Pregnancy Brain At Its Worst (Best?)

Pregnancy Brain— the feeling of forgetfulness, inattention, and mental fogginess that sometimes accompanies pregnancy— is a common complaint.

I thought I was bad when it came to pregnancy brain in the second trimester, but earlier this week I had a series of events one day that really indicated that I'm losing it.

The first indicator: (Slightly TMI depending on who you are.) I nonchalantly threw my pad into the clean toilet instead of the trash can next to the toilet. I stopped and took a double take on what I had just done.

Why in the world did I do that?! -huffy sigh- I grudgingly fished it out and threw it into the trash where it belongs.

Not even two minutes later, I was doing a poor job of paying attention while plugging my phone into an outlet near the bathroom sink. Things went flying. The soap falls into the sink, my toothbrush almost falls into the trash, and my small hair claw jumps its way into the toilet.

I mutter to myself how ridiculous this was. I snatched the floating hair claw and threw it into the trash as I had many to spare as I had no desire to wash it.

I plugged in my phone since I wanted to use it while taking a bath to help my aches and pains. I turn on the shower to create some steam and went back to texting my Mom.

...But I had forgotten one important detail. About five minutes later I look over, wondering why the tub wasn't filling up at all.

I realized I didn't plug the tub in the first place! No wonder why starting this bath was so easy! Usually I have to put some work into plugging the tub, or I have to ask Spencer to plug it for me. I sighed in defeat and decided that my brain is not working as well as it used to.

Later on in the evening, I didn't even notice my pregnancy brain until Spencer mentioned it to me. I was craving some onion rings, so naturally, we made onion rings.

I put them nicely on the cookie sheet while the oven was preheating... and then walked away to go do something else.

The funny thing is after I left the kitchen I set a timer on my phone to flip the onion rings halfway through. Ironically, I can't remember if I assumed Spencer was going to put the onion rings into the oven after it had finished preheating (but apparently it had finished while I was putting them on the sheet) or if I thought I had put them in the oven myself. I can't remember.

As we were flipping the onion rings, I told Spencer that I usually don't put the onion rings in for the whole 15-18 minutes. I usually take them out early because they're usually done by then. He asked me if they were good when I take them out *x amount of time* early. ...I repeated my most common phrase, "I don't remember."

I can't wait for this pregnancy brain to go away!

Swimming with Humpback Whales: The Good and the Bad

Monday morning was pretty busy for us since we had to check out at Sandy Beach as we were staying at their sister resort Matafonua for one day next. We also had to eat breakfast and be ready to go out to the boat by 8:30. (We had been sleeping in a lot so this was especially difficult for lil ol' pregnant me.)

Pancakes! While I've been a waffle girl, I've been wanting pancakes this pregnancy.

We get on the boat and I put my wet suit on. Spencer didn't wear his since he thought the water was warm enough. It was a smaller group compared to the rest of the boats that also went out. We were split in Group A or B. One of our instructors told us that each time a group went out, one of the people could do a double and stay out another turn. We would rotate who did a double to make it fair.

The boat on the right is the kind of boat we were on.

Spencer was the designated picture taker. I think he did a fabulous job! My snorkeling mask was a problem because no matter how tight I made it, the part around the eyes would flood and I got sunscreen AND salt water in my eyes. It was not a grand ol' time.

Google photos made these first two. Baby whales love to spin!

The first time we went out there was a mama whale and a baby whale. Whales go to Tonga to give birth between July and October, and we just happened to go in the middle of whale season in September. Perf! 

Baby whales go up for air more frequently than the mama whales, but Spencer got to see a mama whale go up to the surface and see how HUGE she actually was (I didn't get that luxury since we ended up being in the opposite group as I gave him my double.) It was tiring.

We would only stay with a whale for about 90 minutes to make sure we weren't bothering them. After 90 minutes we would find another whale and park our boat near them. If they didn't seem to be bothered after five minutes or so, we would get out of the boat and swim toward them. Most of the time they didn't mind us gawking at them, but other times they would swim away and we'd try to swim after them. Either we'd catch up to them and have the 90 minute session, or we'd find another whale.

