happy halloween

Adding a little glitter and lipgloss, the final touches

so excited

My neighbors were so sweet to my little fairy.

how to make a pregnant mommy cry

2009

2010

21 weeks

Ooops...I skipped 20 weeks altogether.  What can I say?  I was busy last week!  This week, I am just busy growing!

I looked at these pics and said to my hubby, "I look so tired," and he said, "Next time, I'll be sure to use my not-tired lens." 

I'm going to have to retire these pants soon, which makes me really sad.  They are definitely some of my favorites, but buttons are getting a little difficult and uncomfortable.  This shirt is super comfy though, so I suspect it will be around for a while longer.

I'm starting to feel much stronger movement from the baby boy, which is so awesome and mind-blowing.  I had forgotten how almost other-worldly the movements from within can feel.  That part just gets better and better.  I think I'm in those golden weeks of feeling better and better in general.  My bad attitude is improving a bit, I have more energy, and EVERYTHING TASTES SO FREAKING GOOD! 

I bought baby boy some itty, bitty, teeny, tiny t-shirts while I was in Atlanta last week.  I can't get over how tiny they are, and I can't wait to start making some itty, bitty, teeny, tiny pants to match!  Eeeek!  My life is full of so much cute and adorable right now that I might explode. 

the best part is coming home

I spent a few days last week and this past weekend in Atlanta at an IB conference.  This is probably the most time I've spent away from my girl so far, and I will admit that I was pretty sad when I dropped her off at daycare on Wednesday morning knowing that I wouldn't pick her up that afternoon.  Instead, I would be on my way to teacher brain overload.

I missed my little family so much, but it was really nice to do a little shopping, eat way too much Italian food, and then crash into my pillow-fort (preggo heaven!) to keep up with the Kardashians for a little while.  And, yes, of course, I learned some new instructional techniques and shared some valuable teacher-talk with a few ladies from Canada.  All well and good, mission accomplished.

I was only gone for maybe four days, but, I swear, when I came back, Cara was talking so much more and her sentences were making more sense, and I felt like I missed something!  In barely four days!  How did this happen??

The most awesome part of being gone is definitely coming back home.  It just confirms, without a doubt, how amazing my hubby is and how adorably funny my child is.  For example, this happened at dinner:
me: Cara, how old are you?
C:  two years old
me: so, how many bites of spaghetti do you have to eat before you can get down?
C:  too, too many!
We laughed.  Really hard.  And then we put her to bed and listened to her sing along to "Bibbity Bobbity Boo" on the baby monitor.  We died of cuteness.

it's a...

BOY!

And he's looking active and healthy!  Yay! 

When people asked me what gender I thought this baby would be, I used to joke and say "I just hope it's a human" because I felt like I really had no idea.  In hindsight, though, maybe I did know.  I have a few boy names in mind but no girl names (with Cara, I had girl names I liked but no boy names).  I also have the beginning of an idea for how to create a shared nursery for our boy and girl if I can convince the hubby that sharing a room will not scar either of them for life. :-) I cannot wait to start planning coordinating quilts...I might have to join Pinterest just to help me plan a new room for my babies. 

untitled

(Please ignore all the mess and junk behind this adorable child fairy.)

This was a good weekend for omelets, playgrounds, fairy costumes, Cinderella, Horrible Bosses, coffee, long naps, sunshine, snuggles, tunnels, vegetable soup, and research paper rough drafts.

(just kidding about the research paper rough drafts)

candy corn

A few days ago, I felt the itch to sew, so I took Cara to the fabric store.  She was feeling particularly "big girl" that day, so she informed me that she would be walking in the store and not riding in a cart.  I obliged.  We wandered over to a table full of bolts of silly Halloween prints, and I told Cara to pick out the one she liked the best.  Elmo as a witch/goblin/something almost won, but then she spotted the candy corn.  No competition.  Candy corn it was.  She insisted on carrying the bolt of fabric to the cutting table and then carrying the folded yard of fabric to the counter.  Too bad she didn't also insist on paying.

Here we have another of MADE's Market Skirts.  It took me a quick hour or so over two school nights.  This morning when I showed Cara the finished outfit, she said, "Oooooo!  I like it!" (We've been working on those personal pronouns.)

Flower hairbow added per Cara's instructions, and she was ready for a fun day at school.

what I wore: 19 weeks

top and tank: Target

pants: borrowed from sister

shoes: SE Boutique (DSW, my fav)

on Cara: top and pants: Old Navy

shoes: Kohl's

awesome school bag: Bitsy

This outfit might seem vaguely familiar.  It's probably because I wore the shirt here (um...I looked quite a bit different back then) and the pants here.  My students, who still do not have official confirmation that I am preggo, got a kick out of the fact that I can actually still button that shirt. It might look funny, but it can be done.

On a different note, I'm struggling to give graceful, appropriate responses when people comment on my belly lately.  Most of the time, people are very nice, and they are only saying things like "your belly is so cute" or "you look great," which should be the only things people are allowed to say to pregnant women anyway.  However, I don't feel like I look anything other than enormous.  I know that all I have to say in response to these kind souls is "thank you" but instead, I find myself cringing and saying something ridiculous like "whatever, I know I'm huge." Who does that??  Oh, me, the crazy, hormonal pregnant bitch. My friend Chelsea wrote an awesome post about the beginning of her third pregnancy and how she was going to make herself to enjoy it, and I'm thinking I need to adopt a little more of her attitude.  Smile and just say "thank you."

