Kenny's going to be a babies daddy and I'm pretty sure it's mine!

Like I said, Kenny's going to be a babies daddy! He couldn't be more excited. And incase your wondering, I'm 100% sure the babies mine. Either that or I have some hummungo adorable other being growing inside of me. Not sure why we haven't made this public knowledge sooner, but we just didn't. 

If you've seen me recently, it is  quite apparent that I am indeed pregnant Either that or I've been drinking one too many beers. I joke with my grandpa that my belly is now bigger than his :) 

Without further ado, I have all the details here, and if there's anything else you'd like to know, feel free to ask. I won't be offended. And if I am, many apologies.

1. I'm 24 weeks along and due October 6th :) Yay for fall babies!!
2. We are not finding out the gender of the baby. Sorry people.
3. We've chosen names, but we're not telling. I will tell you this, they are not Madison or Connor or any other person that wants this baby named after them. Deal with it.
4. No morning sickness for those who care, but I do sleep more than the average human being. I'm growing a child people. It takes a lot of work.
5. We are definitely only having one child at this time. No twins or triplets or octuplets. Can't imagine growing eight humans. I don't think I'd ever be awake or asleep. Just a zombie.
6. My birth plan is 'whatever works'. Ideally I'd like to do it on my own, but we'll see. Best quote thus far 'They don't give you an award for having the baby naturally'. I'm aware. But I'd still like to have the baby naturally so don't judge me. And if I get an epidural. Don't judge me.

We're so excited to finally share the news with the world. Aka, all our facebook friends.

TV or not TV

Recently I googled "What to do without a TV". I found this article which wasn't exactly what I was looking for, but it got me to thinking. And when I refer to TV, I'm also including mindless surfing of the web, browsing Instagram, Facebook, video games and any other screen time activities.

Here's the statistics on the screen time in our life. The average week we watch 10 hours of TV. Some weeks it's far less, some way more. If it's winter time and we just got the latest season of Modern Family or The Office, it will tend to be higher. We don't have internet so that's not a big issue here. 10 hours compared to the national average of 30 hours (I went with the lowest number I found), doesn't seem so bad. But I'm not here to compare. I'm here to focus on our life and our habits. This got me to thinking, what would I do with 10 extra hours a week.

We decided not to go cold turkey on TV. Because like I said before, I like TV. Mainly movies and documentaries. And Kenny likes sports. After a heated discussion, much compromise, and a hand shake that sealed the deal, we've decided on 13 days with limited TV time. This is just shy of 2 weeks because that is the compromise we made. Don't ask why. Each week, we will each be allowed 3 hours of TV/Video Games/Internet. I'll keep you posted on how we choose to spend that time.

As far as my extra 7 hours of free time, here are some of the options I came up with:

1. Gardening
2. Reading
3. Exercise
4. Preparing food
5. Have a clean house
6. Get ready for baby - Register, Clean out room for baby
7. Talk with people
8. Blog more
9. Take photos
10. Build tractor for chickens
11. Swim
12. Pick blueberries
13. Go to the farmers market
14. Soak up the sun
15. Take a nap in the hammock
16. Go to bed early
17. Take a nap ( I think I already mentioned that one )
18. Sit and watch the baby move in my tummy

I honestly think I could write well over 100 things I could do with my time. But I'll stop now and let you know later what I actually do with my time :)

I want to remember that TV is not the enemy. My own self-control or lack there of is the true enemy.

Life Lately

1. Finally made some pillows for our living room!

2. Got our MSU tickets in the mail. Can't wait to go to the Breslin Center today.

3. Found a puppy. And so far no one's claimed him.

4. Izzie loving to play with the new puppy.

5. After playing pond hockey. Winter is never complete without pond hockey!

6. On our way to play in the snow.

7-8. Missing the Florida warmth

9. Made Izzie a new toy and she loves it.

10. Wondering what the 'Land of Living Skies' looks like.

March Goals

1. Take a photo a day

Ain't she cute :) My friend was donkey sitting. Never met a donkey in real life until then.

I don't necessarily care to wander around with my camera. It's big And it's bulky. And most of the time I'd rather be doing what I'm doing, than stopping what I'm doing to take a photo. With that being said, I do find myself thinking I wish I had a photo of that night or that moment or those people. I don't like that feeling of regret. On the same token, I don't want to miss out on moments and memories because I'm taking photos. So with that being said, I'll try it for a month and see how it goes.

3/2 - Those are frozen bananas and I made a yummy snack I'll post about later this week.

2. Write four hand written letters

When I want to say something, it's so easy and convenient to send a text, e-mail, or facebook message. But who doesn't like receiving an old fashioned letter. I already know who I'll be writing two of letters to, and I can't wait to discover the recipients of the other two!

3. Pack my lunch the night before

This sounds juvenile when I say it, like I'm a 7 year old that can't remember to pack a lunch. But in reality, I'm a 24 year old, who prefers sleep. I prefer sleep until it's lunch time and I'm eating a banana and the saddest excuse for a wrap because I chose 10 more minutes of sleep over packing a sufficient lunch. My stomach is tired of eating this way. And Kenny is tired of me stealing his food :) He gets up 30 minutes earlier than me because he values a good lunch, and breakfast, and shower. So this month my stomach wins out over those few extra moments of sleep.

