the second of march

I've had a pretty light load the last two weeks work-wise, and have mostly thoroughly enjoyed it.  I don't have unending amounts of energy these days, and it's been really lovely to take things a bit easier.  We've still got our taxes to do, but as of this moment I'm caught up with my billing and whatnot and am feeling pretty accomplished (aside from the pile of filing still to address... Sesame Street is only an hr long, y'all).  I'm feeling our baby kick and move around pretty regularly now, which I love.  Here are a few photos from today... notice the meadow that is our back yard (we have a date with the lawn mower this weekend, and our front flower bed is a verdant sea of weedy weeds):

this one is a little obsessed with balls right now.  along with Elmo and apples, of course.

help, mama!

today - 21 weeks 1 day.  notice how comfortable I am with y'all - I got up this morning, threw on some clothes, and got with it.  aside from pinning my bangs back with a bobby pin, I did not fix my hair at all.  obviously.

The garage makeover is slooowly coming along.  More photos will come as we progress.  The clean-out has proven to be a more time-consuming job than I anticipated.  So far we've purchased an outdoor plastic storage unit for the back of the house to store the mower/leaf-blower/charcoal/wood chips for grilling & smoking/etc, and a metal shelf unit to live in the garage.  We've made trips to Goodwill and Recycling.  We've been collating things to keep from the attic with things to keep from the garage, and getting rid of trash.  M has gone through most of our boxed-up cd collection and is taking a large pile to Cactus Music to sell. Truthfully, it still looks like a train wreck out there but we're super-close to the next step:  blowing insulation into the ceiling and doing some repairs to the ceiling/walls before we can paint everything.  Other things we're eyeing for the space:  this cabinet to go by the washer/dryer for laundry and whatnot, and this ceiling fan to keep us all from melting away in the summer. 

Of course, the ultimate goal is to make our 2 bedroom/1 bath house work as well as it possibly can for us as we add a new member to our family.  here are other things I'm plotting:

Girls' room 'Before'.  The plan is for all of the things I've been storing in the closet to the right (as well as a few things in the one to the left) to go somewhere else to make way for a real closet organization system doohickie for these little people (we're likely going with one from Home Depot).  That white shelf unit to the far left will likely get moved across the room and turned on it's side to become the changing table (while still giving me good shelf storage).

I'm thinking we'll move the crib to the other side of the window and put a toddler bed for Magz under the tree branch, where her crib currently is (except positioned lengthwise down the other wall off to the right).  The red bookshelf, playmat, etc will get rerouted back over to the other side of the room where it used to live, in place of the white shelf unit by the closet.

The little hideabed craigslist couch is finding a new home somewhere else in the house... the while shelf unit will hopefully be here on this wall as storage/changing table. That tall lamp is being moved to another room, too, I think.

This shelving unit (sister to the one in Magz' room)  will likely be replaced by the little hideabed couch.  Tentative plans are to turn this unit back up on it's end and put it on the wall off-camera to the left.  I have a smallish old sewing table from YaYa (currently in the garage) that I'm plotting to put by the sofa with a lamp on it.  The short wall under the airplane art would be a space to put a toy basket to hold things currently hanging out in corners in the living room, Maggie's purple chair, etc.  I'm not sure where the coral chair would end up.

So see, that white shelf unit can go on it's end where the pretty brown cabinet is and still hold records and stuff.  Maybe.  Oh, and that closet back there in the dark hallway needs a do-over, too...

and the pretty brown cabinet can go in the dining room where the tree painting is.  Maybe.

Our house isn't huge, but the good-sized rooms give us lots of options for configuring our space.  This process of pulling dusty, hidden things out and holding them to the light is good - it's making us sift through things and determine what's worth keeping and what's not, and I truly think half of the battle is simply not having as much 'stuff' to worry about/keep up with.  

