Best birthdays ever

David and I had the best birthdays ever. We had a re-do of our disaster date night and did finally get a chance to watch The Blind Side. Awesome movie. I highly recommend it. You won't regret watching it. I promise. My birthday was very busy all day long. I watched Taylor from 8am-5pm and then we packed up and went to Life Group at our church from 6-8pm then jetted home for bedtime. When all was said and done, I was exhausted and really wanted nothing more than my pillow and a blanket. David's birthday was much more relaxed and easy going. We went to church in the morning, came home for lunch then napped all afternoon. It made for a fabulous, well rested evening at home.

At this point I must change the subject. My curious little boy just investigated the fridge. I turned around to check on him to find a bunch of leftovers lined up neatly on the coffee table. Apparently, someone was hungry for sour cream, tomatoes and pork chops. He was on his way back for pumpkin pie when I caught him. He constantly amazes me. Why did he choose the fridge and how was it possibly that entertaining? He didn't eat anything. He just played with the containers.

On another David note, he is quite the climber now. I can't keep him off of things. Nothing is off limits to him. He'll try scaling anything.....rocking chairs, diaper changing tables, refrigerator shelves, chairs, tables, couches, high chairs, coffee tables and more. I was doing dishes the other day and even found him trying to climb the side of the open dishwasher to get into the top rack. Seriously, I can't leave this kid for one minute!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

This is a year that David and I are truly thankful.....and we have SO MUCH to be thankful for! Our family is healthy, our jobs are safe and secure, our baby-on-the-way is growing strong and healthy in my belly and we have the best friends in the world. We have a church family that really is a family, we have a warm home and place to lay our heads at night and we were just able this fall to buy a much needed bigger vehicle for our growing family. It's been a year of reconciled relationships and lessons learned. We have been blessed beyond belief.

Be blessed today and have fun with your family and friends. And enjoy that turkey!

This is what's wrong with the world today...

Too many people in the public eye think like Kate Moss. Today's media sends the message that you must be skinny and pretty and have good skin and wear nice clothes. So many young girls and boys are growing up with a very skewed sense of what beauty is. It's all about who is skinnier. I was reading online that supermodel Kate Moss said "Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels." when asked about her personal motto.

Is she out of her chocolate loving mind??? Needless to say, I quite disagree with her, folks. I will never be a size negative 2 like her. I will never be on the cover of a magazine or make millions of dollars for the way my body looks, but I will be happy. Last week, my mom got me a mini chocolate cake from my favorite bakery and David got me a tray of mini cupcakes for my birthday. I ate every last bit in less than 48 hours and enjoyed every bite. Talk about happiness. We aren't talking regular chocolate cupcakes either. These were fudge filled, devils food cupcakes with fudge icing and chocolate sprinkles. It was like a glimmer of Heaven. I'm positive that Jesus makes fresh batches of chocolate cake every morning. That's what my heaven would be like.

In honor of Ms. Moss's ridiculous comments, I will now list the top 10 things that taste better than skinny feels. No amount of weight loss or "perfect" pictures or attention can compare.

1. chocolate anything. Chocolate bars, chocolate milk, chocolate cake, chocolate brownies, hot chocolate. You name it.
2. nachos
3. pizza
4. fresh baked bread
5. cheesy fries
6. lattes made with whole milk - not that skim/low fat crap
7. Mom's homemade apple pie with vanilla ice cream
8. Fritos corn chips
9. mac and cheese
10. fried chicken

That wasn't even hard. I could have probably done a top 20.

Hello 3rd trimester!

Last Thursday was officially the beginning of my 3rd trimester. I am now 27 weeks and 3 days. Whew. Only 12 and a half more weeks to go! Piece of cake. I can totally do that. :)

My belly exploded in the last 3 weeks or so. I'm wondering how I'm going to get any bigger than this...not that I doubt that it's possible, I just wonder how comfortable it's going to be. They are still guessing that Max will be a big one. He's expected to reach (if not pass) David's 9lbs 10oz. And David was 5 days early! Yikes. An ultrasound will be scheduled for late in the pregnancy to check Max's size. If he's on track to be a big guy and the midwives and doctors have their way, I will be induced at 38 weeks. That will put the delivery closer to February 4th than the 18th which is the due date now. I have an appt. with the midwife this Friday. More details to come later...

