Answer Me This!

First things first, congratulations to our lovely link-up hostess on the birth of her adorable baby girl, Mary Jane!

Now, time for the last Answer Me This for a bit.

1. What's your favorite grocery store splurge?

Hmm right now, a lot of foods don't sound all that appealing to me so I am kind of hating going to the grocery store.  However, POPSICLES!  They're amazing and I want all. the. flavors.  Outshine brand is my current favorite, and their pomegranate flavor is dabomb.com.  So I guess now a days the many (many) boxes of popsicles I am buying are my grocery store splurges

2. How's your penmanship?

Pretty awful actually.  It's legible, but definitely not the flowing script I would love it to look like.  My mother grew up in Colombia where they actually taught penmanship (I totally feel like they need that here in the States) and her handwriting is beautiful.

I agree with Kendra too, a few of my favorite Instagram accounts are Katrina's Hatchprints, Erica's Be a Heart Design, and Carolyn's.  They all have such talent and I love seeing what they come up with next!

3. Do you have a "Summer Bucket List?"

Well, after my little announcement the other day, a lot of my summer bucket list has centered around getting the house and Baby O's room in order.  We found out I was pregnant a week after moving in and let's just say I was less than helpful doing anything around the house my first trimester.  Now that I'm out of the puke zone...sorry, I mean first trimester, I am hoping to paint baby's room, deep clean the house, organize our office which has become a dumping ground for those few boxes we've yet to unpack, tidy up the basement etc. etc.  All this before going back to work full time in August (unrealistic, I know.  But hey, a pregnant girl can dream).

4. What's the best thing on the radio right now?

Oh I am a music lover so questions about music are always hard for me.  Right now, I am loving X Ambassadors - Renegades.  I'd actually never seen the music video before...it's pretty awesome.

I am also loving Walk the Moon - Shut Up and Dance - literally makes me dance ;-) 

And as most readers of this blog know...I am a lover of all things Andrew McMahon so I am obsessed with this song Cecilia and the Satellite - I mean, he's writing a song for his beautiful little girl.  So. Sweet.  Plus I think the name Cecilia is gorgeous.  I love this version of the video - a day in the life (I mean seriously, a baby carrying Andre McMahon?? swoon)

5. Ice cream or Frozen Yogurt?

Psh, I say why make a girl choose - I'll take both!  And what's not to love about places like Sweet Frog with their unlimited topping choices.  Man...now I really want some ice cream or fro yo...

6. Have you had the baby NOW?

No, thank the good Lord.  Baby O is still snuggled up inside my belly where he/she should be!  We had a bit of a scare last week that ended us up in the ER but, again, thanks be to God baby is ok and I am doing much better :-)

Now, get ye to Catholic All Year to check out some other blogger's answers to these questions!

NFP Awareness week you say?

The week where words like "cervical mucous" and "basal body temp" get thrown around casually and we don't bat an eye *wink*  I thought I'd throw in my own post at the end of this week.

If you've read this blog before, then you know my husband and I do not use artificial contraception.  We choose to allow God in the mix and practice NFP.  I can remember friends joking with me before Chris and I got married about how we would have a honeymoon baby if we chose to use NFP...and we didn't.  When we didn't get pregnant for close to a year I mistakenly thought, "man, we have this NFP thing DOWN!"  And then, less than a year after getting married we prayed and decided we were done "not trying" to get pregnant.  We foolishly thought it'd be a sort of, we want, we pray, and BAM next cycle we'll be pregnant!  Little did I know we'd be on way more of a journey than that.  We tried for about 2 years before my OB/GYN recommended we look into the Creighton method of charting and NaPro technology.  So we did.  And became way more friendly with cervical mucous than you probably even care to think or hear about.  We charted, had meetings with our practitioner, and after one...count it ONE cycle we had something to work with.  A Dx of "limited mucous."  Someone once asked me why this was a big deal - well, the short of it is that without good cervical mucous, the sperm has a harder time making it to the egg and the egg does not have a good environment for fertilization.  So what did we do?  I started taking a high dose of vitamin B6 which helped.  A lot.  I then came down with a cold during one cycle and started taking Mucinex for my cold not thinking that it would also help.  Which it did.  A lot, a lot. [Did I mention this may be a little TMI?  Cause...TMI]

About 60 days, give or take, after we began charting we met with out doctor who gave us all the forms we needed to have blood work and other tests done the following cycle to see what was going on.  In the mean time we were in the process of selling our old house and buying a new one.  And then moving in to said new house.

And lo and behold, a week after moving in to our new home...positive pregnancy test.

Yup, you read that right.

Two years of tears, heartache, the most supportive husband, and pretending like this is what we wanted all along led us here.  Psh.  Let's be real.  God led us here.  I am not naive enough to think that we "had it rough," because I know that 2 years is a blip on the radar compared to the sufferings of others...but when you desire with every fiber of your being to be a mother...any amount of time is hard.  Whether it's one month, 6 moths, a year or more.

I truly believe we have NFP (God first of course) to thank for this miracle growing in my belly.  If I were not charting I would not have learned that I had limited mucous and would not have started the B6...which I believe, in combination with the Mucinex, is what helped us to get pregnant.

Now, this is not to say that NFP is always fun, easy, and full of babies.  On the contrary.  It takes work!  Work?!  You're telling me I need to do work??   Yes.  There's charting, abstinence, talking to your spouse, praying etc.  I'd be lying if I said part of what I'm loving about being pregnant is the fact that I don't have to chart.  I don't need to check for mucous every. single. time. I go to the bathroom.  I don't need to decide which sticker, which color is appropriate for the day.

But, bottom line, is it all this NFP stuff worth it? 

Is life worth it?  Because I'd say the one currently snuggled up in my belly is most definitely worth it.

There have been some pretty bangarang NFP week posts that you should most def check out

I love how Carolyn at Svellerella writes - makes me feel like we'd have fun sippin' coffee and talking

I feel like Kendra at Catholic All Year is a Catholic mom I'd aspire to be (and this post is just so. spot. on.)

Haley of Carrots for Michaelmas has a great round up of some NFP posts you should definitely check out.  I think her husband's post is one of my favorites

PS.  I'll write more about the pregnancy in another post, don't you worry