Extremes.

He thinks I can't see him. You know, because his eyes are closed.
Oh, the sweetness!

My husband is out of town in sunny (haha) Minnesota attending the Desiring God conference, and I am SO excited that he gets to be there. The weather is throwing a damper on things however, as we are currently staring down the barrel of a blizzard gun here in Oklahoma, which means my hubby may not be able to get home on Wednesday as planned.

Ruh-roh.

Here's what the weathermen are saying: Starting at 10PM tonight, snow and ice. Up to 12" when all is said and done. On top of that, there are going to be 30 MPH winds. Which equals TOTAL WHITEOUT. They are warning people not to leave their homes because they could become disoriented and lost even in their own neighborhoods. Zero visibility! On top of THAT there is a windchill of negative fifteen degrees.

This is all very winter-y and crazy, but I am not completely shocked because it is currently, you know, WINTER and whatnot... it's just that... it's just that... it was SEVENTY FIVE degrees here only seventy two hours ago! We were outside most of that day playing in the sun and I was sweating!

Bizzaro, I tell ya. Hopefully our power will stay on tomorrow. And hopefully my hubby can get home as planned. This single storm is affecting 20 states! That sounds like a recipe for an airport disaster to me.

To prepare, I will be making a big pile of games and blankets in the living room tonight, with lots of flashlights and snacks handy just in case. I really do love hunkering down on crazy snow days... but it would be much more fun if Chris were here to hunker down with us too. And also if I had a big bottle of wine.

And the ability to drink it.

haha.

Apples & Owls.

the beginnings of our gender neutral nursery....
Thanks to all of your input, the armoire was purchased and brought home! I am SO excited that we got it... it's the most amazing piece of furniture ever!! Chris already sanded parts of it down and re-finished it and built a new magnetic latch for the door. We're going to put some shelves in the tall side eventually- and all of baby's clothes and blankets and burp cloths will have a place to live now! Yipee!!

I don't know if I've mentioned it, but the nesting instinct has hit me like a freight train already. It seems so early! Maybe it's the fact that we already have pretty much everything we need at our disposal, so it has been much less daunting. It's more like 'rearranging' this time than revamping an entire room.

SO nice.

All of the owl stuff is still up and around from when this room was Myer's nursery, but I will probably change some of it out once we get closer to having the baby, or maybe after the baby is born. I'm thinking that if it's a girl, it would be fun to incorporate a sweet apple motif into the room. (Although, I guess that could possibly work for a boy too?) I think an apple themed nursery has some serious CUTE potential. Besides, I've been craving apples during this entire pregnancy, AND I have very fond memories of this toy from when I was little:


The Fisher Price 1972 Happy Apple chime toy! Do any of you remember this from growing up? Or am I dating myself? Actually, it was my oldest brother Jared's toy. I wasn't even BORN until nineteen-eighty-mumble...

Anywho, as I was getting the crib all situated today, it really hit me. We're having another baby! The moment that brought this reality home to me was when I was moving the crib mattress from the lowest setting back up to the highest setting again. I don't know why, but it's like it all suddenly sunk in, and I felt so happy!

And then, today at church, there was a moment during worship when I sat down (due to GIRTH issues, you understand) and I rested my hand on my belly and instantly heard a voice in my mind saying, "I am so excited about this child!" And I just knew that it was God speaking to me about this baby and I felt completely overwhelmed with His love. It was one of the sweetest 'God moments' of my life, and all it took was a single sentence! God has this amazing way of knowing exactly what we need to hear, doesn't He?

I'll never forget it.

Payment Upon Death.

So, I wandered by this at the thrift store near my house today, and I am thinking that the baby's room might NEED it. We don't really have a dresser for the nursery at this point in time, although we could probably make do with the closet space we have or use an older bookshelf that we have with canvas totes for drawers, but REALLY.