Real vs. Reality

I have a confession to make. Whenever I'm house sitting I tend to watch the trashiest TV.  Keeping up with the Kardashians, Real Housewives of anywhere, Dance Moms, etc. The reason I only watch these when I'm house sitting is because I don't have cable or internet, and I have no natural outlet to watch them otherwise.

I know everyone has differing definitions of trashy tv. For some Jerry Springer is acceptable, for others what I watch would send them into a tail spin. The reason I even bring this up is because of a blog post I recently read over on yourwishcake. Here are a few of Kerri's thoughts that got me thinking.

Since my recent encounter with the not-so-nice people of the internet, I've also done a lot of thinking about sharing my life on this blog. It seems that there will always be those people who treat blogs like reality shows. They think that just because someone writes about their life online that it can be open to petty criticisms and judgement and gossip. I know myself well enough to say that I will never, ever be someone who is able to shrug those things off completely. They're not going to ruin my life, but they will still get under my skin. And although I am grateful to have met some of the most kind, encouraging and genuine people though my blog, I can't ignore the fact that there are some bad apples out there continuing to read (for some reason or another; who really knows?).

I am taking a stand against trashy TV.  I will no longer watch Dance Moms and think, I would never let my daughter dance for someone who is okay with bringing them down and being down right mean to them. I will not watch Real Housewives and judge them for taking joy in criticizing others and bringing conflict to everyone around them. Every time I watch these shows whether knowingly or unknowingly I judge those people. No more!! These shows no longer have a place in my life. Thanks for listening.

Numb

"Why don't the newscasters cry when they read about people who die?

At least they could be decent enough to put just a tear in their eyes"

Jack Johnson 

The number of violent acts the average American child sees on TV by the age of 18 is 200,000, and the average number of murders witnessed by children on television by age 18 is 16,000. I'm older than 18 and am willing to bet those statistics are pretty accurate in my life. I've watched Bones, Taken, CSI, and on and on and on. I'm not here to say I don't enjoy those shows because they are entertaining. Who doesn't like hearing Liam Neeson say "...what I do have are a very particular set of skills" and then watch him risk his life to save his daughter. Great story. I know, I watched it.

What I realized today was that I have become numb to reality. Mostly like Jack Johnson's song. Why don't the newscasters cry? Why don't I cry when I hear stories of girls sold into the sex trade. Why don't I cry when humans die because they were hungry? Why don't I cry when I hear of mass genocides? Why don't I cry when I hear that the average American spends $749.51 on Christmas alone and 37% of the world won't make that in a year? I get sad about these things, and I feel moved. But shouldn't it break my heart. Should I not be moved to physical pain and action. Yet so many things just blow by unnoticed. It's not only the violence.

The other thing is the American materialism. So many commercials and watching people live in excess, myself included. I don't buy a ton of stuff and don't really think the commercials have that much effect on me, but what I've found that they do do is they make greed and consumerism acceptable. We can justify buying stuff because it's normal. I don't have as much as so and so, so I can buy this shirt even though I already have 20 other shirts in my closet. We justify it and encourage it. This past year I was at a women's retreat and after the retreat, this a frequent occurrence, all the women go shopping. Again, myself included. I bought a pair of shoes and two shirts. None of which I needed. The more and more I think about this, the more and more I feel convicted. The shopping is not my issue. My issue is that while at the retreat, there was a basket where they were collecting money for Samaritan's Purse. And I spent more money on myself shopping than I did to help people out.

I don't say all of this to judge you, or because I feel anymore superior. Please know that this has been on my mind. And it bothers me greatly, and that is why I'm writing. And I'm not writing this to get it off my chest and then continue on living just as I lived before. I don't honestly know every way in which I'll change, but the first step I plan to take is cutting out TV for now. I truly feel like I need to cleanse myself in order to see things afresh. So here's to my journey and process of cleaning out and building up.

Life Lately 4/30/13

If you call lately, the last 30+ days, then the title would be accurate. If not, you'll just have to deal with it :) Sorry. So, here's what we've been up to, lately.

1 & 2.    I've been trying to get out and walk more. This is my favorite trail to walk with Izzie. She can run free, and there's never anyone around.

3 & 4.    We've been doing a little remodeling in the backyard. Cut down half a dozen trees a couple weekends ago. This is Kenny's younger brother in his chaps on the left, and Kenny looking all cute on the right :)

5.    Our sweet neighbors gave us a baby welcoming gift. I actually ran into her at Target when she was buying the gift. Which is very ironic, since I've never seen her outside of when we're both at home :)

6.    A beautiful Hyacinth for my birthday. It smelled amazing! This was March 29th. I thought spring was coming. It was 60's and sunny. After that, it snowed several more times. Boo.

7.    Octoball. A favorite game of mine. Basically a version of dodgeball in a small arena.

8.    Our town recently flooded. The community spent Friday and Saturday filling up sandbags to protect local homes and businesses.

9 & 10.    Me holding babies. Doesn't matter what kind. I love them all.

11.    Kenny and I training for an upcoming talent show. Should be epic ;)

12.    Kenny acting embarrassed that he is actually participating.

13.    Enjoying the sun! It is finally sunny and warm. Thank you Michigan.

14.    A gift I bought for myself, and loving every bit of it.