B Negative

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b-To some of you this title you may shake your head at and think “That’s a horrible way to think” or maybe “Tia is such a happy go lucky person what is this about?”. First, this is not me promoting Negativity, and Second if the “Tia is such a happy… blah blah blah”  got you to stay here and read it, please let me know so I can send my old english teachers this and tell them their time attempting to teach me was not in vain. Proud moment right there.

Anywho’s The Man and I went to the Dr. yesterday. I love my Doctor he has such a weird sense of humor and he is an amazing doctor. The last time I saw the doctor I was so sick with a cold and a nasty cough, so this time not having to wipe my nose every 5 seconds, and being able to carry on a conversation without coughing up a lung was a bonus. Last time we were in there apparently they told me they were going to give me a shot… No big deal. However, I forgot so when the nurse came in telling me I was getting one I was less than ecstatic. I was even less thrilled when they stabbed me in the tushy. This is when I found out that I am a B- blood type apparently that’s pretty rare but because The Man is O+ the shot is necessary.  Yesterday they also had me do that diabetes test, which I cannot remember for the life of me what the technical name is. I wasn’t supposed to have any sugar yesterday which I was ok with until I realized that included fruit, but mainly just bananas.

I was told that weird cravings are part of pregnancy. But seriously 3-4 bananas a day? Is my potassium that low? When people ask me about my cravings I would love to tell them “pickles! baked potatoes, and ice-cream!” but most of that makes my stomach turn. I honestly just wantbananas bananas all the time. Yesterday, I didn’t have a banana with breakfast, I had to chug this orange sugar drink, and come time for my appointment I was beyond grumpy and  THEN they took my blood, and stabbed me in the tushy.  BUT THEN we got to hear our little girls heart beat and watch her literally kick at our Doctor.

I guess time will only tell if she is really already a natural at soccer like her aunts, or if she is training to be a world class kick boxer.

 


 

Fell off the Wagon

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I have recently fallen off the Blogging-Band-Wagon or just the internet wagon all together. I could give you all a hundred of excuses, but I really only have  2; 1. I’m pregnant. (That gets me out of just about everything.) 2.  A little while ago I got a job.  Not that I was looking for one, but it was literally gift wrapped for me and I accepted. Since then my life has been full of phone-calls, messages, brochures, advertising, and March Madness. Oh and a moving little gremlin inside of me.

I have some fun facts I can still wear 3 of my favorite pairs of jeans. (Though as my mom would point out it’s because they don’t sit at my waist they sit a number of inches beneath it.) However, I can only wear a few of my pre-maternity shirts. Besides my updated wardrobe I have discovered a few yoga babythings. I never imagined how amazing it would be to feel the baby move. I also never imagined how emotional I would become when I watched semi-touching movies. I never knew how quickly I could fall in love with someone I haven’t even met yet. I never imagined how quickly I would be able to sprint to a bathroom when the Gremlin decides to do yoga.

The Man and I have made some changes lately we sold our Scion TC and bought a car with 4 doors and more trunk space. We  bought a glider chair for down stairs and now we are thinking we need one for the nursery as well. Your thoughts on this issue? I’m a little bit anti-pink and am troubled by the lack of options if I don’t
dress her in pink. I worry that one day she will wake up and realize she really likes dolls and such. At which point I’m going to have to tell her I don’t own one, and give her one of the hot-wheels cars
my brother and I used to play with when we were little.  Other changes would be our sleeping arrangements. Normally I’m such a cuddle-er that The Man can not escape me (I blame my dad for this leech gene) and I still am.  However, he has been replaced with one of the greatest inventions on the planet THE BODY PILLOW. I love this little piece of heaven and am grateful every night for the late Christmas/Early Birthday present.

Though I have come to realize something about being pregnant. It’s not always “Oh look at that cute pregnant lady!” Sometimes it’s “You are bigger than so and so and she is due next week!”  Let’s face it short women of the world we will NEVER be the ones where the “baby bump” is a cute little photobump.   We will be the ones that people say phrases like this about “she is big enough to pop!” and we smile and say “3 more months!” back to them. Later we will go home and after we seem to bump into EVERYTHING (Let’s be honest here it’s not called a bump just because it sticks out) find ourselves in tears because we aren’t as small as we used to be. After a shower, we pull our hair back, slide under the covers, curl up with our body pillow, and then… want a banana. Story of my life.

