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Thursday, January 29, 2015

Skin Deep

Skincare is not my forte.
 
I mean, like, at all.
 
So that just means I have no room to bitch about the blackheads that are all on my nose. And spreading on to my cheeks and chin. Nope - no room at all.
 
But wahhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
OK... so I am resolving to get much better about my skincare. Like, maybe I'll even wash off my makeup from time to time.
 
So for Christmas, I asked Puff to gift me a Clarisonic brush. I opted for the Mia since it was the least expensive and I wasn't sure I needed that many bells and whistles. Bimmer picked out a hot pink one for me (which - who cares?) and I've been regularly using it for a month or so now.
 
The verdict? I absolutely LOVE it! Seriously - it's brilliant. I've never felt like my face has been that clean. Ever.
 
 
 
I use it every other day for now, just because of, ya know - LIFE - and how that comes at you and sometimes you just don't have an extra 5 minutes to wash off your makeup and lather up the brush before a toddler is coming in to pee or demand a cup of water. I use the hydrating cleanser gel that came with it and I really like it a lot too. I tried it with some of my normal face wash and it just didn't seem to work right. I scoured Pinterest looking for recommendations and did find that anything with microbeads was a big ol' fat no-no.
 
I did go on a mission to find a full-sized bottle of the Clarisonic cleaner and found that they don't have it in stock at our Macy's (but the lady at the Clinique counter did order it for me) and it was $25. Not cheap, but I had a gift card, so it didn't feel too bad. I popped into Sephora (for the first time ever) and they had it too - in stock - for $27. I saw lots of posts that the "Purity" cleaner was great too, but I don't know where to find it. Maybe one of those fancy-pants skin/makeup stores?
 
Anyhoo... I know it's not a cheap gadget, but boy is it amazing! I can officially join the ranks of all the bloggers out there singing its praises.

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

32 Months Update


 
I swear this kid keeps turning more and more into an adult every single day. She came into our room one night, while Puff and I were sitting on the bed, and she's all like, "What you talking about, guys?" Awww.... sweet, sweet girl is getting too big for her britches! On a super random "cute thing she does" note - she calls a piggy-back ride, a "possum ride" because she saw in a book that baby possums ride on their mommy's backs. How adorable!
 
She is now enjoying a few new shows in the one or two shows we allow her to watch a night. (Or the 209043 shows we watched over the weekend we didn't leave the house to attempt potty training.) She likes "Wild Kratts" and "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" now (or "glovehouse" as she says).
 
I posted HERE about her potty training, but thought I would update you a bit on that since I wrote that. The first two days back to school after our boot camp weekend were amazing! She only went in her pull-up once on the first day, and none on the second. She even went on a "big potty" a few times when we weren't at home. Proud does not even begin to cover it! After a week in pull-ups at school, we decided to send her in panties. There were a few accidents here and there (including one on the only rug I didn't think to remove - ugh!) but we are so close. She has even made it several nights and naptimes completely dry and even woke us up one night at midnight to go to the bathroom!
 
Since Bimmer knows now that she is going to be a big sister to a little sister, she is getting better about talking about Healey and thinking about her. I know it will be a gradual process and it will ultimately be a major adjustment, but she's making little steps that make me happy. She is still trying to grasp 100% the name of the baby, but she definitely knows it's a girl and references her sometimes. She made my heart melt when she was telling me that we need to go to "see Cinderella at her castle" and then told me that we needed to "wait for Healey to get bigger." Eeek! Oh, I hope they are the best of friends! She also just recently asked for a big sister t-shirt that has a zebra on it. Guess I better get stalking Etsy!
 
She has been learning Spanish at school since she was barely over a year old. She can count to ten and knows body parts and some other random words. One day she came home telling me how to say giraffe and elephant and owl in Spanish. It's amazing how much she retains! Speaking of school, they have created an "older 2s" class and I don't like it. Basically because it's hard for me to swallow that with her May birthday, she was one of the younger kids in her class and so they have advanced all the girls she was friends with (since there was an April birthday cutoff) and now she is the oldest girl in her class with a bunch of much younger girls who are no where near the same level as she is on. Yes, some of the boys she has known all along are still there, but it's still taking this mama awhile to not feel like my pride is hurt that she didn't get to move up a class yet. They all meet up again in late summer when they are in the 3-year old class, but it still stinks. She hasn't said anything to us about it yet, but I know it's just a matter of time.
 