WHALES SWIM SO FAST. My pregnant body couldn't keep up! I didn't realize how tiring swimming with whales would actually be!  The instructor came out with us each time, and she noticed I was trailing behind after one whale was swimming away from us. She offered me to grab her 'rescue tube' while she swam for me. (I'm grateful she mentioned that anyone could do this if they were tired, so I didn't feel too bad. But I'm pretty sure I was the only one who had to latch on.)

Spencer said he felt the shock wave of the tail moving.

We found another mama and baby whale, I love these pictures (below) as the baby wants to swim so close to mama and be protected. We could hear them make noises too.

Both going up for air.

Another set of pictures of a whale:

Baby whale:

Videos (may be a little shaky):

At the very end of our whale swimming trip, I finally decided that I had enough energy to stay and do a double because I was already out in the water. I was SO glad that I did. It was one of the coolest experiences of the trip! The baby whales are more likely to get close to you than the mama whales. They like to play and show off. As a baby whale came up for air, (we'll just call her 'she') she got really close to all of us. We're supposed to maintain a distance of 5 meters away, but I'm pretty sure I was within 10 feet of her. I felt like I was in the prime spot since she was just staring at me with one of her eyes. It was crazy that she was acknowledging that I (and the rest of us) were there. What an ending!

Other pictures:

Such a cool picture of a mama whale!

We were getting off the boat around 4 p.m., and while we were getting back to shore is when I started to realize that Spencer was getting burned... and so did I. We didn't think too much about it since we had other plans for the rest of the day. After we checked into Motafonua, we tried to get bikes to get to one of Spencer's areas. Unfortunately, the front desk they said we couldn't because they don't check out bikes after 5 p.m. Instead of trying to find members to make and have dinner with, we had BBQ dinner. Around this time we really didn't think our burns were going to get super bad, but they did!

After dinner, we spent the rest of the evening tending our burns. Spencer's entire back and shoulders was super red (and other places developed later on) and my face, feet, and hands were burned. One of the reasons I got burned was because I didn't want to put more sunscreen on my face while my snorkel wasn't working. It would have gotten into my eyes and continued to burn. Apparently we didn't stay in the shade long enough! The spirit prompted me to pack a trial sized container of aloe vera, so we quickly got to work with putting it on.

This was only the beginning of the bad burns....

I woke up in the middle of the night and I couldn't fall back asleep for about two hours. I ended up crying and woke up Spencer. He gave me a blessing for my headache, pains, and my sunburn. I did some research on my phone and found out a cold towel on a burn would help. I ended up getting one of Spencer's shirts wet and laid it on his back. I tried doing the same thing for my face but it wasn't very successful. But thanks to his blessing I ended up falling asleep a little bit quicker than I expected. Didn't sleep super great but it was better than nothing.

How I Somewhat Knew We Were Having a Boy

Before we found out we were having a boy, I told Spencer a couple times that God was preparing us to have boys.

The first event that tipped me off was when Spencer and I taught five very energetic boys at church ages 5 to 7. We didn't have any girls on the roll, and we rarely got to teach any visitors that were girls. Since I'm the youngest  that had all sisters, I had no idea how I was supposed to teach and handle these rambunctious boys! Thankfully Spencer was there every step of the way.

Those boys had so much energy...

The second instance that tipped me off was our next church assignment. We were the Wolf Den Leaders for the cub scouts. More boys, but just a little older than our Primary class. We combined with all of the cubs, so I got to experience many ages. Once again, I didn't have much experience with boys that age, but Spencer was there for every activity.

The last occurrence actually happened within two weeks of Spencer and I dating. We were babysitting my niece and nephew. As Spencer was singing a Tongan song to rock Cooper to sleep, something happened. I saw in my mind Spencer rocking and singing in Tongan to our baby boy. I didn't think much of it since I wasn't sure if it was just my imagination. I even thought it could have been our second child instead of the first when I thought about it later. But once we found out it was a boy, that memory came to my mind.

I may not know how to perfectly raise a boy, but I'm glad to know that Spencer will be there with me.