Here's to bringing back my nice-person-ness.

broken hearts

Cara had some trouble with bedtime last night.  I got her all mad by washing her hair, and she continued to be mad all through pajamas and reading time.  Turning off the lights didn't ameliorate the situation, to say the least.  When I left her in her bed yelling and crying, as I closed her door, my heart broke a little, as it does any time that I have to let her work out those yucky emotions on her own.  Even though I'm mommy, I can't fix everything.

Ten minutes later, she was still moaning and crying, so I quietly opened her door to see if she wanted any mommy snuggles.  She most definitely did not.  She had thrown her lovey blanket, her quilt, her pillow, her big puppy, and her little puppy on the floor, and she was sitting defiantly in the middle of her empty bed.  I tried to sit next to her and see if she would let me hold her or at least put her bed back together, but she wasn't having it.  So, once again, as I closed her door, my heart broke a little.

Ten minutes later, all the noise from the monitor had stopped.  I remembered that my poor, angry toddler had thrown all her blankets and pillows on the floor, and she must surely be cold.  Or maybe I was looking for a good excuse to check on her just one last time.  I snuck down the hallway, turned the knob on her door, and just barely cracked it open.  There was Cara, sleeping soundly under her quilt, snuggled with her lovey blanket, with her big puppy by her feet.  She had put her little puppy on top of her pillow before she laid her little head down.  Everything was exactly the way she wanted it. 

And my heart broke. 

It swelled with love for her sweetness and sadness for her independence.  Sometimes I don't think I can possibly love her any more than I already do, and then...I just do.

welcome fall

Fall and spring are my two favorite times of the year, and all of those 100 degree days this summer have made fall particularly welcome this year.  I have read some beautiful posts welcoming fall (see here and here), but in the spirit of having more stress-free fun, my little family welcomed fall with a visit to a local pumpkin patch.  Here, let Cara explain:

All good Saturday morning outings start with an amazing breakfast, and amazing it was. 

Happy face, Daddy.

Cheese grits with scrambled eggs, green chiles, and sausage.  Holy crap.  Thank you, Lell's Cafe.

Cara says "thank you" too.

After breakfast, we drove out to Bush-N-Vine for a hayride and pumpkin picking.  Cara was a big fan of the hayride.  She kept saying over and over "I like it the hayride!"

There is such a huge difference between my little camera and my hubby's DSLR.





Cara had a blast running up and down the dirt road and hiking through the pumpkin patch.  PJ and I had fun tagging along too.  Welcome, fall!  Thanks for bringing us slightly cooler weather and pumpkins!



mommy resolutions

Spending a few days taking care of the child and the home all by myself while the hubs was on a business trip was quite a daunting task.  Add to that a demanding, time-consuming (ask any teacher), full-time job, and you have too few hours in the day.  Those three days were quite stressful, but they helped me appreciate my husband and his help that much more.  But, I also realized that I can do better.  Basically, nothing about what I did during the day really changed when PJ was gone, which leads me to believe that, when he is home and able to help, I should be able to do a better job of being a wife and mommy.

Lately, I've been feeling pretty swamped in all of my jobs, but especially in the area of my home.  I've had the idea in my head that I can only do "home things" on the weekends, things like grocery shopping, cleaning, laundry, etc.  In general, this is true; weekends are a great time to plan menus and shop, scrub and scour, and sort and fold.  However, this tends to leave very little time for FUN, which, obviously, is a problem.  I want to spend more time doing FUN family stuff instead of freaking out about how we're going to get everything done if we happen to go out of town for the weekend.  This has been on my mind a good bit lately; I even found a post that I started a few weeks ago but never finished about this same thing:

"We spent the weekend in the most awesome house overlooking a lake, and I freaked out all last week about leaving for the weekend and the things I would not get done because of it. Things like grocery shopping, laundry, grading, cleaning, you know, all those things I am too tired to do when I get home from work, so I push them off until the weekend. And, seriously, I was upset that I was not going to be able to do them because I was going to be stuck at a lakehouse with our friends. I must be insane."

Overall, I just want to feel more successful and less stressed, like I am doing a decent job of all of my jobs.  Enter my mommy resolutions.  These are small changes I am committed to making so that I can have more fun and feel better about my life. (Some of these are things that I think normal, "good" moms are probably already doing.  Don't laugh!)

1.  I will split up the chores and do one each weeknight.  Surely I can manage one household chore per night.  Vaccuuming, laundry, and grocery shopping won't seem like all-day affairs if I do only one at a time, right?

2.  I will get up when my alarm goes off and get straight in the shower.  This probably seems dumb, but my alarm is set for 5:15, which is too early.  I end up pushing snooze 50 times and then convincing myself that I must have a cup of coffee before I can possibly shower, which just makes me run late.  I'll just set my alarm a little later and actually get up when it goes off and go straight to the shower. (I tried this one this morning.  I set my alarm for 5:30 and got up on the first ring.  But...I talked my-half-asleep-self into a cup of coffee before my shower.  Grrr...  BUT, I left the house a solid 15 minutes earlier than usual!!  Yay for less rushing and more time!!)

3.  I will not leave dishes on the counter or in the sink.  I'm really bad about the dishes...don't judge me! (Managed this one this morning!  Two points for Jessica!!)

4.  I will make Cara pick up her toys, especially in the living room, before she goes to bed.

That's only four things, so it's not like I'm trying to completely overhaul my routine and my life, but I think they will make a huge difference in my peace of mind.  Any additional tips or advice?  How do you keep your house running smoothly while still making time for the fun stuff?

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