Funny face Lula

You all think luC is worth winning a favorite photo contest, right? I know things like this are annoying, but vote for luC! If she wins, she'll get $250. That would buy me a whoooole lot of new clothes for her at my favorite consignment store!


Vote everyday!! All week!! And have everyone you know vote, too! She is currently in #326th place. Booooooo!!

Funny face luC: "Vote for your favorite kids in the Parents Cover Contest! One Reader's Choice Winner will be a finalist at the Professional Cover Shoot! Enter your own child today at http://www.parents.com/enternow !"

How do you know?

How does a wife know that her husband really loves her?

Some women need to get jewelry from their husbands to know. Some women need to be wined and dined to know. Some might need a car or two to know that their husband does, indeed, love them.

While some women only need a smile, a kiss, and a tender whisper of loving words in their ear to know that their husband loves them.

Me? What do I need to know that my husband loves me?

I need to come home on a Saturday afternoon, after spending the morning shopping with little luC to find some boxes, with a little note....


The contents of the box being a dozen cupcakes (minus one that little jC ate) from Georgetown Cupcakes (aka DC Cupcakes from the TLC show)

And then I know, with out a shadow of a doubt, that my husband loves me with every fiber of his being!

It's a big day, people!

You may be wondering what is so special about this day. The 5th day of April. Well, let me fill you in.

It was on this very day, exactly one year ago today that I found out this news:

It was one year ago today that I took a test, found out the big news, quickly made this onesie, and announced the big news to juC. I can't hardly believe that it's been a year!! Such a big day!

But I kept feeling like today was a big day for another reason, but I couldn't quite put my finger on.

I asked luC if she knew.

She just hung her head in shame and said "I can't believe you don't know."

So then I turned to jC

and he was all "Get with the program woman! It's your mum's birthday!!"

And then I was all "Ohhh yeaaaah!"

I had the most hardest time trying to figure out what to get my mum for her birthday. I wracked my brain and wracked my brain more. And then finally I figured out the perfect gift. (Hint: the perfect gift for anyone is always something that you would enjoy yourself) (The perfect gift is also edible and comes in any form of chocolate.)

Unfortunately, shipping is working slowly, so she won't get to enjoy her edible form of chocolate on this, her day of birth approximately 325 years ago, but hopefully she will forgive us and enjoy it when it comes anyways.

Happy birthday, Mum!! I hope you will forgive me for relying on my wee ones to remind me of what a special day this is!

Guessing game

Guess who is sleeping through the night.

And guess who decided to be a big boy and not throw tantrums anymore.Then guess who said he would take me on a super romantic getaway with out the kids.

And the biggest of all, guess who is expecting baby number 3.

I don't know the answer to any of these questions, but I do know it is April 1.

Welcome to my pity party!!

I'm so glad you could make it! This past month juC finally found a new job after years of trying to find something new. And if that wasn't exciting enough, I also cracked open my first double yolked egg EVER!

But, seriously...

In all honesty, I have mixed feelings about juC's new job. It's exciting because he will finally (hopefully) have a job that he can be happy with on a daily basis. And hopefully not have to work 10 or 11 hour days. But since it's still right here in Northern Virginny, that means that we are staying...for good.

I never thought I'd be raising these kids here.

For years now I've lived with the mindset that we'd be moving as soon as juC found a job somewhere else. And truthfully, that was my motivation for accepting that we are here now...that soon we wouldn't be. Now that he has the new job, I have to accept the reality that this is where we will be, where my kids will grow up, and where we will truly settle down. And since I haven't been happy living here for years, it's a hard reality to accept.

But I'm trying...and some days are better than others.

Heart Day

I know I promised my next post would be about the old ads hanging in the upstairs bathroom, and I know you are going to be super upset by this...but, I'm not going to post them yet. It's Valentine's Day, which means I need to post about gushy lovey dovey stuff.

I had every intention of posting about my dear, sweet husband who I love with ever fiber of my being. I mean, how could I not love this guy?

And about my dear, mostly sweet kids.

But let's be honest, you know how much I love them and how great they are, so why not post about what comes second on my list of loves...chocolate.