Now down to the fun details. Like I said, I am 27 weeks and 3 days. So far I have gained 5 pounds. Yep, 5. That's all. Thanks, Mom for passing down those awesome pregnancy genes! At this point in the pregnancy, the baby is measuring about 15 inches long and about 2 pounds. I feel him kicking like crazy - especially when I'm trying to sit calmly and relax or when I lay down to go to sleep. Great timing, little buddy. :) He had hiccups for the first time on my birthday (last Thursday). It was pretty cool. I had forgotten how neat that feels. My last craving of spicy brown mustard and chili powder is long gone and now it's beans. I crave pinto, black, kidney and the like. Weird, huh? Yeah, it's ok. I know it is.

In other news, my innie belly button is well on it's way to becoming an outie. With David I lost the appearance of a belly button at all. It went completely flat. This time around I don't know what sort of funky junk is happening with it. The top part is sticking out, the center is pretty flat and then the bottom is trying really hard to maintain innie status. It's a losing fight. Little David is learning to point out basic body parts like eyes, ears, nose, teeth, legs, tummy, and belly button. He points out his and then looks to find mine. He's having trouble in the belly button department lately. He lifts my shirt up and then just looks around. He stares at my belly and then looks at me like "Where is it?". Makes me laugh every time.

Like I said, I have an appt on Friday so check back to see if I have any sort of new updates!

The rotten weekend continues...

So after last night's date fiasco, I was pretty sure that today would look great in comparison. Not so much. I'm in a bit of a sourpuss kind of mood. The morning started with little David and I oversleeping. Not by much, it just wasn't what I planned. We were slightly pressed for time before church so I was really trying to hurry to get baths and showers and breakfast done in time.

David has been home at 10am for a few weeks now, but he was running late too so breakfast was pushed back a bit. I really wanted a shower before I left home so I put David in his crib to contain the chaos while I was busy. Normally, I would have left him with David, but with him running late that was just not an option. I sped my way thru a record setting shower and went back to get David, sure that by now he was screaming his head off. Not true. He had laid down and fallen asleep in his crib.

So now it's 10:15, David is asleep, David isn't home from work, breakfast isn't started and I have to leave for church in about 25 minutes. Are you seeing why I'm frazzled?? David pulled in at 10:20 and i made breakfast anyway. I had given up on showing up to church on time so I was going to let little D sleep and go to church late and by myself. This plan was also flawed. I pulled our danishes out of the oven and bit into one, finding out about *that* much too late that they were uncooked and doughy in the middle. I now was scrambling to make something else for us to eat....then I looked at the clock. 10:45. Church starts at 11am. Rats. This just isn't going to happen. By the time I pulled myself out of my chair and got my disappointed butt in gear, I was not feeling breakfast food anymore so I made lunch and called it good.

Little David slept for an hour and a half and woke up with unending energy. David and I want nothing more than to climb into bed and sleep the rest of the weekend away, but keeping with the theme of rotten-ness, that isn't going to happen. David has a dead deer to process and freeze and then there is that small matter of a little boy to look after... Oh well.

I don't know when our movie date will be rescheduled. We were looking at Wednesday, but that's one of David's last chances to go hunting before the season closes. Blech. Life stinks.

