The Notion of Sacrifice

Well, in no time at all, I've learned the first lesson of sacrifice for our lil monkey in my tummy. Upon find out the news, I knew that I would immediately need to quit smoking. I have to say that it was much more a mental sacrifice, than a physical one. Literally the day we took the pregnancy test, I was already feeling nauseous and from that day on, the smell of smoke really disgusted me. Thank God, it really wasn't at difficult as I thought it would be.

There are other things, though, that I've had to give up recently, which are seemingly more difficult than giving up smoking, if you can believe it! They are:
1) Caffeine- this one is the hardest by far. Hello- I work at Starbucks?!?! I taste about 10-12 different coffees a week (in cuppings and coffee tastings) as well as my usual morning espresso, and my afternoon iced coffee. To top it off, I am a hard-core diet pepsi addict. I drink at least 1-2 a day. I've stopped drinking coffee and tea altogether, and have bought caffeine free diet pepsi as a stand by. It's just not the same :(
2) Soft Cheeses- including brie, feta, and blue cheese. Now I never expected that these would be difficult to give up, but they actually have been. In fact, eating salad in general is just not the same without my feta or blue cheese crumbles! The month before we found out the news, I had lost 12 lbs. by working out, and eating a low carb (think lots of salad) diet, and I can't wait till I can eat unpasturized cheese again! How weird, huh?
3) Deli meat- are you kidding me? Nobody told me this in preparation for having a baby, I was used to eating turkey, ham, salami, or roast beef at least a few times a week! It's the only way to avoid fried fast food, it seems, a yummy deli sandwich. Ugh...
4) Hot Dogs- I only eat hot dogs on occasion, it's just the fact that I can't have them now that is making me crave them.
5) Alcohol- no surprise here, although you take for granted coming home from work and sitting on the patio, having a sunset conversation with the husband in the backyard, over a couple of beers. Or a glass of wine at dinner. I'm not a daily drinker, heck there are some weeks that pass when I don't partake in alcohol. It goes back to the hot dog feeling- just the fact that I can't have it makes me want it.

I think that's it for now. I'm pretty proud of myself that I quit smoking cold turkey, especially with a bunch of websites that say "it might be too hard, so cut down until you can stop". Are you kidding me? The moment I took the test, is the moment I had my last...it's the hot dogs that are killing me :)