{pretty, happy, funny, real}

{pretty}

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So I kind of always do this - leave my blog for the last few months of pregnancy and then show back up with a couple-month-old baby. Here she is. Quite pretty, I think. :)

{happy}

Tonight we went to a dinner for Brian's work. He received an award for 5 years of full-time service. It was a nice evening, and of course we had to take a picture - but why do we always wait until the end of the night, when it's too dark to get a decent shot?

We took a field trip to the fire station on Saturday and we all rode in the fire truck. It was Andrew's first time and he was thrilled! Meagan has all the camera pictures, I just have the blurry phone pics.

{funny}

I stressed a lot about what to wear to this dinner tonight. Brian told me I had to wear a dress, of which I have NONE (at least, non-maternity ones!). He texted me this morning asking if I had figured out one, and I sent him this picture back.

 

Little Bo Peep. (I ended up wearing a skirt and a new striped sweater.)

 I am a big fan of Jennifer's but I assume she doesn't have any idea who I am. I sent this picture to a friend with the caption "a celebrity is following me on Pinterest!" ;)

 

This was the ad I got on my Brad Paisley Pandora station (my station of choice when I'm out walking or jogging.) Um, nope... wrong target market. Is Uncle Snoop the same as Snoop Dog? See how much I know about hip-hop music?

{real}

Did I mention we moved 7 days before my due date? Thankfully, baby came late, as they always do, and since we keep our babies in our room for several months, we kind of just piled everything in her future room with plans to go through it... soon. This picture was taken after several HOURS of work. It is actually almost completely finished now, just an empty room with a dresser and some brown walls. I am so excited to decorate a girl nursery! 

 

 

Oh, this is a whole lotta real.

7 Quick Takes Friday, v. i-don't-know-i'd-have-to-go-back-and-count

1. Well hello, blog! Life has been 7 kinds of crazy lately. Some hours I feel like I'm flying and then 16 puzzles get dumped out and we have a meal and pears get spilled on the floor and then at naptime someone undoes an entire rubber band ball (oh, twice! because Mom wasn't smart enough to remove it completely from their field of vision after the first time). And diapers and baths and laundry, and this is all just the normal routine! And it's all awesome. But whoa, it's hard to stay on top of, even when you try (now that I'm back to trying rather than surviving.)

2. I love my iPhone. I don't like that I feel a little bit like a snob with it, maybe because I feel like there is something about it (probably the $$$$$ monthly data package) that makes it seem a little bit like a status symbol? And maybe that's just a personal hangup (although I've heard other people say the same thing so it's not JUST me.) But still. Like whoa. I use it ALL the time to take pictures when I just want a snappie and don't want to pull out the big camera. GPS saved me when I had to go to jury duty. And Facebook and Words with Friends have increased my productivity significantly. (lie.) It's not indispensable, but it's nice!

3. Spring break does not exist for online students. Well supposedly it does, but each teacher kind of makes up her (her? I think all my professors are female this semester?) own schedule, one teacher that is observing spring break next week has this week's assignment due Monday, so... does that really count? When you don't get 7 (or even 5) uninterrupted days with NOTHING due, I say no.

4. These kids. They say the cutest and funniest things. Some of which I have recorded on FB and some I typed into my phone, all of which are insanely adorable and which make up for any misbehavior. Most misbehavior.

5. Oh, the weather! Glorious 75 degrees yesterday and today. Tomorrow's forecast says 46, and Sunday says 39, which is just poopy. But 2 days of a glimpse of spring - we'll take what we can get.

6. We put an offer on a house last week. I spent a weekend pinning house improvements that I wanted to do with this particular house in mind. They accepted a higher bid (we offered more than the asking price, even - we knew there were multiple offers and we heard they were expecting there to be 10 by the time they decided on one.) I am slowly getting over it but still disappointed. Oh, perfect house with the perfect 2.7 acres in the perfect location at a perfect price - maybe your twin could pop up down the street?

7. Brian bought a new suit this week for an important event he had at work. This is only newsworthy because he hasn't bought a suit since high school. He had two; one has been too short and small for years, the other one, he ditched the pants but the jacket still fit, so when he needs a jacket he wears it with his tan pants. Makeshift solution that was no longer a solution. So we all went suit shopping (why!?!? oh, because I thought it would be fun to go together) and while he got fitted and tried things on, the boys and I hung out, not so still or quietly. Oh, I can look back and laugh. Maybe if I weren't so concerned about what onlookers thought, that the word "rambunctious" might pop into their heads, I would have enjoyed it more. I struggle with that balance - keeping them calm enough to avoid stares and eyerolls, but letting them enjoy themselves and not expecting them to be little statues. Because they are little boys. And little boy does not = statue.
(We were in a regular department store, by the way, not some high-faluting fancy suit shop. Not a non-kid-friendly store.)

