It's a Big Day

It's a big day in the Schmitt household. But I'm trying to be cool, and forget about what's coming. I'm doing all the normal things and telling myself "it's no big deal Mariel, just another day." This morning I had oatmeal for breakfast and went to the dentist. I filled the car up with gas and had second breakfast of scrambled eggs. Pretty normal Friday stuff. I tidied up the kitchen and threw in a load of laundry. I got my packing done for our weekend trip up north and sent a few text messages back and forth with my friend Melissa. Same old, same old! But the truth is, it's a big day. You see all the days before this day I never knew if I'd have a firstborn girl, or a firstborn boy. But from this day forward, I will know! I'll know if this baby God is knitting together is a boy or a girl and that is amazing! So you see, if I didn't play this little game with myself that this day is no big deal, I might just go crazy waiting for the moment to come! The moment when we'll know.

So come on little baby! Don't be shy when the cameras come on. Mom and Dad can't wait to see you!

There's a Baby Coming!

Phew! It feels so good to let the world know. There's a baby coming! And we couldn't be more thrilled. This picture was taken last week in California when I was just shy of 16 weeks, and now I'm already 17 weeks! Now that I'm safely in the second trimester, the days are flying by, and I'm feeling great.

So what's the story? Well, the last time I blogged, February 1, was the day we found out I was pregnant! Our little trip to Walmart was to pick up another pregnancy test because we didn't really believe the first one from earlier that morning. The whole day felt surreal and I'd say it really took us a few weeks to process the news. Even now it's hard to imagine all the ways our lives will change when this little one arrives!

The first trimester was hard, but not as hard as I know it could have been. I felt nauseous most of the day and had a hard time smelling or looking at food. I was tired and a bit grumpy and overall just felt like keeping to myself. But I think these symptoms are the usual suspects in the first three months of pregnancy and I'm thankful they were all fairly mild.

And now that I'm already 17 weeks, I think I should start documenting. The photo above is actually the only "bump" shot we've taken so far. So here's the official update:

17 weeks

Baby is the size of a: Turnip (?) or that's how much baby weighs? I'm confused. In any case, baby is bigger than an avocado which is the size at 16 weeks :)

How I'm changing: My tummy has definitely been growing in the last week. I can't button jeans that I could easily close a week ago.

How I'm feeling: I feel pretty great. Although ravenously hungry. I've woken up twice in the night this week to eat. Since then I've been trying to get more calories throughout the day so I can get a full night's rest. I'm still really tired at night - Paul says I turn into a pumpkin around 9 p.m. Mom says I'm sleeping for two! I like that :)

What I'm eating: The first trimester I didn't eat very healthy. In fact, I don't think I've eaten so many potato chips my whole life! I was just getting down anything that sounded good. But now I'm feeling so much better and I'm able to bring back some more healthy eating habits. I try to have eggs and whole wheat toast every morning, and then usually a spinach smoothie with fruit and yogurt for "second breakfast." I've also been making an effort to cook nutritious meals again and I eat a lot of leftovers for lunch. My culinary weakness is cheese, though. I can't get enough! I love making grilled cheese or just slicing some up with crackers.

Other baby business: I had my 16 week appt earlier this week and got to hear the baby's heartbeat again! It is seriously the most amazing thing I've ever heard. I didn't know that hearing that little thump thump thump would have such an impact on me - but it made things "real" for me. There's someone in there! I love that little heart! In other news, I really like my midwife and I'm so thankful for her sweet guidance and presence through this process. She suggested that Paul and I take a Bradley class, so we're looking into that for the summer. I also spent a lot of our vacation last week reading Ina May's Guide to Childbirth and it. is. amazing. I'll have to share more about that later. 

A Fall Cut

My friend, Kirstie loves to get a "Spring Cut" every year. She likes to feel light and fresh and ready for summer. She's just adorable really. And the concept of a Spring Cut is always so charming to me. However, I have a terrible habit of going a really long time in between cuts. So this year, after 15 months of not even the slightest trim, I decided to get a Fall Cut! I'm not sure what came over me, or why I decided to make such a drastic change. Perhaps it's because my hair was getting so long and it was starting to give me headaches because of the weight. Or maybe because I wanted something light and easy when we take our big trip. But really I just think sometimes you need a change. When I look at those two pictures of me up there, I can't believe how different I look. Now I know why the little kids at church didn't recognize me at first (break my heart!). The only difference is that on the left I'm not wearing any mascara, and on the right I've got 6 inches cut off. Crazy!

Well so anyways, this is my new look for fall! I promised the stylist I'd be back again before next summer. We'll see how that goes ;)

I Don't Even Miss You

Paul and I are making some changes around here. They are things we've talked about and let sit for a while. And I guess July has just been the month to act. So not only have I stopped wearing deodorant, but we've also dropped our cable and I got off Facebook. It's funny to me that these last two are life changes, but they really do affect our day to day life!

The decision to drop our cable was both financial and a choice of priority. Not only are we saving so much money every month, but we also found that it was so easy to waste away an evening browsing the stations aimlessly. Currently we are trialing Netflix and we find that we can choose a show, watch it, and then turn it off. One of our goals is to start reading more and now we make time for that before bed instead of turning on the tube.