Disappointing Date Night

So David was supposed to take me out for my birthday tonight (ok, it was for our birthdays being that they are only 10 days apart, but really, let's be honest I like to focus on myself). We were going to see The Blind Side with Sandra Bullock, but it didn't happen. :( I'm pretty bummed. I was really looking forward to it. We got to the theater right before show time only to find 1,000 people (literally - we checked the ticket sales) there for the 7pm movies. Most were waiting in ridiculously long lines for New Moon to start. The others were there to see New Moon only to find out that it was sold out so they went to a different movie. This caused our movie (as well as movies that have been out for 2 weeks) to sell out which is unheard of at the theater on a normal night. What the crap. It's my birthday date people!! I wanted to see the movie with my Babe and now I'm standing in a packed theater, 20 minutes away from home, with a sitter at my house for no reason and I think I feel my pregnant hormones raging. I may lash out in an angry rage or start crying at any time. I'm not sure which. Be prepared for anything.

Since the sitter was already with David and we really wanted out of bedtime duties for a change, we decided to abandon all hopes of a romantic date night and just go Christmas shopping. I have every last present purchased now and they are all neatly stacked and awaiting their wrapping and bows. At this point I must pause for a confession. When I was younger, the only date night my parents EVER had was one night a year to go Christmas shopping. I have relentlessly, for years on end, given my poor mother grief for taking her only date night and ruining it by getting fast food and going to K-Mart. Romantic, Mom. Very nice. Let's flash back to 3 hours ago shall we? I was sitting in a corner booth at McDonald's chatting about all the good deals we just got at Wal-Mart and how much we loved Mom for staying home with David. It hit me in a rush that I was indeed turning into my mother. Part of me just about died laughing, while another part just wanted to cry and mourn the "pre-mom" me that I once knew.

All in all, a good night regardless. We got away from the poopy diapers and bedtime routine and even accomplished some things in the process.

My day is finally here!

Happy birthday to me! I expect that you all got me awesome gifts, sent amazing cards and organized a parade in my honor. I would like to say "you shouldn't have" so I sound humble and all, but I just can't. You should have. I'm awesome. :) Thank you, everyone, for listening to me blab all about myself this month. I promise it's over now (well, slowed down at least). Here's your last daily fun fact. Savor it. There won't be any more.

I met David when I was 17, started dating him at 18 and married him at 19. I got pregnant at 20, had our first son (David IV) at 21, got pregnant again at 22 and will have our second son (Max) in February at 23. It's been a blessed few years and I love my life just how it is. I wouldn't trade this for the world!

Daily Fun Fact

Birthdays have always been sort of a big deal to me (can you tell??). As a little kid, my mom would go all out and have a party for all my friends on my birthday. All the girls in my class would ride the bus home from school with me and we'd break through the crepe paper doorway to a fully decked out party room. My mom always put crepe paper all over our dining room and got the full matching party set for the table. You know, with the plates, table cloth, cups and napkins all to match. Yep, those are the ones. We played party games, ate cake and I opened presents. All my friends' parents came to get them right before dinner so I got to play with them ALL afternoon! Nothing like a 3-5pm party to get things going!

For dinner, I always got the meal of my choice. Now that's power! :) I don't remember what I usually "ordered", but I do remember one year asking for frozen fish sticks and tater tots. Classy. My mom tried to talk me out of it, but I was stuck on it. Sorry family. :(

Daily Fun Fact

I am afraid of public speaking, making phone calls, spandex, dark alleys and overly happy people.

Bonus Fun Fact:
I am also very forgetful. That's why Saturday through today's fun facts had to be back dated and typed all at once. I have let you down. I'm sorry. :(

Daily Fun Fact

Though I've lived in snowy Michigan my whole life, I have never been skiing or snowboarding and have only been ice skating once. The only outdoor activities I do in the winter are shoveling and some mild sledding (when I'm not pregnant of course!).

Daily Fun Fact

I am one of those people who will time after time pee their pants laughing at America's Funniest Home Videos. I laugh entirely too hard at that show. It's not right. Fat people and kids falling are my weaknesses.

Daily Fun Fact

One of my biggest pet peeves is people showing up late and not calling to let me know they were going to be late. I think if you're running more than 5-10 minutes late then it's common courtesy to call and let me know. If you're expected at 5pm for dinner at my house, don't show up at 5:40 expecting dinner. I ate it without you. If you're expected at a 11am meeting and don't arrive until 11:30, expect that I made all the decisions without you. That's what you get for not giving me a heads up.

