Confessions of a first trimester pregnant woman

I'm back and I have a very important announcement!

WE'RE HAVING A BABY!

I'm currently about 9 weeks pregnant and feeling every bit of it! I've been absent for the past week because morning (ahem, all-day) sickness and sleep have taken every bit of spare time I've had. I'm feeling more like myself now, though, and I'm hoping it lasts a while!

However, they say that confession is good for the soul, and I have a few things that I feel would should not be kept from you, dear reader. You should know what I've been up to while I've been gone.

I have this fear that, at my next doctor's appointment, the doctor is going to look up from the sonogram and say:

"I don't know this happened, but your baby seems to have turned into a spicy chicken sandwich!"

In between bouts of nausea, I shoveled in fast food fried chicken as fast as I could. I ate junk foods that I normally don't even like, but they were the only thing I could even think about eating without getting sick.

 I've lost count of how many trips we've made to that nice restaurant that has the picture of the girl with the red pig tails.

Now, does that even make sense? Fried chicken on a queasy stomach? Don't try to reason with this pregnant woman, it's no use.

I couldn't, until Friday, so much as look at a slice of homemade bread, smell a cooking egg, or eat a vegetable. Dairy? Out of the question. Eat my greens? No way. Water? Ick.

Chicken nuggets? YES! French fries? PLEASE! Coca cola? MORE!

Why am I telling you this? Because I want you to know this - choosing to live a healthy lifestyle does not mean constantly denying yourself everything you like.


I want you to remember this mantra as you're trying to transition into a healthier lifestyle:


What you do most of the time is way more important than what you do some of the time. 

Any decision you make to better your health or benefit our lovely earth is better than doing nothing.

Do not get overwhelmed and give up. Make one change a month. At the end of the month, if it's too hard, change something else instead.

Exercising once a week is better than exercising never.

Eating ice cream and a banana is better than just eating ice cream.

And the list goes on. Do you see what I'm saying here? Changes brought about drastically and quickly will not last. Ones that are introduced slowly and gradually will.

And you know what? Some day, you'll look at all that processed, chemical laden "food" and say to yourself, "Why did I ever think that tasted good?"

Until, of course you get pregnant. Then, you will remember it all. With a vengeance.



                                            This post is a a part of Monday Mania

Stewardship

Since this is my first week of blogging, I thought I'd spend a few days introducing myself and explain why this lifestyle I've chosen is so important to me. If you want to start at the beginning, click here.

In those first few weeks after Isabella was born, I had a lot to process. I was celebrating. I was mourning. I was thinking a lot. The death of my brother made me take a hard look at everyone around me. Those I loved, those I read about in the news, those I passed in the grocery store. I realized something. We are a country of sick people. Pharmacies are booming because diseases like depression, IBS, chronic pain, diabetes, cancer and more are becoming more and more common each year. I looked at my family history with new eyes. I had to face up to the fact that I have a very strong history of mental illness in my family background. I had to realize that chronic pain is no joke, and I didn't want my daughter to struggle as I had, and especially not as my mother has.

As soon as I got the ok from my doctor, I started to run. I've run before, but this time I had to run. I was running away from sickness and towards a life of health. I got angry - at what happened to my brother, at sickness, at sadness, at weakness, and yes, even sometimes at God. Giving my family the best opportunities to be healthy went from a hobby to a big priority.

I know that sickness happens. I know that emotional disorders are real diseases that can strike anyone, no matter how healthy. Believe me, I do. However, I also know that as the keeper of my home I have the responsibility to give my family the best, and that mean not giving in to what's "normal" today. It means doing my research and making some changes. This blog is to share this journey and invite you to come along.

Living naturally is not just about my family's health, though. As I mentioned before, I believe it is our God-given responsibility to be good stewards of what we have.

Stewardship


That's an important word in our household. We've been given much, and we feel the weight of that responsibility. I want to know that I've made the most of what I have.

We want to be wise with our money. I have been surprised to find out that we have actually saved a good bit of money with most of the changes we've made. If it costs more than the mainstream alternative, I'm probably going to look for another way. I often say about cloth diapering that the environment made me think about it, but our budget made me actually do it!

We want to be wise with the earth's resources. If I can conserve resources at all, I do. That old saying "reduce, reuse, recycle" is a great mantra, if not a little overused. I know we've saved ourselves a lot of money, clutter and guilt by adopting this mindset.

Phew, all I set out to do was share a little about myself, and I ended up taking all week! Well, I'm done now, I'll move on to more exciting things come Monday. We're going to learn to make our own...well, you'll just have to come back and see!

What's one thing you do to be a good steward of what you've been given?

After a while, that word steward starts to sounds funny. Steward. steward. steward.

I'll stop now. Have a great weekend! Go do something crunchy!