Dallin+Katie

The 20-something-year-old Hubster

2012-01-24T13:39:00.000-08:00

If I was able to tell you how good of a dad this guy is...

or how hard he works for our family...

or how devoted he is to his calling...

or how supportive he is of his wife...

or how proactive he is about keeping our marriage happy and full of love...

or how smart, creative, dedicated, fun, talented, generous, and righteous he is...

then I would. But it might not even be possible.

So, let's hope this will suffice for now: he's Superman. For reals.

I'm so glad I have him on my team.

Happy birthday, Dallin. You are everything to me and the girls; don't you forget it.

I have something to say.

2012-01-20T07:31:00.000-08:00

I've just gotta do this. It's practically not even an option.

Now, before I do it, I've gotta tell you: we've all been there. I'm not trying to offend you. I'm not calling anyone out specifically. I've just noticed a little teeny tiny something that is begging to be blogged about.

I repeat: I've done this too.

Okay, disclaimer over. Here it goes:

NO APOSTROPHES IN NAME PLURALS.

NOT EVER.

What do I mean by that?

I mean that the plural of my last name, "Harris," is NOT "Harris's." Or "Harris'." It's Harrises.

As in "The Harrises are weird about their punctuation."

You are talking about more than one Harris. No apostrophe.

The Smiths.

The Joneses.

The Browns.

The Clarks.

The Johnsons.

If you include an apostrophe, you are making the word possessive, and you must include something that the people own, like:

"The Harrises' house has artwork depicting punctuation in it." (It doesn't...yet.)

"The Smiths' biggest fear is that the Harrises will come over for dinner and only talk about punctuation."

Does this make sense? Okay.

But really, it's okay if you've made this mistake. I make mistakes with my grammar/punctuation/life all the time...sometimes on purpose (except for the life one, I think). So please don't be offended. We can all just agree to keep it in mind, right? Right.

Sing it with me: "And the world will be a better place."

Look at me and my crafty self

2012-01-13T13:01:00.000-08:00

I don't get many opportunities to show off crafty things, because I don't take many opportunities to do crafty things, because I have one crafty bone in my body, and I think it's in my legs somewhere, and I hate my legs.

And now that that's out of the way...

My sister Julie found us a little project to do that could be done even with one crafty bone, so it was just right for me. Observe:

Fancy schmancy embossed ornaments! Cute, right? But wait - there's more.

Awwww.

And yes - you read that correctly - we embossed. That's right - embossed. Like we had to use special embossing powder and a little embossing heating tool thingamajig to do this. Embossing is boss.

I kinda love them.

I made six total: two for my mom, two for my mom-in-law, and two for me. They made excellent grandma gifts, don't you think?

And I took exactly zero pictures of the process. I bet you can figure out what we did though, since chance are, you have more crafty bones than I do. (Answer: stamp letters with embossing ink on ornament. Cover with embossing powder. Heat until successfully embossed. Strap squirmy child down whilst stamping their embossing ink-covered hand on the opposite side of the ornament. Cover with embossing powder. Heat until successfully embossed. Tie pretty bows. Tie the best bow you can when it doesn't exactly come out "pretty." Say "Ta da!")

Okay, now - how much do you love them?

That's what I thought.

5 Months

2012-01-04T13:11:00.000-08:00

And now Charlotte is 5 months old!

Bonus outtakes from Charly's 5 month photo shoot:

And of course, Maddy had to get in on the fun:

35 Things: 2012 List

2012-01-02T17:11:00.000-08:00

Just in case you weren't quite sick enough of all the "35 Things" related posts...here's another one.

But don't worry, this will be the last one for a while.

I do want to keep track on my progress on my blog, but wouldn't you say that the monthly updates are maybe a bit much? I'm thinking bi-monthly. But be warned - if I start slacking because I'm not keeping close enough track of my progress, I might go back to updating every month. And I'd better warn you - there are certainly NO other female 20-something married-with-kids LDS bloggers out there, so you'll be stuck reading my blog even if it does become "35 Things" city. Tough beans.

All right, friends, enough chit chat. Here's my list of 35 things to do in 2012:

Spiritual

1. read the Old Testament (the only standard work I've never read the whole way through)

2. re-memorize all scripture masteries (including references)

3. learn play all the hymns in the hymn book on the piano (comfortably; I figure I've already got 100 or so (out of 300) under my belt)

4. have one month when I go to the temple weekly

5. put up a picture of the temple in every room of our home

6. read at least 3 articles in every Ensign (embarrassingly enough, a considerable improvement on my current reading of this awesome publication)

Home (lots in this category; did my home get neglected last year?)

7. deep clean the dishwasher (much needed)

8. redecorate the guest bathroom

9. decorate/organize the office/playroom

10. organize memory boxes (I have several that I need to condense/organize)

11. clean out junk drawers in the kitchen

12. create a cleaning calendar

13. clean master closet

14. clean tupperware cabinet (also the bottle/Scentsy/candy/medicine cabinet. Yes, we have a candy stash in our house.)

15. finish Maddy's room

16. never go to bed with a dirty kitchen for a month

17. clean off the "clutter desk" at least twice a month

18. get a fireproof/waterproof safe

Family

27. potty train Madelyn

28. organize family folder

Financial

19. invest in the stock market (I have a set amount, but don't think I'll share it here)

20. pay off at least (again, set amount that I'm not sharing) of student loans

21. Have a month-long spending freeze (not buying clothes, makeup, books, apps, etc., anything that isn't absolutely necessary)

Food

22. build food storage (3 month supply)

23. make baby food

24. make a pie from scratch (never done this!)

25. make a week's worth of freezer meals

26. don't drink soda for 1 month (seriously debated this one. It's definitely hard for me, which probably means it's good for me. Fizz-free February, anyone?)

Personal

29. learn all the rules of NCAA football (I have a pretty good start on this, but I don't really know all the details)

30. read 32 books (I figure this is totally realistic if I don't take another 2 month hiatus)

31. be completely punctual for a month (yikes)

32. write at least 4 blog posts a month (usually happens naturally, but not all the time!)

33. color my hair

34. donate to DI (felt SO good last year; must be done again, especially with all the cleaning out I'm doing)

35. give a homemade gift (I'm sorry in advance if it comes your way)

So there you have it. I'm really excited for 2012. This list is going to keep me busy, I can tell. But it's gonna be great!

35 Things: December Update

2012-01-01T13:14:00.000-08:00

Well, wow. 2011 is officially behind us. And I bet the one thing keeping you up at night is this: did Katie finish all of her 35 things?

Allow me to bring an end to your ceaseless wonderings.

The answer is no.

But more on that later.

For now, here's what I DID accomplish in December.

3. Reread all 2011 Conference talks. I finished April's talks a few months ago, but just finished October's this month.

7. Create a meal plan. Did it. And this means that I did this every month! Hooray! Final thoughts: I can definitely see how meal planning would be helpful, and I do want to continue doing it, to a certain extent. But I feel like I need to find a planning solution that works for me, and it will probably be a little looser than what I tried to do this year. We'll see...

12. Bake a new cookie every month. Haha - maybe this goal should have been TWO cookies every month, because I did two again this month. Pumpkin toffee chip and rolo cookies, which, in spite of their long time, were EASY and yummy, and chocolate peppermint sandwich cookies, which I actually didn't make into sandwiches and just put the frosting on top of. They were soooo good! Also, I blew this goal out of the water. Go figure.

16. Clean out and organize the pantry. I've actually done this a couple times this year, and have no idea how it slipped through the cracks on my monthly updates...

19. Sing in the ward choir. Just in time for all the Christmas stuff! Singing is fun. Hey, people in my ward: come to choir!

25. Read 30 books. This month, I read:

Divergent by Victoria Roth: Oooh, this one was good. I was kind of expecting it to be "just another" dystopian YA romance with a rebellious heroine, which it...actually kind of was. But in an awesome way. 5 stars.

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis: So awesome. I've started this one before, but never finished it. That, plus its shortness, made it perfect to read at the end of the year to try to reach a goal. But seriously, I love this book. So thought provoking and clever. 5 stars.

The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis: Also an ideal "dangit I procrastinated" book. Also very smart and intriguing. 4 stars.

Eats, Shoots, and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Guide to Punctuation by Lynne Truss: Actually entertaining, for a book about punctuation. 4 stars.

The Life of Pi by Yann Martel: I would kinda get a "Whaaaa?" if I admitted that I hadn't read it. So I read it. And I really liked it. Well written and unique. Kind of made me queasy a couple times, though, which doesn't happen very often. I think it was all the fish. 4 stars.

Which brings my grand total to....29. Really - one short of my goal. Which, you know, sucks. Although, if you factor in those 2 months that I didn't read a single dang thing, it's not too bad. OR if you count the Book of Mormon (which I didn't), that would make 30. Hmmm...

35. Complete a act of service every month. And I did this every month! Yay.

Okay, so what didn't I do? Well, maybe we shouldn't dwell on it. After all, I definitely did more than I didn't do, and I really am proud of the things I did this year.

There are a couple things that didn't get done that I actually don't care about:

-8. Make Hi-Hat Cupcakes. These looked like the most incredible things on the planet when I found them over a year ago, but now, I'm kinda "eh" about them. I'll probably never make them, and I'm really okay with that.
-24. Save up to buy something I want. I take this to mean either (a) Dallin makes enough money that I don't really have to save to buy things I want, or (b) I really don't want anything that requires saving up for. It's probably a combination of the two, since I honestly never thought of something I wanted that I needed to save for (and I was looking!).
-32. Watch 10 movies I've "always wanted to see." To be honest, I had a hard time even coming up with a list of 10 movies I've always wanted to see. I watched about 6, and I'm glad, but I'm not really disappointed that I didn't make it through 10.

There are some that didn't get done, which I'm bummed about, but still brought me some reward, which I'm glad about:

-1. Read the Book of Mormon - twice. I only made it through about 1.3 times, but I can say that I got more out of it that first time than I ever have before.
-2. Have one month when I go to the temple weekly. I'm SO disappointed in myself for not getting this one done. It's definitely going on my 2012 list. But the one "special" trip that I made in pursuit of this goal was an awesome temple experience.
-4. Memorize the Family Proclamation. First of all, I was crazy to attempt this. I might be able to do it eventually, but wow, it's kind of a lot. Second of all, I got some of it memorized. Third of all, I read it a lot, and it's powerful stuff. Just reading it so often was beneficial, I swear. Read it here.

I think the only thing that didn't get done out of sheer laziness was number 10 - build our 3 month supply of food storage. I can't believe I didn't do this. As if emergency preparedness is something to put off. Great, Katie, great. That one's going on next year's list fo sho.

Well, I think that about wraps it up, kids. All my 35 things for 2011 are accounted for. Most were completed, some weren't; some will be repeated, some won't. But I really am proud of the things I accomplished this year, and I'm really excited to get started on my new list.

Which, I suppose, I should go finish writing. Happy new year!

35 Things 2012: Ideas

2011-12-31T08:16:00.000-08:00

(see my general tips here)

So, as promised, here's a list of possible "things to do" next year. This is just the list I've been keeping on my phone, jotting down any and all ideas as they've come to me. I'll probably end up using some of these and will probably come up with some different ones.

Some of them are pretty general; you'll have to add in the specifics on your own to make it what you want. Hopefully this list helps - even if it just gets you thinking!

Grow (something)
Learn a new song on an instrument you play
Run (a certain distance)
Have (x) vegetarian meals a week/month
Have a vegetarian month
Never go to bed with a dirty kitchen for a (month)
Try a new exercise
Try a new food
Wear a different color
Wear a trend you love but didn't think you could pull off (e.g. skinny jeans, a scarf, red lipstick)
Learn the rules of (x sport)
Play (x sport)
Take a (x) class
Create something to display in your home
Spending freeze
Eating out freeze
Clean/organize/wash a closet/cabinet/shelf/room
Save up for (x)
Try a new restaurant
Dance/sing in public
Read (x) books
Read a specific book (if there's one you've always wanted to read)
Read (x #) of books over (x #) of pages
Create a (meal, cleaning, activity) calendar every month
Candy/soda fast
Give up a TV show
Get up or go to bed at a certain time for a month
Get a facial/mani/pedi
Get a haircut
Try a home remedy
Try no-shampoo or oil cleansing
Start taking vitamins
Save up to buy something you want
Day of pampering
Donate to (x)
Make your own dish washing detergent, laundry soap, cleaning solutions
Work at the temple or cannery
Find a name to take to the temple
Be diligent about date night for a month
Read every article in every ensign
Throw a party
Plan (and execute) your perfect date night at home
Find your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe
Make tortillas from scratch
Visit a family member/friend you haven't seen in a while
Have a missionary discussion in your home
Be completely punctual for a month
Memorize a hymn, scripture, or poem you love (or several)
Get a fun appliance/pan for your kitchen
do (x #) of things from pinterest
Facebook fast
Have a formal date night
One day a month with no internet
Play all the hymns in the hymn book
Go ice skating
Go mini golfing
Visit a temple out of state
Pay for someone's food at the drive thru
Clean the dishwasher
Redecorate (a room)

35 Things 2012: Tips

2011-12-30T08:59:00.000-08:00

So I've had quite a few people tell me that they want to implement the idea of having a "35 Things To Do" list instead of New Year's Resolutions.

