Why Is It That…

These things have been on my mind so thought I’d share them with you.

Why is it that…

• in the fall 40 degrees hits and we’re wearing winter coats, scarves, hats and mittens, but 40 degrees hits in the spring and we’re walking around outside in short sleeves?
• people care so much about what other people do or say?  Examples: Beyoncé either lip syncing or not lip syncing, Prince Harry comparing fighting in Afghanistan to playing a video game (come on, Folks, it’s a coping mechanism), Mama Laughlin using paper plates to eat off, Skinny Meg working out at the gym at night instead of being home every night.  I could go on and on.  I honestly don’t know why other people feel the need to have an opinion about what everyone else does!  People in glass houses…. well, you know the rest.  It’s best to mind your own business. 
• at 32 years old I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up?
• when you move to a small town you aren’t welcomed with open arms and people join arms like Red Rover and don’t ask you to come over?  Wouldn’t you want your friend circle to grow?  Duh.
• it hurt my feelings that I lost a follower on this blog?
• you can have two pregnancies that are practically identical, then you get pregnant with your third and it’s so different from the other two?
• I can never come up with good supper ideas anymore?
• most kids are picky eaters but I got one who will eat anything?  Aiden used to eat raw onion when I would dice it up for recipes.  How crazy is that?  I think he was 2 when he started that.  Weird. 
• I don’t know how to decorate my house?  I wish I had that touch.  Instead I sit here looking at my shelves thinking how cluttered and crappy they look.

Welp, that about does it. 

Don’t forget that 2 weeks from today I’m hosting a linkup for Valentine’s Day!

<a href="http://homemadehappenings-erin.blogspot.com"><img src="http://i1302.photobucket.com/albums/ag134/aemcguire02/th_thCAJLGC97284x300_zps53216c57.jpg" alt="button" width="600" height="600" /></a>

Will one of you lovelies please try out my code above and let me know if it doesn’t work?  Thanks!

Today I am 19 weeks.  Brennan asked me what we should call the baby the other night. I asked him what he thought we should name it.  He said “I think, if it’s a boy, we should call him Mario Brothers.”  He said it exactly like that.  Then I asked what if it’s a girl?  He said “We should call her a princess.”  Aww, that boy melts my heart.  Next Thursday is my ultrasound, can’t wait to share!

Have a great Thursday!

Erin

Dependence

Hey all! Sorry I was absent yesterday, our internet provider had some issues and we were thrown back to the early 80’s for the entire day!!! I went nuts!  Seriously, how did I become so dependent on the internet?  Luckily I have my phone so I could still check FB 5000 times during the day, check Instagram 6000 times and check email, although I hate typing on my phone because I fat finger it and it takes me 10x’s longer to type on there than on here.  So, that is why I was absent.

So tell me, are you dependent on being connected to the world wide web?  They talk about people needing to take a vacation from being wired in and I always think “yea, I could live without my phone and internet for a week” but after one day I was going nuts, and was only half disconnected!  Could you hack it?  And why are we so dependent on this stuff?

Today is a snow day here in Iowa.  Schools are closed so I have both boys home today.  It is ten till 8 and so far they have fought, argued, talked back, been in timeout and pretty much pushed 3/4’s of my buttons.  It’s going to be a long day!  They have also played Legos, built puzzles, played the game Life and colored pictures.  All of that in the last hour.  They are going to run out of things to do!  Luckily I have a project in my back pocket that we’ll work on once I finally get out of my jammies, brush my hair and teeth and get off my lazy duff.

The wind is blowing pretty strong, about 25 mph, so that means the snow is blowing and drifting, a nightmare for those who live in the country or have to drive in the country to get to work in town (98% of the the people in this little town).  And that means the boys will come in with wind burned cheeks after playing out in the new snow.  The good news is it’s pretty.  I did love the near 60degree temps yesterday morning (I was able to open up the windows and air the house out, I love to do that mid-winter) but since it is still January – barely – I think the snow is pretty.

And one last thing – it’s almost my birthday month!!!  I celebrate my birthday all month long so I call it my birthday month.  Woot woot!  I love February!  Besides my birthday, it’s also my brother-in-laws, my dad’s,  and Valentine’s Day.  But the best part is my birthday.  Not because it’s my birthday, but because it’s also my dear, sweet little Grandma’s birthday that day too!  Yep, my Dad’s mom and I share our special day!  She passed away almost 4 years ago but I still feel so special to share the day with her.  Anywhoo, I can’t wait for February!!!

Have a wonderful, fantabulous day!  I hope you weren’t affected by those nasty storms down south!  Be safe out there!

Erin

Is This Nesting?

Good Monday to you!  How was your weekend? Do anything fun?  I think I’m nesting already, isn’t it too early for that???  That’s how I/we spent our Sunday, nesting – a.k.a. deep cleaning.

First, let’s start with Friday.  I received an email from Brennan’s teacher letting me know he failed his hearing test last week at school. Great.  What did that mean?  I did what I do best – panicked!  Then I came to my senses and remembered that Bren was fighting off a cold and was still pretty congested on Tuesday when they did the test.  Ok, deep breath and relax.  So I called his doctor and got him an appt.  She looked in his right ear first and saw what was a minor ear infection, either one coming on or leaving.  The left ear was just waxy.  So right off the bat she ordered him a prescription for Amoxicillin.  Then they did an ear test.  It’s supposed to look like an upside down V but his came back as a flat line on both ears.  She said not to worry, we’ll do it again in 4-6 weeks and it will more than likely be normal.  So until then I’m not worrying. 

