Dear Emily Post

Shortly after Drew was born, we received a lot of gifts. I tried really hard to keep track of them all and write thank you notes. Apparently I didn't do such a good job.

I sent this picture to the friend who bought this onesie for Drew. This was the first time it fit, and I was so excited to finally be able to show our friend.

This is the texting conversation that ensued:

Friend: Look at her!!! She's so cute!!!
Me: Did I ever send y'all a thank you note? [Admitting my attempts might not have been perfect]
Friend: For what?
Me: For that onesie!
Friend: I think you are thinking of someone else. We didn't get her that. Whoever did, did a good job. It's super cute!
Me: Well sh*t.

Do you think this post counts as a thank you to whoever did get Drew this onesie? 

Real Food: Week 5

I'm back with a new challenge!

After this past week's reboot, I can see that it's going to take time to just figure out how to make good choices consistently...especially in the face of SO.MUCH.TEMPTATION. {grin}

This week - No low-fat, lite, or nonfat food products.

Here's a quote from Michael Pollan to explain this one:

The forty-year-old campaign to create low-fat and nonfat versions of traditional foods has been a failure: We’ve gotten fat on low-fat products. Why? Because removing the fat from foods doesn’t necessarily make them nonfattening. Carbohydrates can also make you fat, and many low- and nonfat foods boost the sugars to make up for the loss of flavor … You’re better off eating the real thing in moderation than bingeing on “lite” food products packed with sugars and salt.

My mom is a 'lite' junkie. My sister and I have been on her case for a long time about how that stuff isn't food and isn't good for you at all. I think she's finally starting to get the message. It's actually quite liberating to use real butter or eat whole fat yogurt and realize that it's more important to eat QUALITY and WHOLE ingredients!

What about you?  Easy or hard to give up on the 'low-fat' gimmick?

Livin' on a Prayer

Sister has a habit of grabbing the side of her car seat when I'm driving. Anytime I see her do that I sing to myself 'We gotta hold on to what we've got'.

Think my driving scares her?

Eating Real Food: Week 4 on Repeat

Oops. I dropped the ball. I knew cleaning up my diet wasn't going to be easy. I have bad habits, and bad habits are hard to break. Especially when it comes to food. So I'm going to not sweat that this past week wasn't my best, and I'm going to move on. This week instead of focusing on a new challenge, I'm going to get back on track and make sure I'm focusing on the weeks so far {with my own modifications}.

• One - Two fruits and/or vegetables with every meal.
• Two - Real beverages.
• Three - No fast food/deep-fried food.

Last week's official challenge was to try 2 new foods. I didn't officially do that this past week, but I realized that during this challenge I ate a meal with SLICED AVOCADO on it and purposely LEFT TOMATOES ON A SALAD AND ATE THEM. I still want to continue trying new things, but I totally think those should count. The avocado wasn't awful, but the tomatoes pretty much were. I think I can learn to enjoy/tolerate avocado, but I don't see me and tomatoes becoming besties anytime soon.

So there you - week 4 is refocusing week!

A House Divided

I wonder if our kids are going to be confused as they grow up?

41 weeks Inside and Out

Yesterday marked 41 weeks that Drew has been outside my womb. She is SUCH a big girl now. Blows my mind how much she has changed.

41 weeks as 1

41 weeks as 2

Some fun facts:

• Gained 9 pounds inside, ~8 pounds out
• Grew 20 inches inside, ~7.5 inches out
• This means Aunt Flo has been on vacation for 82 weeks. {grin}
• The hat she wore yesterday was what she came home in. It fit a little better 41 weeks ago.

Nueve. Neun. Neuf. NINE!

 It's been 9 years since I married my best friend.

 A lot has happened since then!

I don't think I'm an easy person to love, but somehow he does it.

We've had a great run and lots of fun together so far.

{Even if the pictures don't always look like it. Hint, hint - smile!} 

We've lost hair or it's turning gray, gained some pounds and wrinkles.

Made 2 beautiful, wonderful babies {and hopefully 1 more someday}. 

We've grown up together.

I'm so thankful to have this man by my side. 

To many, many more my love! 

Movie Review: Austenland

It only took close to 10 months, but Allison and I finally made it to another movie! We were going to see Gravity, but I chickened out at the last minute. If it ends up getting nominated for Best Picture, we'll have to see it, but I was willing to take my chances!

So instead we saw some fluff, Austenland.

