If it's good enough for The Martha...

It appears that The Martha feels perfectly safe traveling to mainland Mexico.

(Because she is reasonable.)

See here.

I love her.


--

Poor planning.

The unisex bathroom [ew] in my new office has both paper-thin walls and and an unfortunate location.  It is not-so-thoughtfully located directly next to the conference room which is currently occupied with my boss and several other hearty-appearing men.

The door to the bathroom opens in such a way that when entering said restroom, I run the risk of unintentional eye-contact with that table full of men who will then more than likely hear me close the door, open the toilet lid, do my business, then close the lid and finally wash my hands.

I'm not overwhelmingly comfortable with this.

--

In fact, this is one of those times when it would be convenient to be a man.  I believe I could just go outside and pee on a tree.


--

Produce Report: "Special edition."

*I know the next installment of the Produce Report about Baby Girl 2011 isn't due until next Monday. But I felt like writing about her. And, since this is my blog and all...

--

I think I'm turning a corner...

Yesterday we had a doctor's appointment. I'm 31 weeks and 2 days pregnant.

Craig, my Mom, Lila and I loaded up into the car to trek the 1 mile to my doctor's office. I answered the regular questions... (I seriously am a ridiculously blessed pregnant woman. Aside from water retention, I have no complaints.) Then it was time for the every-visit ultrasound.

As soon as my doctor placed the ultrasound magic wand on my belly, it immediately showed a picture of my Baby Girl's face.

I could see everything so clearly.

Her little nose. (Same as Lila's I think!?)

Her full cheeks.

Her perfect eyes fluttering.

Her perfect lips.

Then, that hand... that hand draped over the side of her left eye, palm-up to the magic wand as if to say, "Oy vea. It's not easy being a growing baby."

--

The room went quiet.

Ok, maybe it didn't. Lila was chitter-chattering. The doctor was explaining. I believe Craig and my Mom were saying something...

But my heart went quiet.

My heart was still.

I could see her.

I could see that there really is a baby in there. She's grown up. She's no longer an idea, a possibility, a future venture. She's a baby. She's my baby.

--

I think I'm ready.

--

Am I ready for her to be here tomorrow? Absolutely not.

Am I ready for her to be here within 7 weeks? Without a doubt.

I'm ready to snuggle her. I'm ready to smell her baby smell. I'm ready to gaze with utter wonderment at the little being that we created. I'm ready to rock and rock and rock... I'm ready to nurse again. I'm ready to be nervous and anxious again. I'm ready to experience the emotion that comes with holding my baby against my bare skin and staring into her eyes and introducing myself to her. I'm ready to thank God as I watch her little chest move up and down up and down as she breathes. I'm ready to look down at her, in the same way that I did her big sister, and say, "For better or worse baby, we belong to one another. I will do for you all that I can. I'm going to make mistakes, but you will never have anyone love you as much as I do."

Yep.

I think I'm ready.



--

Lila Lunes: 17 months old

My dear sweet Lila is 17 months old.

While this may not be a big deal to the general public, it's a big deal to me because it's two months closer to 19 months. And, from the moment I found out I was pregnant with Baby Girl 2011 (no lie) I calculated just how old Lila would be when she became a big sister.

We're two months away from Lila, my 22.8 lb.-wonder, becoming a "big" sister.

[insert sigh...]

And... here we go.

Dear Lila,

These past couple of weeks I feel that you've really strongly indicated that you are not a go-with-the-flow kind of lady. Well, wait a minute - that's not true. You do go with the flow (you love to laugh with your aunts and uncles and cousin...) But it's quite true that you have indicated that you have very strong preferences. You prefer to eat with a spoon and a fork.

You prefer to put on gobs of chapstick (mostly on your nose). You prefer to eat each and every pomegranate seed from your plate.

You prefer to not have your face washed and you prefer that you independently brush your teeth. You prefer to read anytime, anywhere, in your chair.

In case you didn't know.

Leftover poultry is disgusting.

I speak specifically of leftover chicken and leftover turkey.

It's GROSS cold.
And, it's even grosser re-heated.

It's a one-time-only meat, if you ask me. None of this, "save-it-for-later-and-put-it-on-a-sandwich" nonsense.

It's gross.



--

My current faves.

"You will know it is time to turn the page when you hear the chimes ring like this: (ring). Let's begin now..." (Anyone remember what that's from?)

Oh, how I love Mary Kay's microdermabrasion kit. You wash your face, then apply the first step (the exfoliation) and then after you're finished, the serum. Your face is so soft and so smooth when you're all done. Love that. And, after I've used it I've had people compliment my skin the next day. No lie. (Price $55.)