Ok, that was quick! Probably because I didn't have to try to mess with adding pictures and formatting that and centering them and figuring out why they won't become the size I want. I love pictures. But tonight, I'm tired.

Divine Silence

After two very busy days (Sunday: Mass, Aunt Lovey's birthday party, Grandpa's birthday party; Monday: tutoring/piano, afternoon playdate) and a Tuesday morning at Granny's because I had jury duty today (!), everyone was pretty much pooped this afternoon. Nate has mostly given up his afternoon nap, but Ben is not even close to being ready to do that, so 2 days of not napping AND going to bed late had taken their toll! I have been enjoying almost two full hours of silence. golden. Not doing anything terribly productive and it feels nice. ;)

I have a vague to-do list in my head, which includes getting pictures from Andrew's birthday party off Meagan's camera (I did bring my own but when I saw she had hers close by I decided to let her do the photos!), writing thank you notes, and taking Andrew's "1" picture for our wall! I haven't done a "professional" picture of him (I call them professional even though I take them because I use a nice background and have them printed at a professional lab, does that count?) since 5 months.

A few days off from homework is making SUCH a difference. I had a lot of work due last week and over the weekend, and I felt like I was struggling to catch my breath! Taking 12 credit hours was definitely not what I wanted, but I was hoping for a light fall semester (6 credits) and then I'd be DONE. Since I will have a newborn and all! School usually starts somewhere around August 15, and my due date is August 3. I just found out that I will probably have to take Composition 2 because they won't accept my freshman English from Christendom, despite the fact that I took a grad level English class 2 semesters ago and got an A. So, 9 fall credits. But then I will be dooooooone. Forever and ever! So even though I feel like I'm barely getting by this semester, it will be a good thing that I took all 4 classes, I think.

 

He enjoys climbing into things. And he can open the oven door. eek.

I finished my skirt that I ranted about the other day. When I pulled the sewing machine back out, it worked perfectly. (That seems to be the story of my life right now - my check engine light went on Sunday, was on all day yesterday, and this morning was off again! All my stuff is like "let's stop working long enough for her to get really frustrated but not long enough for her to get around to trying to fix us.")

When I went to iron the hem, my iron got a cute little rust spot on it! I don't know if this skirt was really meant to be. ;) But, it's done.

I realized that I do not have a full-length mirror (how!?) so I need to remedy that and then I will post a picture of it. It didn't turn out as cute as I anticipated, which is fairly normal, but it's good enough to wear, I think. ;)

This is my current "take a picture of myself" method - with the webcam! Doesn't it look kind of cloudy? This is my "what I wore Tuesday - jury duty" outfit (NOT the new skirt). A guy thought I looked familiar and asked me if I went to his church. Apparently he is Pentecostal, and he thought that I guess because of my skirt, maybe I was too? I am also wearing a headband (so like my 'headcovering'?). I don't know. I couldn't help but laugh. I was wearing makeup... and my skirt is not super long!

My period of golden silence is almost up - I hear chatter from the other bedroom. :)

The Monday Review v. 3 - Keep That Gut Bacteria in Check!

Most of us have probably heard about probiotics - bacteria that help maintain natural balance in our digestive tract. A lot of people recommend probiotics during and after a course of antibiotics - antibiotics kill off bacteria, including the "good" bacteria, so probiotics will replace the bacteria that was killed off. If our "gut flora" is out of whack, we can have all kinds of digestive problems, most of them issues that occur in the lavatory, which we will not discuss in detail but yeah. Not so much fun.

Since it is believed that 70% of the body's immune system dwells in the digestive tract, keeping the digestive tract healthy is important.

In comes Good Belly. Many probiotics are in pill form, and have to be refrigerated to keep the cultures alive. Good Belly is a liquid probiotic in the form of fruit juice. It comes in several different flavors, and 8oz a day contains 20 billion live and active cultures per serving. A LOT. (You really should go to their site and watch the short video that explains just how they work - it is cute.)