I was told one of the best things to do while you are pregnant is to exercise. I’m not one of those people who exercises and doesn’t see results. If I pick up a weight I tone. (Except my abs those I really have to work for.) I’ve never not been able to run a 5k.  Now, I get winded when I walk up the stairs, which usually causes me to break down into hysterical laughter. Honestly, being pregnant is amazing. There is literally a miracle growing inside of me right now.  Though she occasionally keeps me up at night fretting over what kind of mom I will be, or wakes me up in early morning hours with her kicks (and i’m sure giggles). But isn’t this how it’s going to be? In the years to come I’ll stay up late worrying about my kids, and the mom I am.  I’ll wake up in wee hours of the morning simply to make sure they are ok. I’ll slowly get accustomed to life, then it will change unexpectedly.  That is how it’s supposed to be change helps us to grow.  I know I wont be a perfect mom, but I have an amazing mom who taught me how to be a really good one (right up there with Mary Poppins)  Over the weekend I heard a quote which left an impression on my heart (RELIGION WARNING) and it is what I am going to leave you all with: Imperfect People

 

 

Facebooking and Entitlement

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Fair warning this is a Rant.  In a  recent brief conversation with a young man, whom I was friends with when I lived down South. He posted on Facebook that he hated a principal because he didn’t do his job, by allowing this kid to switch out of a class and now he is struggling to graduate because of it. I made a comment (which I shouldn’t have) saying “You know unless I’m mistaken it’s the students job to make sure they have the right F on testclasses, and it’s the students’ job to go to class on time and turn in assignments on time. Last time I checked.” He agreed with me, and then said  apparently the teacher was set on failing him no matter how hard he tried to pass. Alrighty, folks here is the deal  I understand some teachers play favorites, I understand that occasionally teenagers think the world is out to get them,  but seriously if you have a problem with the teacher I’m a firm believer in communication.

I don’t think high school life has changed so much in the past 5 years that you can’t go in and talk with a teacher about any issues you have with them. Maybe I am wrong? I had a teacher in High School (most likely the same one as this kid) who didn’t like me, and was rather blunt about it. I was not a bad student (I’m a little OCD and getting things below an “A” bugged me), just this teacher and I didn’t get along. Which probably had a lot to do with me not taking any of the occasionally biased garbage that came out of his mouth. However, when I talked with this teacher about my grade dropping significantly and we went over my previous class work, there was no reason for the drop and I called him on it. My grade went up. I don’t think I’m a better student than the young man who posted on Facebook. However, I went to the source of the problem the teacher, I didn’t try to go over his head to the principal. I went to him and discussed my grade. People, Facebook is not the place to bash those around you, or people you feel have wronged you in some way. If you have an issue with that person go talk with them. You change nothing by posting about it on Facebook.

Next up is Entitlement. I’m expecting a baby to join our family later this year. Naturally, I read a lot less of my medical journals and a lot more on “Parenting for Dummies” “How to talk to your kids”  ”How to be a good Parent” How to…. You get the point right?  This baby is our first and I honestly have no idea what I am in for so reading helps me feel like I am somehow bettering my soon-to-be parent knowledge.  I read an article on Entitlement. It was all about what not to do FOR your kids basically it was all about having your kids do things for themselves. I love this. Not because I’m opposed to helping children, but often times I think we get stuck in autopilot when kids ask for something we just do it for them. Teaching a child to do things for themselves is essential. When I was growing up, I remember having a list of chores which had to be done every day. If they weren’t done I didn’t get to play with my friends on the weekend. On days when I would sorta do my chores, Mom would tell me I could sorta go over meaning she would talk with my friends mom and I could play till they were done talking usually 30 minutes. If I didn’t do my chores it wasn’t a question on if I could go over that weekend. I couldn’t period, and come time for the weekend those chores I didn’t do still had to be done. Or else. (no my parents didn’t beat me… to often but knowing me I probably deserved it.) As a kid though I knew what was expected of me. I knew the consequence for not doing my chores. Which taught me how to do my chores well, and on time. Which would later teach me to do my homework, and turn it in on time. Later still it would teach me to go to work and to go on time and do my job “my chore” well.

