This Post was originally written on
August 12th, 2008. The news is now
out (for the most part)

On Sunday, August 10, 2008 I took a home pregnancy test and you guessed it, I am pregnant. This is a planned pregnancy and it is not my first, so I was not completely surprised. However, I am amazed at the variance in feelings that swept over me as I stared at the little blue line forming on the test strip. It was actually a bit similar to the feelings I had the first time I was pregnant with my daughter, except this time instead of being anxious about what I did not know, I was just as anxious about what I did know!

During family planning discussions, my husband and I both had agreed to having two children (if so granted) and then we would discuss the possibility of more at a later date. Then we had our first child. A sweet little girl who has brought us much joy, but also has contributed to multiple frustrations and disagreements, inexplicable pain, sleepless nights, self-doubt, guilt, and a myriad of other feelings and emotions that were unexpected and frankly unwelcome. To avoid the not so gentle poking of guilt, I will again reiterate that our little daughter is greatly enriching our lives (what doesn't kill you makes you strong - just kidding - sort-of). She is growing fast and I am truly enjoying watching her learn and develop her physical and cognitive skills step by step as I am afforded the opportunity to stay home full-time to care for, teach, and nurture my daughter.

I thought of all this in the few seconds it took for the little blue line to completely form on the test strip. As if outside of myself, I looked in the mirror, took a deep breath, and said out-loud "Okay, here we go." Not as if giving my okay at this point would change anything, but I mentally, emotionally, and physically committed myself to accepting and embracing all that was to come, both the good, the bad and the ugly (not the baby of course - all babies are beautiful right!?).

So now the excitement and secrecy begins. Pregnancy protocol says that you should wait at least 12 weeks to share the big news because of the risk of complications which are noted to be common. Not everyone follows this protocol, and frankly I am torn whether to tell or not to tell. It can be overwhelming to know something as incredible as "I am pregnant!" and not tell anyone, except my spouse of course. At church I pretended in my mind to drop the exciting news during almost every interaction I had. Each Sunday I make calls to family and you can't imagine how many times I spilled the beans in my head during those conversations. So, to get it out of my system both me and my husband (hmmm, maybe he is experiencing the same pressing desire to spread the news) tell each other frequently throughout the day that we are pregnant (i.e. "Honey, guess what, I am pregnant!" or "Did you know that I'm pregnant?" or my husband will tell our daughter that "Mommy is pregnant!" etc.,). It is a fun game to play and does seem to relieve the pressure to tell just a tiny bit.

To Begin The Day and My Blog

This morning was a good example of a day to have started out with a piece of chocolate, not just any chocolate, but a 60% extra dark Lindt, Lindor chocolate truffle. If I would have known this mornings events, I would have popped that truffle in my mouth as I rolled over to shut off the alarm! Now that, what I hope are the worst of, today's events are over it is too late to even imagine eating at all today not to mention savoring a piece of chocolate.

Okay, yes I am exaggerating a bit, but I want to emphasize the importance of utilizing the power of chocolate at the most opportune moments in life. If taken at key times we can unlock a power within us to take on and seize almost any moment of any day. With this said I now present my blog. Aptly titled "Another Day, Another Piece of Chocolate." No, I will not be simply exploring the decadence of chocolate, but I will reveal some of my life's moments that were enhanced by, motivated with, or resulted in the savoring of a piece of chocolate; or in the case of this morning's events a missed opportunity for utilizing the power of chocolate to make things just a little easier to endure.

"This Mornings Events: A Missed Opportunity for Utilizing the Power of Chocolate" :

Disgusting, Gross and Stinky! Are the three words to best describe what happened. It began shortly after my Handsome Husband left for work and forgot to take out the garbage - it's trash day. Not a normal occurrence by any means, so I thought, "No big deal, I'll mention it later and he will renew his commitment to always remembering this duty." While garbage alone can be pretty disgusting this particular garbage outing was below normal standards of dealing with garbage. The sustained 90 degree temp's of the summer had heightened not only my senses, but the senses of over a million fire ants and one small spider. Surveying the situation I armed myself with bug spray and a pair of garden gloves. Mission accomplished, but gross.

Inside the house again, I decided to begin a little house work. Entering the kitchen, I noticed some disgusting bug (roach) droppings on the counter. Gross! I love living in the warm climate, but the bugs here are relentless. It is embarrassing, but I don't know anyone who does not encounter any bugs in their home in this climate. So, I proceeded to clean the counter, moving the appliances and such when I realized that under the knife racks there are often a significant amount of these droppings. Again, Gross!! I then tapped the knife rack on the counter and sure enough a baby roach came falling out along with, you guessed it, more bug droppings. Did I say Gross enough yet?! Okay, so I thoroughly cleaned the knife racks and proceeded on with my morning.

Time to change my daughter's diaper, also pretty foul, but I am mostly use to it since she is over a year and a half (19 months). However, as I was using the handy dandy Diaper Champ, I realized the pail was full and also needed to go out for trash day. I had forgotten how entirely disgusting this was! I would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank my Handsome Husband for his willingness to serve his family each week on trash day!