In closing, I'd like to mention the bible study I've been part of.  Though I've been far from perfect with regard to keeping up with the homework, overall it's been such a blessing.  I want to offer a word of encouragement to other mothers that I sincerely hope isn't translated into a guilt-thing - I know there are so many things vying for our time, but I encourage you to prioritize being a part of a bible study as you're able.  Sunday mornings haven't really been optimal learning times for me since I had Magz and I'm lousy at self-discipline in my day-to-day, so this Beth Moore series has provided me with a weekly opportunity to hear good teaching and delve as much as I'm able into the Word, with a little positive accountability built in just by being part of a group.  It's not always convenient, but the net effect on my spirit helps fuel me to be a better wife, mom, and church volunteer.  I loved a moment early in the series when Beth was speaking of her early days in teaching... she confessed something like, "Do you know how hard it is to teach a bible class when you're never in the Word?"  I DO know what that's like - in all of the volunteer capacities I serve in at SWC, I can easily feel run down, given to resentment, and covetous of 'my time' if I'm not being driven by love for God and His people... and that's just at church.  Can you imagine my attitude at home?!  So, maybe a class like the one I'm doing right now isn't for you... if anyone has other ways you obtain nourishment for your soul, I'd love to hear it.  If, however, you're our of practice like me and just need an encouraging voice to remind you that it's vital for us to be looking for spiritual sustenance somewhere, consider this that.

happy weekend,

-m.y.

* a quick addendum - the above thing I wrote about bible study isn't a sentiment reserved just for other moms, and I suddenly realize that's how it sounded.  that's just where I'm at - I wasn't good at self-discipline/practicing regular spiritual pursuit before I had a child, and having one just highlighted the fact in neon.  if you don't have offspring I want to encourage you to be a part of a study, too.  :) xo.

mid to late august. really?

so here are a few glimpses into recent life.

I was feeling like we needed to lighten up around here, literally. our old brown sofa had sprung a few holes that magz enjoyed sticking her fingers into to triumphantly pull out tufts of stuffing, so we decided to gift Old Brown to brother J and hit craigslist for a replacement. we found a super-cool sofa/chair set for a great price, and voila! I really like the color and the clean, modern vibe of them. here's mgb and the baby demonstrating the sofa's napping capability:

can we talk about the most dramatic plant ever? these coleus plants have positively thrived in our front bed, crowding out other flora friends and behaving in a rather flamboyant manner. this was how they looked when we got home one afternoon... droopy, sad, parched, someone help us this is a dire situation gasp!

close up of sad, dramatic coleus.

two - count 'em - TWO hours later after a little watering and a brief, freak rain shower:

REFRESHED! BOOOIIIIINGGGGG!

woohoo!! look alive, everybody!!

the DRAMA.

this was taken after church last Sunday. you can't see it much, but this is a dress mgb bought me as a surprise, and I love it so much.

iphone photos of naps.

iphone photos of storytime. goodnight, moon!

back to the whole 'lightening up' idea. we gave away our old dining room table and chairs and sold our antique buffet on craigslist. you can sort of see that we're using the other table to eat at in the sunroom, which feels really nice. we still have to move that light fixture that hung down over the table, but I think we're going to leave the space clear. the open space is sooo nice! we're calling it the 'dance floor'. we've finally finished all of the carpentry work on the shelving and replaced our huge television with a sleek version that swivels out to watch and fits nice and flush against the wall when we want to put it away. all in all, the house just feels a lot bigger and it was a nice, emotional boost to switch things up a bit. plus it's easier to clean.

playing with scarfs I brought back from mexico.

a tricked-out version of daddy & magz. thanks, instagram app.

hmmmm, I've got my thinking bowl on...

dear.

she can say mama, dada, elmo, up, dog, I done, I do, no, and hi. she can sign apple, more, please, cereal, eat, drink, hot, banana, and bib. she loves those books of first words, and is getting pretty good at recognizing animals, foods, pieces of clothing, toys, etc. she's also getting good at shaking her head 'no' and communicating with her body, she give lots of kisses, and will hug and pat you. oh, and she's working on saying this:

