friday.

today. has been a good day.

i feel full - anticipating a weekend spent with family.

thankful for progress this week. extremely grateful.

i drank what seems like a gallon of chamomille tea last night before going to bed. {which was at 11.} and by 12:30 i was asleep. yaya. i slept pretty good - until 6:00 when my alarm went off. 5 1/2 hours is much better than what i've been getting. so thanks for your prayers, emails vm's and comments. 

a few people have told me to go to the doctor. i have an appointment for my 'annual' in two weeks. if i'm still struggling - i will definitely ask him about it. until then... i am trying to adjust my lifestyle accordingly. there are several things i'm biting the bullet & trying... and i will post on those when the results are in - and when i'm feeling vulnerable enough to share.

until then.... 

this is what our friday looked like:

lil' miss slept soundly until i went to get her at 7. {we've been starting a 'pattern' this week of crying 30 minutes or so after putting her down at night... and then we get her up... attempt to feed her - which she isn't hungry in the slightest - and then cuddling for an hour or so. i put a stop to it last night. while the hubby was gone. it was hard... so i talked to a friend on the phone instead of listening to her cry while watching my watch....}

we had a sweet snuggle time together while i fed her. 

ahhh.....

i set her down while i went to go get brady.

i came back and she'd rolled over.

right. maybe it was an accident?

nope. she has rolled over several times from her tummy to her back today. and once from back to tummy. hummmmm......... maybe i shouldn't have posted that i like her immobile?

it's my mom's birthday. so after c went down, we made cards. for her and for aunt katie - who's birthday is on monday.

brady loved it. {and now has green marker all over his hands. i thought it was washable??? yeah, right.}

then we went to the post office. and cvs for some photos. and we played at the mall. 

just us. and it was really fun. 

 charlotte fell asleep in her carrier. {she rarely does that anymore - unless we're in the car, of course.}

we ate at chick fil a. just me & brady - splitting some nuggets {and french fries}. 

we talked. and sang songs. and played i spy. 

it was fun. and simple. and nice.

then we stopped to watch the ice skaters. b. was fascinated.

then we went home. read books together & laid the kiddos down for naps.

i watered my garden - again. because it's hot. and i'm proving to myself that i don't always kill things.

and i spotted my first strawberries. 

go me!

and then, after 'straightening up' just a tad {it is friday, afterall}, i read a chapter in my new book club book. 

i have to be honest... i wasn't too excited about this one. i was reluctant. 

but i'm actually enjoying it. i think it's quite funny, really. 

we'll see though.

and now i'm waiting on my hubby to get home. on friday afternoon... ready for the weekend.

we're grilling out tonight. and i'm terribly excited.

are you?

away. part deux.

so. i finished our vacation pictures. {woot! woot!}

and there are a LOT.

if you missed the first part of our mommy & daddy only vacay, click here.

okay - onto part two.

sunday morning, we were lazy. {after our night out two-steppin' we deserved it!}

we slept in. drank two cups of coffee in our room then two on our patio. reading books. while the church bells rang in the distance. we felt like we were in another world. ahh..... i can hear them now.

then we ate 'brunch' at the peach tree.

such a ladies-that-lunch kinda place, and my hubby was nice enough to endulge me.

but he got this as a reward:

they're infamous ICE CREAM PIE.

i bought the cookbook just.for.this.

chocolate covered cornflake crust. yummmmy.

then we headed out to becker.

it was beautiful.

you could literally smell the lavender driving up.

then, my darling hubby asked me if i wanted to go shopping some more.

like a crazy woman, i said no, let's go to enchanted rock. whoops.

we were NOT prepared. i thought it was a sort of look out. so i didn't worry about grabbing 'proper attire'.

i was wrong. it's literally a HUGE rock.

that you climb.

and it's super windy at the top.

and there are caves.

and trees. and grass. growing on a ROCK. what?!

and it's beautiful.

i love j's hair in this one. hahaha. it was SO windy at the top!

