Tell The World!!!

Knowing what I know now I will act differently in any subsequent pregnancies. I will not hide the fact that I’m pregnant like a dirty secret for the first trimester. There is no reason to hide it. They say that it is so that we don’t have to tell everyone if we have a miscarriage. I found that I wanted to tell EVERYONE when it happened. And I did. I started texting people who I had never told I was pregnant in the first place to tell them my grief.

It got me thinking that there is no reason to hide it. Miscarriages are happening all the time to people all around us. 1 in 4 women suffer a miscarriage in their lives. I am one of those 4, but with the amount of people we know, the likelyhood is that many of the people around me have suffered through it as well. I know about a few but as I share my story more and more women are coming to me and telling me their stories.

Most women suffer in silence. They may talk to a few family members and their partner, but they don’t have anyone else to talk to about it. There are forums and Facebook groups that are terribly helpful, but sometimes you just need to be able to vent to someone who knows exactly what you are talking about. I’m lucky that I have a couple of family members who have experienced similar situations and they are willing to let me talk to them and ask them questions. It’s part of the grieving process.

Not everyone is as lucky. I hope that the movements that have been coming up in the last few years (from what I can tell) to get people to be open about their losses keeps progressing.

Of course I’m not saying that you should share it if you don’t want to or are uncomfortable doing so. It is definitely YOUR decision to make. My point is that it is YOUR decision and not just the communities decision that says it’s taboo to do so.

I haven’t experienced this, but I know that there are people who will tell women who announce their pregnancies early on that they are jinxing it. That they will have bad luck. Simply a bunch of negativity. It simply isn’t true.

We shared the news of the pregnancy with our parents, my siblings and nieces and nephew pretty early on. Then the Friday before we found out the baby had stopped growing we told his siblings and grandma. Doing this did NOT cause the miscarriage.

As I mentioned, the miscarriage was destined to happen as soon as sperm met egg. There was something wrong with one or the other or the combination of both. But there was absolutely NOTHING we could have done to know or to cause or to prevent the miscarriage from happening.

As much as I don’t want people to say these things to me, I know they are true. They just don’t make me feel better or change the amount of grief I feel. 

Catching Up on Me!

You may have noticed that I’ve sort of been on sabbatical the past little while.

I posted on Monday about the reason behind it (in part).

But let’s move past the drama and leave that in the workplace. Let’s talk about what has been going on since the last time we really spoke.

FITBIT/WALK: I’ve continued on my path of making sure I get my 10,000 steps in by using my FitBit. I absolutely love being able to track my activity. I’ve done as much as about 18k in a day and most days I make it to 10k. Because of physical limitations I’ve been not on my feet so much this week, but I should be back to normal soon.

My niece Mika also got a FitBit so we can push each other. She was doing really well for a bit but has slowed down (but she is 13, so, you know – a teenager) but I’m trying  to push her. She was beating me and I need the inspiration!  If you still aren’t my friend on there – I’d love to be FitBit Pals!

ANNIVERSARY: On April 26^th my husband and I celebrated our 1 Year Anniversary. We were able to take a day off and go on a short weekend getaway up the California Coast. If you follow me on Facebook you will have seen a ton of pictures. We went to Hearst Castle and lingered on the coast. We had both been before, but not for over 10-15 years. It’s a gorgeous place and the history is incredible. If you ever get the change I recommend it (even though it is a little pricey - $25 per tour and I think there are 2 or 3 in total). We also went to Morro Bay the next day and had a great time.  

I’ll write a post just on this because the weekend deserves its own attention.

MOTHER’s DAY: Thomas and I celebrated Mother’s Day the night before by taking our mommy’s to dinner at Flemmings. It was an interesting night. My mom doesn’t speak English and his doesn’t speak Spanish. My mom was not happy with the food – her meat with undercooked (she likes it well done). We complained and they took it back but when they brought it out again it was still red inside. One of the managers asked her how it was and when she said it was still red he said that if they cooked it more it would be burned. Umm. No. That’s only if you don’t know how to cook a steak well done.  We were able to talk to someone else, who spoke Spanish, who was able to remove the steak from her bill and give her a free dessert. Score for our bank account!

VOTE!: On May 19^th we had a small local election for school board. I have voted in every single election since I turned 18 and am happy to continue with that. Unfortunately the candidate I wanted didn’t win – but it’s the fact that I voted that counts.

May 21^st: On May 21^st it was a year since my sister passed away. I left work early and went to the cemetery with my parents and Jonathan (who was at their house at the time). It was a gorgeous day and it was nice to know that my sister is somewhere that is beautiful and that has such a great view.

NAILS: For the first time since before my wedding I went to get a mani/pedi with my mom. I had stopped going to save money because $27 every month seemed like a bit much. However I WAS paying $75/mo for a housekeeper, but her last month was December – so that’s a lot of money I’ve saved on that… and I’ve been doing it instead which means… I deserve this! It was nice to be pampered again. I decided on the pedicure at the last minute and that ended up being a good decision.

PICNIC: My niece has been planning Memorial Day picnic’s for the past 5 years (except last year since I was in Argentina on my Honeymoon at the time). This year we had it at a nice park in which she held it the first year as well.  And apparently I don’t learn my lessons. The first time we had it there in 2012 I was walking barefoot on the grass (what I always did when I was little) and stepped on a freaking bee. It stung me on my toe of my left foot. It got swollen and I got a nice little picture of it. Guess what happened this year!? Once again I stepped on a bee as I walked back from the ice cream truck (same thing as last time). This time it was smack in the middle of my right foot. The first day I was fine but the itching woke me up in the middle of the night. By Tuesday morning I could barely walk.  Luckily I brought back Caladryl from Argentina last year and that has helped, but again on Tuesday night I woke up twice with incredible itchiness! The area got more swollen and red through Wednesday but finally overnight into Thursday it finally started to get better.