Feeling Gravity's Pull. or Saucer Full Of Secrets.

the title of this blog really has no bearing on it's content. they're just the suggestions of my husband and, let's face it, they DO pull you in.

this has been a rather challenging week. mgb was sick the first part of it, and he's now dealing with hives. poor man! he even has them on the bottom of his feet, I've just been informed, which is why he has to walk 'that way'. let your imagination fill in a fun visual of that. I followed last week's awesome gym-going (4 times! shazamm!) with a paltry two times this week, and somehow managed to tweak something in my back that's making me hobble a little today. egad, girl, get it together. I've only yoga'd once this week, and it's still pretty hard. bouncing back a bit at a time.

I was suddenly bitten by the spring cleaning bug yesterday, and effectively made a pretty big mess before it (mostly) got cleaned up. come to think of it, it's possible the back tweaking happened somewhere in the cyclone of yesterday's domestic activity. huh. anyway, I actually wasn't sure what was going to come of turning the house somewhat topsy turvy, since doing anything like this with a baby around makes for a very stop/start kind of day. I probably fed her too many toasted Os to bribe an extra ten minutes, you know? in the end, I moved a cool coral chair out of our bedroom to the office, gave everything a good dusting and the floors a good vacuum/swiffer, and to make things a bit more sunny I changed out the curtains in the living/dining room for the ones I'd made for our bedroom. we also decided to go ahead and finally let go of the ikea chair thing I bought years ago (and recovered with my mom & grandmothers... remember that, mom?!), so there's a lot more space happening in the living room. space that's mostly strewn with toys right now, but still. later, in the future, we have hopes of replacing some of our furniture... like our beloved sofa with the holes in the leather in which Magz loves to fish her little fingers, or our dining room table whose chairs get ricketier and ricketier. in the interim, a little clearing and airing out has left us with a much better vibe - here's what the curtains look like from my vantage point on the holey sofa:



I still love those yellow birds in the pattern.

put a bird on it!

I don't care if it's trendy, I'll still do it. IN MODERATION.

and now for baby photos.

this is the current wallpaper on my phone and I love it so much.

hanging out in the back yard:

whaddup, mom?!

you're probably starting to notice that I tend to take rather a lot of photos when she's eating. the reasons for this are twofold - A) I want to remember what she's eaten, and B) she can be pretty flipping funny at mealtimes. this week, she's super into broccoli.

like, grabbing-a-floret-and-shoving-the-whole-thing-in-her-mouth-into-broccoli.

I love this expression. notice the bits on her tray... there are half-moons of Os that she'd bitten into and discarded the other half, small cubes of cantaloupe (which she was also way into this week, as we learned when offering her a sample at Central Market), and slivers of apple. I came in with the rest of the apple to eat with her, and she insisted (through pointing) on trying mine.

which she seemed to prefer, no matter how much I tried to convince her that what was on her tray was the same thing I was holding.

it's all about the clapping right now. super fun! ask her to clap for you next time you see her! or start singing the pattycake song...

done with dinner. DONE.

we are also terribly into bananas. loooooove them.

I wonder what this weekend will look like. we've got a wedding to attend, which will be fun. I want to build up my flower beds in the front and plant things. I pruned the hedges back to within an inch of their lives out there. I want to sleep. I want to love on mgb. I want to go to the gym. I want to hang new curtains in the bedroom... and maybe give the bathroom a fresh set?! see, that's how inspiration strikes. bam! I want our family to play in the park again. I want to see friends. I want to teach and sing and worship. I want to find a good facial exfoliator. and a better short slip for skirts. I want to finish putting stuff away (okay, I don't really want to do this but I have to). I want to use my $5 off coupon at DSW and shop for my new niece, Katelin, who's supposed to be joining us at the end of the month. I want to do most of the above while drinking coffee, black please.

