1. Mama's new glasses 2. Silly mop-top 3. Getting her to make my favorite face! 4. Rain boot lounging
5. Rainy kisses 6. Watching Thomas in a disposable (can't remember why) 7. Sleepy kissy face 8. All pregnant ladies love chocolate milk
9. Just texting her friends 10. Stickers! 11. Matching hats, no big deal 12. Miss independent
13. First time in a booster ("what are YOU looking at?") 14. The Fatty (barf) 15. Magic moment with her new BFF 16. Making Mama "cookies" aka air (zero calorie cookies people!)
If you thought "The Fatty" was referring to me, we are no longer friends.
PS- We just spent the last 10 minutes watching videos of babies and animals farting on youtube. It makes her giggle and that alone will be worth all the therapy.
I think 21 months is my favorite age. Ok so I think that every month, but it just keeps getting better! The talking and the dancing, I can't handle all the cute. This girl is still very opinionated, but she responds really well if you just talk things out with her. Nighttime has been a struggle lately: more nights than not waking up in the wee hours and having trouble going back to sleep or just full-on wanting to play at 3am. I know these are all stages, but shoot I wish this one would pass. Lucky she is so darn cute during the day or else I might return her. Just kidding Lil!
{Please don't return me Mom, I promise to start sleeping again... when I'm 16.}
My favorite of her latest words is "burp". Every time someone burps (I know, we are classy) she thinks it is hilarious. She covers her mouth and giggles with wide eyes. The other day she looked up at me after and said "burp? burp?" funny kid.
One of her favorite things is to play ring-around-the-rosie. She either says "ro ro?" or "ashes?" and she won't start until literally everyone in the room joins in. She will run around collecting people. Luckily no one can resist her sweet little face. When we all fall down she just stands there until we say "now YOU fall down" at which point she inevitably...falls down.
We have awesome dance parties, no music required. Specialties still include the chicken wings and the kick, but have grown to include the spin, the wave, and the booty shake.
Speaking of booty shakes, we just discovered the other day that if you sing the shake your booty song to her it goes like this:
Me: Shake shake shake, shake shake shake, shake your booty.
Lily: Ow!
Me. Shake your booty.
Lily: Ow!
Every time. Hilarious.
I don't even know what else to talk about because there are too many new things every day. She is just so much fun. I can't believe how close she is getting to two years old. Party planning is in full effect (inside my brain).
* * *
On the baby #2 front I am 18 weeks. Wow this one is going by quickly, though the wait for the 20 week ultrasound feels excruciatingly slow.
{18 week belly shot. It looks SO MUCH bigger at the end of the day so this might be deceiving. Please excuse the no-makeup and the Backstage Dance Studio sweatpants. Am I the only one who still wears these to bed? Mandy? Gracie?}
I am feeling lots of tiny kicks, which is amazing. I love this stage when only I can feel the movements. It's like we have a secret. Don't worry little baby, I won't tell anyone that you kick more when I watch the Kardashians.
This Saturday I met up for dinner with a bunch of hilarious women. Some I had met before and some I was meeting for the first time. I am stealing all pictures as I was the only one without a fancy-pants camera. For now here are a few from the camera of the lovely Emily.
{Met Amy for the first time in real life, even though I already felt like I knew her. Is that creepy?}
{Got to spend lots of time catching up with Mandy, who I knew in real life before blogs even existed! I believe that is actually a true statement. PS: we love cornbread. Also: Virgin margaritas are made of lime juice and sadness.}
What I wore! {Thank you Emily for being in my picture with me, I hate taking pictures alone. I could never have been a model. I am sure this is the only reason.}
{On Chelsea// Shirt: Target// Tank: H&M// Jeans: Gap Maternity// Shoes: Target. On Emily// Only all the cute things. PS: we totally didn't mean to pose with the Rolex sign...}
{Melissa is way better at pictures than I am. I only have anger for attempted candids.}
{Just some of the ladies. More to come!}
Linking up with Mandy from Harper's Happenings, who was also there, but not allowed in that group picture because she doesn't have an iPhone? We are elitists.
