Editions of Me

I was going to write a long, exhaustive recap of the birth of our new son. I was going to go in-depth into the year that is 2020, and how different things are now compared to 2009, when Jolie was born, and how each child's birth was just about as different as can be from each other, though, if you've known me a while, I think you already know the basic facts: Jolie was a surprise at 33 weeks, and Benny was induced just this past Monday at 39 weeks. We had Jolie at 26, and it was the beginning of Obama's first term, and it was this general time of hope, whereas now? Well, 2020 has definitely been a year for the history books. Anyway, I was going to write about all of that (I even have a Google Doc draft going), but in truth? I'm kind of exhausted. I will go ahead and paste my short Facebook version of Benny's actual birth day at the end of this post, but right now, I want to talk about something else: pregnancy. It's no secret that I don't enjoy being pregnan...

I've been dipping my toes into the clean beauty world for the last few months. It started with the display at Target catching my eye, and then I totally fell down the Youtube rabbit hole. I was already pregnant at the time, and interested in maybe making better choices about what I apply to my skin. Why clean beauty? What IS clean beauty? I think people/companies draw their line for "clean" in different places, but in general, they are products that don't use (or at least, minimize their use of) toxic ingredients, irritants, parabens, sulfates, etc. They may limit or eliminate the use of fragrances, and they may sustainably and/or ethically source their ingredients. They may even use eco-friendly packaging. They're generally vegan and cruelty-free. They might use plant oils/extracts, minerals, stuff like that.  I know, this is a very vague and nebulous definition, but to be honest, I'm still learning all this stuff myself. I'm not positive that this isn...

The Prettiest Star Here is an ode to my only child, because in a few short weeks, she will no longer BE my only child :) I just wanted to take some time to recognize how special she is, and how precious these first ten years have been with her, because the dynamics of our family will be changing soon and I'm not saying she'll no longer be special, but once the baby is born, things will be different. Jimmy and I had always planned for a large age gap between Jolie and our next kid (and due to circumstances beyond our control, it ended up being a REALLY large gap). We wanted Jolie to have her time to shine.  And shine she has! I am so infinitely proud of her and the person she is becoming. She's incredibly smart--even from her earliest days, we could see it in her eyes that she was constantly observing and analyzing everything. She's extremely creative--right now, she's working on a series of digital art on her iPad focused on representing different phobias, which she...

Now for something frivolous and fun, here's something I haven't done in a long while: a makeup tutorial! Oddly enough, since being in quarantine, I've gotten really into doing my makeup every day. It's not that I wasn't wearing makeup before everything closed down (I still wore it to work), but I was pretty minimalist and hurried about it. Working from home, I have a little bit more time to just sit down at my makeup table and take time for myself--it's more an act of self-care than an act of beautification for anyone else, if that makes sense. And it's not about looking glam and flawless, but just about looking a little more awake, refreshed, and alive. I've often felt like, on the days that I feel the worst (physically or emotionally), when I LEAST feel like putting on makeup, those are the days when makeup can help me the most, in terms of a pick-me-up. And I definitely haven't been feeling great lately, so I am grateful for this little ritual to ...

Thank you, Marissa, for this sticker! I'm a planner. I have a ton of washi tape and planner supplies and notebooks for bullet journaling. And even before I started doing all that, I used to make meticulous spreadsheets of training plans for races a year or two  in advance. I LOVE making plans. I LOVE creating a path for myself, and even if I didn't stick to it, at least I had something to start with. I like having some idea of what's coming next. Which is what makes this current situation/time so hard. I'm sitting with an awful lot of uncertainty. First and foremost, this baby. Yeah, conventional wisdom tells me to expect him to arrive right around the due date, but past experience tells me that this baby could happen anytime between now and just past my due date. (Let's be real though, I don't expect him to even go the full 40, let alone be late.) I've been in the hospital twice in as many weeks getting monitored in a Labor and Delivery triage room, so yeah...

Here's a mish-mash of thoughts and updates: 20 weeks along! 1) I am currently 23 weeks a long, and the punches and kicks keep coming-- and I don't just mean the ones from my baby: At 16 weeks, I started taking weekly progesterone injections, because Jolie came 7 weeks early, and we definitely want to AT LEAST make it through the school year without going into labor thankyouverymuch About a month ago, I got diagnosed (again) with gestational diabetes. (More needles, yay.) So, goodbye giant bowls of pho and bubble tea. (I know, I could still have SOME, but if it's not a GIANT bowl of pho, are you even living?) About a week ago, my body decided that regulation by diet wasn't enough, so now I have to take daily insulin injections. (It's very good that I'm not afraid of needles.) I'm also deep in the throes of MAJOR BODILY ITCHING. Like, pregnancy normally involves some itching, but this is some unbearable suffering happening here. (Yes, I've cont...

I haven't written a blog post in almost a year. I've had a lot of stuff happen, some good and some bad, and I could've written about any of those things, but the truth was, I didn't really want to process it in public--I spent a lot of time writing in notebooks and talking to friends and family, and then once I had worked through how I was feeling, I didn't feel compelled to revisit it by writing a blog post for... does anyone actually read this thing? *shrugs* However, 2020 has just started, and like everyone else and their mother, I've been thinking about the last ten years and how they've gone for me. I was 26 at the start of 2009, and now I've just turned 37, and I feel like almost all of the most important things that have contributed to who I am right now have happened within the last ten years: - My first pregnancy, and Jolie's birth - Majority of my teaching career - Majority of my knitting (I started in 2006) - Majority of my beauty b...