Thankful.

This Thanksgiving is particularly special to me. Last year, I made it my resolution to be more thankful. Instead of asking God for things to happen in my life or constantly focusing on my problems (and asking God to solve them), I made a conscious effort to instead focus my energy on thanking God for all of the amazing things in my life that I was appreciative for- that I have a loving husband, we both have jobs, loving family members and friends, a home we both love, cars to get from point a to point b and just the little things in life---like being able to have a nice brunch with friends or having a really great day at work.


A funny thing happened when I started thanking God for what I had instead of asking for what I wanted or asking Him to solve all of my problems. The more I thanked Him, the more and more I saw His favor light up my entire life. There was a radical, noticeable positive shift in nearly every aspect of my life.


I got an amazing new job that I love and that fulfills me every day. My anxiety seemed to melt away completely. I became re-committed to my workout routine. I felt better than ever, especially mentally and emotionally.


Now, what is this post really getting to? I suspect many of you have figured it out by now. I know I haven't been myself lately at all. I've really neglected my blog and I haven't been my normal, energetic, motivated self. I haven't been as responsive to emails and haven't written a lot of content...but I think you will understand why when you read the rest of this post.


My husband and I are thrilled to announce that we are expecting our first child in May! I have always wanted to be a mother and I feel so incredibly blessed. We are so excited to become parents and grow together as a family. Some days, it still doesn't feel real.

I am going to write separate posts about how we found out, ultrasound updates, skincare routine updates, cravings, etc, but I wanted to share this news on a special day, Thanksgiving, because we are truly more thankful than anything for this incredible blessing.



I am 13 weeks and 1 day along now and have had a lot of symptoms that have kept me from being my normal self, which is truthfully why I have not been blogging. It was difficult for me to just let everything go and offer no explanation to my incredible readers...but I had to listen to my body and I also did not feel comfortable making the announcement earlier into my pregnancy. I hope you all understand.


I have had the opposite of morning sickness, which basically means that I am nauseous every day from about 3 or 4 p.m. until I fall asleep (and it worsens by the hour and there is never relief because I never actually throw up). I also have zero energy. I can make it through the workday (barely, some days) and then I usually sit on the couch for a couple of hours to wind down and I go up to bed at 8:30 most nights and am asleep by 9:30 or so. I had to hire a cleaning service recently because I didn't even have the energy to clean our home (and I usually LOVE cleaning). Last weekend was the first time I was able to clean the house (with H's help) since I found out I was pregnant (I will do an updated posted about cleaning products too since I switched to natural ones for the pregnancy.)


I am not complaining at all about my symptoms---they come with pregnancy and as long as our baby is healthy and happy and growing, I really don't care much about how I feel---but I wanted to clarify why I haven't been around lately. It's been tough because I love blogging and I love interacting with my readers and getting excited about putting together outfits each morning. 

During my first trimester, I feel I've been focused completely on this pregnancy and really listening to what I needed, and it was rest. Since I am on the computer all day at work and write a lot as part of my job, it felt really draining to me to come home and whip out the laptop again (which, before I was pregnant was my normal routine and I absolutely loved coming home to work on a blog post). As I get further along in my pregnancy, I notice days where I have more energy than others and I am hoping that my energy levels continue to increase as time goes on.


Thank you to everyone sending their well wishes and for all of those who checked in with me during my blogging break to make sure I was okay. It really means a lot to me and I thank everyone for their patience as I've been taking a break for these past few months.


More than anything, I am so excited to share this journey with you all---and I am so glad I can learn so much from my readers who are mothers and have lots of great advice and wisdom to share.

(from our NT scan at 11 weeks)

Thank you so much for reading and for your support, thoughts and prayers---and happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!