Mommy Matters

Ok ladies- let's talk about things we do to make ourselves feel better.  As moms, we put everyone first.  And that's not necessarily a bad thing-- we are, after all, supposed to the "the heart of the home".  But after spending 9 months in a really hard pregnancy (my third), 3 months on bedrest, a c-section that went wrong, and a subsequent hospital stay...by time I was finally healed enough to function, I really needed to spruce myself up!  I think we all have this desire after childbirth.

So, first things first.  I got clearance from the OB/GYN to start running again!  Boy, that first post-pregnancy run was hard, but surprisingly not as hard as my very first run a year ago.  I had stopped running in January, at about 6 or 7 weeks pregnant because I was just so sick and exhausted.  I missed running.  Don't get me wrong-- the actual act of running sucks.  Your legs swear at you, your lungs scream, and the critic in your head goes ballistic.  But after the run...that's when you feel like a super woman. You feel like you can do anything! That's a big reason why I do it.  The other reason is that it's 30 minutes where I don't have to think.  It's hard to turn off my brain.  So, I play obnoxious music REALLY loud (yes, I know it's not good for my hearing).  If I listen to it loud enough, I drown out my thoughts.  Then my body just takes over.  It's a great strategy for reducing stress, and I think it makes me nicer to my whole family.  :)

And on a whim, I registered for the Disney Princess 1/2 Marathon which takes place in February.  Totally crazy, as I've only run a couple of 5Ks at this point.  But I'm doing it.  It's going to be hard, but it will be a great time.  I'm following Jeff Galloway's training plan for it.  Two 30-minute runs during the week and a longer run on the weekends.  Totally doable!  Yes, I will still walk a good bit of the course, but that's ok.  I'm making progress and that's all I care about.  Really.  I'm not competitive at all, and I'm a really S-L-O-W runner.  But who cares?  I'm moving, and that's the most important aspect. Besides, I doubt anyone really runs the Princess 1/2 for time.  There are too many fun things going on throughout the course that you just have to stop and take some photos!

Next up- hair.  I haven't had my hair cut since December 2010 when I donated 12 inches to Pantene's Beautiful Lengths program in honor of a friend's sister who passed away earlier that year.  As much as I was happy to do that, I'm not quite ready to have a short hairstyle again.  While it was super cute and modern, it meant that I actually had to DO something with my hair each day, and I've been a wash-and-go girl for as long as I can remember.  So, I just wanted a trim right now, until I settle on a hairstyle.  Plus, a trim could be done at Super Cuts for a mere $16, instead of a more costly trip to a local salon.

After I had 2 inches trimmed all around...time for color!  I had some visible gray hairs-- 5 to be exact-- and they have been driving me crazy for months!  I opted to color my hair at home, again to save a little money.  I went with L'Oreal Couleur Experte since I could get all-over color and some highlights.  I did an OK job-- enough to get me through until my next salon visit in a few months.  And I don't have to look at those 5 gray hairs in the mirror, which was the major motivating factor in coloring my hair anyway.

Finally- make up!  I haven't updated my make up in years.  In fact, since getting pregnant I've hardly worn any at all.  It just seemed like too much effort.  But now?  Now I need to feel as if I look 1/2 way decent.  Only, I've been using the same makeup for several years now, and probably the same makeup techniques that I read in Seventeen magazine back in the 90's.  So it's definitely time to upgrade and update.  But where to start???

Thanks to Pinterest, I found Cara at www.maskcara.com and she has some great information there, plus tutorials!  One of her posts details a "basic makeup kit" and boy let me tell you-- I went out and got nearly everything on her list!  I'm just waiting on some extra cash so I can spend $42 on the Lorac palette that Cara uses in her videos.  I spent an afternoon (sans kids!) at ULTA, browsing and trying different things.  I decided to give the Tarte foundation a try.  It's clay-based and does a nice job of covering but not be too heavy feeling.  I got new makeup brushes too--thanks to Cara's videos, I finally know what to do with those various eye shadow brushes!  And, since it was my birthday month, I got to enjoy a free brow waxing at the Benefit Bar.  This was no ordinary salon waxing, that's for sure.  I don't think I ever had anyone care for my eyebrows the way Kristin did.  Seriously, it's like a salon for your eyebrows.  

