i love me some polka dots. :)
i've been poring over the baby gap site today, bad idea.
they have gone polka dot crazy. and i love it.
i was feeling pretty well today, so i got the kids dressed, shoes on, found the football and soccer ball, announced we were going outside to play, and opened the door to a rainy, muddy, cold, wet yard. why oh why didn't i look out the window first??? my kids were so so sad...so we made brownies.
now i have sugar monsters flying around the house. i just duck, cover my head and try to stay out of their way.
7 days until "baby no name" arrives. i'm getting excited, but am kind of dreading the delivery. i normally am super excited about the delivery (weird i know) but this time i am in a lot of pain already, and it worries me how it will affect that whole pushing-the-kid-out part.
dustin has vetoed my baby boy name. i countered it by teaching the kids my baby name, and am having them refer to the baby by that name. i am hoping that juju will sound so cute referring to the baby by this name that dustin will cave. it's worth a shot...
it looks like a BOY!!!!! we are all so shocked, as EVERYBODY just felt like it was going to be a girl. this baby has definitely been a surprise in more ways than one ;)
annabelle is a little disappointed. she said, "well, i'm a little bit excited, but i don't really like boys. i guess i can marry my new brother AND juju." after we told her that she would soon have her OWN room (NO BOYS ALLOWED) she got excited and said, "my toys are going to be SOOO happy!"
so after all the fuss trying to come up with girls names, we're trying to find some baby boy names, especially middle names as i am pretty decided on my boy name. any ideas???
2 more weeks! i've got some shopping to do...
the doctor's appointment went really well. 36 weeks, baby's heartbeat at 148, everything is perfect (other than the arthritic like pain, but we're hoping that will all go away very very soon)
we scheduled an induction (unless i deliver early) so as long as all goes as planned, the baby (who annabelle is currently calling "Curly Shirley CatDog Bartell") will be here December 5th!!
our ultrasound is tomorrow at 3pm, so fingers crossed that we will know who's old baby clothes we need to run through the laundry...bella's or juju's.
and now, cute baby find of the day: doesn't this little polka dot pony make you smile? :) julian would totally trash this thing in about 2 1/2 days...
EDITED TO ADD: this little pony is from Babystyle.com i believe. sorry i forgot to include that. how am i supposed to be a good enabler if i don't post links??
fun name game...play along!
1. Rockstar name (your first pet's name + current street name)
Brownie Mellow Meadow
2. Gangsta name (fav. ice cream + fav. cookie)
Chunky Monkey Double Peanut Butter
3. "Fly guy/girl" name (first initial of first name + first 3 letters of last name)
M-Bar
4. Detective name (favorite color + favorite animal)
Green Monkey
5. Soap Opera name (middle name + city where you were born)
Rae Mena6. Star Wars Name (First 3 letters of your last name + first 2 letters of first name)
Barmi
7. superhero name ("the" + second favorite color + favorite drink)
The Blue Pina Colada
8. Nascar Name (first names of your grandfathers)
Curtis Jim Bob (how perfect is that???)
9. Stripper name (favorite perfume + favorite candy)
Chance Chocolate
10. Witness Protection name (parents middle names)
Diane Curtis
baby alive
annabelle and julian have been obsessed with Christmas consumerism this year. despite my efforts to fast foward through commercials when they watch cartoons, they have been confiscating the toys-r-us mailers that come through our newspaper, and at bedtime, this is the "story book" that they want to read. i'm pretty creative, but i just can't come up with an interesting story line for these "books".
annabelle told me the other day that she wanted a "Baby Alive" for Christmas. I told her, "Annabelle, you don't even like baby dolls, why would you want a "Baby Alive?"
She said, "I AM getting a Baby Alive for Christmas. and she pees and poops and eats and cries..."
