Day 11 of 30 Things

Day 11: What are 10 pet peeves you have?

1. When people (i.e. Bryant) breath on my face while sleeping. I have to face away from Bryant when I go to bed, because I hate breathing in other people's air. Even when I take a nap with Savannah, I have to make sure my face is well away from the direction of hers. I've been known (while pregnant the first time and I was constantly tossing and turning all night) to wake Bryant up and *kindly* ask him to roll over, away from me. It's nothing personal, I just don't like sharing air...

2. When you are having a conversation with someone and that someone doesn't make eye contact/texts/interrupts/ignores you while you are talking to them.

3. When people lovingly talk about their 10 cats, then, ask me to hold one of them "because they are just so sweet and you'll love him!" It's happened, on more than one occasion. Sorry to any cat lovers out there, but I'm allergic, and I'm a dog person.

4. When people ask me to cheat and do their homework for them, like that guy in my political science class... Stop please...

5. Solicitors, of any kind. No, I don't need my ceiling fan cleaned, or my lawn fertilized, I can do those myself. And no, I don't need my food delivered to me, or a new phone line, or your pamphlet on government conspiracies. But I did once have a Jehovah's witness hand me one of their pamphlets, along with a 5 dollar bill. Sneaky way of making me take your pamphlet, but kudos on being effective ;-)

6. When I take Savannah to any type of public place, such as a park, and she sees another kid and runs up to them and gives them a hug or holds their hand, then the other child's parent comes running and flailing to rip Savannah away from them. Then cart their kid off giving me the evil eye. For crying out loud Mom's! Your at a park, where there are LOTS of kids, and my child doesn't have rabies. Learn to let your kid be social!

7. This one goes back to when I was working at Barnes and Noble, but it still ranks in my top 10: When people say "Hi, I'm looking for a book..." Ok, because for a second there, I thought you were going to order lunch. Also, when people would say "I don't remember the title, or the author, or even what it's about, but they talked about it on the View this morning, and I think it either had a blue, or yellow cover..." Then proceed to get mad at you because you can't just type in "blue or possibly yellow book" into the search and find what they were looking for.

8. Bad spelling and punctuation. Sometimes, I'll get an e-mail, or see a facebook status that's 5 paragraphs long, with no punctuation AT ALL. It's just one giant run-on sentence. It drives me nuts!

9.  When I wake up because all the sheets are tangled and I'm stuck. Bryant claims it happens because I steal the blankets, but the truth is that he gets hot and piles them on top of me.

10. Wet socks. 'Nuff said...

Day 10 of 30 Things

Day 10: Describe your most embarrassing moment.

Ok, I've got 2 for you today.

So, once upon a time, there was this boy who lived in my building, who I kind of really super liked. Let's call him Bryant...

Well, one day, he asked if I wanted to come play kick-ball with our ward. I knew he was super athletic and loved any type of sport or competition. I, trying to impress him, told him that I was really good a sports too, and that I played pretty much everything (which, is false...) So off we went to the field.

I was feeling pretty confident, and kind of talked myself up, saying that I was a kickball pro (because really, no one needs to know that you were always last to be picked at this game in grade school...). So here I was, up to kick! I actually kicked a pretty good hit that went past the 2nd baseman. I ran hard, and as fast as I could, to show off my amazingly fast running skills when, halfway to first, I got ahead of myself. 

You know when you are running, and you don't trip over anything, but you are going too fast and your legs kind of drag behind your head and shoulders? Then WHAM! The next thing you know, you're literally eating dust...

Well, that's what happened to me.

I just kind of laid there, face down in red clay dust and shame. I could hear everyone laughing. It was humiliating. Especially when that's all Bryant could talk about for the next week! Needless to say, I left the game and walked home after my pathetic display of athleticism.

That boy ended up marrying me, so I guess I looked pretty cute at least.

Story #2

This summer, I participated in a neighborhood "biggest loser" weight loss challenge. One day, after coming home from a work out, I decided that I was going to take a picture of myself for a "before" photo... In just my skivvies...

This photo was meant for personal use only. Just so I could see how I looked without baggy clothes covering up my curves. So, in my sports bra and panties, I stood in my hallway and took a profile photo from my thighs up. Mind you, not only was I half naked, but I had just come back from a workout, so I was looking pretty ragged. 

I had used Bryant's phone, because It was sitting on the table and mine was charging in my room. I then decided that I would text myself the photo to my phone. Bryant had put me in his phone contacts under a nickname and I couldn't remember what it was, so I decided to just punch in my number. But just as I hit the "send" button, I realized that I had typed in the last number in wrong!!!

So yup, someone out there has a photo of me, in all my chubby, skivvy glory. I'm still mortified about it.

Day 8 of 30 Things

What are 5 passions that you have?

This one was actually kind of hard for me. I tried to think if I had any talents, or any one thing that I really liked to do, but then I realized that there weren't "things" or "hobbies" that I was truly passionate about. But more, people.