I knew this Valentine's Day had every possibility of being amazing...I just didn't know how amazing. And then a friend posted a picture on her Facebook of a box of cupcakes from Georgetown Cupcakes (from the series DC Cupcakes on TLC) that her husband got her.

My hopes of an amazing Valentine's Day went down the drain. Nothing could compare to what she got. And I let her know just how jealous I was.

And then, just a few hours later, there was a knock on my door. And there my friend was, standing there. Standing there at my door. Standing there at my door with this...

The most amazingly delicious cupcake known to man. I loved it with every fiber of my being. And it loved me back. It made me feel good about myself. It told me I was the only one. It promised me that all the calories would be worth it.

And let me tell you something: Georgetown Cupcakes don't lie!

You know me

It's been a while since I've talked about old things...ya know...antiques. For a while there it seemed to be all I could talk about.

So here we go again.

Last year, I went to one of my favorite antique stores in Funkstown, MD. I came across some old ads from magazines, and I couldn't help but get some to frame. Unfortunately, the part where I got them in frames took forever, but it finally got done a few months ago.

My favorite of them all is this little guy.I love it obviously because he's the cutest little smart baby. But I also love that there is a recipe on there for creamed spinach. And I also love that Carnation Milk is "from contented cows"I love this ad for pork and beans because...hello! It's an ad for pork and beans. I love that they let you know that they are "Digestible". Thank goodness! If pork and beans still cost 12 cents a can, I'd be eating them every day.

And as someone that loves to bake (however rare it may be these days) I had to get the ad for Pyrex.

Don't you remember when you and your mom would get all dressed up and bake? Those were the days.

I just wish that I could still buy my bake ware for 50 cents!

Now stay tuned and hold on to your seats for my upcoming post about the old ads I put in the bathroom.

My brain at 2 a.m.

Something that I've thought about in the middle of the night feeding a baby when my thoughts are all over the place...

This year I will turn 29. My husband will soon be 33. My husband has a for real job (as opposed to a fake one), we have a house, 2 cars, 2 kids. According to most, we are considered adults, as are our acquaintances. So why is it that I still have a hard time referring to ourselves and others as a man or a woman? Boy and girl still come to mind, and every time I'm talking to someone I so badly want to say "This girl that I know..." and I really have to make a conscience effort to say "woman".

Maybe I'll be over this by the time I'm 50.

I couldn't even make this stuff up

I will admit that I am a huge fan of reality TV. HUGE!

But everyone has to draw the line somewhere, right? And some people clearly just don't know where to draw the line.

Did you know that there is a show called "Bridalplasty"? And the name truly says it all. It's a competition based show where brides compete to win plastic surgery so that they will look "perfect" for their wedding.

I kid you not, people!

Each episode there is a competition, and the winner of the competition gets to choose a procedure to get done, and then gets to spend 2 weeks recovering until they have to start competing again.

Which means they get to compete and do interviews looking like this (Yes, these are actual pictures from the show!):

What is happening to our world today???

No really, I want to know. Because something is clearly wrong.

***images from Google images

jC thinks three's a crowd

I've decided that either I'm the only one who has struggled with having a second baby, OR everyone struggles but no one talks about it. If the latter is the case, then I will be the odd one out and actually talk about it.

It feels very similar to when I was pregnant with jC and people would say "Being a parent is hard." and I'd say "I know." I knew it would be hard, but the reality of dealing with it was a lot different than just knowing it would be hard.

I knew having 2 would be hard, but the reality now of living it is much more difficult than I expected. The funny thing is when jC was a baby, I cried a lot with the struggles I had with him. Now luC is here, and I'm crying a lot...because of the struggles with jC. He, unfortunately, is not too fond of playing on his own. He also, unfortunately, is not too fond of not having all the attention.

Other things he's not fond of: luC crying, having to eat a meal with out me sitting with him, turning the TV off, getting a snack that he doesn't want, making him pick up the snacks he doesn't want after he throws it on the floor...and the list goes on and on....which equals a whoooole lot of frustration, screaming, and crying all around.

