More about my laundry than you care to know

Proverbs 31:17 "She sets about her work vigorously, her arms are strong for the tasks."

5.5 years ago when the hubs proposed marriage, as part of his proposal he read the entire part of Proverbs 31 that talks about a wife of noble character. Where the bible said "she" he read my name. I knew in that moment I would spend the rest of our lives together trying to live up to the noble wife this verse depicted. It's been an incredible reference point for the various stages of adjusting to being a wife and ultimately a mom of two girls. Many a prayers have been that I could both model this noble wife to my cupcake AND that I would instill the same values in her raising her to be a suitable Godly helpmate for the man the Lord has intended for her. It's a daunting task really. Many of the qualities in the last chapter of Proverbs are long forgotten if not completely rejected by my generation of mothers. Still I believe wholeheartedly that this particular chapter isn't meant to be rejected, feel overwhelming, or even be regarded as out dated. I feel like it is rich with guidance and working within this wisdom actually brings peace and order to family. It's counter intuitive because I could easily wonder how I would keep up with friends, have "me" time, pin my latest finds to pinterest, etc. Yet choosing to do these things with joy has done nothing but blessed me time and again.

I'll confess...early in our marriage laundry was a "thing" for me. I have a certain way I wanted it done. I wanted each item then perfectly folded (thank you Gap Inc. for years of folding clothes to make me a bit compulsive about it) and I wanted all the clothes neatly put away and organized. While at anytime you could open a drawer and snap a picture for Real Simple magazine, getting to that point was not pretty. I married a sweet laid back man who did laundry when he was out of under ware. He also left his drawers open because opening and closing drawers every day was a complete waste of time...if they were open he could always grab what he needed. Hanging things up and putting them in the back of the "line" was his method of organization that way each day he'd grab the front shirt and go. Weather, spousal coordination, or even activity appropriateness were not considerations. Clothing is a function of walking out the door for him...period. We've come a LONG way in 5.5 years. Somewhere along the way he kindly compromised to closing drawers. While he still has a "line" of clothing I can either move something to the front if I so desire OR he'll even do the occasional think twice and pick something that isn't next!

More importantly, somewhere along the road of a few frustrations, the reality that each time I did laundry more would be behind it, and knowing that ultimately laundry was going to be a huge part of the rest of my life I was reminded of good old Proverbs 31. It took lots of prayers begging the Lord to work a miracle in my heart so that laundry could be a joyful thing. However, before cupcake even arrived on the scene God did meet me where I was and truly I begin to enjoy doing laundry. In fact, I'd even say there is JOY in my doing laundry. Surely this isn't a surprise to anyone since I also cloth diaper only adding to the laundry in this house.

Why am I writing this super long blog about laundry? Because the Lord is GOOD! Not only did He change my heart to what my seem like a menial task to you, He gifted me in the process. Cupcake has always "helped" with laundry. It hasn't been an option. I just give her a part of the process to do and she does it. But, recently when I brought down her laundry she wanted to do the whole process....by herself. She's 2. So of course I still had to help a little. But, while we were loading it into the washer...

I asked her: "Do you like doing laundry?"
Her reply: "Yes!"
Me: "Why do you like it?"
Her: "Because you do, Mommy"

The world is going to tell her there is no value in staying home, laundry cooking & cleaning is a drag, and that "me" time is the priority for being a good Wife/Mom. But I realized in that moment if I can do those very things with joy then perhaps when the world tells her about how terribly outdated and boring the Proverbs 31 women is maybe (Lord help me!) she'll be able to come back and say "That's funny. My Mom was that woman and it seemed fun."

I've still got lots of learning and praying to do before then but in the meantime, laundry around here is FUN...and we do really ENJOY it together.

See my little laundress? She's the most charming Proverbs 31 trainee I know.