Daily Fun Fact

I don't like bubble gum flavored bubble gum.

Daily Fun Fact

For me, the worst chore in the entire house is cleaning the shower. I'd pick scrubbing toilets, dusting or dishes FAR ahead of the shower. We're talking serious dislike here people.

And now a little shower cleaning story for you all:

It's probably been...well, let's not embarrass me and say how long it's actually been. We'll just say a very long while. So, it's been a very long while since I've cleaned the shower. I went to take a shower earlier tonight and all was well until I looked in the tub. I stripped down to my birthday suit, reached in to turn on the water, took off my glasses and took my ponytail out. I pulled back the shower curtain and froze. I suddenly realized that I could not...COULD ABSOLUTELY NOT....take another shower in that tub until I cleaned it. So I threw my bathrobe on and trucked through the house to grab the Soft Scrub with bleach and a scrub brush.

Once back in the bathroom I realized I didn't want the bleach in the cleaner all over my hot pink bathrobe so I took it off and started scrubbin'. Halfway through my detailed cleaning job I got a mental picture of myself. It both horrified and amused me. Here I was in all my naked, pregnant glory bending and reaching awkwardly around my big belly determined to get into every nook and cranny of this shower stall. Why was this suddenly THAT important you ask? I have no clue. As soon as I finished, I took what was probably the most rewarding shower of my life and got dressed.

At this point I'd like to mention that I first entered the bathroom at 5:30. We were supposed to be to our friends' house for dinner at 6pm. Again, why was a clean shower the most important thing in the world to me????? Not a clue. I was not willing to share why we were a smidge late for dinner. If you're reading this, you know who you are, this is why. Please still be my friend. :)

Helping himself

As a mom you are supposed to watch your children closely to ensure that they aren't in any danger, causing trouble or getting into mischief. These pictures prove that I fail.

The first one is because he wanted a cookie (it's in the container with the red lid). I told him no. He took matters into his own hands and climbed up his high chair to get the cookie. He had to pull the chair out, step up on a little bar at the bottom, balance on the foot rest, work his way into the seat around the leg divider and then turn around. He did it in about 8 second flat I promise you. After all that he climbed out onto the table, grabbed the cookie and then wiggled hsi way back to the chair to get down. I was so shocked that he had managed it (it was the first time he attempted climbing like this) that I ran to grab my camera. He saw it and waved. Note his hand up in the air. Grrr. He likes to test me.

The second picture is him trying to get books. He pulls out his bag of Mega Blocks now and uses them as a step stool to get up a bit higher to pull books off the shelf. It took a few days of me picking up mountains of books off the floor to realize that's how this one was happening (he pushes the blocks back on the shelf when he's done).

Daily Fun Fact

I once took communion at church with a goldfish cracker. Little David was sitting with me in the service when they handed out the elements. I bent my head for one second to pray and the hungry little bugger snatched the cracker out of my hand. The pastor's prayer was coming to an end and everyone was supposed to be taking communion together so I scrambled and found the first edible thing I could. It happened to be a goldfish cracker from the diaper bag. It's the thought that counts, right? The Lord knows the intentions of my heart.

Daily Fun Fact

I secretly wish the penny horse at Meijer was adult size. I'm tempted to climb on everytime I walk by.

I know I live with a toddler because....

....I found pumpkin seeds in my dryer (he's a helper now. EVERYTHING goes in the dryer.), I stubbed my toe on a can of soup in the bathroom (again, very helpful. he puts away the cans when we go grocery shopping) and the Sesame Street theme song plays in my creepiest of dreams.

Daily Fun Fact:
I am an "under" toilet paper person. David is an "over" type person. That drives me nuts. You'd think we have better things to argue about than the way the toilet hangs on the roll, right? Wrong!

Oh the fun things Davids do

*Deep sigh*

My little boy has become quite the explorer lately. Let's have a picture recap of the last few days shall we?