I probably won't do some of those things. but it's nice to write them down anyway.

here's Magz jamming out to Will.i.am's song, 'What I Am', recently on Sesame Street. it is awesome.

clink on the link above in green to view the Sesame Street video yourself and see if it doesn't make you ten times smiley-er than you were before.

time for cookies. I mean cardio! no, I really mean cookies.

-m.y.

a productive weekend, I must say.

we've been puttering around the house all weekend, and it's been seriously lovely. the weather cooperated and provided a most agreeable climate in which to tackle our yard, which needs heaps and heaps of TLC. margaret ann turns 9 months old on tuesday and she's doing new things every day, which is thrilling, scary, and bittersweet all at once. here are a few photoz of the girl:

with grandma and momo in Hico:

hangin' out in her Amy's Ice Cream onesie with the berry paci and toasted hole 'n ohs (we're so into using out fingers right now):

"this is a local green bean, everybody":

playing the pots:

but not for very long. I'll just sit here and chew this spoon please, thanks.

we cleared all the cacti and giant creepy aloe vera from this front bed. there are still a lot of rocks to pick up, but we're making good progress. here's mikebell digging everything up - I marked the outline of the bed I want with the garden hose. fyi, somewhere in those rocks below is a little garden snake we encountered... we let him go his merry way. I'm hoping the dirt under all of the rocks and things our renters used in this flower bed is rich and good, as I used Mary Fritz' organic recipe for most of the beds years ago...

here's our yard debris from the weekend. we mowed/weed-eated the front and back yards, dug up a bunch of wild onion growing in the back, attacked the front flower bed in front of our bedroom and hauled/scooped up a lot of rocks out of both it and the front planter (and there's more to pick up!), and mikebell set up our new compost bin in the back yard. MB also performed most of the physical labor this weekend, it must be said. maggie hung out with us and did pretty well most of the time, playing in her pack 'n play and watching everything intently. see the crazy creepy aloe vera on the end?? it looked a little monstrous both in and out of the flowerbed.

I'm excited to plant more of the type of plants I enjoy. I want to go back and find photos of what I did with it when I lived here years ago, just to compare. we have more prep work to do, but it's a good start.

things that are really good:

--I made it to the Y three or four times last week. I know it seems dumb that I can't really remember how many times, but that's how things are. it was at least three, and THAT is awesome.

--as a birthday gift, we went to Luke's Locker Saturday morning and I got fitted with some Brooks tennis shoes, which are light as air and were on sale to boot.

--I got a new client last week that should be fairly steady, which is always good.

--I cut my soda and sugar consumption this past week and we ate really well, which just felt super-good.

--I'm loving Aveeno's tinted 30SPF daily moisturizer.

--this week we're doing our taxes. let's get it over with.

-m.y.

she surfaces to blog a little blog...

I'm alive... just a little crazy. observe:

see? crazy. I'm writing thank you notes in this photo, btw. I'm not done yet, but I'm getting there.

the cliff notes:

we're slowly getting things unpacked and put away. I've really tried to not just shove things somewhere with the idea of dealing with it later - why would I want to deal with it later when I have a baby to think about?! this has caused us to find actual homes for most things, donate many things, throw away some things, and banish the rest to the garage to be sorted as we feel we can tackle it. curtains have been made for the baby room and bathroom, and I have one more set to make for our bedroom. we hung curtains in the living and dining room, which made me really happy. I'm telling you, curtains make a room feel radically different. I'm willing to concede that I might be a little obsessed with them.

