Things That Make Me Feel Good

1. Sunshine, blue skies, green grass, spring flowers, and gentle warm breezes. Spring is here and my mood is sky-high happy about it.
2. When I ask Gabbie what she wants to be when she grows up, and her immediate answer is, "A mommy. Just like you." It makes me feel like perhaps I am doing this mom-thing right.
3. When Sophie asks for, "More kisses. Here, and here, and here." When I oblige she giggles, and then returns the favor.
4. When Baby Brother kicks. There's nothing more comforting for a pregnant lady than good, strong, regular baby kicks.
5. When my husband looks at me over the chaos all around us, caused by two lovely, energetic children, and agrees that these girls, and the boy on the way, were absolutely the best decisions we ever made.

Dubious Superpowers and Two Other Fun Things

1. I'm convinced that everybody has a superpower of some sort. I have two, but they're not the best superpowers to have. They are always chosing the seat at a table that is right in front of the table leg (I often come away from conferences/meetings and formal events with a bruised shin) and the ability to travel down any road that the pothole filling truck has just visited. My car suffers greatly from that second one - I'm always having to take it through the carwash to rinse off the tar and rocks.

2. Sophie has started saying hi, and it's adorable. It's especially adorable because she likes to walk around the house and say hi every time she enters a room, occupied or not. Since our house is arranged in a loop, she walks around in circles saying hi repeatedly, while waving and smiling. I love having little kids for reasons like this one.

3. Aaron has been training for a 10K, which takes place in one of my very favorite places on earth (Traverse City, MI) on Memorial Day weekend. This is a pretty big race, so hotels have, of course, raised their rates for that weekend accordingly. We've stayed at a couple bed and breakfasts up there, and with the hotel rates being even higher than the B&B rates, we booked a room at our favorite for the weekend. This is also a weekend that is proceeded by me attending a meeting in New Orleans during the early part of the week. Gabbie turns four (!!!) that Friday, and then we have the following Monday off work. This is shaping up to be the best week ever, for serious.

The Things We're Doing These Days

I was sick last week with some sort of weird bug that had me down for the count with a headache, light-headedness, a little bit of congestion, and a whole lot of exhaustion. I am feeling better for the most part, save for still having a headache and now with the added fun of constant heartburn. So what I'm saying is, I kind of feel like crap still and planning to have tomato soup for dinner tonight was not my smartest idea ever. What proves to be even a less smart idea is that I'm still totally going to eat that tomato soup because it sounds really damn delicious.

Not feeling well, of course, put me in an excellent mood over the weekend. Aaron caught the bug, too, coming down with it on Friday (which actually made me a little better, because the symptoms are so weird I thought maybe it was just me, but no! Confirmation!). So we shared that excellent mood. The girls fed off of our bad moods, so it was really fun to be in our house this weekend, I'm sure.

Despite our household-wide surliness, we did have some fun this weekend. Gabbie got to go to the neighborhood park and play with the neighborhood kids. Reportedly they played some sort of tag (Aaron went along and also played tag, while Sophie and I napped), which sounds like a lot of fun. There aren't many kids Gabbie's age in the neighborhood, but there are a lot of girls, who have adopted Gabbie as one of their own, and if she's around they include her in their games. It's pretty fantastic.

Sophie is working really hard at walking. She can actually walk, but lacks the confidence to do so. She'll walk halfway across the room, stop when she realizes what she's doing, and then she'll drop and crawl. Alternately, she'll wait until we're all watching, take a few steps, then stand there and clap for herself. She's pretty darn adorable, overall.

I'm really excited for Aaron, who started with a running group last night through a local shoe store. I think this will be really good for him and it sounds like a great group. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little jealous, because I totally am. This will definitely be an adjustment, as he'll be out of the house for runs two nights a week and on Saturday mornings until his 10K in May. However, I'm all about it given his family history and my desire to keep him around for a long time. One of his grandpas died in his forties from a sudden and massive heart attack, and I'd like to avoid that happening to him if at all possible. So, support for excersize it is! I can't wait to go cheer him on in his sure-to-be many races in the future!

As for me, well, I'm working on things. I need to get out of the house more too. I feel kind of bad that my hermit-tendencies make Aaron feel bad for wanting to go out and do things with other people. I need to make more friends and find time for the friends I already have. I'm sure once Sophie is a little less dependent on me due to nursing, I'll be more likely to feel like I can go out. I meant to sign up for a cake decorating class at Joann's this month, but forgot to do it on Saturday, which ended up being the first day of the month-long class. Hopefully they'll offer it again soon! We're also talking about finding a church we can all agree on, with families with young kids, and then possibly we can make some friends there. I'm still in that being-a-mom-is-lonely phase of babyhood and I'm starting to get itchy to get out of it.