First of all, awesome! I'm fully convinced that this is the way to do it. This is a list that I've been working on all year long. I don't think I've ever worked at something for a whole year before. It feels goooood.

Second, I wanted to leave some tips and ideas to those of you who want to create your own list. So here are some tips that I just came up with in about a minute. Which means that if you don't like them, I'll only have a minute's worth of heartbreak. I can handle that.

1. Don't forget the little things.

"Little" things count. In fact, they're awesome. Has the porch light bulb been burned out for months? Put changing it on your list. Do you have a whole bag of clothes sitting in the garage waiting to be donated? That is a "thing to do." Don't think, "Well, that light bulb is going to get changed whether it's on the list or not, so I won't put it on there." Um, if it's been waiting to be done for weeks/months/whatever, you need a kick in the pants. If a "little" project comes to mind, put 'er down.

2. Limit recurring things

Don't get me wrong - some of my favorite things from this year's list have been things that I do every month (e.g. bake a new cookie every month). BUT one of the best parts about making this list is being able to cross things off of it, of course. And if you're limited to the number of things you can cross off because they are things you have to do every month, it could get a little sticky. At least, it would for me. If you want to make it a "list of things to do every month," more power to you. Also, RESIST the "every day" urge. In my experience, saying you're going to do something "every day" (unless you're already VERY close to doing it every day) is recipe for discouraging disaster.

3. Things to do, not things to be.

To me, this is THE big difference between having a list of things to do and making "resolutions." My resolutions always ended up being things like "Get better at x" or "Be a better y." Worthy goals, to be sure...but not SMART goals. What are SMART goals, you ask? Specific. Measurable. Attainable. Relevant. Time-bound. If you commit to be better at keeping your house clean, for example...well, what does that mean? Does that mean your home is spotless all the time? 4 out of 7 days of the week? And what is "clean," anyway? Is it mopped floors and sparkling bathroom mirrors? Or is stuff picked up off the floors good enough? How are you going to realize that you've become "better" at this?

If, on the other hand, you say that you're going to mop your floors at least twice a month, organize "that" hallway closet, and clean your ceiling fan blades for the first time since you moved in two and a half years ago, well, you've been "better" at cleaning your house.

So, in essence, you're becoming what you want to BE by DOING related things.

It makes perfect sense in my head.

So, if it makes perfect sense in your head, too, then I guess maybe you should start making your 35 Things for 2012 list. I know I'mma start mine.

***Side note: Correct spelling of "I'mma?" Anyone? Is the way I wrote it the English major's way? Should it just be imma?

I'mma/imma/i'mma/i'm-ma stop now. Side note over.***

Also, I have a list of possible ideas for your 35 things list. Anyone want it?

Better to give

2011-12-20T00:31:00.000-08:00

You guys, I am so excited for Christmas this year.

Not that I'm not excited for it every year, because of course I am never not excited about a day that fails to never be filled with nothing that isn't joyful and triumphant. Except perhaps too many double negatives. I just wrote that first one and thought it would be fun to throw in three more. If you don't agree, don't worry - not finding humor in odd phrasing makes you a saner person than I am.

Where were we? Ah, Christmas.

I have a few things to say about Christmas this year. Three, actually.

1) I do not think I am going to have to shop (or wrap!) on Christmas Eve. Supremely awesome.

***Side note: Somebody PLEASE tell me that I'm not the only person in the world that doesn't really "get" wrapping presents! Seriously, I kind of wish we would all just keep everything hidden until we were ready to give it and then just "TA-DA!" pull it out. That is probably way too practical of me because of coure wrapping paper and bows are pretty and such...but my goodness, wrapping kind of gets on my nerves. Don't send me hate comments. It's Christmas, people. Side note over. ***

2) I learned (and several of you that listen to the same Christmas radio station I do probably learned this as well) that Xmas isn't actually taking the "Christ" out of "Christmas." Turns out that "X" is a historically legitimate abbreviation for "Christ." You guys, Wikipedia says so, so it must be true. Of course, I don't think this means you should say/type/paint on your store window "Merry Xmas!" because seriously, it's not that much harder to say/type/paint on your store window "Merry Christmas!" But I guess if you live in ye olden days and have the Plague or something and you only have enough ink, firelight, and strength to write "Merry Xmas!" on the last Christmas card you'll probably ever send to your estranged father, I won't hold your "Xmas" against you.

3) I'm kind of intensely stoked to give presents this year. In fact, I'm going to come right out and say that I am significantly more excited to give presents than to receive them this year. I really think I done good. Of course, don't make me a saint or anything; I'm still looking forward to having some of these coming my way. (Don't judge; I hear they're super comfy.) But seriously - I can't wait to GIVE. It's awesome.

But I really should wait. Because, if I didn't, I'd have to find new Christmas presents, which would mean shopping (and wrapping!) on Christmas Eve, not to mention only having time to write "Merry Xmas!" on all the gift tags.

And then I'd have to delete this post - which, seeing as how it is a fine example of my best sleep-deprived ramblings, would be a real shame.

Senorita Madelyn

2011-12-14T08:29:00.000-08:00

I do not like Dora the Explorer .

And not just in a "I'm totally sick of this show and wish my two-year-old would develop a taste for Psych and Doris Day movies" kind of way, but in a true "This show makes me want to throw puppies at other puppies" kind of way.

And Maddy loves it. I'm crossing my fingers for a "phase." Except when I use them to make air quotes for the word "phase."

But anyway, Dora's saving grace is the fact that Maddy has actually learned some Spanish from the dang girl.

I first discovered this a few weeks ago, during a car ride in which my sister was in the car with us. Maddy was jabbering away happily in the backseat, and then she started counting (in English). I guess my sister thought it would be cool to teach her to count in Spanish, because she said, "Maddy, say 'uno.'"

Maddy replied, "dos."

I was seriously blown away. I had no idea she could do that.

And now she can *pretty much* count to 10. It sounds like this:

"Dos. Tres. Taco. Tsinco. Seis. Sete. Ocho.....Noobe.....Diez! Ocho, ocho ocho."

She doesn't say "uno." You have to say that to get her started. And it's likely that "ocho" will get thrown in there several times. Which is kinda funny, because when she was learning to count in English, she wouldn't say "one," and "eight" would get added in wherever. Hmm.

Oh, and yesterday she said "Abre" at her booster seat tray.

So, I guess it's a good thing we watch Dora, because I wouldn't have known what "Abre" meant otherwise.

Four months

2011-12-06T11:34:00.000-08:00

35 Things: November Update

2011-12-02T07:19:00.000-08:00

I got A LOT done this month, so instead of a big intro about how we are almost done with the year and November just flew by and blah, blah...let's just go!

7. Create a meal plan. And yes, the week of Thanksgiving is totally free game. Bwah-ha-ha!

12. Bake a new cookie every month. This month I made these Oatmeal Cranberry White Chocolate Chunk cookies, which were totally disappointing if you ask me (Dallin will probably continue to insist that they were fine), and also these Pumpkin Cheesecake Cookies with a Maple Cream Cheese Glaze, which were good, although the glaze never set quite right.

17. Clean out bedside drawers. This took me all of about 45 minutes one morning. #whattookyousolong.

18. Go on a picnic. The Saturday after Thanksgiving, we got some Chick-Fil-A and ate it outside at the Gateway Airport. I really don't like eating outside, so it's kind of a big deal that I would choose to do so. Which is kinda why I made it a "thing to do" this year.

20. Go on a hike. Camelback. No, I didn't make it to the top, seeing as how you had to scale a freaking ~~rock~~ cliff to do so, and my non-exercising self was already hating my exercising self, and I really like it better when my selfs get along. But hey, it was still a good hike.

23. Create a grocery budget. I am so not a budgeter. This is probably because I kind of have a built-in budget system, which is the deep, dark fear I have of running out of money. I have always been afraid of this. Like, actually afraid. It even bothered me when my parents would make big purchases because I was sure it meant we would run out of money. But I digress. I made the budget, and I stuck to it. Only time will tell if I continue to use it.

25. Read 30 books. Maybe I'll do a separate post with specific feelings on these books, because I read FIVE this month! Go me! For now, here are just the ratings and a one word review.

-Crossed by Allie Condie: 3 stars. Boring.

-The Death Cure by James Dasher: 3.5 stars. Underwhelming.

-A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith: 5 stars. Moving.

-Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling: 3 stars. Entertaining.

-The Sherlockian by Graham Moore: 4 stars. Intriguing. Also, elementary.

32. Watch 10 movies I've "always wanted to see." This month, I watched Casablanca, which I was totally disappointed in, and also Breakfast at Tiffany's, which I found quite charming and would watch again, even if it didn't quite live up to the hype (which was probably impossible anyway).

33. Send 10 thank you cards for no real reason. What better time than Thanksgiving? I just wrote some cards to some people who deserved to be thanked for just being them. It made me all toasty inside.

35. Complete an act of service every month.

As you can see, I was quite the busy bee. And in case you didn't know it, I am also a poet. (B'dum-ch!)

I'm freaking out a little bit about making everything on my list happen. There are 6 or so things that I'm really just not sure about. But I guess that means it's time to stop whining and time to start doing! Bring it, December!

This girl.

2011-11-30T08:26:00.000-08:00

She's 2. (Side note: Have you EVER seen a better picture? I'm still thinking about it, but I don't think I have. Side note over.)

Her birthday was on the 14th. That morning, we went to Jump Street, an indoor trampoline arena. Maddy loves trampolines. She was basically in heaven.

Then we had lunch at Chick-Fil-A, where she got her very own kids meal (they have a meal with 1 chicken strip. Odd, but perfect. Especially since she likes the fries the most. Which is understandable, since Chick-Fil-A fries are DA best. Okay, I'm done.)

Then she spent the afternoon with Grandma while I got things ready for her party. We just had a low-key party at our house, with pizza and cupcakes. Oh, and presents, of course.

It was a good day. But my favorite part came later.

Charly had fallen asleep in my arms, so I asked Maddy if she wanted to help me put the baby in bed. Of course, she did. We went into the nursery, I put Charly down, and had turned to leave when Maddy said "Chair." She pointed at the rocking chair - the one I used to rock her in every day - and held her arms up to me.

I picked up my baby and sat down to rock her. She wrapped her arms around my neck and rested her cheek on my shoulder. "Twinkle, twinkle," she said. So I tried to hold back my tears while I sang "Twinkle, twinkle" to her, happily starting over every time the song would end and she would demand "Again." I wouldn't have wanted to end that day any other way.

I am so, so lucky to be this girl's mom. She loves popcorn, dancing, Dr. Pepper, and the iPad. She can count to 10 (working on 15), and knows most of her letters. She likes cereal, macaroni and cheese, celery, carrots, pizza, pears, apples, Oreos, cheese, cottage cheese, pepperoni, pickles, Fruit by the Foots, and any kind of candy. She gets mad that I don't let her drive the car. She wants to run everywhere, rather than be carried or ride in her stroller. She can tell you her favorite rides at Disneyland. She likes to watch Dora, The Little Mermaid, Lady and the Tramp, Tangled, and Signing Time. She loves her baby sister, and thinks it's hilarious to make her smile and laugh. She loves Nursery at church, and she'll make sure Dallin and I are folding our arms when it's time to pray. She likes it when her Daddy chases her. When she gives kisses, she kisses both cheeks.

It's entirely possible that I couldn't love her more.

The Highs and Lows of California

2011-11-16T11:04:00.000-08:00

Hello.

A few weekends ago, we went to a magical place called California. It was wonderful! It was our first getaway in a while and our first ever trip as a family of 4. Special!

This trip involved 2 of my very favoritest things: Disneyland and Sun Devil football. A full day at the happiest place on Earth followed by a football game that the Devils were sure to win? What could go wrong?

Well, as is the case with most vacations, a few things did go wrong. Let's talk about it real quick, shall we? I've always heard that talking about your problems makes...something...good....happen....

.....

Okay, here we go.

The Lows of Our November 2011 California Trip

1. Pirates of the Caribbean and Small World being CLOSED at Disneyland. I guess they are revamping Pirates, and Small World was getting its annual holiday makeover, so both were closed. I LOVE Pirates, and Maddy LOVES Small World, so, sad.

2. The rain. I think Disneyland is great on rainy days. They don't shut the rides down and it keeps the crowds away. But the rain we experienced was a little much. Enough, in fact, to have us wait in a gift shop for 20 minutes or so before we decided to buy some ridiculously overpriced ponchos to cover ourselves and the stroller. It only lasted for maybe an hour or so, though, and then it cleared up.

3. The music NOT WORKING on California Screamin'. Seriously?! I'm still pissed about this. The music makes that ride.

4. Getting stuck on Splash Mountain. Splash Mountain is probably my favorite ride, but it was pretty cold that day, so I was hesitant to go on it. We decided to just go for it as the last ride of the night. And the ride stopped before the big drop, just before the music gets all minory. It was kinda cool, because we got to get out of our logs and walk along the side of the ride and see some backstage stuff as we walked out, but still - no big drop. Heartbreaking.

5. The game-which-shall-not-be-spoken-of. This is really the only one that counts. The low to top (bottom?) all lows. You know that feeling after you back into something with your car, or drop that glass whatever-you-were-carrying that shatters into a million pieces, or you knock over a cup of grape juice on your carpet? That feeling of "Man, if 'do over' chips existed in this life, I would cash them ALL IN just to go back to before that horrible thing happened?" Well, I had that feeling like, 12 times during the game-which-shall-not-be-spoken-of. It hurt. Bad.

