Starting to get settled :)

I've discovered that one of the hardest parts about being on the road and constantly moving from town to town is you never really feel at home.  Thats the biggest reason I wanted our 5th wheel to feel so homey because its the only sense of home we have.  It can get really frustrating every time we are in a new town trying to find grocery stores, churches, doctors, dentists, rv parks, walking / running trails, coffee shops, things you take for granted when you know right where they are when you have lived in a certain place for years.  In Carlsbad, NM there was not much to get to know, or want to know.  It was very small with nothing around it and I was 20 miles from town so I didn't really commit to getting settled.

We've been in Greeley for about 10 weeks now and I can finally say I am feeling good here.  The RV park is not the greatest by any means but other than that I like it.  I think after awhile you start to get used to the trains that blow their horns all through the night, the 18 wheelers that use their jake breaks right outside your trailer 24 hours a day and crazy wind that threatens to blow you over.

I hardly have to use my navigation now to get around.  We've found a great church that we love and have been going to every sunday since the first of the year.  They have 4 services on Sundays, 3 in the morning and 1 at night so even when Brandon has class we can still go to the evening service and we love it there.  They were SO welcoming from the second we walked in the door.  We were greeted by a gentleman who promptly introduced us to the pastor.  He asked Brandon what he does and he said "I work on power lines". Its kinda what we have learned to tell people because if you say "I'm a lineman" they ask "for what team" haha.  Well the pastor goes "oh is that the same thing as a lineman" Brandon and I were blown away and he said yes and the pastor quickly introduced us to another member of the church that is a lineman.  It was such a great feeling from the start and we feel so at home there.

We found a dentist and got our teeth cleaned, found a few parks to go walking at and even found some tennis courts and played a round or two :) ( I totally killed brandon in our match ups!) We've found a couple cute coffee shops that are relaxing and also very popular, sometimes hard to even find a seat!

The greatest find of all though is my doctor.  The two big things that were keeping me from wanting to have a baby on the road was not getting to have a nursery and not having MY doctor back home.  I love my doctor back home so much and felt very comfortable with him but I decided I could be flexible and find someone new wherever we went.  I had my first appointment back in January and did not like the doctor at all.  I was pretty upset thinking what have I done, this is going to be so hard.  I decided to look at other doctors in the office and found a midwife there and scheduled my next appointment with her.  I got to see her a couple weeks ago and Brandon and I both LOVE her!! She is so sweet and very informative, which is exactly what I was looking for.  She is very open to my birth plan and said she'll do anything she can to help me.  She is also so understanding of us moving around and doesn't make us feel bad about it or give us any less care just because we might not be here the whole time.

I know I am jinxing us by writing this post.  I know we'll probably get called to somewhere new next week and I'll have to adjust all over again but I am ok with that.  I am just so happy that I have been able to really enjoy it here and learn how to live in a new city in a short time.  I feel like I am not just "living" though, I've made a life here.  I am going to do that in every town we go to so I always feel at home :)

Being Healthy for Two

So I always thought I would be that pregnant woman that ate all the right things and would be known as "that pregnant lady that is always exercising".  Well reality has hit and I do not feel like I am doing a good job.  There are so many emotional highs and lows you go through when you are pregnant that no one ever tells you about. I don't think anyone tells you because women don't understand it as they are going through it and certainly don't want to remember it when its over.

Prior to getting pregnant I had made some healthy life choices to be in the best shape for a baby.  I was exercising at least 5 times a week, eating lots of fruits and veggies and had stopped drinking alcohol unless for a special occasion (like our honeymoon!) I planned on keeping all this up when I got pregnant and I have tried, but probably not as hard as I should.  I did not expect the exhaustion that hits you like 5 freight trains one after another and stays for well....12 weeks so far.  I sleep in way too late most days and then I am ready for a nap two hours later.  I have to take at least one nap a day, even if its only a half hour.   Moving to Colorado has been great and for the better but the elevation here is so  high it makes it very hard for me to breath.  Not to mention its freezing cold, going from the warm climate of New Mexico to the freezing temps of Northern Colorado has made it difficult to feel great when I am on my runs.  I was running up to 7 miles before I got pregnant and now I am struggling to get through 3 miles.  That brings me to my next point.  Eating.  Although I have been very lucky and did not experience much sickness I have lost my appetite completely.  For the first week after being pregnant I couldn't stop eating, everything and anything sounded good and I was eating every 45 minutes.  That has been gone for weeks now and I am struggling every day to get enough calories (clean calories) in each day.  Running is great and makes me feel wonderful (when I'm done) but I'm burning 400-600 calories which doesn't help when I am already having a difficult time eating enough.  I feel so bad for Brandon, I haven't been making dinners because nothing sounds good or tastes good.  The things that sound good are Candy, waffles, taquitos, CRAP CRAP CRAP! This is by far the most frustrating "symptom" so far this pregnancy and I didn't even know it would happen.

I weighed myself a few weeks ago and I had gained 10 pounds, 10 pounds in a few weeks! I instantly started crying.  I read online it may be water weight so I drank more water then I have ever drank in my life and weighed myself two days later.  I had lost 8 pounds! The things the woman's body does when pregnant is so strange.  No one else can gain and lose that much weight in a matter of days.  Every woman is different.  Some don't gain a pound until well into their second trimester.  Some gain all their weight in the first trimester and don't gain again until the third.  Others lose weight during their pregnancy! Its all so different and its very emotional on the woman going through it. I had an emotional break down a few mornings ago.  Crying to my husband that I am huge and I don't know how quick I'll be able to lose the weight after the baby is here.  I am upset because I feel like any weight I gain will be my fault.  I am NOT eating as best I should and I am not exercising daily.  I am tired and frustrated.   I am trying to remember there is no right or wrong to weight gain.  At 12 weeks I have now gained 3 pounds and I am ok with that and I am working on accepting the changes my body is going through.

Along with the hormones that make even the smallest things huge, there is all the media that tells you what you should look like pregnant, feel like, and what to eat and NOT eat.  As much as I wish I could, I really don't think I will be one of those Fit Pregnancy models that have toothpick thin legs and arms and are all belly.  Nope, in fact I am sure my face will gain weight and my legs will get a little bigger, and who knows what will happen to my butt! For some reason though, you NEVER see those pictures on the magazines or online.  I get emails daily from various sites I have signed up to, that say "watch what you eat", "Don't eat for two", "Eat this healthy alternative rather then the junk you really want".  Yeah I've tried the healthy alternative and you know what, 3 days later I STILL want the junk. I feel like I am constantly googling things to make sure its ok to eat or drink.  "No lunchmeat, no coffee, no chai, no herbal teas, no soft cheeses, no hot dogs, no raw fish, nothing that has sat out for two hours, no artificial sweeteners" and the list goes on.  I feel like my head is going to explode, I had to ask my husband to try to help me remember what I can't eat so I don't accidentally eat something bad! Then the guilt that comes from having that ONE bite of a hot dog because you forgot and googling it to see what damage you might have done.....I seriously might go crazy!!!

As I head into the second trimester my goal is to be healthier but not focus on the scale so much or what I am "not" doing.  I need to focus on the positive choices I am making every day.  My body is changing and it is going to gain or lose what it needs for a healthy baby.  If I want a starburst I will have one, maybe even a couple but NOT a whole bag.  I don't want to treat my pregnancy as a reason to be a human garbage disposal but maybe I need to cut myself a little slack and realize eating clean pregnant is not as easy as I thought it might be.
Thanks for hanging in there on this whiney post!!