Plot: Jane Hayes is a single 30-something American woman obsessed with Colin Firth's portrayal of Mr. Darcy in the 1995 BBC version of Pride and Prejudice and wishes for a nice Englishman of her own. After her boyfriend breaks up with her, Jane decides to spend her savings on a trip to a Jane Austen-themed resort in England. {via}

Review: Super cute and awkward all rolled in one. I was laughing so hard at the awkward-ness and Allison and I were both squirming in our seats in quite a few parts, but it really was cute. Jennifer Coolidge {bend and snap from Legally Blonde} was in it and was great too. I would say Allison and I both really enjoyed it and would recommend it for anyone wanting some fluff.

Real Food: Week 4

Another week of eating real food!

Last week's challenge was no fast food or deep fried food. I did great except for 1 piece of pizza and 1 cheese stick on Saturday when Brent had friends over to watch football all day. I resisted for hours but couldn't quite make it - ha! I feel like that was still pretty darn great!

I would give myself a B+ on fruits/veggies and real beverages. I wasn't GREAT but I was nowhere where I used to be so still moving in the right direction!! Where I do have to give myself props is with veggies. I left tomatoes on a salad and ate them all AND had avocados on another meal. Didn't enjoy either necessarily, but I'm trying to find more veggies I do like...

This week's challenge: Try 2 new whole foods. This one seems pretty easy and fun. I'm hoping it will help me find more things I like especially maybe as other snack options.

Definition of a whole food: A whole food is something that has one ingredient and is not refined. Some examples that you’re hopefully familiar with are apples, potatoes, brown rice, whole-wheat flour and spinach. 

So there you go! Week 4! Good luck to anyone who wants to try!

Sometimes You Have Tough Decisions to Make

Brent bought us a Google Chromecast. It's a pretty awesome little gadget. But now it makes me want to watch lots of TV shows. I've avoided a lot of shows because I didn't want to invest in a new show. Now I feel completely out of the loop. Plus, I want some more shows for Brent and me to watch together. Currently, we only watch Law & Order: SVU together.

So tough choices...

Breaking Bad - pro: we could watch the whole series, it is being called one of the best shows ever.

Game of Thrones - pro: totally up my nerd alley {con for B probably}, there are books too! con: we'd probably have to pay for it.

Homeland  - pro: keeps winning tons of awards, I love Claire Danes. con: we'd have to pay for it too.

Revolution - pro: on cable, filming it in my parents' hometown!, my uncle has a part in it!

Sons of Anarchy - pro: Hello Christian Grey!

Walking Dead - pro: heard it is amazing. con: kind of gory?

So what should we pick? Are there others I'm not considering that we should? {I've tried Friday Night Lights twice and can't get into it...even though it's filmed in my home town and based upon my high school's mascot/uniform. Do I need to give it longer? Parenthood? Scandal?}

A Nice Little Saturday

Get ready for picture overload, but we had such an amazing Saturday, I really wanted to share.it.all.

My dad's side of the family was having a family reunion on Saturday, and he and my mom really wanted me and the kids to come. I didn't really want to, but Brent was at a bachelor party in New Orleans {I know, right?}, so I thought it would be nice to get out of the house and have other adults to talk to. My sister's big kids went, so I knew Trent would have a blast. And boy did he.

The family reunion was at a place outside Temple called Oscar Store. Neat place! If you live anywhere nearby, you should really check it out. They had a lot of space and a big open area for live concerts, so the kids ran around like the hooligans that they are.

Because what is more fun than digging with shovels and rakes?

Blair hiding under a tree.*

*She is wearing monogrammed bloomers with her initials "BAP". {hello, I want to die from cuteness} Patty told me that one time she kept trying to look at her underwear and said she was looking for her Blair Allyn Patnode. That kid is awesome. And seriously - her name is the best combo ever.

He just wanted to take 'a little rest'.

And how freaking cute that he is sleeping the same way here?

After the reunion, we took Patty's big kids home and spent the rest of the day with her.

Mayer's happy place {and yes, he's crawling too! and has 2 teeth!}

Drew joined him. Because she can't resist being under furniture either.

Patty got her craft on for a project for our mom. I was her assistant {meaning I held children and washed feet}.

If this doesn't make you smile, you have no soul.

I'm cheating a little by talking about Sunday in my 'Saturday' post, but it was a little bit cool Sunday morning so I put Drew's baby legs on, and then my heart exploded.

If every weekend was chock full of this many adorable pictures, I would literally not be able to take it!

Real Food: Week 3

Another successful week for my eating real challenge! I had about 2 sips of juice and about 8 ounces of kombucha for the whole week. I figured kombucha is way healthier than juice, so I decided to have that instead of juice for the week. It was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be - I was actually really worried about this week, so go me! Going forward, I want to have maybe 1 chai/week, and I imagine I'll drink kombucha every day because I think the health benefits are awesome, AND I love it! {grin}

I also continued to succeed at week 1's challenge of fruit/veggie intake. Again, I didn't get to 6 every day, but I'd still say I had AT LEAST 35 servings over the week.