I'm having a hard time passing this up. It's YELLOW! And dark brown! And AMAZING! And cheap! And gender neutral! And vintage! And after the baby has used it for a while, Chris and I could steal it and use it in our room! (Because it's too pretty to be used by a reckless, marker-wielding toddler, of course!) And... and... when I die you can bury me in it! Thus saving us money in the (very very) long run! See how I did that there? Buying this armoire is really like buying a big fat COUPON!

This is me verbally processing justifying all over you guys... One of the many benefits of being a reader of my blog. hahaha.

The Return of the Ring.

My husband took my wedding ring in to get fixed before Christmas and he just went and picked it back up a couple of days ago. It has been exactly one year since the stone fell out into my hand and I had to slide this ring off of my finger until we could get it worked on. Now, it is cleaner and more sparkly than I have EVER seen it before... it looks brand new even though it has been around since the 1920's!

I could not love this ring more if I tried. And to think, I lost it down a nasty sink drain at the restaurant I was working at in California not even A WEEK after I had been married! hahaha.

Oh, me.

I'm so grateful that it was rescued back then, and that I didn't lose the stone when it fell out this time around. What a miracle!! I want to keep this ring (and the promises wrapped up inside of it) forever and ever and ever.

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU, honey! I feel whole again!

:)

Mellow Yellow.

I got a new duvet cover with some of my Christmas money! Hooray! I ordered it from Target's website a couple of weeks ago and have been anxiously awaiting its arrival ever since. :)

I have been on a huge yellow kick lately, and this is the prettiest perfect shade of just-right-yellow that I love so much.

Here are some other little bits of yellow in my house that I adore:



I especially love this shade of yellow paired with dark brown or gray. Maybe I should get my painting contractor of a hubby to paint the nursery walls this yummy shade of yellow for me?

Hmmmmm...

****

Today I had all these plans to go grocery shopping and run some other errands, but instead I woke up feeling like I got run over by a semi truck while I was sleeping. I am so tired and my body hurts everywhere! I don't think I'm getting sick, I think I am just starting to approach the UNCOMFORTABLE part of this pregnancy- where my bones and muscles are like, "Huh?!" and "Say whaa?!" and "Oh no you di'nt!"

I think I'll have to alter my agenda. All I feel up for now is crawling back into my (cute) bed and sleeping the afternoon away!

(Toddler-willing, of course.)

;)

Death by Strawberry Hat.

I was wandering around in Babies R Us again the other day... not because I particularly needed anything or had anything on the agenda, but just because, I don't know... it's where pregnant people are supposed to go?

Like, when you are injured, you go to the hospital.

And when you are pregnant, you go to Babies R Us.

(It's a primal instinct. Like holding your breath under water.)

Every time I've gone there recently, I don't end up buying anything, I mostly just wander around in the double wide isles and marvel at human society and the fact that there is a warehouse-sized store like this in every city in America that has somehow convinced all of us parents-to-be that we NEED this crap when in reality, we just need a few blankets, some tiny clothes & diapers, and, I suppose, a car seat so you can go places without getting arrested. The rest of that stuff is all FLUFF.

(Fluff that sells itself mostly by preying on our fears.)

(But perhaps that is another rant for another time?)

Anywho, with every pregnancy there has been ONE baby item that I have obsessed over for some reason. I latch onto this one item and research it until I am an expert on all forms and variations of it, and I know who carries it and who doesn't and who sells it for $1.00 cheaper and why option A is better than option B or C.

With Ezra, it was the crib bedding. (We went with airplanes.)
With Myer, it was the ring sling. (I fell in love with the Maya Wrap.)
With this baby, it has recently been the baby's coming home outfit.

Do I buy something practical and neutral so a boy OR a girl could wear it? Or do I go crazy and buy a tiny little boy outfit AND a tiny little girl outfit and bring them both to the hospital?

A normal person would just buy one of each and then forget about it. But not me, no siree! I am concerned about the psychological effects that buying a little girl outfit might have upon me if I don't end up getting to USE it.