Meanwhile, Andy had an appt with his doctor that afternoon.  His doctor told him if you’re not a runner by the age of 30 not to start.  What???  That totally depressed me.  I really want to learn to run after the baby is born and by then I’ll be 32!  I can’t decide if I should listen to what he said or resolve to try harder.  I guess there’s a reason he says that, health-wise, and I don’t want to hurt myself or cause myself problems.  BUT!  I WANT TO RUN!!!  IDK, do I really want to run or is this just how I think I can lose weight?  I need to think about that a little more.

And now to my nesting, or whatever it was.  it might be easier to just list what all we did.

• pulled out the washing machine and cleaned underneath it
• pulled out the dryer and cleaned underneath that
• pulled everything out of the cupboards above the w/d, washed those out, pitched excess/junk, re-organized it and added stuff from the laundry room coat closet…
• …that we pulled everything out of, vacuumed and mopped the floor, removed excess shoes and coats, pulled everything off the shelves and found new homes for and made a plan to finally make it into this:

• pulled out the stove, cleaned underneath it and washed the sides down (didn’t know I was that sloppy of a cook!)
• made a batch of chocolate chip cookies that I can’t stay out of

I think that’s it.  And we didn’t get to pulling the fridge out and cleaning underneath and inside of it.  Oh well, next weekend, right?! Ha ha, my husband is so sick of cleaning!  Maybe we’ll put that off and go get our supplies to finish the closet off.  The above picture is the base for what we’re doing but we’re also combining that image with another one we really liked too.  So no drawers below the bench, that will be open for shoe storage.  And a few other minor tweaks.  But I am so excited to finally be doing this, I’ve been drooling over this idea for about a year now!  Before and after pics will definitely be posted!

I should say Sunday was the perfect day for us to be stuck inside cleaning.  We had an ice storm here in Iowa so we weren’t leaving this house for anything short of a medical emergency.  Today is supposed to be in the 40’s, Tuesday in the upper 50’s with a chance of thunderstorms! Crazy weather!

So tell me about your weekend!

Erin

Baby #1 Post 2

You can read Post 1 HERE to get caught up.

I woke up the next morning (Friday), went to the bathroom and saw my mucus plug in the toilet (TMI??).  Hmm, I thought.  According to what I’d read and heard (friends are so eager to share the gory details, aren’t they??) this meant labor could be starting or labor could start 2 weeks from then.  I went back to bed and asked Andy to stay home from work.  At that time he worked an hour from home and I knew I didn’t want him driving home by himself panicking that I was home and in labor.  So we laid in bed for an hour and small contractions started.  Oh boy (or girl??)!

We got up, had breakfast and took showers.  About 10:00 the contractions were starting to get closer and a little stronger.  We called my doctor and she had me come in to check me and see if she thought I should go to the hospital.  She said I was still dilated to a 1 but that she thought labor was starting and to go home and wait as long as I could to go to the hospital.  So home we went.  When we got home we decided to sit on our front porch and watch the construction workers across the street who were working on the road. To this day I still believe that is why Aiden loves construction equipment! I don’t remember if I ate lunch or not that day.

Around 1:00 I told Andy I wanted to go to the hospital.  He didn’t think it was time yet so I started pacing the floor.  At about 2:00 a contraction hit that about dropped me to my knees.  That was when Andy decided this was serious and that it was time to leave (still not sure why he was calling the shots! Ha ha!).  We grabbed our overnight bags and went out to the car.  Then Andy left me panting and in pain by the car while he went to his tool shed for what seemed like an eternity.  When he finally got back we drove the 4 minutes to the hospital and hit every bump in the road that we could find. (To this day I’m still not sure what he was doing in that shed!)

We got to the hospital and they had me change into a gown and hooked me up to the monitors.  They decided I really was in labor (duh!) and decided it was time for the IV.  All I remember about this time was practically crawling up the bed backwards from the pain, the contractions were so strong! Andy was so scared at this point, there wasn’t anything he could do to help ease the pain.  Finally, around 4:00 that afternoon, pain relief came in the form of an epidural!!!  Ahh, relief.

Andy thought we needed a “Still Pregnant” picture.  Ick.

Can you believe they fed me before I delivered???

So around 8:00 that night it was time to start pushing.  It was me, Andy, one nurse and my doctor, that was it and it was wonderful!  It was the most relaxing, calm delivery ever!  Ok, so what did/do I have to compare it to, but it really was so calm and quiet.  We had the TV on, muted, and we were watching the NASCAR race in between contractions and pushes.  The lights were turned down low, we were all chit chatting and it was just such a great experience.  At 8:46 p.m., Friday, June 30, 2006 my dear, sweet little Aiden Kinnick was born (and Dale Earnhardt Jr won the race, my favorite driver!!!)!  Out he came, my doctor turned him around and Andy said “He’s a boy!”  I said “Wow, he’s huge!”  And he was!  He was such a big boy, 9lbs, 1 oz!!!  And 21 1/4” long.  But such an easy delivery.

We called our families right away to tell them he was born.  Andy’s folks, who live only a few blocks from the hospital, came right away.  My parent’s were already in bed (early to bed, early to rise) so they came the next morning.  It was so exciting.  This is me making the call to my parents.

We were on such a high that night!  I don’t remember getting much sleep, especially with that big HUGNRY boy needing fed every 2 hours or so!  And so it began…

More to come!

Erin

This, That Or The Other Thursday

Thanks to all you put their two cents in on the bead board vs. wallpaper decorating dilemma!  I think I’ll go the wallpaper route, although I still need to figure out the logistics of it.  Hopefully next time I hit up the big city I can find a place that sells the style of paper I’m looking for, then I can get it ordered and put up!  After pictures to come (lets hope it’s before the baby comes!).