Crack Mom in numbers

I generally like to keep things light and fun around here. BUT the Crack Team also likes to keep things real. We are not a perfect family with 2.5 kids and a white picket fence. So in line with keeping it real and for my own memory one day when I'm not in the middle of this....here is my life in numbers these days:

2: The minimum number of Doctor offices I personally visit each week for pregnancy checks
3: Number of times a day I have to check my blood pressure with pregnancy induced hypertension
4: Number of times a day I have to prick myself because of recently diagnosed Gestational diabetes
5: Weeks left until Bambina 2 is induced
7: The most number of pounds the Dr. anticipates Bambina 2 will be
8: The total number of pounds I have gained according to my 32 week check up. If jealousy ensues, see again what 3 and 4 represent before getting too upset.
24: Number of hours in my urine test that I'm about 12 hours into currently
28: Number of Doctor offices one of us will be in within the last 6 weeks of pregnancy (for Dad and Cupcake they are preventative health or routine checks ie: dentist)
62: Lowest blood sugar read
70: Number of days to date that it has been over 100 degrees while I've been pregnant
115: Highest blood sugar read to date (with gestational diabetes I am allowed up to 140)
153: Highest Systolic number to date (top blood pressure number)
89: Highest Diastolic number to date (lower blood pressure number)
114: Lowest Systolic number to date
66: Lowest Diastolic number to date

Our bedside table looks like a medical stand with needles, machines, bio-hazard waste, and so forth. My cupcake thinks every time I leave her I'm going to a Doctor...sadly she's been right most of those times. The hubs has to help me sort through all the numbers and make sure I'm putting the right ones in the right places and not getting to discouraged along the way. The days are painstakingly hot, long, and medical. Yet somehow we're still plugging along, counting down the days, and nesting. Did I mention nesting? I've got some more fun nesting projects to post soon enough.

On the upside, I got to have a 31 week ultrasound with the Internal Fetal Medicine Specialist (diabetes Dr.). They double checked everything to make sure our bambina wasn't huge which is one of the diabetes risk factors. Surprisingly she wasn't huge and in fact wasn't even average. She was tiny...like Cupcake. Not even to 30% for size of a 31 week baby our little bambina was extremely active for the technician and put on quite the show.

I got this precious 4D:
I realize that some of you are reading this for the first time and can't believe it. I also realize that you, like everyone else that we've mentioned this too, you may be inclined to pick up the phone and call to check on us. Please be assured that we are ok! While it sounds like a lot what is worse is when I get several phone calls each day of people wanting to talk about what is already consuming much of my day and emotional energy. In the time that isn't juggling the various tests and checks we are spending time with our cupcake and trying NOT to think about it. So as kindly as I can say this, consider this your update and please don't put in a call to check on me. I'll feel more loved if you respect that, I promise. And, I'll have more fun, light-hearted blogs coming soon. A few hundred needles can't take all the fun out of the Crack Team.

Nesting crafty-ness

I mentioned in my last post that nesting is in full swing around here. Some days that looks like being on my hands and knees scrubbing the corners of things or behind the big furniture. Other days it looks like having our porch extended. Most weeks I spend at least one day in the kitchen baking or cooking up a storm. We have two freezers if I can close them, they aren't full enough :). Some days it looks like me standing back and pointing while the hubs hangs something. And then...there are the crafty days! Oh I LOVE the crafty days. Here are two of my recent projects:

Almost a month ago my friend Kelli came over for a Sewing Saturday. She is due the same day as me and goes to the same OB practice. She has a little boy who is getting a brother. So much in common, right? Oh, she loves to sew too. Here are's a picture of our sewing fun. You'll notice I have a cupcake who can manage to find room on my shrinking lap if it means she can "help."


Kelli encouraged me to do a bigger project and it was precisely the jump start I needed to take on the game room curtains I've been meaning to do "one day." Here's a sneak peak at how they look in the game room:
Want a closer look? What is more play/fun for girls than strawberries, cupcakes, butterflies, and tea parties? I am so excited for the rest of the room to come together!


