My semi-annual blog pledge drive

Twice a year PBS and NPR embark on a week long guilt trip begging for support in the form of monetary donations. Before the dawn of the podcast I would sulk at the prospects of having to endure an entire week of interruptions to all my favorite programs with the promise of a coffee mug in return for a sizable monthly donation. But here I go, asking for pledges. I have no mugs, t-shirts, greatest hits CDs or anything tangible to promise, but this little blog needs your help.

I used to enjoy writing my posts. It was fun and I would spend my week thinking "should I post that?" or "is this blog-worthy?" Then through a series of events and technological advancements my blog began to suffer. Now it has almost whimpered to a stop. I know blogs aren't the "it" thing anymore and it seems most everyone has found better uses for their time but I'm not ready to give up.

I've tried to decipher why I've lost my blog mojo and here's the rub-- I like writing for people other than myself. It's not cool to admit, and perhaps a little self-centered, but I like it when people like what I write. There. I said it. When I get feedback (comments) I get excited and feel validated. As much as we hate to admit it- we like it when we're liked, right?

I need my blog. I need to feel inspired to write again. It's all very selfish. I like going back and reading past entries. The blog provides a glimpse into the everyday constructs of my family that I wouldn't otherwise have recorded. Plus writing, for me, is cathartic. I may not be the best at it, but I enjoy it.

So on behalf of all bloggers out there here's my plea:

If you enjoy reading this or any blog, will you find it in your heart to pledge a little time to show your support? It takes just a few minutes each day, week, or month, whatever you're comfortable with, to click and read. And if you're feeling especially generous you can always leave a comment. The benefits include lifetime friendships and memories, as well as the possibility of the obligatory reciprocal comment/page view for your own noteworthy blog. You really can't go wrong.

Sweet? Caroline!

So, yeah, it's been almost 7 weeks since Caroline was born... It's been difficult to find a minute to pull out the laptop and compose a proper blog post. Life is busy and I suddenly feel like I have too many kids. It's weird to have four little people to wrangle. Let's just say it's been an adjustment for everyone.

Here's the thing, I thought she was going to be an easy baby since she was a scientific fluke. I know that doesn't make sense, but I figured if I had to have one more then the universe would go easy on me. She isn't horrible- she's just really wiggly and grumbley. I think it should start getting better soon- at least that's what my go-to sleep habits book says. The other thing that's hard is that she doesn't particularly like to be in her car seat. I've told her that if she wants to be part of this family she had better figure out how to be content in her seat. She said she would work on it.

Here are some pictures so no one (including my future self) feels ripped off...

Can you spot the professional photos?

She's about 2 weeks



Don't forget about Chickie. Clothing has become optional at our house for grouchy 2 year olds.



It's either princess or nothing at all.  She put the bandaid on her nose because she bumped it.



Six weeks

Four weeks

Five weeks

My best intentions always fail me

I've recently discovered something about myself. I have great intentions. I'm creative, thoughtful, fit, and organized. At least that's how I envision myself, but when push comes to shove another of my great qualities rears its more powerful and pervasive head-- laziness.

For example, I always have great ideas of how to celebrate my kids birthdays

but the reality is that it's a miracle if their gifts even get purchased on time, let alone wrapped.

Or how about all these creative elf on the shelf ideas all over Pinterest? My kids would love it if Winkie played checkers with army men, but really? Once you start that kind of time commitment you can't go back. So what if Winkie is boring and moves from the top of the fridge to the top of the t.v. and back again?

The most recent intention fail on my part took place a mere four weeks ago when I went in to have Caroline(Did you hear? We had a baby. More on that later). I've spent much of my adult life looking at glamorous photos of pregnant friends and even more glamorous photos of them holding their two minute old baby. As I showered prior to our check-in I thought about the effort it must take for these glamorous friends. They must pack make-up, the perfect post-delivery outfit for both mom and baby, a blow drier and curling iron. Do they make sure their hair is curled before they rush to the hospital, or do they do a quick primp before their perfect husbands snap the photo? I vowed to do my best to take a cute selfie prior to delivery and an even cuter post-partum mom and baby photo. It didn't happen. Again with the laziness-- it wasn't worth the effort.

