marvelous world of biceps, triceps and wonder

Okay, so y'all know that I'm trying this new working out deal with being pregnant and all... It's kind of difficult for me to feel motivated to work out when I'm with Cecilia. When I go walking outside, I like to walk really quickly and listen to really loud music to keep myself motivated - so I've been going right after school every day (with Mike's motivation - thank you to my wonderful husband) when I can. However, when I'm alone with Cecilia, I don't really want to go walk and blast music in case she tries to talk to me and I'm ignoring her - you know, Mother's Guilt and all ;)

So, when I'm home alone, I need to find some new resources. It's difficult to find free pregnancy exercises online because people probably make BANK on pregnancy exercise DVDs and all that jazz. Enter in Doctor Cathy! I stumbled upon her on YouTube, and she is uh-mazing! Just watch like two seconds of her video below - you'll see how incredible looking and in shape she is. I love that she's hugely pregnant, but she is RIPPED in her arms and has awesome legs. Oookay, I admit, I have a woman-crush on her amazing body - she has been such a great motivation to me already! Please watch for yourself...

I mean, right?! She also has some great prenatal and postnatal exercises as well as a lot of nutritional videos on her YouTube Channel. Anyway, gotta keep motivated on my new Pregnancy-I'm-Gonna-Look-Hot-Plan! 

I'm hoping Mike can use some of his photography skills (we'll see if any exist) to snap some pics for me of my pregnancy belly. Last time, my friend Lexy Popa offered to do some maternity pics for me, and they were so awesome. I am eternally grateful for my amazingly talented friends who share their craft with my family and me. Remember the incredible Christina Lafferty?? She snapped gorgeous family photos for us. And, of course, I can never forget the generosity, kindness and overwhelming talent of my wedding photographer, Kristen Grinnell who captured our day better than I could have imagined. All of these women, and so many more creative, gifted people in my life open my eyes to more of the beauty of this world. They remind me of what it is to find more of the wonder of this world... that gazing upon the beauty of the simplest of moments, I can be found.

Okay, I'm done talking up the incredible people who I am surrounded by - but I am truly overcome with gratefulness for the people that the Lord has put into my life. I truly am so blessed.

"And for a moment we realize that we were born into a world as astonishing as any fairy tale. A world made for romance."

it has arrived!!

...my bump, that is :)

I realize I should probably put a picture with an exclamation like that, but it's dark out, and I'm not feeling so hot, yada yada... So, my apologies.

But really, I'm about 19 weeks now, and the bump is like - HUGE - and it literally came out of nowhere. I was really going to try to get through this whole pregnancy not looking pregnant at all, but that dream has finally ended with a huge bump that I'm growing (ahem) to love.

All of a sudden, with this expanding bump came the realization - HOLY CRAP I'M PREGNANT. I've literally been living every day with Cecilia and Mike like there is nothing else going on around us - when in reality, there is something very real, very life-changing, and very important happening inside of me.

With this awareness, I decided (well, we decided) that it's time to buckle down. I have approximately 20 weeks left of pregnancy to get fit, full and fabulous! Well, the fit part is really the main goal here. Mike and I decided that I should probably simmer down on my insanely high craving for sugar, sugar, sugar! and get better about the things that I am putting into my mouth for nutrition for myself and for the baby. This is tending to be a problem, as my brain literally canNOT stop thinking about above said-word that I shouldn't say... sugar.

I wake up, hm.... muffins! cereal! I get home from school... cereal! ice cream! cake! donuts! soda! anything unhealthy - get in mah belly!


Like, literally. This happened to become a trend and a growing problem. So we decided that we'll eat healthier together and that I would start walking 30 minutes a day to get my body ready for labor.

When we had Cecilia, we decided that it would be really awesome to try to have a natural delivery. I was so excited - and read up a lot on the hows and the tos to having a natural, safe and exciting childbirth experience. Alas, when the time came, we hadn't done our homework well enough, tripped up with a few things here and there, and I got an epidural with Cecilia coming to greet us a few hours later. To be honest, I still tend to struggle with this decision and action that happened as I was hopeful and excited to receive all of the benefits of a natural delivery. However, since I can't go back - and Cecilia was the most beautiful thing we've ever laid eyes on (and healthy and happy), all I can do is look forward.

