January 2022
Hello everyone! I can’t believe January is almost over. This month has gone by so fast, it’s hard to believe that tomorrow is February! I feel like this month was an intense one for me. A lot has happened in 31 days, but at the same time I feel like every day has been the same. I blame both the flow of time and seasonal depression for that feeling! Either way, here’s some highlights (and lowlights) from this month.
Sicky Butts
At the beginning of the year, both Matt and I were sick. We thought we had Covid, but after waiting six (six!) hours at an urgent care for a test, we found out that we didn’t have it. Of course, we didn’t actually know what our sickness was, so we both just stayed home to be safe. Being out of work was very boring, especially because after a few days I felt better but still couldn’t go back to work. There’s only so much to do around the house!
After getting better, I figured the sick times would be few and far between for the rest of the year. Unfortunately, I was proven wrong when I had to take Matt to the emergency room about two weeks later for Norovirus!! I won’t go into too much detail (mostly because it’s gross), but it was genuinely scary too. He passed out a couple of times from pain, and genuinely didn’t know where he was a couple of times. I thought his high blood pressure would be more of a problem, but luckily everyone at the hospital was able to get him feeling close to normal while he was there.
It sucked to not be able to stay with him overnight, but I knew he wasn’t too far away and that they could call me if anything crazy happened. Still, I don’t want to go back to the ER for a very long time!! I told him that the next time we go to the hospital, it’ll be when I’m having Baby G!
Vroom Vroom
I got my driver’s license this month! Yay! Twelve years late, but better late than never! That being said, I almost failed the test because I was so nervous. After looking at my scores, I saw that I was very lucky that the administrator was nice, because I probably shouldn’t have passed. After the test, I didn’t drive for the rest of the day…I was too anxious still!
Ever since then, I’ve been driving pretty regularly. I still hate it, but I feel like I’m getting better at it everyday. Being able to drive to and from work is probably the best part about driving in general. Another good thing is that now when Matt and I eventually move, we can technically go anywhere! Knowing that we can basically move anywhere we want and not have to rely on the bus routes is pretty freeing, honestly. It opens up new places that we wouldn’t’ve considered before I got my license.
The plan now is to help Matt pay off the rest of the car so that I can have it, and we can get him a new used car so that we can be a two car household. I think it’s a win-win, both for our work lives and our future family plans. Being able to take Baby G anywhere we want via car will be very nice! Not like riding the bus with a baby is the worst thing in the world…I just never wanted to figure out how to get a stroller on the bus!
Baby G Update
Speaking of Baby G, here’s a little update for y’all! It’s been about 14 weeks, and my nausea has FINALLY cooled off. I’m still nauseous in the mornings, but I’m not actually getting sick anymore (knock on wood). It’s been very interesting watching my body change to accommodate the now-orange sized baby within. I tweeted about this already, but it’s worth mentioning again: I just feel and look bloated. I don’t really look pregnant unless I’m laying on my back, and even then one could argue that I just ate too much at dinner. It’s very strange. I know that eventually, I’ll look as pregnant as I feel!
It’s also worth noting that I’m pretty sure I can feel Baby G moving around sometimes. It doesn’t feel like anything my own body is doing, but it’s so subtle that sometimes I wonder if I’m just overeager to feel the baby actually moving around. I know my own body pretty well, however, so I’m pretty certain that Baby G is doing their thing in there.
I really can’t wait until Matt will be able to feel the baby as well! I know he’s excited to be a dad, but sometimes I wonder how it feels to be the man during pregnancy. After all, he kind of just watches as I go through all the changes and reacts accordingly. I’m sure there are lots of dads out there that would be able to tell me what it’s like!
Oh, also, I fell again a few weeks ago (the first time was right after we had told Matt’s family I was pregnant…that was just embarrassing!). I am clumsy, but I usually don’t fall during the winter because I’m pretty good at walking like a penguin. Not this winter, apparently. I slipped on the ice in slow motion and it was awful…I still have the bruise to prove it! Luckily, everything was fine baby-wise, but it was still pretty embarrassing to limp into my friend’s apartment afterwards. No more falling for me!!
Music Obsessions
The Weeknd came out with his new album, “Dawn FM”, earlier this month. It’s been on constant rotation ever since it dropped. I can’t pinpoint exactly why I think it’s so great, but I think it has something to do with the combination of retrowave influence, storytelling (what he does best, honestly), and Jim Carrey’s involvement. It was really hard to pick a song from the album to include in this month’s playlist since I genuinely loved all of them! If you haven’t taken the time to listen, go check out “Dawn FM”. It’s too good to skip.
I’ve also been listening to the “Encanto” soundtrack after watching it for the first time while sick at home. “Encanto” is SUCH a stellar Disney film and if you’ve been putting off watching it, literally stop reading and go watch it right now. The ensemble cast has someone for everyone to love (unless you’re me and love everyone) and all of the music is amazing. Lin-Manuel Miranda can do no wrong at this point, I’m convinced. I admit, I still need to check out “Hamilton” and “In The Heights” (I know, don’t @ me), but after watching “Moana”, I was sold on his ability to write a damn song.
Anyway, “Encanto” is great, and “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” is the latest Disney song to top the Billboard Hot 100 as of January 29th (crushing “A Whole New World” and toppling “Let It Go” to become Disney’s highest charting single since 1995). It’s my favorite song from the movie, mostly because I love a good ensemble piece in a musical but also because it’s just so damn catchy!
I’ve also been looking at a lot of “Breath of the Wild” stuff because I really can’t wait for the sequel and I’m trying to avoid the urge to play it all over again; Dan Avidan from Game Grumps and Ninja Sex Party fame has a new band called Shadow Academy that just released a badass song based on “Moby Dick”; Crywolf and AWAY teamed up for the latter’s new EP release; My Discover Weekly has been on its best behavior this month…there’s been a lot of good music this month!
If you’re interested in this month’s playlist, listen here! I love making these playlists, and it makes me happy that people actually check them out. I’m excited what this year in music is going to look like!
I hope everyone enjoyed the first Monthly Wrapup of the new year! I always say this, but I really do enjoy writing these kinds of posts. It’s like looking into my diary when I read older ones, and I’m happy to share my experiences and memories with you all. I could be better about posting more frequently in general, but at least we always know I’ll be here at the end of the month!
I’m hoping next month I can finish up my “Monsters” short story and move on to something new. Let me know if you have any prompts or ideas over on Twitter, and feel free to follow me while you’re there! I’ve admittedly taken a long break from my novel, but feel free to support my self-publishing fund on ko-fi as well! I’m hoping that by the end of 2022, I’ll have something to show for all the energy I’ve put into this novel.
Until next week, I hope everyone has a great start to their February! I’m hoping mine isn’t as full of craziness as January was…I guess we’ll find out in next month’s wrapup!
