Oh, you're too kind.

The lovely Mrs. Katie Devey (I'm writing her full name like that because she's a newlywed and I'm pretty sure it will make her happy, because my new full name made me happy when I was a newlywed, and she and I are practically the same person, and this was a really long parenthesis statement) nominated me for a blog award or something - the Versatile Blogger Award.

Really? Me? Oh, thank you, thank you!

Ok, but really, I don't think this is an award where I'm going to get a trophy or a certificate or special blog button or anything...I'm pretty sure it's more like a "tell 7 random things about yourself and then nominate 7 people so they can tell 7 random things about themselves" kind of award.

But you know, cool.

So here's 7 random things about moi. I'm sure some of you know about some of these things, but I'm sure all of you don't know all of these things, so here we go!

1. My favorite TV shows of all time are (in no particular order): Gilmore Girls, 24, Boy Meets World, and Psych. Honorable mentions: Lost, So You Think You Can Dance, Monk.

2. I'm pretty sure my request for my last meal would be either (a) a bacon cheeseburger, french fries, and a Dr. Pepper, or (b) macaroni and cheese and a Dr. Pepper. I'd probably take 2 days to decide, and who knows if I'll have that long, so you'd better bring me the Dr. Pepper right away, just to be safe.

3. If you'd asked me this morning, I would have said my favorite color is pink. That's what it's been for several years. But just today, I realized it's not pink - it's purple. I'm so glad I could share this special day with y'all.

4. I don't have pierced ears. I wanted to get them pierced SO BADLY in my tweenage years, but my mom always told me to just wait and see if I still wanted it in x amount of time. I grew out of the desire, and now I'm so glad I don't have em. I'm 1000% sure I would never wear earrings.

5. I was on my high school's Academic Decathlon team. We won state and went to the national competition in Chicago. I got a gold medal in the essay competition and a bronze medal in the speech competition, and our team got second place overall. I really wasn't a huge asset to the team...but I was on it! Awesome!

6. I sing. Not like professionally or anything, but I really like to sing and am decent at it. You probably know this already if you've known me for a while, since I sang a lot in high school, but if you've just met me in recent years, you might not have known. Now you do.

7. I'm a nail-biter. It was a pretty serious problem when I was younger, and now it's kind of on and off. And even when it's on, it's usually only 1 or 2 nails, most often my middle finger and thumb on my left hand. Random, I know, but true. And this is a random list, after all.

Woo hoo! Wasn't that fun?! So now, unless I'm mistaken, I'm supposed to choose 7 people to nominate for this award. I hereby choose:

- Lacey, of Wulf Pack -
- Jenna, of Jenna Allen -
- Laura, of The Momart -
- Lisa, of The Griers -
- Lisa, of The Allens -
- Melanie, of Robbie, Mel, and Gracie Lou -
- Katie, of The Katie-Did -

Can't wait to learn more about you, friends!

One month

So Charly is technically 7 weeks old...but I haven't posted this because I was going to use my mom's computer to edit this picture of her and I just haven't found a good time to do it! So I'm just going to post the original before the girl is 2 months old.

Anybody?

Does anyone else ever look at their offspring and become completely overwhelmed by the sheer adorableness of said offspring?

Or is it just me?

I swear, my heart bursts at least 12 times a day.

First trip to the grocery store

I went grocery shopping with both of the girls on Saturday.

Before you think too hard about what we've been eating for the past 6 weeks, you should know that I have been to the grocery store since Charlotte was born, but it's either been with only one of the girls or with another adult along for the ride. This trip was the first time I took both of them, by myself.

This is a big deal.

Right after Maddy was born, I was terrified of leaving the house. Seriously, I felt incapable of leaving. I didn't know how to handle her car seat with the shopping cart. I was terrified of her crying in public. What if she had a major blowout, or decided she wanted to eat 2 hours ahead of schedule? I honestly felt like I had forgotten how to go grocery shopping. It was awful.

I don't really remember getting a specific kick in the pants (other than the realization that I would have to leave the house sometime), but I do remember that it was very much a just-grit-your-teeth-and-do-it kind of thing. It had to happen. I had to do it. So I did it. Maddy and I became quick shopping buddies, and I was proud of myself for doing something I had been totally afraid of. Go, me!