The worst thing that happened this month? The terrible twos started. It was subtle at first, but now we are full blown. Lots of major tantrums over nothing (like us not helping her spread a picnic blanket out on the ground exactly right) and she has been super whiny. It is definitely testing our patience. Puff gets short with her a lot easier than I do (always has) but even now I am having moments where she is just being such a diva I can't handle it. We have even had some discipline issues at school that have left this hormonal mama in tears. Here's hoping she gets it out of her system before Healey gets here!

Sunday, January 25, 2015

Prince or Princess?

When Puff and I first started polling people to see what they thought the gender was for Baby Healey, it seemed as if every single person thought "BOY." What did Puff and I think? Well, Puff wanted a girl. And since he wanted another girl so badly, he was certain that Healey would be a boy. My instinct has never been too great at this whole thing - I thought Bimmer was a boy just because I preferred boy clothes. However, I was having more distinct notions this time around. Specifically, the three vivid dreams I had where I was the mother to two daughters. I even was screaming Healey's name in one of them. But then, at the 12 week ultrasound, looking at the screen, my gut jumped to boy.
 
I polled friends on Facebook the day before our ultrasound to see their guess and again, most of them said boy. Puff and I decided it must be that most people think that people are better off with one of each. Or that it makes them happier. Meanwhile, we were both hoping it was a girl. Yes, we would be happy either way. OF COURSE PEOPLE. But if we had our preference, it would be another little diva. (Since this house isn't full of enough of them!) We had names picked out for both genders, but hadn't narrowed down the spelling of our girl name. As we sat in the waiting room at the doctor's office waiting for the ultrasound, we finalized the spelling. (The middle name was going to be Puff's middle name, regardless of gender.)
 
OK, Gail... get down to it. What's the verdict??? At 16 weeks and 5 days, we found out that Healey is a.....
 
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
 
 
 
GIRL!!!!!!
 
They did the ultrasound that early because they were checking my cervix from the LEEP procedure I had right around the time we conceived. (All good there!) So we were hopeful they would be willing to spend a few extra seconds to check if Healey would cooperate. Since they were checking my cervix, they were using the oh-so-fun dildo wand. From that angle, the tech froze on one angle where she thought there could possibly be something in between the legs. But it wasn't definitive enough for her - and I kinda want to be sure on this one!
 
So the lovely tech offered to do the ultrasound from the belly as well and after a few little jostles around, she saw the distinct three bright white lines that indicate a baby jay-jay. Aka... girl parts. I was just so excited to find out one way or the other, but I was honestly so stoked that it was another girl. Puff and I didn't really talk too much about how he was feeling, but knowing that going into it all, he kept saying he wanted a girl, I would suspect that he is happy about it all!
 
We called our parents and Granny and texted our closest friends. I wanted to do something fun with my girls at work, so I made them wait until the next day. I made cards that said either "Boy" or "Girl" on the front and they picked up the one they thought was their guess. Inside the girl ones was the name we picked. Inside the boy ones, it said stuff like "Try Again" or "Loser." It was a fun little game to see what everyone thought. (Only 3 people chose girl, which left about 8 that chose boy.)
 
Now on to the fun stuff... like pumping up Bimmer about her new little sister. And shopping. DUH! Even though we won't need a ton of stuff, I definitely want to get a few special things just for this baby - like a new blanket and coming home outfit. With finding out earlier than we did last time (I was 21 weeks with Bimmer when I found out she was a girl) it just gives me all that extra time to think up of matching jammies for the girls and how we are going to decorate their rooms.
 
Sheesh... this kid is breaking my wallet already.
 
But she's is totally worth it!

Thursday, January 22, 2015

Queen of Her Throne

Oh yes, adventures in potty training! You can totally skip this entry if you'd like. I won't hold it against you.
 
Just before Christmas, Bimmer started giving us some signs that she was ready to start potty training. She wanted us to change her right away after she went in her diaper and she was anxious to get panties. Specifically princess ones or Smurfs ones. But she was sick and then I was sick and then we traveled 7+ hours to The Fort, so I didn't want to get started on something we couldn't finish. Once we got back to town, we found ourselves at Target and I let her pick out whatever panties she wanted - she chose princess ones. She also really wanted both Mommy and Daddy to find some princess panties of our own. Alas, we did not.
 