Speaking of decorating, I have to tell you about one of my BBF’s (best blogging friend, duh!) new blogs!  I bet a lot of you know Shelli from Beauty and The Baseball Coach. Well, she’s starting a second blog that is dedicated to decorating and DIY projects called Shelli Shabby Chic (I just love that name!!!).  Please please PLEASE go check out Shelli’s new blog!  I can’t wait to see what all she posts about on there!

I wanted to brag about my little Brenner Bug.  We, of course, think he’s the cutest thing since sliced bread but you never know what others really think of your little one.  Well, here’s the email I received from his Preschool teacher, Mrs. A.

Oh Erin! You do not know how much I love having him preschool! He is such a good boy! And I can't believe how much he has come out of his shell! I am so excited that he and Brett have become buddies too! They are a really good pair together! If you would like to leave Brennan in preschool for a few years or send Aiden to preschool I would not object! :) 

That email totally made my day when I got it.  It’s nice to know someone else loves our little guy and thinks he’s great, too.

Did you know today is National Compliment Day?  Make sure to pass on some love to someone today.

Today in history: Beer was first sold in cans (1935).  Just thought you should know that. Ha!

And one more thing – I am 18 weeks today and Baby is the size of a sweet potato.

Just a reminder about my Love Story link up coming up on Valentine’s Day. I hope you join in on the fun! 

Erin

Decorating Dilemmas

Do any of you get sick of how your house looks?  We’ve lived here for 1 1/2 years and I have never actually decorated the house.  I wasn’t in love with what we had on the walls in our old house so I didn’t want to put that stuff back up.  Problem is, I’ve never gone out and bought anything to put up here that I do like.  Now I’m just sick of how things look and I am ready for a big change. 

We have a huge list of things we’d like to do to the house, but being a stay at home mom means we don’t have a lot of of extra cash flow to devote to all these changes. The short list is:

• hardwood floors in the dining room and kitchen
• a new front door
• 2 new windows (new meaning the hole doesn’t exist as I type this so they will be 100% new)
• putting egress windows in the basement
• doing a GOOD job finishing the basement instead of just throwing down some carpet and saying it’s finished (currently just the poured cements walls down there painted white with a few walls up and NO insulation so it’s freezing cold down there all year round)

That gives you a small idea of the expensive things we’d like to do.  But I’m not willing to wait for all of those expensive things to be done to start doing other things around here to make this our home.  As of right now the Golden Oak that someone vomited up all over this house is on EVERYTHING.  I am so sick of it.  Back in the, what, 80’s (??) Golden Oak was THE THING to have.  Now it’s outdated and I don’t love the look.  Except for the small area around the fireplace where there is hideous marble tile, that Golden Oak is on a huge 8’x12’ area (that’s 96 square feet of Golden oak, minus that ugly tile area).  Eck!!!  So I want to put something behind the shelves to help minimize some of that G.O.  Here are the shelves to the left of the fireplace, the ‘before’.

Below are my two ideas. Tell me which way you’d go if it was your house.

This first one is to show the bead board.  My idea is to put white/off white painted bead board behind the shelves.  So this isn’t exactly what I’m going for but it’ll give you the basic idea.

This one is wall paper (or you can use fabric).  I love the design but I wouldn’t necessarily use that exact pattern and color.  I’m thinking yellow instead of the black.  Sue me, I’m into yellow right now.  I just want something fresh, refreshing and not so darn drab!

Help a girl out and let me know which you’d go with.  Or if you have another idea to tone down the G.O. without painting it.  Whatever I do needs to be easily taken down or removed in case A.) Golden Oak makes a comeback and I want it all over the damn place again, B.) we move the next owners love G.O. or C.) I don’t know what a ‘C’ answer could be, just got carried away with myself.

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On a different note, I’ve set up some page links under my blog title above.  Now it’s easier to find a recipe I’ve put on here or to see what books I’d recommend.  (Thanks, Hubby Jack, for the tutorial!)  The book list is a little short, I can’t remember very far back so those are just a few to get you started.  Currently reading ‘A Most Unsuitable Match’ by Stephanie Grace Whitson.  It’s super good so far, I love her style of story telling.

Have a great Hump Day!

Erin

Baby #1

I love to hear about other people’s pregnancies and deliveries so I thought I’d share mine with you in a few different posts.  Today we’ll start with my Baby #1.

Andy and I tried for 8 months to get pregnant with Aiden.  Without telling you too many gory and embarrassing details I have always had irregular periods, ever since they started in the 9th grade.  I tried using a Basal Body Thermometer to know when I was ovulating but that was up and down and never consistent so we basically just had to wait for God to say the time was right. 

I took multiple pregnancy tests over those 8 months and they were always negative.  One night I came home from work and asked Andy (who was cooking macaroni and cheese for us for supper) if he thought I should take a pregnancy test.  Up until this point he’d always said no, but that night he must have had a feeling so he told me to take the test.  After 5 minutes I went into the bathroom and about passed out – POSITIVE!  I yelled for Andy and he came in and we just hugged each other, then screamed and jumped up and down.  We were so excited!  Then we got quiet and realized what we’d just done!

Even though my face is a mess I just love this picture.  I am about 6 months pregnant (bad angle, I know I was bigger than this at 6 months) and just so.darn.happy!  I LOVED being pregnant.  I felt amazing, was so super happy all the time and the anticipation was so fun!  My first pregnancy was so easy.  I had no morning sickness at all.  Shortly after I found out I was pregnant I remember feeling a little erpy one morning so from then on I’d go make myself a glass of chocolate milk every morning as soon as I’d wake up and then go lay in bed drink it.  Usually by the time I made it back to bed it’d be about half gone.  But I never felt erpy again. 