Okay, so was that depressing enough for you? Well, fear not, because there were plenty of highs during our trip, too!

The Highs of Our November 2011 California Trip

1. The girls at Disneyland. Not only were they freaking adorable (as usual), but they were also very well behaved. Hardly any crying! And can I just say that Disneyland becomes a whole new place when you see your kids loving it? It's so true. Maddy had a blast, and I loved watching her have a blast! And Charly was angel baby. Seriously.

2. Main Street corn dogs at Disneyland

3. The baby centers at Disneyland/California Adventure (I love these places.)

4. Someone giving Maddy a free balloon at Disneyland (the girl loves balloons)

5. My awesome family helping out with the girls at Disneyland

6. Using the stand-by line on Indiana Jones. I never had before; it took us right up to where the stand-by line meets the Fast Pass line; aka Disneyland was NOT crowded at all

7. The 4 of us sleeping in one double bed. Awesome.

8. Maddy playing with Charly while we were waiting for our table at IHOP.

9. Our IHOP breakfast

10. Driving through Pasadena. Oh my gorgeous houses.

11. Finding 2 tickets for $5 at the game (which shall still not be spoken of)

12. Dallin finding my lost nursing cover after the game (against all odds). Okay, story - I held Charly in the Moby Wrap the whole game, and I brought the nursing cover in case she needed to eat during it (she didn't, thank GOODNESS. It was SO cold.) I just tucked the nursing cover into the folds of the wrap so it kind of draped over the front. Well, after the long walk back to our car (seriously, almost a mile, along no set path, weaving in between rows of cars parked mostly randomly on a huge golf course), I realized that my nursing cover was missing. I had no idea where I had dropped it. I was only sure I had had it when we left the stadium. So Dallin got to play knight in shining armor and go on basically a wild goose chase for my precious nursing cover. It should have been impossible. But I prayed about it, so we were good. He found it when he'd almost gotten all the way back to the stadium. A.Maze.Ing.

13. The drive home. Sleeping girls meant me and Dallin got some nice talk time in there. Until he fell asleep mid-conversation and then I got to listen to the "The Phantom of the Opera" soundtrack so that was fun.

So, overall, the highs outweighed the lows. Especially if you forget about the game-which-shall-not-be-spoken-of.

Which, believe me, I'm really trying to do.

And now, some pictures.

{The girls in their stroller. Don't they look so cozy? We were all jealous}

So there you go. A nice, long post about our trip to California. Sorry it was so long. If I had posted it closer to when we went I probably would have broken it up. But oh well. You win some, you lose some. Just like the Devils.

*Sigh*

My new baby must-haves

2011-11-03T15:36:00.000-07:00

So I'm really not the type to be all "Uh, you HAVE to have this unless you want to fail at parenting," but I've made some discoveries with this second baby that I love so much that I just have to share. There are 3, so bear with me. And no, I don't think you'll fail as a parent without them - just thought I'd clarify.

1. Snoogle.

Remember Snoogle? The pregnancy pillow that I splurged on while I was, well, pregnant? To help out with back issues and such? Well, omg this pillow is wonderful.

While I can't honestly say that it was a miracle worker for my back, it did help me get comfortable at night while I was pregnant, and that, my friends, is a wonderful thing. It's great to sleep facing it, letting your belly rest on it and putting it between your knees; but it's equally wonderful to sleep with it behind you, supporting your back and kind of letting you lay on your back even though you're on your side because your baby will obviously suffocate or something if you lay on your back. Anyway, it's great to sleep with (and I still do!).

But I'm going to go ahead and say that my favorite use of this pillow is as a nursing pillow. See the end that is shaped like a Boppy (the tighter curve)? Well, I use that end to support the babe, and then I kind of swirl the other end up to support my back, and it's really the only pillow I need to nurse very comfortably. Since I needed like 4 pillows to do that with Maddy (not exaggerating), this is amazing.

It also comes with a little guide that shows you how to use it for post-partum/episiotomy/c-section relief, or even just as a nice support for reading or watching TV. So really, Snoogle rocks. Amen. (Oh and it costs like $10 more than a Boppy but is so.much.better.)

2. Dria nursing cover.

I saw this on Pinterest, but unlike other Pinterest things that I usually just pin and forget about, I seriously followed the trail on this one and bought one right away. And oh my, I'm so glad.

It's a poncho-style nursing cover, so it covers you everywhere, so oh my gosh I can nurse in public without having an entire nursing wardrobe. The fabric of it is also amazing. It's extremely lightweight (I was surprised when I first touched it) and very stretchy. So it doesn't get hot under there and it doesn't bother the baby even if it's touching her face. It's much more comfortable for me and her. I loves it. (It also works well as a car seat cover.)

3. Moby Wrap

I've tried a few different baby carriers now, and I like this one the best by far. It's not complicated to use, has a simple, not bulky design, and is very comfortable to wear (and, apparently, to ride in, since Charly almost always falls asleep when I put her in it). With a baby that loves to be held (and don't most babies?) this has been essential for getting things done (and keeping my sanity).

So there you have it - my new favorite baby products.

3 Months

2011-11-02T08:01:00.000-07:00

If you feel like my blog has become nothing but "35 Things" updates and monthly updates of Charlotte....

...you might be right.

I'll try to change that sometime. But for now, here's a picture of Charly girl at 3 months (WHA..?!). Along with some fun facts.

(Oh wait! Here's something! I'm doing a gratitude challenge with my sister Sarah. Check out the right sidebar, and join in if you want! 300 things you're grateful for in 30 days. Yeah, over there ----> )

35 Things: October Update

2011-11-01T09:03:00.000-07:00

Oh my, oh my, where did October go?

Let's be honest though - I'm glad it's over. Halloween kind of annoys me. I mean, it's fun and all, but it requires so much thinking about your costume and buying things for your costume and pulling your costume together and redecorating your house and buying tons of candy and FOR WHAT PURPOSE, MAY I ASK? And wow, look at me being all Whiny Wendy about a holiday that I ultimately enjoyed this year.

Here we are in all our Halloween glory:

And now, let's get down to business with my 35 Things update for this month.

7. Create a meal plan (at least once a week every month).

9. Make homemade bread. Yeah, I made some pumpkin bread this month. It was good...except I was terrified of overcooking the stuff and kind of erred on the side of undercooking. The middle just never fully set, but the ends were perfect. And perfect pumpkin bread is...well, perfect.

11. Grow herbs. I now have basil, cilantro, oregano, and chives growing in my kitchen. I was probably a little too excited when these things actually sprouted; I guess I was convinced I had a black thumb and planting seeds in soil and providing them with water and sunlight somehow wouldn't work for me. Oh me of little faith!

12. Bake a new cookie every month. This month's treat: ginger spice cookies. These ones didn't flatten like they were supposed to, but they stayed soft, which is really all that matters. They were good!

25. Read 30 books. Gah! I am so far behind here. I just don't have the time/energy for reading that I used to. But there are several books that I really want to read, so I've got to read those this month. I finished two books in October:

-The Distant Hours by Kate Morton. This was our book club book for this month. I read it, but ended up not being able to go to the book club meeting. Go figure. This book was all right. The writing was over descriptive and pretty tedious in some parts. I've also read Morton before, and I knew what kind of twist to expect at the end, so nothing was super shocking. But you know, the story was pretty good. I'm going with 3 stars.

-Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey. I was bored by this one. It probably has to do with my complete lack of knowledge of the complex British royalty stuff. Lots of people love this one, but alas, I am not among them. 2 stars.

32. Watch 10 movies I've "always wanted to see." I watched"Rear Window" this month. Ah, Hitchcock. I really liked this one! 4.5 stars.

35. Complete an act of service every month.

And there you go. I still have quite a few things to do, but several are already in the works for November. I might not get them all done by the end of the year, but I'm going to try my hardest. It's been a great way to set goals for the year and I'm already thinking of things for next year's list!

Why I have pink hair

2011-10-11T11:25:00.000-07:00

If you've seen me over the past week, you may or may not have noticed that I have a pink streak in my hair.

I say "may or may not," because if you are like my father, you had to get within a foot of me to be able to see said pink streak. He's a little color blind, I believe.

But if you are not a little color blind, you probably noticed it.

(Yeah, I took that picture while sitting on the couch, holding a sleeping baby. I carefully thought out things like lighting and angles, obviously. I take my pictures seriously...)

Well, I'd just like to say that I am not, in fact, embracing the punk rocker that I never was.

In the ward (church congregation) that I was in during my adolescent years, there was this sweet family. And it was obvious that much of its sweetness (as is the case with most sweet families) came from its mother. She was my Sunday School teacher for a while. She had six kids and an awesome Spanish accent. She was a truly good person, beautiful from the inside out.

The whole ward (and everyone that knew her, really) was heartbroken when it came out that she had breast cancer. And I've yet to see so many people at a funeral.

I wasn't super close to their family or anything, but I guess I was close enough, because it still makes my heart ache a little to think of their story, and to see this lady's daughters grow up and get married and have babies of their own.

One of her daughters does hair now, and as part of her fundraising for the 3 Day walk, she is doing these pink extensions for the month of October. So me, my mom, and my sisters went and got them done last week.

It's obviously not a huge contribution or statement, but I plan on leaving it in all month. Call it a small show of support, or a reminder, or whatever you want really...but yeah, it's going to be there. So there you have it - why I have pink hair.

2 Months

2011-10-06T10:31:00.000-07:00

Already?

35 Things: September Update

2011-10-05T08:38:00.000-07:00

Another month, another update on my 35 Things to Do this year! Here's what I got done.

7. Create a meal plan (at least once a week every month). I did this this month, but found my plans frustrated (once again) by last minute things that would come up. Is meal planning not for me?

12. Bake a new cookie every month. This months yum-ness: Snickerdoodles, ala Picky Palate. Um, hi - these were SO GOOD. I made them twice this month and plan on making them again. Just make sure you don't overcook them, aight?

15. Finish the nursery. You'd better believe it. Separate post to come.

22. Start a savings account for Madelyn. Well, it's for both girls, now. We call it our "trust fund" account. Cool.

25. Read 30 books. Yes, I finally read a book this month! But alas, just one. I can't believe how much reading time I don't have these days. But I read:

-The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows: Yes, I finally read this one. And I loved it! The only thing I scrunched up my mouth at was the random romance. I didn't think it fit. But superb writing and lovely characters. 4.5 stars.

30. Use cloth diapers exclusively for one week. My biggest drawback to doing this was asking a babysitter to use the cloth diapers, since I know they aren't exactly crowd pleasers. My mom is our usual babysitter, so I did my cloth diaper challenge while she was in Utah for a week. It honestly wasn't too hard and made me want to use my cloth dipes more. Please note: I only used them on Madelyn. Cloth diapers on a newborn IS hard.

32. Watch 10 movies I've "always wanted to see." Can you believe it's taken me so long to even get started on this one? Well, despite that, I watched 3 movies this month, so I think I'm off to a good start. I watched "Funny Girl" (meh. 3 stars), "Driving Miss Daisy" (really liked it. 4 stars), and "Dirty Dancing" (haha. 2.5 stars).

34. Update my ipod. Took me like 20 minutes at my parents' house (because they have all the best music). I'm so lame sometimes (for taking forever to get this done...but that's why it was on my list).

35. Complete an act of service every month.

And there you have it. The sad thing is that I still have about half of my things left to do...and we're definitely more than halfway done with the year. Oh dear. But never fret, my friends. I shall prevail.

Oh, you're too kind.

2011-09-30T12:19:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-19T07:47:00.000-07:00

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?

2011-09-17T09:12:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-13T10:18:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-11T10:38:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-08T09:36:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-06T14:22:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-02T19:00:00.000-07:00

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?

The birth story.

2011-08-11T10:13:00.000-07:00

Here we go. The story to which you already know the ending, but for whatever reason, you still want to read, and I still want to write. Enjoy.

Getting there

So, you may or may not know that I'd been having contractions for a while. And I'm pretty sure you know that I was dilated to a 3 for a few weeks. That makes for some uncomfortable time in a preschool classroom, I can tell you. There were a few times when I timed contractions. This succeeded in freaking out my mentor teacher, who doesn't have any kids. I think she thinks that going into labor is like it is in the movies. Like "Holy crap I'm in labor I need to go to the hospital now or the baby's going to pop out on the floor! Somebody do something!" I tried to explain to her that I was pretty sure it wasn't going to be like that...but I don't think she believed me.

So anyway, contractions had been happening. And they continued to happen on Saturday, July 30. Maddy was with my mom up at my Grandma's cabin, so I was seriously taking advantage of the school-free, Maddy-free time to do some nesting and baby shopping. We bought our double stroller and hung stuff in the nursery. I went shopping and finally got the girls the matching dresses that I had had my eye on for a while. I cleaned the house, which was WONDERFUL. I was basically amazed at how much I got done.

And then, that evening we started timing contractions in earnest. And I had a few contractions that hurt just a little more than previous ones. And we decided to go for a walk. A storm was coming in, so it wasn't especially hot or anything, which was nice. We didn't walk for too long, because my mom had gotten back into town so we needed to go pick up Maddy. But we walked, and we timed. The contractions didn't stop after we got home and got in the car.