It's nice to know my family has so much faith in me

Today is likely one of the last warm days of the year, so I decided to live it up and wear a skirt. It's all excitement around here all the time, as you can tell! Anyway, I already had the iron out to press Gabbie's dress for picture day today, so I thought I'd wear my favorite khaki skirt that I never wear because it always has to be pressed. The iron was downstairs, so I came down in just my underpants (and a shirt, of course) with my skirt in hand on the way to the ironing board.

Halfway down the stairs Gabbie looked at me and said, all incredulous-like, "Mom! You forgot your pants!"

About five minutes later (I was waiting for the iron to heat up, so I was still pants-less) Aaron walked into the kitchen, and said, "Um, Jess? You know you're not wearing pants, right?"

Now I know that my family thinks I am the type of person that would forget to wear pants.

Overheard in my house this morning

We were running very late this morning, and so we were rushing around trying to get out the door. While I was wrestling with Sophie trying to put on her shoes (she hates her shoes because they thwart her efforts to remove her socks from her feet as quickly as humanly possible - down with socks!), I hear Gabbie in the other room say in a slightly confused tone of voice, "You punched me in the face."

Aaron replied, "You ran your face into my fist. For once, that is actually true."

(Not meaning for once, as if he regularly punches her in the face, but for once, in all the times in the world that excuse is used, it was actually true.)

Then we all laughed. I'm still laughing. My family makes me happy in so many, varied ways.

P.S. She's fine, was not hurt, just a little confused as to why she got punched in the face, ever so lightly.

How I'm getting what I need

Aaron and I grew up in very different types of homes. I mean there are many similarities, including loving families, parents who are still together, close extended families, etc. In many other ways, though, our families are just really, really different, which is funny to me because he and I are alike in so very many ways. Or maybe our differences just complement each other so nicely that we simply fit together well. I don't know.

Anyway, one of the many, many differences happens to be home-keeping styles. Aaron's mom is very, very neat. He often tells the story about how his parents were away for the weekend and he and his brother threw a party. After the party they cleaned the house from top to bottom leaving absolutely zero traces that anything had happened there at all. Their mom walked in the door and asked what the heck had they been up to, because she knew something had happened there while they were away. How did she know? A single candle was an inch out of place. Seriously. Busted for a candle moved an inch. That's a house where everything has its place, for sure!

My mom was recently taking a class where the participants discussed their upbringings and how they have shaped the person/artist they are today. Many of the women were talking about how they made their bed first thing each morning, how this helped them feel ready to start the day, and how their moms had taught them to do this every morning before school. Their houses are neat as pins. My mom shared how her mom's philosophy was that children should play, not work, so they never had to do any chores when they were small children. Still, with eight kids in her family, their house was never messy, but she definitely wasn't the one doing the work. Growing up in my house, it was never dirty, but it has definitely been cluttered. A little messy. Aaron thinks it's chaos, but it feels homey to me. My mom's philosophy is that a clean house is the sign of a misspent life.

So, you can imagine how this all comes to play in our home now. I am okay if things are in a little bit of disarray, while the same state drives Aaron absolutely insane. Again, I clean regularly enough, our house really isn't dirty. It's just a bit messy at times. With two small children who help in the mess making, and who wear me out by bedtime, there are often toys left laying out, a pile of mail left unopened, stacks of things that need to be put away here and there. (And my deepest, darkest secret: sometimes the dishes don't get done until the next day. I'm so ashamed!)

Marriage can be hard sometimes, and I'm convinced that there's not much that's harder on a marriage than babies and small children. You love them with all of your heart, but they suck up all your time, affection, emotion, and soul. There are times when I feel like I'm not getting the kind of attention and affection I want from my husband, and it's hard. It sucks! I know my reality is that my kids are at a stage where their needs are more important than mine in most instances (they can't do much for themselves, and are completely dependent, so it just makes sense), but that doesn't make me feel my needs any less acutely.

After some navel gazing during my trip to Minnesota a few weeks ago (I had time to think! It's rare these days!),  I realized that maybe I'm not getting what I need because he's not getting what he needs. Light bulb! Also, duh! I realized that maybe I should get up off my butt every once in a while, set down my phone, and stop wasting all my time (I will still waste a little of it, because everyone needs a little down time), and do some things around the house that will make him feel more at ease. He has a hard time relaxing when there's chaos all around, so it makes sense that he's tense and frustrated sometimes.

So, I'm working harder these days at being more present, thinking about what he may need, and doing what I can to make our life easier. He's a great partner, and no slouch in the housekeeping arena either. He does his part, but now I'm making sure to do more of mine. It's still early, but I think I see it working already. I'm getting what I need by making it about him sometimes too.

