What They Didn't Tell You About Pregnancy- Hair

When you see a pregnant woman walking down the street, you'll most likely spot her with her hand over her round belly, protecting and comforting the life that is growing inside of her. If she's very far along, she may even be supporting her back with her other hand as she also waddles along the sidewalk. Her hair is long and gorgeous and she's glowing.

What They Didn't Tell You About Pregnancy- Foot Size

When we think of pregnancy symptoms, we always think about the pregnancy glow, morning sickness, and heartburn, but there are some side effects that some women don't know about and they wonder, "What on earth?"

We've already talked about how pregnancy can change your hair, the way you sleep, and even your eyes, but there are still more symptoms that no one talks to you about. The symptom/side effect that we'll talk about today is foot size!

What They Didn't Tell You About Pregnancy- Eyes

 So, you're pregnant, or you're thinking about becoming a new mommy or you know someone who's pregnant. In order to educate yourself, you probably typed, "pregnancy symptoms" or something similar.

There are some symptoms that have made women question whether or not they were pregnant, achy breasts, heartburn (I couldn't complain of heartburn without being asked if I was pregnant), mood swings, and so much more.

How to Prepare for Motherhood- Get a Cat

 

The thought of having children used to make me cringe.

I wasn't good with babies or little kids, but I was pretty good at working with teenagers. I used to joke that if I were to become a parent someday, I was just going to adopt teenagers. Who knows, maybe some day, I will.

Fighting the Winter Blues

     I don't know if it has just hit me earlier this year or if it's because my circumstances have been unusual, but I've been really bluesy, already, this year.

     I love the fall! I usually love the colors, the crisp air, the decorations, and costumes. I love taking my kids trick-or-treating. I usually become blue after Thanksgiving. But I've been bad at decorating the house. We just did our pumpkins, usually it's done sooner. I haven't been super excited like I normally am. Maybe it's because I've only watched Hocus Pocus once this year? *gasp!* yes, just once.

     For those of you who have never heard of the winter blues, it happens to people in the winter. We're not quite depressed, but more like melancholy. The days are shorter, exercise has dwindled, and the supply of vitamin D that you get from the sun has lost its source. I didn't realize that this was something that I experienced every year until I noticed a pattern. I began to see my doctor during the winter months because I lost motivation to do anything. I was tired all of the time and my temper was short. I had gone in believing that maybe I was having a thyroid problem, but it happened every single winter since my kids were born and nothing was every diagnosed. It might have happened sooner than that, but I was a hyperactive teenager, so maybe I didn't notice it as much.

    What I usually do when I begin to feel bluesy is take some vitamin D. That usually helps, but so does ice cream. And well, when you eat ice cream, weight creeps on and then I'm 500 lbs (a bit of an over exaggeration) and then I feel even worse than I did before.

     I need a hobby. I'm at home with the baby (ok, so he's 3, but he'll always be my baby- shadadoop awwwah, shadadoop da doop da dawww *insert Mariah Carey high note*) all day long. We do things together, but most of it is what he wants to do. "But you're the mom. Make him do what you want to do." *Mothers UNITE!* I do, sometimes, or sometimes I come to this computer and I type a blog that may or may not get read. However, when you get bluesy and you have anxiety, sometimes you just can't do something. Anxiety is weird. You want to do something, but your brains says, "No. Just stay right where you are. Worry about getting your house clean, but stay here and just look at it. Don't do a thing. Feel overwhelmed and panic when someone is about to come over. Everything will not be ok, but it's ok to just sit and worry."

     Nothing gets done!!! Then, at some moment, you are able to push through that fog and you say "Enough!" and you bring out the broom and sweep everything to the middle of the floor and you sweep things long forgotten out from under the couch then add it to that pile. You look at that pile and feel overwhelmed again. You sit down. You know that it has to get cleaned. After you put on an episode of Grey's Anatomy (because it will calm you down) you slowly pick up that pile. On occasion, you have turrets and yell at the dogs because when you went and picked the kids up from school, they got into the garbage can and pulled out paper plates and other trash items and chewed on them under the dining room table. You notice the pile when you're on the floor cleaning up the other pile so you sweep it into the pile that just began to look like something was being done, only to have it grow again. You feel defeated, but hey, you can do this! Just as you're almost done, the kids come home and dump their things everywhere. The baby is so excited, he grabs the nearest toy bin and dumps it. You let out an inhuman strangled cry. You apologize to the kids because they thought you were dying and you say, "It's ok. Mommy is just a little exasperated. Can you help?" The sensitive 5 year old will rub your back saying, "It's ok, Mama". She's trying to comfort you, so you try not to glare at her through the slits of your eyes because the mess you asked them to help with is still where it was left.

