Pregnancy 101

If anyone gives a hoot about my blog and is reading this post, I am giving you fair warning- I am about to unleash my feelings about being pregnant. However, since you all are such good sports I will make sure to end this semi rant fest with some really good news.
Let me preface by saying that so far over these past five months I have enjoyed seeing what seeing what God designed my body to do in order to grow a person. As I've read about and seen what is actually going on inside of me I am amazed at how intricate it all is, and to think that since I was being created in my mother's womb, I have always possessed the ability to "sustain life" (yes I did intend to make it sound like I'm a planet; I feel like one right now). It's very cool.
However, I cannot ignore the fact that growing a person is really, really hard work. Most days I'm just trying to make it until bedtime, even though I know I won't be getting much sleep. I have plenty of meltdowns (I'm not ashamed to admit it), but otherwise I just try to find the humor in the all the things that have transpired from being preggers. I figured since it's 5a.m. and I'm awake, I might as well share some of them...
Pregnancy 101:
- Morning sickness is the worst thing. Ever.
- If you have never had morning sickness, do not tell a pregnant person who is coping with it/ has had it. You might get hurt.
- Cravings are instinctual and cannot be denied. My husband can attest to this one.
- Being pregnant means you are going to feel really uncomfortable and not even know why. It's great.
- When people find out that you are pregnant sometimes they shut down their mental filter and say crazy and sometimes unkind things to you. ("Yes I do know that my butt is getting bigger...") When this happens, you will have an inexplicable desire to punch them in the face, but you will have to resist.
- You will fart a lot.
- Pregnancy Brain is the temporary version of Alzheimer's. You will feel very stupid, very often.
- Your baby bump is public property.
I had more but I can't remember them. Stupid Pregnancy Brain...
Okay, now time for the good news. We found out what the baby is! Besides being human, it's... (insert drum roll)
                                                                            A BOY!!!
Say hello to Tobias Edward Carlson. We call him Toby.

We can't wait to meet this little guy :)

Mundane Monday...

I'm temporarily diverting from my usual Munchie Monday for the more appropriate, Mundane Monday. It was just one of those days that felt sort of, ho hum. Being uncomfortably pregnant didn't help. 

On a not-so-mundane note, today was my awesome hubby's birthday!!! Derek, if you read this, I love you babe. You're the best husband I could have ever asked for. Thanks for being you and for everything you do to make me happy. 

We did all of our birthday festivities over the weekend with our families so tonight we kept things low key and I made one of Derek's favorite meals- homemade pizza and beer. Don't worry, it was fakers beer, the "no buzz" kind. My family gave Derek one of his favorite movies on Blue-Ray, "The Dark Knight" and so being the uber  cool wife that I am (or at least try to be) we watched that, including all the nifty special features that explain just how in the world they did that. Sadly, uncool wife part of me could not stay awake through the whole movie, and poor Derek had to enjoy the awesomeness all by himself. Hey, growing a person takes a lot out of me...

Speaking of growing a person, we find out on Thursday what the baby is- alien or human. Haha, just kidding. We'll be going in for our first sonogram to see if there is or isn't a "stem on the apple", if you know what I mean. Very exciting stuff.

I will leave you with a recent pic of my developing baby bump, at 20 weeks. This picture is actually a week old and believe it or not I'm actually just a tad bigger. 

Stay tuned for baby updates! Happy Monday everyone.

Munchie Mondays: Pico de Gallo Salad

I'm finally getting back into the habit of blogging, which means Munchie Mondays are back! Tonight I invented something quite awesome and I was so excited to share it.

Being pregnant means I need a lot of protein, which can be tough since I try to eat somewhat vegetarian. So I'm always experimenting with recipes to come up with non-animal flesh alternatives. On this particular Monday evening I concocted a Pico de Gallo salad. It was the bomb. Even my husband, who is an old fashioned meat and potatoes kind of guy, said it was great. Here's the recipe!

Pico de Gallo Salad:

Pico-

4 Tomatoes 

1/2 Jalapeno Pepper

1/2 Red Onion

2 Cloves of fresh Garlic (or if you're like me and you don't have patience for fresh garlic, garlic powder to taste works too)

Cilantro

Lime Juice

Salt, Pepper

Dice tomatoes, onions, jalapeno, and toss in a bowl. Chop cilantro and add as much as you like. Add lime juice. Salt and pepper to taste.

