Wordless Wednesday: Parents-of-Two-to-Be Edition

For the Freezer

I really do enjoy cooking and baking.  Seriously.  And the few times a month when I actually make a good meal for my family, I feel really great.  The rest of the time I pretty much feel like a domestic failure, but I am good at falling back on my myriad excuses.  I still sleep at night when all I have to offer is cereal for dinner.  Anyway, a few months back I thought about how great it would be to make and freeze a bunch of meals for us to have on hand after getting home from the hospital.  Knowing my track record for failing to cook on a consistent basis, I wasn't at all surprised when my good intentions of a fully-stocked freezer never came to fruition.  I was surprised, however, when during a brief moment of inspiration this weekend, I made the decision to go ahead and make some soup.  Now that it's in the freezer, I sure hope we remember to take it out and eat it at some point.



 Some of my ingredients: I made a pot of chicken noodle and a pot of vegetable rice.

 So I don't have a freezer full of homemade meals (plenty of other junk in there, mind you), but I do have two batches of delicious soup.

It is a gray, rainy day here, which lends itself beautifully to making soup.  Though it's not cold outside, the sky and the delicious smell infiltrating my home make me feel like it could be.  The only thing missing today is regular-season Sunday football, but that won't be the case for long.

Sara's Day

We are down to the end of our time as parents of an only child.  Sara will be a big sister on September 3rd, just over a week from now.  We decided to make today all about Sara (you know, since the last 3.5+ years haven't been). 

Our first stop was at California Pizza Kitchen where Sara got her very own cheese pizza.  She ate every last bite except the crust (we still have no idea how we have a child who doesn't like the crust ... Steve and I both agree that it's the best part).

 Next we spent some time in the Disney Store.  I told my sister that Sara and Steve are a bad combination in that place ... she wants everything and he can't tell her no.  As we were walking into the store, I told Steve, "I used to wonder who actually shopped in this place ... and now we do."  Sara was thrilled with her new princess gear.

 After her shopping spree, Sara rode twice on the merry-go-round.

Such a happy face.

In a couple of weeks, our world will be very different.  As our focus shifts and we learn to balance giving our attention to two kids, I hope Sara realizes how special it is to be a big sister and how special she'll always be to us.

Book Talk

I can't make any promises one way or another, but I have a feeling that my reading/reviewing may be on hold for a little while after this month.  At the very least, it will slow down considerably.  I plan to be attending to my real life stories.

For book club, we read Gone Girl.  I'm sure you've seen this book on a list somewhere recently; it's gotten mixed reviews, but has been on many recommended reading lists this summer.  I really enjoyed this suspenseful - if at times far-fetched - story about Nick and Amy, a young couple whose marriage is on the rocks after a move from NYC to Missouri.  On the morning of their five-year anniversary, when Nick is up to no good of his own, Amy disappears.  At first glance, the manner in which their home is left indicates foul play, and it doesn't take long for Nick to become the prime suspect.  Nick finds himself desperately trying to prove to the cops, his sister, and his friends that he's innocent, even though the evidence is stacked up against him.  All the while, he's remembering and making note of Amy's ability to deceive and calculate.  Throughout much of the book, the reader isn't quite sure what to believe.  By the end, if you're like me, you'll find yourself singing Britney's "Toxic" over and over as you weed back through the ins-and-outs of the twisted plot.

Flat-Out Love was another Kindle daily deal that I selected mostly because I felt like the name indicated an easy read.  My instinct was correct.  When Julie arrives in Boston for college to find that she's been duped into paying for housing that doesn't exist, she ends up getting help from her mom's old college roommate.  She plans to settle in with the Watkins family for just a few days, but finds herself invited to stay for much longer.  Julie finds herself wrapped up in the family's idiosyncrasies, which point to truths she longs to uncover.  As Julie gets to know the members of the Watkins family, her inquisitiveness brings to the surface a secret that reveals great heartache at the center of the family's dysfunction.  With a good balance between suspense and love, this is a quick read that I think you'll enjoy. 

A few months ago, I saw a recommendation for Where the Dog Star Never Glows in a magazine.  Although not much information about the content of the book was offered in the column, I was intrigued because it is written in short stories, and I hadn't read anything written in this format in quite a while.  I really enjoyed this collection of stories, many of which were told in first person and read like journals.  The characters were deep and well developed, and even just a taste of each of their stories was enough to satisfy.  Just when I thought I'd read my favorite story, I found myself loving the next even more.  This book brought me back to my days as an English major sitting in creative writing classes.  It's one that can be read in segments over time, or - because it is so good and also very short - over the course of just a day or two.

"We shouldn't teach great books; we should teach a love of reading."