--

Brow gel. I never thought that "brow gel" was necessary - and I'm still not completely convinced that it is. However, after I use this in brunette, I find that brow gel is fantastic. Keeps everything where it should be.

My sister, God love her, knows how much I adore trying new mascaras. She recently bought me this one. It's far too much fun. That little applicator allows for coverage on all of your eyelashes - even on teeny, tiny lashes that standard brushes/applicators have a difficult time reaching. There is a tool for everything, I tell you.


--

Because I must post something today...

Here's a sneak peak of our tree! Wah-who!

Yay, Christmas!
Sent from BlackBerry® Wireless

Dominos all around!

Was shopping at the grocery store (Mega) and ran across this incredible deal for a tin of dominos.

Yes, $436 pesos.

Why, that's only $35.16 USD (???) for a pack of 1950's style dominos.

I think I know what all my friends and family are getting for Christmas.

It's the gift that keeps on giving and my goodness, it's so affordable and fairly priced...


--

Exhausted Ferg

Ferg is thankful that today she went to my sister's and got to play with her sister, Buttercup and the others. (Kiera, Lizzy and Cuddles.)

She'd also like to confirm that she is completely exhausted.

We got home and she immediately went to bed. I found her an hour or so later in the exact same spot. On our unmade bed.
Sent from BlackBerry® Wireless

In all things...

I may have mentioned a few thousand times before that I love words.
Specifically, I love words with meaning.

Here are my favorite thanksgiving words.

Do not be anxious about anything,
but in everything,
by prayer and petition,
with thanksgiving,
present your requests to God.
-Phil. 4:6

Bottom line: Chill out and be grateful and thankful at all times. (Easier said than done, no?)

I hope you have a fantastic Thanksgiving.

--

P.S. I love that image above. As if a turkey would actually be wishing us a Happy Thanksgiving. As if.


--

That sinking feeling

I can't lie.

North Korea scares me.

Ok, not so much the physical land mass - but Kim Jong-il and his son,  Kim Jong-un terrify me.

For some reason when North Korea is in the news, I'm stuck to the news sources like glue.

Oy.




--

That Craig.

Last week we had a good friend in town and she had asked C. if she should be nervous about taking a taxi by herself in Cabo. (She's a beautiful, young female. Relevant question, if you ask me.)

This is my husband's immediate response with a straight face:

"The taxi will be fine. But just pack an extra pair of clothes in your purse and if the driver takes you down any dirt roads, just jump out of the moving cab and do the tuck and roll. Then, dust yourself off and put on your change of clothes."

--

I love him.

He told her to jump out of a moving taxi, tuck herself up into a ball and just roll down the dessert landscape. Then, when she stops rolling: she was to simply brush herself off and change her clothes.

I'll say it again: I love him.


--

I can dream, right?

I'd like to be pregnant somewhere colder... I'd be thrilled with 65 degrees. Even 70 would be welcome here...


Sent from BlackBerry® Wireless

In the way of gourmet cooking.

I am in no way a cook, let alone a gourmet cook.

But there are several items in which I feel strongly:

1.) Don't break spaghetti noodles in half prior to boiling them. It makes me uncomfortable. I like long noodles. Not short ones. I'm a proponent of noodle twirling with spoons and those short noodles fling spaghetti sauce everywhere. And who needs another mess to clean?

2.) Easy on the salt. Of course, a little salt should be added. But BOO to tons of added salt. (Note: we use unsalted butter. And I sort of love it.)

3.) Eggs should be used as often as possible. (Does this even need an explanation?)

4.) Mashed potatoes should have at least an entire STICK of butter in them. At least. (And yes, salt.)

That's all for now from this front.


--

Facebook, I'm back.

I finally re-did it.

I re-entered the facebook world on behalf of this here blog.

Want to like me? Check me out! Search Two Pretzels.


--

Lila says hi.

Sent from BlackBerry® Wireless

Produce Report: 30 weeks

Holy cow. I'm 30 weeks pregnant. This means that I have just 10 weeks (give or take) left to be pregnant.

Yes. You read that correctly.
 
According to babble.com my baby is the size of a cabbage (whatever). And, also according to babble.com the forgetfullness that I'm experiencing is pretty normal in pregnant women. Word on the street is that reduced brain volume is due in part to (thanks again...) hormones. Fabulous. I'll tell you what - these hormones do a number on pregnant women from the get. To then take away my much-needed brain volume?  Not cool.

Makes me just want to sleep forever.

