christmas shopping

for the bean is WAY more fun for me than it is for her:

um that is called a CURLY FRUFFLE.

oh man. it's not even december. eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

thankful

i thank you for choosing me

to come through unto life to be

a beautiful reflection of his grace

see, i know that a gift so great

is only one god could create

and i'm reminded every time i see your face...

i don't get many things right the first time.

in fact, i am told that a lot.

now i know all the wrong turns, the stumbles and falls brought me here.

now, where was i before the day that i first saw your lovely face?

now i see it every day. and i know...

that i am, i am, i am

the luckiest.

think they look related?? they are TWINS!

my cup runneth over.

ok, how about meals?

but first, olivia.

her daycare had a PLAY the other night. A PLAY. she was a squirrel. and i am not kidding. my four month old was a squirrel in her school play. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh and mama forgot the camera. idiot.

my friend's daughter is in the same daycare (she was an indian) so she took pics for me. anyway, olivia also got her first "report card" and we got artwork she made. AHHAHAHAHAHA I LOVE IT. she thumb-painted apples on an apple tree. i cannot take it.

ok, so i made a delightful HEALTHY meal tonight. like, whoa. it was lemon chicken and broccoli over garlic couscous. so good.

made even better by my ginormo glass of beaujolais nouveau. ohhhhh i love this time of year.

and?

FUCK YEAH, UCONN! ahem.

things i need to blog about...

• olivia.
• cleaning my stupid house.
• organization, or rather, my lack thereof and how it's slowly, but definitely driving my husband out of his fool mind.
• meal planning.
• thanksgiving.

i can address some of this now. let's see... how about OLIVIA?! i am turning into one of those baby-crazed moms and i guess i have to get on board with the fact that this will mostly likely just be a mommy blog now. hey, whatever. i love her. and you know what else i love? BOWS.

hi!

i'm lucky in that olivia is pretty good about bows and cute hats. she generally keeps them on without protest and that is a huge win for me. especially since the other day she was in her swing and fussing and i was ignoring her because she always makes her little eh, eh, eh noises just before she falls asleep. well, i happen to glance over and this is what i see:

help!

NO WONDER SHE WAS FUSSING!! so i did what any responsible parent would do... i laughed so hard i almost choked and then took a picture. of course, i took the headband off after that. poor bean!!

happy saturday

so i never posted about olivia's four month well visit. she was fantastic and didn't even cry TOO much for her shots. even though her evil mother had dressed her in JEANS so i had to wrangle those up over her puffy, hurting little legs afterwards. ugh. must remember loose, comfy clothing for next time!

stats:

height: 25 1/2 inches which is 92nd percentile

weight: 14 lbs 1.4 oz which is 60th percentile

head circumference: 33rd percentile, i don't remember the number

things she's doing:

• ROLLING OVER!!! well, ok, she rolled over twice on 11/8 and hasn't done it since. i think it's because she rolled from back to belly and realize, "oh crap, i HATE being on my belly. this sucks!"
• she's loving her play mat. her favorite thing is the little cardinal. well, or else she hates it because she's always swatting it and chewing on it and just generally issuing it a beatdown
• still sleeping like a champ. 7pm till 5:30am
• eating about 25-27oz a day, still not a big eater, still the grossly expensive and smelly alimentum, but if it ain't broke...
• giving me the stink eye when i eat food. i think she's trying to tell me telepathically that she's ready, but i'm not ready for her to be ready and so i'm pretending i don't see it.

things she AIN'T doing:

• loving tummytime. she still doesn't push up all that well. i checked the bump message board for babies 3-6 months old and had to close it because i found myself getting all competitive and wondering why some of those children SIT UP UNASSISTED and all of them (it seems) are practically up on all fours and my kid's like,  yeah, this is SO NOT HAPPENING.
• trying to stand when you hold her up. she will have none of it. the doctor said she's not worried, but we'll keep an eye on it. she kicks just fine, she just doesn't feel like putting any weight on her legs right now, OK???

to help her get more excited about standing, we put her exersaucer/jumper thing together this morning and i thought she was going to catapult herself out of the swing, she looked so excited. they've been putting her in the one at daycare a little bit and say she really likes it, so i suppose it's time!

in other NON-olivia news... hm. there is none. :)

next week's menu!

