On the Verge...

Update: I've found my perfect stroller. But I can't have it. Or can I? I am the world's biggest bargain shopper. I'm the kind of person who receives a compliment on an article of clothing and responds with, "I got it for two dollars!" (You know, instead of just taking the compliment). So anytime I've had to make a very large purchase, I do A LOT of research, and then I scour the internet for deals, check craigslist in every major surrounding city, stalk ebay, wait a year and finally find something that ends up being non-returnable and not quite what I wanted. Needless to say, bargain hunting can be a good trait, but it can sometimes override common sense. I've done a lot of research in the last day on double strollers. You read my last post. I had it narrowed down. I thought. Then I took Abram out to a few stores, strapped him in a few strollers, and lamented how every double stroller would just end up being something we would want to get rid

Actually, I did dream about strollers last night. Double strollers to be precise. Until yesterday, I had this subconscious delusion that I didn't need a double stroller. I have a great, lightweight, compact Peg Perego Aria stroller and a fantastic Beco carrier that could carry either my 17 month old on my back or my newborn in the front. That's all I needed, right? Well, the more I thought about it, the more I realized how much I needed to be able to just put Selah's car seat into a stroller for the first few months at least. You can go anywhere when they are that age because when they're sleeping, you can just take the car seat out of the car, slip it into a stroller without waking them up and be on your way. Abram is getting so much better at walking right now, so by that point he's going to be wanting to walk more, but not all the time for sure. So as much as he likes to ride on my back, I don't think he or my back could handle regular backpack rides.

My dad just left this afternoon. Actually, I think he's left. He was flying standby on a 2:30 flight. I haven't heard from him, so I'm assuming he is on his way home. He was here to repair/replace a few doors in our house, install a new stove and microwave and put some backsplash behind it where there was none before. If he had not been working near his very cute grandson and his talkative daughter, it all probably would have taken two days. It took three-ish all spread out. We did a lot of Home Depot shopping and some shady used appliance store shopping with Abram. The door changes aren't too noticeable to the untrained Smith house eye. Some added pieces to the old front door were pulling away because of the heat and looked pretty bad. So he just put in a pretty basic looking new front door. He also replaced our garage door and fixed a jam on our laundry room door. The stove/microwave was pretty easy. We had to find the right replacement for our super old, j

Abram has looked extraordinarily cute recently. No, it's not because of the constant flow of snot running down his face or his new haircut or the fact that he is finally kinda fitting into 12 month pants (the pair of Levi's he had on yesterday were too super adorable), it's because of this little guy on his nose: Maybe I'm crazy, but this little scratch makes him look so tough and grown up to me. Now, I probably shouldn't take away from this illusion by telling you that he did it to himself while he was sleeping (what are you, a newborn?), but regardless, I think it makes him look too cute. He's been wanting to play outside a lot more recently. He's even trying to say "outside" when he points to the backyard and his swing. At least, I think he's trying to say "outside". It sounds like "ah die", which sounds a lot like his "all done" ("ah duh") and his "and that" when he points at random thin

I haven't had much time to do any sewing or knitting or crocheting for awhile. Or maybe I did, but I didn't have too much of a desire. But perhaps my "nesting" instinct is kicking in and instead of cleaning and organizing, I'm making stuff. Which is ironic, because when I make stuff, the house gets messier. Poor Quinn. I bet he wishes he had a more traditional nesting pregnant wife. But here I am: recovering car seats, knitting diaper soakers, looking up baby girl dress ideas, not showering, and making messes. The latest project is the diaper soaker. I actually bought a pattern, half made it, figured out how to do the stitches I needed to to make my own version, made one that I messed up on, and finally ended up with this little guy: I am not going to do cloth diapers (I am not that brave - or disciplined). But I know that Selah will be wearing things that may be revealing her un-cute disposable diaper hiney a lot more than Abram did. I don't know if t

