Almost Wordless Wednesday

My husband putting together the crib a few months ago.

This is the moment when it really hit me for the first time--OMG I'm having a baby!

Breech baby

Well, I'm about 34 1/2 weeks now, and getting bigger by the second.

I had a doctor's appointment today. He didn't seem to think the baby is big (at least he didn't say so like my other doctor did). However, he is worried that the baby is breech. We'll find out for sure at my next doctor's appointment in two weeks. By that time, the way he is positioned is the way he will probably stay because at that point they're generally too big to do a lot of moving around. Which means, if Baby J is breech at my next appointment, then they will probably go ahead and schedule a C-section. My doctor told me today that they will try some things to turn the baby, but that those things usually don't work. So Baby J, you have two weeks to turn your little butt around!

I'm nervous--I don't want to have a C-section. I know some people say it is better than a vaginal delivery, but still--it is major surgery and that scares the shit out of me. There are pros and cons both ways though, so I'm going to try to relax and just go with it. Obviously if he is breech then there is nothing I can do about it, and I'm going to try not to stress myself out worrying either way. I'll just keep praying that no matter what the baby will be healthy and I will make a quick recovery. You can pray for me too okay?

Sometimes the Best Mother is a Grandmother

Have you ever seen a more proud

and loving grandmother?

You are looking at a picture of my Nanny and I at my wedding. This picture represents motherhood to me, because after my own mother passed away during my third grade school year, Nanny graciously agreed to take care of my younger sister and I. She has always been there for us, from the moment I was born. Even when my colic was too much for anyone else to handle, she would calm me down and sleep with me on her stomach. She was (and still is!) a wonderful mother to her own 4 children, and the best grandmother that my sister and I could have ever asked for. Her sacrifices made us who we are today. Even though she technically retired, she never stopped working in order to take care of us. She provided us with college educations, and she even walked me down the aisle in my wedding last June.

I know how excited she is for her first great-grandchild to be born in just a few weeks. She'll be here, helping me learn how to be a mom. I just hope that I can do the job as well as she has.

And the winner is....

The winner of the Mia Bella Rainforest Candle giveaway is The Chatty Housewife!

Congratulations! I have emailed you to get your mailing address, but if you haven't gotten it for some reason, please leave a comment or email me!

If for some reason I don't hear back from her within the next 5 days, then I will choose another winner. Thanks to everyone for all of the comments and compliments! I hope that you will check out my distributor website. There you can enter into a company drawing as often as once a week for a free candle and free Bella Bar! Just click on the candle icon at the top of the screen to enter.



In other exciting news, my church friends and family back home in Alabama are throwing me an online baby shower today! Since I could not make it back there again between Christmas and the baby's due date, a good friend of mine had an idea for an online baby shower. Basically, they are going to get together for a short time to have some cake and punch, and while they are there they are going to pick something off of my online registry to send! They're going to call me while the party is going on so that I can talk to them all. I'm pretty excited about it, even if I can't be there. Well, I hope everyone has a good weekend!

How can I make a fool out of myself today?

Since I have spent these last few days blogging, reading other people's blogs, eating cupcakes and gaining 3 pounds, I decided that I really needed to take Reese for a walk today. A real walk, a walk that involved going all around the neighborhood like we normally do, and not just taking him to pee in the front yard like I've been doing recently.

When I take Reese for a walk, I like to do it earlier in the day. Not only because its cooler (yes, its 80 degrees right now), but also because once the kids are out of school, they are on the playground that we walk through, the one behind my house. I try to avoid these kids, not because I don't like children (that would be pretty sad considering I'm about to pop one out in a few weeks) but because my dog LOVES children. I have to admit, this little spoiled brat dog did not do so well in his obedience training course (or is it that I didn't do so well? hmm). He is usually decently behaved around people he is familiar with, but strangers? kids? other dogs? All hell breaks lose. Seriously, taking him to PetSmart to be groomed (because my huge belly gets in the way of doing it myself these days) or to the Vet are feats that only I dare to accomplish. My husband did it ONCE and still complains about it to this day.

So today I took Reese out and when I got around to the playground area I noticed a playgroup of young kids and moms over there. Of course I didn't want to turn and just go back to the house, I was determined to get some exercise--mostly because my doctor keeps telling me how fat I am. Plus, so far I haven't really made friends with any of my neighbors, and maybe this would be the perfect chance for me to talk to some of the ladies! Maybe they were going to be having playdates here often and I could join them, not to be creepy but you know! for the company!