Update: Here is a pic of the whole crew via Mandy's camera:
Since I actually went treasure hunting at Goodwill with my mom over
the weekend, I thought I would join in with Mandy's High on Thrifting
Thursday this week. We found some cute outfits for Lily and a
never worn maternity sweater for me (score!), but my favorite finds are
below...
Those beauties are currently being epoxied to these beauties...
My can of spray paint awaits. A little diy crafting for Lily's birthday party! More on that later.
Oh, and when I got home I found this little treasure...
For those of you who have never been pregnant, it is a beautiful and wonderful time in your life. Really. It is. No, really.
For those of you who have, isn't being pregnant weird? It does such strange things to your body. There seems to be a lot of what is THAT!? and what's happening over THERE? and why am I so itchy?
Also, when your boss says "You are starting to look pregnant! And I mean that in the nicest way possible." is that a good thing?
All I know is it is the best excuse I have ever had not to participate in a polar bear plunge.
Someone is starting to get curious about this "baby" Mom and Dad say is growing in Mom's belly. I keep telling her we are growing her a baby so she can have someone to play with, but she just looks at me like I'm crazy.
{Wait, what is under there?}
A few people have asked for a picture of my growing baby bump. I'm approaching 17 weeks and I haven't posted a single one, so I suppose it is time. I promise to get better pics in the future, but for now I have this amazing iPhone pic I took in the bathroom at work. You're welcome.
{16.5 weeks! I swear my shirt is bunched up and my butt isn't that pointy, but you get the idea.}
The belly is definitely showing up faster this time around. My body said "Hey! I've done this before!" I'm still in that in-between stage where I just look like I've put on a few, but I'm getting closer to looking pregnant every day. Every minute actually.
Last thing for today. The lovely Chelsey over at The Paper Mama started up a Self Photo Challenge, go check it out. I, like most moms, am guilty of posting a lot of pictures of my kid and not so many of myself. I don't have a fancy camera with a remote, so a good old-fashioned myspace-arms-out-photo (remember myspace?) will have to do.
I took this on a day I actually showered and put on mascara, so that is a plus. After uploading the photo I immediately felt the need to point out all the things I don't like about it, but that is completely against the point! So I'll just leave you with my self-portrait and my answers to the info prompts below.
Currently I am:
Obsessing over…
Baby names. I really should stop at least until we know if it is a boy or a girl. I have a girl name that I love (pending Ryan's agreement), but ZERO boy names. Boy names are hard!
Working on…
Gathering ideas for Lily's 2nd birthday party. I know it is 3 months away, but Pinterest has me on idea overload!
Thinking about…
How much I love Ryan. He is such a great dad, husband and person. I am really so lucky to have snatched him up almost 10 years ago.
Anticipating…
A trip to Chicago with some of my favorite girls. I will be away from Lily for 4 nights which will be both restful and sad.
Listening to…
The sounds of Ryan and Lily reading a story before bed. There is always more giggling than one would expect during story time.
Eating…
A lot of Nutella. Also I have been craving ice cream and then my friend Gracie (who is about a week further along in her pregnancy than I am) posted a pic of a rootbeer float. I had to have one. Ryan went to the store and got the goods. I said get chocolate sauce in case I decide to have a sundae instead. Then I had both.
Wishing…
We could win the lottery and never have to worry about money again.
For the second year in a row, some friends and I are participating in The Big Climb. What is that? I thought you would never ask! The Big Climb is a fundraiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society where 6,000 people raise money, climb 69 flights of stairs (that is 1,311 steps and 788 feet of elevation). Why would we do this? Because it makes us feel awesome.
The biggest difference this year is that I will be 5 1/2 months pregnant. Ah! Am I crazy? Oh well.
What I need from you is your support (both emotionally and financially). If you are a crazy wonderful person who would like to donate to an important cause and help this pregnant mama climb 69 flights of stairs, please click here and support our team. Any amount is beyond amazing and fabulous and any other word I can use to profess my extreme love for you.
Yes, our team name is the Heidi Hos, what of it?
Please donate if you can. If not out of the goodness of your heart, then maybe to get karma back on your side after passing that guy with the clipboard outside the grocery store that just needed a moment of your time to save the whales. We all do it.