Now...onto week 3! Patty asked if we could flip-flop the real week 3 {Meat} with another week as there will be some prep needed {Farmer's Market trip and better meal planning}. So this week, we're actually doing week 4:

No fast food or any foods that have been deep-fried in oil.

There are a lot of details in the link about what this exactly constitutes, so I won't go into all that right now. I don't think the fast food will be that hard for me, as I don't have it very often, but I think some of the fried stuff might be a little trickier - I had to remind my sister chips were fried, and she didn't like that reminder! It was already a bit of a bummer this morning when Brent wanted breakfast tacos and I refrained because I was pretty sure the hash browns are fried. :( But I'm sitting here drinking my smoothie instead {tomato, spinach/kale, banana, blueberries, strawberries, milk} and envisioning the great things it's doing for my body!

So let's rock out week 3!

DNA?

Think they might be related?

Grow Baby Grow {Drew} - 9 Months

Well, here we are again. Drew went and grew up some more. 3/4 of a year! What the what?

Stats:

Weight: 16 lbs. 14 ozs. {25%}*

Length: 27.5" {50%}

Head circumference: 17 3/4" {75%}*

Clothes: 9 months {Carter's}, 6-12 months {everywhere else} - as of this week we have finally moved up a size in clothes!

Diapers: size 3 in disposables, still all snaps closed on cloth

Hair: getting much longer/thicker and coming in dark brown

Eyes: olive-y like brother!

*We are at a new pediatrician, and weight was taken with clothes on and head circumference switched from cm to inches. Ha.

*Everything goes in your mouth. I constantly see paper, fuzz, random bits of food in your mouth. As long as you won't choke on it, I leave you alone. I call you 'Billy Goat' a lot because you are always chewing something you shouldn't be! 

*Food is continuing to be a fun experience for us. You LOVE to eat! You now eat most fruits and veggies, and this month we added blueberries, peas, cheese, Lara bars, and spaghetti {pictures below}! Your pincher grasp is great, so you can grab just about anything, so we are starting to try lots of things!!

*I've been a little anal about carbs with you given Brother's affinity for them, but I finally let you have some cereal, and you went NUTS! Shocker.

*Busy doesn't begin to describe you. Climbing, standing, pulling, grabbing, LETTING GO.

*You still have only 2 teeth but your top 2 are looking like they are ready to poke through. I imagine before 10 months we'll see those...

*You love to nurse. You nurse about every 2-3 hours during the day. Or you take 2-3 5 oz. bottles at school. You are still not crazy about bottles compared to getting your milk straight from the tap. {grin}

*You consistently take 2 naps/day. At home they are typically 1.5 - 2 hours. At school, they are more like 40 minutes. Ugh. You can put yourself to sleep!

*Sleep was a disaster in month 9. I think an ear infection, followed by a week of nose congestion, followed by 4+ days of diarrhea did you in. You were waking 3+ times a night, and I was a zombie. Luckily you have corrected that and are back to waking once/night.

*You love your brother. So much. My heart is beyond full watching you two play.

*See what I mean about busy?

*You can drink water out of a camelbak water bottle. I think you love being independent with that too.

*You are getting close to walking. We borrowed a shopping cart from Aunt Patty, and you're starting to push it a little.

*You are 'talking' more and more. 'ba', 'ga', 'da', 'ma' are the sounds I hear.

*We watch Baby Signing Time every once in a while, and you sign 'all done' and 'more'. So cute!

 *You are very much a mama's girl. You cry when other people try to hold you. Except Babs and Aunt Patty and sometimes Nana. You even cry if Daddy tries to take you away from me.

*Diaper and clothes changes are tough stuff. Usually a combination of my feet pinning you down, a toy in your hands mouth, and me singing get the job done.

*You love music and when I sing to you. You love to dance. Books? You love to eat them. You like toys that make noise.

*You wrinkle your nose like I do when you laugh.

*Bedtime is still about 7:00. You still sometimes fall asleep nursing which I love.

*Everyone talks about how sweet you are.

*Proof that Brother is the cat's pajamas.

*What a mess! A cute mess but still a mess!

Drew, you are the definition of happiness. We couldn't love you more if we tried. XOXO

The Long and Short of It

And the tradition continues.

Have baby. Grow hair LONG.

{Why do I look so fat in this shirt? I don't feel like I looked fat when I got dressed. Ugh.} 

Chop hair.

Donate it to Locks of Love.

Have my husband call me 'mini-Janice'. {grin}