Movin' on up

So last night when Chadly got off work, he bought 20 lotto tickets.

He told me this as I started the long drive home from a family birthday party, so I had lots of car time to contemplate just how we would spend our spoils once we, ya know, won.

My mom was with me at the time, so the two of us just laughed when Chad explained that we were, in fact, shooting for the Mega Mills, but y'all, in my head, I was serious.

As soon as I got home and saw our tickets to millionaire-dome, I asked Chad what the heck we would do with our money.

We started talking about how, obviously, we would buy up a ton of land across the U.S. and develop it, and then, of course, buy ourselves a few dozen homes around the world, all after paying off our family's homes, setting up our children with their Ivy League college tuition accounts, AND creating trust funds for our brothers.

TRUST FUNDS FOR OUR BROTHERS!

Which they wouldn't be able to access until they were 30 so that way we wouldn't be killing their ambition during their 20's!

What the hell were we talking about?!

We were being totally serious!

And then, in order to make our several homes that we purchased  around the globe "make sense," we would just have to buy ourselves a private jet. But then upon further thought, we decided that those private jets are sketchy because how many commercial jets have crashed within the past 10 years? Not as many as private jets!

So we scratched that, and decided to just stick with first class, which I was totally fine with because I actually enjoy the airport experience.

So the issue of the jet was settled.

Anyway, 8:00 finally rolled around and the numbers were announced, and we totally did not win.

Dashed were my dreams of owning a villa in the south of France, gone were the trust funds!

Oh, well.

I guess we will have to earn our cashola the old fashion way.

{Or by playing again next week! Woohooo for no winners!}

Me and my girl

Sometimes it still shocks me that we have a baby girl, which is ridiculous because we are almost exactly THREE MONTHS IN at this point! It's just so unbelievable for some reason! Anyway, right this very minute the little lady and I are girlin' it up in my bedroom while Uncle Todd and Chadly are having man time around our kitchen table. I took her back for the last feeding of the night and just decided to treat myself to a little alone time with the lass since moments like these seem so far and few between.

Anyway, she is now asleep and it seems that my mind has finally caught up to the fact that I have a girl.

I HAVE A GIRL!

DID YOU HEAR THAT?!

A GIRL!

So in celebration of girl-power-awesomeness, guess what THIS mama will be doing with THAT little baby preciousness in the coming years.

We will be...

Getting mani/pedi's.

Discussing what THIS shade of pink says about a person, versus THAT shade of pink.

Joking about how Daddy and Carter are just "such boys."

Making Daddy and Carter cookies.

Telling Daddy and Carter that since the girls made the cookies, the boys have to clean up :)

Buying ballet shoes together.

Buying tap shoes together.

Buying pointe shoes together.

....Or buying some crazy piece of equipment like a lacrosse stick so that she might go kick some major bootay in a sport where I have no idea what I'm talking about in...Which would be totally fine and awesome!

Picking out which color tights she wants to wear to church.

Telling each other how icky some flowers are because they attract those monsters known to many as "bee's."

Rhinestoning dance costumes together.

Talking about how he said THAT, and could we believe it?! 

Saying things like, "MEN! You can't live with 'em, you can't live without 'em!," all while throwing our arms up in the air like we just don't care!

Swapping recipes over the phone.

Discussing the legitimacy of a college student's diet..."No, Kota, I do not think it's a good idea to buy a $5 foot long from Subway and to split it up throughout the day...I would never have done that...." Even though I totally did just that on a daily basis, which I will tell her and then we will laugh.

Talking about pink. Did I already mention that?

Ahhh, that was just GLORIOUS! I can't wait to list girly girly girly things again when the inspiration strikes!

SO MUCH FUN!

So yay for being a mama of a GIRL!

Those Duggars...

Y'all, my love for the Duggars runs pretty deep.

Chad makes fun of me, and people think my small addiction is slightly creepy, but bottom line is this:

They are pleasant folk and I dig 'em.

I just came from watching their season finale, something I was quite looking forward to since it was an hour long, and horrifyingly, about the baby daughter they lost to miscarriage.

Oh my gosh.

Bawling.

Literally.

End of the world tears, to the max.

Every part of my body hurt watching this episode, and it seemed like I was going to burst at the seams. 

What had happened was that Michelle lost the baby right before her 18 week ultrasound, where they were going to find out the sex of their sweet little one. Unfortunately, they couldn't find a heartbeat. Immediately Jim Bob and Michelle prayed, both while crying.

