random.

this morning i woke up horribly early with a random nosebleed. this is my second random nosebleed in two weeks. i've heard it's normal for pregnancy but it almost made me gag. ugh.

i poured two splenda packets into my froot loop cereal. no, i didn't mean to. i meant to pour them into my coffee. it did.not.taste.good.

i didn't sleep well last night because i have a million things to do, no motivation and no energy. but i'm excited to do them all.

tomorrow is october 1. we'll be breaking tradition and decorating for christmas probably that first week of november due to miss c's arrival. i feel like fall just got here!

i'm trying to get b. to eat better. really, just to TRY some new foods besides french fries & chicken fingers. any suggestions?

i made homemade sweet potato fries last night. yumm-yumm.

i've been loving this weather - especially the mornings. my back door is open almost always now. i probably should get a screen door, seeing as there are now flies and moths everywhere.

and this little man has been making me smile a lot lately. he came into the kitchen after nap the other day with my uggs on. i love it. he's precious.

33 week stats

how far along? 33 weeks, 0 days.
total weight gain/loss? +14 pounds {officially}
maternity clothes? yes! and at this point - i really don't want to buy anything new, although i do see some cute stuff popping up here and there! i really just want a few of those 'sweatsuits' {if i can call them that and not be too 80's?} terri sent me one that she had gotten from target and it is SO comfortable. i keep thinking to myself that's all i'm going to wear after miss c gets here, so why not invest, right? i just haven't seen anything that looks near as comfy as terri's!! let me know if you know of anything!
stretch marks? i'm still pretty safe here. but i'm not holding my breath. last time stretch marks popped up everywhere the last two weeks. {they're totally gone now though}... so i'm just doing my best to eat with moderation in mind - and that's ALL i can do.
sleep? let's move on. this is a tough subject for me. all i want is to sleep. but. i. can't. i just hit the point this last week where i'm uncomfortable almost always.... but it's just part of it. again, moving on.
best moment this week? jeff went and did a little shopping for miss c. and the bug. he got some super cute stuff - and i love that he took it upon himself to buy some sweet girlie things. my favorite are jammies that say "i love daddy". ahhhh.....
movement? i'm getting concerned because she never DOESN'T move. is this an indication of things to come?
food cravings? ummmm.... does a blizzard count? i think this would happen pregnant or not - since a new dairy queen {yes, you read that right} opened a mile and a half from our house!!
what i miss: sleeping. being able to breathe. fitting into our small shower. need i go on?
what i'm looking forward to: being able to breathe. and christmas. and thanksgiving. do those count?
how are you feeling? overall - i have to say that i've had a good pregnancy. yes, i'm uncomfortable. yes, i feel like an elephant and i have aches and pains that i didn't have last time, but it could be so much worse. i realize this - so i'm going to go with 'pretty good'.
comparisons to last pregnancy? a ton more aches and pains than last time. i don't remember being this out of breath - even while sitting last time. the doc said it's normal - but it's also because i'm physically more active {with a 2 year old} than i was last time. he told me i need to 'rest' more... umm - can someone tell me how that's possible?
milestones? HICCUPS! charlotte has the hiccups at LEAST once a day. and she's always in an inconvienient place {ahem - like my bladder?} for it to happen. i think they started two weeks ago but i didn't mention it here - so there you go!

happy homemaker challenge.

i've been debating posting this for a long time. but it's one of those things that i keep have a nagging {seemingly from the Lord} to do - so i'm going to give up the fight.

i just don't want anyone to think that i think i have this down. because i don't. that's why it has hit so hard at home with me. i have so much to work on. as a wife. a mother. a friend. it's overwhelming at times... and if you read this with a hard heart {like i did the first time} it's REALLY going to feel overwhelming.

but i encourage you to say a little prayer before you read it. {or say a prayer after you read and then come back to it and read it again :) } ask the Holy Spirit to move you to conviction where you need convicting and encouragement where you need encouraging.

then make your own list. {my list is this list minus one or two things and adding one or two things... one is not complaining or arguing - especially in front of brady}.

our challenge {in my women's bible study} was to pick one of these things to work on each week. the first week, mine was number 10. this week mine is number 11. my hope is to post an update each week with my experience - good & bad - with my challenge. if you have any suggestions, tips, etc. on ANY of these things - please pass them my way! we can all use a bit of tangible encouragement now and again, correct?

on with the excerpt:

"do you cherish your home? is it 'home sweet home' to you? when you are away do you yearn for it? is your heart truly centered in your home? are the place and the people there more important to you than anyone or anything else?

when i responded to God's call to homemaking and to questions like these so many years ago, i wrote out an 'i will' list about my home sweet home. i called my covenant with God "the heart of a homemaker'. you'll notice that it touches on much of what you've read so far.

