Wish me luck.

Today is the first day of my new diet, and already I am tempted to get off of it. I plan to avoid carbs (ie. Breads, potatoes, rice, and pastas, but not the veggie carbs) in order to lose weight, as was recommended by my ob. I am also trying to avoid foods that cause gas, like beans, broccoli, etc. since I am still breast feeding and those cause discomfort especially to babies under three months of age. Lana also has a problem with spitting up, so her pediatrician recommended I stay away from dairy, eggs, fish and nuts for at least two weeks to see if that helps her spitting up problems. So with all of these restrictions, it will be very hard on me to stick with this diet, but in the long run, I think it will be worth it. My main concern before I got started was how I was going to eat breakfast, as the typical choices seemed denied to me: eggs, toast, cereal. Sarah C. and Tanya R. recommended smoothies for breakfast with soy milk instead of regular milk. My smoothie this morning was a success! Lunch came around, and with juggling cleaning up from dinner last night, bathing Lily, nursing Lana, and getting lunch ready for Lily, I had not gotten anything prepared for my lunch. I also am in a time crunch, as I have a doctor's appointment that I need to leave for by two. My frozen chicken stripts are in the oven, and I am going to put them over some lettuce for a quick salad. I was tempted by a can of potatoe soup in the pantry, and egg rolls in the freezer, both of which are quick solutions, but if I am going to make this diet work, then I cannot get sidetracked on the very first day! So once again, wish me luck!

Shocking Remembrance

Today, Anthony found a document which I forgot existed that declared my acceptance to UT in the German college. I was completely floored that I had the chance to go to UT, and deliberately chose to go to St. Edwards instead. True, St. Eds was a shorter duration, and was more useful as a career, but UT, and German! I vaguely remember this decision, but I imagine that it was a very hard one to make. I had been trying to get into UT since before Anthony and I were married, in the summer of 2004, and I was finally accepted only to have to turn it down! I started tearing up, for heaven's sake, when I saw it tonight! I can't help but wonder, if I had the choice to make all over again, with the knowledge that I have now, would I make the same decision?

On a separate note, I have decided to make this my personal blog, with my thoughts, and comments, while any update on my daughter Lily or our family will be posted on familyamaro.blogspot.com. Of course, I have been bad about posting on that blog, too.

Upcoming post...

So Anthony has not set up the desktop computer after the LAN party last weekend, which has all of the pictures. So I will give you a little teaser until you get the full story next post, which will hopefully happen before the baby is born.

1. We have painted the nursery, pics to come. Perhaps we will be able to decorate it a little bit before I post next.

2. I have a new car. Well, not new exactly, it is actually older than Anthony's older car, but that is ok. Details and pics to come.

3. My body is preparing to give birth. There is a possibility that I will be induced next week. More details to come.

4. I had a baby shower last weekend! It was a lot of fun! I will be making a trip to Target to spend the gift cards I received later today. I will post what I buy later.

5. Cradle issues. The cradle I originally picked out was majorly backordered, so I would not have gotten it on time, so I changed my mind to another, more versatile cradle, which can convert to a loveseat, and which can holdup to 100 lbs. The other one only held 25 lbs.

6. I think that is all, but if I think of anything else, I will include it in my next post.

Love you guys!

Our Baby...

Ok, so I know I have been pretty lax about updating my blog, but I have decided that this news is blog-worthy.

First of all, yes, I am pregnant.

I am in my 20^th week, and we went to our ultrasound appointment Friday to find out if it is a boy or a girl. I am proud to say that our baby, Olivia Lauren/Emma Elaine Amaro is due to enter this world on August 9, 2010! I will post the ultrasound pics later...

I was 14 weeks along when this was taken.

17 weeks.

20 weeks.

I haven’t told Anthony this yet, ;) but I have an idea of what I want the nursery to look like. I am thinking white or cream walls with delicate pink and blue (maybe yellow, too, haven’t decided) flowers. I am not sure if that will be feasible, though. We will see how many stores have that theme available in crib sheets and stuff.

I am also planning on being a full-time, stay at home mom. I will be quitting my current job sometime in July.

On a completely different topic, we still have cats.

Sylvester likes to burrow. I found him here one day when he was trying to hide from my friend Sarah B.

This is a Max.

This is a Max on pot.

Any questions?

We have also recently bought new living room furniture. Now or living room looks like a comfy cozy room instead of the mess it was.

Isn't it lovely? The decor still needs to be changed, but one thing at a time...

...HAS NOT FAILED!!!!!

I would like to announce that I am officially not looking for a job anymore, since my company has moved me back to 30 hours. This is very good, since I wasn't getting very many bites in the job market.

I also wanted to reflect on imaginary friends. Anthony and I just finished watching a Star Trek TNG episode that hit on that topic. Synopsis: An ensign has been moved from place to place in the federation, dragging his daughter along with him. She has not been able to stay in one place long enough to make friends, so has created an imaginary friend to take along with her. An alien energy life-form takes the shape of this friend, and causes a lot of mischief.

Now, in the hope of not making this too serious, I would like to describe my own experience with imaginary friends. I was somewhat ... strange growing up, and sought out ways to be "wierd." One of these ways was to create a decision-making entity which I named "The Critics." Don't ask me where I go the name, or when I created them, I can't remember. I do remember interacting with them.

Basically, when confronted with any decision, I would announce that, "I must consult the critics" in a somewhat manic manner, then throw myself face first into whatever crevice I could find, whether between the cushions of the couch, or my own elbow, wait there a few moments, and then emerge with whatever decision "The Critics" would come up with. Isn't it silly what some kids come up with? Do you have any stories about imaginary friends growing up?

It's been a while...

Due to the popular request of my adoring public (:P) I have decided to take time out of my busy schedule to let you know what is going on.

First, my job. It is going really well. I have been working there for 2 months now, and while I am still a probationary employee,I have a feeling that in one month's time I will be a full time regular employee for Spencer Godfrey Architects, Inc. I was told today that a lot of the reason they hired me was because of my 3d modeling experience, which has become apparent as they asked me to do a perspective model of one of the jobs I have been working on. This is in addition to the 40 hours a week I normally work, which means that lately I have been working so much! Luckily this is a short term assignment, so by the end of next week, I should have this done, along with a nice bonus! I was also told that this would likely be something I do a few times a year, however, not all of them would be in addition to my normal workload. All in all, I am very happy with what I do. It has been hard to come home and make dinner and clean our apartment, but slowly I have improved in that arena.


Next: Sylvester. This is our new cat. He is so adorable! He is always wearing his tux, and gets along with Max (our other cat) famously. He also always sleeps with us, right next to me, either around my head, curled at my tummy or back, and even under the covers! I have never seen a cat do that!


I have also changed my appearance a bit. To be precise, I have gotten a perm! Since my hair is pretty short, it took really well, since my hair isn't weighing down the curls., also it is long enough to not be a 'fro. I have also noticed a slight change in my hair color because of it. It now has a reddish tint to it. Yeah, It is not the best picture ever, but it gives you an idea of what it looks like.