Q. How am I feeling?
A. Physically? I'm feeling big. I'm pretty confident that I've reached the, "no-longer-glowing, just-feeling-huge" part of my pregnancy. I'd be lying if I said that I was comfortable.

Q. Am I sleeping at night?
A. I am! But here's pregnancy confession #1: I always sleep on my back. I try to fall asleep on my side, but no matter what - I wake up on my back. (You're supposed to attempt to sleep on your back to provide optimal oxygen to your unborn baby. Article here.) Bottom line? I'll know when to not sleep on my back, it'll become more uncomfortable. I shall listen to my body on this one.

Random pregnancy thoughts: 
(Because "random" is all I can do at this point.)

• I'm pretty close to losing my belly button. It looks like it's going to flip inside-out any day now. (Gross.)
• I'm pretty exhausted pretty much all day everyday. My "rest-level" just hasn't been the same this time around.
• I'm not ready for Baby Girl 2011 to make her way into this world. Ten weeks left seems like far too short of a time... but then again, being pregnant for 10 more weeks seems semi-blech. "Kylee, APPRECIATE THIS TIME." (This is what I keep telling myself.)
• Water retention is not fun.

Q. Why am I not ready to have this second baby girl?
A. I'll be honest... I need some more time to get used to the idea. (The idea of being a mom of two daughters.)  I'm already grieving my "Lila/Mommy" time. I'm sad that our lives are about to change. (Yes, I know that the change is "for the better" and that "they'll be best friends in no time at all," but still. It's hard.) Lila has been the center of our universe for 17 very short months. In 2 more months, she'll be sharing our attentions. In fact, my attention is going to be very directed to her baby sister for a while.

This makes me sad.

What gives me confidence is that ages of Dads and Moms have been through this before us. They've felt these exact same emotions. They've come out on the other side of happy and said, "Yep - this is how it's supposed to be."

I'm just waiting to get to that point.

Ok, on to the pics for this week.

This is what I'm supposed to look like, according to babble.com.

This is what I look like:

Here's another pic of us.

And finally, I've learned that the clothes that do fit often times don't match. It's a bummer.

Tah-tah, for now.

kb
--

Patience...

Doing a little blog tweaking... gracias for your patience...



--

Confession.

While I don't think I could ever describe myself as being, "country," I have to confess:

I'm currently multi-tasking and watching CMT's 40 greatest songs of the decade...

...and I'm kind of enjoying it.*

*All but the, "Save a horse and ride a cowboy" part.

And it please don't think less of me as I confess how much I enjoy Randy Travis music. Yep. You read that correctly.


--

Where did the time go?

She's growing up... 17 months tomorrow.

Sent from BlackBerry® Wireless

Ferg Friday: Hangin' with Sal

Ferg is delighted to be sharing this FRIDAY with her favorite, "Ferg Friday" fan: Sal. (Sal would be Iris Took's sister.)

We're so happy to have Sal with us all day. However, we're terribly sad that she'll be leaving tomorrow. (Boo.)




--

24 hours. And it's a bust.

So, I was talking with a friend the other day and she mentioned that she'd comment more if the word verification wasn't activated on this here blog. (She reads on an iPad and it's not allowing her to comment.)

Anywho, I turned off word verification for a little less than 24 hours and am already up to six spam comments.

I just turned it back on again.

Sorry for the inconvenience, everyone! I'd love more comments but it looks like the word verification is going to have to remain. :(


--

Really? November had to be National Blog Post EVERY DAY month?

 It just so happens that it's been busy. I'd like to run down my life for the past 18 or so days:

1.) Super pregnant.
2.) Have a toddler.
3.) High season started at work.
4.) Our company has taken on a new development. (This means more work.)
5.) I just moved offices at work. New building. Now have a door again! (This is exciting.) And a window! (See above.)
6.) Have I mentioned that I have a strong-willed toddler?
7.) I'm really pregnant. And more often than not, really tired.
8.) My family has been in town since November 4th-ish for my cousin's wedding.
9.) My Mom has been here since that time, as well. (Yay!)

There's just a lot going on. Whew. So the blogging, while it's continuing... it ain't easy right now. Thanks for your patience.



--

Doesn't get cuter.

Sent from BlackBerry® Wireless

False advertising

As it turns out Miracle Whip has nothing to do with actual miracles.

Slathering it all over an object on which you'd like the miracle to be performed doesn't work - at least that I know of. Nothing outstanding or supernatural happens.

I hereby move that we rename miracle whip something more appropriate.

How about, "mediocre sandwich spread?"


--