1. i will get up before my family in order to prepare myself spiritually and physically.
2. i will prepare breakfast for my family and sit with them while they eat.
3. i will work diligently to send every member of my family off in a good mood.
4. i will consult my husband every day to see if there is anything special he wants me to do for him.
5. i will keep a neat and orderly home.
6. i will respond positively.
7. i will seek to meet my husband's needs.
8. i will put my husband before my children.
9. i will personally meet & greet each family member as he or she returns home.
10. i will be predicitably happy.
11. i will prepare special, good food for my family.
12. i will make dinner a special time.
13. i will grow daily in the areas of the Lord, marriage, family & homemaking.

is yours the heart of a homemaker? for help, ask God for his transforming touch. as he empowers you to obery, he will give you joy at the task to which he calls you and enhance the beauty of the tapestry you are weaving."

~chapter 16, "a woman after God's own heart" by elizabeth george.

fun at toys.r.us.

baseball fun. again.

have i mentioned the bug's love for baseball? i think i have... once or twice maybe?!

jeff took b. to his FIRST rangers game last sunday. and then on tuesday we got a suite offer {no pun intended!} for the game that very night... parking pass and all!

it was awesome. i wouldn't have gone without the promise of air conditioner and a close parking space. since it was a night game, we even ended up opening the windows to the suite.... and there was a nice breeze.




what was REALLY cool {and what i didn't get a picture of} was that 'we' {and i mean the guys that were sitting outside} got a foul ball!!! it rolled to the suite next to us, but they were so nice and came to give it to ian, josh's nephew who is five - just old enough to really appreciate it! {i actually think that all of us adults thought it was way cooler than he did!}





nonetheless, it was another baseball game - that brady was super excited to be at - and we won. i'm sure it will be the last of the season for me and brady - and maybe jeff, if he doesn't get lucky again with some more tickets. what a fun time to be a rangers fan!

the best.

saturday jeff & i went to ft. worth for the BU/TCU game. what a downer. to be honest, football season itself has been kind of a downer so far. and we're only on week 2. i love the longhorns, but don't consider them 'my' team.... and the cowboys have been worthless. if they continue like this, it's going to be a. long. season.

anyway - that's not what i wanted to say- that's just the picture description.

what i wanted to do was brag on my hubby. he has been a trooper, to say the least, during this pregnancy. he doesn't complain about the days where he comes home & it looks like i've laid on the couch all day. he doesn't say a word {most of the time} when all of his white t-shirts sit in the dryer - unfolded - for days on end. he actually tells me to take a 3 hour nap during b's nap instead of doing housework and being productive. he has taken brady every saturday morning for the past 3 months or so out for donuts and a few errands so that i have the house to myself for an hour or two to do what i want.... all when he has been putting in 12-13 hour days at work himself.

he has been so understanding of my energy level - even when i'm not understanding of it myself. he's waken up in the middle of the night to help me out of bed, help me work out a charlie horse in my leg, or get me a glass of water. he's been the definition of an awesome husband... and i just had to acknowledge it.

it is obvious that he has a servant's heart - and that the Lord has given him an extra dose of energy to encourage me during this busy time. what. a. blessing.

i love you - hubby. thank you for all that you do for our family - and especially all you do in serving me. you are a treasure, and i'm so honored that the Lord chose me to be your wife.

love her.

my first baby:

old toy. new tricks.

pregnancy stats.

