FFF Featured Blogger: The Active Eggplant – I had to give Theresa a special shout out since she shares birthdays with little M! 😀 Plus, she kicks butt at training and workouts. Check out her post today for a good recap of her awesomeness.

Makenzie says thank you for all her birthday wishes. 🙂 I still cannot believe it has been two years! Time really does fly. Did you know that today also marks 9 months since I have been blogging? In some ways, it feels like it has been longer than that…and in other ways it also went by in the blink of an eye. The 21st remains a popular date for me, since my official due date falls on my one year blog birthday – January 21st! Exactly three months from today.

I really hope I don’t go the full three months, however. That date is based off my first ultrasound and is actually about a week off when I know I ovulated and when the midwives believe I could deliver. I’m all for having only around 2.5 months left! Especially if things continue looking well.

I had my 7 month check-up today. What a fun one. The 7 month appointment includes the blood glucose test to screen for gestational diabetes. That entails a fasting period and a nasty sugar beverage to down before my appointment. This morning, I had a typical bowl of oats for breakfast and then followed it up with a Turbo Jam workout since I knew I would have no energy for it when starved later.

I also wanted to try to work up an appetite since I had to be sure to eat a small, balanced meal right at 11 am as my last meal before the appointment. I typically don’t eat until 12:30 after breakfast and didn’t really crave anything. I figured the best option for that time was a breakfast sandwich.

It satisfied…then somehow left me STARVING an hour later, but I could do nothing. I had to wait until after my 3:30 appointment to eat again. I did have the option command to drink this delectable orange sugar beverage 30 minutes before my appointment though. Yummy! Not.

At least my appointment went well. Yet again the doctors can’t keep their mouths shut about my weight. No surprise there, though. Although this time it was because I somehow managed to lose a couple pounds. I’ve kind of given up on the “I don’t want to know” thing. I simply ignore the weight aspect because I still believe it doesn’t show anything and I don’t care.

My body does its own thing, what can I say? Gain 9 one month, lose 2 the next without changing a single thing related to how I eat or workout. All that concerns me is that everything checks out well. My stomach still grew and measures right on track. Baby B is no longer in breached position. My blood pressure is perfect and I trust my blood work to come back normal as well. Now if only I could do something about the achy hips and back, the sciatic pain, the crazy hormones, and my general readiness to feel more myself again. Somehow, I think those 3 months won’t pass as quickly as the past 2 years seem to have passed. 😉

• What scenarios leave you feeling like time drags or flies? Not being able to eat when hungry kind of makes time drag for me. 😉
• How long have you either been blogging or reading blogs?
• Don't forget to ASK ME ANYTHING for the Q + A series in Nov! I've gotten some really good ones so far. Thanks!

Two years ago today, at exactly the time I set this post to publish (11:35 am – because I’m sentimental like that and already crying), I welcomed this little blessing into my world.

The happiest moment of my life came when I married the perfect man for me and committed to creating our lives together. Part of that creation came in the miracle of Makenzie. October 21, 2008 was my proudest day and, each day since, that feeling has not let go. It’s always somewhere down in there as I watch us grow and learn together.

Over the past two years so much has changed. I have become more selfless, having to put another’s needs before my own. I have become more loving. How could you not when you feel your heart about to explode? I have become more attentive to caring for my own self (my faith, my body, my attitude), as I hope to be the best example to little M as possible. I have certainly experienced life a bit more fully since she entered it and I pray her experience so far has been a good one too.

We have laughed

We have played

We have eaten

We have swung….LOTS!

We have made new friends

We have discovered new things and encountered fun adventures

We have overcome obstacles (yours = getting out of your swaddle, mine = getting through the biggest scare of my life)

…and YOU, my sweet child, have grown into a lovely little girl with a personality bigger than this world. I love you immensely.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Makenzie! Thank you for all the joy you have brought to my life.

• I have to ask…what gets you all emotional? Apparently my kiddo’s birthday starts me a’blubbering like a fool. But she deserves every happy tear I just shed. 🙂 I hope you all have a GREAT day!