When they told the family, the pain really set in for me. 

How do you tell your family information like that?

As the episode continued, I thought to myself,

"What the heck am I doing watching this? I'm literally torturing myself."

But they were handling themselves so gracefully, I had to follow through.

During the last 15 minutes, I basically wanted to claw my eyes out.

I started to think about how incredibly joyous young family life has been for Chad and I, and how I wholly have taken that for granted.

The arrival of Carter truly, deeply showed me the meaning of life, and how easy that had all been!

Pregnany? Piece of cake! Delivery? Text book, all the way, man! Sleep deprivation? When?!

When we wanted another baby, wham-bam-shishkum-bam,

THERE SHE WAS!

Healthy. Alert. Incredibly beautiful. Silly little mohawk. Everything.

Incredible. Just incredible.

Watching a family experience loss like that was incredibly difficult, but man, am I glad I watched.

And I know this sounds absolutely ridiculous, 

but thank you, you wonderful Duggars, for sharing that experience with everyone.

It was truly touching, and makes me love my family that much more.

The end.

{Ahh, tears!}

Should I do it....?

So I had these sweeping plans to chop off my long blond locks in lieu of some sexy summer shortness, but I think I'm already having separation anxiety! Can I do that to myself? 

This ole' mane has been mid-back length for my entire life, and save for one drastic cut {4 inches during my freshman year of college}, I have never felt the need for any major change. But now I have to do something, I just don't know if I can do that!

Here's another big question: 

should I go brunette?

{!!!!!!!!}

This would be huge.

Humongous.

Gargantuan.

Larger than life.

Tremendous.

Outrageous.

Should I do it?!

{She asks herself!}

It would be a major change.

If I went brunette, I seriously would have to pile on the make up everyday to make up for the lack of pretty pretty dark eyebrows, but I think that would be a welcomed challenge. The only thing that would not be so good is those days where I don't put make up on. I would look like a ghost, pretty much.

I don't know!

DECISIONS, DECISIONS!

Random.

Y'all the creative juices have apparently stopped flowing. That's okay, though. All the more time for random thoughts and a slight update on this glorious Tuesday morning.

{1}

When Chadly has unexpected work things come up, I turn into a thug. A straight up thug. I started thinking thoughts like, "What the heck, CHAD'S WORK??! Release him back to me!" Completely irrational. Then once I come out of my brief thug-life, I start thinking of things I should be doing while he's out of the house... Like watching 19 Kids and Counting.

:)

{2}

When I left the kiddies alone in the living room for LESS THAN 2 SECONDS to take out the wonderful Pillsbury Dough Boy croissants, Carter decided it would be a good idea to pick up Kota and try to bring her to me. Incredibly, no one got hurt, but man was I freaked out when I found Kota lying in a place where I had NOT left her. 

Sheesh, that was sort of painful to write out! 

No more leaving the kids alone, even for the briefest of moments!

{3}

Last week I let Carter do something sort of weird, and I even knew it was odd as I was doing it. I let him have a snack in bed...Right before bed time....Like an adult does with cookies. Anyway, what had happened was that he had had a super early dinner, so I felt weird sending him to bed on such an awkwardly full/empty stomach. So I let him eat Cheerios while I read him books. Now he asks for snacks every night and gets mad when I don't give them to him. Aren't I a good mom?

{4}

I feed Kota like a newborn. With Carter, I was on a strict let's-try-to-stretch-out-your-feedings-to-the-three-hour-mark by this time, but with her, I just love it too much! Maybe it's because I feel like I don't hold her enough, even though she's constantly being shuttled around either by myself of Chad. Oh, well. It's how I do, man.

Anyway, cheers to random thoughts! 

girl vs. boy

Now that a good two-and-a-half months has passed since we found out we forever will be a family with both a little boy and a darling girl, it has hit me: I now know why people say "boys are easier."

I used to think that statement was so sad because it always came from parents of both boys and girls. How horrible for their baby girls to hear such a thing! But now I get it. It has nothing to do with the fact that girls, in comparison to boys, are notoriously accompanied by an inordinate amount of sass, nor the fact that little ladies have rendered {unfairly so, because some mom's may like to play dress up with their sons...} the reputation of costing a pretty penny as they grow older {ie. - my parents probably could have taken out a second mortgage based on how much dough they shelled out to send my sister and I to those outrageous high school dances... A new set of acrylic nails was always a must. Sick, man}.

