The Woes of Mrs. Brown

I shall not make this a complaining post. Like my friend Melanie, I have it better than most people. I've only thrown up five times. I feel like I'm going to throw up a lot of times but I haven't. I sleep a lot. When I'm not sleeping I don't have any energy. The worst part [maybe] are the migraines.

Tony takes good care of me. He cooks me breakfast. He makes my dinner. (I mostly get away with this because I read him Harry Potter while he does so and that seems to appease him.) He drives all the way out to Downtown Phoenix to take me to class, or pick me up from class, or both, when I'm afraid that the motion of the lightrail will just be too much for my tender tummy.

The problem, however, with all this taking care of me, is that Tony thinks everything can be solved with food. That's what makes him feel better. Usually, it's what makes me feel better. (Twice have I thrown up because my tummy is empty and that is no fun.) But sometimes food is exactly what I don't need, or so I have learned... You see? Tony has never experienced a migraine in his life. That might be stretching the truth a bit but I don't really think he has.

Anyways... a couple of weeks ago I went to bed with a monstrous headache. I woke up sometime in the night to a splitting migraine. I took some tylenol and then sat down by the toilet because my stomach was churning. Tony came to check on me. He was extremely concerned to see me in such misery and decided it was all due to me not eating very well the previous day. So, he made me a chicken taco. I ate half because he insisted I needed good food, but I only ate half because then I threw up the that half into the toilet.

THEN...last night I came home from school with a migraine and churning belly. I took some tylenol and laid down in bed. Tony insisted that I needed some dinner so he made me some soup and brought it to bed. I ate some and then commenced to throw it all up. I therefore decided, that I will never, no matter how much Tony insists I need it, no matter if I ate Ramen noodles for breakfast, lunch, and dinner the previous day, no matter what, I am not going to eat when I have a migraine and churning tummy.

That is all. Except that I love the rain very muchly. The end.

A Little Pink...A Little Blue?

Well...word is starting to leak out. Tony and I decided you can choose to keep it quiet but you can't lie when someone asks you straight out, so...

I'm only ten weeks along but The Brown Family is going to add a little more color...pink or blue, to be exact. We're due late April and we are so excited to add a little one to our little family.

I love Tony!

He loves me!

We love Baby, yes siree!

He or she loves us and so you see...

We are a happy family!

Time to Start Working

I have been rather bad about blogging lately.  The same has been true about my journal writing.  It's not that I haven't had tons to write about either.  My Bride has given some hints about what I have been up to: Philmont, vacations to Texas, working for my dad, working in my ward with the young men.

Six months ago I was not sure how we would be able to make ends meet as a family.  My Bride sat me down one Family Home Evening and challenged me to have a little more faith.  My patriarchal blessing has one line that says I will be able to provide for my family's needs.  She asked if I believed the promise.  I decided I did.  (After all, I wasn't sure I would ever find a wife, but my patriarchal blessing said I would and I found the one it promised.)

So fast forward six months and I marvel at how we have been blessed financially.  Even though I (now) have been unemployed for over a year.  We have had income from no less than 9 different sources.  Some were my Bride's.  Some were from good decisions I made a year ago.  Some were the generosity of friends and family after we were married.  When you add them all up, we have never wanted for money. 

Starting next week, I have a fantastic opportunity to work for a company in north Dallas which helps people bring mortgage companies to the negotiation table to lower their debt or prevent foreclosure.  (I hear what you are thinking: "Don't you live in Tempe, AZ?")  Yeah, I will work for a Dallas company from Arizona.  Isn't telecommuting great. 

The company is poised to expand to other states soon and I get to help manage the expansion and growth.  My specific task is to improve processes and job responsibilities to enable that growth. 

I attribute this opportunity to several things.  I have tried to follow the Spirit as I have prepared for life.  I followed the counsel of the Prophet and have obtained as much education as possible (so far).  But most importantly now, my Bride and I have always paid our tithing, even when it was not very much.

Marriage Lessons

Ten things I've learned so far in my marriage...

Number 1: Being married to your best friend is the best thing in the whole world.
Number 2: I'm glad Husband is wax paper. No matter what I throw at him, it just slides right off. He'll always forgive me.
Number 3: His hair never sometimes lies flat.
Number 4: P90X is so much more enjoyable with someone to laugh with
Number 5: Sometimes it's hard, sometimes you don't know how things will work out, but they will.
Number 6: Husbands don't replace moms but that's okay. Moms are never far away.
Number 7: Working together is much much better than working alone.
Number 8: Even though we do stuff together almost everyday, just calling it Date Night, makes it special.
Number 9: We love to read stories together. I hope it's a tradition that sticks around when the kiddos are around.
Number 10: Never settle for less than a temple marriage. When you are eternally connected, you have an eternal love.

Eight New Bestest Friends Ever!

Husband being gone for two weeks meant spending lots of time with my family. People always tell you that your family eventually becomes you very best friends. I didn't ever not believe them, I just didn't understand what that really meant. My mom. My dad. Two brothers. Four sisters. They really are my best friends. Here are some of my favorite things about each of them.

Dad! My dad is the greatest ever! I love when I can just sit and talk to him about everything. I think he misses having me around all the time, even if he won't admit it. I think his new favorite thing to do is going to be taking me with when he goes to teach Bryton how to drive. Him and Keila seem to think I'm pretty entertaining. As for me...Husband is going to have to teach our kids how to drive...

Mom! Mom's the best mom ever. She loves being a mom and doing mom things. While Husband was gone she was the one who took me to downtown Phoenix because I'm too chicken to go by myself. She's always willing to talk on the phone whenever I'm lonely. She's answered a million questions like, "How do you make this?" "How do I do that?" in the last six months of my marriage. Mom's also closer to the Spirit than anyone I know. I aspire to be more like my mother.

