Babbling Brooks

As of these last few weeks, my pregnant belly and I have been getting a lot more attention. If you know me, you know that it is never easy for me to be less than honest, so I find it really amusing when people ask me for updates related to the pregnancy because they are never usually prepared for my answer.  That said, sometimes I am not even prepared for what comes out of my mouth, because my mouth is often saying things way before my brain can catch up and make it stop. Word vomit, if you will. As I approach my 32nd week of pregnancy, I'd like to share with you exactly how I am feeling...Allow me to count the ways: 1. Like I can't breathe because there's an alien in my gut that is constantly kicking and pushing at my lungs.  I really envy the women who are out there at this point in their pregnancies and still able to work out. If it was me, I'd be done every thirty seconds because even just walking down the hallway takes the wind out of me. What's worse is ev...

I have a confession to make: I had bacon today. What?!! Not bacon! I know what some of you are thinking. "But aren't you supposed to be vegetarian, Dani?" I mean I am, sort of, I guess, but not really. And maybe some of you are aware that pregnant ladies are technically not supposed to eat any food products that are possibly carriers of listeria, but I just couldn't resist today. Because bacon. And because a wise woman once told me "if your body is telling you that you want to eat something, your body probably needs it, so eat it." Words to live by. And possibly get fat by. Because pregnancy. After Michaela was born in November of 2012, I had free time on my hands to watch way too many vegan educational films on Netflix while at home by myself nursing her. I learned a lot about the horrors of meat factory farms and the joys of what a plant based diet can provide for your body. Also around the same time I was researching ways for my Dad to quickly recover f...

Dear Colton, Let me begin by apologizing for not writing more, or sooner, for that matter. When I was pregnant with your sister life was a lot less busy. I wasn't chasing any 2 year old girl with lots of energy around, for starters. So, I hope someday you are not bummed when you find out that I wrote detailed letters as often as I could to your sister while she was in the womb and that your pile is severly lacking.  Because even though I am not writing to you often, I think and worry about you just as often as I did her. Here is a very abbreviated bit about our journey together so far, in case you wondered. We found out we were pregnant with you in early October of 2014. I felt a little off and decided to take a late night pregnancy test, because timing is everything, of course. When I saw the positive test result, I yelled out to your Daddy already in bed, "Shit!". Which is a bad word that you will not be allowed to say. He asked me what was wrong and I told him ...