On the plus side, luC is a lovely baby. She will actually nap, which means I do get to spend some one on one time with Judson and I'm able to see his happy side, too.

I absolutely love my children (Woah...saying I have CHILDREN is weird!!) They are great, and I just can't wait for everyone to be adjusted to our new family so we can really enjoy it.

She's here!!

Our little luC has arrived.



And call me crazy...



But I love reading about peoples birth experiences. So I thought I'd share my own. Of course if you have no interest in hearing about it, I won't be offended if you just skip down to the end and look at the pictures.


So luC's due date was Dec. 16. However, at the beginning of my pregnancy(when ultrasound dating is most accurate), every time I got an ultrasound they said it was 4 or 5 days later. But they don't change the due date unless it's more than a weeks difference. Dec. 16 came and went, and even though I always said she'd be late, it was SOOOO hard to see the due date pass with out a baby to show for it. But according to those calculations in the beginning, she came just on time...


On Dec. 21 I had an appointment with the midwives in the morning. The midwife talked of stripping membranes, but basically said if the baby is ready, it would speed things up and if the baby wasn't ready it would make no difference. So I opted to not go that route. They did an ultrasound to make sure there was enough fluid, they set up an appointment for the 23rd for a nonstress test, and set up an appointment for me to be induced on the 27th. I really thought all of those appointments would occur.


After I got home from the midwives, juC had to go back to work and little jC was so upset. I ended up taking him for a drive to calm him down. I thought I would take the opportunity to go by a friends house and drop something off for her and hang out a bit. The whole time I was there she joked about my water breaking on her carpet, and it better not because it was new carpet. I assured her we were safe.



At about 11:30am little Judson and I were about to leave. He asked me to hold him, so I was standing there in her kitchen holding him in front of me when all of a sudden I felt something. I thought that with the way I was holding jC and the position of the baby I must have had a little accident....oops! That had never happened before! But I didn't want to ask to use her bathroom because I knew Judson would freak out. So with out saying anything, jC and I left her house and I got home as quickly as possible. My water breaking before labor started had never crossed my mind because I always assumed it would happen exactly the way it did with jC. After I got home I realized that there was a good chance that my water did break.

I called the nurse at the midwives office and told her what happened. She told me what to do to "test" it out and see if my water broke. When I called her back to tell her the results of the "test", she said "REALLY!?" Apparently she didn't expect it to have actually happened. But, my water broke for sure!

I immediately called juC. No answer. I called the babysitter who was supposed to come. No answer. I called juC again. No answer. I called the other babysitter. No answer. I called juC again. No answer.

Seriously...NOW?!?! Now is the time no one picks up?? I called the cell phone of the other babysitter. She finally answered and said she'd come as soon as she could. Called juC's work phone. No answer. Called his cell phone again. No answer. FINALLY got him and told him my water broke.

I quickly finished getting things together that I needed to. juC got home and a few minutes later the babysitter came. We headed to the midwives office because they said they had to do a test to be 100% sure my water broke and it was easier to do it at their office. Of course as soon as the midwife checked, she said we could go ahead to the hospital. When she told me that Margie was the midwife on call, I was excited because that was who delivered Judson and I liked her and it was familiar.

We got to the hospital around 1pm and I fully expected to be there for a looong time before luC was born. I was about 3 cm dilated and luC was still high. They hooked me up to the antibiotics I needed and did a round. After it was done and I could get up, I did. Up to that point my contractions weren't very painful and weren't regular. After I got up they started getting really painful.

The whole pregnancy I had planned to have a natural birth, but the whole time I was never convinced I could do it. As the contractions got more painful, I really started to doubt myself. I asked if I could sit in the tub, so the nurse and midwife got it ready for me. Before I got in, she checked to see how far along I was, but said she wouldn't tell me. It is most definitely a good thing she didn't. I was only 5 cm, and I'm pretty sure if she had told me that I would have asked for an epidural.

I was in the tub for about 20 minutes when things really started getting painful and uncomfortable. And I started feeling a lot of pressure and like I needed to push. juC went and got the midwife. Back in the room she checked me again. As she was checking I went from 8 to 9 cm. Soon after I was at 10 cm and it was time.