But wait! Enter the wildlife camera Jared set up to catch our neighborhood bear getting into the trash. It's motion activated and captured several of me pregnant and one of us bringing Caroline home, all for posterity. Eat your hearts out glamorous friends!

You never know the crazy faces you make when you don't know there is a camera taking your picture.

Cool shoes to hide the beige old lady compression socks and super fat ankles

See the baby? I promise she's in there.

The bear is so photogenic.

Because this is it-- for real this time

I am at the point in this pregnancy where I just about can't stand it anymore. As a friend of mine said, "It's time for someone else to hold the baby for a while." I know I wrote a similar post around this time when I was pregnant with Chickie, but I am too lazy/tired to go back through the archives and read it.

Because I will NEVER be pregnant again (that's a promise!) I figure I should list everything here so I can share it with my girls when they think they want children.

My belly button hurts and I keep hitting it on things.
My pelvis is probably broken into several pieces.
I have a sore spot on my abdomen that I think is a torn muscle.
My elephant ankles are almost as big as my calves.
I am puffy and swollen everywhere- including my nose and lips, and believe me, the lips are not swollen in a "bee stung" Angelina Jolie way.
My hands go completely numb when I sleep on one side for too long. Completely, not just a little.
I have a horrible taste in my mouth that I can't seem to get rid of.
I waddle. A lot.
I am exhausted but can't ever get to sleep at night.

Those are just the aches, pains, and irritants I am feeling at this moment.

Nesting?

Today I scrubbed the top of the fridge.

A week or so ago I deep cleaned the laundry room, complete with mopping the concrete floor-- it now looks like a clean version of the dungeon it's always been.

The laundry room quickly led to cleaning out and organizing the downstairs bathroom that is in a permanent state of remodel.

The bathroom then led to rearranging the winter gear in the downstairs hall which naturally meant I had to reorganize some shelves in the garage.

It had to be done. Because you know, babies are really sensitive to the dust on the top of the fridge. Just like they are feng shui experts, which of course dictates the mandatory rearrangement of the downstairs playroom.

If only the baby would make me feel like cleaning the parts of the house we actually use...

Tales of a high school nothing

So the Heritage High School Class of '93 celebrated 20 years a few weeks ago.  For me, high school reunions are weird.  I mean, you know me and my Facebooking skills.  If I'm curious about anyone, I can usually draw my own conclusions based on what I can glean from Facebook.  And let's face it, my conclusions are probably way more interesting than reality, and I like it that way.  So I never really planned on attending the exorbitantly priced shindig at a downtown bar, but I did find myself thinking about what it would be like if I actually went.  My conclusion: it would have been an awkward evening of small talk.

The pictures of the evening were posted to Facebook a few days ago, and of course, I clicked through to see who actually paid the price and showed up.  The surprising thing? I barely recognized anyone.  I thought I knew everyone from high school, but guess what? I didn't know anyone.  I would see photos of people I could kind of recognize, but I couldn't remember their names or who they really were. Then the thought occurred to me-- How many of them would know who I was?

In high school everyone is pretty self-centered and I was no different.  I thought people cared about what I was wearing, how I looked, and who I hung out with more than they actually did. The reality is that I would probably be one of the people at the reunion that looked kind of familiar but no one would be able to put their finger on who I was. To my high school self it would have been devastating to realize I was a nobody.  To my adult self being a high school nobody is just fine-- it kept me out of trouble and actually means I had more of a life after high school than during.  I like it better that way.

Oh what do you do in the summertime?

It's kind of sad that I have neglected the blog for so long.  There are many reasons for this that I may or may not get into right now.  The biggest is that it is easiest to update from our PC, which no one uses anymore. 

Anyway, in order to get back into the swing of things I thought I would do a major catch-up with photos and a few captions from our summer. 

Chickie's smile

We love having Great Grammie and Bompa so close now.

Swimming with Meri

Mother's Day

Father's Day

Mini cow at the Renaissance Fair

Kitty was afraid of the cow touching her, but that didn't stop her from trying to pose

The Renaissance Fair was a waste of time and money!

Kitty came in 2nd and Sophie got 3rd

Chickie turned two but the photo refused to load, so the cake will have to suffice

John turned 10

Having fun in the morning

Chickie didn't want to miss out on the rock climbing action at Cheyenne Mtn Zoo

At the Will Rogers Memorial Sun tower



Our Garden of the Gods album cover