Five Things

1. The current mosquito situation in Michigan is HORRIBLE. They are everywhere. They follow you in from the outside and bite you while you're sitting on the couch. We keep waking up with new bites, including the nickel-sized bite on the bottom of my foot I woke up with yesterday. This may be the worst location for a bug bite, ever! They have been so bad they've kept us inside, away from the gorgeous weather we've been having lately, and I am sick of it. There was enough of a breeze last night that we could actually spend some time outside without getting about 15 bites apiece in 10 minutes, and it was lovely. I hope those little suckers die off soon!

Poor Gabbie got a bite on her face in the car the other day while we were driving downtown (they follow us everywhere!), and now it looks like her eye is a little swollen. Poor baby! See that pink spot on her cheek? That's all a bite. There's one on her nose, too.

(Also, she really liked that pizza!)

2. I went to Minneapolis for work last week, and, surprisingly, the world did not end. I was completely stressed out and worried about the actual travel (I'm not a huge fan of flying, to say the very least), and about leaving Sophie, who was (and still is) in the midst of teething. (Last time I travelled she was in the middle of a growth spurt. I am not looking forward to whatever she has planned for when I travel in October.) I have to give mad props, though, to my wonderful husband. All I had to do (and really I didn't have to do this, but it was nice of me to do), was stock up the fridge with essentials, and he was good to go. My mom was telling me about how she used to have to cook, leave a schedule, do all the laundry, and get basically everything prepared for every day she was gone in order to leave to go anywhere. And my dad was pretty with it as far as dads go. Aaron, hands down, is the best dad I know. He helps me with all the girls' stuff every day, and so it wasn't too far of a stretch to remove me from the situation for a couple days.

So what if the girls didn't get baths at all while I was gone. They may have been a little stinky, but that didn't make me any less excited to see them when I got home.

3. Sophie is getting huge. Seriously. When Gabbie was a baby she didn't wear a size until she was whatever age was on the label, and sometimes even those things were a little big (although, length-wise, my poor girl is forever in flood pants just so her pants fit around her waist (she still can fit comfortably into size 24 months shorts)). Sophie, however, is already comfortably in nine month size clothing and she doesn't turn 8 months until tomorrow. She even has two teeth now, and sits up all by herself! We went out for dinner the other night (me being gone kind of ruined the whole "no eating out in August" thing a little, because we were all still so worn out from the busy week), and she sat in a high chair all by herself:

She thought she was big stuff, for sure! The blur (because she never, ever stops moving. Seriously never.) was a coaster that she nabbed as soon as I sat her down (she's fast and has amazing aim), so I inserted the pacifier to keep the coaster out of her mouth. She dropped it a couple of times and screamed at the top of her lungs until I crawled under the table to retrieve it and handed it back to her. She is not quite the well-behaved-angel-in-public that her big sister has always been. I just can't believe how big she's getting these days and how fast it's happening. I swear she was just a newborn.

4. One cool/scary thing I saw in Minneapolis was a sink hole. It opened up sometime in the hour between when we got to an event and when we left the event. It was right in the middle of a (thankfully quiet) intersection, and was probably about 8 feet across. There were a few guys right up next to it taking pictures, but I was not quite that brave. (Aaron gave me crap, because he would have loved to see pictures.) I mean, seriously. There was a large hole in the earth that wasn't there minutes prior. Does it make any sense at all to go stand at the edge? Ever since I saw pictures of this massive sinkhole in Guatamala that looks like crazy CGI, but isn't, I've been wary of sinkholes. Nice, normal fear, right?

5. Last night at dinner we were coming up with topics to discuss with Gabbie to keep her from singing (no singing at the table, especially when we're in public, is a new dinnertime rule). Aaron asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up. After a few, thoughtful seconds of reflection, she announced, "A mom. With noobs." (Apparently that's Gabbie's shorthand for "nursing b00bs.") I about choked I was laughing so hard. Hilarious, and adorable. And I'm glad she thinks so much of me that her life goal is to be just like me.

August Challenge

I love my kids more than anything else, ever, but hot damn, kids are expensive. Sophie started day care in March and since then it's like we've had our fingers in our ears, singing, "La, la, la!" refusing to acknowledge that maybe, possibly we should stop spending like we still have that extra money to play around with. We haven't put any money into savings since January, and we're carrying a (relatively small, but still) credit card balance, which is something we haven't done in a while.

Yesterday Aaron and I were talking about this and decided that something really needs to change. One of the things that has helped us get a little out of control with our spending is our propensity to eat out way too much, including nearly every day for lunch. Not to mention, it's not exactly helping our waistline or health either.

