Praying for you

Sometimes I'm afraid to tell people I'm praying for them because it sounds so, I dunno, cheesy sometimes. I never want it to come across as this pity thing "Oh you sad, pathetic person. I am so much better than you and holier that I will pray for your lost soul." or "I am too busy to talk to you, but I'll pray for you." I hope it doesn't. When I tell you I'm praying for you, it's because I love you. The worst thing I've done is tell someone I'd pray for them and then absolutely forget to. This has happened to me a couple of times. Someone will say "Oh thanks so much for your prayers Marie! They worked!" uhhhh...good! I'm glad we serve a merciful God. He answers prayers that we forget to pray.

Just a 2 am thought...

P.S. Devin and I had a great anniversary! We went to the restaurant we always go to on special occasions: The Cheesecake Factory. I've been going there for special occasions for YEARS. Everytime something comes up we talk about doing something different, like the Power & Light District, or at least a different restaurant. We never do. Nothing else compares. After that we had a romantic time of shopping at Dick's Sporting Goods (and gawking at the price of those stupid thingies you stick in crocs) and other stores at town center. Then we went to Coldstone because I'm not that into cheesecake. Then we got a redbox (Smart People) and fell asleep on the couch together by 10:30. Our two year old had a more exciting evening at the Irish Festival with my parents. You know what though? It was a great anniversary! We had such a great time being together. I wouldn't trade it for anything. Ok that's not true. I'd trade it for a vacation on a beach or in wine country. Maybe in a couple of years....

5 Years!

Devin and I are celebrating our 5th anniversary today! Sometimes it seems like it's been a lot longer than that (we've been together for 9 years), but I mean that in a good way. I don't know what I ever did without him. He's amazing. He's fun (did you know that engineers can be fun?) smart, cute, sweet, hot, athletic, and all around adorable with Addison. He's never showered me with romance (because I would gag), but when he is romantic, it's so cute and authentic. I really love my husband and am so thankful for him.



This story is especially for Amanda because it is slightly graphic in nature and after 12 years of friendship I still enjoy making her squirm. Dev and I had already been married for almost 3 years when Addison was born. You think you've seen it all after 3 years, but birthing a child (he watched..err.."helped") changes all that. I had an epidural and several hours after Addison was born figured it had worn off enough for me to walk myself to the bathroom. Well only one leg had worn off. I realized this after going to the bathroom, when I was trying to get off the seat. Yep. I was pretty much falling off the toilet. My only hope was hubby dearest, but I reaalllly didn't want him to see me in this state. There's blood everywhere, they've got you in, like, "net underwear" and pads as thick as a diaper (which were currently around my ankles). I called him and he helped me. He sat me back up on the toilet and fixed my "under garments" and helped me back to the bed. I'm pretty uninhibited (duh) but that was a pretty humbling experience. I think we both realized we were in it for the long haul at that point.



Here are some pictures from our 5 year journey!

Stuff

Well, had the doctor's appointment today. I found out that you can feel your baby move much earlier the second time around. I've felt a few little flutters here and there, so I'm glad to know it's not all in my head. It's always nice to hear a heartbeat. It always makes me tear up a little. Can we say turning into your mother? Things are slightly stressful because all the midwives at the office were "let go" and I really like mine and didn't want to quit seeing her. She's not allowed to tell me straight out where she's headed, so I have to do some detective work. She could tell me which hospital she will be working out of (yes, a hospital and not a barn people!) and thankfully they aren't super far away. It isn't the one I initially wanted, but that's ok. I'm pretty flexible. I just need the hot tub. Hot tubs in hospital room= happy(er) Marie during labor. I get to have the sonogram next time, but don't get too excited, we're not finding out the sex this time around!

My mom's bday was last night. She got her first iPod. Pretty exciting stuff. My dad also bought her the most delicious wine I have ever had in my life last night. It is called Seven Daughters (white) and was truly like heaven in a glass. I could have a few measly sips, so was pretty jealous. I am expecting someone to bring me some of that to the hospital after baby is born. Breastmilk sschmeastmilk. Kidding...sort of...not really.

