Can I brag a little?

Here is my first vegetable garden! I am so happy with the way it is going. I have summer squash, zucchini, "Lemon Boy" tomatoes, grape tomatoes, "Better Boy" tomatoes, "Big Boy" tomatoes, mini sweet orange bell peppers, red bell peppers, cilantro, basil, and some pea plants that I planted way too late that are NOT doing well, so I don't really count them.

Okay, I haven't actually gotten any vegetables yet, but it's only a matter of time (I hope! Cross your fingers for me!)

And just in case I hear any comments about green thumbs and black thumbs, it all comes down to hard work people!

More seriously, this garden, along with my flower garden, which is still looking rather pathetic, have really kept me going this pregnancy. Since I care about it so much and enjoy it like I do, it gets me moving in the mornings. I have spent the last two mornings out there for 3 hours at a time. I hit up a plant sale a few weeks ago and received about 30 flower plants in the mail two days ago that I wanted to get in the ground as soon as possible, plus I had a ton of weeding to do. Not many things motivate me like gardening does and hopefully I will be enjoying the fruits of my labor in more ways than one in August.

*Oh, and in case any of you are wondering how I manage to garden for three hours at a time when I have two boys to take care of, I pretty much let them watch as much TV as they want on those days. C'mon, I am bragging about being a good gardener, not a good mother :o)

Are you flirting with me?

Gabe learned how to raise his eyebrows, and now every once in awhile he will call my name, let out a huge grin and do his new trick. He knows it cracks me up. Please ignore the messiness.

Music by the Pond

Our community is having concerts by our pond every Friday in June. Performing last night was a band from Hawaii, The Tsunami Wave Riders, so Colin and I checked out a book about Hawaii and have been reading this week. Then also made a dessert with pineapple in it for after the concert - dump cake, a very easy and yummy dessert (but make sure you eat it with ice cream on top for the full effect). Even though it was a very warm evening, it was a lot of fun, and I think if I promise Chad that I will bring sodas, we will go again next week.

Baby Name Genie

I saw something about this website today, so I went to it. It comes up with a name for your baby, and I typed in our last name to see what it would suggest.....and it was LEVI Coleman! In case some of you don't know, my brother's name is Levi and I LOVE his name. Pretty funny.

Lazy Summer Days

Cooking is the one household chore that I really don't mind. I pride myself on making a weekly menu, shopping accordingly, and usually having dinner on the table within a half hour of Chad getting home. However......lately I just don't feel like cooking! I think it is the heat and my laziness combined, but nothing ever sounds appealing for dinner - at least not appealing enough to put forth the effort to cook it. So who has some really really really easy recipes (or even yummy frozen meals they have found) they would like to share with me? Ones that you want to make and eat on a hot (99 degrees!) summer day. At least slightly nutritious would be ideal. Anyone?

Invasive Procedures

I have found out what process combines everything that makes me uncomfortable. Applying for life insurance. In general I don't like talking to people that I don't know well (yes, I am an anti-social snob), and when I have to answer very personal questions asked by these people, I get snappy, curt and just forgetful. I always think that these people who are just doing their jobs are judging me.

WHAT?! This woman can't remember the name of the doctor she saw once for strep throat last September? And she doesn't have the address of the clinic memorized? Well then, I can't see her lasting past the age of 29. Definitely not insurable, and on top of that, highly irresponsible.

She can't get enough pee in a cup for our tests even though she is hugely pregnant and we TOLD her to drink lots of water? Definitely a sign of chronic dehydration! Doesn't she care about her unborn child's life?

Seriously though, it was a yucky morning for me, and while Mr. Cool-With-Anyone-Chad didn't seem bothered one bit by having a stranger in our home taking our blood and urine and weighing us, I was ready to barf by the time she left. Wait, that was just because I drank at least 8 cups of water while she was here , to try and eek out enough liquid gold to satisfy her, and all that water was sloshing around in a completely empty stomach because we hadn't been allowed to eat since breakfast. Nausea City.

Here are some more highlights:

"Have you gained 10 lbs in the last year?" (Ugh, didn't we already discuss the whole knocked-up thing? I wish it was ONLY ten lbs)

"Have you been hospitalized in the last 5 years?" (That little guy flicking my license at me is 5 and the one coming down the stairs with a bat in his hands is 2.)

Saying the wrong name for my doctor, even though I saw her less than two weeks ago, forcing the lady to sigh and break-out the white-out to correct my mistake.