Salad- 

Organic Spring Mix

Black Beans

Avocado

Cheddar Cheese (optional)

Make a bed of the spring mix and sprinkle with black beans. Add however many chunks of avocado you like. Spoon the Pico de Gallo over salad bed and top off with cheddar cheese if you like.

Happy Monday everyone!

It's Just One of Those Days...

Since I'm pretty much convinced that nobody reads my blog, I'm going to abuse my power and use the blog as a sort of "journal" today. Not that I'm complaining, or whining. Just sayin'. 
Today has just been one of those days. It's overcast and windy outside, and I got almost no sleep last night. Being pregnant does strange things to one's body, and if one is already an insomniac... well, you get the picture. 
So I awoke today knowing that I would be presented with the initial challenge of just trying to stay awake all day. Coffee helped a bit, and talking to my dear mommy added even more pep to my step. Then I went to work. (Que sinister laugh)
For those of you who have ever worked in food service for more than a week will understand me when I say that there are some days when you want to come home and cry. Not because you are upset at any particular person or event, just that crying might help get the madness of the day out of your system. That was my day. 
(Vent alert) I really think there should be laws about how many delivery and catering orders a restaurant can legally accept in a day. Also, please remember to tip your server next time you eat out, no matter how simple the service- that is how they pay their rent.
Okay, I feel a little better.
My one creative consolation is a little project I've been working on. A friend of mine is having a baby shower this weekend and in the spirit of industrial homemaking gifting I decided to make baby leg warmers for the soon-to-be-existent little one. I've already finished one, just a few more rows to knit on the second one. Let's see if I get these things finished by Saturday morning...
Thank you to whoever has stumbled upon my temporary emotional outlet. I promise I won't use my blog for this all the time.

I'm a Bad Blogger

Hello Bloggisphere! I'm so sorry I've been absent. I'm a bad blogger. But as part of the Thanksgiving resolution, I am going to try to get better. 
I do have a good excuse for my absence, though. I had started school and it was taking up oodles of my time. Then, about two weeks into the semester, Derek and I got a little surprise- I'm pregnant! It was a bit of a shock at first, and it took a while for us to adjust to the idea, but we are very excited about becoming parents. I'm now three months along and things are going well. We got to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time a couple of weeks ago and it was so amazing. Up until then I had sort of just been "pretending" that I was pregnant, but hearing the heartbeat and knowing that there really is a small person in there made things so much more real and exciting. 
I ended up putting school on the back-burner. I had been suffering from really nasty morning sickness for the first 12 weeks, and I kept missing classes and crunching to try to meet deadlines. God convicted me and I realized that it's not about me anymore. I was spending more time reading text books and no time reading about pregnancy and getting geared up for baby. Besides, school will always be available if I want to go back, and this way I will have more time to focus on exploring creative outlets I've been wanting to be better at. 
Anywhoo, now that things are less stressful, I have time to get back into blogging. I've got lots of great ideas for projects, artsy stuff, and recipes to test in the kitchen. So stay tuned everybody, Aria's back!

100 Things to Do On a Saturday

So with the purchase of the new car, Derek and I decided to revamp our finances and really get a handle on our budget. Since I want to try to be the helpful little wife, I started looking for ideas of fun things we can do with very little money. Guess what I found? The Simple Dollar posted 100 Things to Do On a Money-Free Weekend- very cool! Hope this inspires some of you, I will definitely be trying some of these out. Hope everyone has a nice long weeked, happy Labor Day!

Checking In

Hello Blogishpere! I've been on radio silence for a while, my apologies. Things have been cuh-ray-zee busy around here. I've been working part time, which doesn't sound like much but when you're on your feet for four or fives hours it's nice to come home and prop your feet up and do nothing for a bit. Then to make things more interesting, school started last week! I'm so glad, I really missed being a college student. I'm taking some super heavy-hitter classes this semester, including an 8-week math class. Math and me go together like sandpaper and bare butt (like how I used a quote from "Definitely, Maybe"?). I failed this class about a year ago, but it wasn't accelerated. So this year, I am determined to get through the class- with my sanity in tact, if possible. 
Ooh! I have more good news: I got a new car!!! It's so pretty and shiny and new and I love it. It's a 2002 Toyota Highlander Limited. Limited means tricked out. I'll post pics soon (my camera has been acting funny, otherwise I'd have a whole photo shoot devoted to my new ride). 
Okay, I just got back from doing some studying at school so I'm tired and ready to settle in with the hubby to watch "Mad Men". Hope you all are having a good week!