Personal: A Little Self-Care

Hello! I’ve had a partial post in my drafts for literally the past three weeks and I just haven’t been able to finish writing it. So, instead of letting that hold me back from updating, I decided to just leave it in my drafts for now and write a little update. There is no structure to this post, it’s just a flood of thoughts that I wanted to jot down.

Life has been a little crazy these days. I’m not sure if it’s pregnancy or a symptom of getting old or a bit of both (probably both), but it’s ridiculous how easily I get tired these days. Actually… it’s probably 90% to do with the pregnancy.

I’m now in my third trimester and my body is feeling it. Baby is getting big and heavy! But the biggest pain point for me in recent months is how long it now takes for me to get over jet lag! Or just recover back to normalcy after a period away.

It took a solid 2-3 weeks for me to get over my Japan -> California jet lag, and then spring forward happened. Who would have thought a 1hr difference would wreck such havoc on my body? Daylight savings happened on March 12th and I’m only now back to waking up at 8:30~9am.

A couple of weeks ago we went away for a few days to celebrate our birthdays and babymoon (I would like to write about it, but who knows when I’ll get round to it. It was such a wonderful experience, albeit bittersweet since it was our final getaway as a couple). I was basically incapacitated for a solid couple of days after returning because I was so tired.

I’ve also been a bit overwhelmed with decisions for the future, many of which involve finances. Thankfully, over the course of our babymoon, a lot of the financial issues have been sorted, including filing our taxes! praise God we’ve already filed our taxes!

This literally never happens; I even have multiple posts on this blog, about stressing over taxes. Usually I stress for a month through tears and much prayer, which ends with filing for an extension and then stressing for another month before the new deadline before finally filing it just in time for the October deadline.

I’m still praying about whether or not to hire a birthing doula. It’s something that I’ve been exploring but – oh my goodness – is it expensive! I do think it’d be valuable, but I honestly don’t know if I can stomach the cost. Even if we could afford it, is it worth it? It would definitely be the biggest luxury expense if we were to get one. I don’t know…

One thing I do know: Easter has since come and gone. Hallelujah, He is risen! We went to church and were thrilled a friend was able to join us for service, after which we all grabbed lunch and boba together. After getting home, Jacky and I went for a walk and then passed out on the couch for a couple of hours for some much needed rest.

Today I went to Trader Joe’s and saw a beautiful bouquet of flowers and bought it. It made me so happy. I love how it brightens up our room. It might seem small, but nothing is too small when it brings so much joy.

I’ve been feeling immensely grateful for our home recently. It’s taken almost two years, but it’s finally feeling like home. We’ve made quite a few changes to the furniture arrangement recently, much of it in preparation for baby’s arrival, and I love the changes that we’ve made.

We’ve also been spending less time in front of the TV and more time enjoying each other’s company lately, be it by playing board games, going for walks together, or just putting on some relaxing music and chilling together.

I’ve been aiming to exercise at least 4x/week, and get in around 7,500 steps/day. That’s the aim, at least. I’d actually be happy with more than 4,500 steps/day and of course there are days where my step count is super low because I’m just way too tired, but overall I have been averaging 6,800 steps/day over the past month or so. Yay!

I’m thankful that so far my pregnancy has been incredibly healthy. Mentally I feel like I’m in a really good place, which I praise God for. Pregnancy & postpartum depression is such a real thing and I have had depression before, so I’m even more at risk. But pregnancy-wise, I know God is taking care of Baby – way better than I ever could – and He has been so, so faithful.

I have no doubt He will continue to grow this baby as He desires. My prayer now is that Baby will one day live to glorify Him.

Thanks for reading!

Blessings,

Crystina

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