Admitting that I don't have a primary care physician (seriously though, when you have been pregnant three times in 5 1/2 years, isn't that enough doctor-visiting?)

Yeah, so I know I am a little hypersensitive about this kind of junk, and I know that probably says something about me, but I'm not going to sweat it too much. We all deserve to have some weird insecurities, right?

Oh, and by the way, I had to use the restroom 5 times in the hour after she left. Just thought you would like to know.

The (almost) perfect date

Colin finished his 50th reading lesson a couple of weeks ago, so yesterday evening was designated as the big date day. Colin was excited about going to Zuma with me, and was consequently in a wonderful mood all day. I don't know how many times he came up to me throughout the day and gave me a big hug and said "I love you Mom!" Finally Chad came home from work, we ate dinner, and it was time to go!

Colin continued his sweetness by presenting me with a flower as we were walking to the car.

First we played miniature golf and Colin knew that my back has been having problems so picked up my ball for me after every hole. He was such a gentleman. The sun was in his eyes in that picture - I swear he did it with a smile on his face each time.

Like most sports, Colin takes his mini golf very seriously. The smile cracked in the second picture is after he hit an incredible hole-in-one! This is where the "almost perfect" date part comes in. The one fault he had as a date was that he liked to brag about his awesome golf skills, comparing them to mine, which are definitely below his.

After the golf, Colin again showed his incredible coordination on the kiddie go-carts. He had that intense look of concentration on the whole time, and never once even bumped the side. I got a real kick out of watching him.

In typical Zuma fashion, the train wasn't working at first and while the guy went to try and get it started, Colin used the time to joke around with me. I like these pictures because I can rarely catch a true Colin smile these days.

He capped off the fun with a ride on the airplanes, and then it was off to.....

SONIC!

Where Colin commented that we could share a banana split, because it's a banana SPLIT!

It was a wonderful evening and it was so good to spend some time alone with my sweet boy. Sometimes I keep so caught up in the day to day discipline and worry over whether my kids are behaving or not that I forget what great kids they really are. As I walked along holding Colin's hand last night, I got to remember how incredible and fun and adorable he is.

On the way home I was warning him that bed-time was coming and he told me, "But Mom, my whole body is with wide awake! My whole body is having a party!"

My two boys

Since I gave them their summer haircuts, everyone has been commenting on how Gabe is a clone of Colin. Their heads are shaped very differently, but after taking away Colin's shaggy hair they definitely do look more alike. They even got matching sunburns at the pool yesterday.

Top Ramen for the Soul

I had to go shopping at Walmart today. With the boys. Which I loathe. Really. There is something about that store that makes them act like they hate each other and me. It was a big trip too - not just groceries, but diapers, and wipes, and hoses, and dishwashing detergent, and all that extra stuff that you only have to do every so often. I was ready to stick my kids in daycare by the time we got out of there. Then it started to pour on the way home. So do I extend the misery by dragging all fifty bags inside in the rain? Not today. I did multiple dashes over an hour or so with an umbrella, when I thought the rain was letting up, trying to grab the milk and other refrigerated items first (curses on the cashier for not bagging the milk or packing the cool items together). Have you ever heard how much I hate slightly warm milk? WITH A PASSION.

To get the heart-warming part though - I was dropping things off on my dry porch and running back to the car for more, when sweetheart Gabe starts carrying all the bags from the porch inside, with his "doing good" smile on his face, and carefully enuniciating, "Here mommy." I guess he doesn't hate me after all.

*Notice the lovely new wood floors that my wonderful wonderful Chad installed over the weekend with Sabina's father. They will be getting a post dedicated to themselves in the future, but I had to mention them now. My husband definitely loves me.

Food Thoughts

I have a couple of questions for all of you....

1. Has anyone ever seen a generic brand of Life Cereal? I haven't. Why is that? There seems to be a off-brand of just about every other popular cereal out there. Is the recipe really that mysterious that it can't be copied?

2. Do you like Top Ramen? What is your favorite flavor? Do you cook it the traditional way with all the water in, or do you do it the Jeppson-after-school-snack way and drain the noodles before adding the seasoning?

Before today I hadn't had Top Ramen in probably 5 to 6 years. Not because I don't like it, but because it's, you know, really not nutritious at all and has all that sodium. But I gotta admit that today, it just totally hit the spot. I have a cold and can barely taste anything, and it was raining, and my hot hot hot Creamy Chicken comforted me right through.

Summer Begins

Just visiting!