As many of you know I am an all out Dawson's Creek fan. It used to be on TBS every morning, but isn't anymore. Sad. Well I found it! 4:00 am on The "N" (whatever that is). Thanks to my new best friend, DVR, I can watch it whenever I want. YIPPEEEEEEEE!

Tuesday's Child is...Random...

I thought Michelle Obama did a great job with her speech last night. She looked pretty in her dress. Even though I wasn't moved to tears, and am not really sure why people in the audience were crying so hard (except her mom. She's allowed to cry. My mom cries at everything too), she was a great speaker. I also liked how Barack said she looked "cute" and how nice they looked as a family. I disagree with Obama on most of his issues, but you can't deny that they are a great looking family.

Sometimes it's not easy working at Babygap when you're on a budget. It's especially not easy when the new fall line comes in and every little thing is absolutely adorable (and would look so cute on my little red-headed daughter!). Here are some of the things I'd buy if I could. Maybe they'll go on sale....

Anyway at least Hy-vee was good to me the other day. Raw frozen shrimp was on sale for $3.99 a lb. and Santa Sweet grape tomatoes were only $1.50. This made me happy because I could make one of my all-time favorite meals: Pesto Shrimp Pasta! I hate leftovers most of the time, but thankfully my husband is a leftovers fiend. He'll eat even the sketchiest of leftovers that I wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole. He has leftovers for lunch and for a snack. Well, I'll fight him for these leftovers!

Here is the recipe (truthfully I never thought I'd be the kind of person to post recipes on my blog, but I really like some of these meals and I thought you might too. I love it when you guys post them, so please keep it up!)

1 lb. raw, frozen shrimp: (thawed & peeled. I learned this the hard way.)
3 cloves garlic, or less if you don't like things to be so garlicky. You weirdo! How can you not like garlic?!
some olive oil
1 or 2 cups of pesto sauce: I suppose you could make your own pesto with your own basil, grown in your own garden, but I only have mint in my garden (to make mojitos..mmmm, which I now cannot drink), so I bought 2 packets of Knorr Creamy Pesto mix found in the pasta aisle. You could get by with just one, but I think it's better with a little more sauce.
grape tomatoes, halved. I orginally bought a pint, but about half got eaten (by me). Maybe I'll grow my own next year.
Spaghetti: I used a little over half a box this time, but with all that sauce could have used a little more. It depends on what you like your pasta/shrimp ratio to be. I always buy Ronzoni's Smart Pasta. It has lots of fiber/protein, but doesn't taste so "whole-wheaty."

1. Cook the pasta in a nice big pot.
2. While that's cooking, saute the garlic in a little olive oil and add the shrimp. Cook until it's firm and pink/white.
3. Make the sauce (hooray for packets! I never said I was a gourmet chef! If you're looking for that go to Caela's blog)
4. Mix everything together in the big pot (throw in the tomatoes and a little salt and pepper)
5. Sprinkle a little parmesan cheese on top and enjoy this easy dish of deliciousness.

I'm seriously thinking about going and buying the stuff to make it again! The baby asked me to.....

Have a wonderful day!

Your wish is my command!

Andrea asked for a cute preggo picture:

I figured I'd wait, put on a little makeup, GET DRESSED, but thought everyone could use a little Sunday morning laugh. I did put a bra on for you (let's keep it clean, folks). What do YOU look like when you blog (in the morning...)?

Anyway, I love Sundays! Besides being the day of rest, which I take as not having to go to the gym or even get dressed till the afternoon, it's COUPON DAY! WOO-HOO! I've been doing this for two years and I still get excited about coupon day. What is coupon day you might ask? Well go get yourself a Sunday paper and find out!

Have a nice Sunday!

Lazy Saturday

Today was a great day. I didn't have to work, so we just relaxed all day. Went to the gym, watched movies, went to the park, ate a great meal, ahhhhh!