**Side note: Dallin grabbed the hospital bag before we left to pick up Maddy. I think he was really ready to have the baby that weekend. Side note over.***

And they continued at my parents' house. Pretty much everyone said we should go to the hospital. I resisted. It was still July! My baby wasn't due until August. Yes, it was only a week before her due date...but it still felt like a big difference. There was no way it could be time already, right?

Well, Dallin and I went for another walk and I gave in. Sure, we could go to the hospital. I wasn't afraid of getting sent home...I was afraid of them admitting me if it wasn't really time. And honestly, I still feel like I could have waited. I really do. But I didn't wait. I kissed Maddy goodbye, trying not to cry too much. And we left.

We got there about 9:30 at night, and sat down with a fairly cranky lady to give her all my info. Then we headed back to triage. A nurse with an Australian (?) accent gave me a gown to change into. Dallin had some issues tying the gown up for me and was still trying to figure it out when the nurse came back in. I must have looked pretty awful or something because she told him to not worry about it - I needed to get on that bed.

So I did, and when all was hooked up and examined and so on, it was determined that I was dilated to a 5. Aussie said that alone was pretty much an admission ticket, but they would monitor my contractions for 20 minutes or so to make sure they were regular before making anything official.

Dallin and I passed the time by talking about how our baby was going to be born on Harry Potter's birthday, as well as using Dallin's phone to listen to possible labor/birth songs. (**Side note: We didn't actually want/have any labor/birth songs. Side note over**) Dallin suggested "She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy," but then decided "What Hurts the Most" was more appropriate. My man can make me laugh even when I'm in labor.

Being there

Well, needless to say, I was admitted. We were escorted to the labor and delivery room where we met our nurse for the evening. We did some more paperwork and got me hooked up to an IV. I hate IVs. Seriously, I think getting that thing was more painful than my contractions were.

Then the epidural man came in. He was a nurse anesthetist, rather than an anesthesiologist, which apparently freaked Dallin out, although I didn't find that out until later. I didn't really think much of it at the time. I asked him if I should wait until my contractions actually became painful to get the epidural, and he said there was no reason to.

And thus began the worst part of the evening.

I was freezing from the IV. I was anxious about getting the epidural (there was no way it could go as well as it did with Maddy). The combo of the two sent me into a full fit of the shivers, and for whatever reason, I couldn't have a blanket until the epidural was in. (Questionable?) So anyway, I was miserable.

I knew how the process was supposed to go. Small prick, weird numb feeling, lots of pressure. It seemed like last time, this all happened pretty quickly. This time, there was the small prick, but then we had to wait for that to take effect. And then, when he was giving the second shot, he told me to let him know if I felt any pain. Well, it didn't hurt, really, but I definitely felt the prick of the second needle. Which FREAKED me out because I was pretty sure I wasn't supposed to feel anything but that weird pressure.

Because of the freak-out-ness, the rest of the process was a bit of a blur. They might have stuck me again with more numbing medicine, or just waited longer for the first shot to take effect. I think they gave me more, but I honestly can't remember. I just remember shivering. And I remember the nurse having to get Dallin a chair, which he probably doesn't want me to tell you. But I want to tell you because for some reason, the thought of my sweet husband going pale with worry about me makes my eyes all watery.

Once the epidural nightmare was over, I got a warm blanket (seriously, that was all I wanted in the world at that point), and the nurse helped me roll on my side so I could get some sleep. I tried to get Dallin to go get some food, since he hadn't eaten that night, but he wouldn't. He just stayed with me and slept, too. The nurse came in to roll me over every hour, which makes for not the best sleep. My mom got to the hospital around 1:30 am, and I don't think she slept for the rest of the night. She's kind of awesome.

Well, by 6:30 or so in the morning, I hadn't progressed. I was maybe almost a 6. Lame. I had been given some pitocin and it hadn't helped. Super lame. But THEN, my doctor got there at about 7:15, and he broke my water. This is where it started to get exciting.

The main event

So the water was broken, and everyone figured this was going to get things moving. But I, for one, was definitely not ready for just how fast it would go. The very next contraction I felt felt much stronger. And yes, I could still feel my contractions through the epidural, which I thought was a good thing. The nurses kept saying I could up the medicine amount so I wouldn't feel them at all, but I really didn't want to do that. I liked that I could feel them happening without being in pain.

By 7:45. I knew this baby was coming.

My little sister wanted to be there when the baby was born, which I was cool with, so Dallin texted her. The room was prepped. I was checked again 10 minutes later, and the doctor said something like "This isn't going to take long at all."

Enter all the insecurities.

So, let's just say my sister didn't make it (sorry, Sarah). Three big pushes, a few little pushes, and whaddaya know, there was Charly. 8:05 am.

It really was a precious moment. Of course, her full head of hair was pointed out right away. I remember thinking it took her a little too long to cry, but of course it really didn't. I also remember thinking that she was so big. I had thought she would be bigger than Maddy, but not by a whole pound!

When she was wiped off and handed to me, I just looked at her and sobbed, and was so glad that I finally understood how I could possibly love another little girl so, so much.

The after party

First of all, and just FYI, our "friend" the cyst came out with the placenta, as planned. And let me just say - ew. Moving on...

Charly girl was weighed and measured and declared perfect. My sister and her husband got there. I was returned to a more comfortable position and allowed to hold my baby girl properly.

The next few hours were lovely, filled with visits from family and such. Maddy was pretty indifferent towards the baby, which I decided was better than automatic resentment. Dallin gave me the "2 peas in a pod" necklace I wanted. It's totally adorable - the necklace and his thoughtfulness.

We stayed in the hospital for just one night. We could have stayed another, I suppose, but I was ready to go home; I was going a little stir crazy in the hospital. So we were home Monday night. My mom stayed with us for the next few nights, staying up with the baby and only waking me up if Charly needed to eat. She also took Maddy during the day so I could rest. I mentioned that my mom is awesome, right?

Life, so far

So far, Charlotte is a great baby. She sleeps a lot, which makes those times when she's awake and looking around that much more precious. I'm pretty positive her eyes are going to be blue. It's taken some time for us to get used to nursing, and we've already had some (painful) issues in that department, but we are getting the hang of things and the past couple days have been especially promising.

Her hair is incredible. My sister's sister-in-law took some newborn pictures of her, and you can see the highlights in it (click here). Apparently, Dallin had hair like that as a newborn, too. I guess she's already a daddy's girl. She has such a pretty face - she almost doesn't look like a newborn. She likes to be held, but is also pretty content to lay on a blanket and chill.

Maddy's adjusting pretty well. She's a little more clingy than she used to be, but she's nice to the baby and likes to watch her sleep. She also seems like a giant. I change her diaper or even just look at her hands and am blown away by her big-ness. I think she'll be a good big sister.

The end

Hey, we made it! I tried to keep things to a minimum for you, but my minimum is higher than most, so good for you for making it to the end.

We ended up with a lovely, healthy baby girl and I feel so insanely blessed. Life is beautiful.

35 Things: July Update

2011-08-08T10:21:00.000-07:00

Can I just say that July was a rough month? Seriously, towards the end of June, Dallin and I started to realize just what the month of July was going to be like, and it was almost enough to make us quit. Of course, the prospect of post-July ended up being enough to keep us going. And we closed out July with quite the bang, so it wasn't a completely awful month.

Here are the things I accomplished this month:

5. Attend a missionary discussion: Dallin is our ward's Ward Mission Leader, so I'm a little surprised it took me so long to get this one done. I didn't actually go to a discussion with the full-time missionaries, but Dallin and I went to give a new member discussion to a lady who recently started coming back to church. I'm really glad I went, even though it was kind of out of my comfort zone. Hopefully I'll get to go to another one sometime!

7. Create a meal plan (once a week every month): SO PROUD that I did this this month. Go me.

12. Bake a new cookie every month: I actually made 2 new cookies this month. One was crazy good (Peanut butter butterscotch chippers - Dallin especially loved these) and the other was aight (Chocolate chip and peanut butter truffle swirled cookies). {Click on the recipe titles to go to the recipes}

27. Graduate from grad school: Indeed, my pretties. This was the month in which I completed all my coursework, and now, I'm officially DONE. I will post later about how this feels. Rest assured, that post will include words like "glorious" and "freedom."

35. Complete an act of service every month: Been there, done that.

You may or may not have noticed one gaping hole in my accomplishments this month - no new books. Seriously, I didn't read a single book in the month of July. So awful. I look forward to getting back on track with that, though!

Also, the nursery is sooooo close. I just need something perfect to go over the crib. If I haven't found that something perfect by the end of this month, then I'm just going to call it good. I LOVE how it's turned out so far!

Also also, do you guys want a birth story post? I started writing one, and it was pretty long, and really, what do you need to know more than that I went into the hospital pregnant and came out with a baby? But I dunno, I like reading other people's birth stories (for whatever reason), so I might just write one no matter what. TBD.

Thanks for reading, friends. Happy August!

Charlotte

2011-08-03T14:44:00.000-07:00

These past nine months have been full of uncertainty for me. Observe:

"I'm sick, stressed, and exhausted. What if I lose this baby?"

"I think it's a boy. I want it to be a girl."

"I'm definitely fatter this time. Is it going to go away?"

"My student teaching starts when?!"

"Another ultrasound? What is this cyst thing?"

"My back hurts so bad I can't even walk, let alone exercise."

"It's so hot. What if I go into labor too early?"

"Seriously, though. I don't fit into anything."

"How is Maddy going to handle a baby in her house?"

"I'm going to love her as much as I love Maddy...right?"

"Breastfeeding? Again?"

And they didn't stop. If anything, they got worse. And before I knew it, the stirrups were coming out, and so was my baby girl. And if you can believe it, in those few seconds, a million new worries came over me.

"Have I been a good mom to Maddy while it was just me and her?"

"Can I really have two kids?"

"What if something goes wrong with the birth?"

"This went by so fast. I'm not ready."

"I'm not ready."

Seriously, you guys. That's what I was thinking. That I just was.not.ready. Pretty much my insecurity at its worst. Sad, but true.

Of course, less than 10 minutes later, I saw this little head of hair for the first time -

and I sobbed. I swear, I cried harder than I did when Madelyn was born.

Because I knew that I had been so, so wrong.

I was totally ready.

And so, without further ado, I present to you

Charlotte Harris

7.31.2011 - 8:05 am

8 lbs 9 oz

20.5 inches long

Pretty and pink and complete with natural highlights

She's lovely. We're home and doing great!

Convo

2011-07-29T19:15:00.000-07:00

I swear this just happened. 2 minutes ago.

Dallin: So are you going to have a baby tonight?

Katie: Um...I don't know. It's possible!

D: Do we need to go for a walk or something?

K: (...)Would you like me to have the baby tonight?

D: Well, it's gotta be either tonight or Wednesday.

K: Wednesday?

D: Yeah, Monday and Tuesday are pretty busy.

***Side note: I'm pretty sure he was at least partially serious about this. Side note over.***

K: Oh. Well, what do you think?

D: Up to you!

K: You want me to decide whether or not we have a baby tonight?

D: Yeah, I guess. Are we going to eat?

K: Not if we're going to put me into labor.

D: Hm. Well, whatever!

You should know that I've been having fairly regular and frequent contractions for the past couple of days. You should also know that today was my last day of student teaching. Which means I'm done with (the hard part of) school. Hip hip freaking hooray.

So...I guess only time will tell if we decide to have our baby tonight. I'd probably rather have her decide on her own, but you know...whatever.

Love you, Dallin. Hurry home.

3 is a magic number

2011-07-15T19:23:00.000-07:00

Yes, it is. It's a magic number.

A man and a woman had a little baby. Yes, they did. They had three-ee-ee in the family. And that's a magic number.

And then they decided that it wasn't magic enough so they got pregnant again so they could have another baby. Yes, they did.

Aaaaand my connection to Schoolhouse Rock is officially dead.

True, we are working on our family of 4, but currently, 3 is my magic number.

3 weeks + 3 days left. Dilated to a 3 (you know, in case you care about...that. I love giving people an uncomfortable amount of information). Also, 80% effaced, but my goodness, that has nothing to do with the number 3, so why bring it up?

Honestly, I'm not surprised that I'm dilated. I was at a 4 with Maddy for a few weeks. And I've been having contractions for a while now. They're just not regular or super uncomfortable (emphasis on super).

And you are now updated on the status of my pregnancy. Awesome!

Sing it with me now! "3, 6, 9...12, 15, 18...21, 24, 27...30" (best Schoolhouse Rock, btw)

Short hair days are here again

2011-07-05T22:04:00.000-07:00

About 5 days ago, I decided I wanted to chop my hair off.

When I decide I want to cut my hair, I want to cut my hair RIGHT AWAY. It was very hard for me to not run out and stop at the first salon I saw and get a haircut. True story.

To avoid ridicule (not to mention a rash decision) I somehow held out for a few days. I debated cutting my hair, knowing (knowing) that I would want it long again before too long.

But the more I looked at pictures of cute, short hairstyles...
and the more I came to realize just how hot 115 degrees actually is...
and the more I thought about how much time I don't want to spend styling my hair every morning (first for student teaching and then with two kids)...
the more I realized...

