April 23, 2012

Positive Pregnancy Test/Telling Nate Our Good News!

Journal Entry from April 23, 2012:

My heart is overwhelmed with joy! Today we found out that we will be parents! After 14 long months of trying for a baby, our dreams will finally come true. I haven’t been feeling very well the last few weeks, and after taking so many pregnancy tests with a negative result I promised myself I wouldn’t take one without signs of a pregnancy. As I thought more about my symptoms I thought it would be okay to splurge and take a test… but telling myself the whole time not to get to excited. Every time I would get a negative result I would feel so defeated, so when two pink lines popped up, I was in disbelief!

I spent my time with God that morning praising Him for His providential timing and for this precious life now growing inside of me. I am completely humbled and extremely grateful. After fearing the word “infertility” my whole adult life and getting a small taste of what it would be like to never conceive, I am more appreciative and excited than I ever thought I would be.

What a joy! What a blessing! Nate and I thank God for giving us the desires of our heart and so look forward to this next chapter of our lives. We know our lives will never be the same and can’t wait to meet our little one.

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I waited all day to tell Nate the good news.  I knew he would be just as excited as I was.  We were together all day at work and even took a trip to Target together, so it was hard not to tell him… but I wanted to do something special when he got home.

So, as I waited (not so patiently) at home, I came up with a plan.  I stopped by Homeland and got a big bun and put it in our oven.  I also made this card and sat it in the oven.

When he got home, he immediately put on his work clothes (or gym shorts and no shirt) to go mow the yard.  Before he could make it outside, I told him I made something for him and it’s in the oven.  He was like whatever and went to open the oven.  When he saw the giant bun, he understood right away that we had a “bun in the oven” and his face turned bright red and his smile filled up his whole face.  All he could say was, “really?”

After I caught this first reaction, I made him go put on a shirt. ha

 

  (I still didn’t have a camera so these were taken with Nate’s phone.) After that, he forgot about the mowing, and we abandoned our diet to eat at Johnny Carinos.  We went crazy with Italian food and even sprung for the chocolate cake!  That was one great dinner with the love of my life!

No Sweets? No Sweat.

Hello.  My name is Whitney and I am a sweet-a-holic.  That is probably not a word, but you get what I’m saying.  I didn’t used to be so bad… or maybe it never affected my body as much.  I did always enjoy the candy bars at my mom and dad’s station.  To this day, when I go in there I feel like I have to get something sweet to eat.  Then when Nate and I got married, I just ate when he ate.  And Nate likes a little bite of something sweet after every meal.  Then when we moved and I went through a year of depression and ate everything in sight… that wasn’t too good either.

My weight has been up and down and this year I am ready to make a major change and stick with it.  I don’t need to be super skinny, but I need to fill good about myself.  So… I have taken a few steps, and have a few more in mind to get to my goal.

Step One:  Since our house in Rogers is finally out of our hands, we can really focus on living here and being here.  It is like my mind has been in two different places for 2 1/2 years, so having it gone will completely change my life here.  And the number on my bathroom scale :)

Step Two:  My friend is going through a book called “The Fasting of the Sevens” by Jen Hatmaker.  Every month there is something to focus on and fast from… showing us how much we live in excess.  Last month Hollie decided to go without sweets.  I took the challenge with her.  We did it for completely different reasons, but were there to keep each other accountable.  Man, is it sooo much easier to do any kind of diet with someone doing it with you. 

It was definitely hard for me.  Especially when Nate would leave an open pack of gummy worms out on the counter, or when we got two boxes of Russell Stover’s chocolates for Valentine’s Day… but I did it!  And I didn’t die!  This was a great accomplishment for me and I proved to myself that it is possible to live without a bite of chocolate everyday.

Of course when March 1 got here I went crazy at Sam’s and bought a double-layered cookie cake (I dreamed about it, okay).  And Hollie and I met up at Freddy’s for some much deserved custard to celebrate… Notice mine is the chocolatiest one I could get (I know another made up word).

Step Three: Do a seven day cleanse.  I have tried some “Jillian Michael” cleansing pills before and nothing happened to me.  So this time, I am going to start my healthy eating life with the seven day GM diet.  It is pretty extreme, but it will be a great jump start to shred some lb’s.  I am currently on day two and it’s looking good.  Nate is doing it with me, so that is a huge support.  Yesterday we ate nothing but fruit.  Today we are eating nothing but veggies.  I’ll keep you updated on how the rest of the week goes.  Nate will probably lose like 20 lbs. and I’ll lose 5, but that’s ok.  I’m keeping my eyes on the end prize… which may not be here until November (or later).

Step Four:  Run a 5K.  I am signed up… even paid good money to go run this race.  The date is April 21 so after we get back from Nicaragua, I will be a training machine.  This is another thing that I never in a million years thought I would be doing… So I can just imagine how it’s going to feel when I really do it next month.

Step Five:  Go back to weight watchers and exercise regularly until I get to my goal weight.

That’s it… I am on step three.  We will see what happens from here.  Wish me luck!

The Best Chocolate Cake I’ve Ever Made

Something great has happened…. I am into cooking again!  I have always loved to cook, but the whole living in my brother’s barn for a couple months and then living in the mission house for ten months ruined me.  I have been useless in the kitchen for the past two years.

Now that we are all settled and I feel like my old self again….. along with all the great recipes I am finding on Pinterest…. I am cooking up a storm.  I’m sure Nate is happy about this recent change too….. cause we really have been living off of cereal and sandwiches.

Anyway, the other night we went over to our friend’s house and I made the best chocolate cake I have ever made!  It was so chocolate-y, moist, creamy, and wonderful…. Mmmm.  My mouth is kinda watering thinking about it.  Usually when I would try to make cakes from scratch, I could taste the flour…. This is not the case with this cake.  And the icing… best simple chocolate icing ever!

On to the recipe for The Best Chocolate Cake Ever:

1 3/4 C all purpose flour

2 C sugar

3/4 C cocoa powder

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 eggs

1 C strong black coffee, cooled

1 C buttermilk

1/2 C vegetable oil

1 tsp real vanilla extract

Frosting:

1/2 C margarine, softened

2 oz melted unsweetened chocolate, cooled

3 C powdered sugar

3 Tbsp milk

2 real vanilla extract

Directions

1.  Combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl.

2.  Add eggs, coffee, buttemilk, oil, and vanilla.

3.  Beat at medium speed for two minutes.  Batter will be thin.

4.  Pour batter into a greased and floured 9x13 pan or two 9 inch cake pans.

5.  Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes for a 9x13, or 30-35 minutes for layer pans.

6.  Combine frosting ingredients and mix.  Spread frosting on cooled cake.

Next time you need to make a chocolate cake… make this.  You won’t be disappointed.  The effort is totally worth it.  And don’t worry about the 1 C coffee….you can’t taste it at all.

Happy Cooking!