When we went to visit Sabina at the the hospital the other day and I received my visitor's sticker, I realized there that I had absolutely no non-awkward place to put it besides my belly. My mom commented that it was probably a good place for it so that they would know I wasn't checking in. The nurses who saw it got a laugh out of it.

No folks, three more months of belly growing to go!!!!!!!! Watch out world!

Razzleberry pie anyone?

This is what someone what up to while the missionaries were giving us their little after dinner message.

Mystery Solved

Okay Ashley, I will finally answer what this is.....

Gabe locked himself in the toy room. You know those little key things that you use to open newer door knobs? For some reason the builders neglected to leave any of them in our house (in our previous house they left them over each door frame). Well, after living in our house for a couple of months I discovered that they HAD left behind a whole, brand new door knob, in the box, in the boy's bathroom. It had a key. By the way, we haven't been able to find any kind of key that works besides those stupid things, and I haven't been able to find them on sale at Lowe's or anything by themselves. So we only have one key.

And on the day that Gabe locked himself in the toy room, I couldn't find the key. And the door opens to the inside so I couldn't take it off they hinges. And he was freaking out.

So I decided to take the door knob off and try and open it that way. But, DUH, the door knob is what turns the thingie that opens the door, which I realized after Gabe had half of the knob on his side (see picture). Smart boy that he is though, I asked him to stick his half back through the hole and he did. With just his half in I was able to access the lock part with the screw driver and free the toddler. It was quite an ordeal.

I found the key on the computer desk the next day.

There, now you can sleep at night, knowing what that picture is.

Problem Solved

Men, this post probably isn't for you.

I'm sure you have heard the complaints before. Women don't like shopping for swimsuits. At least not the kind of women I choose to associate with. As bad as you think you have it, I swear to you that it is worse for me (and my sister Lindsey). Okay, maybe not, but it feels like it. You see, I have a weird body. My top half is one size (LARGE ) and my bottom half is another (just about "normal"). And there are basically two inches between the two of them. When you are talking about taking one continuous piece of clothing that is supposed to hug and support each separate part, well....it just doesn't work. I need a personal tailor. If the bottom half fits, the top half droops and exposes. If the top half fits, the bottom half is completely soggy.

Finding a suit that fits is bad enough, try finding one that is cute on top of it. Swimsuit companies think that anyone who wears a modest, size 8 one-piece with a little support is 65 years old and likes big tropical flowers covering their swim-dress. The noisier the better, because that noise makes people not notice the cottage cheese, right?

After wearing a not-too-hot one for about three years (a tankini altered by my mom, worn with girl board shorts), I decided to venture to the changing rooms again last summer. We were going to Florida on vacation and I had just lost ten lbs in our diet challenge with Bobby and Sabina. I was ready to enjoy the way I looked at the pool.

It was absolutely miserable. NOT ONE SUIT FIT. Not one. The old suit made the trip to Florida where it was worn every day next to Sabina's tinier and way cuter new swimsuit.

After the vacation, in June, I finally found a solution. Land's End makes special swimsuits for sad lots like me. Brilliantly, you can actually request a specific cup size, and they can be expensive, but I was ready to wear $90 to the pool every day if it meant I wasn't going to be falling out every time I went under water. I actually ended up finding an adorable suit last year one on clearance for only $20!!!!

Oh, how I love that suit. I was ready to wear it until it fell apart. But then I did the unthinkable and got pregnant. And dang-them-Land's-End doesn't make those special-cup swimsuits for mommies-to-be.

Some women spend the six months before summer getting ready for the pool - I spent it getting fat.

My pool opens tomorrow and I am 27 weeks along, which means that my whole last trimester will take place during swimsuit season.

A whole new set of swimsuit problems.

Never fear though, right? Because I am sure that when companies make maternity suits, they keep in mind that pregnant women need more support than ever up top.

YEAH. Right.

Nope. Same ol' problem. Not one maternity suit fit. And on top of that, if you normally hate the bright lights and mirrors of dressing rooms, it only gets worse when your shiny white stretchmarks are slowly turning purple again.

Here is the crazy solution I finally found today, just in time- I tried on a plus size and it fit perfectly. The first time I have just moseyed up to a rack at Target like a normal person, picked up a swimsuit that was on sale, and had it fit.

Turns out that all along my swimsuit problems would have disappeared if I was just a lot fatter on my bottom half. I will have to remember that next year during the six months before summer, when the Nutty Bars are calling my name. Maybe I will give in in the name of swimsuit shopping with the rest of 'em.