Happy Birthday Momma!

Today is my Momma's birthday!  She doesn't look a day over 30.  I hope I age as well as she does.  She's not only beautiful on the outside but she is gorgeous on the inside.

Momma is the center of our family.  She's our cheerleader, our comforter, our shoulder to cry on, our confidante and the best example that any of us could ask for of a good mother and wife.  We can only hope that we follow her example and be as good as she is.

Momma, I love you so much.  Especially now as I head into this adventure of motherhood.  I read somewhere that when you get pregnant and become a mother you appreciate your parents, especially your mother, so much more.  And it's true.  When I think of the fact that my mom did this THREE times it blows me away. 

I hope you have a wonderful birthday Momma!  We are so blessed to be your children.  Thank you teaching us (STILL!) and being our rock!

Pregnancy 101: 27 Weeks

I'm officially 27 weeks.  Or at least I was as of Monday.  27 weeks.  I can't believe it!  Only 2 weeks left in my second trimester and then its off to the finish line.  I'm experiencing the fun pregnancy symptoms now.  Feeling Jackson's kick and punch my insides and today he had the hiccups!

I'm carrying him VERY LOW.  In fact that is the second thing women comment on when they see me.  The first is "HOW HUGE I AM".  So all is soccer playing he is doing is happening way, way down there.  My favorite part is when he is waking up in the morning.  He pretty much wakes me up every morning with his dance routine.

This past weekend I went with my Momma and we picked out the nursery stuff.  I'm so excited about it!  Although I did throw everyone for a loop because originally I had a very specific idea in mind and I completely went a different direction.  I'm not going to tell you what we are doing yet because I want to wait until we get it all together and show you.  But it has something to do with one of my favorite things!

Hubby has taken to giving my belly the rub down.  I think now that I'm really showing it is making it more real for him.  He hasn't been able to feel Jackson move yet because the little nudger stops moving as soon as I try to get Hubby to feel it!  I'm hoping soon he will be able to feel him move though. 

The worst parts right now is my stinkin' sciatic.  It doesn't bother me everyday but when it does it is pretty awful and will stay with me for a few days.  I haven't been having the headaches which is awesome.  I have been getting a little swelling but it's mostly when I'm on my feet too much and I need to give myself a break.

Today is exactly 13 weeks until Jackson's due date.  THIRTEEN WEEKS.  That is so close!  I can't believe that in such a short amount of time I'm going to have my son in my arms.  I can't wait!

Getting Schooled

Today I'm going back to school.  When I started out in college my goal was to get a degree in photography and tote around my camera for the rest of my life.  But due to the choices I made and the college I went to that didn't happen.  Of course I still tote that camera around but not like I thought I would. 

Over the last year I've been really working on getting better at my craft and learning what I can about digital photography and processing and setting up the perfect shot.  And its so much fun.  I'm taking one more step today to improve my favorite past time.  I'm going to the Kelby Photoshop Seminar.  And I'm so freaking excited!  The people teaching this class are the best of the best and this seminar is hailed as one of the finest.  It's an all day thing so I hope my little pregnancy brain can hold the plethora of information that they are about to give me.  I'll let you know how awesome it is (sidebar: have you noticed that awesome is my word of month lately?  I can't stop saying it!) and how worth the money it was!

Pregnancy 101: The Good Stuff

I don't HATE being pregnant.  It's not the worst thing that has ever happened to me.  Most of the time I feel pretty good.  I have the yucky stuff I deal with (Could I BE anymore tired?  Don't answer that.  Also, since when did CHOCOLATE give anyone heartburn?) but for the most part I can still do most of the stuff I want and keep up with about 80% of what I'm used to doing.  Plus there's a big prize at the end of the TEN MONTHS (Who made up that 9 month lie?), so a little discomfort is well worth it.
There has however been a few things that have happened since I got into my second trimester that are pretty cool.  Example #1, I got's me some nice nails:

Do you SEE those nails?  First of all, let me explain I have NEVER had nails this long unless they were made out of plastic.  I am one of those lucky people that my nails grow just past the quick and then split and rip.  Plus I used to be a major nail biter.  I have small, chubby little grabbers so the short nails always made my hands look so much worse.  I've never really liked my hands because of how small and chubby they are and because I had no nails.  But now!  Lookie here!  I've got some pretty fantastic nails going on!  My hubby loves them because they are good back scratchers.  I love them because they make me feel pretty.  Especially when they are painted.  In fact they are growing so fast (and strong I might add) that they are almost becoming an annoyance.  But I'm not complaining!  No siree!  I know only a few more months and they will be a thing of the past, so I'll enjoy them while I have them.