So, how did it go? Well, here's the saga....
 
Day 1: New Year's Day. I figured it was as good a time as any, since it was dreary and we didn't really have plans. My initial plan was just to set a timer for every 30 minutes and put her on the potty to try. We attempted numerous times that morning, but then Puff was getting antsy to leave the house, so I had to abandon our mission to entertain him. Yes, I was frustrated. I didn't feel like Puff was taking this seriously enough. I think he thought it would be a quick and easy thing that would just magically happen without much effort. I understand that he doesn't want to be stuck in the house, but unfortunately, I was pretty sure that was what was going to have to happen.
 
Day 2: A few days later, it was a Saturday, and I was hell-bent on trying again, more seriously this time. Except Bimmer woke up with Puff in the other room and he let her lay around versus trying to get her up to try to go on the potty first thing. So she had already gone in her diaper by the time I heard them and  tried to take her. More frustration... with Puff, not Bimmer. So I set the timer for 30 minutes after that, and put her in a pull-up. She was super excited by the pull-ups and kept asking for her panties. I told her she had to show us that she could use the potty a few times before we tried the panties. We ultimately ran up the street to a local bakery for breakfast, with her pull-up on, and she came back dry. We tried again. But she didn't go. About 10 minutes later, she told me she needed to pee, but she had already gone in her pull-up. She went again about 5 minutes later, in a fresh pull-up. So I put her back in a diaper, since I only had a handful of pull-ups. We kept trying in anywhere from 15 to 45 minute increments.
 
After several hours, I could tell Bimmer was getting frustrated with herself that she couldn't go on the potty. We kept trying to get her to drink water or juice, but she just wasn't having it. I asked her if she thought a little potty (versus just the potty seat on our big toilet) would be better for her and she said yes and told us she would be excited to go buy a potty. So that's what we did. She wet her diaper when we were gone, but wanted to try to use the potty ASAP when we got home. We kept trying every 20 minutes or so. But she kept wetting her diapers. That was when Puff and I came to a realization... if we were going to do this, we were going to have to be hardcore about it. We were going to have to try boot camp style... just put her in panties and be prepared for accidents.
 
 
 
Day 3: The next day, Bimmer woke up and was enthusiastic about trying her new potty. So she sat there while I read her book after book. She hadn't peed in her diaper since the middle of the night, so I knew there *had* to be something in there. But alas, nothing came out. We tried every 20 minutes for a good two hours while she wore her Little Mermaid pull-up. We read "Once Upon A Potty" to her several times. Finally, she peed in her pull-up. But she told us as she was going. Which was a step forward in her awareness of the whole thing. Still sucked to have to not get anything in the potty, but I was proud of her that she was becoming more aware of her bodily functions. We stuck with the idea that we needed to just ditch the diapers and pull-ups the following weekend.
 
Day 4: Puff and I both decided that next weekend, we would go full on boot camp. It started right after we picked her up from school on Friday. I had to attend an awards dinner at work, so Puff was at it on his own. We pulled up all the rugs, outfitted her in princess panties, and just waited to see what happened. And from 5:30pm until 9pm, there were no accidents. She also, however, didn't pee on the potty either. Girl definitely does not have my bladder!!! Puff said she cried the last time she was trying because she was getting frustrated with herself. I don't blame her. Poor girl. I hate I wasn't here to help.
 
Day 5: That next morning, we tried immediately when she woke up. And every 20 minutes, roughly, after that. Finally, after going last in her diaper around 5am, she went on the potty just after 9am! I think it shocked her when it came out. But boy was I soooooo proud of her!!! We let her help dump it into the big toilet and flush it. We washed her hands and there was lots of yelling and high fives. She got to put a virtual sticker on her chart on my phone and she got to eat THREE Reece's Pieces. We also may or may not have done a dance. It was pretty awesome. Later that morning, she had a few drips in her panties, which we considered an "accident" for tracking purposes, and then later in the morning, she had her first real accident. And she screamed as loud as she could the minute she started peeing in her panties. I didn't want to pick her up mid-pee and then track it through the house, so I let her finish as I stood there with my arms on her shoulder comforting her, as she was kinda freaking out. We took her to the potty and made her sit there for awhile and cleaned her up. I made her carry her soiled clothes to the laundry. She told me she didn't like that feeling at all. GOOD! Between 7:15am and her nap at 2pm, she had just those two accidents, and she peed on the potty twice and pooped once! Of course we put her in a diaper for her nap though. We went against the whole "don't leave your house" rule that night though and put her in pull-ups so she could attend a pajama party at her school that she was super excited about. Unfortunately, she went through a few pull-ups that night, but it didn't seem to set her back too badly.
 