I told her, "Annabelle, I think I am getting one of those for Christmas too...you can just help me with mine."
baby stuff...
i kind of love this. i looked at it in our target at home and it's so much cuter in person than online. it's green and chocolate brown, which i love, and i think it's great because if baby #3 doesn't cooperate at our next ultrasound, this bedding isn't too feminine/masculine to be used for either gender. i always love the "Amy Coe" nursery line at Target, and it's so affordable.
they have another line that is pink and chocolate brown that has butterflies instead of elephants, but you know, i think dustin wouldn't be too happy if we had a baby boy in a pink butterfly bed. he used to think i was so strange when i would dress julian in annabelle's old girly pajamas. it's not like anybody is going to be judging juju's masculinity at bedtime, so i don't think the pink dora nightgown did anybody any harm....now his obsession with wearing annabelle's red dress shoes and flowery bathing suits...that's a little weird.
so i'm approximately 35 1/2 weeks. my dr. goes out of town thanksgiving week, so i've been forbidden to go into labor too early, but he also goes out of town during the week of my due date, so i've been forbidden to go late as well. i think we may schedule an induction around the week of Dec. 8th, because as much as i hate pitocin, i hate the thought of going into labor and my husband not making it here in time (he's over 9 hours away right now). i can always see the on-call doctor, but i prefer not to contract out the husband position. :)
i'm having a pretty hard time this week. i've never had problems with swelling before, but my feet look horrible. i was concerned (although my dr. told me not to be) because i feel like i have arthritis in all of my joints. every joint that could hurt, does. and not just in an achey way, but in a "could my ankles/knees/wrists/elbows/toes/fingers be broken???" kind of way. has anybody else ever felt like this during pregnancy? i am a pretty tough girl, so i know i'm not just wimping out, but i'm at a point where i want to be medicated, even if it causes the baby to come out with three eyeballs or something.
this morning, i was having a particularly hard time, with julian getting into things and me not being able to do anything about it because i couldn't walk. i finally just burst into tears (i'm a tough girl, but i am pretty emotional 24/7). annabelle ran to me, and in the most nurturing way, started patting my arm and saying, "don't cry. poor mama." which caused julian to stop his tyrant ways long enough to administer some sympathy of his own. "poor mama...juju's here...juju's here."
annabelle took my hand and said ever so sincerely, "mama, if i was a grown up and my legs felt brokened, i'm sure i would do the same thing. i'm sure i would be cryin too."
yeah...she got a cookie at lunchtime for that one.
i'm in arkansas. i forgot to tell you all that.
i don't have time to update right now, just wanted to let you know that i'm here. i'm going to have a baby in a few short weeks. i am going to have an ultrasound on tuesday and HOPEFULLY we will find out the sex. but we may keep it a surprise...i mean, we've waited this long, right?
lots of out of town family will be here soon for thanksgiving and i am super duper excited.
dustin and i are tossing a couple of baby (girl) names at eachother, and i am determined to win.
a boy's name is fairly easy...but dustin does have a tendency to change his mind last minute.
annabelle's latest contribution is "Cat Dog Bartell". my sister is really rooting for that one.
my birthday!!!
so yes, today is my birthday. it was an average thursday, since Dustin had to work and my little birthday party planner (aka Annabelle) is in Arkansas visiting the family. julian and i had a fabulous day, although it pretty much revolved around him.
we spent the morning at mcdonald's, and i indulged in a cinnamon roll AND a sausage biscuit...horrible, right? don't judge me, it's my birthday. ;) then julian ran around the play area for a bit, but got bored quickly as:
a. bella wasn't there
b. most (sane) mothers don't take their babies to mcdonald's playland at 9am.
so we went home....where we found that dustin had locked the door before leaving for work. we headed to the office for a spare key, and julian found a large inviting bowl of halloween candy. he said, "ooooohhhhh! trick or treat!" and promptly grabbed a chubby little handful. i put them all back except for one roll of smarties (his fave).
we cuddled and watched a cartoon.
julian rocked out on his little keyboard.
we took a nap, and julian cooperated really well today, which made me happy.