The baby told me to eat it!

I was really curious on what all of my cravings we going to be once I got pregnant. So I figured I'd make a list since they're entertaining and I want to remember them! I've been having a lot of cravings so I'll be posting ten of them periodically. I already have enough for a second post...

Lactose free ice cream!

All I can say is that this baby must love dairy or something, because it's a lot harder to be dairy-free when all you want is cheese...

I'm going to skip all of the boring cravings when all I could eat was bread, toast, strawberries, club crackers, saltines, powerade/gatorade, watermelon, etc. Since who wants to read about those?!

1. Microwaved popcorn
Now I'm not entirely sure if this was really a pregnancy craving or not... But I had just discovered at my graduation barbecue (and I was already pregnant then but didn't know at the time) that the Acts II popcorn had an ACTUAL (not)BUTTERED POPCORN FLAVOR THAT WAS DAIRY-FREE. 

I dunno WHAT'S in that popcorn, but the fact that it tasted like the real buttered popcorn that I've craved since becoming dairy free... (Freshly popped popcorn with Smart Balance ain't the real thing chief.) ...We HAD to go out and buy an 18 pack of this popcorn since I was eating it EVERY. DAY.

Sometimes I didn't even want to wait until the evening (when I usually eat my popcorn) and I would eat it randomly in the afternoon-- happy as I could be!

Accurate representation of me inhaling popcorn

But now the saddest thing has happened... I can't eat popcorn anymore! It's just something now that's unappetizing completely. A couple weeks ago I popped a bag of delicious popcorn, and I ate about a few handfuls. Then it just stayed by the cream puff (love sac), waiting for someone to eat it.*cough*SpencerSinceIAin'tTouchingIt.*cough* It took a four of five days or so before it was gone.

My most common craving: 

2. Slurpees
I got a slurpee with Hillary a couple days after I found out I was pregnant. 10/10, would have three more slurpees since then! This is one craving I want ALL THE TIME since I'm always feeling warmer. But we have a nice supply of Otter Pops so we don't go to 7-Eleven all the time. Bless, saving the monies.

The rest will be somewhat in order, but I really can't make any promises.

3. Hummus
I remember talking about how badly I wanted hummus in the beginning so I could dip my leftover extra veggies from my graduation barbecue. We went to Walmart and I accidentally left the hummus behind as we were picking out good strawberries. Tears were almost shed.

Then a couple days later I made a trip almost solely for the hummus. I ate my roasted garlic hummus for a few days before realizing that I actually don't like hummus... It's still in the fridge.

4. Meringue cookies
I haven't made these meringue cookies since they take WAY too long to make and I get impatient with beating the egg whites. But I just wanted these cookies since they melt in your mouth and they are so delicious! I was very distraught when I over-baked them as they were on the top rack. I was very protective over these cookies and I didn't want to share with anyone but Spencer!

But now it's been over a month and we still have a little Tupperware full of these cookies, and I really only ate them for two or three days (before I got really sick and couldn't eat sugary foods.) Spencer pops one in his mouth every now and then and tell me they're still good!

5. Potato salad
Probably not one of the more interesting foods. But while I was sick, potato salad was one of the few foods that I didn't get sick of. I tend to get up pretty late these days due to really bad sleep. So I'd wake up at 11 a.m. and get me some potato salad for breakfast!

Once again, my stomach has struck again and I haven't finished the potato salad in the fridge... There's probably two servings left in there, but I can't bring myself to eat it.

6. Wendy's
I always love Wendy's, but there's been something about a crispy chicken sandwich that gets to me... Plus the fact that Wendy's is one of the places that has a Coca Cola machine where I can get peach soda! #GeorgiaGirlForLife

Technically, I always got the chicken sandwich and not a burger, but minor detail.

Jennifer and I went to Wendy's when we went to and from California. By the time we were driving back to California, I could only bring myself to buy an overly expensive salad because I was NOT feeling well enough for fried food. Wendy's is not on my good list since they only had pre-made salads that had feta cheese on them. Feta cheese gets everywhere and I tried my hardest to pick it out and failed. Jen could tell you of the repercussions after my best attempt of avoiding cheese. (I even took a lactase enzyme pill.)