Anyway, to me, the reason people say boys are easier is because when you think of raising a little man, you think of football, trucks, Buzz Lightyear and playing in dirt. Bugs, race cars, mommy-son-cuddle-time and fist pounds with daddy. Wearing precious Vans and blue jeans.
You see yourself having conversations like...

What was that, my boy? You don't like sports? THAT'S OKAY, SON! We will just enroll you in some awesome academic club! No matter what, we will find something for you to love! Easy peasy!

It will all work out.

Yes, there is the whole "I need to raise my son to be a good man" thing, but surely all the hours of tossing around the football, making choo-choo sounds and dropping him off in Sunday school each week will result in  an upstanding sort of adult, right?

Anyway, obviously it's all much, much deeper than that, but it just seems like it will be such fun. 

Breezy.

Our little boy will grow up to be a great man, and the path to that point will be riddled with fun activities.

But holy moly, when I think of raising Kota, I become intimidated.

Not because I'm scared that one day she will take a misstep, because I know that will happen, but because of the things I need to teach her.

To raise a virtuous young lady will take more than just bi-weekly pedicures, it will take an incredible amount of intentional parenting. Specific steps will need to be taken in order to cultivate an atmosphere free of animosity between the two of us, an atmosphere where there's more listening going on, rather than talking at each other. I want her to grow and be aware of the intricacies of being a daughter, sister, eventual friend, and someday, a woman. To be kind, loving, soft-hearted, compassionate, genuine and strong. To love God and Jesus and Mary. To have the strength to stand up against peer pressure, and to blaze her own, unique path.
To me, it's overwhelming how much I want this for her.

It will be the challenge of my life, one I'm more than ready to take on.
Open communication will be the route we will take to get through the rough times that are sure to come with these bambinos, and we will become all the better for it.

So every night I pray for the strength to put these thoughts into action, because, in the words of good ole' Jackie Kennedy, "If you bungle raising your children, I don't think whatever else you do matters very much."

And ain't that the truth, sister? 

Nothing to say

{Yay maternity pictures!}

So I've been at a major loss for words lately, hence my lack-o-posts.

I don't know what's going on, but my guess is I just need some time away from the ole' computer.

Maybe Instagram has stolen my attention?

Who knows.

Hopefully this dry spell will end soon, but in the meantime, I'm just going to go with the flow and continue to read a ton of other people's blogs everyday, and not bore anyone with my incredible lack of words.

So anyway, I hope everyone is having a fab week, and cheers to the beginning stages of Easter-outfit-searching!

When the man's away...

Apparently I'm a humongous scaredy-cat. I thought it would be nice to have the bed all to myself, but I really just wanted Chad to be there so that way when,you know, the masked men broke into my bedroom he could take them on.

Carter does not like to go to bed at his usual 8:00 hour, but rather at 10:00. And then not sleep in the next morning.

Kota likes to take it easy on me and sleep her little heart away. Thanks, baby girl!

I crawl into bed at 9:45. I felt like an oldie, but it was actually quite nice. In hindsight, though, that just gave me more time to envision the scary masked men.

I become way too inundated with Instagram. How come no one ever told me that's one darn fun app?!

We go on walks with my mama.

My sister comes over for girls' night in. And we will be watching a very girlie girlie girlie movie. Which has yet to be decided. (But I think we're both thinking Breaking Dawn Part I.)

So have a great time in Vegas, my love!

We miss you!

Your Baby Can Read, yo

Holy moly.

My babies are going to be reading like the BA's that they are in a very short time, because Dr. Titzer has taken over my mind. Have you ever seen this thing?! I must guiltily admit that my MIL gifted me the whole package when Carter was about 2 months old, and I just NOW watched the entire explanatory DVD. Holy moly. What was I thinking? I should have watched that bad boy years ago! 

So watch out, 3rd grade reading level! We're coming for you!

And seriously, go buy this outrageously awesome program. It will make you want to jump up and clap your hands like the rest of those genius 9 month olds on the videos! 

Woohoo!

Attributes

You know, when it comes to getting all serious and mushy, my writing skills go straight out the window.

I just can't convey deep emotion!

The few times I've tried to write that way, I always look back on those posts and just want to laugh at how not like myself I sound. They always seem so forced... It's just not me!

But the other night my man asked me one of those questions where I thought he was joking, since apparently the two of us blow at being serious about these sorts of things, but he wasn't. He was being totally serious, even with a humongous smile on his face.

He asked,

"Hey babe, what are the three attributes of mine you like the most, and which three do you dislike the most?"