So, this month we've challenged ourselves to not eat out at all. No money spent on eating out. (I do have a lunch meeting this week, but work is paying for that, so I'm not counting it.) I know we can do it, it's just going to take a little extra time and effort, but we need to stop being so lazy anyway. I'm betting that by the end of the month I'm going to feel a lot better anyway, and bringing lunch with me will be more of a habit.

So, here's to four and a half weeks of home-cooked goodness!

Daydreaming

Whenever I have something I want to avoid doing, I come up with some Big Project I would like to do. Now, I'm not quite sure what I'm avoiding right now, but I have several Big Projects on which I'm ruminating.

One is a redo of our downstairs half bath.

We already have a white medicine cabinet to hang up in there, so I thought this vanity would go nicely:

Along with this faucet (except for less money if I can find something similar):

I really like the squared-off look of this one. It makes it a little different than the others, and I prefer straight lines whenever possible. Although, if I'm going be honest, I really, really want this faucet, but can also think of better ways to spend over $900 (!).

Also, does anyone really still buy faucets like this one?

I mean, if you purposely went out and bought this faucet, I'm sure it's beautiful and you obviously have wonderful taste. It's just not for me. It looks dated and reminds me of my grandma's house. Also I have these on every bathroom sink in my house right now, so, you know, I'm in no place to judge.

(Side note - I'm at least going to make Aaron go out and buy and replace the half bath faucet this week. His parents are coming in just over a week and they've never been to our house before and my nesting is worse now than it ever was when I was pregnant.)

Of course, if I'm going to replace everything else in the bathroom, I will also have to paint. So far we have painted one room on our main floor and I'm trying to make the colors flow nicely from one room to the next, so - the family room is this color:

 I kind of like yellow and blue or grey together, so this color might work well:

Although, if I'm honest, I also like this color, with a white bead board on the bottom half of the wall:

However, like hell is Aaron ever going to let me paint any walls any color even resembling pink. He also doesn't understand my love of florals and botanicals. I say they remind me of my grandmother (who had excellent taste), and he says EXACTLY.

Anyway, that's probably enough daydreaming for right now. I just have one more thing to share. So, let's say your husband came home with a new video game last night, and felt guilty about spending the money on it, and so he said you were also free to go out and buy something of your choosing, whatever you want. How sad would it be if the thing you wanted was a new mopping system? Yeah. I thought so.

This is why I have a category called "Random Randomness"

I'm pretty sure I just burned my butt when I got into my car, simply by sitting down on the seat. It has been (as with pretty  much everywhere else) ridiculously hot lately, and I am looking forward to the cool-down promised for tomorrow. Highs in the mid-70s? Yes, please! That sounds like perfection.

I have been sick for about a week now, and my biggest issue right now is that it feels like my ears need to pop and I can't get them to do it. Thankfully I feel approximately 95% better than I did just a few days ago. Stupid allergies plus a sinus infection. Summer colds are the worst!

I hesitate posting this next part, because I'm not completely, 100% sold on the idea that it's purposeful, but Sophie has been saying "mama" for a while now, and on Sunday, when the girls and I got home from visiting my parents over the weekend, she looked at Aaron and said "dada." Several times, in fact, and she has been saying both regularly ever since, and sometimes it really seems like she's using it correctly. If she is, in fact, using the sounds as words, she has Gabbie beat on a first word by about six months. Craziness.

Sophie has never been quite as good at keeping herself entertained as Gabbie was, so we have had to be creative in ways to keep her occupied so we can get something (anything) done around the house. One surefire thing that buys us a good ten minutes? Ice cubes. We put them in either the mesh feeder or a sippy cup. One day last week I needed about twenty minutes to get dinner together, so I gave her two ice cubes, one in the mesh feeder (which she will then eat) and one in the sippy cup (which she can't quite figure out, so she shakes it to make noise and then pours out the water as it melts, and then splashes in the water (I taught her how to splash and so now if she sees liquid, it's splash city!)), and you would have thought I gave her a diamond-encrusted puppy for how excited she was. So, of course, I had to take a picture (see the cuteness above).

Over the long weekend two weekens ago now, we decided to go out to dinner one night. While waiting for our food to arrive, we were looking for ways to keep Sophie entertained (this is what takes up the majority of my time and energy when I'm not at work lately; I'm totally blaming her for the fact that it has been nearly a month since my last blog post. I'm brain-dead because of my adorable (time consuming) baby!), and Aaron thought he would try to see what she could do with a straw. So he put his water near her, and she grasped the straw, put it in her mouth, and started drinking his water. She's a straw savant!

