What Do You Expect?

Today I am thankful for my new found friends on the August mommy What to Expect message board.



Today my son turns 3 months old. The journey to becoming a new mom has been an interesting one. With hormones out of whack and routines changing, it's important to have an outlet. I found that outlet in several places, but one of them was a group of ladies who were in the same boat that I was.

I have to admit that I stole the idea for today's blog from one of those ladies. But her blog was so accurate, that on this 3-month milestone of my son's life, I felt it appropriate to be thankful for those who helped me through my journey.

I had always heard of the book What to Expect When You're Expecting. It is probably the most popular book for pregnant women. Now they have a What to Expect (WTE) iPhone application that tells you almost everything you need to know about pregnancy. I'll be honest, I never bought the book, and if the author read this, she would probably start charging for the app. But through this application and the website that goes along with it, I found a message board with ladies from all over the world who were expecting a baby in August just like me.

During my pregnancy, I was almost always on my iPhone. Rob would come home and ask if I was on facebook or WTE. It was always one or the other.

It's so exciting to share your experiences with people who are going through the same thing that you are. It was especially important before I told my family that I was pregnant (we waited until after the first trimester to tell), because it gave me a way to get the excitement out without giving away the secret.

Over the past year, I have established great friendships with these ladies. We have gone through a lot together. One of the posters lost her house and all she owned in a fire a mere week before her due date. To make things more complicated, she had been planning a home birth. During that trial, the WTE ladies banded together to provide care packages and money to help her get back on her feet before the baby arrived. Luckily the baby was a few weeks late, so she had more time to get things ready.

That's just one example of the things we have gone through as a group. We shared our stresses (PPD, significant others, work, etc), our joys (ultrasounds, birth stories, pictures of our little ones when they were born), and our losses (one lady lost her baby at 33 weeks gestation and another lost her 11-week-old to SIDS). We have a sounding board for questions about milestones. We have something to keep us occupied during those middle of the night feeding/pumping sessions.

I am so thankful for these ladies and how they have helped me stay sane throughout this life-changing experience.


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Electricity

Today I am thankful for electricity and central heat.



Yesterday, I blogged about technology. While electricity and plumbing are probably also considered technology, I wanted to discuss them separately.

I honestly cannot imagine living in a time where we can't turn on the lights at night, especially now that it gets dark at 5pm. I can't imagine working by candlelight. I can't imagine how dark the world is without streetlights and storefront signs at night. A world like that is so depressing to me.

I can't imagine living in a world where there is no heat, or you have to burn wood in order to heat your house. I lived without heat for one winter in Asheville, NC, and if I have anything to say in the matter, I will never do that again! They story goes like this:

My sophomore year in college, I was married and living in a double-wide trailer on a tobacco farm in Weaverville, NC. (That sentence just reeks of redneck, doesn't it?) There were about 20 farm cats that lived near us. The trailer had no underpinning, so when it started getting cold outside, the cats went under the house and dug into the heating ducts for warmth. One of them got sick, crawled up into the heating duct, and died. So, when we turned on the heat, it smelled of dead cat. Because of where the cat was and how the ducts turned, it was very difficult to get it out of the duct. You would need a flexible stick of some sort. If we were able to get a stick or something long and flexible enough to get to the cat and drag it out, it would fall down right onto whoever was trying to get it out. So, we went without heat that winter.

We had a kerosene heater that we used during the day, but it's not safe to use one of those things at night. We turned it off during the night and slept under a pile of blankets a foot thick. It was miserable.

If you thought that story was bad, it gets worse. Apparently maggots were eating away at the dead cat carcass inside the heating duct. Spring comes, and the maggots turn into flies. The flies don't want to be in the heating duct anymore, so they fly through the vent into the bathroom. Our bathroom was FULL of flies. I took the vacuum cleaner attachment and sucked flies out of the air into the vacuum cleaner.

True story.

So, today, I am thankful that: 1) I no longer live in a double-wide trailer on a tobacco farm in North Carolina, 2) I do not own any cats, and 3) I have electricity and central heat.

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Technology

Today I am thankful for technology.


The picture I took the first day Alan was in daycare, showing how much I missed him

This past weekend I went up to Epworth, GA to visit Rob's grandparents. It made me think of all the benefits of modern technology. Epworth is in the north Georgia mountains, very close to the Georgia-Tennessee boarder. And it is in the middle of nowhere; a place where your closest neighbor may not be within walking distance. Needless to say, I had no cell service while at his grandfather's house.

But even in Epworth, GA I could see modern technology everywhere. They have TVs and computers, microwaves, refrigerators, ovens, dishwashers. I could not imagine life without these conveniences.

This world is becoming so global. The company I work for has plants and/or offices in over 150 countries. In order to communicate with people across the seas, we have teleconferences, video conferences, instant messaging, email, an intranet site that we can use for collaboration on projects, webinars, etc. Without modern technology, none of this could happen. Can you imagine how long it would take to get a message to China using only the post office? And even then, the post office today uses so much technology to get there faster. What if they didn't have airplanes to fly letters across the oceans? How long would it take to get a message from the United States to China using absolutely no technology. How would you even do it? Horses and sailboats? My mind can't even grasp that.

We live in an instant gratification world. If we call or text someone and they don't answer right away, we get frustrated. If we need to know something, we pull out our smart phones and Google it and know the answer in an instant. Everything is at our fingertips. Sometimes that can be to our detriment, like constantly being connected to work and feeling like you are "on call" 24/7. But for the most part, I wouldn't change it for anything.


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Gesundheit!

Today I am thankful for my health.