I mentioned it a little last post, but this video I took this morning contributed to my slight worry about what might ensue when the baby girl gets more demanding is born. On the bright side: at least Abram is wanting to read and being polite by asking please. You can hear how sad his mucus filled little voice is. I can usually get him to cough to break it up, but he did so much coughing last night, I just kind of left it alone this morning. Poor bug. Anyway, here's to hoping he won't be throwing books on Selah when we are taking videos of her in a few months. But I guess I shouldn't be surprised. One of the most famous stories in my house growing up was how excited my parents were that my 16 month old self seemed to like my little sister the first few days she was home. Until the day I marched up to her surrounded by adoring fans, looked at her, and said, "Bye bye baby". So I really shouldn't put it past my 17 month old to have some attention withdraw

Here we are at nearly 26 weeks. That doesn't feel like very much, actually. The fact that I could have 14 more weeks to go seems daunting. 14! But I already feel so huge! The funny thing is that I remember having that exact same thought with Abram at this same time. The reason why I know it was the same time is that the picture I have of me and Abram at 26 weeks is in a yellow tank top. I remember thinking that I couldn't get any bigger and then I took a picture of me in the same outfit at 35 weeks and I had definitely gotten bigger. Selah is a still a good mover and shaker. She is starting to protest when I carry Abram around too much. If he starts sliding down into her "space" she starts kicking him. Of course, he really has no idea, but it's making me worry that as she starts to get even bigger I'm not going to be able to carry Abram as much. Luckily, he's walking more, but he still doesn't prefer it to crawling or being picked up and car

"Who cares about Selah! I'm here and I'm cute!" This poor girl. She is going to have little to nothing of anything that I hand made for her. I just don't have the time (or the energy) that I had when we were waiting for Abram to arrive. Abram got all of these things like blankets (which he doesn't have any interest in now), and name pillows and toys that I made for him. And of course all of the things we got for him were very boyish. There is a bit of a double standard when it comes to baby boy and baby girl things, you may have noticed. Like, it's totally acceptable to put a girl in blue, but you would never put a baby boy in pink... right? Sisters can wear brother hand me downs, but I know my husband would not allow out son to wear "girls clothes". What's that all about, huh? Not that I think that girls need to be girly and pink, but why isn't it socially acceptable for both genders to be put in anything, not just girls? I don

I had never really thought of how to pronounce "Quinoa", but Quinn had. And he thought it was pronounced Quinn-oh-ah, of course! When I finally thought about making us some (because of Abram) and found out how to pronounce it correctly, Quinn was a little sad that it didn't even sound like his name. But saying "keen-wah" makes me feel much more sophisticated, so I'm ok with it. I had found this recipe for "Cheesy Quinoa Cakes" on pinterest and thought I would try it for Abram. Nice and full of protein and cheesy to boot?! Sounded like the perfect Abram recipe. I finally tried it today. I made a few changes. Namely, I used the less hoity toity mozzarella and I didn't make the aioli. I'm not sure Abram would have liked it. But it definitely needs some sauciness (as they are a bit dry by themselves), so I made a carrot vanilla yogurt puree. I think he may have eaten that by itself if I had let him. But the whole thing was a big hit

After yesterday's complaining, I thought I would do a quick little optimistic post. I got some good benedryl sleep with only a little break from about 3-4am when I realized that Quinn had forgotten to bring the monitor in from the living room (and shut/lock the front door!) I still feel pretty yucky this morning, but much, much less tired. Then, this morning, my very sweet little baby toddler marched over to the back door and started reaching for the door knob. I tried to get a picture of that, but then he just starting signing "please, please" over and over. I tried to get a picture of that , but I ended up with this: I just couldn't turn him down. So we went outside - both of us in our pajamas (boy am I glad we have a privacy fence now) and he enjoyed his swing for about 20 minutes. I thought that he would freak out and not want to stay out there since he was facing directly into the sun, but he just averted his eyes and watched the ground and me most of the t

