it doesn't just come natural

it's mother's day in a few weeks and this always sets me a thinking.  it's not hard for me to remember how i felt in the middle of my attempts to get and stay pregnant, or how i felt when i finally did stay pregnant and birthed out that beautiful boy.  little did i know what was ahead.

my baby is 9 months old in two weeks. this makes me feel wise and seasoned. my neighbor had a baby a few weeks ago and we talked shop for a few minutes the other day. the poor love, she's in the middle of it, you know? it kind of makes me shiver with happiness that it's her and not me in that situation.  yes, even after all i went through to get the nub here i say this. 

i guess i say it because newborns are hard. they are wonderful and perfect and smell amazing, but they are HARD.  8.5 months old=no where near as hard and so.so.so. much fun.  i am so there right now and enjoying every second.    

it really does get better, i assured my exhausted neighbor

really? she asked hopefully

the thing is, even when someone tells you it'll get better you don't really believe them. it's like everyone who told me nursing was hard.  how could something so natural be so hard i stupidly pondered.  

hard? laugh a long with me now at how dumb i was.  

turns out it was my everest and sherpa lop sing ting left me halfway up without an oxygen tank. but holy crap i somehow survived and lived to tell my story now didn't i?

my poor neighbor, bless her overwhelmed heart. it's amazing how those tiny bundles of flesh and poop can mess with your head so bad.  before she really knows it she'll be a seasoned war veteran just like me, dishing out advice and nodding her head in sympathetic understanding to the next new mother tearing her hairs out in frustration.

like i said, babies are hard, the entire process of it all is hard.  the planning, the trying, failing at trying, succeeding at trying, gestating, birthing, feeding, not sleeping, everything.  it's enough to send you over the edge.  but we as women and mothers keep trying, we keep doing, we learn by living and that's what makes it all come full circle.   

the day will finally come when you've got a grasp on things.  you might be barely hanging on and it won't always stay that way but it still counts.  these things have a way of working themselves out to perfection.  trust me, i've got a chubby little man with seven brand new teeth and a penchant for tickles as proof.  

shaken not stirred

meet pukemy new (old) best friend

and constant companion
for the past 8.5 months

the nub has stepped up his game
since solid food came into the picture
i consider this particular example his
Pièce de résistance
in the puke medium anyway jackson pollock anyone?

mmmm hmmmm

{run around}

this is laura {in red}
busy mother of 4
wife of 1
multi-tasker of much

she ran her first marathon on saturday

and i am proud of her
like really, REALLY proud of her

i know she hates stuff like this but
honestly
26.2 is something to be shouted from the rooftops

hooray laura! you did it!

if you're keeping track, that makes two teeny tiny SIL's of mine
{both are just a hair over 5 feet tall}
who can call themselves marathoners

i felt so inspired i went and bought new running shorts. i saw some girl wearing a pair i liked at the gym and thought i'd ask her if she thought they'd work for me. thanks to the hot friction of thigh rubbage i generally stay away from shorts, so here's hoping. i hope she felt special. it's not every day a random stranger approaches you in the gym and asks you if your shorts crawl up when you run. it's a valid question okay? the last thing i need is an angry inner thigh rash ifyouknowwhati'mtalkin'about...

if you don't then i hate you.


i'll let you know how it goes.


happy monday people!

{yesssssss!}

friendies

today is a good day at our house

a very good day

such a good day that i have to go and enjoy it rather than dink around on the internets

so here's this
one of my new favorites from Ryan Schupe and the RubberBand

sorry about the quality, it's the only video i could find with the embedding intact

DREAM BIG!

{bonus! no snow today!}

this is a weird angle
i realize
but all of my other self portrait efforts to capture this scene
resulted in a nice closeup of my upper arm fat
and no one needs to see that now do they?

how cute is my widdle thumb sucker?
let me answer that
real cute
i don't care if you're for thumb sucking or not
it think it's basically the best and most cutest thing i've ever seen
rainbow and ponies people
even cuter than that

my sling? it's handmade by kim over at prairie mama
and i loooove, loooooooooooooooooooove the thing
me and the nublet pack all over town in it
it's fantastic


the past few days were good, huh?

i called it my white trash weekend spectacular thanks to some greasy hair, a couple different vomit and booger covered shirts, my favorite pairs of holey {not holy} sweatypants {haha sweatypants gross}, and lack of shower. i haven't put on makeup for like 4 days and won't lie, look pretty disgusting. disgusting in an underlying fantastic sort of way. i'm not one of those people who looks good naturally, i must work for it. you know? except that a lot of times i don't care and head out into the public anyway and of COURSE run into everyone i know. that's just how those things go and I DON'T CARE, much.

conference was lovely of course. i love me some apostolic council for sure and don't even get me started on how much joy i feel when the camera pans over the MOTAB members in all of their weird singing face glory. it's the frosting on my conference cake {i use this frosting analogy a bit too much, i know}. i'll be excited for the ensign report to come out since i spent the better part of the last session today trying to convince a certain almost 8 month old that an afternoon nap was indeed a good idea. he wasn't buying. we even went for a w.a.l.k to the p.a.r.k. much to the delight of one hairy, and lately very farty {ugh, new dogfood} yellow labrador named augustus thor the thunderdog. family bonding at it's best right there. i forgot to mention that hub made some sticky buns {actual name of the recipe, no lie} for breakfast and then i made up a dance named "sticky buns" and had the nub perform it. maybe sometime if you're lucky i'll get it on camera. it really is a treat.

this week i am definitely looking forward to. visits from siblings {and my little neph}, quality time with my sister{s}, easter egg hunts and the like. should be basically awesome. anytime you have an excuse to eat copious amounts of food cooked by the connie chased with ridiculous amounts of easter candy is an occasion to be celebrated by my standards. plus after years of excuses and horror stories as to why we couldn't have one, my parents finally broke down and got a trampoline {for the grandkids}. so i guess it's okay for our kids to break our necks but not us. whatever. i'll still take it. who doesn't love a trampoline!?

it is bed time now. but seriously. 10:52.

sheesh.

PS i am working on the follow up money saver post. so many good tips, so little money spent!