10 facts about my marriage
I saw this article the other day online where Ashley (the bachelorette from a few seasons ago) shared 10 facts about her marriage to JP. I liked it so I am copying it here.
1. Keith does the majority of the chores around our house. I am pathetic when it comes to chores. In fact, as appalling as my mother finds this, I do not even own an iron. The only chore I do regularly is laundry on Sundays. But Keith does everything else. I win the worst wife award for sure.
2. No matter what bed we sleep in, Keith always sleeps closest to the bathroom. At home, out of town, in hotels, etc. Not sure why but it is always like that.
3. We never eat Italian food out. Ever.
4. We talk a lot.
5. Even though our bathroom has two sinks I use both. Keith has no real defined space in that room. And I don’t even wear makeup or anything. I am not quite sure why I need so much space in there.
6. We have so many nicknames for Bella that she now routinely will come/answer to the following names: Bella Boo, Booski, Knuckles, Knucklehead, and Angel Muffin. It’s a good thing she can’t talk because I feel certain she would say her name is Bella BooBooskiKnucklesKnuckleheadAngelMuffin Bruneman. Such a mouthful.
7. Speaking of Bella we have started adding “Yo Bitches” to pretty much anything we make Bella say. (Kinda like the old fortune cookie trick of adding “in Bed” after every fortune). So for example, if she is standing by the front door one of us will say, “Yo Bitches, someone gonna take me for a walk?” or if she jumps in the bed with us, we will say, “Yo bitches, make some room!” Ha. It makes us laugh every single stinkin time. We now both joke that we need to stop saying it or else our kid’s first words are going to be “Yo Bitches.”
“Yo Bitches, why you always taking my picture?!”
8. I exaggerate a lot. Accidentally. But now Keith knows me so well that he just accepts my exaggerations as commonplace. For example the other day I was in the shower and I saw some ants and I immediately shout, “Oh my gosh there are like 50 ants in here!” Keith without missing a beat responds with, “so like 5?” I count. “Yup there’s 5 ants.” He knows me well.
9. On Sunday mornings I turn on Soap Net and watch reruns of 90210, One Tree Hill, Veronica Mars and Gilmore Girls. Until football seasons starts (and once it ends) Keith accepts this as his life. Just as I accept that during football season the only channels my TV will see are SportsCenter, NBC and Fox.
10. We write love notes to each other all the time. Just little notes that we leave around the house for each other a few times a week. I think it makes us both feel loved and appreciated and at the end of the day that’s what it’s all about.
Any random facts about your marriage and/or relationship you want to share?
17 week cravings
The number one question I get 99% of the time is, “Are you having any cravings?”
17 weeks!
Oh man.
1. Salt. I am craving salt like nobody’s business. I mean just hand me a salt shaker and I will pour it down my throat. Anything salty is appealing and then, as you might expect, anything sweet turns my stomach. Salt. Salt. Salt.
2. Cheese. I am having a seriously weird love affair with cheese right now. I don’t even really like cheese normally. I mean I could days/weeks without ever eating or thinking about cheese. Now? Oh my word. I want cheese every day and multiple times a day. And any kind of cheese, too, I don’t discriminate. Cream Cheese, Cottage Cheese, String Cheese, Cheddar Cheese, etc. I know there are some soft cheeses I need to stay away from and that isn’t a problem. But all those other cheeses….get in my belly!
3. Pirates Booty. For real I am 7 but I love this stuff! I feel like it is better than Cheetos and Pringles but I am probably just fooling myself. Please don’t tell me otherwise. I eat a little individual size snack bag every day for lunch. Every. Stinkin. Single. Day.
4. Subway Salads: No clue where this came from but I eat this for lunch pretty regularily. And by regularly I mean 3-4 days a week. HA! My go-to salad is lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, olives, green bell pepper, pickles, banana peppers, 1 scoop of avocado, chicken and oil & vinegar for dressing. Oh my gosh so good. I want this right now!
5. Chinese Food: My guess is because it is so salty that it appeals to me. And SHRIMP. Oh my word…any Chinese shrimp dish. I try to limit my fish intake but for real the only protein I really crave is shrimp.