By the end of my pregnancy I started to swell – A LOT!  In this picture you can see where my socks left indentations around my ankles.  I normally wear a size 6 but at around 7  months I had to buy a pair of size 8 flip flops so the strap would fit over the top of my chubby, swollen feet!  Luckily I didn’t have a bank job so I could get away with wearing those ugly flip flogs to work.

They look like clubs, don’t they?  That part was a bit miserable!

My original due date was June 5 but early on they ended up pushing my date back to June 30.  At 39 weeks I was barely dilated to 1cm.  The weather was beautiful for late June, nice and mild and no humidity, so I wasn’t miserable or super antsy to have the baby.  We never found out what we were having so that part made me anxious, but otherwise I still loved being pregnant.  Somehow I still slept on my stomach at 9 months pregnant!!!  I really did just love being pregnant!

9 months and HUGE!

I gained 40 pounds with this pregnancy, probably 15 of that was from all that extra fluid from swelling.

On Thursday, June 29 I was at work at the salon and was planning on going out one more time with my girlfriends for supper before the baby came.  Late afternoon I started feeling…off, the only word I can use to describe it.  I just felt different.  I cancelled my plans, left the salon about 5:00 and went home.  Andy wasn’t home yet but I started to panic that the baby was going to come so I went out to my garden, looking big as a house, and bent over to pick my green beans. For some reason it was important to me that they didn’t go to waste on the vine if I was in the hospital having a baby.  Andy came home about 6:00, I told him I felt weird and then we had supper and watched TV.  We went to bed like normal that night and fell fast asleep.

Stay tuned…

Erin

2 Things

Hey there!  How was your weekend?  Mine was good, went by too fast.  Saturday we went to watch our niece play flute in the Middle School Honor Band she tried out to get in to.  It was a good concert, and the boys did great sitting quietly and watching.  After the concert we went to Buffalo Wild Wings to help with my wings craving.  They were just okay, they had too much crunch on the outside.  Sunday we went for a drive to a farm store and had a fun afternoon together as a family.  We actually ended up meeting my sister’s family at Applebee’s for lunch because they were in the same town for a wrestling meet.  So I got wings there, too!  And those were AMAZING!!!  And, after reading this you can tell our ‘no eating out for the month of January’ has gone down the toilet.  Oh well, better luck next time. 

So today I woke up to two things.  Here’s the first one:

Below zero temps!!!  Brrr!!!  It’s not supposed to break the 10 degree mark today and we are in a wind chill warning, those will run 10 to 20 degrees below zero most of the day.  A good day to stay inside and snuggle! And surprise surprise, we got close to an inch of snow yesterday afternoon when all they promised was flurries.  So it looks as cold as it feels!

And number two:

Holy smokes, where did that preggo belly come from??? It literally popped out overnight!  It wasn’t there Friday and I don’t believe I noticed it being that far out Saturday or Sunday.  So that was quite a (fun) surprise!  One good thing about that big ol’ belly is it makes my boobs looks a little smaller.  Or more proportioned to the rest of me, maybe.  Those girls are HUGE and getting bigger by the day!  Ha ha!  The joys of pregnancy (and being big chested to begin with).

So wings two days in a row and guess what, I’m craving them right now!!!!  Ahhh!  I’m a wing eating monster! My Progresso soup isn’t going to taste that great in an hour when I heat it up, is it?  Have any of you tried the Progresso Light soups?? Under 80 calories per serving.  I just got some this morning at the grocery store, going to give them a try.  I’m a wimp about eating soup from a can, I’m afraid of all the veggies floating in there.  But I’m going to try it.  I got a Chicken Rotini Vegetable one, Santa Fe Chicken (kind of looked like Chicken Tortilla soup) and plain old Chicken Noodle.  Wish me luck that I don’t gag through the whole thing!

Have a fun, fantabulous week!  Oh, and for some crazy reason I decided to join Instagram, so look me up.  My username is HomemadeHappenings. 

Erin

Shoes, Cards and Baby

Has this been a a long week for anyone else?  It was a busy week so you’d think it would have flown by but for some reason I feel like Monday was eon’s ago!  Sorry to be a bit of an absent blogger this week, trying to get the hang of having Baby Aspen here.  Next week I’ll start writing up posts at night so they can be ready for you first thing in the morning.

I wanted to share 2 new pairs of shoes I recently bought.  I am in LOVE!  First the flip-flops.

I got these at Kohls and am DYING for it to warm up to 60 degrees so I can break them out!  I just LOVE LOVE LOVE them!  So super cute!

Next, I got these flats at Target on clearance.  I have them on my feet as I write this and think they are so darn cute (and comfortable!).

They look quilted with a shiny ‘leather’ piece on the toe.  Ahh! LOVE!

And totally unrelated, here are a couple of cards I made at my Stampin’ Up! workshop last week.

Valentine’s Day, my heart sings!  And below is a card I made at the workshop (on the left) and my version I made for a friend’s birthday on the right.

One last thing.  I am planning on hosting a Valentine’s Day link up about love stories.  So start thinking of a love story you want to share.  It can be about your love for your favorite pet, your grade school boyfriend, your first real crush or the love of your life.  Anything goes!  I’ll be working on a button but plan on linking up on February 14th!

Pregnancy Update: As of yesterday I am 17 weeks along.  According to Baby Center the baby is the size of an onion.  Who wants to think of their baby as an onion?  Weird comparison.  Anyway, feeling good, I feel like the pregnancy has slowed waaaaayyyy down.  3 weeks till my ultrasound!  Can’t wait!  And this is weird, but I do remember doing this with my other two pregnancies:  I am super clingy to Andy!  I seriously can’t be around him enough!  I guess it’s better than not being able to stand being around him – ha!

