The Last Three Months

For much of the last three months, our small apartment has looked like this:

                                  

And that is because of this:

8 weeks

We are expecting baby #2 in February 2014! I found out I was pregnant in June and enjoyed the thought for about a week, until I woke up one morning and started throwing up until I wanted to die. Luckily, a good friend rescued me with her supply of Zofran, but unfortunately, it did not solve all my problems. I spent much of the next three months curled up in bed watching TV shows on Amazon Prime, trying to distract myself from the horrible nausea. 

Isaac was very good and played happily around the house (while destroying it at the same time). And Brent did more than should be expected of any husband. Working through busy season while taking care of the house, feeding himself and Isaac, and doing the shopping earns him the Husband of the Century Award! 

I also was so blessed to have the help of so many family members and friends. My sister-in-law Emily went shopping for me a number of times and deep cleaned our apartment with her husband Andrew. My friend Caroline also went shopping for me a bunch of times. And I had numerous friends bring over dinner and watch Isaac for me while I was ill. My mother-in-law also came out for a couple weeks to take care of Isaac and help around the house, which was so generous of her! She ironed all of Brent's shirts, tidied up the house every day, and fed and entertained Isaac the whole time. It was so nice! I tried to count up all the people who have helped me--in big and generous ways-- and there were over a dozen. I am SO grateful to everyone!! 

There were times when I wasn't sure if I could make it. Of course I would, but when you feel so awful, your perception of reality gets really warped. 

I am so happy to be on the other side of that trial. And now I finally feel happy and excited about finding out the gender of this baby. We should know in about two weeks. :-) 

**Note: If you have a smart phone and haven't downloaded the Blogger App, I highly recommend it. You can upload photos directly from your phone. AH! I can't believe I've lived without this for so long! 

Tender Mercies

The most amazing thing happened yesterday. But to understand the story, I need to give some background.

My sister, Marie, is serving as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the South Dakota Rapid City Mission. She received her assignment less than 6 weeks after President Monson announced a change in the age requirement for missionaries. For years, girls have had to wait until age 21 to serve, while boys could serve at 19. Now, boys can go at 18 and girls can go at 19!

This change in policy was life changing for our family-- and a tender mercy all on its own. Marie, who does not turn 21 until September, really wanted to serve. But the timing of her birthday was inconvenient considering her education schedule. When the prophetic announcement was made, Marie and my mom (and me) started crying because we knew what this would mean for Marie--and for the Church, and for missionary work, and for women all over the world.

And it meant Marie could go immediately! Within just a few weeks, she submitted her application, which is quite a feat considering that the process requires a physical exam, dental exam, multiple interviews, etc. And just a few weeks after that, she received her call to South Dakota. She reported to the Missionary Training Center on Feburary 20th, and just a week ago Monday she arrived in Rapid City. There, she received her first assignment to serve in Gillette, WY (pictured above).

Mare's mission covers North and South Dakota and parts of Wyoming, Iowa, and Minnesota. I'm not sure on the exact stats, but I would be willing to bet that Marie's mission has the lowest population density of any mission in the United States. There just aren't a lot of people who live up there. In fact, before yesterday, if you had asked me if I knew anyone that lived in her mission boundaries, I would have told you, "Nope, not a one."

But when I found out she was assigned to serve in Gillette, I thought the name sounded familiar (and not because of the razor company). I told my mom, "I think I've heard of Gillette. I must know someone from there, because otherwise, why would I have ever heard of it?"

Gillette is a town of 30,000 (which is big for Wyoming), but it's in the northeastern part of the state-- far away from Yellowstone and the other big Wyoming attractions. I had never been anywhere near it. I did a quick search on Facebook to see if anything would come up if I typed in Gillette or Wyoming. No luck. Oh well, I must have been wrong. So I didn't think much of it after that.

But last night, my friend Crystal (who served with me as a missionary in South Africa) wrote on my wall: "Guess who I met tonight??? Um a wonderful sister missionary by the last name of Sheranian :D Yep she's serving in my town (Gillette, WY)!! She says hi and that she loves you :D"

And then it all clicked. Crystal is from Alaska, but I do remember seeing something on Facebook about her getting a teaching job in Gillette!

And so the tender mercy: Marie, during her first week as a missionary (which is usually filled with a roller-coaster of emotions as you realize you are with people you don't know, doing something you don't really know how to do, in a place you don't know, and you're going to be there for a year and a half!) meets the one and perhaps ONLY person that anyone in her family knows in her entire mission boundaries. Not only that, but the person she meets was someone that her sister served with as a missionary. Someone who is very familiar with the name tag Sister Sheranian (and even knows how to pronounce it). Some may say it was coincidence, but to me-- and I'm sure to Marie-- it was a tender mercy. 

A tender mercy is a gift from God-- an event where a small, almost coincidental miracle occurs. Nothing big. But to believers, it is a sign that God is watching over them. 

