angry, and in his he-man, gun-slinging, tough guy ways told them that if anyone dares to enter our apartment, which by law is our home until our lease is completed, they will be considered an illegal intruder and will be treated as such. He then went on to question them about what kind of B/S excuse was coming into our apartment to show the floor plan, when they have models. To show future residents. With the same floor plan. Yeah, obviously this complex was not very smart. So after many heated and frustrating conversations, we are finally out of that garbage hole, and on the bright side, we have learned some valuable lessons. 

Onto our new apartment. Ahhh it’s just so...nice! It is in a completely different town, mostly white people, which is good for our racist dog. It also happens that many of the tenants here work for the airport (flight attendants, security, etc.), so they aren’t around much. Which means good parking, and it is extremely quite. We are literally right next to 3 parks, a wildlife trail, and some other great attractions. Right across is a dog park, which Texas loves. However, instead of playing with other dogs, she runs to the people and tries to get them to pet her. Jeez, you’d think she doesn’t get enough attention at home. She has also learned how to manipulate us into giving her Pupperonies. Whenever we open the door, she will race out, turn around, sit down, and just stare at us. If we call her in (even using our serious voice), she just wags her tail and continues sitting. Then we get her bag of Pupperonies, and BOOM! She race’s back inside. Our little manipulator. But, I have to admit, it is partly our fault too, because we are rewarding her bad behavior and by giving her more treats we are just reinforcing that behavior. But she’s just so darn cute. Why wouldn’t we want to give her a treat?!

Back to our great apartment, we have soo much more room!!!!! And we have 10 huge windows here, compared to our last apartment to where we had 4 windows, and 2 glass doors. Anyway, we don’t count those windows either way because we never had the blinds open. It was the kind of place where we always left them closed. Our new place? They are always open. I don’t turn on the lights until it’s night time. Love it!

We have met 2 of our neighbors so far and they are very kind. I never realized how much a neighbor can determine how much you love where you live. Good neighbors make an incredible difference. We are counting our blessings. 

As for other news, work is going great. Jesus is getting even stronger from working in his warehouse all the time. I got promoted at work which is a huge plus. On the down side, I did run into a car. Yeah. Oops! No one was hurt, and I’m just so grateful that it wasn’t anywhere near as bad as it could’ve been. God sure is looking out for our little family. 

I’m learning how to cook more and more every day. I can successfully make 

1) pecan pie (after I realized you should use corn SYRUP not corn OIL), 2) mashed potatoes, 3) chicken, 4) easy chicken pot pie, 5) enchiladas, 6) enfrijoladas, 7) meat loaf, 8) pot roast 9) and much more. I just can’t remember everything off the top of my head. 

Basically life is great. We love our new place, love each other and our doggie, love God, and love our family. Yeah, I’d definitely say life is great.