Example #2, model worthy hair:

I have always had pretty nice hair.  It's very thick and there is bunches and gobs of it.  I can do a lot of things with it.  Plus I've always been of the mindset that it's JUST hair and if I hate something I've done with it I'll just dye it dark brown or grow it out.  However, THIS hair.  THIS hair my friends is luxurious hair!  This is the type of hair women kill for!  I have a routine with my hair down pretty good.  It only gets washed every two days (Wash it Monday, wash it Wednesday, wash it Friday, etc.).  This works really well for my hair because I've trained it to be less oily and as heavy as my hair is blow drying it is a CHORE.  And this is also why every time I DO wash my hair someone asks me if I got my hair colored.  I just tell them no, I just washed it.  But my old hair shed A LOT.  I mean, clog-up-the-bath-and-have-to-pour-a-bottle-of-Drano-down-it-every-6-weeks, alot.  However, pregnancy hair?  Holy beautiful hair.  I hardly shed at all.  It's silkier than it's ever been.  And the oiliness is pretty much non-existent.  I mean I can literally go almost 4 days without washing my hair and it looks as good on day four as it did on day one!  Crazy!  And hello weed-like growing hair!  You remember a few months a go when I chopped all my hair off?  I've mourned it ever since.  I just like my hair long so I've been trying to grow it out again and up until about 2 months ago it was doing it at a snails pace.  All of the sudden it's in the race to win it!  Go hair!  Of course, all those Debbie Downers out there have made sure to let me know that most women (And I'm sure I'll fall into this category as it happened to both my mom and sister.) lose quite a bit of hair after they give birth but honestly I think it will be okay because I've got PLENTY to spare right now.

Example #3, I'm never wearing pants with a waist again:

I would like to kiss the person on the mouth who invented this pants.  There is no comfort in the world like maternity pants.  It's like a big sigh of relief everytime I do.  It's genius I tell you.  Of course it sucks that styles are so limited and let's be honest, not always so cute, but girl all you need is a few good staples and you are set!  I have a black pair of work pants, a brown pair of work pants, a pair of jean capris and a pair of brown cargos.  I'm looking to add two pairs of jeans and I'll be good.  I would wear these pants 24 hours a day, two days in a row.  It was a little weird before I became the walking belly to have a band up that high but now it's nothing but love.  I'm seriously considering keeping these pants and wearing them every holiday season.  Think of it!  Everyone puts on a few pounds at the holidays and wishing they had more room for all that yummy food!  In these pants?  You got all the room you need.

There are a few other things that I can think of that I love about being pregnant but these are my top three.  And I fully intend to enjoy every single, solitary minute I have them.  What did you love about being pregnant or what do you think you are looking forward to?

I Heart Glee

Okay, so if you are friends with me on FB or follow me on Twitter than you know I HEART GLEE.  No seriously.  It is my newest, greatest love and I can't get enough.  And if you aren't watching it I feel very, very sad for you.  I might even shed a tear or two.  Because you are missing the awesomeness.  The kids are awesome, the singing is SO cool, the teachers are dorky in the coolest way and did I mention the COOL songs?  Look here, don't take my word for it.  Check out these clips and then tell me you aren't interested.






Seriously, how can you not LOVE the singing.  I wish I could have found the full clips of some of the other songs but you can catch up on on all the episodes on Fox.  And you MUST watch it next Wednesday.  It's not to be missed.  And then you can come back here and thank me profusely.

Rebecca & Anthony's Wedding Day

A few weeks ago I shared with you Rebecca and Anthony's esession and I just wanted to share a few of my favorite's from their wedding.  They got married right on the beach in Tahoe and it was SO beautiful.  It ended up being on of those perfect fall days where the sun was shining and the sky was blue and it was the perfect temperature.  Rebecca and Anthony are so much fun and their friends are such a riot!  Congratulations you guys!

Blog Share Post

Here's the blog post written by one of the Blog Share participants.  And here is the list of all the participants again!  Enjoy! 

Not the Daddy
O is for Olson
Red Red Whine
Rediscovering Me
Reflections in the Snow-covered Hills
The Reluctant Grownup
Sauntering Soul
Serendipity Now
Snarke
So, This Is a Treadmill
Thinking Some More
Time for Change
Together They Come
Wondering and Pondering
And You Know What Else
Andrea Unplugged
Arctic-ulate
Bright Yellow World
Bwildered
Catheroominations
Did I Say That Outloud?
Dispatches from the Failed Mommy Club
Full of Snark
Heidikins
Hot Chicks Dig Smart Men
Just Below 63
The Little Goat

I hate my boyfriend's family. They are very selfish, uneducated, and generally ignorant people. I'm so sick of having to pretend to like a group of people that do nothing for him except criticize, complain, and mooch.


