spreading the l.o.v.e

As I was making something special today, I was thinking about how fun it is to receive a package or a special piece of mail. Something just for you. Something a friend sends just as a "thinking of you" gift. It doesn't have to be fancy or expensive, just a friendly reminder of how much you mean to them.

I want to do that for someone.

So, because it is the week of valentines and I think we all ought to share the love, I'm going to share it with YOU!

Well... OK, I wish I could send everyone who reads this something, but I will be picking one lucky reader.

So leave a comment...
and by Friday morning I will pick a lucky winner!

Maybe, I'll put all the names in a hat and have Taryn choose.
We will see.

Anyway have fun and share your love!!

p.s. This "something" I will be sending is so so awesome. Like it truly will make you happy.

a few posi+ives

I'm really trying hard here to find the good in today.

Dealing with the same blah-dy blah-ness that January has to offer...
plus that one little tidbit that changed my whole families life ya know
forever...

ok, back to the plus sign.
here's my list...

#1 - Last night I found a pair of maternity skinny jeans at Ross for $15.00 And they are pretty cute... with cute pockets and all.


besides the fact that Taryn yelled out in the dressing room last night, "mommy... is that you bum? ewe, yucky!"
I think they make it look nice.

#2 - I also purchased some new undies that make me feel oh so happy...sorry if that's TMI, but when you're pregnant, that makes a w-o-r-l-d of difference!

oh how I love you carinessa ;)

#3 - Taryn's new room is almost completely painted. The happiest color of yellow you 'err did see.


can you tell? It's going to be oooo-ber cute!

#4 - The fact that I will be able to decorate that adorable room in a few days time! I just can't wait and can't stop dreaming of all I want to do in there.

#5 - a favorite gal of mine stopped by to give me a treat.


definitely brought some smiles :)

#6 - valentines candy.

candy hearts
ju-ju hearts
cinnamon sugar hearts
I heart them all.

#7 - I think I will turn the cinnamon ones into chocolate covered ones! oooooohh la la.

#8 - there are only 4 more days left of this dreadful month. Then it's a short 28 days of February, and as soon as March arrives, it's just about baby time!

#9 - I'm having another good hair day. It's in a good phase.

#10 - I cleaned the kitchen.
nearly spotless.
dishes done - check
ajaxed sink - check
counters all cleared and wiped down - check
floor swept - check
and moped - check.

ahhh... Ok, now I can breath easier.

Oh and one more happy thing... I'll be heading out soon and as a reward for already drinking 2 of my 3 required jugs of water, I'll be getting a nice soothing 32 oz. gas station filled diet coke.

with pebble ice

fried

This is your brain on drugs...




This is your brain filled with psycho pregnancy hormones...


the end.

a splash of colour

I overheard the news tonight saying we had the highest amount of polution/smog in the valley today.

e . w. e .

Smog can really bring a girl down, seriously what can make a day feel worse?

As I sat at home ealier, still wearing pajamas, watching mindless tv, I thought of something I learned over 7 years ago.... C-YA!

(that's Change Your Attitude)

A little somethin' I learned from Mr. Bytheway.... the same time I began falling in love with Mr. Right ;)

So that's what I decided to do, change my attitude.
Along with my clothes.

Yesterday I had a short visit to the D.I., but came out with a couple good finds.

This skirt being one of them.
After a good scrub in the washer, it felt like new and made my belly happy to feel "relaxed."

I've decided I need to up the color scale and stop wasting my time wearing boring neutrals. I think this light weight cotton skirt is my new favorite piece of clothing... thanks d.i. dropper offer!

Another +plus+ ----> I got my hair did. Yup, got me some more blonde! Blonde ALWAYS makes me happy! It's like watching the sun come out when you blow dry your hair. luff it!

Do I look like I'm in luff?

The girls and I had a get-together night to beautify one another.
3 of us = 2 to work on one's head of hair at a time.
Total genius!