I was walking on the side of my foot which now has left that painful. *sigh*

This is the reason why my steps have not been up to 10k this week.

So that is me for the past month or two! 

Blog-tember: A Reintroduction

I found this month-long link up today (the 1st!) and I thought it was perfect for me. I've been having a hard time getting motivated to blog lately in addition to not having much time to sit down and do it. 

The first prompt is to reintroduce yourself - which is great because I think I have gained many followers in the past few months who might not know my story. 

If you don't know... my name is Katherine but mostly go by Kathy. I was born and raised in the suburbs of Los Angeles (The Valley to be specific). Okay, I mistyped - I actually was born in UCLA, but was quickly taken to my family's home in Tarzana (a town named after Tarzan). I have (had) 3 older siblings -who are (were) 12, 14, and 15 years older than me. Which made for an interesting childhood. My two eldest siblings had left the home by the time I was 3 and the youngest of the 3 became my playmate. 

I feel like I have to mention that my sister who was playdate passed away about 3 months ago after nearly 42 years of health problems. She contracted e-coli when she was an infant and had to have 3 kidney transplants throughout her life. The long-use of medication weakened her organs and she died from intestinal hernias/sepsis. I mention it because the reason my family is in the United States is because they moved her to get her a kidney transplant. Although I was not part of that story since I was born after their move, it is sort of the reason that I exist. I also mention it because her illness controlled most of our/my life. 

I went to California State University, Northridge (CSUN) which is the local school (I attended Cal Stat Long Beach my first semester but transferred to CSUN to be closer to home because my sister had to go back on dialysis when I started college). I majored in Journalism with an emphasis in Magazine. I never used this degree for any practical purposes. Instead I got a teaching credential immediately following my BA. I then attended masters classes and stopped short of actually getting the masters degree in Elementary Education. 

My first job was when I turned 15. I worked at Six Flags Magic Mountain, but only for a short time because I didn't drive and it was a long drive for my dad to take me and bring me back. I was also being paid about $5 an hour, so it wasn't worth it. In college I got a job as a sales associate at Robinson's May. I then got a job as  a teachers' assistant. After I receiving my teaching credential I was lucky to get a job as a substitute teacher for Los Angeles Unified School district. 

I worked as a sub for 4 years with no luck in getting a full time teaching job. This was around 2008 - the worst time to be looking for a job. Eventually I felt like I needed something that would give me health insurance so I got a job as a receptionist. A few months into that job I was able to apply for a job with Los Angeles County, specifically for a position that my dad and brother had also held 2 decades prior. 

I've had this job for the past year and a half (a bit more) and I absolutely love it. It's social work and I love that I get to help people who are less fortunate on a daily basis. 

In 2011 I met my husband. I had dated a lot throughout college and after. I used all the dating websites out there, but it was on Craigslist that I met the love of my life (a post about that to come - possibly as a guest post on a different blog). We got engaged after a bit over 2 years of dating and we got married 5 months later on April 26, 2014. 

We closed escrow on our condo 2 weeks before our wedding and we are still unpacking/cleaning/organizing. 

As far as kids? We're probably about 2 years away from attempting to have kids. We want to have some time together before we add anyone to our family. We had both lived with our parents prior to getting married. But hey, maybe I'll convince my husband to get a puppy in the next year or two! 

Come back tomorrow to see what makes me happy these days! 

Accent Vlog Husband Edition

I was telling my husband about the Vlog link up and made him make one for me. I thought he was hilarious, what do you think? 

Does he have an accent? 

(how can I make this bigger???)

I couldn't help but laugh during it! 

Week In Review

This will be done in bullet/list form – mostly because it is a bunch of mumbled thoughts.

• While I enjoy learning and appreciate getting new information that will help me advance in my job. I hate having to sit and listen to the same thing over and over. That’s especially true when it’s something I already know. This was a problem during the training I had this week. I understand that it is because not everything in the training has been around for as long as others, and they need to make sure we all know how to do things – but it drives me insane to listen to. 

• If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook you would know that I acquired a pet fly over the last week. Last Friday night there was a fly buzzing around my bedroom. It kept getting near my head and then landing on the TV screen. I went to sleep and the next morning I saw it on the window. When I went to kill it, it fell into the window sill (and no, I didn’t throw it in the trash). Then on Monday night I was home with my niece and a fly kept buzzing around our heads in the kitchen and then in the master bath. It would bump into the mirrors over and over again. Out of curiosity I went to check the window… the original fly was no longer there. We have named him Norman. 

• Wednesday was employee appreciation day at work. Let’s say I didn’t feel appreciated. We’ve had a lot of negative things going on in our office over the past few weeks and having the management serve us some cold food (that I wasn’t even fond of, although many did enjoy) was not really showing appreciation. Other offices throw big parties for their employees with lunch and dessert, music and decorations. Ours was in the conference room, no music, no decoration, and the managers just passing out boxed up lunch. Last year we had some music and the atmosphere was better. 

• We have some plumbing issues at home. They aren’t severe and they don’t require immediate remedies, but I do want to take care of them sooner rather than later. I had a plumber come out last week to take a look. This week he told me that it would be $545 for everything. My jaw dropped a little bit. I asked him for a run down on labor vs. product costs. He didn’t give it to me. So instead I’m going to give my brother a hundred dollars and have him fix the things (which include the washers in the bathroom faucets, replacing the kitchen sink and master bath shower head, and fixing the shower/bath mixer). 

• Lastly, but most importantly, Thomas came home on Friday after 2 weeks of not seeing him! He’s not a texter, but on Thursday morning I got a text that said "I was just thinking... I can't wait to see my wife tomorrow!"