B.F. Skinner

A Princess Lives Here

Unlike those couples who picked out their future kids' names early in the dating game, Steve and I still haven't gotten around to naming the baby we plan to meet in just a couple of weeks.  Time is running out, and we're receiving daily inquiries as to whether we've made a decision.  I'm beginning to think I might need to be a little old fashioned and see this baby girl's face before I know her name.  We've discussed so many names that I'm not really even sure what I like anymore, and I'm feeling pretty indifferent about any new name that comes into the mix at this point.

For a while we considered one name, but when we discovered that it means weary, we ruled it out.  I want to select a beautiful and timeless name that also has a flattering meaning.  Weary just wasn't going to make the cut.

We had Sara's name picked out nearly three months before she arrived.  While we talked about many names, we kept coming back to Sara, which remained consistently on the top of Steve's list.  When I found out we were having a girl who would arrive during the Christmas season, I knew that I wanted Noel as the middle name.  The two fit perfectly together.

Sara means princess.  It felt so fitting at the time; even without knowing who our girl would be or what she would like, she would certainly always be our princess.  It just so happens that, without any help from us, somewhere along the way she developed a deep love and admiration for princesses (you'll remember that this came on the heels of a serious obsession with Thomas).  They are on her bedspread and curtain and lamps and shirts and jammies and ... well, she certainly tends to think of herself as one.

This is not to say that we become the meaning of the name we're given by our parents (after all, we have no say in the selection process); personally, I just like the idea of a solid meaning behind the label.  The names we choose for our children have to last long after a trend has passed.  As someone who has spent the summer looking at a lot of resumes, I find myself always defaulting to the "how would this name look on the resume of a serious, professional adult?" question when a potential name is presented.  The pressure is almost more than I can handle, and it's certainly not getting me any closer to making a decision.

Instead of writing about not having a name, my time would probably be better spent looking for one.  A princess already lives here ... any suggestions on who should join her?

More Cousin Love

Sara and Lyndsey hadn't seen each other in months, but you wouldn't ever have known it.  They were inseparable all weekend.  Within ten minutes of being together at our house, they looked like this:

 Here they are ready for the wedding rehearsal.  Adorable.

Besides being attached at the hip, they were immediately in cahoots (they may or may not have ganged up on little Lexey by shutting her in a closet and then coming to tell us, "Oh, no, Lexey is in the closet!"), and they miss each other already. 

Love this Cousin Love!

Flower Girls

Sara and Lyndsey were first-time Flower Girls last night in Uncle Mark and Brooke's wedding.  Between my camera and Jody's, I have way too many cute pictures from which to choose ... so this may be a little photo overload, but I promise I weeded out a ton!

Sara probably wouldn't have been patient enough to let me even comb her hair, but she sat and let Jody curl and style it.  Reminds me of my little sister many, many years ago: she would scream bloody murder when my mom brushed her hair, but she would sit quietly while our Aunt Linda pulled and tugged it into a French braid.

The girls were so excited to finally get to wear their "flower princess" dresses.  They had been waiting for so long for the big day to arrive.

Sara & her Best Man

 Unfortunately, this family shot will very shortly be outdated, but I plan to enjoy it while it lasts ... everyone is looking at the camera and smiling!

Hanging out waiting for the festivities to begin ... girl talk.

They loved this big mirror in one of the dressing areas, especially once their crowns arrived.

 Getting a last minute pep talk from the Mother of the Bride

 For a brief moment when they entered the chapel, I was nervous that all of the cameras would scare them back through the doors, but they did exactly what they were supposed to do and totally stole the show.

 He probably won't admit it, but I'm pretty sure watching Sara walk down the aisle made Steve shed a tear or two.

 The Bride and Groom

 Once we were all seated in the reception hall and the wedding party was introduced by the DJ, Mark and Brooke immediately broke into their first dance.  During their dance, Sara stood up on her chair and yelled across the room to Steve, who was standing by the dance floor, "Hi, Daddy!  Hi, Daddy!  Do you like my dress, Daddy?  Don't I look pretty, Daddy?"  Did you really think she was going to be outdone by the first wedding dance?  Think again.

 After the initial dances, we had dinner and cake.  And then the cousins took to the dance floor.  Not long after, the rest of the crowd joined and the dance floor was packed.  But we certainly know who the real party-starters in the house were. 

What a fun night celebrating Mark and Brooke.  And now that Sara is such a pro on the Flower Girl scene (one wedding guest even suggested that we contract out Sara and Lyndsey's FG services), I know she can't wait to do it again!

Baby's Got a Birth Day

Four weeks from today, on September 3rd, we'll get to welcome our new baby to the world. 

 

We can't wait to meet Sara's little sister!