Quantcast

Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Small Joys


This post last month was really good for me, just to write out the things I'm grateful for or that are going positive in my life, so I've decided to make this "Small Joys" post a monthly series for a while to help me be thinking more positively (because otherwise, I'm very prone to wallow in my usual pregnancy doom-and-gloom frame of mind, where everything about life is just terrible). So let's dive in to some of my small joys from the month of August.

-Okay, this first one is actually not a small joy, but a HUGE, GIGANTIC, LIFE JOY. If you missed my announcement on Instagram or when Amy brought it up in our last Book Blab... I'm having a GIRL! I was so surprised when the ultrasound tech told us she thought it was a girl (and honestly, I'm still a bit nervous that in a future ultrasound, or worse, on the delivery day, they're going to come back and say, "Just kidding! We were wrong. It's a boy after all!"), because mentally I was very prepared for boy #3. Somehow the vision of three little boys just seemed to make sense, and I was fine with that. We have all the boys clothes, I know what to do with boys, so we were just looking forward to having another little boy. But then! It was a girl! And we were all so thrilled and excited (and then half a minute later I started panicking, because, we have zero girls clothes! And now I'm going to have to figure out how to style girl toddler hair! And how do you raise a girl?!). Anyway, I'm super, super excited.


-Okay, remember when I brought up ASMR YouTube videos in this post? Guys, huge small joy. After a few weeks of using these at night to help me relax and fall asleep, I've completely retrained my body and seem to be over the pregnancy insomnia that afflicted me so badly in July. And oh man, does life feel so much better when you can fall asleep quickly, stay asleep, and get enough rest in general! I haven't needed the videos for a while now, but it's so nice to know I've got a reliable, non-drug sleep aid in my back pocket. (Side note tangent: my husband was pretty curious about these videos after I raved about them so much, so one night he watched a few minutes of one, pulled his headphones out, and asked, "So when am I supposed to start feeling this tingly feeling?" I thought maybe this particular video just wasn't a good  trigger for him, but after a few minutes of questions, I realized that my poor husband has never experienced ASMR in his life! In fact, he found these videos to be incredibly creepy and uncomfortable. So, they're not for everyone, but I still feel bad for anyone who doesn't experience ASMR.)

-On a related note, just a week or two after writing that post where I admitted to struggling with meditation, my cousin-in-law mentioned an app she uses called Calm, which provides guided meditation practices. I downloaded it just to check it out, and I really like it so far! Unfortunately only a few of the practices are free, it looks like you have to pay to access most of the good stuff, and I haven't decided if that's worth it yet, but I totally recommend the free portions. I convinced my husband to download the app too so we can have joint meditation sessions, because you know, the couple that meditates together stays calm and relaxed together, or something like that. So far, he's really enjoyed it too (way better than those creepy ASMR videos).

-I finally felt good enough to start back up with yoga! I love yoga a lot (it's the only physical activity outside of ballet that I actually enjoy and look forward to doing). I had been in the habit of twenty to thirty minute yoga routines five days a week (just videos at home in my living room), but then pregnancy happened. So after a three month hiatus, I was really feeling the need for it. The first few days were rough and I was all kinds of sore, but yoga just makes me feel so good! I'm really hoping it will help alleviate the back pain I usually get later on in pregnancy, but mostly, I'm just grateful to be feeling good enough to move again! Really, the subtitle to this post could be: Suzanne finds her zen, because between the yoga, meditation, and ASMR videos, this month has been all about finding my calm and happy place. It's been pretty fabulous.

-Getting out of the house! I've finally been feeling good enough to brave the heat and humidity, and we've been getting out of the house on some fun little outings. I find it so funny that everyone else is in back-to-school mode, because it feels like summer has finally just started for us. In the past week or two we've been swimming a couple of times, went to the zoo, made it to a baseball game, and had a perfect family trip to the beach (photo above). I'm still not quite at my old energy levels, so these outings tend to wear me out, but we're doing it! We're getting out and having fun! Hallelujah!

-The Olympics! Always such a treat (although, I'm kind of glad to have my evenings back for activities other than binge watching sports events).

I'd love to know, what have been some of your small joys this month?

2 comments:

  1. Loved the post. Congrats on the girl! I was looking at your last Small Joys post and have you read the book The Time in Between that the Netflix was based after? I've just heard about it recently but it sounds really good. Now I want to read the book and watch the show. Thanks for the recommendation.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know it was based on a book, but I didn't even think to check on an English translation (I don't speak Spanish). If you do read the book, I'd love to hear what you think of it, especially how it compares to the show.

      Delete