I know this may sound insane without some explanation (which will come, don't worry), but the thing I miss about having a "job" are the sick days. Sound crazy? Don't get me wrong; there are a lot of things that I do NOT miss about having a "job", but sick days were one of the few perks. The reason why I put "job" in quotes, as you can well imagine, is that being a stay at home mom is, by most definitions, a job. The only thing that doesn't make it a job is that you don't get paid in money. I like to think I get paid in other ways: Kisses, pictures, smiles, milestones, high fives, and nap time, to name a few. But my day consists of a schedule that someone else is holding me to and I have to function accordingly, like most people with a job. Unlike people with a "job", however, I do not get the benefit of sick days. If I were really, really, really sick... like absolutely-can't-get-out-of-bed sick, Quinn would have to tak

I didn't really know what to call this one. I almost called it "...of something about soup", but then I remembered the Austin company called The Soup Peddler . I've never gotten soup from them, but I always thought it sounded like a cool idea. Everyone loves soup. These people make it and then deliver it on bikes to neighborhoods around Austin on certain days. Pretty awesome, right? I used to live down by their "headquarters". I wish I had tried it when I lived in one of their neighborhoods. Those of us east of I-35 suffer sometimes and not being able to have soup delivered on a bike to my house is just one of those ways. Another is the sad lack of a near by coffee shop, but I won't go there because we do have a lot of great breakfast taco restaurants and trailers, so it sort of balances out. Anyway... My spontaneity got the best of my today at the grocery store. As I saw a mom ask her son to pick her out a butternut squash I thought, "I&#

We finally got to meet our little girl face to face! I mean, kind of. We got to see her face. She didn't get to see ours. She is having to settle for our voices at the moment (which apparently she can hear well by now). Now, I am a tough baby cuteness critic. I really am. When Abram was born, I had to keep reminding myself that he would get cuter as his face and head returned to their normal state and as he grew out of baby acne and Milia and all of that. Not that I didn't adore him from the moment he was born, I just wasn't completely gushing over his cuteness. I do now (I mean, obviously). But one disappointing picture we got of him was from his 20 week 3D ultra sound. He was pressed up against the placenta and refusing to cooperate and I kept thinking. "Is it wrong that I don't really want to show this to anyone?" I thought for sure it was just the picture, not him, but I was a little worried about his cuteness at that point. (I did share the

While no penalty is being assessed, it is making this mommy a tiny bit annoyed. You may have seen this video of Abram on Christmas, seeming like he was going to start walking. Well he didn't. "Start" walking. He's taken a few steps here and there, but still not favoring two limbs over four. Then, last night, we were watching a Baby Einstein "First Moves" that we watch every once in awhile. We got to the walking part and he just started walking toward the TV! I got so excited. He made it all the way there and so I brought him back a few feet and he walked there again! Quinn was about to get home and I really wanted him to see it, but just in case Abram decided to stop walking before he got home, I got this video: That was 15 steps (for those of you who wanted to know). And it was his third trip to the TV. So you'd think that would mean he would be walking now, right? Wrong. Quinn got home a few minutes later and had to settle for the video as

I thought I would capture myself and the Selly Belly today since we are freshly showered and even have some make up on (what the what?!) And for fun, even though I am still a few days away from exa ctly 24 weeks, here's Abram and I. Comparable! It is a little harder dressing for pregnancy in the winter than the summer, I think, but we're making it work. I do feel a lot more stretched out with this girl and don't think that my tummy is going to fare as well with her as it did with Abram. Oh well, this time I am fully aware that the pay off at the end of the body disfigurement is completely worth it :) Well, Abram has woken up from his 2ish hour morning nap and is staring into the monitor camera with those beady eyes... so I better go. Hope all is well in your world!

My last post shared with you how Abram had started walking on Christmas Day. Quinn had made an off hand comment that he thought it would be cool if Abram started walking on Christmas and our friend Nancy had told us that she thought that he would be walking by Christmas. It's like Abram heard both of those comments and thought, "Ok, I'll give you what you want, but then I'm done", because he hasn't really walked since. He's taken one or two steps, but nothing like that day. Now we are back at our house, which is full of floors that aren't conducive to sock walking (which is what I think he feels comfortable with right now), so we'll see how long it takes for him to actually start walking. So we were gone for 11 days. Abram started out roughly, not sleeping on the plane or in the airport and not sleeping well at night or taking good naps. Then we started putting him down earlier at night and he got sick and then we couldn't keep the littl