The In-Between

My friend Marianne gave us a handmade and bound notebook with our wedding colors and a Japanese-themed cover as a wedding gift. It was simple, nice, and truly heartfelt. She said to use it for whatever--first-year journey into marriage, travels, etc., as we build our life together. Well, the first three plus months have come and gone and I didn't record anything about them. I have photographs from some occasions, but it seems a little odd to write about them in retrospect here. It was whirlwind, yet nothing monumental happened.

We seem to be in an in-between phase; the wedding planning is over finally, and we can begin to think about our marriage. Do we want to start the joint checking account? And if so, where? What kind of coffee table do we want? Should it be casual or match a new entertainment center? What bedroom furniture do we want? Will it signify the grownup aspect of us (getting rid of my Ikea stuff)? Do we want to start our family traditions now, or wait until our family grows? Will our family grow?

Sure, we've only been married three months, but I ain't no spring chicken and my next birthday is coming up in less than half a year (so I'll be a year older before a baby conceived now will even be born). This thought has been on my mind for over a year and partially the goal I set for when I did get married. But as the months have passed since I made the decision, we've both been a little slack on getting with the program.

First of all, if we seriously want to begin a family, we need to cut back on some indulgent behavior. Beyond spending on things and places, we need to keep better track of the food we eat and drink. Like maybe our wine club shipment might need to get a little dusty and the dude at the corner store can forget where he knows us from. In addition to the cutback on alcohol consumption, soy products need to be monitored and maybe noticing that the cheese-covered spinach dish might contain iron and calcium but one may cancel the other out in vitamin absorption. And I need to stop eating refined sugars and try to lower my cholesterol. Better finish those brownies soon, I guess.

With the holidays finally over, I can begin to focus on the phase out of those indulgences in honest. It was hard when parties and libations abound in December. I even bought and took my first supplement toward prenatal care: the folic acid tablet. I bought 400mg tablets to take with my regular Women's One a Day. When my regular vitamins end, I will start the special (and expensive for the doses) prenatal BellyBar chewables. I worry that new vitamins will make me sick, which I read being the case.

So as I record my daily temp and weight and going-ons in the paper journal, I'll try to remember to post some updates on this blog. Hope you join us on this next chapter of our lives.

--signed a 36-year-old newlywed