Week 21 has made me grateful and loving to my maternity pants and the energy God has given me!  I’ve been blessed with a busy work schedule and very happy clients which means I’m on my feet all day just going.  I’ve been nervous as my pregnancy continues that one day I’ll wake up feeling just like the other pregnant women who are miserable, but thank God I’m doing great!  No swelling, sore limbs, any issues at all!  21 week photo op – excuse the bun, washed and coconut oiled face..if we didn’t take the picture tonight we would have missed the week mark, ya gotta do what you gotta do after working and a day of travel 🙂

With a busy work schedule, Mom and I still get up to run and workout together and with the temperatures rising I’m sure to hydrate, hydrate, hydrate!  Running has been such a therapy to me while being pregnant.  We don’t always talk, sometimes just respect nature and run..until I have to pee..a few seconds of complaints and then back to focusing on my breathing and strides.  With the rising temperatures I watch my hearts are like a hawk, I just make sure I’m maintaining and not skyrocketing suddenly.  T25 has been interesting – a growing belly overwhelming my core, modifications without frustration occur.  I laugh at myself when I can’t move my leg a certain way because I literally feel that my core disappeared..it’s been interesting learning how much my core impacted my workouts!  I never knew that switch kicks and high knees used my core as much as they do, ha!  I guess the baby is taking over some exercises for me, considering some mornings if I don’t wake up immediately after my alarm goes off the baby kicks and nudges me!  I can only smile when that happens.  Preparing me for the months to come. ❤️
I drink five 32 oz. mason jars a day equalling a gallon of a little more.  Some days I work without breaks, I’m sure to sneak a snack when I know it’s going to be a while.  I remember Tony looking at me big eyed when I ate leftover steak, cucumbers and hummus, plus two rice cakes with pb&j on it (my favorite go to snack!).  I explained that I was going to working for a few hours without a break and I needed it.  Which he absolutely agreed!  Bathroom breaks are always occurring, more and more now that the baby is really growing!  Like sometimes, running to the bathroom without peeing is a challenge.  I just count it as  my kegel exercises 😉  I so believe the water, exercise, and food choices make a huge impact on my body while being pregnant.  Protein and carb!  I dare my mommy-to-be friends to try it and compare the energy levels from a balanced diet to and unbalanced while carrying a babe.  I will say, there are days where the balance goes out the window and I eat sugar or starches and I’m tired.  Complete energy difference!  Thankful for my husband and parents who’ve instilled such a great habits within the past three years.  Because, let me be honest, I’m not even at the weight I was when I met my husband to sign up for personal training.  A little more than three years ago I made a change to become healthy and active, meeting my husband who trained me for a few months, dropped 20 lbs and then some more before we said, “I do.”  Of course I’m slowly gaining weight with a precious gem growing inside me, 5 months in and I’m up 9 pounds.  I’m proud of myself.  I want to have my baby born into a healthy and happy home – food, exercise, family, and God make that circle complete for Tony and I.

My devotional this week has been all about focusing on my marriage.  Preparing for a baby and the fun that comes with it can make me easily focused on just that.  Who’s Tony?  Joking, completely.  It’s opened my eyes to how trying a baby can impact our relationship but is intended by God to alter our marriage in a good way.  Before the baby comes, the devotional suggests, Tony and I focus on putting one another’s needs before our own.  Putting our pride aside, learning humility to strengthen our relationship. I’m guilty!  Some mornings I’m so focused and worried about my own schedule that Tony can tell me his and I forget completely.  I loved this one devotion, week 21 day 5, I have to share:

..But where humility graces a marriage, so too enters understanding, compassion, forgiveness, sensitivity, service and submission.  A humble person is so filled with God, so caught up in the grandeur of God and in the satisfaction of knowing Him, that she can be emptied of preoccupation with herself.  A humble person listens instead of concluding her way is best.  A humble person yields to the preference of another rather than tramping his desires.  A humble person hopes for the best from another rather than exporting the worst..

Waiting In Wonder, Catherine Claire Larson 2013

How I strive to become more humble.  Praying God shows me not only to be humble as a wife but as a Mom.  I’ve never understood pride versus humility until this past week.  I strive to be a humble person that outpours into others instead of searching for a weakness.  And most importantly, I pray for Tony and I’s marriage to become all that God wants it to be before our baby is born.  18 weeks to go, no pressure though because I know our marriage is sealed by God.  If we do our part, He will do His, and nothing is more reassuring to my soul. ❤️