Cutest Little Cheerleader

Picked up this cute little number at Marshall's last fall for like 12 bucks!

 

 

 

 

Now she just needs a Minnesota one, too!

Halloween party this weekend... woohoo!
Fingers crossed for good weather!
Can't wait to post pics.

Chris's 31st Birthday

Chris's 31st birthday was the beginning of September...
so, true to form, I am just finally blogging about it now.
Ha.
We celebrated with pizza and cake.
Is there really a better combo?
No.
Pretty sure there isn't.
Well, unless you throw a glass of Malbec in the mix...
which, for obvious reasons (actually just ONE reason in particular) I am unable to do.
So, for a pregnant woman, yes, pizza and cake is truly the best food pairing around.
ANYWAY.....

Here's our little cutie stinker making a card for her daddy.


She had lots of fun coloring with (and eating) the markers.

Daddy and Wren!

The cake I made for Chris.
Devil's Food Cake with Chocolate Orange Buttercream.
Yum.
You can find the recipe here.

My cutesy fam
:)

Even Macy came over for the celebration!

October is a crazy busy month for us here.
We just got back from a long weekend in Chicago...
Grandma O' and Sorcha are coming to visit this weekend.
Halloween party next weekend.
And lots and lots of things in between.
Whew.
I'm exhausted just thinking about it all....

Will try to post a pregnancy update soon!

Oh, and HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to us today!
Four years of wedded bliss.
Ahhhhh.... time sure does fly when you are having fun!
:)

27 Week Pregnancy Update

Latest pregnancy update for ya....

• How far along are you?  27 weeks and 5 days
• How big is the baby?   The size of a rutabaga (Really, thebump.com?  A rutabaga?  That's the best comparison you can come up with?)... or 13.6-14.8 inches and 1.5-2.5 pounds.
• Weight gain? Dude.  I am up 29 pounds in 27 weeks.  And get this... I didn't put on any weight in the first trimester.  So that means I am throwin' down a double digit weight gain at every. single. appointment.  Just a tad disheartening.  The nurse practitioner I saw this last appointment wasn't concerned, fortunately.  I am actually weighing in at the same weight at 27 weeks with this pregnancy as I did when I was 27 weeks pregnant with Wren.  Hmmmm.. that means I'm well on track to pack on at least another 15.  That's crazy cause I already feel huuuuuuuuuuuuge.       
• Stretchmarks? At least I can proudly say "no" to this... for now anyway....
• Belly button? In and probably stayin' in.  Pretty sure that sucker doesn't come out.  
• Cravings? Breakfast food!  Throughout this whole pregnancy I have craved pancakes.  I have been craving all breakfasts foods lately.  In the past week I have made many, many egg sandwiches, bacon all kinds of ways... bacon on sandwiches, bacon with eggs, bacon straight up... blueberry muffins, pumpkin oatmeal, chocolate croissants, pumpkin pancakes, buttermilk pancakes, and pumpkin gingerbread waffles.  Over the last 27 weeks we have gone through an inordinate amount of maple syrup in this house (and, by the looks of it, apparently pumpkin, too).
• Latest hormonal outburst?  Ha, see here.
• Vomiting? No, but the heartburn I have is so bad that I feel like I could vomit after most meals.  Yuck.  So, yeah, just as I was rereading this post before publishing, I totally spewed all over the kitchen sink.  I have had heartburn so bad all day.  I try my best to combat it with papaya enzyme or tums, and usually it works.  Tonight, however, no dice.  I just couldn't keep it down.  Gross.  But hey, the heartburn is gone!  For now...   
• Feeling prepared?  Yep, I think so... on most days anyway.  We have started preparing Wren's big girl room for her.  It's pretty bare bones right now, but at least it's a room with a bed (and a closet full of Momma's craft supplies).  
• Names?  I think we are getting closer!  
• Sleep?  Some nights good, some nights not so good.  
• Random pregnancy side effects?  I feel like I'm a frickin' hot box lately.  I am always hot.  So that means EVERYBODY is hot.    
• Best moment this week?  Watching Wren take care of her baby.  It is so sweet to see her rocking, feeding, and loving on her baby.  She is going to be a great big sister!  :)

• Still wearing heels?  Oh, please.  I stopped wearing heels once Wren was mobile.  Wearing 3-inch stiletto heels while chasing after a toddler?  I don't think so.  Flats only for this girl.  

So, this is how I feel most days...


Jones doing his best impression of me...
or a flying squirrel...
or something.
Cats are weird.  

Hell Hath No Fury...