I wanted short hair. Coveted it, really. And since coveting isn't healthy for anyone, well, I found a salon that had good reviews on Yelp (p.s. Do you use Yelp? Please start. Thanks.), found out they took walk-ins, and walked in before I could change my mind.

I'm so so glad I did.

It feels so good. It's amazing.

It's the shortest I've ever gone with my hair. I contemplated something even shorter for a while, but then decided I should see how I feel about "short" before committing to "super short."

I'm loving it for now! Hopefully it will be a while before I start longing for long, luscious locks. Maybe once the temperature drops below 100.

So you know, like, November.

My morning

2011-07-05T08:43:00.000-07:00

It's pretty unusual for Madelyn to wake up before 9. And it's not unusual at all for her to sleep until 10:30 or 11.

So you can imagine my surprise at 5:50 this morning when she was done sleeping.

I'll admit, I was upset. I was super tired and getting up that early totally made me cranky. I let her lay in bed with me and watch Blue's Clues while I went in and out of sleep.

After maybe an hour of that, I decided my attitude needed to change. After all, I have a lot (a LOT) of things I need to do today, so what would be the harm in getting up early? Maddy and I could run errands this morning, she could take a nap this afternoon while I cleaned the house, and all would be fine and dandy.

So, armed with my new attitude, I let Maddy shower with me (our stairs make me too nervous to let her run around while I shower), got her dressed and ready, and then set her down so I could do my hair.

Since I didn't wash my hair, it took me about 15 minutes. I came downstairs and found Maddy fast asleep on the couch.

So I guess it's time to rearrange my day again.

*Sigh*

Is it too much to ask?!

2011-07-02T22:26:00.000-07:00

I never mastered the whole "nursing in public" thing with Maddy. In fact, I never even came close to mastering it.

It's not that I'm weirded out about BFing in public. I'm totally not...you know, as long as you're pretty much covered up and stuff. There were plenty of times when I would have loved to just be able to whip out that cover and do my thing at a family party or in the mall or wherever. But I really don't think Maddy liked being under a cover very much. She would always, always fuss. And fussing, I think, automatically sets off this thing in new moms that is like "OHMYGOSH my baby is fussing and everyone is listening and they are all totally annoyed and they probably think I'm a terrible mom and..." you know. Plus, I didn't really have a nursing friendly wardrobe, and was pretty much too cheap and lazy to hunt down and buy cute nursing tops, so I was never really able to figure out the "mechanics" of nursing in public. And trying (which I did) ended up stressing me out.

And so it was that I began pumping. I got into this really groovy routine once Maddy girl was able to sleep without being fed in the middle of the night: I'd pump a bottle (or two, when she was still little and didn't eat so much at one time) right before bed, so I wouldn't *cough*leak*cough* all over my bed, and then we'd have a bottle to take with us on our travels the next day.

It worked really well, except:

1) I didn't really like the bottles (and Dallin really didn't like them)
2) I didn't really like the pump, especially after several months of use when its performance began to go downhill.

So now, faced once again with the prospect of pumping (I do plan on trying BFing under a cover again, but hey, who knows?), I am in the market for a new pump and new bottles.

And I don't think what I want exists.

What I want in a bottle:

-not made of a zillion parts (or, you know, more than...3? 4?)-
-doesn't have to be put together in a very specific way to avoid leakage-
-probably good for colic and stuff, just in case-
-options, in terms of milk flow, size, etc.-
-no nipple confusion-

What I want in a breast pump:

-not a million dollars-
-electric (single or double, doesn't matter)-
-works well (doesn't have to move mountains or anything...I just want it to work!)-

And then comes the truly tricky part...

I want to be able to pump right into the bottles so I'm not pouring milk back and forth, washing extra containers, etc.

This system does not exist. I'm fairly certain.

You cannot find a decent pump and decent bottles that were made for each other. WHY THE HECK NOT?

Medela makes good pumps, but they are crazy expensive, and their bottles don't get great reviews.

Lansinoh makes what looks like a great pump, but they have no feeding bottles - only storage bottles.

Evenflo and Playtex make good looking bottles, but no decent pumps.

Avent is what we used before.

So tell me - does this ideal of mine exist? Am I putting too much faith in online reviews (is something actually good even though most people don't like it)? Should I just get what I want from both categories even if they don't "work" together and just suck it up with the pouring and the washing and what not?

And could switching to Geico really save us 15% or more on car insurance?

These are the things that will keep me up tonight.

35 Things: June Update

2011-06-30T22:09:00.000-07:00

Well, here we are. The end of our month of seeing each other daily. Who knows when you're going to hear from me again?

I'll be honest: I don't. Hopefully within the next few days.

So hey, let's update you on how I'm did with my 35 things list in June, shall we?

I've done my meal plan, and my monthly cookie, and my act of service.

I've also *almost* finished one measly book this month. Seriously, self? One?! And only *almost?* I am ashamed.

The book I've *almost* read is The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. I really, really like this book. I won't give it a final rating yet, since I'm not quite done, but I'm thinking it's in the 4 1/2 star range. I'll probably finish it tomorrow. I love the writing style. It's very unique and full of character without being super weird or modern. And the story is moving and powerful. I kinda love it.

I also completed:

21. Throw a party. Flag Day party! It was epic.

28. Write one blog post every day for a month. If you haven't realized yet that I've done this...uh, where have you been?

I know, I wanted to finish the nursery this month too, but it just didn't happen. I'm making progress on it, but not quite done. Maybe next month.

Well, I guess that's it. Thanks for sticking with me this month. You guys rock, as if you didn't already know.

Today

2011-06-29T23:13:00.000-07:00

Did you like my wonderful spouse's wonderful post yesterday? I think my second favorite part was the flashing red title. It proves that he's a computer nerd, which, as we all know is super cool. My first favorite part was the sweet stuff he said, of course. Most of it was undeserved, but I guess that proves that I've fooled him into thinking I'm actually worth praising. My third favorite part was simply the fact that he wrote my post for yesterday. It was nice to have a little break (no offense, blog).

Don't ask me why I listed my top 3 favorite things in that odd order. I dance to the beat of my own drum, or whatever that overused expression is.

Anyway, today, I discovered a few things. Allow me to share:

1. I don't want Dallin's riding of motorcycles to become a hobby. Does this require more explanation? I guess what you need to know is that:

a. Dallin rides a motorcycle to and from work nowadays.

b. This was allowed because a motorcycle was a cheap and convenient alternative to a second car

c. Today, Dallin and his Dad rented Harley's and went "cruising."

d. I don't like "c" because it makes motorcycle riding seem like a hobby rather than a convenient, temporary alternative to a second car

e. The end.

2. I don't like turkeys. I like to eat turkey, but I don't like actual turkeys. They are ugly and always look grumpy and seem generally twitchy, which freaks me out.

3. If I pull my hair into a tight enough bun, it will make my head hurt even after I take out said bun.

4. I need to have good chocolate constantly available to me, in the form of Milky Ways, Mounds, or Chips Ahoy. Why I haven't internalized this lesson yet is beyond me.

5. I'm going to be pushing it to read ONE book this month. ONE. That's so sad. Especially since I've been on vacation for the past almost week. What kind of vacation doesn't allow time for leisure reading? Mine, I guess.

6. I'm not very good at Pinterest. I forget to pin things, and I forget to look back at what I've pinned. This makes using Pinterest completely pointless for me. Note to self: use PInterest correctly. It has a high potential for greatness.

7. I've been generally disappointed with my blogging performance during this month of daily blogging. It definitely hasn't been how I imagined and planned it. Oh well, you're still reading, right?

Wow, 7 lessons in one day. If I keep this up, I'll know everything in no time.

(p.s. This post was definitely written on the right day (Wednesday), I promise you. But Blogger was being silly and refused to let me publish it. I put it on Facebook, if you want proof, but really, you should just trust me. Trust is important for relationships.)

HOW TO BE A WIFE WHO WINS

2011-06-28T23:19:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

It's Dallin. It's 10:40 at night and Katie has had a very long day of lugging our now 5 pound baby around with her petite little backbone, so I'm picking up the blogging duties. That still counts towards her goal, right??

HOW TO BE A WIFE WHO WINS

IN 10 NOT-SO-EASY STEPS

-Inspired by Katie Harris

Never ever complain -- not even when you are 34 weeks pregnant and suffering near constant, intense sciatic back pain. And that's before you start lugging around an 18 month old daughter who is going through a "mommy" phase

Have so much love for everyone and everything else that you actually start giving names and personalities to inanimate objects. You even feel bad for computer game characters who get killed in battle.

Curl your hair and wear a levi jacket when you want to look extra sexy

Go to literally any length to make sure your child is happy. ANY length.

Same as #4, but for your husband.

Support your husband in his crazy entrepreneurial adventures, never losing faith that the whole thing might just pan out some day

Be insanely good with money. Like, to the extent that your husband actually laughs at the thought of you having the family credit card because he knows your hands are the safest place it could be.

Help your husband learn the attributes he needs to learn not by telling him but by showing him a living example until he gets the hint

Learn to juggle, then juggle family, home, work, school and church work like you were born at the circus

Spend a lot of time thinking and listening so you can be maximally informed and confident in your opinions and advice

That should pretty much do it. Thanks, Katie, for all you do for our family!

34 Weeks

2011-06-27T21:46:00.000-07:00

I know this picture isn't the best, but you know, I'm on a couch right now, and getting up to take a picture that is the best doesn't sound entirely appealing. So you can just trust that my belly is pretty big and stick out-ish.

At 34 weeks:

Ah, my back. There are days when it's my sciatic nerve, and it hurts to walk. Then there are days when it's more in my upper back, and it hurts to sit down. And then there are days when it's both. So yeah, I hope you're not too sick of listening to me complain about my back, because I have a feeling I'm gonna keep doing it.
Baby girl attacks my ribs. Often.
I've officially gained more weight than I did my whole pregnancy with Maddy. Sigh. Let's hope breastfeeding kicks it to the curb quickly again.
I have quite a few contractions, some of which are fairly painfulish. Not regular or so painful I can't walk or anything like that, but still annoying.
I'm pretty scared of the fact that I would be considered "full term" in 2-3 weeks. That is not a lot of time.
I'm pretty anxious to meet this baby girl. I actually still really love being pregnant and all (yes, despite all my complaining, I really do love it), but I can't wait to see her! What is she going to look like? What is she going to be like? And is the name we like right now (still the same one) going to stick? Only time will tell.
I'm in full-on nesting mode. And it's doubly annoying because we are out of town and there's absolutely nothing I can do about it. I guess I could plan out specific things I need to do once we get home...but won't that just make me more frustrated that I can't do them? Unfortunatissimo.

Tidbits

2011-06-26T21:33:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd take today to throw out some random, possibly fun facts about our family into the void of the Internet. You know, so you can know the "real" us. Or something.

Dallin

Dallin is the strangest mix of "picky eater" and "eater of anything" I've ever met. If you ask him if he likes tomatoes, he'll say no. But if he gets something at a restaurant and he forgets to ask that the tomatoes be left out (and I forget to remind him) he'll just eat them. He's also willing to try lots of different things (e.g. calamari the other night...gag me). It's nice because he'll eat pretty much whatever I put on the table...with a few exceptions (cough...PEAS...cough).

Katie

Sticking with the food/drink theme, I'm so, so picky about what I drink - especially the temperature of it. If it is a drink that is supposed to be cold (which to me basically means any drink that isn't supposed to be hot) then it has to be REALLY cold. REALLY cold. Kinda cool is not okay. I mean, I'll drink it, sure...but I can't promise I'll like it. I probably won't. A little ridiculous, I know...but that's me.

Madelyn

Moving completely away from the food/drink theme, Maddy girl is so into bubbles (bo-bos) right now. She seriously loves them. We got her a little bubble machine for her bathtub and it's pretty much the only thing that gets her into the bathtub nowadays. She used to love the bath, but not so much anymore. Anyway, we filmed a little movie of her playing with her bubbles in the bathtub, and watching it has become her favorite thing to do on the iPad.

So hey, there's some lil tidbits about us. Fun, right? Right.

Love is a beautiful thing

2011-06-25T22:42:00.000-07:00

So I pretty much love this song.

I couldn't exactly tell you why, but it kinda makes me a little teary eyed every time I hear it. And if the conditions are right, I full out cry.

There's nothing especially tear-jerky about it, but my tears don't need a whole lotta jerking, if you know what I'm saying.

Anyway, my sister-in-law got married today, and it was lovely! It made me think of this song.

I'm so happy for her and my new bro-in-law. They are a wonderful couple, and it was a wonderful day! I'll put pictures up when I get some.

And now I'm tired. Really tired. Sleep needs to happen soonish...or just soon.

That one time I almost forgot to blog

2011-06-24T23:39:00.000-07:00

In my defense, I haven't had 2 empty minutes for blogging in my whole day.

This is probably why I laid down at 11:30 to go to sleep.

Lucky for all of us, I remembered that I'm supposed to blog every day this month or something.

And this lame blog post is just adding on to what has been a lame day.

I'm really tired. And I'm pretty...down. Maybe I'm just not feeling well (because I'm really not), but I've just had a rough day and tomorrow is most likely going to be rough as well.