Well, Dearhearts, have a wonderful weekend!  We are heading to an All State Band Concert tomorrow evening in support of our niece who got in – way to go, Addison!  And after we’re hitting up Buffalo Wild Wings to help with my hot wing cravings (boneless, mild sauce please)!  Maybe DQ after to help with my ice cream craving!  Baby likes junk! Ha ha ha!!!  Love to all!

Erin

Beauty Questions

Wow, this week is zinging by! It’s Wednesday already!  Woot woot!  Nothing major planned for the weekend to look forward to but seriously, do you have to have something planned to look forward to the weekend? I don’t think so!

I had a great day with Baby Aspen yesterday.  She is so good!  Brennan is thrilled that she is here today.  Every 2 minutes he asks if he can do something for or with her.  He’s going to be a great big brother!  She’s snoozing in the swing right now so thought I’d get a post out.

I’ve been wondering, do any of you use wrinkle creams?  I am going to be 32 next month (yikes!) and think I should be doing some preventative stuff on my face.  Problem is I have no idea what I should be using.  Can you help me with this?  Throw out the names of your favorite wrinkle preventing products, how often you use them and why you chose that one.

Next question is about makeup.  What brand of foundation do you use?  I would say I'm 50% happy with mine.  I used to always use a Cover Girl foundation then, about 2 years ago, switched to Maybelline’s Pure Stay Powder Foundation.  It stays on better than my old stuff and covers pretty well but I wish it stayed on longer.  Any suggestions on what else to try?

And last question, what kind of shampoo and conditioner do you use?  I love to switch up my poo/cond.  Right now I’m using Redken’s All Soft.  Man does that stuff smell good!  And it leaves my hair super soft and NOT static-y in the winter time.  I’m a big fan of most Redken products, I also like Kenra and Bed Head.  I used to love Sleek Look by Matrix but can’t find it anymore.  So tell me what your fav’s are. 

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Erin

Random Tuesday

Happy Tuesday to all!

Today I am watching a friend’s baby girl. She’s 2 months old and adorable!  I will be watching her until the end of May when school is out.  I am so excited to have a baby in the house.  She is good as gold, cute as all get out and smells so yummy!  Who doesn’t love how babies smell?  Brennan was so mad at me that Baby Aspen was coming today when he’s in school.  He kept telling me it wasn’t fair.  Ha ha, silly boy!  He will be a lot of ‘help’ so I’m happy to have this one day to get used to Aspen and her to me before all of the attention from Brennan starts. 

Aiden starts his week long Basic Skills test today.  Does your state do those?  I remember them from grade school, I actually liked taking them.  Am I weird or what?  Aiden was allowed to take a snack to school from home so I sent him with a granola bar and cereal bar.  He thought it was pretty exciting to get to take a snack.  It’s the little things!

Baby Aspen is snoring, hee hee!  I love babies!

Last night we went to town to get groceries and ate at the Mexican restaurant.  It didn’t sound all that appealing to me, even though I really love Mexican food.  I ordered a chimichanga with ground beef.  For some reason I could barely get it down.  It kept making me gag.  It tasted like it always does but for some reason the baby didn’t like it.  I got about half of it down before I finally gave up.  Andy thought I was losing my mind.  It’s so funny how pregnancy changes you!  I hope I get back my appetite for Mexican food or I’m going to be in trouble!  At least the salsa went down okay.

I have a stack of about 6 books that I’ve been putting off reading that I am going to start working on.  The first one up is Nora Roberts’ ‘Angels Fall’.  I have always been a Nora Roberts fan so I’m hoping this is a good one that keeps my interest.  I just finished Elin Hilderbrand’s ‘The Beach Club’ and it was just ok.  It had way too many characters to keep track of and I thought the ending was a little weird.  But I can get that one out of my book shelf and back to my mom finally. 

This was a random post, sorry for jumping around so much.  Have a great day!

Erin

Pulling Out My Hair

I am so frustrated with Brennan, my 3 year old, today!!!  Ugh, this little boy has hit the stage of “I don’t want to so I’m not going to!”  Grrr, it’s a power struggle around here all day every day!  Every time I have asked him to do something over the past couple of weeks he hunches his shoulders, whines and says ‘Awwww, I don’t WANT to!”  I feel like screaming! 

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

There, I feel a tiny bit better. 

This is a picture of Sassy Pants back in the summer.  I now see this face multiple times a day.

Brennan used to be so easy.  He might try telling me no but if I started to count to three I only had to say one and he’d get moving.  Not no mo, grr!  I am glad he is finding himself but ‘himself’ is ‘me-self’ and me and I do not get along that well!  We are both stubborn and strong headed, and it’s our way or the highway.  One of those pain in the butts is enough in one household, 2 makes it a little crowded.  What to do, what to do?  Pray!

Another frustration I’m having around here is the constant mess.  No matter how many times a day we pick up I turn around and there is another mess.  Toys, books, coloring books, homework, random papers… I just can’t take it anymore!  And don’t even get me started on the bathroom!  I am not sure how to cure this, any suggestions?  I have thought about getting each boy a basket and putting anything of theirs I find on the floor or left out in it and one or two times a day have them grab their basket and put everything away that’s in it.  IDK, will that work or just cause me more frustration?  And is it not teaching them to keep things picked up if I’m picking them up for them and putting them in a basket?  I suppose it will keep the clutter off the floor and me a little more sane.  Maybe I should say if it’s in the basket they lose it for a week?  Will that help?  Tell me what you think.