And while I'm thinking these incredibly optimistic thoughts that don't take into account exactly how shy and awkward I am around new people, my dog decides to make sure that I will embarrass myself enough that I won't be making friends with any of these ladies. He sees another dog, in a fenced in backyard across the play area, and he takes off so fast and so abruptly that he yanks his leash right out of my hands. I, of course, take off running after him. Did I mention it's 80 degrees outside and I'm 34 weeks pregnant and my exercise choice as of late has been stuffing cupcakes into my mouth, and that I can't even remember the last time that I ran somewhere?

So yes, I'm running. and yelling his name. and tripping over my damn flip flops.

And all of the moms from the playgroup are staring.

Of course I looked ridiculous! I'd probably stare if I were them too. And thus my chances of being able to have a decent conversation this afternoon (without feeling utterly ridiculous and embarrassed that is) were gone. So after I finally caught up with my dog, I brought him home, and have now vowed to never leave the house again.

Ok, not really, but I will have a cupcake. You know, to make myself feel better.

LOST

LOST! You still amaze
me. Just when I think I know
what will happen next,

you shock me! How could
Ben let Alex die like that?
He's such a coward!

But the black smoke was
a good touch. How did you know
it's our favorite

character? Other
than Sawyer and Jack but they
are just so damn hot.

Thank God the writer's
strike is over so I can
watch my shows again.

One Cannot Survive On Cupcakes Alone

Can I? Probably not. 

A few days ago, I stumbled upon this yummy website.       

Their cupcakes looked so delicious! That night, I DREAMED about
eating cupcakes. (How sad is that?)  I've been craving them ever
since.

So last night when my husband said he wanted something sweet,
I knew I just had to have some cupcakes! So I checked the
cabinets, and can you believe I actually had all of the ingredients
to make cupcakes FROM SCRATCH? That's a sure sign that I'm
turning into a real live adult (oh no!).

Now, less than 24 hours later, half the cupcakes are gone.  I can
feel the weight piling on.  So I'm going to go eat a salad and take
my dog for a walk, but first I thought I would leave you with a
pretty simple recipe for some damn good cupcakes!

These recipes are from some ladies in my church, whose desserts
I have been enjoying since elementary school :)
This recipe makes about 12 cupcakes.
Batter:

1/2 cup peanut oil
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
1 tsp. vanilla

*Mix ingredients. Pour into cupcake tins. Bake at 350 degrees for app. 20 minutes.

Quick chocolate icing:

1 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup butter
1 tsp. vanilla

*Cook sugar, cocoa, and milk for 4 minutes (or until it begins to boil). Remove from heat and add butter and vanilla. Let it stand until cool and thick enough to spread on cake/cupcakes.

Wordless Wednesday: Monopoly Money

I Can't Hear You LaLaLa

Or What Not To Tell a Pregnant Woman

It is absolutely amazing the comments you will get while you're pregnant. Perfect strangers see your big belly and decide that they need to ask you completely personal questions and tell you all of their horrific tales of motherhood. Why? I have no idea. Maybe there is an unwritten rule out there that says you're supposed to scare the shit out of people when they are at in a very vulnerable state. Maybe its some kind of induction into motherhood.

So what don't we want to hear while we're pregnant? I'll give you a few examples of things that I have heard lately.

• "Wow. You're HUGE! Are you even supposed to be that big yet?" Yeah, thank you, thanks. As if we don't all feel larger than life and awkward as hell in our maternity t-shirts that actually make us look bigger than we are with those gosh-awful patterns and our jeans with the belly panels (that is, if we haven't resorted to only wearing sweat pants yet), the last thing that we need is someone around to remind us how big we are. Yes, I realize that the last time you saw me I was a size 8 and now I look like I'm about to give birth to a full grown child instead of an infant, but please, pick your jaw up off the floor and try to keep your mouth shut.
  

• "Are you sure you're not having twins?" Yes, I'm sure. I've had three ultrasounds and all of them only showed one baby, but thanks for letting me know that I look so big that I must actually be carrying two babies to justify it.
  

• "This is your first baby isn't it? I can tell." Now, I haven't really figured out what this is supposed to mean yet, considering that it always comes from strangers. I'd like to think that they can tell it is my first baby by my overwhelming excitement about the baby, but I think it probably has more to do with my naivety of the situation. Seasoned mothers can probably sense things like that.
  