So, there you have it.  Mommy matters-- fitness, hair and makeup.  Three little things that can make you feel so much better about your post-baby self!

Back from the Dead

I'm finally getting around to updating everyone!  Despite my Type-A, control-freak personality, I had no say over Pickle's arrival.  Without going into all the horrible details, Pickle arrived August 17 at 8:43 pm via c-section.  So, I made it 38 weeks-- more than with my other two.  And I can definitely say that this is the last!  Unless, of course, my eggs figure out how to teleport into my uterus.

Figuring out how to manage three kids has been a challenge to say the least.  A daughter in second grade with homework, soccer, karate and speech class; a very energetic 2-year-old who still doesn't sleep through the night; and a demanding infant---a formula for exhaustion if there ever was one!  It's slowly coming together though.  We'll see how crazy it gets once I'm back to work later this month!

Finally Nailed Down a Date!

After several weeks of ultrasounds, it appears that Pickle is just not budging from his transverse position.  At 37 weeks, he should be clearly head down.  But not this child.  Oh no.  Has to be difficult from the very beginning.
So, the plan is to induce on the 24th at 39 weeks.  We'll try to move Pickle into the right position then.  If during any time of the induction he moves again, we'll go straight for the c-section. In either case, Pickle WILL be making an appearance, FINALLY, on August 24.  Whew!  We can't wait to finally hold him in our arms.  This is been the longest of my three pregnancies and I'm going a little stir crazy on bed rest!
We'll update once we know more.

Almost Ready for Pickle's Arrival!

I have been on bed rest since May 25, but still worked full time through July 11. At that point, I needed to concentrate on keeping the baby growing and getting the rest of the family, and house, ready for his arrival. It's been slow-going, but we're at the end now I think.  Painting can be done at a later date.  The furniture has all been moved and rearranged, and now all that is left is putting the books, toys, photos and other assorted sundries back.  The kitchen needs a good scrubbing, the floors need to be vacuumed and mop, and B's room needs to be put into some semblance or order before school starts this week.  Everyone has been working really hard, and I will be so relived to walk into a nice, neat home upon my return from the hospital...with little Pickle in my arms!
Stay tuned!

Pinterest Recipes

If you're anything like me, you have a bunch of recipes pinned to your boards, but rarely get around to trying any.  Am I right?  Well, this week I decided to try out a few.  First up was homemade Ranch dressing.  I was skeptical since all low fat versions of ranch dressing are a disappointment once I try it.  This recipe was a little different.  1 cup of plain non-fat Greek yogurt, 1 packet of Hidden Valley Ranch and 1/2 cup of 1% milk.  Mix it all up, pop it in the fridge and you're good to go.   Mine came out wonderfully!  I used a little more yogurt in order to thicken up the consistency.  When it was all said and done, I had a thinker dressing that tasted right in between plain Ranch dressing and French Onion dip.  Low fat, low calories and the tastebuds are happy!

My success with the dressing gave a quick boost to my confidence and I decided to tackle the Creamy  Baked Chicken Taquitos as well.  The whole family loved them!  You can find the recipe here: Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos.  A couple of things that I did differently: Once the chicken breasts were cooked, I threw them in the food processor thinking it would be a quick way to shred them.  This should be done in our KichenAid mixer with the paddle attachment, but I couldn't find that after searching for several minutes.  So, out came our ol' trusty food processor.  This method resulted in chicken salad pieces-- which I thought would work just as well, if not better, because of the kids.  I mixed all the ingredients together, but I felt that there wasn't enough cheese.  That's usually my excuse for everything.  So once I was ready to wrap the rolls, I added a layer of mexican blend cheese.  Once everything was done, and the taquitos came out of the oven, the smell was fantastic!  I don't think we had one taquito left over for the next day.  This recipe will definitely be added to the meal-planning rotation.  Is it Paleo?  Nope.  But every once in a while, it's good to shake things up-- especially when you're desperate to find something that the kids will eat!