After a few giggles {I thought he was setting me up for something}, I said,

"My favorite attributes of yours are that you're

independent,

you're

supportive,

and that you're... Hmm...

Well, you're 

ambitious.

And I guess I have to say my least favorite attributes of yours is that I have to ask you EVERY. SINGLE. NIGHT. to do certain things {put your shoes away and take out the trash}, sometimes I have to claw out unpleasant thoughts that I know are on your mind, and umm... I don't know. I can't think of a third. Oh yeah, that you never tell me "no." Tell me NO every once in awhile, would ya?!"

And then I asked him to do the same for me.

He said he would start with the bad and build his way up. 

"Sometimes you're absent-minded {I literally will forget things two seconds after he tells me}, you can't find things to save your life {for some reason every object I seek to find runs away from me... even though they're usually right in front of my face...}, and your definition of "clean" differs BIG TIME from my definition {he likes things ultra sanitized and whatnot, I just want things put away}."

And you know what? I can't even remember what my good attributes were {except for him saying he thought I was the best mommy in the world... Tear!}, but I know that having a dude who asks me such questions is quite a wonder. I love that man.

The end!

The future is bright

I'm having one of those days where everything just seems to be on fire with awesomeness.

You know, like right place, right time, right all the way around sort of feeling?

Sounds cheesy, eh?

Well, it's true! Life just seems to be going wonderfully and I can't help but take note.

The bambinos are fabulous sleepers {hello, 6 am smile on MY face after a night of straight sleep}, my man is one big ball of supportiveness {not a word, but okay}, and I have a Starbucks gift card in my clutch as we speak. 

Life is good, sister, and the future is bright.

I even sorted through our massive pile of junk mail which seems to permanently invade my teensy tiny kitchen counter space. That, my friend, is a sign of a good week.

And now, since my tot just started crying for his daily post-nap mommy cuddle session, I will be on my way!

Cheers to happy babies, and a husband who gets off work tonight at five!

5:00! 

Not 6:00, not 7:00, but 5:00!

{8:00-5:00 work days are my cup of tea...I'm tired of the ole' 9:00-6:00 routine!}

Yesterday.

Guess what?

When you wake up exhausted, and you spend the entire day trying to think of ways to throw the ball with your tot from lying down on the couch, and the mere thought of making lunch makes you want to puke, AND you have no problem with the fact that there are at least 10 used diapers stacked on top of the coffee table,

IT'S TIME TO CALL YOUR MAMA FOR SOME HELP!

When the hubster won't be home from work until hours after the kiddos are asleep, and you're not just tired, but rather sleepy instead, AND the theme song from Thomas the choo-choo makes you want to pull the hair straight out of those follicles,

IT'S ABOUT TIME TO SPEND SOME TIME ALONE!

So I combined the two, and asked if my mom wouldn't mind keeping an eye on the preciousness's while I go take a Purebarre class. My logic was to get some endorphins going AND to tire myself out to the point of an 8:30 bedtime, and let me tell you, I was successful.

Well, not falling asleep at 8:30, because that would be too grandma-esque for me, but getting those endorphins going? Heck yeah, man. It was SO NEEDED.

And one more thing...I'm probably looking way too deeply into this whole "call my mom for some help" thing, but I have to say that I'm quite proud of myself! It usually takes me DAYS of outrageous exhaustion to finally call SOMEONE to come on over and help me out, but yesterday I was being smart and made the phone call before the hurricane hit. 

So it's one small step for Nicole, one large step for Nicole-kind!

Woohoo! 

Chad: the Leap Day Santa

Guess what I did for my man on Leap Day. I said, "Hey, babe! It's Leap Day today! This is so cool!"

Guess what my man did for me on Leap Day. He said, "Hey, babe! I have a surprise for you! Here's your new 4S! Oh yeah, and I bought all the fixin's for us to make McDonald's McCafe Sugar Free Vanilla Iced Coffees right here at home! With the real vanilla pumps and all! Happy Leap Day!"

Oh, man. 

I was totally out shined!

He deserves the World's Best Husband award AGAIN, and I deserve the Hey You Should Have Thought About That smack-in-the-head FOR THE 100TH TIME IN A ROW!

Sheesh kapeesh, I love that man, and not because he showers me with pretty pretty white iPhone's, but because he is just awesome.

Awesome, I say!

Thanks, sugar-pie-honey-buns-shnookums-shnookums-wookums-cutie-patootie-rootie!

You are the bomb.

And I love you.