And last, but not least, I think it is time for me to stop reminding Aiden of every single step of his morning.  Brushing his teeth, making his bed, getting dressed, packing his bag, filling his water bottle, grabbing his snow pants and boots.  He’s 6, in 1st grade, and I think if I keep telling him what to do all the time he’s never going to learn to do it on his own and I’m not teaching him responsibility.  Am I an evil witch? Is it too soon?  I honestly think he is old enough to remember most, if not all, of that himself.  But maybe I’m wrong?  I need advice on this, too. 

Sorry for the boring, downer post on a Friday.  Doing anything fun this weekend?  We are headed to the BIG big city to see our friends and to celebrate one’s birthday.  Otherwise we have a low-key weekend, I’m ready for it!

Okay, folks, weigh in on my frustrations and give me some advice and tips!  Thanks in advance!

Erin 

Baby Update And Super Bowl Link Up

Hey there!  I’m linking up with Amy today for her Super Bowl Link Up.  As some of you know I am a DIP girl!!!  I love me some dips and appetizers!  Any excuse to get together with friends so I can snack all night long on amazing dips and appetizers is great for me. 

This dip I found via Pinterest – no kidding, like what dips aren’t on Pinterest now?  Anyway, I do not like dips with corn in them normally but this one also has red bell pepper, which I LOOOOOVVVE in dips so I thought I’d try it out.  I made a half batch for a BBQ party we had here last summer with about 8 friends.  While the burgers were burning we sat around the bowl of dip and had it gone in 5 minutes flat!  Seriously!  It was SO.DARN.GOOD!!!  We all loved it and all the girls took the recipe home.  So please give it a try regardless of the corn. Go with a half batch so if you end up not really liking it you’re not throwing out as much money.  Here you go!

Corn and Pepper Dip

1 red pepper, 2 jalapenos (unseeded), 1 can of corn, 1/2 can diced olives, 16 oz. cream cheese (softened), and 1 packet Hidden Valley Ranch dip seasoning mix. Serve with crackers.

I don’t add the olives because most some people are crazy picky and don’t like them.  I used Wheat Thins for the crackers, I just love how they taste with dips.

Disclaimer:  The above recipe is from Pinterest but it didn’t have any source attached to it so I can’t give credit where credit is due.  I am sorry to whomever took this amazing picture! Thanks for the yummy dip!

And I have to share one more because, like I said, I am a dip girl!  This one’s a hot dip and sooooo yummy!

Carrie’s Hot Chicken Dip

4 chicken breasts, cooked and diced into small pieces

4 – 8 oz. pkgs. cream cheese

1 Red Bell Pepper, diced

4-5 jalapeno peppers, diced (seed some to keep the heat down)

1 c. diced onion

1 c. Miracle Whip (NOT real mayo)

1 T. lemon juice

Mix together in crock pot and heat through.  Serve with tortilla chips and crackers. (I use Wheat Thins, they taste good with this dip.)

I call this Carrie’s because my friend Carrie gave me the recipe, but feel free to change it to Erin’s Hot Chicken Dip, I won’t mind. Ha ha!

I can’t wait to see all the other recipes and to try some of them out! YUM!

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And now on to the Baby Update. 

I recorded the baby’s heartbeat on my phone and of course I can’t get it to upload to You Tube. Why oh why doesn’t it work on my phone???  Grr!  Anyway, Baby’s heartbeat sounded like a horse galloping.  Kind of funny, wasn’t the typical whoosh sound you normally hear.  But it was healthy and strong!  Here’s are some other stats.

Weight gained this appointment: 1 lb.

Total weight gained: 1 lb.

Baby’s heartbeat: 160’s

Me: wearing maternity pants now, started that about a week ago.  Some maternity shirts, only to cover the band on the pants, but definitely don’t need them yet.  I’m feeling great, crazy mood swings still.  I told Andy that it must be a girl and it’s telling me that 2 females should no inhabit the same body.  Yea right, I wish. 

Baby: possibly felt a kick last Friday, felt like popcorn, but I haven’t felt anything since.  It’s early, though, so it could have just been gas.  Starting to get a small bump and my BabyBump app on my phone tells me the baby should weight about 3.5 oz. and be approx. 4.5 inches long (head to rump).  About the size of an avocado.  Last week it said an orange which I believe it the same size or bigger than an avocado, but whatev’s.

The boys are still very excited about this and ask me how I’m feeling and how the baby’s feeling often.  They are good, kind, considerate boys.  I am still emotional, but that’s how I am when I’m not pregnant too so who knows if I’m more or less now that I’m preggo.  But I feel ugly and fat all the time, something I didn’t feel a lot of when pregnant with the boys.  Another sign it could be  a girl?  Who knows.

Ok, I need to get moving. Sorry I couldn’t share the sound of the heartbeat with you, just turn on some old western and listen to the horses running, that’ll get you close!

Love, hugs and good wishes to all!

Erin

My Treasures, Your Trash

Hello, everyone!  Welcome to my new followers – I can’t wait to get to know you better (leave me a comment so I can do just that!).

Take a look at this:

After 10 1/2 years of marriage that is all that is left of my stuff at my parent’s house.  Well, WAS the rest of the stuff.  That stuff is now at my house.  I had so much fun going through all of it.  Good memories were packed away in those boxes.  My husband thought most (okay, all) of it was junk but he was super sweet about watching me go through it and exclaim “Oh my gosh!  I forgot about this!”  “Oh my gosh!  I made this!”  “Oh my gosh, why did I keep this?”  And my boys had fun watching, too.  Here are some of the treasures I found.

Part of my eclectic CD collection.  Seriously, X-Files soundtrack, Madonna and The Romeo and Juliet soundtrack.  Weird.