While she will drink pretty much anything, this girl will not eat food (hey! There's a thing she has in common with her sister (grumble, grumble)). We've tried rice cereal (she will eat it for the daycare ladies, but not me), sweet potatoes (gag city) and pears (four bites then gag city), and she's not much of a fan of any of them. I'm going to keep on keeping on, though. Tonight? Bananas! (I'm guessing it will be Banana Gag City!) She remains a huge fan of nursing and would nurse 24-7 if I let her (I don't let her (don't worry, I'm not starving her, but I'm also not letting her use me as a human pacifier)).

Despite the fact that neither of my daughters will give me the satisfaction of eating one damn bite of real food (okay, Gabbie will take "a couple more bites", but that's it), both have been doing some major growing lately. One weekend a few weeks ago, Gabbie's shoes fit on Friday, but not on Monday. Needless to say, Gabbie has new shoes. We went for her 3-year appointment the following week and she had grown an inch and a pound in a little less than a month. Craziness. She's been complaining of growing pains lately, and I swear she wakes up noticibly taller than she goes to sleep some days. Sophie's 6 months size clothes are starting to get tight - Gabbie never got into a size until she was at least that age, and Sophie is growing out of things at approximately the age listed on the label. Despite all of Gabbie's growing, it has, as usual, gone to getting taller, not wider, and she can still comfortably wear size 24 month shorts (and does - I'm not spending money if I don't need to). I'm not looking forward to winter, when I have to make sure her pants are long enough, and will probably be shoping for tiny, pink belts.

Speaking of my girls getting bigger, we are almost completely done getting Sophie's room together. We just have to remove the blue tape from the trim and arrange the furniture, and she'll be sleeping in her own room. We painted the walls a pale green ("Celery"), and painted the trim a cream color (creatively titled, "Creamy" (Aaron says he hopes I like the trim in the rest of the house, because never again! (I say I hope he forgets soon because he is SO painting the trim in the family room))). I'm hoping to get some Beatrix Potter wall stickers or posters for decorations and then her room will be complete (and I'll post pictures!).

He also painted the family room over the past weekend. We chose "Afternoon," which is gorgeous in person, but looks really bright in pictures. I will try to take some good pictures soon, when we have everything more assembled. Aaron had been complaining that because we still had the same furniture and hadn't really done any decorating, he still felt like we were living in an apartment. Decorate away, I told him, and he is. We've actually let Gabbie pick out every paint color we've used so far, except the color we used in our bedroom, and she has done a great job! (We have not, and need to repaint the bedroom, because it's not great.)

Nice 'Stache

We had a very 'stache-tastic birthday party for Aaron this weekend, and some more photos and details are coming soon, but I couldn't resist posting these really quick while I had almost one second:

Yeah. We had fun.

I need a vacation

And this is why...

I took the girls up north this past weekend, all by myself, which meant I had to be "on" 24-7. At least with Aaron around I can farm one of the kids off on him, or even leave both with him so I can get something done. However, even with my parents around to help out, I still had two girls basically sitting on me all weekend.

On Monday, Aaron had some sort of 24-hour bug, so I ended up taking both girls to Gabbie's tumbling class by myself (usually Aaron takes Gabbie, and Sophie and I cuddle at home and catch up on DVRed shows). Not difficult, but I had really been looking forward to that quiet time at home.

Then there was my day yesterday, which consisted of rushing around all morning, getting the girls to school, running to work to get through several back-to-back meetings, rushing out of work at 11:30 to get Sophie (barely on time) to her 4 month well visit (stats: 12 lb. 4 oz. (25th percentile) and 25 1/2 inches (94th percentile), with a 25th percentile head). Then I had to deal with a cranky-from-shots baby all afternoon, before running back out in the cold, drizzly day to pick up Gabbie from daycare.

I know this is normal mom stuff, and I'm hardly the first person to deal with being busy, but by the time dinner rolled around last night, I was ready for a break. I'm dealing with some sort of either weather-related or post-partum funk that just will not lift, and being away all weekend just makes the weeks seem harder because I don't have my typical weekend down-time. We're going away this weekend too, which I'm looking forward to, but I think I might need another weekend directly afterwards so I can get my self built up for the week.

Aaron gets it, he really does, but while he does do things to try to make me feel better (chocolates and flowers, extra cuddling whenever possible), he also tells me to buck up and do the things I need to do. He's right, I can't just mope all the time, it doesn't work with being a responsible parent/adult/breadwinner.

That said, I am fantasizing about a tropical vacation all by myself lately. Okay, Aaron can come too, but only if he keeps his mouth shut for large portions of each day. I think what I really need is some sun along with some peace and quiet. And a few really good books into which I can lose myself. A few adult-type beverages wouldn't hurt either.

Instead, I'll probably get a date this weekend while my parents watch the girls. And, that's okay too. (I'm also holding out for some pampering on Mother's Day in a couple of weeks. Just sayin'.)

