***Let me start by saying — I AM NOT PREGNANT!!***

Last year at this time I was just a few weeks pregnant. Crazy to think how fast the past year has gone. I am now a mother of not just one but two sweet little girls. Both my pregnancies were almost identical which is why I knew Amelia was a girl from the beginning. Just this past week I’ve had a few flashbacks of the parts of my pregnancy that weren’t very enjoyable. I was super nauseous from about week 7 through week 13, therefore, certain smells and even thoughts of certain foods made me even more nauseous. Recently 3 particular items have made me remember what those few weeks were like.

1. Dove deodrant the waterlily & fresh mint scent. Just a few days ago I put this specific kind of deodorant on. I totally forgot that I didn’t like it when I was pregnant. I wasn’t nauseous but I remembered what I felt like when I was nauseous. It was awful. I am throwing it away as soon as I finish this post. I will never use it again.

2. Radiator heat. This is a serious problem! This is the only type of heat we have in our house. It doesn’t really become an issue until it’s really really cold which I know will be happening sooner rather than later. Last week when it kicked in full force…oh that smell just couldn’t get any worse….I am so strange…I know because radiator heat really doesn’t smell bad. So there you go another pregnancy flashback!!

3. Thanksgiving food. This one is the strange flashback. I have had turkey, green beans, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, rolls and the list could go on since thanksgiving, but for some reason the thought of eating all those items together mixed with stuffing might just send me over the top. It was actually thankgiving day last year that my nausea really kicked in. I can remember helping cook the food thinking this is just awful. I did eat but it was not enjoyable. Maybe since we’ll be at a different house this year it will help….let’s just hope at least.

Being pregnant is so amazing yet so bizarre all at the same time!

Yes, I disappeared for 7 months from this blog but I’m back…for now that is. I don’t really have time to blog but I think It’s good for me to do every once and a while. Three different people have asked me to start blogging again, one lives in Marion, one lives in Wilmore, KY and one lives in Cincinnati. So this is for you Bambi, Kristen and Rachel.

Stay tuned…more to come…..

Here it is 9pm and I want Mexican food so badly I can hardly stand it. I’m not talking about taco bell, but a Mexican restaurant where I sit down and they bring me chips and salsa and then a delicious meal filled with tacos, beans, rice and an enchilada.

I just got off the phone with a friend who is pregnant and she never has cravings….seriously!?!?! My mouth is watering….

Today I went to the grocery store. I bought a lot of different meals that we either hadn’t had for a while or stuff we have never had. Tonight I decided we would have catfish, something I’ve never made before, with sweet potatoes and this seasoned rice for our sides. I put the sweet potatoes in the oven at 4:30 pm and was looking forward to a delicious meal. I love when Adam walks in the door from work and gets really excited because we are having something new.

So, about 5:00 pm I called Adam to find out what time he would be coming home for dinner. This was the first time I had talked to him since yesterday so we chatted a little, and then I remembered today was staff lunch so I asked him what he had for lunch, he said “catfish, from Cracker Barrel.” I can’t even believe it! What are the chances?!?!

He went on to tell me that he didn’t care to have it twice in one day and that what he had for lunch wasn’t even that great. I’m not sure if he was telling me the truth or not but it made me feel better either way.

Alright folks…I have now had enough people ask me about this that I am being forced to blog to tell everyone the true story. Those of you that may not read Adam’s blog please read here before continuing so you will know what I’m talking about.

Saturday night a possum did not pee on my leg, he also did not pee on my foot, he never ran down the driveway, he did not get confused because I was a human and he never brushed up against my leg…it never happened. This story is FALSE!! J

Here is what happened. Before he left I told him I get scared because of all the animals out here in the country. Later that night he sent me a text message asking if I had seen any raccoons or bears so I thought I would make up a story to see if he believed me…and he did (for a very short period of time)!! By the time I had told him I made the whole story up he had already blogged about it and refused to go back and change it. I guess that was my punishment to have people ask me about it at church and call me wanting to hear about it.

So there you go folks…my side of the story….

