Get ready, July 1st, here we come

S. and I have had long conversations recently about children, trying to conceive, etc. and have decided to fill up our natural & wholesome guns to the brim and start firing away. Starting July 1st (we'd do it sooner, but unfortunately we have the wedding of a lifetime and a few major work commitments) we will be following a diet said to increase fertility.

Here's our do's and don'ts:

DO:
* Exercise and maintain ideal weight! While this sounds silly to add because it has that "duh" factor, it's something that S. and I struggle with.
* Eat natural foods consisting of fresh fruits, veggies, nuts, poultry, dairy, and lean red meats.
* Drink plenty of water per day.
* Make sure to add in the following vitamins and supplements:
- Zinc: Foods such as oysters, liver, lean red meat, nuts and grains.
- Selenium: Foods such as eggs, brewers yeast, brazil nuts, seafoods and garlic.
- Vitamin C: Foods such as any citrus.
- L-carnitin: Foods such as lean meat, and dairy products.
- Ginseng
- Saw Palmetto
- Ginkgo
- Nutmeg, to name a few.

DON'T:
* Consume any alcohol. S. and I are going dry. It'll be hard for me considering I LOVE my night cap to de-stress, but we're in this together.
* Drink coffee - completely. It's all or nothing for us and we will only be consuming some Japanese and Chinese teas. Caffeine has been shown to decrease sperm counts.
* Smoke the tabaccy. I'm okay with this one, however S. loves a cigar once and a while. Time to put them to rest for a bit.
* Eat crap food that has any refined carbs, additives, or saturated fats. Purity is key here.

Sounds easy enough...I'll post weekly updates when we get started - hopefully people watching/reading will be enough to keep us accountable.

Monday.

Today is Monday.
Took a 5 hour trip to Vegas yesterday.
Got our babywrap from loveyduds today.
Anxiously awaiting a letter/call/email from USCIS to get fingerprinted.
Wanting to lose 30 pounds.
Irritated that our DVR broke just as LOST season finale was going to get played.
Today is Monday.
Why couldn't I have finished school years ago when I wasn't helping my husband run a business or trying to have a baby?
Can we clone wine so this bottle never ends?
When will a house be able to clean itself?
Dinner sounds good about now.
Today is Monday.

And so continues on the baby purchases!

Last year, around March I think, I was feeling great about our 3rd or 4th month of actively trying for a baby. So much so that I asked my mom to go baby shopping with me. We headed to Pottery Barn Kids and I ended up buying the stork bedding collection (along with my mom). So now I have had, sitting in my closet, the whole set.

We, of course, had our ups and downs and then nothing else was purchased for a baby.

S. and I ventured to NY with my best friend and her boyfriend in February and then the baby purchases continue. I bought a little onsesie that said I <3 NY. Then came a few ADORABLE little organic cotton outfits. About a month and change ago, I ventured into West LA and stumbled upon a cute little children's boutique. I found this book called "Goodnight Hawaii" (in the same fashion as "Goodnight Moon") and added that to my collection of baby things.

My most recent (and super exciting) purchase came last week when I bought our baby wraps!!

We also just decided that we're heading to Ikea to get our baby crib and mattress (to be converted into a co-sleeper) in about a month! S. and I are just besides ourselves and so excited!!

Finding it hard

Recently I've been trying very hard to live more Christ-like. I want to be more loving towards people, accepting, and humbled. Instead of arguing my point, I just ignore it, don't say anything in response or give a loving side. It is not an easy task.

I'm also attempting to be less critical and judgmental of people because most of the time we don't know the full story. (Or as the old saying goes "don't judge a (wo)man unless you've walked a mile in their shoes".)

1 “Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. 3 And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? 5 Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye." Matthew 7:1-5

Just like everything in life that worth achieving - it's all hard. It's hard running a business, it's hard taking 5-6 classes a semester, it's hard to realize you may never be able to become pregnant, it's hard going through a process of adoption, and it's hard trying to be the good person that God calls me to be (and the person I want to lead an example for my children) - but as Philippians 4:13 reads, "I can do all things through Christ[a] who strengthens me."

Surely make you lose your mind

I'm talking about Life in the Fast Lane...

This semester is coming to a rapid close and I have 3 reports to get done within the next 2 weeks. I'm freaking out a lot.

S. and I finally cleaned the bejesus out of our house this passed Sunday. It felt awesome. We even invited friends over for a BBQ to relax afterwards. Hopefully we'll be able to stay on top of it so it doesn't get to the crazy out of hand mess we just had.

We are also in a huge project at work working on updating our marketing plan. I need to get a bunch of stuff done by the end of this week so we can have our site, collateral, and whatnot, live by the end of May. That's in 4 weeks and I'm having a heart attack just thinking about it. This coupled with my 3 reports is making me a gigantic mess.

I was going to take 4 classes over the summer, but after talking with S., and realizing that our quality of life right now is not a happy one, I decided to take the summer off and focus on our company. (And take a MUCH needed break.)

As for my future semesters, I'm going to stick with a 3-4 class load (much easier than my current 5) and just suck up the fact that I'll be graduating a year later than I anticipated. This makes me very sad and I begin to wonder if I should just suck it up now and bear a huge load...who knows, though. I just want to get this done before I have a child.