1. Family- I love my family. All of them. Grandparents, Aunts, uncles, cousins, in-laws, people who I'm not really related to but consider family anyways... I'm very passionate about loving my family, and always trying to be a good support for them. Whether they want it or not.

2. Being A Wife- I try with all my might to be a good wife. I haven't been doing a good job lately because I've been a big old baby with this pregnancy, but my husband still comes home every day, so I must be doing something right :-)

3. Being a Mother- I am very passionate about being a mother. I give it my all and I try my very best to be everything a mother should be. Again, lately I haven't done such a great job at this, and I've let my daughter watch too much TV and eat too many pieces of Halloween candy, but she loves me more than anyone else on this planet, and I love her twice as much as that. When she comes and wraps her arms around me for no reason other than to show me she loves and appreciates me, I realize I must be doing something right there too.

4. Being a good citizen of the world- People drive me crazy. They really do. I always feel inconvenienced by them and irritated by how they act. But I do try very hard to be kind (believe it or not). I feel that I am quick to forgive. I've been wronged by friends, but I will continue to consider them my friend and I truly pray for their well-being. There is no use for negativity and I'm passionate about being a friend to those who may need you. I'm always willing to listen to that stranger at the grocery store chat away for 20 minutes, because even though it drives me crazy, you never know when that someone was praying for a friend that day.

5. Life- I'm very grateful for my life. Its the first thing I pray about every night. Our life is such a special gift, and even though I may never be read about in the history books, and my life may never amount to more than a few happy kids with dirt on their faces and running around barefoot, I feel that my life is important, and I celebrate it every day.

(Muddy face from playing at the Narrows in Zions National Park)

8 weeks, let the morning sickness begin!

I was going through some of my old blog posts from when I was pregnant with Savannah, and I decided that I should probably start documenting this pregnancy too. That's probably super annoying to all you who read my blog, but honestly, this is for my own records. So choose to read or not too!

Anyways, I am about 8 weeks along right now and already I can tell this pregnancy is a LOT different than the last one (signs that this one could be a boy?!?!)

The biggest differences are my energy level, morning sickness, and weight gain (oh joy...).

I have been so exhausted with this pregnancy. It's ridiculous. I'm usually crawling into bed an hour or two before Bryant does, which means he is now in charge of getting Savy ready for bed too, and I sleep for HOURS. Some nights, as much as 12 hours at a time! Last night I slept from 11:00pm to 10:30am. That's an insane amount of time! I wouldn't have even noticed that Bryant had gotten up for work if he didn't pat my leg and tell me goodbye. And naps. Oh boy, have I had a lot a naps. Savannah's nap time is usually my quiet time to catch up on homework, blogging, folding laundry, sometimes just eating a snack and catching up on T.V. shows. But almost every single afternoon, the second Savannah's asleep, I'm out before my head even hits the pillow. 

I've tried everything to get some energy back. I've tried going on brisk walks out in the chilly air. I've tried sleeping less because I know that sometimes, too much sleep can make people overly tired. I've tried getting more sleep. I've even tried adding a lot more iron into my diet, since I've had to deal with anemia for years and I know when my levels are low, my energy is low. Nothing has really helped. 

I've also been having really crazy dreams. I had horrible nightmares with Savannah, but this time, they usually involve something that resembles wonderland, and they usually don't make sense. Like my dream the other night involved ships that looked like power tools. So weird...

Last pregnancy, I was blessed with mild morning sickness that didn't show up until I was almost out of my first trimester. The other day I received a text from my relief society president asking how I was feeling and If I needed anything. I told her I felt amazing, other than being tired, and that I had no morning sickness at all, thinking It wouldn't show up for several more weeks, if at all.

That afternoon, I was eating pasta for lunch and after a few bites, I began to gag. I couldn't even finish it because it made me so sick! Thankfully, I haven't had to beeline it for the restroom yet, but my stomach is constantly uneasy. I can still drink milk, and brush my teeth without gagging, so that's a good sign at least...

Last time, I couldn't WAIT to start showing! I was so excited the day you could tell I was pregnant. This time around, not so much. I would be more excited if I was small to begin with, but I still have a pooch from my last pregnancy, and it's just gotten worse. I put on a pair of pants I wore all last winter yesterday, and I couldn't button them! It was so depressing! All through class, I was uncomfortable, I wanted to unzip them and relax, but that would have been weird... Then today, I put on my shorts, that have fit perfectly all summer and I could tell they were a bit more snug than normal. I didn't even need the belt! AHHHHHH!!!!! I had better be carrying twins or something. Otherwise, this is sad... Looks like I'll be doing maternity clothes shopping several months earlier than planned... as in like, tomorrow....