I'm feeling pretty good. I'm very large. duh. I'm outgrowing everything and my left hip still hurts most days in a way that's impossible to ignore and makes me sad. boo-hoo, I know it must get old to hear about such things. I'm starting to really look forward to our (currently hiccuping) baby arriving, instead of being afraid she'll come early. I'm still trying to rest as much as possible and drink the water. at my last visit, Dr. H said everything looks really good - my body seems to be appropriately preparing itself for birthing a baby, and our girl did really well on some non-stress test that monitors accelerations in her heart rate (it totally stressed ME out... every time her heart would ramp up I thought something wrong was happening, but apparently that's what nice, healthy, non-stressed out babies' hearts do when they're active). I see him again tomorrow, and our specialist again on Monday just to make sure everything's still copacetic. I'm starting to get what I assume are Braxton Hicks contractions - I've noticed them at night mostly, when I wake up and my whole stomach is tight and feels like a hard rock. it goes away, but it's sort of fun to know that my body is rehearsing to play it's part the best it can. oh, and my fingers felt a little puffy one day so I decided to go ahead and take my wedding ring off - Jenny T, your story is burned in my memory! I feel a little nutty and incredibly scattered, and I go through bouts of being tired and moody, having spurts of energy and peak efficiency, and then wanting to hide away, be very still, and not talk to anyone. do you feel for my husband yet?

speaking of husband, thanks to craigslist he achieved his dream of owning a smoker. here's his first experiment, duck legs (that thing coming down is the thermometer... he has a super-cool digital one):

the somewhat blurry outcome. they were good, just a bit too salty. we decided the delicious cure he used had too much salt. oh well, it was still a great first run.

round two - a big honking slab of brisket.

with the rub. after this, he rubbed it with mustard, too.

it's a messy business.

welcome to the family, smoker. we shared our brisket with friends on Memorial Day, which I got absolutely no pictures of. lame.

and here's a before and after of our most recent baby room project. we found a wall art decal we really liked on etsy and it came in the mail yesterday. here's the room last night, before:

husband, working on applying our cherry blossom branch:

and then making it sprout cherry blossoms:

the finished product this morning...

I really love how the blossoms are 'blowing' across the room:

we also had the etsy dude make us these letter decals... we weren't shooting to have a total bird theme all over the room, but we did agree early on about liking the idea of birds on the walls and this Bible verse fitting in somewhere:

nope, we don't have doors on the closets yet. and yep, those are MY shoes in the baby's room. she needs to learn to share, yo.

I hope this isn't in bad form, but I found it a welcome sight this morning. I told M that the last month left me feeling really haphazard when it comes to our budget - not that there's any problem, but we've grown accustomed to being pretty disciplined and May was a wonky, wacky, month for me. I just didn't feel as connected to our budget as I normally do, my brain doesn't seem to have as much room to care about details and that makes me feel sloppy and disorganized, and we had a lot of odds and ends that were needed/wanted to set up house. thankfully, my husband is on top of things. I'm so glad one of us is. anyway, seeing our little piles of cash on the table to put in envelopes for the month of June made me happy. it's a new, fresh month! two new categories were added this month: Christmas (which we usually start saving for in June... it's worked out really well the last two years), and a special diaper/baby essentials envelope, to start figuring out how much we're actually going to need to plan to budget for that kind of stuff. it might look a little weird and seem like kind of a pain to do things this way, but using cash has helped us so much with keeping track of spending and staying on course we don't really mind.

I just got back from doing some Fiesta price & item voice overs, and feel it would be wrong to not mention how blessed we've been. God has sent me some really interesting, wonderful work lately that's not been too overwhelming (like the trips to Dallas can be... I don't miss that at all right now). it's more than I could have hoped for, honestly. I still have a tendency to stress a little about wondering what's going to happen after I have a baby and my priorities shift, but I'm trying to stay in a place of faith and just focus on gratitude for what I've been given right now. I'm thankful for these recent gigs, for the blessing they'll be to our family's budget over the next couple of months and for the shot in the arm they've given my confidence as I anticipate these big life changes. thank you, Father!

have a good day, peeps. prayers for our little one as she gets close to delivery are much appreciated... we'll be 38 weeks this Saturday, and I'm getting anxious to see her and assure myself that she's real and okay. :)

-m.y.