we headed out to get a haircut (for julian, he really was starting to look like a shaggy puppy) and it's a BIG boy haircut. he loves it and admires himself so proudly in the mirror. and his favorite part (because he HATES the process of getting a haircut) was when she put a little gel in his hair and used the hair dryer on it. he thought it was a cool "tool".
then, we stocked up on some goodies and headed to the dollar theater, where we ate entirely too much junk food (popcorn and gummy bears for juju, milk duds and a root beer from sonic for me) we watched *most* of "Barnyard" and it was really hilarious. but about 15-20 minutes before it was over, the gummy bears really kicked in, julian was crawling under the seats, and with threats of taking him home, julian finally said, "mama, i wanna go home. please?" so we did.
i came home to SO many sweet birthday wishes online, and several phone calls. i don't care to talk on the phone very often, but i LOVE talking on the phone on my birthday. i spent the better part of 6 hours on the phone tonight talking to friends and family and i feel so happy and refreshed after getting to talk to people i love.
dustin brought me another root beer from sonic and since he has tomorrow free, we are making plans for tomorrow night. i'm excited and i'm even more excited to see my little annabelle this weekend. we miss her so much. dustin has been walking from room to room like a mama dog that can't find her puppies. it's really funny/sad at the same time. julian talks to her so eagerly every day and asks about 50 times a day if we can go to poppy and tata's house and see bella.
so anyways...that about wraps up my birthday! thanks so much to everybody for thinking about me today, i really felt so so special.
tomorrow: pictures of the juju man's new do...and maybe a funny story about dustin's near death experience with a rabid killer possum...
welcome to texas
edited to add:
this was intentional, he's been trying to get a cross eyed drivers license photo for some time now, but usually the person taking the picture won't let him. i didn't want anybody feeling sorry for him or anything ! :)
dustin went to get his new texas drivers license a couple of weeks ago. the lady didn't preview the picture first, she just approved it and told him it would be mailed to him in 1-2 weeks.
we got it in the mail yesterday.
dustin jokingly says it is his greatest accomplishment and i've never been so proud.
(this is his attempt at crossing his eyes.)
*Flashback Friday*
several people mentioned that Julian's Halloween costume was so "creative", and honestly, it was a last ditch effort to correct my laziness in not trying his costume on him before the day of Halloween.
my mom, on the other hand, was amazingly creative with all of our costumes each year. i honestly don't remember any store bought costumes, although i'm sure i must have had one sometime.
the ones that i remember really stand out in my mind and i always appreciated the time and effort that she put in to making me look super cute each year, on a budget.
the first costume that i remember, was probably around 4 or 5 years old. she dressed me as a red crayola crayon. i had red sweats on (properly colored sweat pants/shirts were almost always the base of our costumes). then she wrapped a piece of red posterboard into a round, skinny tube and stapled it around my body (*around* my body, not *to* my body...that would have been horrible). she wrote "Crayola" and "Red" down the side, complete with the squiggle line under the crayola. then she fashioned a little cone shaped hat out of construction paper for the crayon tip. i felt so awesome.
another year, she put me in black sweats, painted my face dark, and then put a puffy black Hefty bag around my body, and a pair of gloves completed my outfit. I was a California Raisin. Genius, no?
one of my favorite memories, that i was sharing with Dustin tonight, was these "Hallelujah" parties that we used to attend as children. Even though we trick or treated (guiltily at times, depending on which church we were attending) we always made an effort to make sure that Jesus knew we weren't celebrating the "devil's holiday". We did this by making our costumes based on Bible characters, singing Christian music, and having a pinata, because apparently Jesus is BIG on pinatas.
the funniest part, though, is that most people had these typical "safe" costumes. Angels with wings and halos, sheperds in robes with big sticks (staffs) and fake beards. No. My Mom always went a step further.