I honestly can't think of anything else to say, my friends. Thanks for reading my blog. You all are crazy cool. :)

"The" chocolate chip cookies

2011-06-23T23:28:00.000-07:00

It probably doesn't surprise you that I've craved chocolate chip cookies a lot this pregnancy.

Like, a lot.

Like, I've bought more packages of Chips Ahoy than Oreos in the past few months. MORE CHIPS AHOY THAN OREOS, PEOPLE. It's a big deal.

And the reason it probably doesn't surprise you is that I've mentioned it quite a bit.

Thank you for putting up with me.

Anyway, the cookie I made for June was "the" chocolate chip cookie. Unless you are new to blogland or read very few blogs, I'm sure you've heard about the New York Times guy that went on the quest to find the perfect chocolate chip cookie.

He talked to all these experts to find out what made the best cookies, taking into account things like size, chocolate amount and type, etc.

I followed the recipe very closely, though not perfectly (totally forgot the sea salt before baking. Darn it because I bought sea salt for this very recipe. Curse you, pregnancy brain!). I'm also not entirely sure I did the whole "chill overnight" thing correctly, because I took the dough out of the bowl and wrapped it all in plastic wrap, instead of just pressing plastic wrap over the top of the dough in the bowl. I didn't think this would make a big difference, but maybe...

Anyway, final product:

(Please ignore the insanely odd coloring in this photo. Thanks.)

So, were they good?

Short answer - yes. Very yes.

Am I not going to be able to eat another chocolate chip cookie ever again? No. No, I'll be fine. In fact, I'm not sure I would even say this is my most favorite chocolate chip cookie I've ever had. (Yeah, I just went there.) They were delicious, don't get me wrong. But I wasn't totally sold on the bittersweet chocolate. There was a little too much of it, and it kind of overwhelmed the rest of the cookie. Plus, hello, they have to rest overnight, and my goodness, I don't think I'd be able to handle it if I had to wait a whole night to get chocolate chip cookie deliciousness.

Maybe the sea salt would throw them over the top? Maybe the dough chilling thing was totally important? No clue.

All I know is that I'm probably still going to make my way through a whole lotta Chips Ahoy packages before this baby comes.

And I'm totally cool with that.

(p.s. Do you have a chocolate chip recipe you love? We have a "family" recipe that I really like, but I'm always looking for others to try. Or do you have any other cookie recipe that you love? This has been one of my favorite things to do this year and I want to keep things going well.)

Impatience

2011-06-22T23:01:00.000-07:00

I consider myself a pretty patient person. And I'm not saying that to make you think I'm awesome or anything (because face it, you couldn't think I'm more awesome, right?), I'm just saying it because I really think it's true.

But there are some times when my patience is tested.

And then there are some times when I am just not patient at all.

As I've thought about it, I've thought of 2 examples of when I'm consistently impatient. For no reason other than this is my blog and it's where I write down things I think about, I'll share them with you.

The first is bedtime. I love going to bed (who doesn't, really?) but I do not like getting ready for bed. Nope nope nope.

The sad thing about this is that it doesn't really take very long to get ready for bed. PJs, contacts, brush teeth, wash face, say prayers. Less than 10 minutes, for sure. Especially since I use those face towelette things to wash my face at night. Those things are bomb.

And yet, I still hate the process and find myself wanting to skip it every night and just jump right into bed and fall asleep.

Impatience.

Also, coming home from trips. I'm cool with taking my time to pack before I leave for a trip, and I'm fine with however long it takes to get there. But once I'm on my way home, I want to be home, unpacked, and back to "normal." Trips home, unpacking, the laundry that necessarily comes with unpacking...I just want it to all be over as quickly as possible.

Impatience.

What makes you impatient?

On my mind

2011-06-21T22:20:00.000-07:00

In no particular order... except the order in which I think of them, which I guess technically is an order, but maybe not a particular one:

-Maddy's sleeping in her "big girl" bed for the second night.

-My back hurts badly today plus I have a weird (probably nerve-related) foot pain that's come and gone several times over the past few days. Major ouch.

-I really need to get my nails done for Dallin's sister's wedding on Saturday. And also probably a pedicure. But not a labor inducing one.

-I have to have to have to get my homework done before Friday. I've been late turning in ~~pretty much~~ all of my previous assignments and it is no bueno.

-Essie nail polish sucks. Stunning colors, sucky polish. Anyone agree?

-JP is my fave on The Bachelorette. Not that I watch it...oh, who am I kidding? You know I do. You know you do, too. I haven't watched the most recent episode though. So if JP goes home, don't tell me. Also if he goes home, the show sucks. Also even if he doesn't go home, the show still actually sucks.

-It's so hard to imagine having 2 kids. I honestly can't wrap my head around it. Does this happen with every child?

-The dishes aren't done.

-I'm making the supposedly awesome NY Times chocolate chip cookies for my cookie of the month. The dough is resting in the fridge as we speak, "fully incorporating the egg" or some nonsense like that. I have a feeling the excitement is going to keep me up tonight.

-Maddy currently really loves Photo Booth on my computer and the iPad, but she really only loves the "thermal camera" and the "pop art" effects. Anything else and she'll get mad at you until you change it.

And that's all she (aka I) wrote.

Get smart.

2011-06-20T20:01:00.000-07:00

{You are about to be warned}
Warning: This post has a lot of words.
{You have been warned.}

Today, I want to share something I learned in school.

I hear you gasping.

I've been in grad school for two years now, and I've never ever shared something I've learned (not that I can remember, anyway.)

But I learned about something today that I thought was really interesting, and applies just as much to parenting as it does to teaching (which, actually, a lot of my degree work has). So I thought I'd share, just in case anyone is interested.

It's called growth mindset, and it has to do with how we praise our kids and how that praise can affect them.

(If you're totally bored already, go away. Seriously, I'm not going to force you to read this and I'll never know if you choose to or not. No harm, no foul. Come back tomorrow. Bye!)

So here's the scenario (based on an actual study): you're in a classroom. You break the kids up into two groups. You give each group the same task to complete. It's fairly easy and they all perform well on it.

To Group 1, you say something like: "Wow! You did really great on this! You must be really smart!"

To Group 2, you say something like: "Wow! You did really great on this! You must have worked really hard!"

Not a huge difference, right? Well....let's talk about each group individually.

Group 1 thinks they're really smart. When asked about the task, they say that they really enjoyed it and want to take more work home and show their parents.

THEN they are given a new task that isn't super easy. They struggle with it quite a bit more than they did with the first task and get more problems wrong. When asked about this task, they say they didn't like it at all, they don't want to take more work home to practice, and that they don't think they're smart anymore.

They are also asked to write about this second, hard task (including their actual "score" on it), so that this write-up can be sent to another anonymous student. More than 40% of Group 1 flat out lies about their score, saying it was much higher than it actually was.

THEN they're given a new task on the same level of difficulty as the first task (easy). They do not do nearly as well on this one as they did on the first easy task.

Group 2 thinks they performed well on the task because they worked hard on it. When asked about the task, they also say that they really enjoyed it and want to take more work home and show their parents.

THEN Group 2 gets the harder task. They too find it much more challenging and perform much worse on it. However, when they are asked about this task, they say they still liked it and are still eager to take more work home, practice, and show their parents. Unlike the first group, they don't think they're dumb after "failing" at the second task, and think that they could learn to do the second task well with some practice. Only a few Group 2 students exaggerate their scores when asked to share them with someone else.

THEN Group 2 gets the third task (the easy stuff). They perform better than they did the first time.

The point here is to praise the process, not the ability.

If you praise a kid's intelligence, they'll accept your praise. They'll believe that they're "smart." It'll be great...until there's something they can't do (which, hello, is going to happen). It'll lead to them being anxious and stressed, frequently worried about proving that they are "smart." And when they can't do something, they'll think they're not smart anymore. They won't like learning, they'll like "being smart." They also think intelligence is an innate ability that cannot be built or enhanced - no matter what they do. AND they are more likely to cheat or lie to try to make sure that are always seen as smart.

If, on the other hand, you praise the kid's process - how hard he/she worked and the effort he/she put into the work - they will learn that you can work hard to make something happen. They will be more willing to try new tasks. They will develop the idea that intelligence can be developed and enhanced through effort. Ultimately, this is more likely to create a happy child (and a successful one) because that child will be motivated to work hard and to love learning.

This is the theory, anyway.

It makes a lot of sense to me, although I'd also say you have to make sure that you stay focused on teaching what needs to be taught as well. You wouldn't say "Hey, you put that 2+2=5! I like the hard work you put into figuring that out." So I guess I should say that when praise is appropriate, you should praise effort and not intelligence.

So what do you think of this, since you've made it this far? Good for you, by the way, for making it all the way through. I give you a cyber-pat on the back.

The Father of My Children

2011-06-19T22:07:00.000-07:00

The day Maddy was born, I woke up from a nap and caught the two of them like this. I think Dallin still thought I was asleep, because he was all misty eyed. I slyly pulled out my camera phone and thus one of my favorite pictures of forever was created.

The father of my children is:

-devoted to every role he has-

-committed to constantly improving himself-

-the hardest worker you'll ever meet-

-capable of making anything happen, especially if it will make someone he loves happy-

-spiritually minded-

-smarter than he thinks-

-sometimes too helpful-

-disappointed in himself when he feels like he hasn't done enough (even though he always has)-

-freaking adorable with his daughter-

-the perfect balance to everything that is wrong with me-

-dang sexy-

Happy Father's Day to the father of my children, who, on top of being a generally exceptional human being, also happens to be the love of my life.

And of course, Happy Father's Day to my own wonderful dad - who never, ever made us kids feel like anything less than the most important thing in the world to him. Love you, Dad.

Saturday Breakfast

2011-06-18T21:10:00.000-07:00

I've really never been much of a breakfast person.

I really like breakfast foods, but I'm usually just not hungry in the morning (exception = pregnancy).

But, my breakfast loving hubby suggested that we have a big breakfast together every Saturday, so now it's a nice lil family tradition that we've all grown to love.

A lot of times we end up just making a more special breakfast at home. FYI, "more special" pretty much means more than cereal or yogurt. You know, like stuff you actually have to cook.

But sometimes, when we're feeling particularly cool or lazy or rich or something, we go to IHOP. We love IHOP. Especially Dallin.

***Side note: We do not love the IHOP at Val Vista and Baseline. Stay away from that IHOP at all costs, friends. Side note over***

Today was an IHOP day. And we're pretty glad it was.

In an attempt to be an all-around cooler person, I made sure to take our camera to IHOP. Now, I don't know if it's because our camera isn't especially awesome or what (p.s. it isn't)...but this is the only decent picture I have:

It might also have something to do with the fact that once our food arrived, I was very much in "get in my belly" mode.

Which the food promptly did. Which was very kind of it.

What's your sign?

2011-06-17T21:04:00.000-07:00

When Maddy was about 9 months old, we got her started on "Baby Signing Time."

Oh. My. Awesome.

For a while, it was all she would really want to do. She would sway her arms back and forth (to sign "baby") and...well, not stop until we turned the dang thing on.

Of course, she's expanded her list of acceptable viewing material. This is mostly due to Netflix, since Netflix is very convenient yet does not offer Baby Signing Time for instant watch (grumble grumble I expect the world to be at my fingertips...grumble).

But anyway, she's learned a lot of signs and uses them regularly, although there are a few things now that she prefers to say rather than sign.

I made a list a while ago of everything she could sign. She's probably forgotten some of them by now, but there were about 40.

Here are some that she still uses regularly:

food/drink: food, water, milk, juice, banana, apple, candy, grapes, cheese, cracker, cookie

animals: dog, cat, bird

vehicles: car, bus (lately used to tell us that she wants to read the book "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus," which is her current favorite), train

other words: Dad, more, please, thank you, bath, out, up, hot, cold, bubbles, brush teeth, red (random, I know), tree

I would have loved to get a video of all of this to include on here...but seriously, you try getting an 18 month old in front of a camera to do just what you want her to do. Not especially simple.

Anyway, I'm a total sign language for babies advocate. Hopefully Maddy's lil sis likes it, too!

32

2011-06-16T22:21:00.000-07:00

Happy 32 weeks to me!

It's pretty crazy to think our little family will be growing in just 8 weeks (hopefully no sooner...). I am having serious trouble wrapping my head around the 2 kid concept, and I think I've given up on trying to do so until she actually comes.

She still moves a ton. A ton. And she's getting strong, too.

I'm having pretty frequent contractions. Dr. says this is normal, especially for a second baby. I guess I'll have to take his word for it.

So you know, I'm pregnant. Aches, pains, roller coaster emotions, exhaustion...pretty par for the course. And honestly, I will probably always make it sound worse than it is. I know I have it so much easier than some other mommas.

Oh and here's a picture:

The "good" and "bad" are in reference to my posture. It makes a huge difference in my comfort level, so I thought I'd take some pictures to figure out why. Now it all makes sense. (Check out the "farthest out" point of my belly in reference to the stairs...which Maddy is climbing while I take belly shots. I really am a good mom.) I guess I need to figure out a way to constantly remind myself to have good posture.

Good luck with that, self.

That one time we built a computer in our kitchen

2011-06-15T20:31:00.000-07:00

If you want a media center built right, you have to do it yourself.

By "media center," I mean home for all things media related in the Harris household - music, movies, TV, etc.

Apparently, this basically just takes a computer that is built and set up in the right way.