• "You'll probably deliver late." Now this little gem comes from my doctor. For absolutely no medical reason at all, she has decided to let me know that she predicts that I will deliver at least a week to two weeks after my estimated due date. Now, I know they call them "estimated" due dates for a reason, but she could have just kept that little prediction to herself. You may ask yourself what she is basing this prediction on. Well, I'll tell you. Her exact words were, "There haven't been any studies done or anything, but I think fair-skinned girls are usually just later than everyone else." Well thank you, that puts my mind at ease.

• "Your baby is definitely not going to be small." Another prediction from my doctor. What is it based on? I have no idea. The ultrasounds all showed him as being right on track, but for some reason my doctor thinks he is going to be big. How big? Again, I have no idea, but those few words were enough to give me nightmares about trying to push out a 15 pound kid.
  

Other things that pregnant women really don't want to hear are how ugly they are because their girls stole their beauty (I mean come on, that's just insulting), or the horror of your labor story. Yes, I know that labor is going to be rough and I am dreading it enough just after reading the books about what will happen even if I have a perfectly normal labor. I really don't need the anxiety that I get after listening to strangers come up to me in the grocery store and tell me about their 48 hour long labor that ended in some kind of emergency situation where they almost lost the baby. I'm sorry if something like this happened to you, I really am, but I have a hard enough time sleeping as it is without having to worry about all of the things that might possibly go wrong in there.

And if I get one more lecture on how painful breastfeeding is, and how I won't be able to handle it so I should just give up that thought and go ahead and buy stock in formula, I swear I really will scream.

Mia Bella Candle Giveaway!

I have decided to participate in the Bloggy Giveaway Carnival!

Since I am an independent distributor for Mia Bella Candles, I will be giving away a 16 oz. jar candle of one of our newest scents.

Scent: Rainforest -- A mysterious blend of intriguing fragrances reminiscent of a lush rainforest.

Why are Mia Bella Candles so wonderful?

• Our gourmet candles are made from all natural waxes.
• They are triple scented and last longer than most other candles.
• The 16 oz. jar burns evenly for 80-120 hours.
• They are healthier for your family to breathe!
• These candles clean up EASILY with soap and water!
• They don't leave black residue on your jars, walls or ceilings.

Want to enter? Just leave me a comment!! This contest is open until Friday night. I will be drawing a winner on Saturday, April 26. You must have a US Mailing Address to participate.

Our company also features a wonderful new line of bath and body products. We have over 100 scents and we add a new scent every month. There are also home business and fundraising opportunities available.

You can visit my distributor website here to find out more.


**EDIT** A winner has been chosen! Click here to see who it is!

Nursery artwork

Just a short post because I wanted to show everyone what I got in the mail yesterday!

My wonderfully talented sister made some paintings for Baby J's nursery. The theme of the nursery is safari, and these paintings are perfect!!

The beauty of pregnancy

In my whole life, I don't think I have felt as beautiful as I have while I have been pregnant. Well, maybe on certain days--wedding day, prom, etc., but not for such a long period of time. It's not that I think I'm exactly a knockout or anything, I am just feeling comfortable in my own skin for the first time in a long time.

I have never been the skinny girl. I've always been just a few pounds overweight (or even when I wasn't overweight, I always felt like I was compared to others). So I have always bought shirts that were a little long, a little forgiving. I have always hated my stomach. I stayed away from the beach until I discovered tankinis. I never minded showing some cleavage or even wearing a short skirt, but you would never catch me in a belly bearing top.

Now I am pregnant and my belly is huge. And you know what? I love it.

I thought I would hate this big belly, hate people wanting to touch my stomach, hate the questions and looks from strangers. But I really don't. For the first time in my life, I can show off my stomach. Ok, so I still don't exactly want it to hang out when I go somewhere or anything like that, but for the first time (and probably the last until I get pregnant again) people are actually complimenting me on my stomach! They are telling me how great I look, and even though I know they mean it in relative terms (as in, if I were this fat and I wasn't pregnant, that would be a whole different story), but still.

I don't mind people touching my stomach. Granted, I haven't really had strangers try to touch it, which I hear is one of the most annoying things ever. As far as my friends and family, I really don't mind. I love feeling baby J roll around in there, even when it hurts. I love it when he kicks me so hard that I can literally see the movements on the outside of my belly. And if you are around, I don't mind if you see it and feel it too.

