Getting to me

I'm not going to lie.  This whole EVERYBODY AND THEIR SISTER are pregnant business is kind of getting to me.  The good friend in me is genuinely happy for all my soon-to-be-moms-again friends.  I get warm and fuzzy tingles for all of them thinking of how happy they are expecting their 2nd babies.

Then there's the selfish side of me that has been wanting to have a baby for months now.  Please spare me the "you have baby fever" tag.  I don't want another baby because all my friends are having them, I've wanted another baby for awhile because I want to expand my own family.  Period.  I also don't think that it would be especially cool to be pregnant when EVERYONE else is.  Call me self centered but it's nice to be special and have your own moment in the sun.

The rational side of me knows that waiting a few more months is the right sane thing to do.  Hopefully in 2 or 3 months my dissertation will be done and I could enjoy some free time to myself.  Hopefully in 2 or 3 months I will have lost these last few stubborn pounds and reach my goal of running a 10K.  Hopefully in 2 or 3 months my husband will be amped to shoot for baby 2 instead of what he is now--apprehensive at how our lives will change and he'll have more demands on his time.

For now I'll just have to enjoy chasing after and teaching the little girl I do have.  The girl that has been screaming "Mammmmmmma! Mammmmma!" from her bedroom for the last 15 minutes because she doesn't want to go to bed.....

Cookie Fun!

One brave Mama had 10 or more toddlers over to her house today for a cookie decorating party---hahahha not this Mama!  We attended the party and gladly brought a case of juice boxes and enjoyed trashing playing at someone elses' house :-)

At the party I was sitting in a room with a few of my mom friends, and BOOM one mom says "well i'm expecting..." then another mom said "yeah me too!" and then a third "holy cow I"m pregnant too!" 3 NEW PREGNANCIES announced today!  Then my good friend pulled me aside privately and told me she just  found out she was pregnant but didn't want to go public yet. Holy crap people.  Add this to me already having two pregnant friends and one friend who delivered last week.... I'm so happy for all of them! I feel so much pressure now! lol

Anyway......enjoy some photos from the day...

Family Fun

It's only Saturday night but I've had such a fun weekend already!  Friday night when my husband got home from work we went to PTerry's and got burger's and fries (mmmmmm).  I don't eat a lot of meat, but every once in awhile I WANT A CHEESEBURGER.  Luckily, the entire family was up for it.  PTerry's had the coolest little sandbox on the patio, so Mimi ate half of her burger, which is great for a 2 year-old, and went off to play.  My husband and I actually got to eat in peace and talk to each other, CRAZY right!?  After dinner we didn't feel like going home so we went to an arcade.  When my husband first told me about the place last week I was thinking hmmm maybe this place isnt' really for kids.  I was pleasantly surprised.  It was clean and full of games that were great for Mimi like skeet ball and Whack a Mole, etc.  We got $10 in tokens and let Mimi direct us to the games she liked.  We had such a ball.  We all laughed and played for an hour or so.  Mimi even cashed in her tickets for prizes on the way out.

This morning my husband let me sleep in for about 30 extra blissful minutes.  I know what you're thinking, "geesh, your husband could have let you sleep longer!" I know right?!  If you knew my husband you'd agree with me that 30 minutes extra is awesome.   We had a great breakfast and I went to a craft show with my friend Bea for awhile.  When I got home we headed out to Zilker Park for a few hours for some outdoor exercise.  Mimi climbed the big rocks, our dog played and ran, we hiked the trail, we fed a swan some pirate's booty.....We stopped at a pretty cool coffee shop in SoCo afterwards and had lunch and coffee.

When we got home Mimi napped for 3 hours while I labelled Christmas cards and my husband rode his bike to the barber shop and got a haircut.  Later we shopped for beer and drinks for the Karaoke party tomorrow night.  I'm not going to lie, I really like Karaoke.  This is one of those private places where you rent a room with your friends so you only humiliate yourself in front of people who already think you're crazy.  I'm pumped.  The night will be complete with Cupcakes from Hey Cupcake! MMMMMM I can taste their blissful sweetness already.....

It's not even my birthday yet (well not for 2 more hours!) and I feel like I've had the best celebrations with my loved ones all weekend!

Here's some IPhone photos from today...

The Big 30 Soon

I think I'm bloggin as a way to avoid doing the work I know I should be doing.  You'll have to forgive me for posting old photos. Feeling a little nostalgia all up in here today.

What to blog about? How about the whole BIG 30 thing.  Yup. Jen is turning the big 30 on Sunday.  I used to laugh at people who had hangups about birthdays.  I used to think "Come on people it's just a birthday, we all get older"  I was totally fine with the fact that I was turning 30 until today when I was filling out this online form for something and It asked for my age.  I realized that in two days that number wasn't in the 20s anymore.

I don't feel any older really.  I've felt this "old" since I had Mimi. Something about going through a pregnancy, birth, nursing, general childrearing makes you feel (and look) "older" I think.  Maybe it is because most of us become less selfish after carrying and giving birth to another human being.  I feel like it's the ultimate grow up life lesson.