I believe, and I may be naive or way off,  that as we grow we need to learn how to take care of situations by ourself, we need to see what needs to change and change it. We need to go directly to the issue and communicate our concerns.  Life isn’t about having someone else take care of an issue for us, it’s about learning and growing so we can handle them ourselves.

 


 

 

 

Things they Don’t tell you

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No this is not a post about things your husband should tell you, but doesn’t. This is a post about my recent pregnancy findings.  First off I’m 5’2 and will carry the baby entirely in front of me because there is no room in my short/no torso body. Which is a-ok with me. I understand that I will be bigger than a fully inflated basketball. I accept this as my pregnancy future. However, what I wish someone would have told me about is the awkward months before you officially start showing. Please allow me to explain. You know how some people can add a few pounds and you can’t really tell? Well, I gained 3 pounds and people were inviting me to come workout with them. Bless their hearts! If only they knew at the time what was going on. I’m not a big person by any means I’m 4+months along and you can barely tell. Not that I’m complaining by any means, but I do wish I would round out a little so people would just know I’m expecting.

WARNING RANT AHEAD: I have seen many women/couples have maternity pictures taken. Now, that’s a great idea. However, women of the world I do not want to see you naked, barely covered, or your bare belly. No one wants to see that. That being said I think black and white maternity pictures are classy and I love them.  I also came across these which I also like.  This first one is from  Feels Like Home Photography (I love a lot of her  pictures when you get a few minutes go check out her blog).

cute pregnancy

 

Yes I know the model is RIDICULOUSLY beautiful she has always been that way, and now she has a beautiful little girl just like her.

cute black and white

The last one is one I found on Pinterest a few days ago and honestly love it to pieces. If I was a cutesy person I would have pictures like this.  Something people don’t tell you is what will pop up if you type in maternity photos in the search bar. It amuses me and semi-grosses me out.

Other things they don’t tell you, besides the chunky phase, is the seemingly weekly new pregnancy symptoms. Like  being congested, itchy skin, bouts

of acne,  uncomfortable sleep (may I just take a moment and tell you all The Man is wonderful? Yes, yes he is. I HIGHLY recommend a body pillow.)  and the one I hate the most mood swings. Now my cousin is currently 6 months pregnant and just barely started having mood swings. I on the other hand am not a big crier. I never really have been. Now however, I cry hardcore, every other week. For no blasted reason. My poor husband I hope he knows I still think he is wonderful and will keep me around. Seriously, I have always thought pregnancy was easy and raising the baby was the hard part (Which I’m sure in a lot of ways is true.) However, I think pregnancy is hard for one HUGE reason. Warning I’m going to get religious.  The Lord is entrusting one of His beautiful children to us. He needs us to realize how desperately we need His help to make this all work out. I struggle a lot with letting others help me I always have. During these past few months I have felt weak, awkward, and not very attractive. I never had a confidence problem, but recently have developed one where I have to ask for help… more than I would like to. It’s hard. I’m not used to it. But I take great comfort in knowing that 1. I married a phenomenal man who literally takes care of me. and 2. The Lord will not leave us comfortless. He is with us always and days when we feel inadequate He is there to remind us of this promise: In Ether 12:27 “And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.”  I consider this my humbling stage, He will help me be a stronger person, a better person, a better wife, a better sister, and eventually a better Mom and for that I am grateful.


 

Twas the Week Before…

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My constant source of amusement (is not seeing what my new pregnancy weekly side effect will be) but is what people name their Pinterest Boards. Some of you I’m sure stalk Pinterest as much as I do errr… maybe you don’t. I would like to share some of these fun board names with you.

“If I was a RedNeck” instead of the typical “For the Home”

“Sew Delightful” her board is clear full of Do It Yourself projects… seriously addicting to look at.  If I had skills like she did I would post stuff like that to.

photo bombI don’t know about you but a lot of times I’m going through Pinterest and I am swarmed with HOW TO Take better Photos and it’s literally pin after pin of how to pose people for pictures. Which leads me to this one “How To Photo Bomb any Picture” this board is chock full (I don’t know if that’s the right phrase but that’s what it sounds like. You get what I’m going for) of people photo-bombing pictures. Simply hilarious.

Finally my most recent find instead of “My Style” it is  ”If I can’t be Naked” seriously?! That is hilarious.