And God is watching over Marie. He is in the details of her life, and yours, and mine. I forget that so often. But in moments like these, it is undeniable. 


. . . . .


So just a few hours after finishing this post, I experienced the power of tender mercies again! 

I was shopping at Costco and saw a woman I know from church a couple checkout lines down from me. Her cart was FULL of food, which I knew was to feed her growing kids. I wasn't close enough to say hello, but after I checked out and started walking towards the exit, I saw her again. This time she was talking to the cashier and looked distressed. So I walked up to her and asked if she needed help. She explained that her husband had taken her checkbook and debit card and that she had nothing to pay with! 

It was so amazing to me that I was there at exactly the right time. So I swiped my credit card and she arranged to pay me. I didn't feel any particular prompting to be at Costco at that exact time, but I did feel prompted to go up to her and ask what was wrong. I could have easily walked past, and I'm so glad I didn't! There is nothing better than becoming a tool in the Lord's hands to work a tender mercy for someone else. 

Four Seasons

About a week ago I was taking a walk with Isaac on a beautiful warm day. Technically, it was winter since it was January-- and most of the trees are bare, but the warm sunshine felt reminiscent of summer. At the same time, the crisp breeze and floating leaves made it seem like fall, and the blooming flowers and a passing butterfly made me think, "Wait, is it spring?"

Who says Houston doesn't have four seasons? We just experience them simultaneously.

Hypothyroid Update

It's been two months now since I started taking medication for hypothyroid, and I can feel such a difference! Yesterday, I worked out, took Isaac to the park, ran an errand, cooked dinner, and tidied up the house-- ALL IN THE SAME DAY!!! You have no idea what a miracle that is for me. In 2012, there was not one day when I did ALL of those things, and especially without taking a nap, or laying down on the couch at least 3 times. I feel like myself again. And it feels so good! I'm actually crying as I write this because I feel so, so grateful to be back to normal.

Sleeping Through the Night

I just have to share with you, friends, a personal victory: I am sleeping through the night! This is a big deal--because between getting up to go to the bathroom while pregnant, getting up for a baby, and dealing with post-baby sleep anxiety and other sleep problems, I haven't been able to sleep for 7-8 hours straight for about 2 years. We finally taught Isaac to sleep completely through the night (7:30 pm to 7:30 am) in November, but it still took me a long time after that to not wake up.

Part of the problem is that I am a super light sleeper: when the AC kicks on, I wake up. So, when the AC runs 300 nights out of the year, that's a lot of disrupted sleep. But another big problem is what I've learned to call my "sleep hygiene," a term used in the book Emotional Intelligence 2.0. I picked up this book initially to help me with one of my new year's resolutions (to increase my emotional capacity). In it, the authors (Travis Bradberry & Jean Greaves) suggest "cleaning up your sleep hygiene" in order to improve self-management (or the ability to manage your own emotions). For me, this was a no-brainer connection. I clearly can control my emotions better when I get enough sleep. But what they discussed as far as "cleaning up" sleep was new to me.

To get better quality sleep, they suggested to 1) Get twenty minutes of morning sunlight, 2) Turn off the computer at least two hours before bedtime, 3) Keep your bed for sleeping (don't work on your laptop in bed), and 4) Avoid caffeine. For me #1 and #2 have not been happening. And so this week I've worked on getting outside in the morning and not using the computer at night. And it's worked. I have slept so much better. I also get to bed earlier because I'm not on the computer to get sucked into doing something (that is probably unnecessary) for an hour.

Another book that helped me was The No-Cry Sleep Solution, by Elizabeth Pantly. I just love this book. She is opposed to cry-it-out, which I am not.... but the book is still the best I've read on getting babies to sleep. Her tone is one of experience and empathy, and the book is well-organized (none of which I can say about Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child). One of the book's gems is the last chapter, "Baby's Sleeping (Finally!) but Mommy's Not." She has some great pointers:

• Pay off your sleep debt (at least what you can) by sleeping as much as possible the first few weeks after your baby is sleeping through the night
• Set your body clock by going to bed and waking up at the same times every day
• Take time during the day to write out a to-do list to avoid creating a mental one while lying in bed at night (I have a big problem with this one!)
• Avoid caffeine and watch for the side effects of meds you might be taking
• Exercise (she gives a great list of baby mom-friendly ways to make this happen)
• Make your bedroom comfortable (temperature, noise, light, etc.)
• Have your own bedtime routine
• Eat right and light before sleep
• Encourage relaxation (repeat a familiar mediation (like a scripture), breath slowly while repeating one calming word, use progressive relaxation to relax all your muscles)

I haven't tried all of these things, but now that I've written this list, I'm definitely going to make more adjustments to my routine. I'm hoping that armed with this information (and hopefully new habits) I will able to sleep much better this next year! And hopefully that means I'll be easier to live with too. :-)