One year, she found some halloween makeup that was supposed to be mixed with oatmeal and applied to look like peeling flesh or something. she applied this to my brother and he became the "leper" that Jesus healed. gruesome, but awesome.
another year, she dressed me all in white (white sheet, makeup, hair, everything). we had to go to the front of the church and "act out" our character. all i had to do was walk a few steps, stop and turn around, and then freeze. I was Lot's wife, after she turned into a pillar of salt.
but my absolute favorite, was when i was probably 5 or 6 years old. my mom dressed me in a velvet glittery dress, heavy costume jewelry, and LOTS of makeup, complete with a beauty mole. every other little girl was dressed as Mary or an angel....but me...I was JEZEBEL.
yes, my mom dressed me as the Bible harlot.
Thursday Thirteen
13 things that make my life easier right now...
- BLOCKBUSTER ONLINE (IF you have a blockbuster near you). Their rates are the same as netflix, with the additional bonus of returning dvd’s instore and exchanging them for one on the shelf. Also, you get a free rental coupon emailed to you WEEKLY. If you are obsessive compulsive about this, that is a LOT of free rentals!
- BLOGLINES. Seriously, it’s so easy to use, I don’t know why everybody doesn’t. I used to keep all my blogs in my bookmarks, but checking them daily (sometimes multiple times daily) and not seeing updates was frustrating and time consuming. Now, I just log into bloglines and all my blogs are listed in one column, with the updated blogs in bold. it’s not always completely accurate, especially with typepad accounts, but it’s still way easier than randomly clicking on blogs, hoping for updates.
- dvr. I can’t say enough about how wonderful dvr is if you enjoy watching tv without loud people in the room with you. I no longer watch any television before 9ish pm, and dustin and I can find stuff that we enjoy together. Before dvr, we didn’t watch anything together other than the occasional movie when he was home. It’s also great to record children’s shows, fast forward through commercials, and not have to let them watch more tv than necessary while waiting for their favorite show to come on. (we watch lots of curious george and Charlie & Lola)
- sidewalk chalk.
- itunes
- Tylenol pm. I would seriously never sleep if I didn’t have this to use a couple of nights a week.
- cocoa. I am not a tea or coffee drinker, and I find one mug of this a few nights a week makes me feel deliciously relaxed.
- crossword puzzles. I attack our daily paper with a pair of scissors, and collect the crossword puzzle. I keep them stapled together until I finish one and then toss it. It gives me a sense of accomplishment and my dad would be so proud.
- washable markers/paint/colors. A must in this creative little house.
- crockpot. I’m finally figuring out how to use it and it’s wonderful. I am starting to have crockpot envy, when I see bigger ones, with self timers and different settings.
- picasa2. one of the fastest, easiest (*free*) ways to store photos on your computer, plus you can send them to friends, upload to web albums, crop and edit photos and upload to your blogger account. again, why doesn't everybody use this?
- caller id. Do you know how many phone calls a day I get from people that I don’t want to talk to?
- online banking. I haven’t bought stamps in months, which is great b/c that’s one less place that I have to try to navigate with kids in tow.
so what about you??? do you have some must haves to share? :) please do.
the boss and the dragon
so we went trick or treating on Saturday at the local YMCA. they had a cute little trick or treat trail, face painting, giveaways and games...fun stuff. the only thing was that i didn't put the costumes on the kids until we arrived, so it was too late to notice that julian's little teddy bear costume came up to his knees. these are last years costumes and i couldn't buy new costumes this year, so i thought they would work. guess not, huh? :)
so tonight, i got a little creative, got Julian's little man suit out of the closet, slicked his hair over and added a fake mustache and TA-DA! He's "the boss".
We went to the local mall, store to store, collecting candy until Julian's candy bag burst (from being dragged along the ground all night). we were next to a cell phone kiosk, so we begged the t-mobile man for a bag for all of julian's goodies. he looked like such a little businessman, and he kept the mustache on all night (other than for a couple of bites of teriyaki chicken from our favorite chinese place).
by the end of the night, he stopped saying, "trick or treat" and took to saying, "hi, what's your name?" which he quickly followed with, "I Juju. I da boss."
Noni (dustin's mom) was with us and she said, "is he making friends?"
i said, "No. He's networking."
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