Earlier this week my sister and I attended the Tour de
Nerdfighting at Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park, which was sort of a book signing/concert/Q&A/show thingy. There were SO MANY PEOPLE.
{Sorry, only grainy phone pics today.}
If you don't know who John and Hank Green are, basically John is a writer (one of my favorite authors) and
his brother Hank is an environmentalist turned musician. In 2007 they
started a video project where they each made a video to the other every other
weekday. People started watching, then they started participating. Now five
years later Johns and Hank have a huge community built around their videos, the
giant Project4Awesome that raises money for charity every year, and even a
record label, DFTBA (don’t forget to be awesome!) records. Basically, they are
hilarious and nerdy and amazing. If you don’t believe me, go try not to enjoy
their videos.
I’ve linked to this before, but if you like awesome nerds
like I do, you should watch this to hear more:
And this one...
We had so much fun and got to meet John for the second
time. Last time we met him I was 8 months pregnant with Lily. His wife had just
had their first baby so we spent a few minutes talking about epidurals. You
know, like you normally do when meeting your favorite author. This time he
commented that my glasses were awesome, which is pretty much the biggest nerd
compliment that you can receive.
{Hank singing a song about Harry Potter, or particle physics, one of the two. PS - Is that girl wearing a fez? I'm not judging, but really?}
{Can I have a bus with my name on it?}
I thoroughly encourage anyone who enjoys reading funny,
heartfelt books to pick up any of John’s novels. You see, I have this thing
about loving people who can say things beautifully. If you are going to say
something, why not say it in a way that makes your nose tingle and your eyes
water with emotion at the pure truth of what has been said. I, clearly, do not
hold myself to this same standard, but am still able to appreciate it
in others.
In John’s latest book, The Fault in Our Stars, his main character falls in love for the first time.
He writes: “As he read, I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and
then all at once.”
I’m not sure what it is about that line, but I can just feel
it. I know exactly what that means. It makes my nose tingle.
Ok, enough about that. I just wanted to put it out there how
much I love his writing. Not only does he say beautiful things, he says smart things. When asked for dating
advice he asserted that: “The venn diagram of
boys who don’t like smart girls and boys you don’t want to date is a circle.” I
suppose that only works if you like venn diagram humor, but who doesn't?
So there you have it, I am a big nerd. But hey, that's not such a bad thing. As John says: “… nerds like us are allowed to be unironically
enthusiastic about stuff… Nerds are allowed to love stuff, like
jump-up-and-down-in-the-chair-can’t-control-yourself love it… when people call
people nerds, mostly what they’re saying is ‘you like stuff.’ Which is just not
a good insult at all. Like, ‘you are too enthusiastic about the miracle of
human consciousness’.”
I have so much blogging to catch up on. Life has been fun lately, despite the fact that for the last week Lily has decided to wake up every night and take 2+ hours and a cup of milk to get back to sleep. Oh the humanity. Please tell me this is a phase.
On a happier note, my beautiful niece got married! Yes, when your husband is the second youngest of 7 kids, you have nieces that are only 5 years younger than you. She isn't even the oldest!
{Isn't she pretty?}
{I seriously told Ryan I want to have another wedding solely so I can wear a Mantilla veil. I'm not entirely sure he understood that I was not joking.
I was not.}
{He never took his eyes off her once. Oh to be young and in love! Oh wait, does 29 still count as young? If so I am totally there.}
Then came the tradition of the wedding skit. Please see further examples at my wedding and my sister-in-law's wedding. This skit involved Ryan yelling loudly as he came through the door. That caused this to happen...
{Maybe we should yell more often? She did not know what to do. This went on for a good 10 min in which I completely missed the entire skit while hiding out in the garage.}
{My hopefully future sister-in-law, my neice and I. Cropped for modesty's sake. Cross those legs in short dresses girls!}
{Despite appearances we were not "forcing" this cake on her.}
{See? Please ignore my creeper eyeball.}
{My loves. Yes, before you ask, those are guns on that wall. I love my father-in-law, guns and all.}
{Lily says "Let the wild rumpus begin!"}
{She did not want to leave the dance floor.}
{No DNA test needed here, that is my kid.}
Much more to come as I push through my sleep-deprived zombification to document all that is wonderful in our world.
