Who Reads This Blog?

Well, it seems that there are people who actually read this blog. I have to say I'm very surprised, especially since I haven't been posting much of anything lately. In my last post, I included a link to a quilt I made. That picture has had quite a few more hits than any other on my website - thanks for reading! I'm still waiting for the next exciting phase of someone leaving me a comment :)

Things here have been pretty quiet. I'm so ready for spring though. Anyone else? Buehler? The snow is so high it's only a few inches from the top of our fence, much to Clementine's delight. She hops over whenever she pleases and takes a tour of the neighborhood. Lucky for her, lots of our neighbors keep their dogs outside. She's made new friends all over the block.

Quinn is becoming quite the chatterbox these days. He tries to copy everything Eva says, which is very, very cute. We've even taught him to say "Out, please" when he wants out of his highchair. Somehow, it comes off a little less well-mannered when he's screaming "outpleaseoutpleaseoutpleaseoutplease" at the top of his voice and waving sticky hands in the air.

In other vocab news... this is a conversation I overheard the other day.
Eva : Daddy, what the hell are you doing?
John: I'm making pancakes. (Pause). Wait, what? Sweetie that's not a very nice thing to say.
You should say 'what the hizzy'.

Meanwhile I'm upstairs thinking, what!? that's not any better. I don't want my three year old going to preschool and saying 'what the hizzy'. OMG. Oh well, I'll give him partial credit for telling her it wasn't very nice. I'll work on the other phrase when he's not home.

Here's looking forward to a great weekend. Cheers!

Pressed for Time

Well, it's been quite awhile again since I've posted anything. This year seems to be just flying by. Instead of a New Year's Resolution (which I never stick to), I decided to start a new habit in February. I found this website - flylady.com. It helps with cleaning and organizing your house. Of course it doesn't actually do the cleaning and organizing - that would be awesome - but it does give good tips and tasks to accomplish each day. I find I don't mind cleaning as much when I only have to do a few things each day. Naturally this makes sense. Naturally I have never thought of this approach before. I was more of the 'wait until the house is so messy you have to clear a path to get to the bathroom' before I would clean.

Now that my house is a bit cleaner I don't feel so guilty about doing the things I want to do. Like sewing. And sewing. And maybe a bit of sewing thrown in there for good measure. I have been getting things done left and right, and I've promised myself not to start any more quilting projects until I've finished all the ones I'm in the middle of. So far, so good. I've finished two things and I have two more well under way. I even finished my first machine quilted project, Dexter's quilt, check it out http://secularpickle.spoon.cx/gallery/album46/IMG_1012.

So, yesterday while Quinn and Dex were both napping, I decided to get a little work done. I was cutting some fabric at my kitchen table and Eva was sitting there playing with her sticker book. Suddenly, she hopped up and said "Mom, I've got to show you something" To which I replied, "Ok, just a minute". Eva: "Moooom, I don't have all the time in the world."

Hmmm, I don't think I've ever used this particular phrase with my kids, where would she have heard this? Ahhh....maybe something I've said to John? Yes, that would make sense. Let 's just say sometimes my husband can be a bit...pokey. Yes, that's a good description. I thought I had things in hand because I don't swear around my children and I say please and thank you when I ask them to do something. I guess I need to be a bit more censored when I'm ordering...uh, I mean asking John to help me with something around the house.

Hopefully, there'll be more soon. I just heard Eva tell Quinn it was time to make puppy soup, I think that's my cue.

Picture Perfect

It's that time of year, time for baking cookies, building snowmen, wrapping gifts, and getting pictures taken. Ah yes, the ever anticipated event of getting your kids all dressed up and then taking them to get their photos taken. All the while threatening them with their lives if they get wrinkled or rumpled or mess up their hair.

When Eva was a baby I loved getting her picture taken. I would get her all dolled up and we would traipse off to the mall. The most difficult part was deciding what to order as one picture was cuter than the last. Then Quinn was born, and Eva was 2. Ok, things got a little trickier, but not too bad. Eva was still very accommodating and Quinn was too little to do much.

Life has certainly progressed. I'm sorry to say, but pictures are no longer easy, and certainly not fun. Of course these days the stress starts days, often weeks before the blessed event. I have to decide on outfits. Formal? Dressy? Casual? Somewhere in between? Should they match? Color coordinated? Should there be a theme? This is where John loses interest and tells me I'm crazy. This does not usually help.

This year I actually had a fairly easy time finding the right outfits - coordinating, but no theme. We even made it to Sears without any serious mishaps. Eva was an angel, and Dexter slept through almost the whole thing. Then there's Quinn. Now, in his defense, he's only 19 months. That's a hard age to simultaneously stand still, look at one thing, and smile.

The photographer was EXTREMELY patient with us. It took us well over an hour (we were scheduled for 15 minutes). The result? We have the most beautiful picture of all three looking straight at the camera and smiling (well, Dex isn't smiling, but he looks quite content). You can't even tell that Quinn was smiling for exactly the one quarter of a second and then promptly flung himself over backwards and started to scream. Doesn't matter though, I have a fantastic picture this year for Christmas cards :)

And Baby Makes ... 5

Well, it's been awhile. I know one of my last posts was how I was starting to feel pregnant - I am most definitely not feeling pregnant anymore! If anyone missed my blog, just count yourselves lucky that you missed the end of my pregnancy. I'll just say I wasn't in such a pleasant mood and spare you all the moody, hormonal, painful details.

