Fezzik, Pregnancy Hacks, and Lent (7QT)

Happy Friday, everyone! I hope that you are all doing well. I have been thinking some deepish thoughts lately that I'll probably blog about someday, but in the meantime, I figured I'd share some not-so-deep thoughts and life updates with y'all! Don't forget to visit Kelly's blog for some other takes from the internet's great bloggers!


1. First off: holy smokin' incense, people! Where is Lent going??
I have this reaction pretty much every year. Lent just always seems to fly by for me, and I don't understand how this happens time and time again. My Lent has been fairly peaceful; there have been tougher moments of growth (hard, but awesome) and bright sunny moments of serenity. I haven't been getting to daily Mass as much as I had planned this Lent, but there's always tomorrow, right?

 2. Do you fail at being athletic? Me too! Yet-there is so much hope for us.
I am happy for athletic people who, even when they are not "in shape," can do some magnificent physical stunt of awesomeness. That's a beautiful gift, and I was not blessed with it. I am also happy for all of those people who run 5ks, marathons, and half-marathons. That's an awesome achievement, and one that I am happy to live without! I do very tame (as in, super tame) workouts in my living room twice a week, as well as different pregnancy exercises, but that's about it.

As Fezzik said so well. 

Our prizes: super cute burp cloths
handmade by our teacher! 

Point being: about a month ago, when I heard that our childbirth class was having a squatting competition-and I could only squat for a minute or so at the very longest-I did not feel very hopeful for myself. But...there are times when I get a little competitive. So, my competitiveness motivated me to practice for the next few weeks, so that I could have some sort of shot at not being a complete embarrassment. When, just hours before the competition, I could only squat for 5 minutes, I just resigned myself to inevitable failure. That night, men vs. men and women vs. women, the competition began. And who won her division with a 15 minute squat? This girl! Who won his division with a 30+ minute squat? My husband! I'm a little lot excited. It's the small things in life, okay, people? Granted, I could not move the next day, and I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to pull that stunt again. But, this whole experience has taught me that no matter how out-of-shape or unathletic a person may claim to be, doing something athletic-ish is always in the practical realm of possibility! 

3. Springtime is here! Well, it's "more here" than before...

Since Oklahoma didn't have much of a winter this year, we've been in really nice weather (for the most part) for several weeks already. But, the trees are blooming, I've already spotted some gorgeous dandelions (my favorite flower), and the birds are always singing! It all makes my heart really happy.

4. I've been discovering "pregnancy hacks" that have been working well for me (for now!). 

SO GOOD! 

I've learned that getting in squats or other pregnancy exercises is much easier if I do them while microwaving my lunch, steeping tea, or brewing coffee. I also was super excited to find a really easy way to increase my protein intake. See, as part of my childbirth class, we have to fill out nutrition charts with all of the food that we eat. The goal is at least 80 grams of protein a day, in addition to getting in a lot of food groups. I do a pretty good job of eating from various food groups, but I'm really bad at eating enough protein-I attribute this to the fact that 1.) I don't eat a lot of food to begin with, and 2.) I don't eat a lot of meat. The other day, while trying to finagle a way to sneak in protein, I had a thought: What if I put peanut butter in my coffee? I hit up the internet, and discovered that apparently bunches of people already do it. So I made myself an iced peanut butter latte, and it was awesome.

5. I've also been discovering just how quickly time is moving.
I'm not far along into this pregnancy; I'm still in the second trimester. Plus, I'm planning for our little guy to come at least a week late (Seriously, what would be more epic than having a baby born on the Solemnity of the Birth of John the Baptist? Right??? So that's what I'm hoping for), so I haven't really given much thought to my vague "Things to do before Baby Pops Out" list. In part from reading about recent happenings in the lives of Ann-Marie and Dwija, the thought just occurred to me that I should probably start getting around to some things on my list. And then I looked at the calendar, and realized that every weekend until the end of April is booked already. So, as much as I don't like planning things out far ahead of time, I planned a day for sewing projects and have started making a list of things that my husband and I need to eventually go over and figure out. I don't feel rushed, and I'm not freaking out at the rapid pace in which the weeks are slipping away, but I am more aware of the reality that we need to get certain things done before birth.

6. Books are awesome.
I mean, I already knew that, but I keep re-learning it! It's been a sleepier kind of couple weeks (which is weird, because the weather is gorgeous) and curling up with a good book has been lovely. I just finished reading All the Light we Cannot See in preparation for Haley and Christy's podcast discussion this week, and I have a stack of "arrived holds" that I'm picking up later today. If I get around to it, I'll throw together a literature post sometime so y'all can see what I've been reading! 

7. Finally, if y'all haven't read Angie's great post about "Gossip in the Age of Facebook," then you really should.
Angie really speaks to something that can easily happen on any kind of social media, not just Facebook, and challenges us to rise above it. I really can't do her post justice in one tiny paragraph, so you should just read it. 

I hope that you all have a wonderful start to your weekend!