Outside my window . . . It’s 66 degrees (the cooler weather has been a mercy and made me so excited about fall and life and everything!) and partially sunny after a dreary, overcast and windy morning. Our living room window (right behind me, where I’m sitting on our loveseat) looks out on our very quiet apartment complex with sidewalks, trees, bushes, and simple, orderly parking. Cars are ambling past. It’s that hour when people start the arrival-home-from-work process. A good hour!
I am thankful . . . for the joy of getting to see our baby and hear his/her heartbeat again yesterday! It was really more of a kindness on my doctor’s part than anything – I was really there for my annual exam (also my first exam), which fortunately wasn’t nearly as bad as I was halfway expecting it to be. Anyway, she cheerfully sent me back into the waiting room to collect The Dash (who was working remote on his laptop) and head over to the ultrasound suite. The technician has been lovely and so excited for our baby. She wanted to try a transabdominal ultrasound this time and it was successful (which was pretty cool, considering we’re just now almost 10 weeks!) and I was overjoyed with how much bigger our munchkin had gotten. He/she really looks like a wee little baby and no longer like a tadpole 😉
I am thinking . . . Hmm, what am I thinking? That I’m sleepy. Hopefully The Dash will get home in half an hour or so. Our little upstairs friend (a small boy I dote on from afar) has come down outside with his mom and is giggling on the sidewalk. The Dash is off to Fraternus tonight so I’m vaguely contemplating what I’ll have by myself for dinner, but it’s not an all-engrossing concern. Probably leftovers. I’ll find something to watch and relax.
Celebrating the liturgical year . . . Today is the feast of St. Gerard Majella – the first time I’ve celebrated it as an expecting mama! So exciting.
Also, I’ve been contemplating/researching these Great Decisions that befall a newlywed housewife now that Advent is just a month and a half away. We have to find our Advent Wreath! We have to find our family’s very own Nativity set! These domestic church features will be some of the most cherished by us and our future children throughout the years. We most likely already have a Christmas tree, so that’s a blessing to have that off the list. But I am eager to obtain these other sacramentals 🙂
From the kitchen . . . Menu planning and grocery budgeting for two would have been something of a learning curve for me just as a newlywed bride. Throw in pregnancy, nausea (which thankfully is starting to subside!) and fatigue over the past nearly 2 months, and the state of things (at least in my mind) has spanned from survival to somewhat disorganized to emotional overwhelm. I hit overwhelm on Monday and was all in tears. But The Dash helped me set out a new plan for breakfasts, lunches, dinners; we went shopping for the next week’s goods; and last night, I cooked taco soup, which I used to cook a lot before I got married, during the fall/winter months. It was so heartening for this lady to cook something, to have fun doing it, and for it to be different and delicious and smell good (to this changeable nose)! And there were leftovers for lunch earlier – win-win!
I am working . . . So I have technically been teaching at two different co-ops this fall. One co-op runs from August to May (the typical school year) and another runs for a 7-week semester. Both are only one day a week. The first co-op is one two-hour class of 3-5 year olds, plus a brief chorus class for all students up to age 12 at the beginning of the day – the curriculum is standardized and I am one of two teachers, so we can tag-team the littles. The second co-op is comprised of three different classes, each an hour: high school writing and ballroom dance, and middle school ballroom dance. The curriculum is up to me.
This month, I have had two doctor’s appointments fall on Co-op #1 days, so I’m only going to teach there one day this month. Next week will be the only week of this month where I teach at both co-ops in the same week. And then after next week, Co-op #2 will be over until next January, when their spring semester begins.
It’s definitely been challenging to teach during the first trimester, especially at Co-op #2 where I’m writing the curriculum, teaching by myself for longer, and having to be pretty active, especially for the ballroom dancing classes. Also, the students are older, and with me only being 23 and sanguine, it’s been an additional challenge to handle the narrower age gap between me and the students, more mentally than anything on the exterior. They’ve all been great, but I think I’m naturally more at ease with teaching very little kids.
Anyway! That’s what I’ve been working at. As well as working to stay awake and keep the laundry going.
I am creating . . . A baby. Ha! That was easy.
Also, I just recently had another article graciously published by 1P5. You can read it here:
I am going . . . To stay with my mom and sisters for a few days when The Dash is gone soon for an upcoming Fraternus excursion. I’m looking forward to spending some girl time with them, and for my love to get some outdoors time with great Catholic men!
I admit I’m notorious for hating when The Dash is gone for extended periods of time (even during our courtship or engagement!). I can turn into a literal Eeyore. I’ve also had to work through travel anxiety for a long time (as it relates to others’ arriving/coming back safely, not myself – I never worry about myself 😉 and learn to trust God more in regards to the safety of those I love most. Plus, I just like being with my husband and am sad when he’s away. No craziness there!
Anyway . . . The Dash had a long-distance work trip when we’d been married only a few weeks, and he flew 1000 miles away to Minnesota for three days and I was mis-er-a-ble (as well as very newly pregnant, but neither of us knew it at the time!) without him.
However, I feel that I am in a much better frame of mind this time around! Not only have we been married longer and are just naturally stronger and more settled together in all sorts of ways (especially me as the more emotional wife), but he will be far closer; I love Fraternus; and it’s really only one full day apart as opposed to three full days like last time. I think I can survive much more cheerfully than I did in August. Plus, Mom and my sisters insist on taking care of me ever since I’ve been pregnant and I essentially got to pick the menu for my upcoming stay, and it honestly will feel like being on a small vacation! Aren’t they sweet? And the weather is supposed to be beautiful . . . hopefully I can soak up some fresh air . . .
I am hoping . . . that it gets cooler and cooler and feels like autumn for weeks and weeks! It has been suuuuuuuuuuch a hot summer!
I am praying . . . for our baby to continue growing safely and healthily to full term, as well as for a lot of expecting mothers in our community right now!
I am reading . . . Well . . . I was reading Brandon Sanderson’s The Way of Kings but kind of fell off of it . . . I’ve been trying to read more Scripture and starting reading Genesis from my copy of the Douay Rheims.
One of my favorite things . . . Playing games with The Dash! We recently discovered Biblios and have played it a good 7-8 times at least over the past 2 days. I’ve won once . . . but it is so much fun!
Around the house . . . Quietness and relative cleanliness, but I do need to look at the laundry.
Mary Jimenez :: That Sweet "Ave" 