Thank you all so much for your good wishes & congratulations–it really means a lot to me!

I’ve already gotten a ton of questions, so I thought I’d answer the top three. My life is an open book, Internet…

1. Were we “trying”?

No. Quite the opposite, in fact. Our little bean defeated not one but TWO forms of birth control implemented by two very meticulous people, which makes him every bit as stubborn and determined as his parents. This is a surprise, but a very welcome one!

2. When did I find out?

I found out on July 29–so if you happened to see me drinking a cocktail at BlogHer, I assure you, I had NO IDEA that I had company. Of course, I had a total panic attack in my doctor’s office that I had permanently scarred the baby, but she assured me that the few drinks I had during the two weeks when I didn’t know are nothing to worry about. And then she gave me a list of other things I could feel free to worry about. Sigh. Practice for parenthood, I suppose…

3. How do I feel?

Terrified. Slightly nauseated (the aforementioned seasickness). Excited. Happy. Somewhat deprived from giving up sushi, swordfish, soft cheese (please God, not the Brie!!), caffeine, alcohol, rare steaks, and raw eggs, which takes away Caesar salads, tiramisu, mousse, and Hollandaise sauce.

Oh, and did I mention terrified?

If any of you mamas out there have any pregnancy advice for me, please leave it in the comments. I need all the help I can get! (But please don’t leave anything scary, like the story of how you were in labor for 9 days–I’m a wee bit sensitive at the mo’…)

I have a huge announcement to make.

So huge.

Mind-blowing, you could say. 

Ladies and gentleman…

My husband and I are happy to announce…

… that we are having a baby!

I know!!!!

Yep, I’m expecting. Knocked up. In the family way. Renting out the guest room. With child. Awaiting the Wiggles invasion. Moving a prototype into production. Federlined. Got a bun in the oven. On stork watch. In a delicate condition. Following in Brangelina’s footsteps. Eating for two.

In other words, I’m PREGNANT!

It came as a bit of a surprise, but we’re very excited and looking forward to (and simultaneously absolutely terrified of) being parents.

I was going to try and wait until I was through the first trimester before I told the whole Interweb, but… well, I’m horrible at keeping secrets and I just couldn’t stand it any more. (BTW, I’m 6 weeks along and due on April 4, 2009. And I’m convinced–don’t ask me how or why–that it’s a boy.) Anyway, I figured that whether things go smashingly well or not so smoothly, my posting frequency may eventually be affected and you might as well know why…

Please send happy thoughts to the Bean (according to Google, the baby is the size of a lentil bean today), who is currently making his mother feel a bit seasick…

Most Americans, regardless of their personal religious choices, have grown up under the influence of the Puritan Work Ethic (or Protestant Work Ethic). According to Wikipedia, the PWE emphasizes the necessity of constant labor and diligent work in order to attain grace and salvation. After all, idle hands are the devil’s playthings…

In more modern, secular terms, hard work (and I don’t know about you, but I think of “work” as something I don’t enjoy and don’t necessarily want to do) is the key to happiness and financial success. No pain, no gain, right? Many of us believe that we are so fundamentally undeserving that we must earn our happiness and success through blood, sweat, and tears. (This doesn’t really make sense when you look at the world around you, does it? How many people do you know who’ve worked hard all their lives and are neither happy nor financially successful?)
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Tags: Money, Work

Welcome back to my Wednesday feature, the Question of the Week. Please feel free to use this question as the topic of a blog post, for personal journaling, or simply for self-discovery.

This week’s question is What are the biggest distractions in my life, and how can I minimize or eliminate them?

The biggest distractions for me are definitely watching television and surfing the Internet. Those are my go-to time-wasters when my brain feels overloaded or I don’t want to do what I “should” be doing. I’ve tried a number of different strategies over the years to limit these distractions but (sigh) they always seem to resurface.

The most effective method I’ve found so far is keeping a detailed time log. I think I’ll reintegrate that practice into my life (I may or may not post my logs here occasionally–I don’t want to overwhelm [ahem, bore] you with the minutiae of my life).

What are your major distractions? What can you do to minimize or eliminate them?

“Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.” - John Wayne

 
Image from http://southdakotapolitics.blogs.com/south_dakota_politics/images/john_wayne.jpg.

I’ve been thinking a lot about fear and how it affects my life. Fear of failure has been holding me back for years from trying to earn a living as a writer. The most maddening thing is that acknowledging the fear and realizing that it’s holding me back doesn’t make the fear go away. As much as my heart wants to quit my job and go for it, my fear STILL controls me. As you might image, I find this situation completely unacceptable.
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