Last Sunday while I was cooking breakfast, he found my potatoes:

And he had a great old time:

...until Dad caught him!

On Wednesday, I was at the computer when I heard some noises in the bathroom. I usually keep the door closed but somehow it was left open. I took off investigating. My dear boy had unrolled the toilet paper in it's entirety (about 3/4 of a roll) and was ripping it to shreds. I quickly started cleaning up and telling him not to play with toilet paper. I was focused on the clean up job when I heard splashing. You betcha. He had found the toilet. I grabbed some spare toilet paper to dry his hands and shut him out of the bathroom so I could finish cleaning up the destruction. Without him in my way it went super fast and I was back out to him in about 30 seconds. Apparently, that was long enough to find a box of paper clips. I had left the computer armoire's doors open in my hurry to save the bathroom and he found our office supplies. My living room floor was now covered with a sprinkling of brightly colored paper clips over a layer of crushed goldfish crackers from a whole cup that he'd dumped earlier in the day. I had just about had enough so I sequestered him in his crib so I could tame the chaos in my living room. By the time I was off my hands and knees cleaning his mess and had vacuumed the whole room, he'd fallen asleep in his crib. I was really mad now. I wanted to yell at him some more! Maybe a nap was for the best.... No pictures from this day. I was to upset to think it was funny.

And then yesterday I was on the phone with my Mom when he found a box of Life cereal. As soon as he saw me he started picking them up again and putting them back in the box. What a dear.

Daily Lauren Fun Fact:

It drives me bananas when David puts half drank open cans of pop or glasses of milk in the fridge with no lid on them. I see it as a spill waiting to happen. He sees it as not being wasteful. And the battle continues.....

Won't you be glad when my birthday comes so I'll shut up about myself?? :)

Bumpits

You've all seen the commercial, right? The one that offers every woman the chance to break free from her hideously flat hair and "Bump it up!" and "Go from flat to fabulous!". For only $19.95 (+ shipping and handling) you too can "Buy Bumpits by Big Happie Hair and look like a star!".

Um...are you kidding me?!?!..........What the heck?..........Like I am going to pay YOU to walk around like that all day?? Yeah, right! You'd have to pay ME, my friends and my price isn't cheap. It's disgusting and possibly the worst fashion idea I have ever heard. I'm pretty sure if I ever did this (which would be Halloween only!) I would be the laughing stock of Kalamazoo. No one looks at that and says "Oh wow! Cool hair.". They are looking and pointing because they're laughing! And those cell phone cameras they are pulling out are not because you're drop dead gorgeous. They are texting their friends about how crazy you look! Their friends just didn't believe anyone would be that ridiculous so they had to send a picture for proof!!! Congrats you just helped them win the "who can find the person with the ugliest hair" contest. You're probably going to find that picture later on Facebook or something with the title "Look at this hot mess". Yep, I just found it...it has 437 *likes*.

And one more thing. Who sells a product with the name Bumpits anyway? Every single time I look at it I read Bum Pits, not Bump Its like it's supposed to be. No, I would not like to send you $20 plus shipping for a Bum Pit. What is a Bum Pit and what do I do with it when it arrives at my door? And I don't know heavy that thing is. Shipping could be like $30. How do you ship a Bum Pit anyway? Does that come FedEx? I hope so. They are way nicer than those UPS guys.

Please, friends, stick with your flat hair. It is waaaay better than the alternatives.

Daily Fun Fact

On another food note, I don't like it when my food touches each other on my plate. It's sorta nasty to have chicken touching potatoes that is touching broccoli that's sitting in BBQ sauce.

Daily Fun Fact

It's time for your Lauren Daily Fun Fact!!!! Who's ready for it? Isn't this a fun little way to pass the time until my birthday? You know you like it. Just admit it.

Today's tidbit:
I don't like eating salads on plates. I much prefer a bowl. Plates make everything too spread out-y and I like it a bit more piled up and put together.