then we went to hondos. for some nachos and the BEST burger i've ever eaten in my life. like, seriously. i offended my husband. but it's truth. you can't deny a burger this good. my mouth is watering just thinking about it.

then, bright & early on monday morning, we said goodbye to our dear cabin. {boo}.

and headed to austin. where jeff had some business. and i sat in the hotel. and watched the bachelor. and read this. {it's so good. really.}

i love austin. i would live there in a heartbeat if we could. it's weird. and wonderful. and fun.

we walked over to UT on tueday. i begged the hubbs to get me a longhorn t-shirt. {we root for texas whenever they aren't playing baylor}. but nope. he said that 'it didn't feel right'. whatever that means.

i love this picture. i took it at the capitol. i think it's so 'texas'.

and then, tuesday, i drove from downtown to the arboretum to go shopping while j had a dinner meeting. {yes, i drove by myself}. and thanks to the garmin i got to avoid traffic and only took a few wrong turns. and i saw this. and i was like, "what?" {in a randy jackson voice!} deer? just chillin in someone's front yard. while people just drove by, like it was no biggie. 

so. cool.

and that's that. we came back and it was a 'rough' adjustment. but so worth it. i love that i still like my hubby. after 12+ years of being 'together', i still enjoy him. i still find him funny. and cute. and handsome. and interesting. i'm blessed beyond measure that i met him. and that one day, seemingly out of nowhere, we fell in love. and it grew. and now we have two littles that are sleeping upstairs as i type this. {ok, one is sleeping & one is making gurgling sounds over the monitor}.

thank you, hubby. for knowing when i needed to get away. and be wooed again. without the spit up. and the diapers, and schedules and laundry and dishes. i love you for knowing me more than i even know myself sometimes. xoxoxo.

valentine's dinner.

finally.

my dinner for the hubbs will be revealed. ha.

it was an all day process.

man, i wish every dinner could be like this. i love cooking. love it.

but it can't. maybe once a week i'll cook like this.

but the littles make it a bit hard.

in fact. on this night, in particular. we had our first {of three} coinciding, consecutive meltdowns for lil' miss & the bug. whew. just when i needed to be getting things on the skillet, etc. etc.

thankfully, the hubbs showed up right on que this night. and we put the kids to bed early.

that always works.

right?

nope. as we were enjoying our romantic dinner for two, we heard lots of jumping & squealing from his room. and finally, a door open & close. what?

turns out, the bug had found a few things that didn't "belong" in his room. charlotte's 'things'. that he had put there earlier in the day, mind you. he opened his door, threw out all the 'things' & then closed it and hopped back into bed. {he gets this OCD-ishness from his daddy, right?}

anyway. onto dinner.

i made this.

and this.

and this.

all of jeff's favorites. all i learned to cook last year after i got my PW cookbook.

whew. it.was.yummy. to say the least. i was full beyond full. and so was he. and everything was delish.

i swear, the pioneer woman makes me look like a super hero. every.single.time. except for the biscuits. i can't make the biscuits. yucky, yucky hard-as-bricks biscuits.

and then, for the finale.

creme brulee.

it's not so much that i love creme brulee, or that the hubbs loves it. 

it's just that my brother {again with the professional chef thing} gave me a kitchen torch for christams a few years ago. and i love the idea of using butane in the kitchen. don't you? so, this has been on my bucket list to do for quite sometime.

and i did it. 

and it was perfection. {with all day text-message help from the little brother, i might add}.

and that's all. it was a fabulous dinner for two {with a few interruptions}. ahhhh.... if only every dinner was like that, right?

follow up.

first of all:

thank you so much to those of you who commented on my long & dreary post or sent me emails, texts, phoned, etc. you are such a blessing. i didn't even know i needed encouragement. but apparently i did. it did WONDERS for the soul. even to hear that my words were encouraging to some of you encouraged me. i had no idea that post could be ANYTHING but depressing. but i guess that's how the LORD works, huh?