 
 
Day 6: The minute she got up Sunday morning, we put her in new panties. She had a small accident that morning, but only after she screamed for us that she needed to go to the potty and we didn't run quick enough to help her. She did go later that morning and surprisingly, after her 3 hour nap, she was totally dry and woke up crying for me that she needed to go potty. I was so proud of her that she did that and made it to the potty! She was definitely becoming more and more aware of when she needed to go and I was so excited!!!
 
So... where do we go from here? Well, we are going to use pull-ups at school for a few days just because we don't think she is 100% ready to go to school in panties yet. But we are going to be pretty adamant that if she is at home, she is in panties. Soon enough, those pull-ups will be obsolete. I can feel it - she is going to do great! She's already doing great. So proud of my little girl growing up!
 
And I promise not to write any more sagas about potty training. Or post any more panties pictures. Although this one is pretty darn cute too...
 
 
 

Monday, January 19, 2015

Trapt Inside

I am always saying these days that I don't find myself finding any new music anymore. And this review of an album is no exception. It's just more like old music in a new way.
 
For Christmas, I am very careful to save any books or CDs that I want to make sure the MIL gets those on the list of suggestions, since I know they are easy gifts for her to give to me. So when I found out that Trapt had a new acoustic CD out this year, I had to make sure I owned it.
 
 
 
I've been a fan of Trapt since the early 2000s when "Headstrong" made it big all over the radio - even mainstream, if I'm remembering correctly. Anyhoo... I jumped on that bandwagon and have loved them ever since. In fact, one of my all-time favorite songs EVER is "Lost Realist." Google the lyrics... if you know me personally, you know how well it fits my life!
 
The verdict on this album? I don't love it 100% but it's not bad. The songs don't actually sound all that different. There are two new songs (or songs that I somehow missed over the years) that are good and fall in line with their typical sound. It's not going to blow you away, like say, Shinedown's acoustic version of "45" but it won't turn you off their music either. I think I prefer the normal sound, but this CD will make a rotation in my car for at least a little while.
 
*Here's promising that we will start doing something interesting in our lives these days here soon so I can share something more than just random posts about random, not so interesting or personal things! Stupid winter. Stifling my creativity!*

Saturday, January 17, 2015

Frozen Solid

Puff and I have been fully aware of the craze that is "Frozen." I mean, how could you NOT?
 

 
For almost all of 2014, Bimmer was pretty blissfully ignorant of it all. There were no tantrums about not being Elsa for Halloween. There were no Olaf stuffed animals we had to buy. She would see the stuff out at stores and kinda be indifferent. And from what Puff and I understood about people getting obsessed with the whole thing... we were OK with that.
 
Cue Aunt Kimhead.
 
For Christmas, she bought Bimmer the DVD. And I will say, I am happy to announce that my child is not obsessed. By any stretch of the imagination. Like, so much NOT obsessed that we have watched it once all the way through - and that took 3 sittings. And I'm pretty sure the last 15 minute sitting was just me watching it because I wanted to know how it ended. We put it on one other time, but not even at her urging, and she watched maybe 15 minutes of it. As cute as the movie is (because, yes, it is cute) I am not about to try to force it on my child.
 
Yes, she now knows when she sees at a store and can name Anna, Elsa, and Olaf. But she wouldn't even probably know that it's called "Frozen." And she most definitely is not singing "Let it Go." Which, randomly enough, I don't find all that catchy. I get "Would you like to build a snowman" stuck in my head WAY more often.
 
We are going to stick my little princess being her own self and not getting wrapped up in all the hype. Will it always be that way? Absolutely not. But for now, we'll stick with her preferring to be dressed as this type of princess instead.
 