My mood has been terrible. I attribute this to all of the above. Tired, sick and chubby Brooke makes for a miserable attitude. I'm the luckiest woman alive to have the husband I do. Bryant is incredibly patient. He never gets mad at me when I'm yelling at him about how the toaster over-toasted my bread, or that my sunglasses are too dark, or that the tile floor is too gosh-dang cold on my bare feet (I wish I was kidding about all those complaints. I told you I'm grumpy!). He deserves an award for putting up with me.

I think this pregnancy is different because it's my 2nd. I was in amazing shape with my first, and the whole thing was a breeze. This time, I'm a lot more out of shape, I'm busy with helping my parents move, I've got a lot of schoolwork, and I've got a busy toddler who goes a mile a minute.

Thankfully, she is more than happy to sit in her crib with a cup of juice, her stuffed animals and watch an hour of Sesame Street if I need just one extra hour of sleep...

Surprise!

Yup! Most of you guessed it!

I'm pregnant! Woo! Stokes baby number 2 is due to arrive May 25th! I had taken a pregnancy test a couple of weeks ago, and it had come back negative. I was a little disappointed, but I just carried on normally for the next couple of weeks. Then over the next few days, I was feeling exhausted. I couldn't get through the day without a nap. I thought this was because I was getting off of caffeine and my body was having a hard time adjusting. Then I noticed other little things, like my appetite changing. Last time I was pregnant, my whole first trimester I was starving! I was constantly snacking and eating. I realized that I would have breakfast, then as soon as I got to school, I would have to run and grab a water and a veggie cup to get me through class. Then as soon as I got home, I was so hungry for lunch that I would get shakey. There were other signs too, and I started to add them up. Then one morning, I decided out of the blue "I still have some tests under the sink, there's no harm in testing again!" So I did and, surprise! Two pink lines! 

I'm only about 7 weeks along, and I was going to wait a few more before I announced it, but we had told family and a couple of close friends, and then suddenly, I was getting phone calls, texts and e-mails asking if we were expecting. Then I decided to post that I had a secret a couple of blog posts ago and got even MORE messages and phone calls! I mean, I wasn't very good at hiding what my secret was, was I ;-)

I've tried to explain it to savannah, but of course, she just thinks I'm hiding one of her baby dolls under my shirt and keeps lifting my shirt up randomly asking "Baby? Is it?" She did very sweetly give my tummy a big old kiss the other day. Maybe she can sense things better that we adults can. After all, when I was 3 I told my Mom that my brother was playing in my room, before she even knew she was having a boy.

As you can see, we are pretty darn excited!

We can't wait to meet you baby Stokes!

Day 7 of 30 Things

Day 7: What is your dream job and why?

I LOVE this question! Because I always fantasize about my dream job.

My dream job is to be on the travel channel. I always watch Rick Steves and I think to myself "Geeze! He's got the best job in the world! He travels everywhere, knows all this history, and gets to eat great food! I could do that! I'm great at traveling, history and eating!"

I want his job so badly.

So Rick Steves, if you ever want to retire and need a replacement, I'm your girl!

Mt Shasta, California November 2008

The Moulin Rouge, Monmartre France, 2006 (got to watch a show there, so fun!)

Zions National Park, July 2012

Freemont Indian reserve, Utah, March 2012

London airport 2006. I was out cold. Those bags weren't even mine...


But I guess being a stay at home Mom to the sweetest little girl is pretty dreamy too :-)

(But, Samantha Brown, if you need someone to do another Disney World special for the travel channel, give me a call...)

Day 6 of 30 Things

Day 6: What is the hardest thing you have ever experienced?

It's interesting that this question came up today, because I've done a lot of reflecting this past week on the hardest thing I have ever had to experience.

This coming Thursday marks the 10 year anniversary of my Dad's stroke. I've written a few times on this blog about that experience, so I won't go through much detail now. But It was the scariest, hardest, faith-shaking moment of my life. It's so hard to see someone you love so much suffer so badly. It affected how my entire life afterwords played out. 

But 10 years later and my family is stronger than ever. 

It was the hardest thing I ever experienced, but it was also one of the biggest blessings. How can you not love and appreciate your parents more after you almost lose one of them? I witnessed the power of prayer as my dad got stronger and healed. I watched him accomplish things that we never thought he would be able to do again. I watched my Mother as she stood by his side, taking him to numerous doctors appointments, specialists, hospitals, and rehabilitation centers, all while taking care of 4 kids and staying so strong.

What an inspiration. 

I love you both Mom and Dad.

(I wrote a detailed post about the day my dad had his stroke 2 years ago, if you want to read it, click HERE. For warning signs of a stroke, please click HERE. Knowledge is power and time is key. The sooner they can get a diagnosis, the less damage will be done. And remember, it can happen to anyone, anytime. My dad was only 39 with no previous health problems. It took them 8 hours to diagnose because they just couldn't believe that someone like him could have a stroke. Please pass this information on to loved ones!)