I have been blessed in this life with a pretty healthy body.

My mother prayed for all of us before we were born to have my dad's metabolism, and my siblings and I have always been a healthy weight.

I have an irregular heartbeat that I went to get checked shortly after I graduated from college. The cardiologist did an EKG and ultrasound on my heart. He confirmed that I did have an irregular heartbeat, but there was nothing else showing as being wrong with it. He told me "if you get dizzy or pass out, come back and see me. Otherwise, you should be fine." I've never had to go back.

I've had my share of injuries. I broke my ankle in two places when I was in fourth grade. The ER doctor set my foot incorrectly, so it didn't heal straight. But that doesn't even affect my running much.

I get colds usually once a year during either the fall or spring weather change. But doesn't everyone?

When I was pregnant, during the second prenatal appointment when the doctor was going over the results of the blood tests, she commented that I was the first healthy patient she had seen all day. And my appointment was at 4:30pm!

I've never had to have surgery. I've never been diagnosed with a major illness or disease. When I have allowed the doctors to take my blood to check my cholesterol and other things, everything has been normal.

My body has definitely changed since the pregnancy, but I am thankful that I have a healthy body that is capable of exercising and eating right to keep it that way.


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I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream...

Today I am thankful for ice cream.



Ice cream is my all time favorite food. And don't tell me it's not a food and that it can't go on my top five favorite foods list. If I wouldn't become malnourished, I could eat ice cream for every meal.

I have a favorite flavor of almost every brand of ice cream. My all time favorite flavor of ice cream is Brusters' chocolate raspberry truffle. For those of you who have not had it, it is chocolate ice cream with raspberry jam and chocolate chips mixed in. It is so amazingly tasty! And, thanks to my sister, getting it on a waffle cone is my favorite treat.

If Ben and Jerry's is on the menu, Phish Food is the best. Phish Food (named after the band Phish, I think) is sort of like heavenly hash. It has chocolate ice cream with carmel and marshmellow goo swirls and chocolate fish-shaped chips. Delish! Ben and Jerry's used to have Bovinity Divinity, which I adored. It was white chocolate and milk chocolate ice cream mixed together with chocolate cow-shaped chips.

Mayfield has Extreme Moose Tracks ice cream. Regular moose tracks has peanut butter cups, but I do not like peanut butter. So Mayfield did it right by making extreme moose tracks and exchanging the peanut butter cups for fudge-filled cups. It is chocolate ice cream with chocolate fudge swirls and fudge-filled cups.

Kroger makes a great generic ice cream that my father-in-law has gotten me into. It is called Deluxe Churned French Silk and it is "light" ice cream. It is chocolate ice cream with chocolate chips and vanilla cream swirled into it.

Maggie Moos has great strawberry ice cream, so when I go there, I get the strawberry ice cream with strawberries, Oreo cookies, and fudge mixed in. I think it's called Strawberry Skydive.

When I go to Coldstone, I get the Mint Mint Chocolate Chocolate Chip ice cream. It is mint ice cream with chocolate chips, brownies, and chocolate syrup. Quite the tasty treat.

At Dairy Queen, the Choco Cherry Love blizzard is my fav. I discovered it a few years ago in February when they had that as their Blizzard of the Month. It is their soft serve vanilla ice cream with cherries and chocolate chunks mixed together. It is delicious!

I'm sure I could go on forever. So, what is your favorite ice cream? I'm open to suggestions. :)


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V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N...In the Summer Sun

Today I am thankful for vacations.


New England vacation with Sweta - fall 2006


Hawaii vacation with the girls (Sweta, Sherry, and Gita [not pictured]) - December 2006


Prague vacation with Sherry - February 2007


Honeymoon Cruise - June 2008


Disneyworld with Robby, Sweta, and Blake - January 2009


Oregon vacation - June 2009


Daytona Beach vacation with the siblings - June 2010

Anyone that really knows me knows that I LOVE vacations! Every year I trade some of my salary for extra vacation days. Time away from work is invaluable to me.

I also love traveling, at least in the United States. I wanted to visit every state before I turned 30, but other more important things (like getting married) prevented that from happening. So now, I plan to visit every state when I run a marathon in it.

Traveling outside of the United States isn't as fun to me, because it stresses me out. If I don't know the language or have the proper currency, I get a little stressed. I did take a vacation to Prague once, and I have gone to China and Costa Rica for work, but I'd rather stay within the North American continent than go outside of it.

I love the beach. I don't care much for going in the water at the beach, but the fact that it is hot when I go to the beach makes the trip one to long for. I love running on the beach and doing other beach-related activities (like sand volleyball).

I am thankful that we can afford to take annual vacations. I'm thankful that, although my husband doesn't like to take off work, he goes with me and shares most of the vacation experiences with me. I can't wait until Alan is old enough to enjoy them also.


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Inalienable Rights

Today I am thankful for liberty and those that fought to ensure that we have it.




On this Veterans' Day, I am thankful for all those men and women who risked their lives to protect our country. I am thankful that they were able to do so and return to their families.

I am thankful for all those men and women who gave their lives and weren't able to return to their families. I'm thankful for those families who were willing to give up one of their loved ones for our freedoms.

We still have those freedoms, so far. The current administration seems to want to slowly take away some of those freedoms that were fought for and sacrificed for, but as of now we still have them.

I am thankful that I was born in and grew up in a country as wonderful as the United States of America. There is pain and suffering all over the world, including in the U.S., but we are so blessed with our freedoms and the ability to pursue our dreams. We have an abundance of resources at our fingertips. If we work for it, there isn't much we cannot accomplish.


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