Time for me, us

It felt good the other day to put that struggling feeling into words (as it usually does). Sophie had been sleeping really well since she was about six weeks old, so the not sleeping of the past week or so was really rough. Not unexpected, but definitely rough. She did so much better last night, and I'm feeling much more human today that I have been lately. (Although she's working on a new skill - rolling over - and as soon as she masters that we will have to stop with the swaddling. I foresee many more sleep-light nights in my future.)

Also helping that human-like feeling:

I took off work a couple hours early yesterday and went home and took a nap. It was fantastic.

Aaron took Monday off to relax and now he's in a much better mood.

The more well-rested feeling we're both experiencing means that our house is less of a disaster zone than it was (a messy house always makes my bad moods worse, but I often lack the motivation to do anything about it when I'm in a funk).

Temperatures are reaching the low 40s this week. That might not sound so amazing, but anything is better than the sub-freezing temperatures of the last few weeks.

Aaron and I are spending some time on us this week. We cuddled last night, and today we're meeting up for lunch. It feels good to reconnect as a couple; something I've been really, really missing.

I've also been eating a little better this week. Less junk food, more fruits and vegetables, and small frequent meals instead of the large, fattening meals I had been eating. Last night I even had an apple as a bedtime snack instead of the ice cream I was craving. I was pretty amazed with myself!

I've also been seeking out things that make me laugh. On the top of that list is damnyouautocorrect.com and the @bronxzooscobra Twitter feed. Another thing that's making me happy is good music, including Queen's Greatest Hits (especially Don't Stop Me Now) and many songs from the Glee soundtracks (especially Teenage Dream by the Warblers).

So far this week is kicking our asses a lot less than recent weeks. I hope - really, really hope - that this continues.

Grand Scheming

Lately I have been in the mood to throw a party; a big, blow-out type party with a lot of friends and a lot of fun. Seeing as how Aaron has a birthday coming up in a little over a month, I am (selfishly, actually) planning a blow-out bash in his honor.

Here's how I see it:

Food made on our (soon to be in our possession) new grill.

A keg of one of Aaron's favorite micro-brews, as well as wine and watermelon margaritas for us non-beer-drinkers.

A fancy, delicious cake made by yours truly, accompanied by homemade ice-cream (note to self: contact KitchenAid about your broke-ass ice cream maker!).

Yard games/field events: bocce ball, ladder ball, that game where you try to throw wing-nuts through a hole in a board (there are several different names for it, none of which are even slightly appropriate), three legged races, egg/spoon relays, a water balloon toss (and squirt guns for the kids)...

My latest idea came from a wedding website, but I think it would be all kinds of fun for a birthday party too: a Candy Buffet! Aaron has the biggest sweet tooth of anyone I know, so this would be awesome for him.

Friends (hopefully) traveling in for the day.

Now I just have to get to work. It's going to be a blast!

My Family is Nuts

This week all my whole family has wanted to do is stay in bed and cuddle all day. None of us has wanted to go to work or daycare, or spend time apart from one another.

Of course, now that the weekend is here, Aaron and I have made all kinds of plans that will keep us from doing that much, if at all. We're planning on breakfast out, a trip to a museum and local city market, a couple of shopping trips for things for the house, and various other items on our to-do list. I don't know what it is about the weekends, but we seem to fit in as much as humanly possible and then spend the days we need to be out of the house craving to do the opposite. We're obviously nuts.

Still, it has been a fantastic (if not quick enough) week, and it's nice when we're not all sick of each other. I mean, really, how could I ever be sick of spending time these two goofballs?

I can't wait until I have three of these nuts to deal with!

Vacations

It is a little bit sad that attending a conference feels like vacation to me, but right now it does. I'm sitting in a cafe, working, drinking some coffee (decaf, sadly), and it's QUIET. And wonderful. Tonight I have a hotel room to myself, and even if I don't sleep well, I don't have to worry about disturbing anyone else while tossing and turning. I can even go to bed at eight and not feel guilty, like I should be doing something else with my family or that I'm leaving too many things for Aaron to do.

Aaron and Gabbie are also on "vacation" this week. Aaron has the house to himself, with no one else constantly messing it up. He can come and go as he pleases, and has a man-date scheduled for tonight to go out for beer and burgers. Gabbie is at my parents' house - we arrived last night and she has already been spoiled rotten. She literally pushed me out the door this morning. She wants her "Gwama" all to herself, thankyouverymuch.