secondly: 

i want to clarify {since a few people asked} that this 'wilderness' or whatever you want to call it is NOT at all like the post partum i experienced with brady. i can safely say that this isn't hormones. {or at least 90% of it isn't}. it's just a 'funk'. but not lonely and dark like the post partum was. i can't exactly describe the difference but it is different. {but - if you are experiencing post partum at all and need to talk, i have a bit of experience with it. tiny, but some. just know that it's normal!}

third: 

GOD IS FAITHFUL. after i finally said my feelings out loud, GOD has blessed me in so many ways. for starters, the very next day was sunny & beautiful. i needed fresh air. {didn't we all?} but i really needed it. i pulled up our flower beds. b. played outside.

it. was. wonderful.

then the hubbs surprised me with a weekend getaway toward the end of february. so excited. {not to mention that it knocks something off of my thirty things list. yaya!}

and then i got the nice {but firm} kick in the pants on sunday night that i needed. it was not what i wanted. but it was DEFINITELY what i needed. a little chastening goes a long way. it does not feel good when it's happening but it is definitely worth it in the end. {not that i'm at the end. i'm NOT.}

so. i've started putting one foot in front of the other to get things in order around here. and it's amazing how the LORD has multiplied my time. please know that i recognize that this is NOT my own strength pullling me through this. it's not. it can't be. it's HIS.

i'm praying that i glorify the LORD with my time.

and i already feel better. i'm a work in progess.

but, i guess we all are though, right?

Hodge Podge of Stuff...

Have ya'll seen this on facebook:

Pay it Forward 2011: I promise to send something handmade to the first 5 people who leave a comment here. They must in turn post this and send something they make to the first 5 people who comment on their status. *The rules are that it must be handmade by you and it must be sent to your 5 people sometime in 2011.

well - i LOVE this concept... in fact, even though i already posted it on my FB wall, I'm going to post it again here since I commented on Lindsay's blog too! So - leave a comment... it doesn't have to be anything important... and I will send you something "handmade".  And yes, baked goods, dinner, etc. count {in my opinion}!!! {if you've commented on FB, you don't count on here!!}

I'm hoping people post pictures of what they make {and receive} as their handmade gifts... I love getting new ideas from people! I've really been reflecting on my Thirty Things Before Thirty and one of them is to be more 'crafty'. i think i've done well at the sewing - but perhaps not the crafting. so my handmade stuff will be 'crafting' for some & 'sewing' for others. :)

*************************************************************************************************

i'm making chili. texas chili. {that means NO BEANS for those of you who don't know}. in fact, it's really plain jane. i'll put the recipe up soon... because it's SO good. it's a little different each time, but i think i'm getting there on the mixture of spiciness and saltiness! love.

*************************************************************************************************



jeff told me that i need to post more about charlotte. i can't believe she'll be EIGHT weeks tomorrow. i just don't feel like much has changed about her since we brought her home from the hospital. she's starting to fill out more. {that means 'chunk up' for all of you baby lovers}. she's just starting to smile, and today she smiled REAL big for me - but only for a second or two. we pretty much rotate between being held, bouncy seat, swing and tummy time right now.

she doesn't really 'do' much.

she's definitely getting heavier, if that counts. she's slept through the night a few times since we changed things up last week. {three times, to be exact}. we were waking her up between 10-11 to eat and then trying to let her sleep/cry it out, etc. but she would wake up every 2 hours one night and then every 4 the next. no consistency. {even though our days - especially being home bound in the potty area, have been UBER-consistent!}

*************************************************************************************************
on another note, i took a bunch of pictures around the house at christmas... hoping to get them up before the season was over. but it didn't happen. SURPRISE! ha. here they are. i decorated the whole month. i kept bringing stuff out until that last few days. the good news {for jeff, at least} was that i only used what we had except for one craft and some new ribbon! yaya!

enjoy the pics. it makes me miss christmas.