Also…I haven’t seen any mice since living here!! J

A strange turn of events brought us to Marion, Ohio, the place I told Adam I would NEVER live. Now yet again we are in a place I never thought I would be again and that is staying on the campus of MVNU for district assembly. Here I am staying with my husband and daughter four apartments away from where I lived my senior year of college, 10 apartments away from where I lived junior year, across the street from my sophomore dorm and down the road from my freshman dorm. It’s all a little strange. Adam is in meetings all day so Ella and I went out this morning and took a walk around campus; so many memories both good and bad came to mind as I was walking. I definitely don’t miss college but I enjoyed it while I was here. I do miss seeing my friends on a regular basis but here recently we’ve seen each other a lot so it hasn’t been much of a problem. And although we live miles apart, when we get together things are still as ridiculous as always.

This weekend we traveled down to Cincinnati to see my friends Rachel and David get married. I am so excited for them. I don’t know David very well but Rachel was one of my apartment mates in college so I’m glad we could go. It was a very unique wedding. The wedding was in a playhouse, not the kind you find in your backyard, but one where you see plays..:) Had to clarify because one person thought I meant a backyard playhouse. It was very small, it maybe held 175 people at the most and the seats were on 3 sides of the stage. Then the reception was out in the lobby area which had large glass windows that overlooked the city of Cincinnati, it was beautiful. One very unique idea was she had a photo booth. Everyone got their picture taken and it printed 2 copies, one for a favor which they put on a magnet for the refrigerator and the second was to put into the guest book. What a fun idea! And great entertainment getting to use a photo booth as much as you want!!

I’m jealous right now that they are on there honeymoon and I’m stuck here. I would love to go on a vacation with my hubby right now. Maybe I should clarify, I’m not jealous that I’m not on my honeymoon I’m just jealous of a vacation that involves a beach and no children (Sorry Ella. I do love you!).

Back to the wedding, it was so great to catch up with my college friends again. We are all at such different points in our lives right now but yet when we are together it’s still fun and we get along well. It’s nice to finally be able to get invited to weddings, shower, parties, etc. and actually be able to go. Living in Georgia didn’t allow be to be part of the festivities most of the time.

I’m also very excited for one of my friends right now who is pregnant. It’s top secret so I can’t share who it is but I wasn’t expecting her to be pregnant this soon so I think it makes it more exciting. Congrats!! (By the way, just because I added this paragraph into this blog post DOES NOT mean that the person pregnant is in any of the below pictures.)

Here are some pictures from the wedding this weekend.

While I was eating lunch I was watching some of the travel channel. Today’s show was a lady exploring Iceland, an area I always thought to be ugly but it was actually really beautiful when it was sunny. Every time I watch those shows it makes me want to live overseas for a while. My dream is to live over there just for a year, nothing permanent. I’ve always heard “you can do anything for a year”. So maybe years down the road we can take a leap of faith and explore a brand new area.

Actually, the best plan would be if we timed it right with our friends who are planning on moving to hungry in about 5-8 years. Living in Europe the same time as them would be so awesome. We could explore together!!

Even if I never get a chance to live there a trip would be nice. I’m thinking maybe for our 10 year anniversay (6 years from now) we could splurge and take a 2 week vacation.

Alright, enough dreaming for the afternoon….

I find myself crying, and my eyes stinging so much I just want to scream each and every time I cut up an onion. Many times I will just leave the onion out of the recipe all because I hate the stinging feeling in my eyes. Last night (thanks to Nancy) I was taught a way to never cry over an onion again. Take a half piece of bread and stick it under your tongue. The bread will be way be too big to put the whole thing under so that’s why you let the rest hang out of your mouth. Don’t worry you’ll feel ridiculous as you do it, especially if someone else is in the kitchen with you but it’s definitely worth it! Something about the saliva/bread combination makes you not cry.

What happened to my favorite season? Right now at 11:24 pm it’s still 80 degrees. I feel like mother nature just skipped from cold to ridicuolously hot! I love the spring time, temperatures in the 70’s, leaving the windows down in the car, opening up the windows in the house and lovely walks. But today it had to have been in the 90’s, which makes it hard to do any of the above mentioned.

After it cooled down a bit I took Ella out and we played in the baby pool. I thought the water was freezing which is why I didn’t get in but she didn’t seem to mind…typical kid! She had a blast. I can’t wait to take her to an actual swimming pool. It’s amazing to me how much she has grown up over the past few months. She is beginning to talk more clearly, for example, today she said “outside” and “yes” pretty well.