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- Details
- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: NFP
After realizing that the Pill was making me bonkers we decided to try out NFP....
[Part II - the Fertility Awareness Method]
When I stopped taking the Pill I didn't expect to notice an immediate difference. Surprisingly, the first week or two off the Pill were markedly different than the past four months had been. I still stressed myself out by trying to do everything I thought I should as a now-married [and therefore] adult. It took more than going off the Pill to straighten those issues out, lol, and even now I sometimes catch myself heading into an emotional tailspin over something that doesn't actually matter. The biggest difference I noticed off the bat was that I could attribute all of my emotions to events in real life. On the Pill I'd experience ferocious anger and/or sadness out of the blue, and I was powerless to control my emotions. Matt would ask what was wrong, and I couldn't say anything other than that I felt so sad or so angry. Not having a reason didn't make it any less real or intense, and I couldn't rationalize my way back to a stable place. While I was in pieces, it was also devastating for Matt because he couldn't fix me or help me, so he was left feeling like a failure.
- Details
- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Three Things Thursday
I am reading a great book right now that is very positive about pregnancy and birth as a natural process and empowering rite of passage (rah rah) and it emphasizes the importance of attitude and mindset in having a good experience - you know, embrace the process as you not only grow a new life in your womb, but as you change and adapt as a person in order to be a better parent. Group hug. Inspired by this attitude, I have decided to share my personal interpretation of how three common pregnancy symptoms pave the way for becoming a parent.
- Details
- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: pregnancy
I have been wanting to write a post on Natural Family Planning (NFP) for some time now but always put it off. I think deep down a tiny part of me was terrified that Matt and I were unknowingly infertile and that writing a smarmy know-it-all post about why NFP rocks would come back to bite me when it turned out we weren't actually successfully timing anything around my fertility, we just couldn't make babies.
Happily (and miraculously! Goodness it's amazing), we have conceived a child, and although that positive pregnancy test was very surreal, it was not a big surprise. That doesn't mean I want to get smarmy and know-it-all, but it does help me feel at least capable of sharing what a blessing it has been to me personally and in my marriage to learn and use this approach to family planning for the last two and half years. The story gets a little long though, so I am dividing it into three parts. I hope you enjoy!
- Details
- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Thoughts
I came across this bit in a post from Momastery today - it happens to contain both swear words in the whole long (great) post, so sorry if that troubles you. Me, I like bad words when they say what you mean, and very often sucky just isn't what I mean. But I digress, here is the thought I wanted to share and keep handy for bad days:
When anything’s about to hit the fan, I’m always pretty sure it’s gonna be you know what. I never really believe we can pray bad things away. I don’t have that kind of faith. Bad things happen. God doesn’t protect us from them.
- Details
- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: pregnancy
Matt and I waited until my first trimester was almost over before we made the news of our pregnancy public. However, we didn't keep it an absolute secret, and I wrote out my thoughts at the time with our reasons for telling some people on the very early side. Here they are!
I am writing this on June 5th, in my fifth week of my first pregnancy. While it is not yet public knowledge, there are many people who know what has happened, and I know that this is not the norm. So I want to write our reasons for sharing with so many people, unconventionally early, the exciting news that we’re expecting.
- Details
- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Life
The cord I needed has been found! I hope you enjoy this quick visual update on what's been going on lately :) There are the shoes I purged, before and after pictures of our prayer table which was refinished by the men's ministry/carpentry workshop of my church, the pictures of my Shahi Paneer Korma, cookies I baked, AND last but not least my 15-week bump.
- Details
- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Life
I had low expectations for today because it started out pretty rough, but things actually came together amazingly well! I took a bunch of pictures as my afternoon progressed, but the cord to connect my computer and phone are lost so I cannot upload them. That will be another post.
The great decision that spawned all the rest of my wonderful day was to cancel a massage appointment I had made for right after work. I went for a short run and did a bit of yoga last night, so my body felt better than it has for a few weeks. At 3 1/2 months pregnant, I am finally (fingers crossed) past the roughest parts of first trimester nausea, and eating more and better food. That is helping my energy levels be better, and I hope that I can maintain a reasonable level of exercise to stay limber and feeling healthy and strong. I know there will be new discomforts and complaints to come, but I'm enjoying the good while it lasts!
- Details
- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Three Things Thursday
Today's list sums up my Swagbucks strategy, which gets me enough points to earn a $5 amazon.ca gift card every 3-5 weeks. I keep wishing I had a Swagbucks post to link back to so I can reference it without explaining the whole thing, and I have found that this strategy is really effective without taking hardly any time or effort, so I really think it's helpful.
1. Download the toolbar and use it to navigate. The more you search, the more often you will win swagbucks, and I win at least once a day just by doing my basic internet surfing via the toolbar. I search for gmail and click the link rather than typing it in the address bar, same for google reader, google maps, national post, online banking, common prayer, the daily poll and NOSO (see below) ETC. Then of course I also use the toolbar if I am actually searching for anything.
- Details
- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Life
I cannot think of any time that I am more efficient than when I am procrastinating. For example, the last/only time I scrubbed my bathroom floor was in the middle of a big paper. Now that I'm out of school, there is a lot less to procrastinate, but every once in a while opportunities come along, and last week that opportunity was needing to unpack. Matt and I didn't check any bags for our vacation this year, which I found to be very impressive and certainly make the whole process of packing a lot easier. Technically, it made unpacking easier than it could have been, but I spent a few days overwhelmed by all the clothes on our bedroom floor and the impossibility of sorting it all into different loads of laundry.
- Details
- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Thoughts
I have noticed a great big difference in how I experience weddings since being married myself. They are wonderful reminders of the excitement and hope, even idealism, that marked the beginning of my life together with Matt. Weddings can be daunting as well as inspiring - listening to the vows couples make and hearing the speeches of loved ones who support and believe in them is a reminder of the weighty commitment that marriage is.
Marriage is a big deal because it is about so much more than love. I was reminded of this earlier today reading a blog for singles that reliably entertains and challenges me. It has done a great deal of good for me as a married lady because this often-repeated advice by the author, Seraphic, applies to all women who want to remain sane, not just the singles: stay rooted in reality. But I digress.