This time I said to myself, Self, maybe it was the Bradley Method that had it all wrong - maybe I should research different natural childbirth resources and tap into those. I then stumbled upon HypnoBabies which is "a childbirth course that teaches painless childbirth techniques so mothers can enter hypnosis, deepen it themselves and remain mobile during labor, completely comfortable at times." Side note - you have to fully and intentionally believe in hypnosis and its abilities in order for this to work. Forget this. Back to Bradley.


I really did love the Bradley method of childbirth, and so I am excited to dive back into the infamous book, "Natural Childbirth: Bradley Way" which is an incredible book teaching all of the approaches to childbirth from Dr. Bradley. I am excited to jump into this adventure head first - well, belly first at times - and am optimistic that Mike and I will be even more well-read and comfortable with labor and childbirth, that things will go exactly as planned. Oh wait, never MY plans... HIS. I guess at that point - at the hospital, a few hours into labor, Mike tired from me hanging on him to get through contractions - it is all REALLY up to Him as to when He would like us to meet our little man/girl.

So, I'm pregnant. Weird to write that. And I'm ready to dive in and do whatever I can to have a healthy, happy and exciting childbirth and baby.

Now, what to do about this sweet tooth - that's the BIG question.

the first of many

It has been quite a year, well, year and nine months for us. We celebrated Cecilia's very first birthday this past week - and it has been quite an adventure. I cannot believe that the Lord has blessed us with such an amazing angel, and that He felt we were worthy enough to take care of her soul here on earth. We are truly so blessed.

We had the immense pleasure of hosting Cecilia's birthday party here at our home with our dear family who, for some of them, saw the house for the very first time! We were extremely blessed to have Michael's family and my family help us along the way with party planning and execution. It was such a fun day!

Here are some photo ops that Maggie and I took throughout the day:

The centerpieces, filled with lemonheads, oranges and some flowers.

Nina Tiffy gave Cecilia a car for her first birthday - so that was definitely the hit of the day. Joey and Leila both had a lot of fun pushing Cecilia around the yard.

The two cuties - Cecilia and cousin Anisa. They both like stripes - obvi!

Tio Josh preventing some dead bush mishap with Cecilia's leg - thanks Tio!

Auntie Furgie and Cecilia after blowing out the candle... on the awesome cake that Auntie Lori got from La Dolce Pesca the yummiest (and most awesomely designed) cakes in town!

This is the special recipe of deliciousness upon deliciousness topped with deliciousness. Yum.

Grandpa John getting a little loopy ;) 

The cousins!

Uncle Zach scared her with his beard.

Nina Tiffy giving some love.

This is us with Josh, Susie and Anisa! 

It was really such a fun day, and we are so happy that we pulled off a great party with very little mishaps. It's such a joy to see this process of growing up - for Cecilia and for me. It's such an exciting trail to be on - to see what it is that she grows to love, grows to care for - what she grows to hold true and dear. What her passions may be, what will set her on fire. I cannot wait to see the fire in her eyes when she talks passionately about something, I can't wait until she looks everywhere and then some to find herself, only to go back to where she began - to look inside herself and find Him waiting for her with open arms. I can't wait to see her mischief and her attempt at deception (when, let's face it, parents always know everything). She has already given us so many laughs and so many tears of joy - I pray that the Lord grants us worthy to see her out for so many more.

We also shared some (insanely!) exciting news - WE'RE PREGNANT! Woop woop! We just couldn't resist getting pregnant again while Josh and Susie are too - I mean, what fun is just ONE new baby in the family without his best friend?? Ha - we are expecting a new little one around the end of June/beginning of July. We are so excited and thrilled to see Cecilia interact with a new baby and her new best friend. It will definitely be an insane adventure and one for many more blogs!

So that's the scoop - it may not be the planning and timing precisely as we expected, but what's the saying? - "When you make plans, God laughs."

I mean, He's been laughing since day one ;)

"I would rather live in a world where my life is surrounded by mystery than live in a world so small that my mind could comprehend it."

Love.