Our family favorite is BBQ pork sandwiches. I make them in the slowcooker and it is seriously delicious. If you live in KC pork shoulder is on sale at Hy-vee (my all-time favorite grocery store) for .99 a pound, so buy a big slab o' pork and have a sandwich. Some people just throw some barbeque sauce on top of the meat and cook it, but I came up with a little cooking sauce that is really, really good.

I bought a 4lb pork roast. For only $4, why not? Trim the fat off that thing.

Sauce (I don't really measure. I just throw stuff in. Take lots of taste tests and see what you need to add and how much of it):

Mix in a bowl:
3/4 cup (ish) of apple cider vinegar

a little sprinkle of brown sugar

1/2 cup ketchup

a few squirts of Worcestershire sauce (maybe more)

a few shakes of steak seasoning

ground red pepper (be careful with this! It gets spicy fast)

a few shakes of paprika

a little barbecue sauce (like 1/4 cup or so. You'll add more later)

Put the meat in the slowcooker. Stir the sauce ingredients up and pour over the top (don't forget to taste first. You might want to add something else).

Cook for 8 hours on low heat.

Shred pork with fork. Devin likes it to taste extra juicy, so we don't really drain much of the cooking juices. I toast the buns in the broiler so they stay together a little better. You might want to drain the juice if you don't want the sandwiches to be too soggy. Add as much barbecue sauce as you like. Serve over hamburger buns (we use the whole wheat big kind) w/ a little coleslaw

Don't forget the corn on the cob.... :)

Enjoy!

Addison is finally letting me put her hair up! This is a landmark occasion and deserves a picture!

Where'd all my hair go?

Oh that's right. I pulled it all out this morning. Ok that's not really true, but I wanted to. It's been a hard, hard morning for this preggo today, and I have not handled it well. One of my friends told me that she thought I had so much patience. She should have seen my lack of it this morning.

It was kind of my fault. I really wanted to watch the Project Runway episode that I missed last night, so I was distracted by that. Both girls really want ALL of my attention right now, so the fact that I wasn't giving it to them made it worse I think. First Addison spilled her whole bowl of Cheerios on the couch and then on the floor. Handled that one ok. It was an accident. Then a few minutes later I let both girls sit on my lap while I was watching the show. Celia kept trying to put her foot up on the table, dangerously close to my coffee. I told her not to do that. She kicked it up there really hard, spilling coffee EVERYWHERE in every crevice imaginable (even into the crate of Addison's tapes and dvds). I really didn't handle that one well. I pretty much blew my lid. Ugh..what a mess to clean up. I managed to get the coffee out of the chair (don't say I didn't warn you about spending too much on furniture!) and out of our carpet. I went into the kitchen to wipe up the videos and dvds and clean out the crate, and when I came out Celia had dumped the contents of her milk all over the floor. I guess she was trying to create some kind of Jackson Pollack masterpiece with sprayed milk out of a sippy cup, but I didn't appreciate her creative energies at that particular moment. Luckily it was on the tile floor, but she got a time out for that one. As much as I love Supernanny, I don't play the whole "sit the kid on a chair and chase them everytime they get up." I face the high chair to the wall, strap misbehaving toddler in tight and leave them there for one minute per year of age. I'm pretty sure I handled that one with some "WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO ME???!!!" and "ARRRRRRRRGGGHH!"

I probably overdramatized this whole situation. I am pregnant afterall, and those hormones can make you feel like a small problem is a huge catastrophe. Heh. Devin can tell you all about that! Anyway, I got that cleaned up and realized if I was going to make it through this day I needed to get in the word. It's truly amazing how much that helps. Sometimes God likes to remind me that if I think I can handle this stuff on my own I'm in for some fun surprises.

Like how Celia just figured out how to crack open Addison's "magic wand" and spill glitter all over the carpet.

Another great blog

I have to give a quick plug for a blog I've been enjoying a lot. It's called Stuff Christians Like and some of his posts are really funny and great. Today's was about communion.