Facebook was just starting to give me an unsettled feeling. I was overwhelmed with all the information and all the updates. It was starting to feel unnatural to me. Like how could I possibly know so much about so many people? Furthermore, I was also beginning to feel exposed. I wasn't even ever a big "sharer" on Facebook, but still I felt uncomfortable with how much of our life was visible to so many people. So I weighed the pros and cons for a long time. Deactivating my account means I'll miss engagement and baby announcements. It means I won't get to see all those cute pictures of my friends kiddo's and it means I won't be able to look through albums of friends I haven't seen in 10+ years (why do I spend time doing that anyways?!). It means I might miss some interesting articles, and even breaking news stories. It's possible that I'll forget a friend's birthday, or I'll miss an "invite" to an event I'd like to attend.

But on the flip side, I'm hoping it will mean that I'll be more intentional with friends. That I'll call or text or email instead of breezing their Facebook page and having the illusion that I know what's going on in their lives. I think it'll mean that I won't get "sucked in" to wasting hours of my week scrolling my news feed and that without the temptation, I'll get more done on my "to do" and "want to do" lists. And I'm hoping it means I'll spend less time comparing my life to 1000 other people's lives and humbly give thanks to God for all the good gifts He has given me!

Deodorant Free: Day 7

This photo has nothing to do with deodorant except that I wasn't wearing any at the time! This is just me with precious baby Lillian when she was 1 day old. Love that little peanut and her parents too. Can't wait to watch her grow and teach her to not wear deodorant like her crazy Aunt Mariel.

That's right! I cannot believe I've actually gone over a week without putting on deodorant. This was a huge step for me as I really was a deodorant addict. It was kind of like a security blanket for me. I'd carry it around in my purse and any time I'd feel a little nervous I'd do a quick swipe to freshen up. A habit that, I've come to find out, was not so great.

Last week I got to travel back to Illinois for work. It was an awesome week catching up with beloved coworkers, friends and family. I'm so thankful! The last couple days I was there I got to spend time with Brittany and her family. We had lots of interesting discussions about health, whole foods, natural living and particularly how they all pertain to autism, since that's Britt's area of expertise. One subject that came up was the issue of deodorant. I had heard little bits here and there about how it's maybe harmful but nothing to break my long-time fondness for it. But as we talked about the aluminum in the anti-persperant, and other known carcinogens in deodorant, I became a bit uneasy. Seriously, what actually is this stuff I'm rubbing under my arm everyday? So close to my lymph nodes, breasts and, especially after shaving, exposure to my blood stream. There's so much unknown and many will claim that nothing has been proven. But the more I learn and research, the more convinced I am that in general, simpler is better, as far as what I'm putting in my body. And since I'm in the camp of trying to make effective changes that don't cost us extra money, I decided that forgoing deodorant was some thing I'd at least have to try.

And I've gotta say, I'm actually loving it! Is that weird? Since I work from home I figured that if I really stink, it's not a big deal since I'll only be offending myself. And to be honest, the first two days I was the stinkiest. But I've heard that this can just be a detox time at the beginning when my pores are finally opening up and sweating. Doing what they are made to do – imagine that! Anyways, since then, I haven't noticed much of a smell at all. In fact, I feel like at the end of the day, I used to smell a lot worse when I wore deodorant than now that I'm not. I can hardly believe it!

So to manage the smell, I've tried a couple things so far. I did buy one of those salt stick things you have to wet and rub under your arm. But my favorite solution has been to rub a little but of coconut oil underarm. The lauric acid in coconut oil kills odor-causing bacteria and leaves my skin soft and smooth. I haven't had any trouble with the oil marking my clothes, and best of all, I know exactly what's going on my skin (and of course therefore entering my body). 

I'm so happy with this change and even Paul has tried my coconut oil trick! He teases me because I keep telling everyone about my new habit, but I can't help it because I'm excited to talk about it!

A New Beginning

This blog is a secret. I love that!! My own little corner of the world where I can gather and express and experiment and record. After maintaining a personal blog on and off for a few years, I've just been really uncomfortable with the idea of writing for others to read. I found myself doing activities or taking certain pictures just so I could put them up on the blog. So bizarre. I want to live life and to authentically love my friends and family and not have to think about how I could stage it for a cool blog post. I want to write my true thoughts without wondering "what if so-and-so sees this? what will she think?" I hope this blog will be my safe spot. I mean, sure, this is the internet so how private can it really be? But I'm not keeping state secrets here, I'm just trying to be as honest and authentic as possible, and for me that means taking away the pressure of knowing that people are watching.

I've also decided to rename my blog. It's just my name now. Nothing fancy. But it's fancy to me, you see, because it's my married name. One of my most important roles in life is being Paul's wife, so it's important to me that I am identified as so – Mariel Schmitt! I've brought over all my old posts, but this is my first in this new place. I think I'm gonna like it here. I hope it'll be something special that I'll look back on for years to come to remember these days, these moments and seasons.

And in all, and over all, I want this to be a place where God is glorified and I am completely submitted to Him. Oh that I would be contributing to Kingdom work! That my heart and my days would be filled with Jesus. And that I would worship Him with the gifts that He gives.