We tend to eat pretty healthy in our family, but let's be realistic here, we also have our fair share of treats... and once Halloween candy hits the stores, it is usually a candy free-for-all around the Tilson house.  Being pregnant during the month of October again, I have given myself even more leeway in the treats department.  I mean, come on, as any pregnant woman knows, Baby wants what Baby wants, no?  And my babies in utero tend to want sugar.  So what better way to satisfy both Baby and Momma than with a plethora of "fun-size" candy options?

I was absolutely delighted when Chris went to Sam's Club to pick up some Halloween candy today.  Sugar in bulk!  Woohoo!  Awesome husband thing to do, right?  Yeah, well, only if you get the RIGHT kind of candy, my dear.

Let me note that I feel like I am a bit of a candy bar connoisseur, especially around this time of year.  When the beginning of October rolls around, I am usually fantasizing about all kinds of tiny treats... the smooth creaminess of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, the delightful "snap" of a Kit Kat, the wonderful textural surprise of a Snickers, the delicious crunch of a Twix bar, oh and itty bitty bags of M&M's!  They are so cute and small I can eat like 5 of them guilt-free, right?  So imagine my surprise when my oh-so-sweet husband returns with a humongous bag of the worst candy I have ever seen.

Get this.

Butterfingers.
Nestle Crunch Bars.
Baby Ruths.
100 Grand Bars.

Yuck.

I apologize if one of your all-time favorites is on this list, but, in my opinion, this is the absolute worst pick of the lot.  I mean, come on!  Butterfingers get stuck in my teeth.  I have never been much of a fan.  Nestle Crunch Bars are like the boringest candy bar EVER.  They consist of a mediocre slab of chocolate (I prefer Hershey's chocolate over Nestle's, btw) with a few little "crispies" thrown in for texture.  Not my cup of tea.  Oh, and Baby Ruths?  AKA the candy bar that most closely resembles a human turd?  Um, no thanks, I will pass.  The one candy bar out of the mix that I can mildly tolerate is the 100 Grand.  But I can really only handle maybe one or two before I have flashbacks from high school band fundraisers where we sold king-size 100 Grand Bars for weeks on end.  I ate more 100 Grand Bars in 4 years of band than anyone probably should ever eat in a lifetime.  Plus, they are basically just a Crunch Bar beefed up on steriods.  So yeah, talk about sheer and utter disappointment when my super sweet smiling husband walks through the door with a bag filled with these atrocities.  I promptly went into full-on panic mode (hey, I'm allowed, I'm pregnant, hormonal, and basically an emotional mess these days, so just back off, would ya?).  I was immediately pissed off and thinking that he obviously doesn't even KNOW me if he thinks I'm going to eat any of that!... or worse, maybe he does know that I don't like any of those selections and that's why he picked it... so I won't eat it!  He thinks I'm fat!  Now I was super pissed off.  Or maybe he just picked out a bag that he really liked... but, hey, what about me here?  The sugar-binging, chocolate-craving, 27-week pregnant lady that NEEDS. CHOCOLATE. NOW.  What about me?!  

So yeah, any way you spin it, I was pissed.

I have been pouting about it all afternoon.

Seriously.

You know what they say... Hell hath no fury like a pregnant woman missing out on her chocolate-fix.... or something like that anyway.  :)

Side Note: I obviously know I am not fat, I am pregnant... wonderfully, beautifully pregnant...  but this was a completely irrational thought that did briefly run through my mind.  See statement above regarding "hormonal," "emotional," and "mess".

September Randoms

Sooooooo, it's October.
Wow.
Where did September go?
I know it's totally cliched to say how fast time flies as you get older, especially after you have kids, but MAN, it does go so fast!
Our October is pretty busy already.
...and November is filling up quicky, too.
And then Thanksgiving..
and Christmas....
AND THEN THE NEW BABY IS GOING TO BE HERE!
Crazy.
I will do a pregnancy update post this week.
I have an appointment tomorrow... I'm already at every other week appointments!
So yeah, update soon.
Until then, here are some random pictures from September.
I have been taking fewer pictures on our camera and lots more on my phone.
Chris and I both just got iPhone 5's... and I absolutely love it!
I am loving Instagram, too!
You can follow me!
@shaetilson
Ok.
Anyway... September pics.
Here...


Wren at the Hunter's Honey Farm Fall Festival

Of course, Baby is in tow.

We just released our Monarch butterfly!

With Sara at the zoo

The lions were so close to the fence!

Silly girl

Silly girls!

See that book she is reading?
Yeah, she carries that book everywhere with her lately.
And I mean EV-ERY-WHERE.
I read it to her at least a dozen times a day,
and she reads it to herself all day long.

Oh, and by the way, she has no pants or diaper on here.
Mid-diaper change and she decides she just HAS to read "Everywhere Babies"
With no pants... or diaper... in her stroller.
:)