It has definitely been a LONG past few months and we were all in desperate need for a break from one another. I'd like to say that things will be slowing down after this week, but I can't. I have another project ramping up at work (plus a new one we just landed that has to be fully set up and ready to go before I go on leave), and then of course finishing getting ready for the baby. I've always told Aaron that maternity leave is emphatically not a vacation, but it's kind of starting to look like one. Add in a brand new baby to snuggle all warm and cozy when it's so cold outside, and it's looking downright luxurious. I know once reality sets in those first few weeks, it will be far from the idyllic scene I imagine right now, but I'm really, really, looking forward to it.

Because I need to laugh

This week is eating my soul, I think. All I know is I work from sun up to sun down and then crash the second my head hits the pillow, only to wake up at about 2:30 am and unable to sleep well the rest of the night. We're headed to my parents' house this weekend and I think I will use that time to hide in the guest room with Mockingjay and frequent naps. Man, that sounds like heaven.

Anyway, here are five things that have made me laugh this week, just when I needed the laughter most.

1. Aaron was outside picking pears off of our tree, and got stung. The funny part is where he got stung - on his butt! Even he was laughing.

2. Gabbie has had a couple of potty accidents this week, but we can't get too upset about them, because most have been because she was too excited to get back to what she was doing and didn't finish going before she stood up. Oh, the things we have to learn in this life!

3. The Big Bang Theory last night. It was awesome.

4. Gabbie, though being annoying due to moving approximately the pace of molasses in January, singing "I'm a Little Teapot" and dancing to the car this morning.

5. Gabbie, again, bossing us around at dinner last night. Such authority from such a little person! She really does think she's the boss.

Bedroom Action (Not what you think)

My brain is full of all sorts of uninteresting-to-a-blog-audience types of things (Logic models! All those emails I have to deal with! Meeting agendas! Oh my!). This new job while still wrapping up my old job thing is kind of kicking my ass.

So! A couple of semi-interesting (probably to only me) things going on right now include bedrooms. Gabbie's bedroom, our bedroom, and the soon-to-be nursery, to be exact. The top floor of our house is full of change and excitement (and sleep, thankfully)!

Gabbie's room has been painted (I need to get a better picture than I've been able to capture so far) a lovely pale lilac. It took us the better part of a day, but I have to say that Aaron and I do a darn fine job painting. It looks great!

This weekend we added a new feature to her room: a big girl bed. I really don't know how she's old enough for this already, but it seems she is. Instead of anything fancy, she has a twin-sized matress on the floor. The main reason for this is that she seems to have inherited a less-than-desirable trait from me: the propensity to fall out of bed on a regular basis. We are definitely lacking in the grace department overall, but most definitely in the falling category. My mom started me out in a regular bed, but then, after a couple of black eyes from hitting the floor with a great big smack, she learned her lesson and put me on a mattress on the floor. I'm taking that lesson learned and running with it because my heart cannot take too many additional falls (like the tumble she took down the stairs, or the near-fall in the shower, or when she tried to fall backwards onto her beanbag chair but missed and smacked her head on the couch (the hard part), all of which happened in less than 24 hours between Friday night and Saturday morning). She's trying to kill me, I swear it! We need to add a few finishing touches, like something on the walls, a lamp by our reading chair, and a bedspread (not that she keeps one on her) and then her big girl room will be complete.

Our room is also set to undergo quite the transformation. We bought a bedroom set last year, but now we want to paint the walls and trim (we have the paint purchased, just have to slap it up on the walls), put in wood floors, add a sitting area (i.e. purchase some more furniture), and possibly buy and mount a small television, and we'll be all set. Aaron wants to have this all done by the time I hit my third trimester (in just under six short weeks!) so that we have a nice, relaxing retreat. He's adorable, and I think I'll keep him around.

The nursery is getting the least amount of work done - we have to paint it, reassemble the crib, and move in my old dresser and the glider. Maybe some artwork on the walls too, we'll see. We're waiting until after my ultrasound this Friday, during which we'll get a firm answer on the baby's sex (HOPEFULLY!) and then we'll finalize our paint color decision (I'm pretty sure it will be green either way).

Having a house is a lot of work. Finally getting it the way you want it is even more. And the anxiety and challenges that accompany moving a toddler to a big girl bed? May just be what pushes me over the edge. I'm knocking on wood that she stays put just like she has the past two nights. I can deal with it taking her 45 minutes to fall asleep if only she promises not to wander in the middle of the night. Seriously, I don't think my heart can handle one more fright.

Lazy Weekend

Following a weekend away and a hellishly busy work week during which I worked both my former and new jobs, our house looks not unlike a small tornado had gone through. Aaron and I were both looking forward to the weekend in order to get the place back into shape.

Then Saturday morning happened, when we all lazed around in bed until a time we haven't woken up to see in quite some time, then decided to head out for a day of family fun and togetherness. Nearly ten hours later we made it back home, having eaten breakfast, seen some ballet dancers, bought paint, gone for a walk, and then out to dinner. Then we all fell into bed.