I dread when the phone rings and it's them. I know that the only reason that they are calling is because they want something from us. While I have a real relationship with my family and they have accepted my boyfriend into our family with open arms, it's the opposite with these people. In order to be accepted by them, I feel that I am buying my way in. And it's not somewhere that I want to be.

But, how do you tell the person that you're in love with that the people that he spent his formative years with are not people that I would choose to be my family?

Truth be told about the whole situation, it makes me feel like a fake. I smile through gritted teeth when they tell him how happy they are that we've found each other. While in my mind, I'm thinking they're more glad that we're now in a position to ask for money if they need it. I have never felt like I need to buy a relationship with people. With his family, I know that if we turn their requests for money down, we look like the bad guys because we have the resources. But it drives me crazy that we earn our way through life and have had to give up many things to get into the position that we are now, while they sit at home and hope for the best. When 'the best' doesn't materialize, our phone rings.

I'll never understand how such a kind, generous, well-adjusted man could come from such a selfish group of people.

Blog Share

I am participating in Blog Share once again hosted by And You Know What Else!  Just a reminder of how it works. . .

There are a bunch of participants and we all write a post and it is sent to anonymously to someone else's blog.  So tomorrow morning there will be a blog post here that is written by someone other than myself.  Please be kind to them.  Here is the list of participants:

Not the Daddy
O is for Olson
Red Red Whine
Rediscovering Me
Reflections in the Snow-covered Hills
The Reluctant Grownup
Sauntering Soul
Serendipity Now
Snarke
So, This Is a Treadmill
Thinking Some More
Time for Change
Together They Come
Wondering and Pondering
And You Know What Else
Andrea Unplugged
Arctic-ulate
Bright Yellow World
Bwildered
Catheroominations
Did I Say That Outloud?
Dispatches from the Failed Mommy Club
Full of Snark
Heidikins
Hot Chicks Dig Smart Men
Just Below 63
The Little Goat

The Olden Days

My friends and I have been discussing old movies on Facebook in the last few days and its gotten me all nostalgic.  I love old movies.  Old movies were all we watched growing up.  The musicals, the black and whites.  Love, love, love them!

Here's a couple clips from my favorite oldies but goodies.

The Court Jester with Danny Kaye.  I LOVE Danny Kaye.  He was the Jim Carrey of that era. 



Here's Doris Day in Calamity Jane.  Have you seen this movie?  You should!  When I first say this movie all I wanted to be when I grew up was Calamity Jane.


This is "Sisters" from White Christmas.  My sister and I used to sing this to each other all the time.  Here's Rosemary Clooney and Vera Ellen doing the original.


And finally one of my ALL TIME FAVORITES, Gene Kelly, Singin' in the Rain.  There is NOTHING better than this movie and this particular scene. 


I actually found a clip of Usher doing Gene Kelly's Singin' in the Rain and I thought he did awesome!  He's no Gene but pretty good imitation!


Not bad huh?  These movies just make me so happy.  Even just watching the clips themselves makes me smile.  Do you have a favorite movie like that?  One you can watch again and again and just smile?

I have a blog? WHAAAAAAT?

Oh hai!  'Member me?  I totally forgot I had a blog.  Completely slipped my mind.  My bad.

So let's see.  Update, update. 

I'm 25 weeks along at this point.  And apparently the hugest 6-month along pregnant woman anyone has ever seen.  Or so I'm told my random coworkers whom I've never even had a conversation with.  Let me ask you. . .if you are a woman and you have ever had a child, what in your blessed mind thinks I want to hear you tell me how huge I am and am I having twins and goodness I have so much farther to go I'm going to be humongous?  Bless your hearts.

Jackson is coming along splendidly so I'm told.  I'm measuring just as I should be and my little munchkin likes to let me know he is still there and hanging out.  He is VERY low.  Crazy low in my opinion.  The only place I ever feel my little pumpkin head is right between my hips bones.  Sometimes I think he might just kick his way through!  I am finding that I feel him a lot more frequently on the weekends.  I think it is because that's when I'm laying around more or maybe it's just because I'm NOT stressed.

Changes are abounding everywhere.  There is some major stuff going on at work.  Which isn't stressful AT ALL of course.  Basically at this point there is nothing to report other than there might be some changes and we have no idea when those might happen or how they might happen.  Which being the control freak I am of course makes me not at all ready to pull out my hair.

Fall seems to have finally fallen here.  It's chilly.  And I'm digging it.  Fall is my most favorite time of the year.  There is something about crisp fall mornings and the changing of the colors.  And now I can break out all my pumpkin candles. Plus it means Christmas is only a few months away!

Okay so I think we are all caught up now.  I totally blame pregnancy brain for forgetting all about you.  My apologies.  Hopefully we can keep it from happening again.