Daily Fun Fact

I hate watching movies in widescreen format. It seriously drives me bonkers! Full Screen version or nothing thank you.

Oh my aching belly!

I hit a turning point this week - my belly is now in the way. Ugh. I can feel Max going through a growth spurt. I mean, how crazy (and painful) is it when you feel growth happen? It's kinda ridiculous. My belly is tight and uncomfortable and it is always firm to the touch and feels stretched to the max. Delightful sounding, huh? I can't bend over in half now or sit "indian style" without literally moving my legs with my hands. My legs sorta get stuck and dangle mid-air until they get some help. It's kinda sad and pathetic really. I am having trouble bending over to get Taylor out of the pack and play too. Poor girl. She can't stand up yet and help me out like little David can.

It is always somewhat awkward to move once your belly starts growing, but you hit a certain point that it goes beyond that and into just plain impossible. That's where I'm at. This is how I look at it: You hit certain big belly milestones when you're pregnant. You can complain about how uncomfortable and awkward they are and get down on yourself for being massive, fat and huge or you can laugh it off and wear it like a badge of honor. Ignore it. It's only a problem in your mind. No one looks at you and says "Wow, she's fat. I mean, can you believe how HUGE she is? She looks really awkward when she moves". You're the only one who even thinks those things anyway. And a big belly isn't about you - it means your baby is growing. He is big and healthy and strong. I choose to think the latter. It makes something that could be awful a bit more enjoyable. In the grand scheme of things, my comfort for a coulple of weeks (15 more until my due date!) is nothing compared to a healthy baby.

My next milestones? 1) Losing my feet. I can't see them when I look straight down, but if I bend a bit I can sneak a peek. Sooner or later I will hit the point where my belly is just too big to even peek around. That one is a hard day to deal with. Then you know you're as massive as you feel. Just gotta remember to smile and keep on going. By that point you only have a few weeks left anyway. 2) The pregnant woman waddle. You know, the walk that makes you want to look at pregnant women and quack like a duck. Yeah, that one.


Daily Fun Fact: I don't eat Chinese, Greek or seafood. Blech, yuck and simply gross. I'll take my American hamburger any day thank you.

Daily Fun Fact

I love ice cream. Cotton Candy Confetti and Chocolate Moose Tracks are my personal faves, though I eat every flavor there is.

Daily Fun Fact

I hate surprises. I have been known to become VERY angry when people have tried to surprise me. Needless to say, I think surprise parties and such are the worst idea I've ever heard.

It's Lauren month!

This happens to be my birthday month! Yay for me! In honor of National Lauren Day coming up later this month (the 19th to be exact) you'll be getting an exciting daily fun fact about me every day until then. Here's todays fun little nugget of info:

I can't sleep with my bedroom closet doors open. It bugs me. Really bad. I have to get up and close them or I will lay there forever unable to sleep.

So there you have it. Enjoy folks!

Halloween 2009

Fun times. That's for sure. We went to our friends' house and had a little party. We all dressed our kids (and ourselves) up and went out trick or treating. Little David was diggin' it! He would have stayed out all night! He took his little pumpkin bucket up to each door and said please. It was suuuuper cute! There were 3 people who stopped to take his picture. I mean, he was ridiculously cute and all. I sure can't blame them. :) I picked our family's costume theme back in September and then slowly worked on it since then. I bought little David's outfit and made David's, Dog's and mine. They turned out pretty dog-gone good if I do say so myself!

We know a lot of people who don't celebrate Halloween because of the evil and scary holiday that it is. We decided this year that we would celebrate and be a light for Jesus to those we came across. We didn't dress as witches, ghosts, monsters or other scary things. We went with a more lighthearted approach. We laughed, giggled, had some fall time treats and dressed in silly costumes. We see nothing wrong with that. We mean no offense to those out there who don't celebrate it. Please enjoy the picture and costumes for what they are - just a silly way to pass the time.

Yoda, Princess Leia, a jedi knight and a little Ewok (Dog).