Ah Pinterest you make me laugh.  I have a few accomplishments I would like to share with you all, well actually just one. I fit my Christmas Tree back into its original box, without destroying either of them. Win.  For those of you curious as to what the title of this blog is all about well my friends, Twas the week before the Superbowl and I am trying to make homemade taquitos, I think I just about have it.  Twas the  week before, February. Twas the Week before we find out if we are having a boy or a girl. It’s a big week.

Holiday Hibernation

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I have never quite understood why some animals hibernate, but this winter up here in Bear Lake I finally understand. It’s been frigid to say the least. I must again apologize for my absence I basically lost all hope for humanity after my last post.  Though I may have lost all hope I still have quite a bit to say.  Hence my unexpected return from my Holiday Hibernation. The Holidays were wonderful, and for me they just ended on Monday (yes I count my birthday as part of the Holidays don’t judge.) There have been some huge changes in my life lately, mainly because of New Years Resolutions which, as I have admitted on several occasions, I have an unhealthy addiction to. A few of my resolutions are:

1. Have Morning Prayer.  REASONING: I do really well at night-time saying prayers, but well the Mornings tend to kick my not-so-little Holiday 60 secondsHiney.

2. Learn to play the guitar. REASONING: The Man plays the drums… I’ve always wanted to be in a band. DISCLAIMER: this was also one of last years resolutions I’m still working on it.

3. Have a healthy pregnancy, and carry the baby full term.  (Hey world, I’m going to have a baby.)

Alright Resolutions are not what I wanted to talk about today. I had a conversation with my Mom last night, and she told me all about her 1 Minute Plan. It goes like this. When you are walking through your home and you see something that you need to take care of and it will only take a minute DO IT RIGHT THEN. I love this idea, and may or may not be already slightly addicted. If you think it will take more than a minute come back to it later. (if there are a ton of more than 1 Minute projects in your house I would suggest Mom’s 15 Minute plan.)  I would HIGHLY recommend this plan simply because it’s amazing to me how quickly the “little” piles of stuff disappear.

 

A Letter to the World

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Sandy BrookWith the Sandy Brooks Elementary school shooting still being talked about by the media and is a topic many people have had in grocery stores, Facebook,  and everywhere else imaginable. You don’t need me to re-account the details. But I read a comment somewhere that said “If there is a God why would he let this happen to innocent children?” This question rocked me a little, I had the same thought when I first heard the news. I read the stories, and checked the news feed to see if I had all the facts. Which I’m sure I don’t.  But what I do have is this closure.  As a person who doesn’t have children of my own yet, I do have nieces and nephews and a sister, who are in Elementary school I cried when I saw the news, and continue to pray for those affected. I came across a video clip by a man whose daughter was killed in the shooting.

I hate that this man and his family and so many other families have to go through this. I love his outlook and his testimony of love and forgiveness.  In response to the comment I read which said “If there is a God why would he let this happen to innocent children?” My response is this, God gave us the power to choose for ourselves, He gave us Agency. His heart aches when an act like this happens, He grieves, but He can’t decide for us. The man who did this will be brought before his Maker and be judged for what he has done, just like we all will.  If you don’t want to believe in God that is fine, I’m not going to tell you what to believe and neither is He. God is a gentlemen, He waits for us to open the door to let Him in.

As for the Children who were killed, I know that they are with God, and are absolutely perfect, and they will one day be reunited with their family’s again.

Relationships

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The Man and I had our First Anniversary a few weeks ago, and since I have been so crazy with Christmas, and new callings in life, I haven’t spent much time here. For that my friends I apologize. However, I have recently found a book that I have taken to reading, (it was given to us for a wedding present and I am just now getting around to reading this one)  It’s called  The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work. I actually started reading it when we were first married, but only read the first chapter or so. I picked it up again and came to the second chapter which is entitled How I Predict Divorce, mind you, this book was written by relationship experts so the science part of my brain tends to listen better to people who conduct studies and freely admit that relationships are difficult and unique.