Those would be the basics. Obviously I eat lots of other foods but those are the things I tend to crave the most.
how i’m feeling
So. I’ve made it to 16 weeks! I thought surely when I made it to 14 weeks I would relax. Then 14 weeks came and went. I am now at 16 weeks and am still just as nervous and fearful as I was at 6 weeks.
16 weeks
I am trying. I am really trying to enjoy this pregnancy. But I feel like I’ve been robbed. Robbed of the joy that pregnancy brings. There are days when I do forget and am happy but more often than not even on those days when I am glowing with happiness lurking in the dark corners of my mind is the fear. Recurrent miscarriages will do that to a person I suppose.
The problem is I have definitely hit the second trimester high. All those nasty first trimester pregnancy symptoms are gone. I’m not sick, no more food aversions, I’m not tired anymore, and I have way more energy. In short, I feel like my old self again. I just feel like me, not a pregnant version of me. Most women can’t wait to get to this stage. But the problem is my baby is still too small for me to feel any movement and that makes me wonder. I don’t feel bad anymore and I don’t feel a baby…is everything okay in there?
My other fear stems from the fact that I don’t have typical miscarriages. I don’t get cramps and bleed. I have what you call missed miscarriages (which I’m told is very rare.) Meaning the baby dies and then my body for whatever reason holds onto the baby. My first miscarriage happened 3 weeks before and I found out when there was no heartbeat on an ultrasound. The second time it was the same thing only it was 2 weeks when I found out not 3. That scares me. Because my body doesn’t traditionally miscarry in the way you would think. And since my pregnancy symptoms have lessened and I can’t feel the baby move yet….I worry.
I guess what I am slowly starting to realize is that there will always be another milestone to get to. I can say well when I get to 20 weeks I will feel better. But you know what? When I get to 20 weeks I will say if I can get to 24 I will stop worrying. The truth is I am going to worry until I give birth. And then a whole new set of worries will kick in because I will have a BABY! I don’t think I will ever not worry. So the issue becomes how to cope and manage that worry? I almost feel like I need to give myself permission to worry and not beat myself up about it. But I also need to find the balance between a healthy amount of worry and an unhealthy amount.
Sobbing so hard I start hiccuping? Not a healthy amount of worry.
Googling every little thing? Not a healthy amount of worry.
I do visualization and that helps. It always makes me feel good and it makes me smile seeing, in my mind, a healthy baby. I talk to my baby all the time. I reassure him/her that this is a safe place and that we love him/her very much. I tell the baby to take whatever it needs from me to grow strong and healthy. I pray all the time for the baby and I make the effort to try and think two good thoughts whenever a bad thought enters my mind. It isn’t easy and I don’t always succeed on that last one. But I’m trying.
I’m really trying to hold it together, believe that this will happen, trust in my body, in God, and in my baby. I’ve never wanted anything more.
almond crusted chicken tenders
Last night I posted this picture on instagram:
Almond crusted chicken fingers. They are so good and they’re paleo for those of you who like that! Win win! The best thing about eating chicken fingers is that it makes me feel like I am eating kid food. It also makes me feel like I am eating something really bad for me when in reality, I’m not. I like it!
Almond Crusted Chicken Fingers
Serves 4
1 pound chicken tenders
3/4 cup almond meal
1 egg
1 egg white
1 1/2 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. dry mustard seed
1/4 tsp. sea salt
1/8 tsp. black pepper
Preheat oven to 425F. * Spray a wire rack with cooking spray.
On a plate combine all your dry ingredients. Scramble the egg and egg white together in a bowl.
Dip the chicken tender in the egg mixture, then roll it around on the plate in the dry ingredients to coat. Place it on the wire rack.
Repeat until you have covered all the chicken tenders.
Bake for 25 minutes. The last 2-3 minutes flip the oven to broil to get the tenders really crispy.
* Now the secret to really crispy tenders is to bake them on a wire rack. I always use my microwave rack and place a cookie sheet underneath to catch anything that falls. It works like a charm and the entire tender gets nice and crispy (top and bottom) without having to flip the tenders over at any point. It’s perfect.
You should totally make these. Honestly, I am contemplating making them again for dinner tonight. They were that good. With ketchup….lots of ketchup! Although Keith ate his with horseradish mustard and that wasn’t half bad either.
The possibilities are endless…..
Happy Tuesday Friends!
What Kelly Said 