Sunday was going to be it. We were going to get things done! We made a long list of everything we needed to accomplish and set out to get it done. Gabbie I made banana muffins while Aaron did some yard work. Then Aaron came in to check out something on the computer, which turned into a quick round of our new favorite computer game (Ticket to Ride, and yes I'm aware of what huge dorks we are). While Gabbie colored and played with her babies (and may have watched a movie - mama needed a nap), Aaron and I switched off playing our game until dinner time. This is not to say that we didn't get anything done - I framed some pictures and Aaron cleaned the kitchen and, um, that might have been it. However, those were just a very few of the things on our very long to-do list.

There was one thing about this weekend that we did accomplish, though. We all spent the weekend happy, which was a distinctly different mood from how we came into the weekend - exhausted and crabby at the world. So far the happiness has held, which makes me realize that I don't care if my house is in need of a little tidying up, what matters much more to me is that I have a house full of a happy family who had a great time hanging out together all weekend. That lazy weekend was just exactly what we all needed.

Snippets of the past two plus weeks

• On Friday the 23rd, we had our middle-of-the-pregnancy ultrasound. It went well, the baby looks healthy, but was also pretty uncooperative. We are fairly sure we're having another girl (!!!), but we will get another look to make sure (along with a better look at her heart, diaphragm, and her profile, as she was hiding these things too) on August 20th. I can't wait to get another peek in there at this little baby who insists on kicking me pretty much continuously these days! (I absolutely love that she kicks me pretty much continuously these days!)

• Last Thursday I finally got word that I got the promotion I had applied for last month! Which is totally awesome, but also comes with a buttload more work, because I still have to keep on doing some of my former position duties. All in all though, this promotion is a great thing. I'm excited to go to work again! My days have flown by lately, and before I know it it's time to go home, and once I get home, I blink and it's time to go to bed. This is why I've sucked at blogging lately (among other lazy reasons). 

• Aaron and I escaped for a weekend up north on Friday. We took Gabbie to my parents' house and then headed up to our favorite place in the state - Traverse City. We stayed in a really, incredibly lovely bed and breakfast, and spent the whole weekend eating and sleeping and enjoying being together. It was wonderful, and I'm really glad we took the chance to get away just the two of us. We really needed it.

• Weird pregnancy factoid - I have never in my life liked any kind of olives. I have tried to like them, but I just can't. Until lately, that is, because now I want sliced black olives on everything. So weird!

• Weird pregnancy factoid #2 - Not that I've tested this out *ahem*, but this pregnancy has made fantastic changes to my hair, including the ability to go at least 3 days without showering and it still looks fresh. One of those pregnancy things I wish would stay around forever.

• I found myself wishing today that I could vote a split ticket in the state's primaries. We have crap choices for our next governor, especially on the democrat side. I care much more about which republican candidates don't make it past the primary (there are some seriously shady and way-too-conservative choices over there), but I chose the most ethical choice and stuck to the democratic candidate who has better records and policy toward women and the environment. I still wish I could have played spoiler on the republican side though. Michigan polictics are such a mess (*ahem*Kwame*ahem*)!

• Speaking of polictics, if you made it past that last painfully boring bullet point, there's something that has been cracking me up lately. I listen to NPR in the car (another weird pregnancy thing - I have a hard time listening to music or being around loud noise, it's just too much to handle), and they are frequently interviewing republican politicians who spend the whole interview complaining about Obama and the other democrats playing politics. I'm sorry, isn't that kind of their whole job as politicians? There are quite a few lawmakers over there that need to stop whining and actually do their jobs. (Okay, I'll step off my soapbox now.)

• Okay, I'll end with something fun. (At least it's fun for people other than me.) Lately, when Gabbie doesn't want to do something she lets us know by saying, "No thank you," which yes, is polite. Until you hear it a million times or have it screamed in your face. Then it becomes less funny and polite. My family thought it was hilarious until they heard it a million times this past weekend. A couple of weeks ago, we were home in the afternoon, and Gabbie really needed to take a nap. She had refused to clean up her toys (instead kicking them under the couch), screamed at me for a treat (she is so two these days), and was throwing a huge tantrum. So, I picked her up and took her upstairs to her crib. She spent the next 30 minutes, laying down, kicking the matress and slats, and screaming, "NO THANK YOU" at the top of her lungs. I finally couldn't take it anymore (see the above weird noise thing) and took her downstairs and plopped her in front of a movie. But, even though it's annoying, I chuckled a little bit at her using politeness during a tantrum and I'm sure we'll look back at this a few years from now and think that it was all very adorable.