11 Things In 2011

It seems like New Year's Resolutions have become taboo and no one wants to make them for fear of breaking them. This is understandable, but for me, I really enjoy setting goals. I love making lists of things to do and crossing things off when I've accomplished them! I've made some short term goals for the new year that I'll need to revisit in a few months, but I've also made a list of fun things that I want to accomplish during 2011. I'll try and post about each one as I accomplish it.

1. Read all seven Harry Potter books
2. Complete three knitting projects (I can't say what they are because they're gifts)
3. Read the Book of Mormon
4. Take a sewing class
5. Organize my recipe book
6. Sew a quilt for baby Fjeldsted
7. Run the Disneyland 1/2 Marathon in September
8. No Facebook for two weeks
9. Read Fahrenheit 451
10. Take a vacation
11. Create a piece of art to hang on the wall

Cravings and Other Changes

If anyone was familiar enough with me in high school to know about my eating habits, you'll know that I had an addiction to salt. I loooooved salt! I would even add extra salt to french fries and tortilla chips. In college my go-to snack was pretzels. I would probably go through an entire bag of pretzels each week. As a special treat for a particularly difficult exam, I would buy a little bag of pretzels from the vending machine before I made that awful trek up the stairs to the testing center room. As much as I loved the pretzels, what I loved even more was the salt at the bottom of the bag once I'd finished the pretzels. I'd lick my finger and eat up every last granule. I think I knew logically that this couldn't be good for me, but I didn't care. It must have been around the time I got married that this addiction subsided. I don't recall making a conscious effort to stop eating so much salt, I just didn't anymore.
Well, the craving is back, though thankfully not as strong as it used to be. One day a few weeks ago I just really wanted something salty- enter restaurant style tortilla chips- and I added extra salt to each individual chip. It was glorious. In the weeks that followed, I've probably had this craving four or five more times. One day when we didn't have anything I could use as a vehicle or salt Paul said, "Why don't you just tip the salt shaker into your mouth?" I seriously thought about that as a very delicious option, but then decided against it. I've got to draw the line somewhere. I'm hoping to exercise a little more self control from now on- I don't need to retain any more water than I already am.
As far as other changes, with two months left of this pregnancy, I am now experiencing heart burn and acid reflux on a daily basis. I did a little research on the causes of heart burn during pregnancy and found out that the relaxation of muscles is subject to all muscles, not just those in my abdomen, and the lower esophageal sphincter is no exception. In addition, Mr. Bump is pushing my organs out of his way putting an upward pressure on my stomach. I read all sorts of recommendations from sleeping in an upright position to not eating anything up to three hours before lying down. These helped a little, but I still had heartburn that would keep me awake at night. I hate the idea of taking any type of medication without a substantial cause, but after waking up several nights in a row coughing on my own stomach acid and the okay from my OB, I now take Maalox as a precaution every night before bed.

Mr. Bump has been changing a lot too. This is what he looked like almost three months ago when the gender was determined:


Last Thursday I had my first ultrasound since that photo. I love this little guy and all, but AGGGGHHH!! Creepy clown face!!!


This one is much better.

Getting Chubby

Everyone knows that when you get pregnant you gain weight and your tummy grows. And grows, and grows. But just because I knew it would happen doesn't make it any easier of a pill to swallow. It's still weird to look in the mirror and wonder where my waist went. I'm usually not very picky about what I wear, but this morning I tried on about five different outfits before I found one that worked. Most of my normal clothes feel too tight, but some of my maternity clothes are still too big. I was really looking forward to the day when it was obvious that I was pregnant and not just chubby, but even now, it's not that great to hear someone say, "Oh yeah, I can really tell that you're pregnant now!" I mean, what they're really saying is, "Yeah, you're tummy is way fatter than it would be if you were just a normal fat person." How is this a positive thing? I have always loved the way pregnant people look (their tummies are so darn cute!), so why am I having a hard time thinking of myself this way? I guess I'll just have to blame this one on the hormones.

Check Out What I'm Growing...

A baby Fjeldsted! It sure has come a long way in its first weeks of life. I'm now 17 weeks and feeling great... mostly. The first 12 weeks proved to be fairly uneventful. I never threw up, but did feel queasy on occasion and desired only the blandest of food. Plain baked potato or pasta with butter for dinner? Yes, please! And then there were the marathon sleep hours, waking up to pee, swollen abdomen, headaches, and gas. But really, it wasn't too bad and still isn't. Most of my clothes are feeling pretty tight these days, and I'm looking forward to when I actually look pregnant and not just chubby.

We'll find out the gender in three weeks, and I think then it will actually seem more real that we're having a baby!! I'm due March 4th, which seems like an eternity from now, but I'm sure it will be here before we know it. We're really excited to meet whoever I'm cookin' up inside! :) I welcome any advice you want to give to a first time mama.

Reason To Celebrate

There's been a lot of hip hoorays and boy howdys around here lately. Paul took the boards last week (*huge, enormous, gigantic, gargantuan sigh of relief*) and I haven't seen him this happy in ages.

AND, we celebrated our third anniversary in beautiful San Diego. "Three years already?" you say? Yep, it's true. And we still like each other.

This is from the night the magic started happening. Jennifer and I went longboarding down Provo Canyon with Paul and the gang. Paul helped me tie my hoodie because I was wearing mittens. I was so giddy!


I use the term "longboarding" loosely...


And just ten months later, we sealed the deal.

Retirement Celebration

Well, I'm not cranky anymore! Thank goodness. The roofing project ended up taking two weeks longer than anticipated, but we survived.

Today I celebrated a retirement- my retirement. Today was my last official day working at USC, and now I'm taking two weeks off to live the good life until grad school starts. I'll be spending my days sleeping, boating, Boise-ing, watching 30 Rock, and generally being lazy. All the while Paul will be studying for the dental boards. I keep telling him that he should learn a thing or two from me and retire as well. But that day will come soon enough and Paul will give up dentistry (assuming he passes the boards) to become an amateur golfer and I will be his unpaid caddie.

My Clothes Smell Like Tar

I am cranky. Our apartment building is getting a new roof and at 6:00 every morning we start to hear pieces of old roof falling into a big dumpster by our window. At around 7:00 they turn the big stinky tar machine and wake up two not-so-happy campers. The tar smell has completely permeated our apartment- when we come home in the evening the smell hits us like sledgehammer to the senses. I can't escape it. It's giving me a headache and making me nauseous. They won't be done with the roof for at least another week, so in the meantime, please pardon me for smelling like new pavement.