Thankfully, my hubby's brilliance extends to building and setting up such things in the right way.

Which is how it happened that we found ourselves in our kitchen last night, building a computer.

This is probably where I should mention that it took me all of about 30 seconds to hurt myself.

And this was one of those cuts that sliced under my skin. Kind of like a hard core paper cut, you know? Anyway, it hurt. And it happened while we were pulling the first piece - literally, the first one - out of the box.

So I pretty much spent the rest of the time taking pictures. Using my middle finger, since my index one was the injured one.

I also handled a screwdriver a few times, and unwrapped some things. It was actually a big deal that I unwrapped things because *apparently* static electricity is a big deal with computer parts and even a little amount that is too small for you to notice can ruin a part for good. Dallin told me this, and then expected me to touch anything. Silly boy.

So, we're cool? Right? Right?! I mean, have you built a computer in your kitchen?

Mm hmm.

It's Flag Day, Flag Day...

2011-06-14T21:17:00.000-07:00

Gotta get down on Flag Day...

And now I've made a Rebecca Black joke. I'm becoming a real blogger, here.

But seriously...

IT'S FLAG DAY!

Don't ask me why I love Flag Day. I really couldn't tell you. I kind of just decided to like it one day. So let it be written. So let it be done.

You could probably guess what Flag Day is about, but in case you don't feel like guessing, it commemorates the adoption of the U.S. Flag, which happened on June 14, 1777.

Since Tuesday nights are not very conducive to celebrating (even on Flag Day), we had a little Flag Day shindig at our house this past weekend.

Since I decided that this was going to be "the" party that I was going to throw to cross #21 off of my "Things to do" list for the year, I wanted to go all out. As it turns out, "all out" included:

-nifty invitations that I do not currently have a picture of...

-festive banners

-quite the yummy food spread

-cheap (yet spectacular) favors for our guests to "spangle" themselves with

-swimming

-chatting

-general reveling in the Flag Day spirit

Good times, in my humble opinion. And yes, I feel as though enough effort went into this party to allow me to cross #21 off my list. Can I get an "Amen?!"

And so, until next year, Flag Day. Thanks for giving me a way to be unique.

Songs I'm sick of

2011-06-13T22:43:00.000-07:00

I'm sure you have them, too.

Those songs that seem to play every single time you turn on anything that plays music.

Those songs that you could sing (or at least mumble the words to, if you can't tell what those newfangled rock stars are saying) in your sleep.

Those songs that you've heard so much that you just want to wring their non-existent necks.

Yeah. Those songs.

Well, I currently have more than a few of them. Anyone else totally and utterly sick of these songs?

"Breakeven" (apparently it is one word) by The Script
"I'm still alive but I'm barely breathin..."
(I know the feeling.)

"Hey Soul Sister" by Train
"Heeeey! Heeeeeeeeeeey! Heeeeeeeeey! Your lipstick stains...."
(Possibly the worst one on the list. I'm sososo sick of this song. So.sick.of.it.)

"I'm Not Crazy" by Matchbox 20
"I'm not crazy, I'm just a little unwell. I know right now you can't tell."
(Thoughts: Overplayed. I hear this one all the time. Very over it.)

"I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz
"Well, you done done me and you bet I felt it. I tried to be chill but you're so hot that I melted..."
(I still like the scatting in it. Other than that...turn it off.)

"Her Diamonds" by Rob Thomas
"Ooh, I can't take no more. Her tears like diamonds on the floor."
(Ugh. Just making this list is annoying me.)

"Uprising" by Muse
"Theeeey will not foooooorce us. They - will - stop - degraaaaaaading us"
(Do I need to tell you how many times I've heard this song? Ok, I will: 2 million times.)

So, yeah. If you're in the car next to me and you see me start pulling my hair out, it's because one of these songs came on the radio. Probably for the second time that day, if I'm already at the hair pulling stage.

And these are just the pop/rock/alternative/whatever the heck it is style songs. I listen to country, too. It's not as bad...

but still, don't get me started.

I want...

2011-06-12T21:48:00.000-07:00

A vacation with Dallin...possibly Maddy-less. Yep, brutal honesty, people. Couldn't tell you why this is appealing to me so strongly right now...but seriously, a little getaway would be so fabulous.

To know for sure when baby will come. Seriously. I would kill for this. If I could be sure that she wouldn't come during my student teaching, well, a lot of stress would go away. I'm the kind of person that stresses over things I have no control over. It's pretty cool.

For blob to go away. Blob=cyst. Nuff said.

~~Chips Ahoy.~~ No longer a want. Currently eating.

To be able to read all day long. So much I want to read. So many other things to worry about. Boo.

To be done with school. So close, yet so far.

To know for sure if I did actually leave my phone at church today. I can't find it, and don't remember having it since church. So it's gotta be there, on the piano in the primary room. But it would be nice to know so I could just stop looking.

This necklace to commemorate baby 2's birth (the one on the right, of course):

{Hint, hint.}

A backrub before bed. I've been promised this, so yay!

Hope you've all had a great day and weekend! And that you're getting ready for FLAG DAY, which is Tuesday. Happy, happy day.

New Addition

2011-06-11T21:40:00.000-07:00

We weren't expecting this so soon, but we sure are happy it came a few weeks early.

Our iPad! (What did you think I was talking about?)

***Side note: Can we talk real quick about how you can see my computer screen reflected in the iPad screen in this picture? It's kind of creepy in the coolest possible way. Don't think about it too much, though; it will blow your mind. Side note over.***

I was back and forth about whether or not I was going to let Dallin get one, because let's be honest - was the iPad really needed in our house? No. But in a moment of weakness, I relented. And since the one we wanted was nowhere to be found in stores, we ended up just ordering it online. And it came a few weeks early! Sweet, no?

So let's talk about its awesomeness. Is the iPad awesome in every way possible? Very yes. It's especially useful for keeping Maddy entertained. She can find "her shows" on the Netflix app, and we have a few different kid friendly apps for her that she just loves.

When we can tear it away from Maddy, I play games and read and stuff and Dallin has another way to check his email (I kid...sort of). It's basically a great toy that appeals to all of us...which is pretty amazing, if you think about it.

Have you taken the iPad plunge? I highly recommend it. Put some pennies away and you'll save up enough just in time to buy one before a new one comes out. That would be funny if it wasn't so true.

10 minutes to midnight. Lovely.

2011-06-10T23:41:00.000-07:00

Well, here we are again.

I should tell you that I am currently in a car, enjoying the last part of my date night with Dallin.

At least, we're enjoying it as much as we can, stuck on a freeway that they're making everyone get off of. Holy canoli, this takes forever.

The rest of our date night has been good, just to let you know. We ate at Smashburger, which, in case you are unaware, is the epitome of burger deliciousness. Seriously, I loves it. Go. Go now. I'll come, too.

And then we went and saw the new X-Men movie, which was great. Great, yes. Entirely awesome? Meh. But great. Totally worth seeing.

So there you go. Date night report from the car at 11:48 pm. Thank you, technology (i.e. Dallin's iPhone) for making this possible. Also, thanks, Mom, for watching Maddy. We'll be home soon...ish.

4 things that made today magical

2011-06-09T22:34:00.000-07:00

One.

Today was National Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Day. True story. We love us some strawberry rhubarb 'round these parts, so I ordered some goodness from Village Inn. We had some friends over to help us eat it...which is good considering the four of us still only made it through half the pie.

Also, I didn't take any pictures. Because I'm non-awesome like that.

Two.

I have been drooling over the Blue and White collection at Target for a while now. Yep, that's how classy I am: I drool over things at Target. Anyway, I have also been going to Target a lot lately in preparation for Flag Day.

Today, I was at a not-my-usual Target looking for Flag Day things, and I saw the Blue and White collection - on clearance. Like, half off clearance. 5 seconds later, my cart and my heart were full. THEN later, I had to go to my usual Target because not-my-usual Target did not have sufficient Flag Day supplies, and lo and behold, the Blue and White stuff was not on clearance. Or even little sale. At all.

I know! Magical, right?!

Three.

I found a swimsuit. I've discovered that many difficult problems that arise in the maternity wardrobe department (e.g. jeans, swimsuits) are best solved by just getting non-maternity type stuff in a size up. That is what my new swimsuit is. And it is grand.

Four.

So many errands. So much driving. Such a hot day. ALL SHADED PARKING SPOTS. No, seriously, I parked in like 5-6 different parking lots today and got shaded spots in all of them. You'd be amazed at the difference the shade makes! It's nice to not feel like I'm putting Maddy in an oven when I put her in her car seat. So nice. Note to self: hold out for the shady spots whenever possible.

And that, ladies and gents, makes for one magical Thursday.

BFFs

2011-06-08T21:58:00.000-07:00

Lately, this little group has been pretty much inseparable.

Madelyn, "Bayee-bee" (Baby), "Up-per" (Thumper), and Piglet (Maddy's pronunciation varies) go everywhere together.

Maddy has never really been attached to any "thing" before, so I think it's adorable - especially since it's not the "I won't do anything except scream unless my toys are in my hands" kind of attached.

Yet.

For now it's just cute. We'll enjoy it while it lasts.

Current favorite game

2011-06-07T22:01:00.000-07:00

Maddy does this a lot in the car lately.

I thought I'd take advantage of the wait for the drive-thru window at Hungry Howies (btw - best invention ever!) to capture it on video.

In case you really don't want to watch the video, are annoyed that it's sideways, and/or can't hear it...here's the transcript:

Maddy: Mama! Mama! Mama! Mama! Mama!

Me: What?

Maddy: Hi.

It's basically adorable.

T-Minus 9 Weeks

2011-06-06T21:18:00.000-07:00

Here is a little pregnancy update, since today marks 31 weeks:

-Two words: back pain. I think I've already complained enough about this.

-Ultrasound tomorrow. We've had a lot a lot of ultrasounds this pregnancy, thanks to a cyst that has made it's home on the placenta. Don't worry - so far, it's just something to "keep an eye on," but not something to be concerned about. Well, not something you should be concerned about, but try explaining that to an expectant mother who you keep sending to a specialist to have level 2 ultrasounds done. Yeah, doesn't work. But every ultrasound has shown that baby is growing normally and that everything looks great...other than that unwelcome blob.

-I'm feeling huge. I swear I was this big when I delivered Maddy. Blegh.

-The third trimester brings a whole new meaning to "morning sickness." It's more of a I-need-to-pee-but-am-also-so-stiff-that-I-feel-like-I'd-fall-apart-if-I-moved kind of morning sickness. It's made for some rough mornings.

-Speaking of needing to pee, do I? Yes. All the time.

-No swelling. Have I ever mentioned that swelling is like, my biggest pregnancy fear? I know it happens to most women, and they just deal with it an move on. And I'm sure I would do that too, if it were to happen to me...but I'm still terrified of it. And as of yet, it hasn't come out to torture me. Knock on wood.

-This little girl can MOVE. Seriously, she's all over the place. Good thing she's coming after Maddy, because if Maddy was second, I probably would have worried that she didn't move enough. This is one active lil chica.

-Also, I think we have a name. Yep, I'm pretty sure. Maybe not ready to announce it on the blog sure...but pretty sure. And as of right now, I totally love it.

So there's a quick update for ya. I'd include a picture but...didn't I just put one up a few days ago? Yeah. So maybe next week. We'll see how huge I'm feeling.

Wow.

2011-06-05T22:48:00.000-07:00

I prepared for this.

I was totally ready to write a blog post every day.

I have a list of things to blog about. I swear I do.

I guess I'm just having a hard time getting into the swing of things.

Plus I procrastinated my first homework assignments of the summer until the day they were due...which is today.

So hi, this is my blog post for the day.

I hope you enjoyed it.

For the sake of including something that is not just...nothing...here's a picture of me and Maddy from today:

She thinks those stickers are awesome. Which I think is awesome, and which I probably will continue to think is awesome until she decides that it is awesome to stick them everywhere in the house. Awesome.

And here's a blog post

2011-06-04T23:11:00.000-07:00

So, I knew when I set this goal (to have one month when I wrote a blog post every day) that there would be days like this - when it was 11:12 pm and I had yet to post for the day.

But I didn't have much of a choice today...pretty much all of my time has been spoken for, between studying for my test (this morning), Saturday breakfast (tradition!), taking my test (this afternoon) and adult session of Stake Conference (this evening).

Factor in baby discomfort (read: total blegh feeling) and it all adds up to this being your blog post for the day.

Hopefully we won't have too many more like this this month...

Hope you've all had a great Saturday!

I guess...

2011-06-03T17:50:00.000-07:00

Now that I have an 8 pack of fun-sized Mounds to keep me company (I am all about Mounds these days)...

...now that Maddy is asleep....

...now that I finished the (super awesome) invitations for my party next weekend...

...now that I got a good chunk of content writing done for Dallin (but not all of it)...

...and now that my certification exam is less than 20 hours away...

...I guess....

I'll start studying for it.

Sciatica

2011-06-02T15:42:00.000-07:00

If you've been reading my blog for a while (thanks, by the way) you might remember the post where I complained about my baby torturing my sciatic nerve.

Well gosh darn these babies of mine, they must be siblings.