 

I was so skeptical when I decided to try this. I am a picky person. Not just about my food, but my drinks, too. I LOVE juice. I really like the Dole blends - orange peach mango, strawberry kiwi - anything fruity is good to me. And if this was going to be gross, or have a weird aftertaste - no thanks. I'll stick with probiotic capsules. (Which I take very unfaithfully because I'm forgetful.)

But I was not disappointed. I drove all the way to Whole Foods (15 min further than the grocery store) JUST to get Good Belly, and it was completely worth it. It is DELICIOUS. I have tried Pomegranate Blackberry, Blueberry Acai, and Mango, and loved them all. I usually have mine mid-morning as a pick-me-up drink. It's very sweet and tastes basically just like the Dole juices - not weird or "extra healthy." haha. They have a green kind that may be a little more leafy-tasting, but I'm going to stay away from that one and stick with the fruity flavors.

And thanks to that nice guy I married, the health market section of our Hy-Vee also carries it now! No more trips to Whole Foods. It helps to have connections in high places, but even if he hadn't asked for me, it never hurts to put in a word at your local grocery store. Their health market manager really tries to get the things customers ask for, and they'll never know you want it unless you ask!

The downside is that it is not cheap. A quart (pictured above) is $3.99, and 8oz a day means it's $1 a day. They encourage everyone to take the 12-Day Challenge - drink it for 12 days in a row (and they give you coupons!) and if you don't like the results, they will give you a full refund. So while it's quite a bit more expensive than capsule probiotics (about 2x the price for a HIGH-quality refrigerated probiotic), they stand behind it. And if you often drink juice with breakfast, you can replace it with this, which makes it even more worth it, because you don't have to spend the $3 on juice. So if you think of it as a 2-for-1, it's really not that bad.

I didn't complete the 12-Day Challenge. I did it for 10 days and then ran out (before Hy-Vee started carrying it, and I didn't have it in me to make a WF trip with the kids), but I have just started again. I did notice that my stomach was SIGNIFICANTLY more settled after I had been drinking it for several days. And some of the common pregnancy issues were helped by this. I definitely noticed a huge improvement, and less bloating/crampiness.

So I think it is worth a try! I love it.

Check out the Monday Review linky party here at The Champ Life - thanks to Andrea for hosting!

Sewing Fail

Does this ever happen to you?

Find inspiration for something cute on Pinterest. Think, "I HAVE to make this!" Click through to the tutorial. Super, super easy! Go to the store and buy fabric. Promise yourself you won't start til later in the week once you are caught up on _____. Pull out your scissors as soon as you get home, hoping to have a new shirt/skirt/dress to wear by the end of the afternoon.

And then.

Your sewing machine does crazy things like pucker the fabric, making it appear that your tension is WAY too tight, even though it is on the lowest setting, you have changed the needle and are indeed using the correct one, and re-threaded the top thread and the bobbin numerous times. With a normal cotton broadcloth - it's not like we're sewing taffeta here or something! You curse at the machine (in your head) and vow to move your "new treadmill" money into a "new sewing machine" account.

And then the puckering magically stops long enough for you to get a few stitches in. You look at the tutorial you found on Pinterest again to make sure you are doing the "ruffling/gathering" thing right. She makes it look so easy. "Now, sew two rows of basting stitches and gather!" She didn't mention that it might take 15 minutes, and that you will worry the whole time that you will break the thread because you are pulling SO HARD.

They you pin the "gathered fabric" to the waistband. You pat yourself on the back and even take a picture because this is the FIRST project you have ever pinned, because you are so incredibly lazy. But because you are actually pinning, the sewing angels must descend upon your project and make it turn out fabulously. You deserve it.

 

And then you sew it. And it just does. not. turn. out. Gold star for effort! But no gold star for getting other fabric stitched up in it accidentally. You rip out your work and try again, rolling your eyes and grumbling about how you knew pinning was a waste of time. You flip it inside out. It looks GREAT! Except that you didn't match the fabric up correctly that time, so the waistband is right-side-out and the rest of the skirt is inside-out.

You tear it out again and give up the idea of a different-colored waistband. A simple piece of elastic will do, you just need this skirt DONE, dang it! And then, your machine stops catching the bobbin thread again, and no amount of re-threading will fix it.

You come to the sad realization that you wasted your entire afternoon and got about 15 minutes worth of actual sewing done. And you still have to do that homework you ignored. You could cry, or eat too much chocolate, and you are thinking about how satisfying beating the sewing machine with a metal baseball bat would be right about now...

And then you see this Hey Girl meme.

 

And feel completely justified in your righteous anger. So glad he understands.

So, this happened to me yesterday.