The next crafty project was converting our cloth diapers to snaps! We still LOVE our bumGenius diapers and they are in great shape. However, I was starting to see the velcro curl and look like it might not survive another 2 years of wear and washing. I mentioned this to my friend Liz who offered to let me borrow her snap press. I planned to take her up on it....you got it...."one day." In this case Liz and her family defined the "one day" being last weekend because they are moving to Portland in 4 days. We're so sad to see them go (and the snap press too). If it weren't going to be 110 degrees here tomorrow I'd even hold out hope they come back. But I have feeling they will LOVE their new home. We're praying for their transition as we personally can't imagine taking 6 kids, two dogs, and two cats across the country. They'll manage though...they are amazing people!

We borrowed the snap press last weekend and the hubs had to help because you need some muscle behind the press. I placed the buttons, he snapped them in place. Two really late nights of movie watching and pressing later we have newly snapped diapers. Can I say I AM IN LOVE!!!!??? I didn't think it was possible to like my cloth diapers more, but I do. I am also in love with the snap press. If only it wasn't a $200 investment to have my own!!! Check out our collection:


Here's cupcake's favorite. She calls it the rainbow one:

This week I'm loving these:


Which one is your favorite?

The hubs favorite part? Probably that the remainder of his pre-baby list is less crafty and more tool oriented :)

Dear Nesting: I love that you make "one day" become today. I'll miss you in 5 weeks when life goes back to putting things on the "one day" list. In the meantime, I've got 5 weeks and lots of ideas!

Why local?

Nesting is in full swing around here and I have to say it's one of my favorite things about pregnancy! It always feels good to get things cleaned out and tackle the "some day" list TODAY.

Anyway, part of that cleaning out is purging old magazines. I flip through to be sure I'm not tossing a recipe I really wanted or anything like that and then into the recycle bag it goes. In doing so I found a page from my Summer 2010 Edible Austin magazine that was soooo simply stated and yet has been the inspiration we've turned to as we continue to make more and more green decisions in regards to our eating habits. If you need some inspiration to push to the next level...or even just get started....here's a push:

Why eat local?
Fresher: Conventional produce in the U.S. travels over 1,500 miles from farm to fridge.

Healthier: Many fruits and vegetables grown without pesticides and herbicides contain twice the amount of cancer-fighting antioxidants than their sprayed peers.

Greener: Producing one ton of fertilizer requires as much as 33,000 cubic feet of natural gas. The global food chain accounts for roughly 1/3 of global warming.

Supports our local economy: With local, direct sales, farmers keep 100% of food sales. With conventional sales, ONLY 9 CENTS of every food dollar goes to the farmer, with the rest funneled to suppliers, processors, middlemen, and marketers.

Also, each dollar spent on local food can generate $1.50 to $3 for the community. If we bought 15% of our food locally, we'd ring up 2/3 the total agriculture subsidies farmers receive.

Now I can purge that page and if one of you...even one of you visits a farmers market this week (who normally doesn't) then I can count it a double win! Make me a winner?!

Sparklers

Remember Cupcake's new found fun of pedicures? You can see her work here.

Today we had another first....a little Mother/Daughter spa date! I know, I know....she's only 2 and 1/2. But we are going on weeks of insane hotness, being stuck indoors, and someone (ahem) not being able to cut her own toe nails. So for a special treat we headed to the nail place!

Cupcake was so grown up picking, with confidence, her own color: purple glitter. Seriously...all sparkle...not really so much color. Then she looked up at me and said "I pick yours too, Mommy?" Oh the moment of truth! This will be my nail color for several weeks. I can't do much with my toes these days so color is slightly more crucial than normal. Let's not forget the previously picked color was purple glitter. It came from a row of gold glitter, silver glitter, make-me-barf-longhorn-orange-color glitter, green glitter, and blue glitter. I was sooooo tempted to explain to her why I'd be picking my own color. BUT I do love my little cupcake. She without a doubt is thoughtful and loving. If she really picked the make-me-barf-longhorn-orange glitter polish for my toes it would be because she thought it was pretty and would be pretty on me. How can I say no? So I let her pick my color too....