 
 
We encourage the creativity.

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Legen - wait for it - Dary

For as long as I can remember, I have loved to read. I devoured Babysitters Club books at an early age and then plowed through some RL Stine. I was OK to read just about every assigned book in high school (minus Huck Finn - which I found impossible to comprehend, and 1984 - which I just rebelled against reading for some reason). Unfortunately, now that I have Bimmer, reading doesn't seem to find its way into my life as often as I'd like. (Proof in the pudding is that I still haven't found time to bust out my Kindle to download my friend's latest novel. But you can beat me to it and get it HERE from Amazon. I will get to it next. I swear!)
 
Anyhoo... These days I often find myself wide awake at say, 2am, eating something, so I decided to use that time wisely and bust out something to read. When my latest People magazine was done, I dug into my Christmas gift stash and pulled out a book the MIL had gotten me, Neil Patrick Harris' "Choose Your Own Autobiography."
 
 
 
 
It was a great read for that whole wanting to only read a few pages at a time while I had a second, since I didn't feel like I was losing any train of thought. I had always kinda liked him, and in fact, liked him decidedly more once he was out of the closet and has the most adorable family ever. (Not to mention good taste in baby names.) Are you seeing this cuteness? (Each Halloween I cannot wait to see what they bust out with!)
 
 
 
The whole premise of the "choose your own storyline" was OK, but I didn't actually follow any of the jumps; I just read it in sequence. I skipped the cocktail recipes and the magic tricks. But outside of those few tiny things, it really was a good read. It helps that I was interested in him, and felt vested in him since I watched every episode of HIMYM. I will throw out this caveat to anyone who may be a little, shall we say, prudish.... be aware that NPH is a gay man. And it is a story of his life. And while he's not graphically describing gay sex, the book does include, well, gay sex.
 
I'm glad that I thought to suggest this book as a gift idea to the MIL as I have found myself devouring it over just a few days. If you have any love for NPH, be sure to pick it up. It's a fun little glimpse into his life.
 
Any suggestions on what to read next? After "Natural Love," of course. Any other good autobiographies out there? Or biographies? Nothing too heavy. God bless that "Last Night in Twisted River" book of John Irving's that has been sitting on my nightstand for 2+ years just waiting to be finished. I love (like, seriously LOVE) me some John Irving, but I've just found it too heavy these days to find myself getting too enthralled in it. One day, I will again.
 
Probably when Bimmer and Healey leave for college.

Sunday, January 11, 2015

Getting Old

I turned 33 this year without much fanfare. It fell on a rainy, chilly Saturday when we attempted our first real day of potty training for Bimmer.
 
But that aside, it turned out to be an OK day... breakfast at a local bakery with some yummy homemade bagels and then some presents!
 
 
 
 
I knew I was getting this new leather coat from Nordstrom, because he had ordered a smaller size and we had to send it back to get a larger one. I've been looking for the perfect leather coat for YEARS and I am certain this is it!
 
 
 
Bimmer gave me a Tinkerbell card, that she picked out herself. It came with body glitter. (News flash: I hate glitter.) And it says something to the effect of "Have an awesome birthday, girl" inside it. Puff? Well, he got me this card...
 
 
 
Super random, yet totally appropriate. The more random the card, the more I like it.
 
That night, Nanny came over to watch Bimmer so Puff and I could go "to town" (as Bimmer would say) to go to a nice fancy dinner. The last time we went to this particular restaurant for dinner, I was super-duper preggers with Bimmer and I remembered it not living up to the hype. This time? Um... yes please! I got a filet with shrimp scampi on top and it was HEAVEN. I wish I had taken a photo. That with some potatoes au gratin and some yummy bread dipped in pepper-infused oil? Brilliant!
 
While every year I wish that my birthday fell farther from the holidays (since it all just sorta runs together) and we can't ever go out to do anything fun outdoors (since the weather sucks in January), it was a nice quiet birthday. And you know what? I'm sorta old now - so quiet isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Friday, January 9, 2015

16 Week Update

 
 
See Bimmer's 16 week update HERE.
 
During week 13, we got another glimpse at Healey! Or well, I did. The doctor's office goofed up the times they told us for the order of seeing the doc and the ultrasound, so Puff was late for the ultrasound. In the end, it was fine because the baby was OK! The heartbeat was good and Healey was just moving around, crossing its legs and waving. My nausea started to get a teensy bit more spread out, but I did have a UTI. Always something...
 