• tomato-sauced pork chops with garlic green beans
• chicken and spinach couscous with glazed carrots
• potato and sausage dinner with tomato & okra and crescent rolls
• lemon chicken and broccoli with couscous and spinach salad
• ham and broccoli pot pie with applesauce

a few side notes:

1. i have never had okra in my life. i hope it's good.
2. these are all WW friendly meals, so SCORE!
3. are you interested in the points values? if so, i'll post them.
4. wish me luck in making all these because i'm SO TIRED when i get home from work, the last thing i want to do is cook, but i am inspired by this post, so i will remain steadfast!

also, thanksgiving is in two weeks. oy. that is all i have to say about that.

handwritten fun fact friday!

because i like to copy all my faves.

also, SWOON over these kids, pls.

OMG. my little livie and her big cousin. think he loves her?

photo by tania sones photography

wow, bitch much?

am i out of SHAPE. i ran 2.5 miles on monday and i'm in AGONY. that child tore my body to shreds. every morning, it's physically (and mentally, but that's another story...) painful to get out of bed. my feet hurt to walk on, my hips hurt when i walk down the stairs, my back aches. OH MY ACHIN BACK. seriously? i still have sharp, pointy pain in my lower right back that shoots down my leg from before i gave birth. i am hopeful that working out will help all of these improve.

i have to admit, while i was running, it felt AMAZING. i forgot how freakin good doing something good for myself feels. these little snippets of the Old Me pop up now and again and it's like oh HAI, i MISSED you!

not that i don't love my life. seriously, don't get me wrong. tom got me the best anniversary card yesterday (even though it wasn't filled out -- hey, i didn't even GET him one!) and pajama pants from CVS, because it was our "cotton" anniversary. hahahaha -- i love him.

and honestly, how could you be pissy when you get to come home to this every single night:

ok

i'm getting back to this blog. i've been keeping track of all things olivia in a separate place, but this is just getting too annoying, so here we go. back to this one. i need a blog (and real life, don't EVEN get me started) facelift, but in the meantime, HAPPY HALLOWEEN

these are three of my favorite people in the universe.

i've got a LOT to keep track of and you can suck it if you aren't interested in these topics. hahahaha as if i have even one reader left. oh well. i'll talk to myself.

topic #1: olivia. SHOCKING! she is almost rolling over. shit. i am torn between being so proud and amazed AND depressed because she is just growing so fast. she's 17 weeks already. she has her 4 month well visit (read: MORE SHOTS) on friday. HOW is that possible? look, she's already big enough for her high chair:

ps, that's stretch. her fave giraffe buddy.

topic #2: dinners for the week. look, i'm terrible at planning like, ANYTHING, so the fact that i'm still cooking dinner at least a few times a week is pretty f'ing amazing. this weeks' menu:

tonight: crockpot chicken soup and biscuits
tuesday: ANNIVERSARY DINNER OUT!
wednesday: babyback ribs and camp beans and maybe a salad to balance the FAT
thursday: balsamic pork chops, sweet potato (for me, tom will puke if i make him eat that, so regular baked potato for that PITA), and asparagus
friday: beans and rice, guac, chips
sat: bacon cheddar quiche, hash browns
sun: sausage cheese chowdah, garlic bread

which leads me to topic #3: WORKING OUT. ugh, seeing some pics of me lately is just so depressing. i had that baby SEVENTEEN weeks ago. i feel gross. and most importantly? MY ENGAGEMENT/WEDDING RINGS STILL DON'T FIT. so.

i'm making half of my meals ww friendly (baby steps, y'all), started taking pilates, just signed up for an abs/core class, signed up for a 3.5 mile race on 12/6 and brought my runnin shoes to work today. ENOUGH.

and just for good measure....

fourteen pounds... the weight of the pumpkin, the weight of my daughter and the amount of weight i'd be happy with losing.