It's not just that my stomach has gotten bigger. One day, around 30 weeks, after a seeing a picture of a woman whose stomach was covered in stretch marks and thinking "thank goodness I don't have those!" I woke up to find stretch marks. All of a sudden (literally overnight) I had a few on my stomach and many running down my thighs, and I had a panic attack. I couldn't believe it! Everyone said, "Use cocoa butter and you won't get stretch marks." BULL. I had been using cocoa butter twice a day since the day I found out I was pregnant. And here they were. I searched the internet for some magical solution, and stood in front of the lotions and creams section at the drugstore trying to find a cure. I freaked out for days.

Then I heard a woman refer to her stretch marks as her battle scars. All of a sudden those little marks didn't matter as much anymore. I realized that every woman who bears a child will have stretch marks, and that it's totally worth every little line. For those of you who say you didn't get them, well, I choose not to believe you. Not because I think you ladies are liars or anything--I'm just going to pretend you don't exist for awhile to make myself feel better.

When it comes down to it, that is exactly what they are--battle scars. The most beautiful battle scars that you can proudly wear. I know that my body is working to make an amazing little person who has already stolen my heart. So I won't try to hide my ever-growing belly or worry too much about stretch marks. I'll just continue to enjoy this feeling of comfortability in my own body and enjoy this experience while it lasts.

Happy Birthday Furbaby!

Today is the first
birthday of my dachshund Reese.
I made him a cake :)



Yes I know he is
a very spoiled puppy,
but he loved that cake!

I cannot believe
this year has gone by so fast.
What a year we had!

Here is a picture
of when he was still tiny.
How cute is that face?



Now another one
that I took of him today
My Reese all grown up!

Just think-in less than
two months he will finally
be a big brother!

Don't worry--the cake I made had all natural/dog-safe ingredients. Here is the recipe:

1 cup white or whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup honey
1 egg

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

I added a very thin layer of peanut butter on the top layer and made the "R" out of organic apple dumpling dog treats that I found at World Market.

Happy Birthday my little Reese's Pieces!!

Quote of the Day

"Don't worry baby, you're not fat. Your belly is just acting as an apartment for awhile."
~Hubby J.

Undomestic goddess?

I guess this would be a good time to tell you all that I really don't consider myself to be a "domestic goddess." At least, I'm no Martha Stewart. I love and am really good at baking and scrap booking. That's about it. I'm not a very good cook--not because I don't try but because my husband is an extremely picky eater who would live on chicken fingers and mashed potatoes for the rest of his life. So most times we just eat out unless I have friends in town who will let me try things out on them (including a delicious french toast casserole that I made last time a few of them were in town). I also really hate cleaning. I do it daily of course, I just hate it. I try to be organized, but I really have more of a cluttered look going on in my home.

I am a bit crafty and creative though, at least I try to be. I've thought about renaming this blog (and myself) as the Almost Domestic Goddess or the Learning to be Domestic Goddess, but those just aren't that catchy are they?

So why the DG description to begin with? Mostly because I hate the terms Stay at Home Mom and Homemaker. Yes, I know that technically that is what I am, but those terms just sound so boring. I've told people that I am a homemaker or that I stay at home when they ask me what I do, and I have gotten that "look" from almost everyone-my doctors, my hairstylist, my veterinarian, and even a woman that was working the check-out counter at Walmart the other day. The look that says that I must be lazy or boring or uneducated. I actually had a woman tell me that she could help me get financial aid so that I can go back to school. I have a Master's degree, thankyouverymuch!

While I was at the salon the other day I explained to the hairstylist that I take care of my home because even though I have a degree in education, I spent the last year working in the most hellish school that I could have ever imagined. I taught 6th grade and I learned more about sex and drugs by accidentally overhearing those kids' conversations than I could have ever thought possible. I was an emotional wreck because of the lack of support from other teachers and the administration. Parents freely walked into my classroom, cursed at me in front of the students, and refused to leave. Students threatened me, and one day we were even on lockdown all day while the school was searched and 5 students were found with guns. While I made it through the year, I made a vow to myself that I would never, ever work in a school like that again.

Over the summer last year, I got married, moved 400 miles away from my friends and family, and was apparently too late to get a job at a decent school in this area. So I decided to take a break for awhile. After all, I deserved it.

Shortly after that, Hubby J knocked me up. Now while I always planned on being a stay at home mom, I never expected it to be this soon! I was thinking 5 years down the line. I'm happy with it, once we got excited about the idea of having a baby (which took about, oh, 30 minutes for the shock to wear off). But I just don't have time to explain my whole life story to everyone I meet.

So I'm still looking for a more exciting name for what I do.

hot flashes

"When you get done being pregnant, can you stop leaving all these fans on? This house is always cold!"~Hubby J.