Today calls for a mind dump.

Whew..I haven't done one of these in a while. So here we go.

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I had my follow up upper GI scope done a couple weeks ago and received the best possible news. The site of the infamous perforated ulcer is healing wonderfully and there were no other ulcers or irritation to speak of. We can officially chalk up what happened in August as a fluke. As long as I'm taking my meds and never coming within 3 feet of any NSAIDS, I should be good to go.

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There's an upside to having an old, creeky, drafty house. I can, at any time, know where my children are by the sounds radiating from the second floor. Which sound an awful amount like cattle being herded. 

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Just two Sundays ago, in a packed 10AM mass, my lovely six year old daughter nearly knocked our priest over coming back from children's liturgy of the word. And then, once in the pew, announced to everyone within earshot that, "He needs to move out of the way next time!"

Oh dear.

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Le husband has had to do a ridiculous amount of traveling these past few months for work. I hate it. It makes me drink wine and eat full plates of bacon and call it dinner. I'm not sure these two things are really correlated, but I'm going to blame on le husband anyways.

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I spent 40 minutes watching YouTube tutorials on eyebrows earlier this week. I'm not sure who I am anymore, but at least I'll have fabulous brows.

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I've been devoting time every day to studying scripture. (I'm thinking of elaborating on this soon.)

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I say it every year, but those KAY commercials? They make me want to stab myself in the pupils.

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T minus 24 days until my parents and my mother-in-law arrive to ring in the holiday with us. I'm beyond elated to be able to spend Christmas, Remy's birthday, Rosie's baptism and New Years with them. And the kids are pretty stoked too. 

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I've been struggling with envy and materialism lately. Acknowledging the problem is the first step, right? 

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I've read this particular blog post at least five six times in the past two months. Indeed, that single entry changed my entire line of thinking regarding raising children. Ms. Fulwiler's blog has really been a wealth of knowledge for me these past few months. Oh, this is another good one.

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Rosie has begun babbling. Lots of babbling. 

Goodnight. <3

Monday Mind Dump

I probably should have looked at the weather forecast before getting all gung-ho excited about summer time. My poor kids have been stuck in the house since their last day of school. Stupid rain.

I painted the main bathroom yesterday. I, meaning, me. The really pregnant girl. Going up and down a ladder for hours. Not one of my brightest ideas. I can barely walk this morning, but my bathroom looks fantastic.

I want to know where my sweet, loving Olivia has gone and who is this demanding diva of a child that has replaced her?! The hours of 7PM until she goes to bed are a nightmare. And that's all I'm going to say about that.

I've stopped taking my over the counter sleep aids. They were definitely helping with the pregnancy insomnia, but they left me feeling hungover. I've accepted that sleep is going to be a rare thing around here for a while, between Remy still waking at least once a night and the new baby.

Le husband spent over an hour the other night watching videos on youtube about how to aerate and seed lawns. Over an hour. He's turning into my dad. 

It seems that everyone and their momma is posting their super awesome beach vacation photos on Facebook and Instagram. Stop. Please. Just stop. I'm dying of jealousy. The only vacation I'll be receiving this summer is a 2 day stop at my local hospital.

During Remy's bath last night, I was completely taken aback at the amount of little bruises and scratches on his little legs. He is such a rough and tough kid. 

I found this picture from this time last year and then I died from cute.

Happy Monday!

Sunday Mind Dump

Good Morning

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I redid my banner on a whim last night. I don't know what I think of it.

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I never fully understood the world's obsession with coffee until after I had Remy. 

Now I can't function or look anyone in the eye until after my second cup.

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Call me a party pooper, but I don't understand the fixation on huge, themed first birthday parties. No offense, but the kid isn't going to remember it. Those cutesy, handmade decorations that you spent hours upon hours making? Yeah, you kid will most likely rip them up within ten minutes. But hey...to each their own.

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I've had to hold myself back from going Christmas crazy this year. I am counting the minutes until I can put up my tree and drown everyone out with the Transiberian Orchestra.

Speaking of Christmas, the Cadbury chocolate consumption count stands at 3 bags.

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I would give my right leg for a dozen donuts right now, but it's dreary and a little on the chilly side, and my craving for donuts isn't surpassing my need for warmth.

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Le husband and I spent last night trying to decide on vacation plans for the next year. Which turned into us dreaming up our 10th anniversary trip. Then we got distracted looking at home decor and eating ice cream sandwiches. We are party animals.

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Just when I had successfully ignored Pinterest for over a month, I found the iPhone app. Crap.

Have a lovely Sunday!

Wednesday Mind Dump

In my never ending quest to simplify our lives, we've recently implemented a meal plan in our house. Upon inspection of what we were actually spending on food each month, I found that we were basically throwing money down the drain. Every. Single. Month. Buying a ridiculous amount of snacks which resulted in my kids refusing meals. Only wanting to stuff their faces with crackers and cookies and chips. You get the picture. We were buying groceries and then instead of cooking them, eating out at the multiple little Mom and Pop restaurants within walking distance of home (the perks of living downtown!). Which I guess would be okay if we were rich, but unfortunately the Publisher's Clearinghouse has yet to knock on my door. 

So, before every payday (grocery shopping day) I create a menu with 14 days worth of meals and post it in the kitchen for all to see. And I shop accordingly. Do you know how absolutely fantastic it is to know exactly what you're going to cook for 14 days? To not have to play the "well what do you want to eat?" game? To know that your kids are getting home cooked meals every night? To know how much money you're saving by just taking the extra 30 minutes to cook? It's awesome. 

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After writing that post about thinking about a fourth child, I've been doing a lot of reflecting on whether or not it's just a passing phase or if expanding our family one final time is really something I want to do. I've been talking about it. Putting pen to paper and doing the numbers. Imagining what obstacles another baby would present. (and the blessings!) Bringing it up in conversations with people, just to gauge reactions. They usually vary from..

"Of course you should have another one!" (Thanks Mom!)

to

"Well there goes your social life!" (What's a social life?)

to 

"Are you crazy?" (I thought that was well documented by now.)

to 

"You must like noise and chaos." (Very true.)

to

"Good luck with that, Michelle Duggar!" 

Not that I would ever make a decision on my fertility based upon some random person's idea of how many kids is too many. And why is it assumed that everyone must stop after 2? After having both a boy and girl? Why is it that we celebrate when a woman has two kids, but instantly judge when she has more than the norm? That's a concept I've never understood. 

So, what's your ideal number of children? What do you do on the meal front to save some moolah?