Inherently Good Bananas

This is for Leigh Ayn: It was from "Yellow Day" when I worked at Wamego Middle School. This beauty was a one of a kind find from Grand 'Ol Trunk, Manhattan's best thrift store.

If anyone thinks humans are inherently good, they are welcome to come spend the day with Addison and Celia and me. I love these little rugrats to death, but if anyone was born a sinner it's a two year old. They don't have to be taught to say "NO! IT'S MINE!" or grab something from someone else because they just felt like having it. They also don't have to be taught to make their bodies go limp and throw themselves in a raging heap on the floor if they don't get a glass of milk THAT SECOND. They also don't have to be taught to go into a screaming fit over who gets to sit on my lap while I'm on the computer (nobody). No, all of that stuff comes pretty naturally. I'm only writing about this because Addison's only been awake for less than two hours and Celia's only been here for one hour and already all of that stuff has happened. Well, except for the milk thing, but I'm sure it will. It usually does.

I'll tell you what is inherently good though! Bananas! The year I got married I put on a bunch of weight (blame it on birth control, eating like my husband, stress, bla bla bla) but I managed to lose it all on the South Beach diet. I followed that diet again when I couldn't get those last Addison pounds off of me. Overall it's as very healthy way to lose weight. Pro whole grain, low sugar, etc. but it's really hard to stick to for long periods of time. The one fruit that is "limited" is bananas. I guess they're higher in sugar or something. I wasn't a huge fan anyway, so I just quit eating them altogether. Devin likes to eat sliced bananas on peanut butter toast (isn't that cute?) so I decided to try that today. DANG! It was good! I've been missing out! I'm pretty picky about bananas. If they have even a hint of brown on them I will not eat one (unless it is baked in something). I like mine mostly greenish. I think I'm going to have to eat bananas more often.

Now if you'll excuse me, I hear some weird scraping sound in the room that Addison and Celia are currently playing in....

NOTE:

I really do like toddlers. Please don't let this post scare you into never having children, for fear of the toddler years. Yes they can be little hellions, but they are also hysterically funny. They make you want to scream and laugh out loud mostly in equal parts, so it all evens out.

For those of you who don't have facebook....

This is Addison's little friend Elise. She's giving Addison some gymnastics training. My mom thinks Addison would be a great gymnast. Teeter Totters sure have come along way since the 80's. They used to be the scariest toy on the playground in my opinion. This is my Dad's coming home ceremony. It was at the baggage claim at KCI instead of Ft. Riley, and there were 4 of us, instead of hundreds. My mom did make sure we had pom poms and balloons. Oh, and he found out about baby #2!
Mom and Daughter

Ahhhhh

Let me preface this by saying I'm an idiot! It's 3:45 in the morning and I am doing this. Why? Because I like to finish things (even things that aren't as important as getting some sleep). First my dumb computer's sound quit working so I had to fix that. Then I just couldn't relax until my blog was more me. The pink and black was cute, but it just wasn't me. I'm a bright green. Plus I started cracking up at myself (you tend to do that more this late at night) at my silly quote from before. It said "I live in the quiet, joyjous expectation of good." It sounds so nice doesn't it? So serene, so calm. Too bad it's just not the truth. I wish it were, but I'm just so pessimistic! It's like my little self-protection thing. I want to be ready just in case God wants me to go through bad things to teach me to have faith. When really I'm not having faith at all; I'm just worrying too much about things that problably won't ever happen. I am getting much better. God and I have been working on my pessimist problem and I am hoping to someday turn into the eternal optimist. Being married to one helps! Anyway, I hope the yellow isn't too distracting, but it makes me happy!

Ok I'm going to bed. This is just ridiculous. Night night.

Hello Again

As many of you know I used to blog a lot. You can see my really old stuff at www.xanga.com/owatacutie Since no one uses xanga anymore I decided to make the switch to blogger. I really miss blogging! I am excited to start doing it again....

I want a cute blog too!

I want my blog to look cute like everyone else's. How is this possible? HELP PLEASE!