And there was even another benefit to this day....

there's just nothing like it.
Every now and then a "singer" gives ya the heebie jeebies and you decide to spare yourself and fast forward, then there's that one singer who has "the" story and gives you goose bumps as they share their voice.
It's like I can almost feel the warmth of spring coming, just knowing American Idol has started, the end finale will mean it's SPRING-TIME!

and I know no matter what, I can always be lifted up by this little princess...

She comes in many forms and has many talents she loves to share. Even a heart-wrenching fall to the ground crying scene (just like the scene after Cinderelly's mean step-sisters rip apart her dress and she goes running to that bench in the yard and cry's so very sadly) - ya, that's who she's imitating.
She's very convincing.

Or maybe she'll wash your walls as she hums a tune, or bake you a cupcake with pixie dust sprinkled on top.

I'm telling ya, many talents.

"No matter how your heart is grieving
If you keep on believing
the dream that you wish will come true..."

Thank you Cinderelly.

a whale of a time

According to quite a few people I've seen in the last week, I'm getting "really big."

Luckily for those who have braved these words, I decided not throw a punch their way. Mostly because they are all people I generally have positive feelings towards.

Now if someone mentions those same words who I am not fond of, well that's a whole other post.

I don't remember hearing anything like this when I was pregnant with Taryn, but maybe I repressed those memories. I definitely repressed the memory of how sick I was the first trimester. One of God's tender mercies I suppose.

My next doctor's appointment is this Monday and I have a few thoughts and questions in mind.

- So, am I bigger than normal?
- How about we push that due date to the end of March instead of the beginning of April
- I was induced last time and it all went really well... how 'bout we go with that plan

(if he isn't set for that idea...I can always come up with a good excuse)

- um, my sister was out of town when my first baby was born and she's suppose to leave the first week of April and I really really want her to be there, so dearest most best doctor ever... induction is a must.

We already had a dry run of going into labor this last weekend. Kinda frightening. I woke up at 3 am with contractions. Not just those annoying braxton hicks that I've been having for awhile now, but the real deal kind. I woke Robbie up and we said some prayers, then I tried going back to sleep.
Ya, that wasn't happening.
After a call to the on-call doctor, I decided it would be best to go into the hospital. I called my mom, explained what was going on, and she came to stay over with Taryn.
We were on our way.

So many thoughts ran through my mind...

- what if I really am in labor and they can't stop it?!
- I am sooo not ready to have this baby! I haven't even nested yet...
- I'm only 26 weeks, how big can she be at this point!
- what if she's born and is only 1 pound.
- what if they put me on bed rest?

Those were just a few of my worries.

Once we arrived at the hospital, I had timed the contractions and they were about 7-10 minutes apart. The nice lady at the front desk grabbed me a wheel chair, quickly got my info, and had me with the nurse right away.

So far I really like this hospital and am excited to deliver there.

The nurse was great, set my mind at ease, got me all situated and hooked up to machines and said,
"Well you're not crazy! You are having contractions! Now let's get them to stop..."

After a few minutes she gave me a shot which as she said would "make me shake like a leaf."

And it did.

As I was feeling shaky, Robbie pointed out that the machine was showing a straight line.
That meant no more contractions.

YAY!!!

We waited another 5 minutes just to be sure they were not coming back, then we were on our way to the parking lot walking to our car in the falling snow with me having the shakes and leaving some scary worries behind.

The nurse said they were most likely brought on because I was dehydrated and I should be drinking 3 - 4 hospital sized jugs of water a day.

So now I look like this a lot and spend most my day running to the bathroom before I sneeze or cough.

I am also trying to go for this

instead of mindlessly eating all of these for my chocolate fix.

That nutella is yum-o. especially on toasted homemade bread (which I could never bake, only good neighbors bring that to me ;) or with bananas, or pretzels, or probably on anything else for that matter.

Now that I'm back to just getting "big," I'm going to enjoy these last few weeks of having only one child who is full of life and makes everyday exciting.

Here is this little clip to prove it...

Christmas treated us well

I think I was on the nice list this year because I was spoiled :)

So was Taryn. Christmas eve I slept a wink and finally got up at a quarter to six to get my own self ready and take many glances at the pile of presents gleaming in the low light of the Christmas tree.