So, two successful recipes found on Pinterest.  We'll be trying more in the future, I'm sure.  I need to start focusing on stocking the freezer with pre-made meals so we have quick dinner options once Brock arrives!

What recipes on Pinterest have to tried?  Do you have any tips to share?

16 Weekends

16 weekends.  That's all we have left until Baby #3, "Pickle" (no relation to the title of my blog), arrives.  In reality, we only have 14, since Hubby is traveling for two of those weekends.  In real reality, we probably only have 12 weekends, since no one expects me to make it the full 40 weeks.  I'm shooting for 38 weeks personally, but we'll see.  Baby #1, "Pumpkin", arrived at just barely 37 weeks due to preclampsia.  Baby #2, "Sprout", came along at 35 weeks due to pregnancy-induced hypertension.  I'm trying to be realistic about Pickle.  38 weeks sounds like a reasonable goal. 

So, we're looking at around 3 months to get Tiny House ready.  Which entails a lot more than one would think.  Tiny House, for those of you who don't know (which is like, all of you) was supposed to be our "just until Hubby finishes law school" house.  A max of 2 years.  That was 9 years ago.  Still here.  Still not my dream house. Still have bunches of stuff to fix.  And definitely too small for 2 adults, 3 kids, oversized furniture, a toy factory, an art studio, 3 dogs and 4 cats.  But I trust in God's timing, so we'll make due until He leads us to a bigger home.  

"Make due" means turning our rarely used downstairs family room into Pumpkin's bedroom.  She's excited.  Me?  Not so much.  It's going to be tons of work, cost more than we think, and it means I won't have a place to escape to when Hubby's snoring gets to be too much.  We're facing (1) selling all the stuff that currently resides in the family room-- big screen TV, two couches, a gigantic play kitchen, an end table, heaps of scrapbooking supplies, and various other sundries that I can't recall at the moment; (2) painting the walls, which will require at least 2 coats of primer to start, since we chose a deep red-ish plum color when we first moved in; (3) buying dressers/wardrobes due to lack of a closet for her new room; (4) moving furniture, clothes, books and toys; (5) installing a bedroom door; and (6) fixing up the full bath for her (just needs updated a little, and a new shower head). 

After that, of course, we'll need to repaint what is going to be Pickle's room, buy a Big Boy Bed for Sprout, find those antique drawer pulls for his (antique) dresser, move the changing table and crib to Pickle's room, set up the pack- n -play next to my side of the bed, dig out the newborn clothing, find all the necessary baby stuff, wipe it all down, clean it all up and put it all back in service for Round 3.

Not that these things aren't do-able.  They are.  They're just time consuming, and we're short on time as it is.  I've heard "oh, but it doesn't really need to be done until the baby is ready to sleep in the crib." Really?  All this moving ,painting, shuffling, and selling is going to happen AFTER the house contains a 7 year old in second grade with  homework every night, an extremely energetic toddler that is the very definition of chaos, an attention-needing newborn, two full time jobs, super long commutes, karate lessons, cheering, football games, birthday parties, laundry, dinner, etc., etc., etc.???  Yeah.  Ok. That's crazy talk.  I hate when folks think they're giving practical advice when it's clear they haven't actually thought of the logistics.

So, we're back to looking at 16 weekends max, 14 weekends in theory, and 12 weekends realistically.  Y'all ready for this adventure???

Pickles in the Tub

The only folks who will understand the title of this blog live under my roof.  My kids love pickles.  They also love baths.  And they refuse to give up their pickles when it's bath time.  Little bits of pickle float in the water and then swirl down the drain.  Is this a good idea for our septic tank?  No idea.  But it's a battle I choose not to fight.  I'm a good mom like that.  :)