On a much brighter note, we now have another beautiful baby boy. Dexter Elliot was born on November 2. I really thought that having another baby would be really really difficult. So far, everything has been great. Yes, we're back to midnite feedings and explosive diapers and searching under the couch/bed or inside Quinn's shoes (a very popular hiding spot :) for binkys. But, it still hasn't been so much of a change. I guess I'm just really used to having my living room filled with swings, bouncy seats, toys, books, blankets, burp cloths and all other sorts of kid and baby paraphernalia.

Both Eva and Quinn have been really great. Eva pretends everything is her baby. One afternoon while I was cleaning up in our bedroom, I looked inside the bassinet and saw a large butternut squash wrapped up in a blanket:

Me: Eva, what's this?
Eva: It's my baby.
Me: What's your baby's name?
Eva: Mooooom....it's my babynut.
Me: Ahh, of course. It's your babynut. Well, do you think your babynut would rather sleep in the kitchen with the other vegetables, I mean babies.
Eva: No. He has to sleep in his bed. (Pause) Mom, you're too loud, you'll wake my babynut.

Babynut went everywhere with Eva for about a week. Then John cooked her. I guess that's the reality of having a baby vegetable.

Well, this post is kinda short, but it's lunch time at my house. I truly believe lunch time to be the worst time of day. Who thought of having a meal so close after snack time (so no one's hungry) and so near to nap time (so everyone's whiny). I promise to start updating this much more regularly, so check back. Also, if you prefer the picture book style of checking in on our lives check our website : secularpickle.spoon.cx

Flowers for Mother's Day

I have had a really wonderful Mother's Day weekend. Yesterday we went to my Grandma's house for a picnic/family get-together. My aunt from Virginia was there, as well as my aunt and uncle from Minnesota with their new baby. Plus all the folk from Dubuque and surrounding area. We had perfect weather for the day. The kids got to run around in the yard and we grilled hamburgers and brauts. Yum.

This morning John went out and bought donuts (that's my kinda surprise). Then we spent most of the afternoon working outside. John dug and tilled a vegetable garden and I planted some hanging baskets with geraniums, petunias, and something that looks like Gerbera Daisies, but aren't. We also repotted John's ficus tree. It was still in the same pot as when he got it as a highschool graduation gift. Needless to say, it needed a new home!

It really has been a lovely weekend. I love to get out and do yardwork (so much better than housework). I hope all you mom's out there also had a great weekend!

On a sidenote - anyone reading this who has any great suggestions for baby names, feel free to send those along. John and I are coming up kinda blank this time around :)

Feeling pregnant

Well, I'm finally starting to really feel pregnant....most of the time. It's so funny because when I first found out I was pregnant with Eva it was all I could think about. Every thing I did, ate, wore, just everything seemed related to my pregnancy.

Baby 2: When I was pregnant with Quinn, it felt very much the same. John and I had been planning to get pregnant and I was really excited to be pregnant again. I started thinking about all the new baby stuff I would get and started shopping for maternity clothes right away. I just got really involved in all the fun pregnancy stuff.

Baby 3: First of all, I was SHOCKED when I discovered I was pregnant again. I think that has a lot to do with it. For those of you who don't know, I got the positive test result when John was in Germany. I had taken 5 tests in 6 days and finally the blue line appears (oh, so faint) and I was like, "Oh, you've got to be F%#$ing kidding me" Oops, probably shouldn't have said that out loud.

So, I had to deal with a shock and of course, the dreaded fatigue. I get so tired when I'm pregnant I can barely function. Having Eva and Quinn compound this problem significantly. Not only do I have to get out of bed, I also have to be alert and watchful and playful and fun.... Are you kidding me?

But now, both the shock and the tiredness have passed (most of it, anyway). And once again, I'm excited about being pregnant. It took me a little longer this time, but I think I'm in the swing of things now. I'm about 3 1/2 months and just starting to show a little bit. This is the best part!! I get to wear all my super cute, trendy maternity clothes and I'm not yet as big as a house. For those of you who missed my previous pregnancies - yes, I got HUGE. Oh well, that's part of the deal.

This week I made 3 new tops and a dress. I'm super excited. I love to sew and I love maternity clothes - what could be better ?!? Plus now I have all these fantastic new shoes to go with my stuff. Yay me!

Enough about maternity clothes. I am really looking forward to this weekend. I love Mother's Day (but I really think it ought to last all weekend long). John and I have some fun things planned and I'm looking forward to some gorgeous weather. Happy Mother's Day to all you mom's out there! I hope we all get some pampering this weekend.

Shoes

I love shoes. I know this is not anything particularly unique for a woman of my age. In fact, I probably don't really have very many pairs of shoes compared to most. But, I do love shoes.

It occurred to me this weekend that for the past several years, I have bought nothing but flip-flops for the summer. Flip-flops are comfy and easy to wear, also cheap and disposable. But, when I wanted to wear some real summer sandals I noticed I didn't have any. Not one single pair. Hmm....This must be remedied.

I took the kids to my mom's yesterday and went to get my haircut (adorable haircut :) Then I went to Younkers. I only sometimes like Younkers, they don't generally have a huge selection of shoes, but I was close and thought I'd give it a try. Jackpot! Everything was cute, but nothing was on sale. I tried about at least 20 pairs. I bought six. Now, 1 pair is a more fall/winter type shoe - but it was on the clearance rack. Everything else was a summer sandal or flat. Woo hoo. I have shoes.

Then, when I got back to my mom's I saw a flyer from Kohl's - they're having a shoe extravaganza today. Hmm.... more shoes? I'm going this afternoon to look at their selection. I have firmly told myself that if I find some shoes on sale I will buy them - but then I have to take back a few pair from yesterday. So, we'll see how that goes. Returning shoes is not really my thing.