We got in our huge chairs! I was surprised she wanted to sit alone. Admittedly I was a little sad too. But we're going for embracing the big girl role these days so....her own chair it was. They brought her a cookie on a napkin. She dropped that cookie. They got another one. She dropped that one off the napkin too right as they fired up my spa bath. The combination of loud noise and frustration did her in....and she wanted to come sit with me. YAY!!! Everyone wins! They brought her a 3rd cookie and I took the napkin so she could hold one thing. We cuddled. We commented on the t.v. show. We played with the massage chair which cupcake said "WHOA...chair is eating us" at first. And, most importantly, we got pretty toes. One of us also got pretty fingers.

When it was all said and done, Daddy was not forgotten. As soon as we got in the car Cupcake was pleading for us to swing by and "Show Dada our sparklers!" I agreed and it was beautiful to see our manly Dad be interrupted from some serious computer coding to marvel at the wonder that is a fresh pedicure!

It was such a fun first for us both! I must say I LOVE girly times with my favorite girl. Now I'm off to play footsie with my man with the confidence that there are no razor sharp talons to kill the moment :).

Here's some pictures of our finished looks:

Look at me!!!
Did I mention she picked RED for me? Love it!


These hands are oh-so-precious!!! She holds her hands just so with the purple sparkles :)

Grandparent visit

A few weeks ago we had our last Grandparent visit before we're a family of four! Grandpa and Grandma braved the insane central Texas heat all the way from New Hampshire for a weekend with Cupcake. They survived and even braved the farmers market with us. We also did a pool trip which can only help in miserable heat conditions, right?

What is so fun about this particular trip is the last time Grandma and Grandpa were in Austin, they were at our old house helping us pack boxes and boxes. I still think I owe the majority of my kitchen packing credit to Grandma. She just boxed and boxed and nothing came out broken on this side. Since our move was over a year ago we were THRILLED to welcome them back to see how things have unfolded in the new house.

Cupcake LOVED that Grandpa treated us to a bag of Kettle Corn at the Farmers Market. There are still days in the week when she'll wake up from nap and ask specifically for Grandpa Popcorn. There is no offering the regular old popcorn...she knows the difference. Who wouldn't? That stuff is addictingly good! Grandpa and Grandma also braved the heat to walk....yep walk...to the yogurt shop that is pretty close to our house. It was a yummy cool treat and Cupcake really enjoys making her own (that she splits with Daddy) sundae. Please excuse the horrible picture quality at the yogurt shop...someone wasn't so good at carrying the camera around (someone does have a baby in her belly to carry around, is that a valid excuse?):


It was a great weekend with lots of food, catching up, and letting Cupcake show Grandma and Grandpa her new house. Thank you so much for making the trip in the middle of our miserably hot summer! Love you guys.

Belly pictures

Some of you have been asking for belly pictures.
Here's 29 weeks:My sweet cupcake has been talking about the baby in her belly for weeks but this particular afternoon she decided to take matters into her own hands to make sure she is keeping up with Mommy. She LOVED taking these belly pictures....as do most first time Moms.

Then she tried to jump. After a few tries to "hold everything in" she declared it was too hard and the baby has since returned to her crib.

Guess it only takes a 2 year old to realize that excessive jumping at 29 weeks just isn't worth it!

107

That is our temperature today. We're still months without rain. There are no words for how this makes a pregnant woman feel.

Sooooo, we're doing lots of things inside. Our latest fun find:

BEADS!!!!
BEADS!!!!
BEADS!!!!

Cupcake is a girl after her Mommy's heart. Check out the concentration face as we make a necklace:

In fact, we're all business. There is no time for looking at Mom and smiling when bead making is in process:


Short and sweet! Now back to laying on my tile kitchen floor and praying for a blizzard or rain storm.

When cousins get together....

their Gigi will probably text you in the morning and remind you to get a picture.

When you try to get a picture you may get something like this:


So you'll gather the adults and start singing and carrying on to "get their attention". Then you may get something like this:


With all that singing, it's only a matter of time before the eldest will join and and do what you are doing. Yep...that's what the adults behind the lens look like:


When you tell the eldest (and others) what you really want is a smile, you may get this:


You probably won't get them all looking at the camera, smiling, and taking that frame worthy picture for the fireplace mantel.

Then again, a Gigi somewhere is probably printing these off nonetheless.