So so magical...

Robbie and I had stayed up til one setting up Taryn's new baby doll set of necessities. I thought with baby sister coming, she would love to take care of her own. More like her own 4. For each piece of the set, there is a baby making good use of it.

When I finally convinced Robbie of waking her up at 7:15, she knew right away who had come by when I said...Guess who came!!

"Santa Claus! He so nice mommy, he bring toys!" Thank you ho ho..."

Actually she really could care less about St. Nick. Every time he was around this season she got the shakes and wanted to go in "the other room." But then again, when he's not visibly seen, she thinks he's alright.

I got a camera (It's turning into a tradition, by the time Christmas rolls around mine is out of service...I guess I just make good use of it all year long) For Robbie's sake, let's hope this one lasts a bit longer.

I also received many other goodies from my list of wants. I surprised Robbie with a new coat. Why does that man have to have such long arms!! At my parents house we were surprised with a kitchen aid mixer! Yay, I've been wanting one for quite some time. Taryn got her wish of Princess Barbies. I think that was the first gift she opened there, after that she wasn't interested in much else.

Grandma go-go gave her a mini vanity to help keep her beautified. Another successful gift.

Then there have been the dress ups... oh man, she would LIVE in the shoes, crowns, skirts, anything that is princess-like. She was spoiled with the shoes (she usually makes anyone with heels take them off so she can dance around in them) I guess they all decided it was time she had her own.

So the last few days have looked like this...


such the girly girl.

Overall Christmas was wonderful. In many ways it felt the same, yet in the back of our minds we all felt the emptiness of my Dad sitting in the corner enjoying the sight of his children getting too much. Always the one with the garbage sack to collect the unwanted wrapping paper. He and my brother are always the same with the way they open gifts. They wait. They are handed ones with their names, yet they don't fret to open them in a hurry. Then they each have a big pile of un-opened presents at the end.

Silly boys.

Like my mom said on her facebook status the day after Christmas...

check.

some kind of normal

After some much needed blog stlalking, I decided mine needed an update.

The normal kind...

So here's some mommy blog pics and the usual stuff us moms post... in a nutshell.

Halloween did happen.

It included a neighborhood trunk or treat. My first one eva. I didn't know how decked out everyone treated their trunks, so I guess I went obverboard? Oh well, I got lots of compliments!


p.s. - all pics are from my iphone, not too sharp, but is better than nothing!

We did the pumpkin patch thing....






My high school buds did our traditional halloween partay get-togetha.

Don't know why I decided to stick my prego gut out, I wasn't really even showing yet...weird.


I was a witch and Robbie was a nerd.

Taryn was an extremely cute witch for Halloween. I even made some of her costume (only the parts that needed a hot glue gun and tying) I loved her costume and I think the trunk or treat we went to at Dan's grocery store was the one and only time she wore the entire ensemble.
I had to tell her she was a "princess witch" to get that to work. Even then I got lucky.


This picture was right in the middle of all these Halloween ones. I can't not post it. The last home game I went to for Oly football. My Dad was holding Taryn while I tried to get a cute shot of her in her new hat and gloves I had just bought for that evening.
I want those big hairy calloused hands back...

I can see him perfectly through this picture, it makes my heart hurt.

Ok...I was going to stick to normal. But it's hard... I don't feel normal.

Let's see what happened next. Oh ya, November happened and it felt like everyday was 10 days, but at the same time looking back it's all a blur.

Then we did Thanksgiving and though I feel blessed with love, peace, the gospel, the atonement and so many other "eternal perspective" things. I also feel sadness and would give every "earthly" blessing to have my Dad back here as my Dad, the man who can never be replaced.

So.... now we are onto December. I really do LOVE Christmas time. I am celebrating, and so is my family. I decorated the house and made it cheery and bright. I added a few more things to make me smile. Amy Grant sings in the background and makes me think of Christmas's past.

Month by month, Week by week, Day by day... hour by hour I know the Savior will lead me through and continue to bear this burden that sometimes overwhelms me.


This month I will think of Him fondly, with new eyes, and celebrate His birth.