Wendy's, you DID ME WRONG!

7. Bam Bams Barbecue Swatchos
Some of you may or may not know what this is, but I'ma tell you... If I was allowed to eat one dairy meal without any consequences for the rest of my life, it would be THIS.

Yes, I know it's completely unhealthy, but SO good. It has tortilla chips, brisket, beans, nacho cheese, and sweet barbecue sauce on it and it's heavenly. Spencer and I share one plate because we can't eat our own.

When I celebrated taking my last college final ever, I treated Sarah (who is from Texas) to Swatchos. She approved! I've had at two additional times since then, but I haven't been able to eat as much because pregnant people are supposed to eat every 2-3 hours or something, so I can't eat as much as I usually do. *rolls eyes* 10/10, would recommend! I will probably get this again once my appetite comes back. (I love me some nacho cheese, even before I was pregnant.)

8. Veggie Straws
This was a classic "monkey see, monkey want" craving (and this is how it mostly goes for the remainder of my cravings). I was babysitting Kayla and Cooper at my apartment for Heather and they brought veggie straws as a snack.

I am not proud of this moment, but neither of them were interested in eating said veggie straws. They were more interested in the goldfish crackers, popcorn, and granola bars. These veggie straws just happened to be right by my feet. So what did I do....?

I snatched those veggie straws right up and hid them in my lap!

I proceeded to munch sneakily on those straws while Kayla and Cooper weren't watching. But don't worry, once Cooper was asking for those veggie straws, I put them back down on the floor where I found them. He was very excited to eat his veggie straws and I left plenty for him.

Then, Spencer and I were babysitting Marie, Adam, and Nathan. Commence the eating of more veggie straws!

I didn't have as many since I wasn't feeling super well. But shortly after babysitting we got a huge bag of veggie straws ourselves. I'm pretty sure we ate 1/3rd of the bag in one sitting because they were full of salty crunchy goodness. I ate quite a bit of veggie straws the few days after... but you guessed it! I haven't touched them since. I even packed them in my backpack of snackages for our California trip a couple weeks ago, but I didn't touch them once.

9. Taco Bell
I think I wanted to go to Taco Bell once before we visited Christie and Tim to tell them the happy news, but I can't be sure of it. I was talking about cravings with them, and Christie mentioned that she wanted a bean burrito from Taco Bell randomly. I turned to Spencer and gave him this look...

So after we said our good-byes, Spencer took me to Taco Bell so I could get my Double Decker Taco! Bless him.

10. Nacho Cheese Doritos
I'm pretty sure this one is higher up, but I can't for the life of me remember when I watched this video. It probably didn't help that I was learning all about the chip. The texture, the flavors, the ingredients, and it was a 45 minute video about nacho cheese Doritos. 

I kept asking Spencer, "Do you have nacho cheese Doritos at work?" No, they really only have the cheddar cheese and sour cream Ruffles. "Okay those work too!" I happily ate those chips, but I still craved my Doritos. A couple days later he surprised me by getting nacho cheese Doritos from a catered lunch and sacrificed part of his lunch (the chips) for me!

Fits weird but I BLESS SPENCER WITH ALL THE BLESSINGS.

I was SO happy and was SO excited to finally get my Doritos!

Then at the family reunion Mom got a huge variety pack of chips for our lunches. Lo and behold! There were nacho cheese Doritos in said variety pack! Did I sneakily eat those Doritos when no one was looking? Yes. Do I regret it? Not really.

Then Mom told Jen and I to take the rest of the chips with us for snackages on the trip back. Did I sneak the majority of the Doritos into my snack backpack to save for later? Yes. Are they all gone now? Also yes. Am I still craving these chips to this day? You betcha! ...Which is unfortunate because it's the kind of chip I SHOULDN'T eat.

Honorable mention: I've had 6-7 pieces of buttered toast within the last 24 hours.

But don't worry y'all, I haven't gained a thing! 😆