Not my house, but it may be if I don't get my butt into gear. (compliments of Hoarders)

     I'm not depressed, though. I'm bluesy. They house doesn't always look the way it does. I'm not always anxiety ridden and useless. It's cold outside. It's not like the normal hoody weather for this time of year. We have had to pull out our coats and we would have our mittens if we could find them. (Add buy gloves to the list of things we need.) The kids are restless, the dogs feel duped because I don't want to take them for a walk when it's 40* and dark outside. The dogs get into things. The kids play inside all day instead of outside. Things pile up and we're all just stir-crazy. I think that's enough to make any mommy a little crazy, if not just bluesy.

     Do you get the winter blues? Have you gotten them already?
   

   

Rejoining the Work Force

     So... I've been a stay at home mom for a little over three years. My baby will get screened for preschool (finally!) tomorrow. I've been told that once he's screened, it will take no time at all for him to be placed into a preschool, probably the same one that my daughter attended.
 
     While I have mixed emotions about him going, I'm going to get about three hours of being kid free each day. During that three hours, I thought it would be nice to have a work from home job... except those are hard to find. I've searched online and it's difficult to tell which ones are real and which ones are fake... except maybe if they are asking me to pay some money upfront, then I question if the company is real.

     "Hey, Brittany! I know a way that you can stay home and work. All you need to do is join .... and sell things!"--- I've thought about selling ItWorks, 31, Jamberry, and all of those other things, but the truth is, I have no connections and I don't want to spam everyone's Facebook pages asking for them to buy something that they don't really need. I've been on the receiving end of those pitches and I can't buy from everyone.

     I thought that I would try blogging for some extra income, but the only way that I know to make money on here is to put up ads and I only get paid per click. It starts to look suspicious if the same people click ads every time.  I enjoy blogging, so I'll probably keep up with this, but it's not really a  way to make money.

     I've done the whole scan my groceries bit and taking surveys, but I put a lot of effort in for minimum payout. I want the real deal. I want to be able to help bring extra income from home, in my pajama pants, for three hours a day. Is that too much to ask?

     So, if any of you know of a legitimate way to do that, let me know, will ya?

     For now, I will keep searching and continue writing. Maybe I'll finish my book sometime.

    Also, anyone want to illustrate my children's stories? I can maybe make you cookies?

Help a girl out!

Body Double? Really?

     I may be behind in my news, but today, I've seen several posts on Facebook about Melania Trump having a body double. Some of them joke that Melania left President Donald Trump or that she doesn't want to be seen around him so they have the double to keep his image up. Most of the posts are mocking and this is what I have to say about it.

     Really? Having a body double is smart, regardless if she has one or not. Those around may joke about it, but think of all the hate mail and threats that probably get sent to the White House everyday against the President, first wife, or children. If a threat has been made, wouldn't it be smart to have a body double in order to save the First Lady? Someone may say that it would be cowardly to have someone stand in for you when danger is eminent, but I don't think so. 

     If something were to happen to President's Trump's wife, he could be enraged, devastated, furious... all emotions that wouldn't give the president a clear head. How could someone lead a country while being emotionally unstable? Wouldn't it be better to be cautious?

     Body guards know what the are doing when they sign up for their job. They know that their lives could be placed in danger and many of them do it for honor. Not everyone recognizes what honor is, these days, but that's something that others in different countries or cultures literally live and die by. It isn't cowardly to assign someone to protect an important figure in our country. Besides, the body guard probably literally, signed up for it.

     Did you know that in Star Wars, Padme had a body double. She had her double to get information. She was used as a political decoy. That was smart.

     Celebrities have body doubles in movies. Why? Because there are scenes which can harm them. If a movie doesn't have some sort of suspense or danger for these action movies that come out, the movie can get kind of boring. Also, with the way that movies are made now, we as a society, like for what we watch to look realistic. The body double helps keep that reality while also keeping the celebrities safe. It's smart.

      Before we assume and cry out conspiracy, maybe we should just consider that some people have bad days. I can't imagine that being the First Lady is easy. Perhaps, Melania is just stressing out or maybe she missed her last beauty appointment. Or maybe, just maybe, she does have a body double. It really isn't our business...  unless we never see the First Lady again, and all we see is this body double, maybe then, we can raise some questions about where Melania is. But in the meantime, a body double is smart.