A normal person would say "Just give away the outfit that you don't end up using!" But not me, no siree! I fret about the mental implications and distress that could occur if I have another boy and then give away the girly outfit and then see a friend's little girl wearing it, causing me to mourn a little on the inside for the girl I didn't have and then feel guilty about said mourning when I should be rejoicing over a friend's new baby girl!

Someone needs to just come slap me. I am wearing a hole in my brain.

All of this is just to say, as I was wandering around in Babies R Us the other day, I came upon this little number:



The strawberry cuteness juuuust about did me in. No, really! I think I almost died. I'm pretty sure that my pulse slowed way down and I saw a bright light.

I didn't buy it, of course, because I had to come home and obsessively obsess about the purchase before I could ever allow myself to bring something pink home with me.

But now I'm thinking that I should just go back and get it. Or at least allow myself to buy SOMETHING girly, just in case? It's like, just live a little, Emery!

Right?

Plus, you never know... maybe allowing myself to buy something pink would flush some of this crazy out of my system!

*cough*notlikely*cough*cough*

The Possibility of Last Pregnancies.

It seems that every pregnancy has been a bit more uncomfortable than the one before it, and this time around the pain has manifested itself mostly in my tailbone (read: BUTT) and my lower back. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE being pregnant, but each time has been harder on my body than the time before.

It's a little bit like 'how many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie roll pop'? And my answer is... three? Maybe? Third time's a charm? I remember when I was pregnant with Myer, I KNEW that it wasn't my last pregnancy. It just didn't feel like the last time. At all. But this time around, the thought of this being the last is much more... comfortable.

The thought of, "Awww, this may be the last time I feel a little alien kicking around on the inside of me!" makes me feel a little bit more on the EXCITED side than the depressed side this go around. haha.

All that being said, I still feel a leeeeetle bit sad that this pregnancy is already flying by so quickly. I absolutely love being pregnant. I love the sweet connection you can have with other mothers who you don't even know... the knowing glance and smile from a woman in the grocery store. And I absolutely LOVE it when people touch/rub my belly. I don't even have to know you, there is just something magnetic about a big round baby bump, I think, and I love it when people feel comfortable enough to just reach out and connect with the life growing inside of me.

I have never understood why so many women FREAK OUT about the fact that someone touched their belly. I'm not even a very touchy-feely person, but I just love the way that pregnancy can break down all the "social status-quos" and allow people to be excited and celebrate for a moment together even though they may not know each other very well. Or at all! New life has this glorious way of drawing us together, and that is one of my absolute favorite things about being pregnant.

This is also why I was hoping that, just ONCE, I would be able to be pregnant in a season that wasn't the dead of winter. But it never worked out that way, and, I think, about 80% of the time, when I'm out and about or wherever, people STILL don't even know that I am pregnant... because I have to completely smother myself in a gigantic coat to combat the freezing air. I've even had people I KNOW at church (like, last week) look at me and say "I didn't even know you were expecting!"

I blame the monster coat.

I would have loved to experience pregnancy in the Spring or even Summer- when skirts and dresses and flip-flops are (comfy) options for a growing belly. (Remember my 'I'm pregnant and HATE PANTS' post? STILL VERY MUCH APPLIES.)

Anywho, I guess I am just feeling like this might be it, which makes part of me do the happy dance (my tailbone [read: butt] and lower back parts mostly) while the other parts of me just want to sit and stare out a window and contemplate what that means as this season of my life comes to a close. Hahaha... what a mental picture I've just painted for you. Me, sitting in a chair, happy dancing AND being deeply contemplative. That's looney bin behavior!

Of course, I have no idea what God has in store for my family and all of this 'feeling like this is the last pregnancy' could change in the future, if He so chooses to change it, but for now, this is where I'm at:

Happy and a wee bit sad, still wishing that I didn't have to wear pants.

:)

31 Weeks.

I'm just shy of 31 weeks, which means that there are only about 9 weeks left until this baby makes its appearance.