In the OR right after Mimi was born.  Damn I look hot.

Oh you wanted to shower?! Too bad baby needs nursing RIGHT NOW.
Oh you wanted to go out for happy hour with your friends!? Too bad babysitter is busy tonight.
Oh you wanted a new plasma TV?! Too bad, you have to buy that convertible carseat now.
Oh you want to look pretty and put together?! Too bad your kid just wiped sticky candycane on your pants. (true story in my house lately)

My two besties....

Seriously, having kids made me grow up, get my priorities in order, and be WAY less selfish.
It goes without saying that I wouldn't change my situation for ANYTHING.  I can totally rock the haven't showered today mom look.  Mimi and Franco are  my best friends.  I need to watch less TV anyway.  Maybe food stains are the new look?

When I was younger and thought about where I'd be when I was 30, which apparently according my husband men dont' think about....I wanted to be settled with a nice guy and have atleast one baby before 30.  I wanted to have finished school and have some sort of idea what I wanted to do with my life.  I feel like I'm pretty much there.  I feel so blessed to have met my husband early in my 20s.  I did  finish two of 3 college degrees, and I know that I want to enjoy whatever "job" I have in life.  What more can you ask for?

Today I laid in bed with Mimi before nap and tickled her and kissed her 1,000 times while she giggled and yelled "no more kisses momma!" and I thought, god, how could you ever top this feeling?  I feel truly blesses these days.

Santa is underpaid.

Maybe it was because this year we wore black tights?  For whatever reason, even though she was 100% psyched for days, at the moment of no return, she freaked the hell out.  Santa was not her friend today.  I had mixed feelings.   Part of me was pissed to pay $22 for this photo, part of me laughed knowing in a few years I'd still be laughing at this photo.....

I can check "traumatizing santa encounter" of my Christmas to-do list now I guess....

39 Degrees--Baby It's Cold Outside!

It is seriously cold today/tonight here in Texas.  When I went to pick up my husband at work at 5:30 it was 39 degrees F!  Wowzer. I've discovered something about Texas and Texans.  In the summer it is so hot it bakes your skin and melts playgrounds.  For Realz.  It was over 110 40 days this summer.  In this heat, the Texas complain complain complain!  "It's too hot!" "It's so hot!" "Man it's hot!" Flash forward to today---"Holy Crap it's freezing outside!" "When will it warm up!?" See they're never happy.  I think it's because there is only two seasons--Hot and Less Hot.  Maybe Texans need all 4 seasons so they can transition from the hot as the fires of hell to 39F.    Anyway...

Today my friend Emily texted me at 8:00am and told me her water broke, like literally a few minutes before she texted me.  She said her husband was two hours away at work and she was shaking in panic because everyone told her second births "Go So Fast!"   Part of the reason why she texted me was because we had just had a conversation about our expectations for birth and our disappointments.  She had told me she really just wanted her water to break spontaneously on it's own, her OB had broken her waters with her son while she was in labor.  Well, it's 13 hours later and she still hasn't had little baby Hazel, so just goes to show you---don't always listen to what everyone says!  She's doing great and I'm stalking her facebook waiting to see a photo of baby Hazel when she's born.

So exciting.  Babies Babies Babies this next year man.  I have so many pregnant friends right now it's crazy.

Shhh Don't tell

I'm supposed to be working right now but I wanted to get up a lightening fast blog post!  I have had such a great weekend even though it's been rainy cold and miserable.  Friday night my husband and I went out for a night and had so much fun.  We went to go have a coffee and ended up at some really chill thriftstore on North Loop.  We had some good laughs trying on 50s and 70s clothes.   No keepers to show though.  Then we ended up at some new Sushi place and had the most amazing food, with the most overzealous waitress I've met in my life.  It was funny, my husband found her over helpfulness to be refreshing, where I felt she was overbearing and annoying.

Saturday we lounged and then after nap went and got a pizza from a new pizza joint, as we are on the search for the best NY style pizza in town.  We brought our pizza to this park and ate and took a long hike through a frisbie golf course and to a playground.  We both just love watching our little girl play outside.  Her spirit just lights up when she's out in fresh air getting dirty and exploring.

Today we went to some fancy Target and got all sorts of yummy foods for the week.  I never thought I'd ever find myself grocery shopping at Target, but man the prices were amazing.  Mimi did the outing diaper free and even managed to go pee while at Target, making this a 1 diaper day so far.  Maybe by Christmas we'll not have to buy more? We'll see.

I'm going to spend the evening working and swapping loads of laundry and my two loves are going to see Happy Feet 2.  I love that Mimi gets all these special outings with her dad. She's so lucky to have a dad like that, mine just would buy me a Barbie and consider it done.  Franco is so patient with her and teaches her how to do some many things.

Now I'm going to harness the positive energy of all these warm and fuzzy family feelings and do some good work this afternoon and the rain drizzles outside my window.  I'm armed with a clean desk and steaming latte and ready for work.  Wish me luck!

This picture is just to make you smile, I laugh almost every time I look at it!