how far along? 31 weeks, 0 days.
total weight gain/loss? +13 pounds {officially}
maternity clothes? i did just get my fall maternity clothes out of my box last week. i really don't like maternity clothes, have i mentioned that? some are really cute - but they manage to be uncomfortable. the ones that are ugly are the ones that are comfy. is it possible to dress stylish this late in pregnancy??? i hope so. i have my high school reunion in a few weeks.
stretch marks? i think i may have two small ones - on my back of all places. they may be scratches from georgia - but i can't tell.
sleep? ummm.... no sleep that is restful. i've taken tylenol pm a few nights because my back has been hurting so bad, but even then, my mind is going 100 mph and i can't get to sleep. i remember going in phases... a week of great sleep a week of terrible sleep... last time. i also am terribly hot at night. even with the fan blowing on high in my face. even with the temperatures cooling down - i'm still not cooling down.
best moment this week? the hubbs and i accomplished a lot on our to-do list on saturday so that just might be it. i'm so glad that i'm knocking things off one by one, as the list seems to grow with every day that passes. i love decorating for fall and i'm FINALLY able to do it - so that's a great moment too?!
movement? all.the.time. it looks {sometimes} like an alien has taken over my stomach as it moves like there's no tomorrow!
food cravings? anything sweet. that's all i want to eat. nothing else. cold & sweet.
what i miss: energy. & the sad thing is that i won't have this for a long time. like for 18 years... and i'm missing it already.
what i'm looking forward to: completing charlotte's bedding! we're almost there... hoping that in the next few days i'll knock this one off the list too!
how are you feeling? hmmm... energy level is low. nausea is sort of coming back. i'm starting to swell.... not too bad, but enough to notice. my feet are aching at the end of the day... sometimes they feel like they're falling asleep. i'm feeling overwhelmed & overjoyed at the thought of having two little ones running around.
comparisons to last pregnancy? i am SOOOOO much more sentimental with this one. not even so much with miss c., but with brady. on friday, i heard a stupid country song on the radio and started bahling. i mean, i could not get myself under control. seriously. it's such a sweet and fun song... it really is, and i think brad paisley is a genius. i know that he wrote this about his little boy, but let me tell you that jeff could have EASILY written these exact words for brady. {i've posted it below so you can listen to it}. i mean everything is just like jeff. the skipping class, football being his first love - until me, the speeding tickets being paid off by mowing grass.... everything. and the college part just got me. i mean - that's 16+ years away and honestly - i can't wait to be just jeff and i again - but man, put those thoughts to music, add a pregnant woman and you've got a recipe for a meltdown!
milestones? i've started having a few real contractions here & there. i've been told this is normal... i didn't have ANY last time... so i wasn't quite sure they were real as opposed to BH. but when the tornadoes came through last week & my hubby was on his way home in the direct path of the tornado - i was sure they were real. i couldn't catch my breath! thankfully 24 hours later they were completely gone - although the BH ones stuck around a little longer. ugh.

okay - so here's the song i lost it too. i LOVE it... i really do, i just can't listen to it while pregnant.

nap mat.

the day before school started, i decided {on a whim} that i was going to recover brady's nap mat. if you don't know already, these things are EXPENSIVE!! and we were lucky that when b's class last year made the transition to nap mats, our teacher had one that she was going to sell for $20. That was a steal! I took it. It had trucks on it. It had a tiny hole in it but it was fine and b. loved the trucks.

but... since i've been in a frenzy making stuff for the little sweetsies, and i never made anything for brady, i was feeling kind of guilty.

so we headed to joann's and brady picked out this cute baseball fabric. {have i mentioned he loves baseball??}

i was pretty proud of myself. it cost $14 to recover. and it looked really good.

or so i thought.

two naps into it, one of the velcro 'straps' was tearing off. i think i trimmed it too close. it's no biggie to fix, but i was disappointed it happened so fast.


oh well - it was an afternoon project just for b. & he loves it.

first game.

no. this is NOT about how ridiculous the cowboys played last night.

no. this is NOT about how stressed i get {especially while pregnant} watching the cowboys play sloppy & dumb.

no. this is NOT about how i had a dream last night that we actually did win.

nope. this isn't is NOT about THAT game.

this IS about the hubbs taking b. to his very first 'big boy' baseball game. he's been to a few roughriders games but never a rangers game.

they lasted through the 5th inning. it was boring until the 7th anyway. nothing was happening. 3 up, 3 down. jeff said he did great, he just started really wanting to walk around.

i'm so thankful b. loves sports already. he was born into a sports-lovin' family for sure.

the REST of labor day.