Both the boys came early, though, so it may be even less than that!

Either way, SINGLE DIGITS, people! I should probably start thinking about getting things ready, eh? Aaaand I should probably move into a hotel that is right next to the hospital since my last labor was only about 2.5 hours from the first consistent contractions to the time Myer was born.

Yikes.

We pretty much have everything we need for this baby, except for a couple of random things that I sold after Myer was born. (Brilliant, Emery!) The tricky part is going to be if this baby is a GIRL. I will have nothing to dress her in! She will have to wear hand-me-down white onesies until she is sixteen, at least. haha.

This time around, instead of having a traditional baby shower/registry again, I think I am going to do a 'Sip & See'. Have you heard of this idea? My friend Aimee told me about it. A 'Sip & See' is something you do after the baby is born... you invite your friends to swing by (open house style) and see/hold the baby and you have refreshments and light snacks out for everyone to nibble on. It's very low key, and that way, if people want to get the baby something, they will know whether to buy it in PINK or BLUE! :)

I think it will be lovely.

Speaking of pink or blue, the strangest thing has been happening lately. I thought it would get easier, the not knowing the gender, as the pregnancy went on, but the reverse seems to be true... The suspense is killing me much more now than it was at the 20 week ultrasound (when we could have found out)!!

I'm sure it's just all the building anticipation and the fact that it is so close (yet so far away) feeling. I'm just so excited for that moment... that second in time when I will know if I am the mother to three boys or to two boys and a girl! It's going to be the best surprise EVER!!!!

Lastly, I have been having gnarly allergies all of the sudden even though it is THE DEAD OF WINTER and I just want to say again that sneezing and pregnancy are NOT compatible in any way, shape, or form. (If you're not sure what I am talking about right now, thank the good Lord above and do your kegels. Amen.)

Myer's Pajama Pancake Party!

We had Myer's birthday party at 9:30AM this morning and it was awesome!

I wanted to keep it really laid back and simple, seeing as how he's TWO and all. Why stress myself out too much about something he won't even remember, right?

RIGHT.

I made up some invites in Photoshop and emailed them to my neighbors and my in-laws:



The only things on the agenda were:
-Stay in PJs.
-Cook pancakes & bacon for everyone.
-Open gifts
-Hang out

And, you guys, it was such a BLAST! The kids played, we chatted, and Myer got to feel special and celebrated!

I highly recommend doing early Saturday morning birthday parties. The kids were well-rested and didn't even have to change out of their Pjs... the adults sipped on coffee and ate yummy breakfast... and it was all wrapped up by 11:30, so it didn't take up everyone's whole Saturday!

Wonderful wonderment, I tell ya. Here's a few photos from the shebang:

chris cooked up the yummiest breakfast... while looking quite yummy himself. heh.

myer deeply contemplated the elusiveness of time as he monched his pancake.

then he stared out the window and mentally paid tribute to the days gone by.

then he looked at us all like he was worried for our sanity as we sang him 'happy birthday'.

the syrup flowed like wine.

ezra pretended to be a unicorn and then speared me in the temple. ow.

justin won the award for best pajama presentation.

myer finally figured out that opening presents is FUN rather than a form of torture! (Christmas was interesting.)

myer got a baby sized electric blue piano from MoMar & DooDad!
(Soon you'll all be saying, "Mozart who??")

What fun! Happy Birthday again to my little moose!

Swimming Beauty.

Let's all pretend that it isn't freezing degrees outside right now and take a gander at the swimsuits from Anthropologie, shall we? (I'll take one of each, please.)







I can't believe I am about to say this, but all these darling swimsuits make me actually kindof maybe wish it was warm outside and I lived by the stinky, seaweed filled ocean again. If I looked this cute, I might actually forget all about the sand mites that were biting at my ankles and legs as I reclined on a towel in the sun and baked my skin into a tough, dark hide!

It might all be worth it then!

hahahaha.