And then Charly came.

I can't tell you guys how good I felt during our first few days home. Seriously. I felt much more in control than I did right after bringing Maddy home. She was a good baby. I'd done this before, and I felt like I could handle it (especially since I was done with school). I was in good spirits, even while running on little sleep and constantly sore from nursing issues. In general, I was recovering beautifully. Life was good.

And so it was, that when my mom mentioned that she was taking my little sister out shopping for school clothes, I asked if I could tag along. After all, I needed to get out of the house, and even though I was a bit nervous about doing so (DOUBLE STROLLER?!), I had learned from last time that I just needed to grit my teeth and do it. Right?

Well, my friends, I can tell you that from the second I walked through the doors at the mall, I knew I'd made a mistake. There were so many people. So much noise. And I swear, Charly shrunk to about half of her (already very small) size. She was so new! What the heck was I thinking, taking this brand new baby out shopping?!

I forced myself to stay for maybe an hour. I weaved the stroller through the crowds and half-heartedly browsed through the racks, feeling absolutely suffocated by even the music in the stores. Something was going to happen. Someone was going to steal my baby. Or touch my baby. Or steal my toddler. The pumped milk I had brought for Charly was going to spill and soak everything in the diaper bag. And then Charly would get hungry. And she would start screaming. And Maddy would get lost. And did I still have my wallet? And the MUSIC WOULD JUST KEEP POUNDING IN MY EARS - FOR GOODNESS' SAKE TURN OFF THE DANG MUSIC!

Yeah, pretty sure that was an anxiety attack right there.

I burst into tears the moment the car door shut. I spent the drive home feeling sorry for myself, convinced that I would never be able to leave the house again because I just couldn't handle it. Apparently I wasn't good/strong/smart/capable enough to go anywhere with two children. I felt totally defeated.

Sure, I bounced back - told myself that I just needed a little more time. So, I gave myself a little more time, and I tried again. And I ended up feeling defeated again. I tried again. Defeat. I kept trying, and I kept getting shot down. It wasn't good for my mood, I can tell you that. Especially when mixed with all those postpartum hormones that are so amazing.

You're probably expecting me to now share with you the "breakthrough" moment - that one day when I took the girls with me to run errands and realized that I could do this, that I am a perfectly capable mother of two. Sorry to disappoint you, but I don't have that story yet. Believe me, I wish I did.

What I do have is the story of my first trip to the grocery store with my two girls, a full 6 weeks into being a mother of two. It's the story of an essential trip to Walmart with no way around going by myself and taking both of them. Our list was all of 10 items long, which was good because with the baby in her carrier in the basket, there wasn't room for much else. I brought along a sandwich baggie full of marshmallows to bribe Maddy to sit in the shopping cart seat. We visited the fish tanks and Maddy counted them while I tried to not look at the nasty things. I didn't think about what else I might need; I just stuck to my list (I'm usually pretty bad at doing that). When the line at the deli counter was long, I just bought the packaged sliced cheese they had in the cooler, even though it was a little more expensive. I let Maddy help me swipe my debit card and let her push the green button after I entered my PIN. I forgot to price match my milk.

And I sang along to the radio on the way home. I see that as progress.

It's that time of year

Yes, my friends. It is upon us once again - college football season.

While many wives bemoan this season and what it means for their TVs/Saturday nights/marriages, I am not among them. And while Dallin is pretty into football now, he wouldn't have said as much before we were married. Just sayin.

Anyways, I've been going to ASU football games for...a long time. Pretty much my whole life. And I love it. Seriously, the energy at a good game is just unbeatable.

While our season opener last week against UC Davis was great and all (a win is a win!), this week's game against Missouri was possibly one of the best home games I've ever been to. A huge, loud crowd, all decked out in black to celebrate the emergence of the Devils' new black uniforms. An important game against a ranked team. A decent chance at success without anything being guaranteed.

I tell you, it was intense. We made some stupid mistakes, got lucky a few times, and ended up in overtime. I hate overtime. It's too much for my little heart to handle. And I was sure we were done for. But oh my heck, we pulled it off. And I'm so, so glad. We just might have a good year this year.