**warning: picture-packed post**

friday afternoon i picked the hubbs up from work and we attempted to head out to the 'country' for a few days. BUT because of the holiday weekend, the traffic was awful. what would normally take an hour and a half at MOST.... took 2 and a half hours. whew.

by the time we got out of the city.... we really needed to be out. of. the. city!

so - where was our destination?

mt. vernon, texas.

woo-hoo! sounds like fun, right? right!!!

you may remember a while back when i went with a few girlfriends from high school to the lake for the weekend. well, my parents bought a lake lot soon after that, so we were headed out to 'try out' the town with my family before they start to build.

we stayed at a little ranch about 10 minutes from their property. we. loved. it.

by the time we arrived friday night, it was pitch black so it was such a wonderful surprise when we woke up saturday morning with 'neigh-neigh's' right in our backyard! brady was THRILLED. he didn't want to touch them, but he wanted to be close to them. every morning we were there he would wake up and the first thing he'd say is "neigh-neigh!" it was so fun.

saturday morning we went on a little walking tour of the ranch. {yes, brady was still in his jammies with a sweatshirt}...

we made friends with a little kitty - that brady kept asking to go back and see. he's going to follow in his momma's footsteps with this one. everyone else in my family {including the hubbs} does NOT particularly like cats. i'd go so far as to say that some even HATE cats. but me? nope. i love them - especially the friendly ones like this little barn cat. he followed us everywhere.

saturday morning my sister, mom & i went 'into town' while the boys went to go get their fishing licenses. sweet jeff was determined to catch a fish this weekend. he took brady the weekend before to get a little fishing pole. {brady was uninterested for the most part - but jeff had a great time.}

jeff & trent {my sister's BF} tried their hand fishing in dream lake, which was right in front of our cabin, on saturday afternoon. no luck, but they both said it was very 'relaxing'. it sounds {and looks} boring to me.

saturday night we went into winnsboro {a CUTE little town} to eat dinner at one of the only places to eat dinner. sibo vino {i think that's how it's spelled...} they are a little family owned restaurant and you definitely get that small town feel - but it's a really nice place. and super yummy, i might add. but we did have to wait a while for our table so we walked around down town.

they had a mock choo-choo-train that b. was of course pumped to see. we made the mistake of doing that first and he didn't want to leave!

then we ate dinner. yumm-o. b. got a little antsy around 9:30 and jeff took him to see the choo-choo one more time as we were paying the check. when we came outside there was a real 'choo-choo-twain' {as b. pronounces it} going by. he even honked his horn {or is it blew his whistle?} for brady. jeff said it was a 'moment he'll never forget' because brady was beyond excited!

sunday morning we met jeff's colleague from the legal world who has had a house on the lake for 15 years. it was brady's first boat ride. {and this momma has no pictures....} the weather was gorgeous.... and b. fell asleep in big daddy's lap because he was so relaxed on the boat. too cute.

{side note - about lake cypress springs - we LOVE that you don't even know the lake is there until you're right up on it. it's surrounded in pine trees & beautiful houses. there is only one public 'marina' and campground... so it's really clean and pretty!}

sunday night we went to our friends' house for a cookout. darrell & paula were so kind to take us out on their pontoon boat before dinner. brady even got to drive this time - and honk the horn!

{i love this picture because they look exactly alike!}

{the water was rough - so b. & the hubbs got splashed a few times}

{this is my dad - a.k.a. big daddy - kayaking while we were on the boat}

when we got back, jeff & trent tried their hand at fishing again... right off their doc. with stink bait. and let me tell you - stink is an understatement. gross!!!! the hubbs caught a catfish! yaya!



then as we were about to have dinner another boat load of people came by. it was so fun. and packed. so we waited a bit longer, threw on some more burgers and got to see some fireworks across the lake! brady liked them because they were so far away.

i wish i had a picture of this - but when we finally ate dinner - i think my dad counted 31 people! what a fun dinner! the mccutcheons are incredibly generous with their home and of course - the food was excellent.

the weekend was great - thanks to nana and big daddy. we loved evey second of it and can't wait to be out on the water more. we were only sad that uncle cammie had to work... {and this preggo momma can't wait to be on the jet skis!}