 
 
Speaking of always something... later that week, I started getting chills. Then my nausea got a lot worse than normal. Cue the additional (ahem) stomach issues and extreme fatigue. When I ended up with a 101 fever, I went to an urgent care to check to make sure I didn't have the flu. (Since it's running rampant this year and 3 people in my office had it that week.) My test was negative, but my fever was gone, so that was that. I stayed home sick the next day too though because I still could barely get out of bed. The stomach issues persisted, plus I had a cough now and a sinus headache. And those chills that just made my entire body shake! The next morning, I had another low fever, but it went away quickly. I stayed in bed all day while Puff and Bimmer went to Atlanta to visit the MIL for Christmas. By early evening, my fever spiked to 103. When the urgent care place wouldn't call in anything for what I assumed had to be the flu, I ended up in the ER. By myself. Talk about horrible! The verdict? I was really dehydrated and my potassium was low - probably from all the hugging the toilet I had been doing. They did another flu test and it was negative, so was the strep test. Blood work, urine cultures, the works... I had a viral infection, which meant they couldn't really do anything for me. They gave me potassium pills and some fluids via an IV. I felt pretty good when I left and went home for some quiet and some rest. Of course it didn't end there and I didn't feel myself for another few days. Thankfully, it all wrapped up on Christmas Day so I could enjoy the rest of the holiday!
 
During week 15, my nausea started to subside a little bit. The actual vomiting stopped, which was blissful! There were even a few days where I was able to skip a few doses of my anti-nausea medicine. Starting to feel more like a real person is such a wonderful feeling - I don't even have the words to describe it! I also noticed a lot of my crazy intense cravings were going away. I was still hungry every few hours, but the *NEED* for a bagel or lemonade started to wane a little bit.
 
I was still able to get some of my single digit pants buttoned into week 16, but it was time to start going to maternity clothes, even if I didn't want to. I was more upset by the fact that some of my more flowy sleeveless blouses were gapping in the boobs than around my belly! Ugh - here's hoping they go away some after this baby comes.
 
The next update should *hopefully* include a gender reveal!!! I have an ultrasound next week to check my cervix, and we are hoping the baby cooperates for a quick peak when we are already in there. Otherwise, it will be the middle of February before we can find out - and that will be torture! So send good gender vibes!!! Any bets on whether it's a boy or a girl? I don't really have any feeling one way or the other besides the fact that I have had 3 dreams where I had two daughters. Is it a sign??

Monday, January 5, 2015

Photo Dumpin'

Getting caught up on life and prepping for a work conference this week, so here are a few photos from the past few months that I just thought I'd share! Enjoy!

Helping us rake

Reading in her pillow fort

Crazy post-bath hair
 

Our little rock star
 

New Year's Day fun

Saturday, January 3, 2015

33 Things for the 33rd

Today is my 33rd birthday! So, in celebration, I thought I'd give you a super random list of 33 random things about me. Enjoy! (Along with some random photos from my childhood.)
 
1) I don't use chapstick correctly. It always ends up u-shaped.
 
2) For the most part, I only buy name brand groceries.
 
 
 
3) I like maps.
 
4) I write down what I did each day in a calendar I keep in my purse.
 
5) I once had a fireman sign my boob.
 
 
 
6) I never leave the house without makeup. Not to the pool. Not to the gym. Never.
 
7) If I had to get a new car today, I would get a new Toyota Rav4.
 
 
 
8) My favorite number is 8.
 
9) I take my work/dress pants off the minute I get home. I hate wearing them.
 
 
 
10) I hate that Craig Ferguson isn't on anymore. He was the best late night host. Ever.
 
11) I also hate those new curly lightbulbs.
 
12) I like naps. (Who doesn't???)
 
 
13) I'll always have Itter. (One of my best nights of my life... in a tiny hilltop Austrian village.)
 
14) Puff and I pronounce Wi-Fi like "wee-fee" just to be silly. I have said it that way in a meeting at work as well.
 
15) I can't stand to listen to people eat cereal or soup.
 
 
 
16) I have dog names picked out for dogs I will probably never get. (Hannibal & Atlas, if you were wondering.)
 