Anywho’s I feel like we reached a mile marker passing our first anniversary for those of you with years of experience in this area I applaud you. We will some day join that elite group. When I came to the second chapter of the book he mentions what he calls “The Four Horsemen”  1. Criticism 2. Contempt 3. Defensiveness and 4. Stonewalling.  As a red-head defensiveness and anger tend to go with my personality. I am a fighter not a lover in this category; I love to be right, and when I know I am wrong well I Stonewall. Why would I admit such things? I’m comfortable enough to admit that I am not perfect, and occasionally I’m a pain in the butt.   The Man and I, during our first few months of being married, seemed to disagree more often than we do now, but then again we talk a lot more now than we used to.  As I read this book I’m sure you will hear more about this, but basically the moral of the story is this. LEARN TO COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR SPOUSE.  I have seen relationships dwindle because of this issue, I refuse to be one of them. I have learned that I married an extremely patient man. Who more than anything else just wants me to be happy.  That is the mentality we focus on. He knows that I hate folding laundry and when I go upstairs to do it more times than not he helps me. I know that he likes a clean house (though may have a bit of a hard time doing it himself) so I take care of that. I have realized that the more times you do the little things to let your spouse know you are happy and that you love them, the more they will do the same things for you.

 


 

Inspired Closet

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As most of you know, or maybe could have gathered, I am a blue jeans, t-shirt, comfy shoes type of person. I try to dress up I really do, but normally it’s just comical.  However, every now and again I pull off a good look. Now I was spending way to much time on Pinterest than any normal person with a schedule would glancing through Pinterest and came across a pin that lead me to this blog.   I love it! It almost makes me want to be one of those brave people who wears colored pants… almost.  One day maybe I shall get there.

Anywho’s after reading through her blog, which is just charming and makes me feel like I am not alone in the world, I glanced through my closet and had to laugh because well, let’s be honest, my wardrobe consists of a few skirts, hoodies from high school, a couple of dresses, a few pairs of heels and yes white, black, brown, and blue shirts of all different kinds.  I love her blog because it goes through and talks about all of this and how to dress up your wardrobe.  This one in particular was how to dress up a white-T. As a huge fan of white t-shirts I was all over this it was the first bit of her blog that I read.  She also goes through and talks about having different bottoms.  I am a pretty mellow, conservative high school dresser. I always have been. I have wanted to branch out but have never quite been sure on how to go about doing that. Now, thanks to her cleverly named blog, I have some ideas.

 

 


 

Holiday Confessions

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No this is not my tree, but that picture will have to wait till I remember to take it at night.

I have a few things I must confess my Christmas tree is up. No big deal right? Well it’s been up since November 1st. Yes, I know I’m one of those people. I can’t help it to be honest, I was destined to be this way as soon as I came into this world. Please let me explain.  My Mom and Dad love the Christmas season, not because of gifts and all that jazz, but because of the atmosphere. It’s like everyone in the World just figured out they should be a better person. I to am guilty of this, not that I’m this horrible person the rest of the year that doesn’t do anything nice for anyone, but during Christmas I make a special effort to do things for usually random strangers.  Further more, may I paint a picture for you on how I have spent most of the Christmas’s of my entire existence?  Christmas Eve just about all of my cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents and random others hang out at my parents house from about 3-8. It is a blast. We play games, catch up, eat delicious dinner (more on that later I’m sure), swap a couple of gifts and of course read from Luke 2. After that all of the peeps not staying at my parents house for Christmas leave and we all just hang out together and play games (around the world ping-pong yes so fun).

No this is not my family. No I would never dress up a dog. But have this image in your mind when I talk about Sibling Christmas Eve pictures… Why I don’t know they usually don’t look like this.

When it is time for bed we go down stairs and some time during our busy night a box has been dropped off in the room we will be sleeping in, which is full of Christmas pajamas. We figure out whose is whose, change and then head up stairs for our annual Christmas Eve  pictures by the tree which my mom emails out to all of our relatives. Once that is done we chill for a little while longer and then slowly slip down the stairs where we fall asleep till about 4 am. At 4 we wake-up, sort-of, and talk, play with our flashlights, argue about who gets to go up the stairs first you know typical sibling stuff. At 5 we slowly begin to creep up the stairs and wait by the closed-door which leads to the already lit up Christmas tree. Then one by one we peek around the corner and creep into the room  and find our stockings with our flashlights, then we sit down and turn off our lights, then in comes the next kid and so on and so forth.

It’s wonderful, I’m addicted. Do you have special traditions? Random things that always happen? Memories that you are constantly reflecting on?