There’s also Shania Twain, Green Day, Aerosmith, Barenaked Ladies.  Honestly, how terrible was my taste??

Those orange and black balls were from my cheerleading days.  Our team mascot was the Demon (we are NOT Satan worshippers, just bad asses!).  That doll is a ceramic piggy bank.  And there are my letters I earned from academics, cheerleading and band.  I even found my graduation tassels in there!

JACKPOT!!!!  BARBIES!!!  Damn, Ken, you’re lookin’ good! Bah ha ha!!!

And this, the very first wedding bouquet I ever caught!  I have actually caught 2 in my life, the second one was all white so I added a few springs of my wedding colors to it and used that to throw at my own wedding.  And the cool thing with that one was that the tradition held true – I was the next person in that family to get married, some 10+ years later!!!  And now that bride’s son and my oldest son are classmates and friends!  Too crazy!  Can you tell that this bouquet was tossed in the 80’s?  (That’s my sweet little Brennie holding the bouquet, he was such a good helper!)

After going through all of these treasures I packed them back up and had Andy carry the totes to the basement.  I had 2 boxes full of my porcelain dolls, still in their original boxes (like that makes them more special or something, duh) but am getting rid of all of those.  They aren’t worth any money and except for 1 that I’m keeping they just don’t mean anything to me anymore.  And I doubt a daughter, if ever I have one, would want them.  It was an obsession of mine back in the day, now I’m over it. 

I also found 2 boxes of old stuffed animals, mostly bears, because I used to really love bears.  Some were special to me, had nice memories attached to them, but what would I do with them now but put them back in the box and store them? So I’m hoping the Children’s Hospital in the big city will take them to give to kids in need of some extra love.  They can use them more than I can.

Oh, I almost forgot!  I now have my wedding dress here!  I didn’t even think to take a picture of that for you.  Dumb.  I have no idea where my husband stashed that so will have to try to find a picture of me actually wearing it to post sometime. 

So, do you still have boxes of memories at your parent’s houses?  Have you pitched and whittled down your treasures?  How did you let things go? I have an emotional attachment to anything from my childhood and it feels like I’m throwing away friends but I know I can’t keep it all…right?

Tomorrow I’m linking up with Amy from ‘The Story of Us’ for a Super Bowl recipe link up.  I hope you join in!

Tomorrow is also my 16 week baby checkup.  I will post after I get back from that and let you know how things are going.  Can’t wait to hear the baby’s heartbeat!

Have a good one!

Erin

Running Shoe Link Up

Good Tuesday, morning!  I’m linking up today with the most fabulous Mel and the amazing Laura for a running shoe link up. 

                      

Honestly, I should have passed on this one because I don’t own good running shoes but I hate to be the left out loser so here it is!

One thing I wanted to share or say about running – you don’t have to run to lose weight.  I have a good friend (a guy) who lost over 100 pounds in a year just by walking and eating better.  Seriously, he never went to a gym, never did anything extra, just walked 5-7 times a week and gave up eating out all the time.  100 POUNDS!!!!!  That’s amazing!  So, if you are having a hard time learning to run, or just hate to run period, WALK!!!  It is just as beneficial!

Thanks again to Mel and Laura for the link up!

Erin

Family Togetherness Night

Good Monday morning!  How was your weekend?  Mine was great but it feels like it flew by faster than usual.  Saturday afternoon it felt like Sunday so I thought “Bonus!  An ‘extra day’!”  That extra day zoomed by so fast I don’t even feel like I had it.  Boo!

Friday night we shut the TV off and spent time together as a family without that interruption.  That was one of my goals for the New Year.  Aiden received a Dr. Dreadful Zombie Lab for Christmas.  Basically you make gross sounding stuff, like Zombie Brains, that taste surprisingly like candy.  Here’s how our Zombie experiments went in pictures.

The Zombie Brains tasted like sour cherries, yum!

If you have a 6-8 year old boy that you need a gift for go with the Dr. Dreadful Labs.  They have a gross factor that boys love and are pretty simple and fast to make so they give the kid instant gratification.  And no, I’m not getting any benefits from Dr. Dreadful for this rave review! Ha!

Tell me how your weekend was! 

Oh, and I changed up the look of the blog a bit.  I get bored easily with that kind of stuff.  What do you think?

Erin

Woot Woot For Friday!

Yahoo, it’s Friday!!!  These holidays have really messed me up on the days of the week but I do love that the weekends have come that much faster with the shortened weeks.  No plans for us this weekend.  Well, I guess I have a plan to meet my mom and sister at a local quilt shop tomorrow morning.  They are having their annual 20% off sale so I’m going to finally hopefully get some fabric to make Bren’s quilt for his bed.  He’s still sleeping in a toddler bed, but quickly growing out of it, so we are going to start shopping for bunk beds for the boys and Bren will need a twin size quilt.  I bought Aiden’s a few years ago but for some reason feel like making Bren’s.  Just trying to pile on more to my plate before the baby comes. Ha!

Remember my goals for the New Year, particularly the one about not eating out for the entire month of January?  Well, caved on that one already.  Not that I’m giving up entirely but yesterday I was lonely here all by myself so I called my husband up for lunch. *sigh*  No plans for this weekend so hopefully I can stick to the plan and not eat out all weekend.  This will be the real challenge because we like to go out for supper after church on Saturdays.  It ends at 6:30 and takes us 20 minutes to get home so it just makes sense to stop somewhere.  I need to make a menu/meal plan so I have supper figured out.  That’s my biggest hurdle but if I can figure out what to make ahead of time it doesn’t seem like such a chore. 