I'm not going to lie people. I was in PAIN. I was screaming. (I always said I wouldn't be one of those people screaming, but...) My body took over and I honestly felt like I had no control over what was happening. I pushed through 3 contractions and at 5:24pm....way earlier than I expected, luC arrived.

She was 7 lbs and 20 1/4 inches, and she, of course, was perfect. It's hard to believe it was two weeks ago tomorrow. She's a sweet baby and we are so happy to have her!!

It WAS my birthday, and now it's almost Halloween!

Nearly two months ago, on August 9, the whole world celebrated the anniversary of my birth. Some people didn't even know that's what they were celebrating, but that's beside the point.

Nearly a month after that, using the money my mother and mother-in-law so generously gave me, I bought one of the best birthday presents ever.

You see, back at the beginning of the year I was out shopping for some antiques (I know, shocking!) and I came across a fabulous brown wool coat. I wanted it. Ohhhh how I wanted it. But I knew my husband wouldn't be very happy with me for spending the money on it when I already have plenty of coats.

Every.single.time. I went back to that antique store, I would go see if that coat was there. And every.single.time. it was still there and I thought "This must be a sign that I should have this coat." But my husbands voice kept popping into my head: "You don't need that coat!"

But when I went, equipped with my birthday money...there was NOTHING to stop me. And miracle of miracles...about 8 months after first spotting the coat, it was still there! (I'm so glad other people weren't cool enough to realize how great this coat was!)(No offense.)

And not only was it still there, but the lady working there called the owner of the coat and let her know that I had been eyeing it for 8 months, and she knocked 20% off the price! So for only sixty bucks I have this:

Check out those buttons!

It's from Woodward and Lothrop. Which, according to the lovely lady at the antique store was THE place to shop in Washington D.C. back in the day. It was like D.C.s own version of NY's Macys. Her dad would take her there around Christmas to see the huge window display they'd do. And the sentimental part of me thinks it's even more awesome that it's from right here in this area.

But, back to the coat.

I love it. And I almost don't even look pregnant when I wear it. Almost.

Now on to a completely different subject, have I mentioned the best part about my antique mantle?

Decorating for holidays!!And thanks to my favorite antique spot it Buckeystown, MD, I have these cute blocks someone made using vintage Halloween pictures to decorate it with.

Having a mantle to decorate truly makes this time of year so much better. Let the holidays begin!!

pearing up

In an effort to keep my mind off of my BIG appointment tomorrow morning (I'm getting my ultrasound and should be finding out if we are having a boy or girl) I'm going to finally blog about something I've been meaning to blog about FOREVER!

Back in April, my sweet, loving, and kind husband, juC, let me have an entire day to myself to do as I wish. My plan was to drive around and take pictures of old barns, because I DO love me some old barns. But, I also do love me some antiques, and my love of antiques mostly outweighed my love of barns that day.

That love brought me to a lovely little town that is dear to my heart, called Funkstown (isn't it obvious by the name why it's so dear to my heart??) I ended up in the oddest old house that is a flower shop....with lots of old...stuff...for sale. And all the way in the back, on top of a big huge pile of junk and randomness, I saw it. I kept my eyes on it, and I knew I had to have it.

And for $10, it was mine!!! I love it just as much as my mantel and my vanity!!

This big pear canister has a hold of my heart. Now if I can just figure out where to put it!

Giveaway

There is nothing I love more than a great giveaway, and this is definitely a great giveaway!!

Milan Maternity is having a giveaway where you could win:

A $100 E-Gift Card to Milan Maternity for Mommy
A $100 E-Gift Card to Babies 'R' Us for Baby
A $50 Gift Card to Applebee's and 2 movie tickets to Regal Entertainment theaters for Daddy

How great is that??

Now go make some entries...so that if you win, you can give it to me :)

Two much

I've been so busy posting on my private blog lately, I've been neglecting this one. Mostly because there are so many things I want to write about, that they are piling up and I feel too overwhelmed to do it. But, in the mean time, while I get my overwhelmingness under control, get a load of this overwhelmingness...

Baby #2 is due around Dec 16.