17) I have trouble watching movies older than the early 90s.
 
18) In high school, I used to steal traffic cones, orange barrels, do not enter signs, and whatever else was laying around.
 
 
 
19) I also used to drive on the highway so my friends could flash truckers. (I found out at my wedding that my dad knew about that too!)
 
20) I'm currently craving Apple Jacks.
 
21) I'm so happy Bimmer was born with a lot of hair. Fingers crossed for Healey too.
 
 
 
22) I hate pregnancy. I love the outcome, but damn I hate being pregnant.
 
23) I prefer crackers when they come in packs of just 2 (like at restaurants) and I wish you could buy them like that for at home.
 
24) I don't like to drink tap water.
 
 
 
25) Weather intrigues me. I have always wanted to be in a hurricane.
 
26) If I could go anywhere right this second, I think it would be a trip to Norway. (If it hypothetically were not winter.)
 
 
 
27) Puff and I keep our finances separate, even though we've been married for 4 1/2 years.
 
28) I have to wear glasses to use my computer at work, but that's the only time.
 
29) I like to look at snow, but don't want to go outside in it.
 
30) I do, however, like to play in the rain.
 
 
 
31) I wear a shoe size of 8.
 
32) I have a dream to see an NFL game in every stadium.
 
33) I am so blessed to have Puff, Bimmer, and Healey in my life. I am one lucky gal!

Thursday, January 1, 2015

Christmas 2014

Bear with me. Hold on tight. This is going to be super duper long. Here we go....
 
We headed back toward home on December 23rd, drove to rural Tennessee, stayed the night, and then got to The Fort on Christmas Eve. I was still recovering from a week-long virus and morning sickness, so I felt like ass, but I made it! Christmas Eve has always been spent at my Granny's house... and will be until she dies. That was the one holiday tradition I was not willing to bend on. Bimmer had a great time hanging out with family and getting "presidents."
 

And like Thanksgiving, she's rocking one of my old dresses from the early 80s
 
 
We typically schedule our trip back to The Fort so that we can drive back to SC on Christmas Day. We've realized the traffic is better that way, and we normally go back to work on the 26th. But with how the dates fell this year, we actually got to spend actual Christmas Day with my family. It was really nice to get to have a nice home-cooked meal and for Bimmer to open gifts with her cousins for the first time ever!
 
Mamaw & Papaw found Baby Peyton a "tar" like Bimmer's so they can jam together

 
 
The day after Christmas, we tried to pack in as much as we could... including breakfast with a good friend and dinner with more friends, kiddies included!
 
 
 
Plus, my parents took us to a local museum to check out a train display. Bimmer loved it! She is obsessed with trains these days (Dinosaur Train, Thomas, etc.) so she was super pumped to see the big display, and even ride on one where she got to ring the bell!
 

 
 
Cue my devastation when I realized the salon where the lady who has colored my hair for the past 16 years had closed and I had no way to get in touch with her! I had had an appointment scheduled for that Saturday, but alas, I had to jump in the car with my hair looking the same as it has since June. Boo! However, Bimmer was a trooper in the car and was super adorable when she asked to "stop at the place with the papers and my rocking chair." AKA the Tennessee rest area.
 
 
 
Since we were in The Fort on actual Christmas, Santa hadn't yet made his appearance. We purposely drove back home to SC on Saturday so that we could have that night to prep and let Bimmer get her Santa gifts on Sunday morning. She was super cute when she saw the presnts and kept asking which ones were for Mommy & Daddy. So sweet that she was concerned about us! I'd say, in general, she liked her gifts. Her favorite? An umbrella. Go figure. That day was (thankfully for her) drizzly, so when we went out for lunch and to run errands, she got to take her new umbrella with her. And she giggled the entire time she had it up when we were outside. And told anyone she saw that she had an umbrella and that Santa had brought it for her. So sweet that one!
 

 
 
All told - we had a wonderful Christmas. We were loaded down with gifts (mostly gift cards - yay!) from my family and more importantly, Bimmer had a blast. She got to spend time with family who doesn't see her all that often, and we had a wonderful visit in The Fort. I cannot wait for next year when Bimmer is even more into the holiday - and has a baby brother/sister to share it with! Christmas will never be the same again!