Many thoughts, but at least I'm not in a foggy mind any longer:)

I was at work on tuesday night, talking with my co-workers about how I was feeling.  I told them I was actually feeling a TON! better starting the beginning of the 8th week.  The log in my stomach was gone and the only stomach pains I get are the acidy pain for when I am hungry (I think), so I just eat a little snack and it goes away.  Annie, a lady at work who is pregnant with her first, is 28 weeks and still gets nauseous, plus she has a cold now.  For many weeks, she would come out of the bathroom during a night shift and say, "I just threw up." and get back to work.   She told me I suck.  So for all you moms out there who suffered any amount of nausea or back pain or lethargy during all of your first and/or 2nd trimester, and perhaps your 3rd trimester, you are my heroes.  It really is tough work growing a baby inside you.  One lady at work said for 6 months she couldn't even go to the refrig to get food out because most foods and smells made her projectile vomit. I would die, and she said she wanted to.  So I am very grateful that for whatever reason I am feeling better.  I can guzzle water again, and eat often!  I do a lot better with smaller more frequent meals, but I sometimes wonder if I am going to gain all my 25 pounds in the first trimester!  Ick. Thankfully, I have aversions for junk food, and mostly desire to eat healthy foods!  The body knows what it needs:)  I like to eat eggs, fruit (I have never ate this much fruit in my life!), yogurt, cereal and healthy tasty dinners like shepards pie (that my husband made deliciously!) and pho (Vietnamese food, if you've never had it, it is the bomb). We also bought this soy protein mix to make protein smoothies.  We have a bag of cheetos on top of the frig that have been there for 3 weeks:)   Overall, I have more energy, although I still take naps often, and am able to function a bit more like normal (although the normal I knew is changing and, God willing, when our baby is born, will forever be a different normal.....)

I wrote an email to my fam telling them so far, the whole pregnancy thing is making me very self centered:)  Everything is about me now!  I want to evaluate everything I do and feel.  And I want to piece together pieces of my puzzle to see where I fit in.  I want to find clues and solve my mysteries.  I don't want to miss a thing about my pregnancy and want to remember all I can!  Nate gets most of it.  He has been a great listener.  I just ramble on and on about everything that happened during the day with a play by play report of how I was feeling at every minute of the day!  Sometimes, it makes me uneasy (mostly at work) when people find out I am pregnant or are getting an update.  Everyone is soooo incredibly excited, asking me a ton of questions, smiling at me and staring at me waiting for me to answer.  I get a little nervous being the center of the conversation.  I feel like I have to be super co-worker now because "people are watching me" (really they aren't)- say hi to everyone 10 times a day, engage in several conversations, laugh with them, smile always, tell jokes, walk on my hands!  Its just my sin/human nature to think that everyone is always thinking about me!  Hahaha.  But it is the same thing I do to everyone who I find out is pregnant.  It is so exciting and wonderful and you want to be in the loop about everything that is going on in their life.  So I get it. And really, past the slight uncomfortableness of being the center of convos, it is a blast being on the other end and I do like all the support and tips people give to me.  In fact I would be hurt if people didn't care to ask me how I was doing. 

The whole exercise thing is really a bother.  Some books make you feel like you should be walking around in a bubble to protect you from everything.  Some things online say it's ok to walk and do yoga, others say don't get your heart rate > 140.  And the nurse practitioner at work said run 15 min walk a little, see how you feel, and run home. Swimming is great.   Now, we haven't had our appointment with our midwife yet (the first one is Jan 31st!!!! So, so so so so excited) but I will be very interested in what she has to say.  Until then, I will keep running!  I always wanted to be able to run while I was pregnant, because I think it helps keep your mind clear and body healthy.  So I will run.  And....I bought a bathing suit, so I will swim too, though I really feel like a cat in the water, but I do think it is good for you too.  Just give me a nose plug...... and a kick board.  I am actually excited to swim, plus Nate loves to swim so we will be able to do it together:)  Yesterday I went on a run with Mury.  It was absolutely beautiful.  A memorable run.  It was about 4pm so the sun was low in the sky, and the air was cool and brisk.  Most of the roads/trails are still packed down with snow, so I enjoyed being completely surrounded by white.   I was just running fast enough to keep warm (I don't think I broke a sweat I was running so slow, gotta keep my heart rate < 140).   While I was slowly jogging up a little hill on the way back it was so beautiful and felt so cleansing.  My lungs could take large deep breaths of cool air making me feel invigorated.  My pace was so perfect nothing felt strained but comfortable and almost relaxing.  The sun was setting over the mountains creating a cool yellow sunset over all the naked trees and blanket of snow.  It really was beautiful.  Of course Mury was running up ahead (we were in a empty park, she was off her leash) dive bombing into the snow emerging looking like santa claus.  It was a great time.  I cant imagine anything wrong with that, I'll just alternate walking and running and swimming and of course resting! (today I only walked Mury:)

The one interesting thing I thought about while I was running was how slow I was going.  I felt like I had only run a short distance and had been gone FOREVER!  I thought about how interesting of an analogy that was to how our lives will change when our baby is born.  Do things take just a little while longer to get done?  Does grocery shopping or going to church require a little more planning?  Now when we want to go on a bike ride I won't be waiting for Nate to get done stretching, but finish attaching the baby carrier to the bike:)  I think it's important anyways to keep things slow.  I guarantee we won't be a family that has kids in 400 different activities.  In the words of "Revive" from their song, "Blink"

Teach me to number my days
And count every moment before it slips away
Taking all the colors before they fade to gray
I don't want to miss even just a second more of this

It happens in a blink
It happens in a flash
It happens in the time it takes to look back
I try to hold on tight, but there's no stopping time

When it's all said and done
No one remembers how far we have run
The only thing that matters is how we have loved
I don't want to miss even just a second more of this

Slow down, slow down
Before today becomes our yesterday
Slow down, slow down
Before you turn around and it's too late .

I think its wise to heed the words of God and people who have "lived and learned". 
"All flesh is as grass, And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass.  The grass withers, and its flower falls away, but the word of the Lord endures forever." 1 Peter 1:24-25/Isaiah 40:6-8
"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another."  Jesus John 13:34

My friend Katie told me right.  When she first had her baby Evelyn (she now has Evelyn and Caleb 18 &3 months) I asked her how she was doing.  She told me she wasn't getting much sleep, and some days were better than others, but she was going to cherish every day and take in Evelyn as much as she could because before she knew it Evelyn wouldn't be a baby anymore.  I think she is very wise to know that, and very wise to not only know it, but live it.  Slow down with your marriage, with your kids, with your family, with your time, before you turn around and it's too late.

So today I am 8 weeks and 4 days:)  Our baby is......the size........... of a........... Raspberry!  Or a kidney bean!  The webbed fingers and toes are poking out from his/her hands and feet and the heart is beating! (not yet in a four chambered heart, but two vessels).  It looks more like a baby this week.  The other cool thing I learned was that even though I am not showing, my uterus is huge!  It has grown from a small pear to a large grapefruit:)  Weeeeeee.

Thank you all again for your love and support.  We enjoy getting your ecards and emails of encouragement and "just to see how you are doing". 

Love Ang

P.S Ironically, I haven't had a labor since I found out I was pregnant.  It will be interesting to see what I think.