Light the World

I decided to do the "Light the World" challenge this month to try to remember what this time of year is really about. There were recommended things to do everyday online for this challenge. My family did a group text daily to report to each other what we did. I want to document what I did, so I can remember for next year. Some days were definitely harder than others to come up with and do service. In fact, the end of the "Light the World" challenge tells you to pick one of the acts of service you did and make it a goal for 2017. I haven't gotten around to that yet... 

December 1st- Andrew and I babysat Simon and Esther so Jeff and Lindsey could go to Jeff's work party.

December 2nd- Andrew and I wrote a thank-you note to Logan and Julia who let us stay at their house while we were there for Thanksgiving.

December 3rd- I wrote Grandma and Grandpa Langlois a thank-you card for the Christmas money they sent me.

December 4th- We donated to the general missionary fund.

December 5th- We took 2 names of kids from sub for Santa at Andrew's work and got them giftcards for things they need.

December 6th- I posted a scripture on social media. (I don't think I had ever done this before.) 
D&C 18:10-11

December 7th- We donated boxed/canned food to help those who are starving in Utah.

December 8th- I texted a friend that just had a baby and is having a hard recovery. 

December 9th- I donated all the change in our "change bag" to penny wars at school. (All the money goes to struggling families within my own school.)

December 10th- We did sealings at the Mt. Timpanogos Temple. We brought family names to do.

December 11th- I wrote 7 cards to family members. Most of them were thank-you cards to Andrew's family for throwing me a baby shower, but one was to our niece who got baptized. (We weren't able to make it to the baptism.)

December 12th- I made cookies for the people Andrew sometimes carpools with to work.

December 13th- I sent my friend, Kaitlin, an e-gift card to her favorite pizza place for her birthday.

December 14th- I purchased a picture of the Savior to put in the nursery.

December 15th- I put together some Christmas gifts for coworkers. I felt really bad because last year I did nothing.

"This 'winter' I'm grateful for you. Have a very merry Christmas!"

December 16th- I invited two newer couples in our ward over for a game night.

December 17th- We bought neighbor/home teaching/visiting teaching Christmas gifts.

"Wishing you a holiday season full of peace, joy, and hope (soap)."

(We crossed out hope and wrote in soap.)

December 18th- I made cookies for Andrew's Sunday school class.

December 19th- I emailed my nephew, Alex, who is on his mission in Romania.

December 20th- "Be a mentor or tutor to someone." I was extra patient during math with some students who didn't quite understand the concept.

December 21st- I got my friend, Brighton, a cookie from Swig (her fav) to wish her luck on a licensing test she has been studying for. 

December 22nd- We went to the temple.

December 23rd- I went to the store and got treats to make a dessert for the family coming over. Does this count?

December 24th- We stopped at The Corner Bakery to buy my Mom a fresh chocolate bundt cake.

December 25th- How sad is it that I don't know what I did on Christmas day! I did make jello for the Christmas dinner...? I helped set the table?

I wasn't perfect at this and have plenty of room for improvement.This was a really neat experience for me though and I plan on doing it again next year. (Maybe I'll even be able to donate blood next time because I won't be pregnant!) Sometimes, I worry too much about money and this helped me step out of that mindset a bit. I have been blessed and can bless others because I know that God is the person I have to thank for everything I have. #lighttheworld

Pregnancy Probs

This post is more for journaling and so I can remember what pregnancy was like.

I feel blessed in that I haven't really had any morning sickness and I haven't thrown up once. I know so many people face challenging pregnancies and I'm so glad that I'm not one of them.Pregnancy does take some getting used to and I want to keep track of some of the things that I've dealt with this pregnancy.

1) Bathroom Constantly 
This definitely comes in spurts. For a while I was waking up several times a night to tinkle and then it stopped for a while. Now, it's back and not just at night, but during the day as well. Sometimes it is tough while I'm teaching because I have to go to the bathroom so much. The longest period of time I have to wait is from 7:55-10:45 and as soon as I let the students out for recess, I immediately dash to the bathroom. I'm not used to using the bathroom often in public places because I never had to, so this is new to me.

2) SLEEP
Especially in the first trimester, I could sleep forever! In fact, my bedtime changed for several weeks to like 8:30pm (no joke). No matter how hard I tried to stay awake past this time, it wouldn't work. Now I'm coming close to the third trimester and I still find myself to be exhausted. I think teaching has a lot to do with it. By the time I get home each night, I am so sick of standing. My bedtime might not be 8:30pm anymore, but it is almost always 9:30pm. It's so early that Andrew stays up usually two or more hours after I go to sleep. 

3) Charley Horse
Until now, I have never had a charley horse. Man, who knew these were so painful? I have now had 2 just this week and they are starting to take their toll. Luckily, I had a doctors appointment yesterday and discussed this with the doctor. It turns out I'm calcium deficient and now I take a calcium vitamin 3 times a day. Hopefully these vitamins will kick in soon because I don't want to have another one! It's a horrible feeling to be woken up in the middle of the night with such throbbing pain. In fact, they have been so painful that my calf/leg hurts for a few days after the charley horse. Apparently these are really common during pregnancy. The doctor also told me that this would help with my shin pain. I've always had shins that bother me, but lately they have been extremely sore at the end of every day. Hopefully that will change!

4) Baby Bump Comments
This has been a big adjustment for me. Usually weight isn't an okay topic to discuss, but suddenly when you're pregnant it is. Obviously I'm not mad that I'm getter fatter because I'm growing a child, but I find these conversations quite awkward. "Ooh, looks like you're starting to show Jenna." "You are so small, you must be carrying him more in your back." Nobody has been offensive at all, but I just don't know how to respond. I'm always caught off guard when people I hardly know make comments about my baby bump. I need to think of what to say so that I just have an immediate response on-hand because it happens so often. 

Also, I'm not one that will post pictures of my baby bump  weekly or monthly or ever probably. My friend did say that I'll want to look at them later though, so I recently took my first baby bump picture. (Can't believe I'm posting it here, but this is my journal!) 

In this picture I am almost 24 weeks pregnant. (3 days shy) 

5) Fighting off sickness
I got a cold about 2 months ago. (Not surprising especially when I get a nice view from the front of the classroom of students picking their noses.) It wouldn't go away. In fact, when I went to Spokane for Thanksgiving it was worse and I had had the cold for 3 weeks at this point. I actually ended up having to get on a prescription for a sinus infection. This cold took over a month to get over! It felt like I was sick for SO LONG and it wasn't fun!

I am excited to pop a bit more mostly because pants are uncomfortable. Regular pants aren't an option at this point, but maternity pants fall down all day and drive me crazy! I have tried the band you wear around your waste with regular pants (and unbuttoning the top button), but that isn't ideal either. Again, I have been very fortunate with this pregnancy! I wish it would go by a little faster so we could meet him!