Do any of you have those wall decals that are quotes on your walls?  I’m a little behind on this bandwagon, mainly because I can’t figure out what I want to stick to my wall.  I have a cousin who’s husband has a machine to make those so I’m trying to find the right thing to say (and right font to use) so he can make me one or two for my walls.  Here are a few I found, tell me what you think.

This one: I like the quote but not necessarily the font and I definitely do not like the stars.

Not sure about this one, might be too heavy of a quote. ??  And I don’t like the flowers on the fancy below it, but I do like the fancy.

I really like this one – the font w/ the important words bigger.  But, it seems rather long and BIG.  But I do have a big spot for this so maybe it’d work.

I like.

I like this for our bedroom, unless you think that seems too perverted.  Tell me if you do!

Okie dokie, folks.  That’s all for now.  Have a wonderful weekend!

Erin

Alone Again…Naturally

Thursday morning and I’m home alone.  The boys are at school and this house is quiet.  It feels so weird.  Kind of like the first day of school, I don’t quite know what to do with myself.  It was really hard dropping the boys off at school BUT I didn’t cry (a victory for me).  They were so darn happy to head back to school, that helped me be okay with coming home alone.  So now what to do?  Clean and get back on the exercise wagon.

Speaking of the exercise wagon, I have been a big fat failure on this.  Ever since I knew Andy and I were trying to get pregnant I've just kind of let it all go.  Stupid!  I know if I exercise all through my pregnancy it will be that much easier to lose the baby weight (and I’ll gain less baby weight, therefore having less to lose!).  I am tired of feeling fat, frumpy, pudgy and ugly.  The baby bump is starting to come out but all it looks like is a big, fat stomach because of all the stomach fat it is pushing out first.  It’s terrible and it’s bringing me down.  I’m to the point where I don’t want my husband to see me naked or without a shirt on.  I saw a picture of me from Christmas and holy cow, my face is so round and I have about 10 chins. 

It’s ridiculous that I have let this pregnancy be an excuse to not exercise.  Pregnancy doesn’t make me an invalid and I know it is very good for me and the baby if I do keep active and exercise.  So today is the day, my friends.  Today I start 20 minutes of cardio (Zumba) 3 times a week and 3 days a week of strength training (lunges, squats, arms).  I will continue to drink water and try to increase that amount to 64 oz. a day.  It’s hard enough for me to drink 32 oz. so 64 is going to be a big deal. 

Time to get off this computer so I can get moving!  First, though, I want to recommend a book to you.  It’s by Elin Hilderbrand, the title is ‘The Island’.  It’s a very good story with a little romance but no smut.  Check it out!

Talk soon!

Erin

Christmas Recap … A Week Late

Hey there!  Here’s my Christmas recap. 

The boys had a great Christmas and were very spoiled by everyone.  Aiden received 4 Lego sets and already has them all put together.  If you need a gift idea for a 6/7 year old, go the Lego route! 

Bren’s favorite gift was his Imaginext Castle.  Again, if you need a gift idea for a 3-8 year old, any Imaginext play sets are awesome for this age group.  Aiden has 3 sets and has played with Brennan’s non-stop and Brennan plays with it all the time, too. 

Another great idea, Hot Wheels wall tracks.  You can get multiple sets and connect them so they are even cooler than if you just had one set. 

Here’s the annual jammie picture taken at my folk’s place.  The grandkids each get a new set of pj’s for Christmas every year.

Santa (aka Andy) was very good to me this year.  I got a Sherpa throw (have you seen these?? Super duper soft!), some new fun boots, an IPod shuffle and a few other odds and ends. 

The food was delicious everywhere we went.  Chicken Tortilla soup at my parent’s, Taco Burgers and snacks at my in-laws, Cheese Soup and way too much food at my Gma’s and lasagna at my aunt and uncle’s.  I haven’t stepped on the scale, mostly because the battery is dead and I keep forgetting to get a new one at the store.  But if it wasn’t dead I think I’d be sorry I checked!

One last picture, the boys after church Christmas Eve at my parent’s house. 

A quick pregnancy update: I am 15 weeks tomorrow and still wearing my normal clothes.  Weird for me.  I know for lots of people this is common, but with the boys I was wearing maternity pants by 12 weeks so for me this is crazy!  But a good thing because I am having one heck of a time finding maternity jeans!  Seriously, where do they hide them??  I hate the full panel but that’s all I can find so far!  Or if I do find some with a band they are hideous.  So I don’t know what I’ll do, this regular clothes thing can’t last much longer.  On the downside, I can tell I’m pudging out – quit a bit.  It’s hideous.  I have rolls and chub EVERYWHERE!!!  Yuck.  I don’t remember feeling ugly and disgusting with the boys but this time I for sure do.  I have a check up next Thursday, can’t wait to hear the little one’s heartbeat again.  If any of you have any ideas of where I can find cute, AFFORDABLE maternity clothes please let me know.  I can’t stand the thought of spending a ton of money on these clothes I’ll only wear a few months but I’m almost to that point.  Help a preggo out!

The boys and I had our dental check ups this morning (ugh), all good, no cavities.  I might jinx myself here but I have never had a cavity in my life.  Hope my boys get the same good luck. 

Yay for today!  It’s Wednesday already!  2 more days till the weekend again, woot woot!  Hope by then my cold is gone.  This thing really sucks. My nose burns all the time, I sneeze a ton and it’s a constant drip.  Yuck, ew.  I got it from Brennan so he’s in the clear now, hope I don’t pass it on to Aiden and Andy. 

Alright, enough rambling.  Hope you all are recovered from NYE and having a fantabulous 2013!

Happy New Year!

Erin