Thinking Out Loud

Mom and I had super time in Tampa last weekend. She asked me to go with her back in February. "I'm going with or without you," she said.

What's a girl to do with an offer like that?

The last time I went with mom to Tampa was about 3-4 years ago, when my life was completely different. Back then i cried the whole weekend. And this time... I celebrated two major happenings in my life: marriage to an awesome guy and our first child on the way. Overall we had a great time. Its quite hot in Florida in July. We knew that already, but who cares. We weren't planning on tennis or golf or anything at all that required physical activity except the 1/3 mile walk to the pool and back. We figured the walk was good enough exercise anyway! It rained nearly every evening and we even had some big booming thunderstorms too. I couldn't believe how it poured some nights.

By the end of the weekend, we were both burnt to a crisp and completely sunned out. We were so careful about getting burnt we spent the whole weekend under the umbrellas in the shade, but none of that mattered much for some reason. Im now pealing all over my shoulder and chest. Im not a big fan of sunburn.

My biggest disappointment was the Spa. I LOVE going to the Spa down there. But when I mentioned I was 6 weeks pregnant, they immediately turned me down for any type of massage. They said it had something to do with the distribution of blood and how it could harm the baby. Despite my moans and groans, I knew it was best to avoid anything like that, so i went with a facial and a pedicure! Both were wonderful!

Other than that, my baby gave me a week off from morning sickness. Hallalujiah! I was able to enjoy the various menu items at the restaurants we visited down there. I could even get toast down in the morning with apple juice, something I could not do the previous couple of weeks.

By the time Monday rolled around, I was back to my sick self again, barely making it home on a somewhat bumpy flight. The last few mornings have been progressively worse and yesterday the sickness lasted almost the whole day. I spent most of it nibbling on crackers and sipping cold apple juice. Carbs seem to work well for me; pasta, rice, potatoes, crackers. They settle my stomach well. Unfortunately, these are exactly the kinds of things I have been trying to eliminate from my diet to shed some pounds.

At this point, I am figuring my low carb diet is off limits until about next February. I am trying to make an effort to eat more veggies, like carrots, squash, green beans etc. Thank God for corn season! I put a list on the fridge of all good foods for pregnant women to eat and on my good days I try to eat as much of them as possible. We have several different kinds of juices in the fridge now and I bought these little snack apple sauces with no sugar added and extra calcium. I'm still trying to eat a few oranges a week. Milk has been difficult to get down, but my alternatives are yogurt and cheeses. And when i do have carbs in my diet, i try to make sure they are whole grain or whole wheat. I always bring a baggy of whole grain cheerios to work with me so i have something to munch on. I heard sweet potatoes are really good for me at this point so I have those instead of a regular potato (with skins intact).

Of all the symptoms of pregnancy, morning sickness has been the most prominent, other than these two MELONS on my chest that ACHE all the time. OY! But someone gave me some good advice the other day...

"Keep smiling! You're a MOMMY!"

Words to live by...