And Maddy is quite the little Devils fan, too! She wasn't sure about the loudness of this black out game, but eventually got used to it and joined in with yells of "C'mon!" and "Go!" She also tried to make the little pitchfork sign with her hand (she failed miserably, but it was awesome to watch), and danced to the marching band music. It was a ton of fun.

Compare the crowds (game 1 to game 2):



Maddy enjoying the game:

Maddy and Mama at the black out (not shown: our black painted toenails)



Go Devils!




Well, here's to a new season! May it be better than the last...and the one before that.

Do yourself a favor

If you are a fan of happiness, and one of your definitions of happiness is the same as one of my definitions of happiness (aka chocolate+carmel+ice cream), then this is your lucky day. Behold:

Dove Chocolate Dulce de Leche ice cream

Sorry for the crappy picture, but I couldn't take my own decent picture of my carton of this stuff because it's long gone - scraped clean and in the trash.

You.guys. This stuff is BOMB. Listen to the description: "Rich, creamy chocolate ice cream paired with dulce de leche gelato and sensational salty caramel truffles. Ah, sweet, salty surrender."

Indeed. Let us point out the highlights: Chocolate. Ice cream. Dulce de leche. Gelato. Salty caramel. Truffles. And this description omits the fact that the whole thing is nestled beneath a layer of delectable chocolate ganache (as are all Dove ice creams).

If I have to tell you that it's incredible, you obviously can't read. Which, hello, makes no sense. So I obviously don't have to tell you that it's incredible.

The salty caramel truffles are the best part. Seriously. Amazetastic.

So, I guess the whole point of this post is to tell you that if you like chocolate, and caramel truffles, and dulce de leche, and ice cream, and smiling, this is the ice cream for you.

Thank you, that is all.

Wait, no it's not! Also, Phish Food is still completely wonderful. As is Dreyer's mint chocolate chip. Just wanted to make sure you knew that I'm not totally abandoning other ice creams. For some reason, that seemed really important just now.

Ok, that's all.

Deep questions

The following questions have initiated actual discussions in the Harris household lately:

How did Mother Gothel learn the song to sing to the magic flower?

Would Rapunzel have lived forever if Eugene hadn't cut her hair?

And will her hair ever grow again?

AND are the rest of her tears magic, or was that just a one time thing?

Do mermaids have gills..or lungs? Or...BOTH?!



Don't all the people that were on the wedding boat now know about the existence of mer-people?

Can you guess what movies Maddy has been loving lately? (That isn't one of the questions that we've talked about...it's a question I'm asking you.)

She's also been into "Lady and the Tramp," but apparently that one is normal enough that the only question we've had about that one is what year it happens in. We decided early 1900s, which Wikipedia confirms. 1909.

Maybe we need to watch the news more.

Also, feel free to weigh in on any of the above questions. Any and all opinions are welcome.

35 Things: August Update

The month of August was largely devoted to making an attempt to accustomize myself to having two children. More on that later. That is, however, my excuse for only blogging twice during the whole month, as well as for once again having a fairly lame report on my 35 things. But hey, here's a quick update for ya.

7. Create a meal plan - at least once a week every month: I did this. We didn't follow the plan...but I made the plan and shopped for it. It's amazing though, how things can "come up" that ruin your dinner plans. Bother.

12. Bake a new cookie every month: This month's goodness - S'mores cookies. Recipe found here. I'd been seeing a lot of s'mores type things around, and it totally made me crave them. So I found this recipe, which is basically a yummy chocolate chip and marshmallow cookie baked on top of a graham cracker. And holy crap (pardon my French) they were yummy. But make sure you eat them all on the same day; the graham cracker gets soggy overnight.

35. Complete an act of service every month: I feel like I was served a lot more than I served this month, but I squeezed in a good deed for someone else. Yay me.

And that's it. No books. NO BOOKS, people! I finally started reading again towards the end of the month, but I didn't finish anything. And the nursery...ugh, if you only knew how close it was, you'd probably just tell me to count it as finished. But I won't. It must be 100% dunzo. I tried to make something to hang over the crib and it didn't work out. At all. So I'm blaming that on it not being done yet. But I promise you guys will get a post on that room when I finish.

Happy September! Here's to a month full of blog posts, eh, Pacha?