Bryton! If you ever want an exciting story go to Bryton. He's got a million and a half and he'll tell you each one at least four times. It doesn't matter if he's told you before. He get's so excited that he has to tell you again! Bryton's also excited to go on a mission. He's such an example to me of having your heart in the right place. I'm so excited to watch him over the next couple of years. Not only will he become a great missionary, he's going to steal all the girls' hearts when he gets back.

Keila! Keila and I used to be pretty mean to each other. She was such a pain and I was so bossy! Things have magically changed, though. She's pretty fun to hang out with. We went and saw the midnight showing of "Eclipse" together for no other reason than "We went to the first two...it's tradition!" I admire Keila in so many ways. She can make friends with anyone. That's something I have yet to learn.

Sydney! Sydney just turned twelve and she is the sweetest! She's always willing to help. She's responsible beyond her years. We enjoyed watching "Ever After" together...twice...in the course of 24 hours. What can we say? It was that good! I also got to go with her to the temple for the first time. She was so excited to go. We went on her birthday and she was able to be baptized for some of our own ancestors.

Leslie! Leslie is a reading machine. I remember those days when summer meant nothing but swimming and reading. She wants to be an author when she grows up. We learned this week that she's a better Wii ice skater than me...and I held the world record! She's also excited to go to summer camp. The American Cancer Society puts on Camp Sunrise every summer and because she's a cancer survivor she gets to go. I'm so glad we got to keep our Leslie!

Brooke! Brooke, or Brookelee as I like to call her, is a blooming young lady. She is absolutely beautiful and will only become more so as the years go by. She's silly and fun. She always wants me to go swimming with her. Shame on me if I forget to bring my swimsuit! She always has tons of hugs ready for me when she sees me. She's always asking when I'll come visit again.

Hayden! Hayden is four and the poor guy doesn't understand why I don't live with them anymore. He wants me and Husband to move back in with them. He's crazy and fun and most of the time out of control but we wouldn't change him for the world. I always tell Husband I want one just like him. Husband just rolls his eyes.

Musings of the Lonesome: Week Two

I have decided that my post from last week made me sound utterly miserable and helpless without Husband. That's really not completely true. So, in order to spare you all, I shall not post anymore musings...just know that I still miss him. He'll be home on the sixth!

Musings of the Lonesome: Week 1

Day 1: Husband left today. He's off to Philmont. In other words, he's off to live in the wilderness for 10 days. Ten days plus traveling to and from New Mexico equals one lonesome wifey at home. I couldn't even go half the day without missing him terribly. Today was made bearable because he did call once this evening and because Little Sister #4 and Little Brother #2 came for a sleepover. We ate junk food, swam, and watched movies. Husband will find it entertaining to learn that I woke up in the night upside down [as in my feet where my head goes and my head where my feet go, not as in I woke up vertically oriented]. This has happened only once since we've been married although it was a common occurrence beforehand, when I had my own bed...

Day 2: I got two more phone calls today--one this morning and one this evening. I might even get one last call tomorrow morning before they officially start their hike tomorrow. I still had the kiddos this morning and then I went to work this afternoon and finished up my assignment for my microbiology class this evening. Not very eventful. Not too lonely either since I kept busy and had a couple of chances to talk to Husband...

Day 3: So much for my phone call this morning...Hey! Do you have so-n-so's number? Thanks! Love you! Bye!...Coping strategy #1 for today was memories--the good kind. I was thinkin about when I lived in the dorms and got zero cell phone service in my room so I would go out to the courtyard with a pillow and blanket at the break of dawn to talk to Husband (before he was Husband) on the phone. We had to do it at the break of dawn when we could use free minutes so that Dad #1 didn't get after me. I thought about how whenever we were in the back seat of Dad #2's truck I would stick my head on his chest and my face in the crook of his neck. Husband wondered how the heck it didn't make me claustrophobic and Mom #2 always got after us for snogging even though were weren't snogging...at least not most of the time...Coping strategy #2 was to stay the night at Mom and Dad #1's house. THEN! That night I was saying family prayer and straight from the heart I said, "...and please don't let Husband get eaten by a bear..." and then Mom #1 snickered and Dad #1 guffawed (right in the middle of my prayer!) and then kids #s 4, 5, 6, and 7 started to giggle. They all just laughed through the rest of my prayer! Yet, even with the coping strategies I laid down that night and felt very...

...alone...

Day 4: I worked all day today and had no one to text me or email me or keep me sane. Seriously. I went nuts. This afternoon I was eating animal crackers and I thought...Poor little penguin. You just got your head bit off. Cute little camel. I bit your head off too...and then I pulled out a bear and said...Take that, you nasty old bear! That's what you get for messing with Husband!...Wow. He needs to come home....

Day 5: I cried today...

Day 6: I missed having a husband to sit next to during church today. I was able to listen to two of my best friends speak in church. They're both leaving on missions in a couple of weeks, one to Argentina and one to Bolivia. They both did a spectacular job with their talks. I know that they will be great missionaries. I'm still praying Husband won't get eaten by a bear, although I suppose I'm more worried about him worrying about getting eaten by a bear than I am him actually getting eaten by a bear...

Day 7: I cleaned the house today. Wish I had Husband here to help me or at least to tell me I looked beautiful with my PJs on and my hair going everywhere once I was all done. Is it weird that I texted him to tell him how much I miss him even though I know he can't respond? I miss those days when seeing his truck in the parking lot meant Husband was home...