The only thing is...the pain I'm having right now seems much more characteristic of sciatica than what I had with Madelyn. More "shooting" and down my legs into my feet. So I'm thinking either I just totally forgot what it felt like the first time, or only one of these pains was/is actually sciatic nerve pain and the other was/is something else entirely. Or maybe it just manifests itself in different ways at different times? Who knows?

Either way, I go to bed pretty much every night with some yucky back pains. And sometimes they stick around for some morning fun, too.

I just got an awesome pregnancy pillow called a Snoogle. Snoogle's main purpose is to help me with this back pain. Snoogle does a pretty good job at it. Snoogle's secondary purpose is to allow me to say it's name as many times as possible, since Snoogle is a pretty awesome word.

But really, there's only so much Snoogle can do. So I guess what I'm asking is, does anyone have any helpful hints for sciatic pain? Other than what my doc told me, which was to not stand for long periods of time and to not bend over a lot...but my TODDLER sorta kinda makes both of those things hard. So if something worked for you, let me know.

Pleaseandthankyou.

For your trouble, here's a lil picture of me and baby girl after 30+ weeks together:

She's looking better than I am. Also, the picture is in black and white for a reason. Yikes, skin. Yikes.

35 Things: May Update

2011-06-01T15:15:00.000-07:00

Hey, it's your favorite part of the month! The part where I use my blog to keep track of the things I've done on my list.

The problem is...I haven't done anything other than the monthly stuff, with which you all are undoubtedly familiar by now. A meal plan for at least one week (#7), a new cookie every month (#12), and an act of service (#35). I did them all, and I'm proud that I'm keeping up with them!

Before I present you with my June plans, let me just say that the cookies I tried this month were so.good. No really, they were very good. Everyone loved them, with a capital L and probably 6-7 Os. So check out the recipe here. Yummm...

I also made progress on my book reading goal of 30 books (#25). Here's what I read:

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini - Really, really good. I was amazed that a book in which so many depressing things happened could leave me with an overall positive feeling. I guess all the heartbreaking stuff was broken up with enough joyful moments to make everything see more inspiring than depressing. 4 stars.

Delirium by Lauren Oliver - Following the currently popular trend, this book features a female protagonist who slowly comes to realize that the limits of her society are, well, limiting. It's a storyline that I'm getting just a little tired of, which takes off a star by itself, and then I despised the ending, so another half star for that leaves this one at 3 1/2 stars. Pretty good, though.

The Scorch Trials by James Dashner - The sequel to The Maze Runner, which I read last month. I would say it is better than the first one, but maybe only slightly. They are very similar. I like this series, but am kind of starting to feel like I'm reading a reworked version of Lost. It's a lot of questions and not a lot of answers. Which gets kind of frustrating. I'll give it four stars, though.

That takes me up to 15 books. According to Goodreads, that makes me 3 books ahead of my goal. Sweet.

So, June. I really need to get going on some of my one-time-thing stuff. And I've known all along that June was going to be my best chance, since it's in between student teachings and also pre-baby. So look out this month for:

-A blog post every day (#28) - lucky you!
-A party thrown by yours truly (#21)
-Finishing the nursery (#15)

Those are at least the ones I'm committed to. Who knows - maybe I'll have time to do some others, too. Happy June, everyone!

Faux grad

2011-05-30T08:25:00.000-07:00

I have one more semester of class.

No, that's not true.

I have one more TERM of class. Summer TERM. At least, that's what I think it is. I can't really find the official name for it. But I like "term" better than "semester." It sounds shorter. Also, now that I've used the word "term" 3 (and now 4) times in one paragraph, it's starting to look weird to me. Term. Weird.

Anyway, since the end of my classes happens to clash horribly with the time when I am supposed to be pushing a baby out, I thought it might be more practical to "graduate" in May.

I pretty much told everyone that I was doing this because there was no graduation ceremony in August. I do not actually know if this is true. For all I know, there may be a graduation ceremony in August! But I highly suspect that there is not.

Basically, all this is to tell you that I faux graduated this month. Am I a legit teacher with a diploma and a certification? No, not yet. Did I get to wear a cap and gown and hood (A HOOD!) and have my name read and make everyone think that I'm a legit teacher with a diploma and a certification? HECK YES.

Yes, I am now going by Master Katie. Please address all future correspondence to me in this way. Thank you.

If I was able to explain to you how hot/sweaty I was in the period of time following the ceremony, I would do it. However, current words are not available to describe. Therefore, you will have to use your imagination to determine these things.

Also, these people have put just as much work into my degree as I have. Dallin is amazingly supportive (even with the prospect of student loan debt hanging over our heads), and can pretty much talk me through any slump. My mom has babysat like a mad woman. She rocks!

So, there you have it. A few pictures from my "graduation." Too bad classes start again tomorrow.

My mom is awesome because...

2011-05-08T21:43:00.000-07:00

what she really wanted for Mother's Day was a gift certificate to go skydiving.

We obliged, of course.

You go, Mom.

Happy Mother's Day to my fabulous momma!

And happy Mother's Day to all women out there. Whether you've birthed a child or not, it's still in your heart to be a mother.

Just breathe

2011-05-02T22:47:00.001-07:00

So...in case you haven't read between the lines....or haven't read the lines themselves...

school is killing me.

It's been especially tough this past week or so, when I've...

-had so much I wanted to do and just haven't been able to do it all-

-been trying like crazy to play catch up with all things school-

-been pretty upset with myself, realizing that it's my own fault that I have to play catch up-

Seriously, part of me feels like I should have been working insanely hard to do a better job of keeping up with all aspects of my life.

But then the other part of me reminds me that working any harder could have easily resulted in my death, and possibly the death of a few innocent bystanders. Honestly though, I don't think I'd be happy with myself if I had put any more time into school and taken time away from other things. My life would be way off balance, and I wouldn't be cool with that.

I've been stretched to the breaking point on so many levels, and I'm r.e.a.d.y for it to be over.

And then I remember that it is almost over...

and I decide that I'm just going to...

-have some chips ahoy and milk (baby's favorite snack) before bed-

-wake up early and exercise (you read that right)-

-tackle tomorrow, and then the day after that...and repeat-

-insert positive thought here-

35 Things: April Update

2011-05-01T08:47:00.001-07:00

To say that April has been a crazy month would be an understatement. So much time, so little to do. Strike that, reverse it.

BUT I was able to keep up on my stuff that I'm supposed to do every month for my 35 things, including (#7) making a meal plan (even if it included pizza/take-out for two days that week...ha!), (#12) baking a new cookie (yummy oatmeal chocolate chip, adapted from the amazing Emily's recipe, found here), and (#35) completing an act of service.

I also did...

14. Donate old clothes to DI: Hoo-freaking-ray. This has needed to be done forever. I expanded my donation to include shoes, books, etc. It felt so nice to de-clutter a bit. I swear I'm totally nesting. I want my house to be an clean, organized dream. Sigh....baby steps.

25. Read 30 books: added two more books to my list. Not as much as I would have liked, but one of them was by Cormac McCarthy, so you gotta cut me some slack.

-The Road by Cormac McCarthy: Hard to get into, hard to read, pretty disturbing. Very...different. Also very...depressing. Also very...3 stars.

-The Maze Runner by James Dashner: The story kept me going, the writing didn't. What happened to character development in this book? Did it even exist? The answer is no. I didn't so much care about any of the people. Any of them. That's sad. I'm usually a pretty caring person. Thanks a lot, James Dashner, for making me not care. I've heard the second book (The Scorch Trials) is better. True? False? Anyone know? I'll probably read it. But this one gets 3 1/2 stars.

Can you believe it's MAY already? It blows my freaking mind, I tell ya.

Happy Not Good Friday

2011-04-22T08:01:00.001-07:00

I don't have the day off because it's Good Friday. I have the day off because it's "Spring Holiday."

Either way, I have the day off from student teaching.

I know I've told you absolutely nothing about my student teaching experience, and for that, I apologize. Let's just say it's been a roller coaster. Some days I feel like I would love love love to have my own classroom and teach little kiddos all day. Some days I feel like I would rather...not.

But hey, I'm five weeks into it. Three more to go.

And I have the day off today.

And it's Earth Day. Fun fact.

Since we didn't have school today, I talked to the class about Earth Day yesterday. Here's how our discussion started:

Me: So who knows what we celebrate on Earth Day?

Little girl who is pretty much the cutest/sweetest child in the class, with a lovely little smile on her face: It's to celebrate when Jesus died on the cross for our sins!

Me: No. Anyone else?

HAHA. Ah, me. Looking back on it now I probably sounded a bit rude to her. I just tried to avoid her answer entirely. But I still have no idea how I should have handled that. I probably should have said something like, "Well, sweetie, I think you're thinking of Easter, which is also this weekend, but we can't talk about that in school because there might be one or two children in here whose parents would be extremely upset if we did. They're the same ones who insist that we call tomorrow "Spring Holiday" instead of "Good Friday" or "Easter Break." I like to call that 'insisting on political correctness to the point of stupidity,' and it's a problem that a lot of people have. But you are right that that is what we celebrate on Easter, which 75% of Americans celebrate, so good for you! Now, who knows about Earth Day?"

Hmm...not sure how that would have worked out either.

The point is, I don't have to go in today. Which means I can tackle my ever growing list of stuff that I have/want to do. Which is awesome.

Finally write a blog post after a three-week hiatus: check.

35 Things: March Update

2011-04-03T07:43:00.000-07:00

Aaaaand....go!

6. Try a food I've never tried before - I'm a pretty picky eater, so I was moderately worried about this one. I also had to decide what qualified as "a new food," like, something I'd never ordered before at a restaurant wouldn't count. I had my mind set on trying guacamole (nope, never tried it), but then when I was presented with the opportunity to have a hot dog with some sauerkraut, I went for that instead.

Verdict: I didn't hate it, I didn't love it. It wasn't nearly as flavorful as I had always thought it would be. I don't know what I was expecting, considering the main ingredient is cabbage (fun fact), but I found that it added more texture than taste. And I didn't love the texture. But hey, I've tried it now. I still kinda want to try guacamole.

7. Create a meal plan - at least one week every month - yep yep.

12. Bake a new cookie every month - In honor of St. Patrick's Day/Girl Scout cookie season, I made some homemade thin mints. I really liked them! Recipe found here.

**Side note: Oh, and for the love, please don't use super dark chocolate. I dipped a few cookies in 85% cocoa content chocolate and whoa. Too much. Sometimes I just don't think things through. Of course it's going to be bitter, Katie! Sheesh. Side note over.**

25. Read 30 books - added three more books this month, bringing my grand total up to 10.

-The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls: This book pretty much gave me the creeps. I just wrote a pretty long paragraph as to why, and I just deleted it, because you probably don't want to read it. If I decide it needs to be said, I'll make it its own post. Deal? Okay. So, the creeps. 3 stars (good writing and fascinating (but creeps-inspiring) story).

-Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale: This was a quick read that had a lot of good things about it. Writing was a little juvenile in my opinion, but the main character was young and it's told from her point of view, so I can't really dock points for that. I liked it! 4 stars.

-The Princess Bride by William Goldman: I don't give 5 star reviews lightly, but wow, did I love this book. I can't believe it took me so long to read it, because so many people have been recommending it to me for so long. But I really enjoyed it. Don't be like me. Read it now. 5 stars.

35. Complete an act of service every month: done.

So, this month was mostly just keeping up with the stuff I do every month. I'm going to have to change that if I want to make it through this list! But with my student teaching in full swing, it's going to be tough. Stay tuned.

A Wanted Ad

2011-03-29T15:51:00.000-07:00

Married w/kid 20-something female seeks new immune system to replace current weak sauce one.

Ideal candidate is diligent, hardworking, and consistent.

Must be able to work with a pregnant body. Current system takes a vacation in the Bahamas during pregnancy. Unacceptable.

Experience drying up mucus is required.

Accepting applications now.

But for goodness' sake, don't tell my current immune system, or it might turn on me even more.

Guess what I just found out.

2011-03-20T10:49:00.000-07:00

Remember how Baby Girl is due August 8?

Keep that in mind.

With that in mind, see what you think about this:

My Pre-K student teaching is during the second summer term at ASU (this is the only time it's offered). This is from July 5 to August 5.

And may I quote: "This is a full-time field experience, so you need to plan accordingly."

{It might be a little late for that.}

Also, since I'll be done with school, the student health insurance that I'm on will go bye-bye on August 15 (happy birthday to me).

In summary:

No early baby. No late baby. 10 day window, baby.

Thank you, that is all.

Cali/Disneyland

2011-03-18T16:32:00.000-07:00

We headed off for California Sunday night. We hung out on Monday, and hit up Disneyland on Tuesday and Wednesday.

I lo-lo-lo-lo-ve Disneyland. You know this.

I even loved Disneyland while pregnant (and therefore unable to go on the "big" rides). That is true love.

It was pretty darn busy, since it was AZ's spring break and all, but we still had a great time!

-Yes, I got Madelyn one of those "backpack leash" things. The girl would usually rather walk than be carried or pushed in her stroller. Crazy? Yes. True? Also yes.

-We finally saw World of Color. It = AMAZING.

-Maddy loves Coke/soda in general. She's totally my daughter.

-She also loves the Carousel and "It's a Small World." By the end of Small World she was waving at everything. She also quacked at anything that remotely resembled a duck.

-Maddy also helped Grandma kick everyone's trash in the interactive games (Buzz Lightyear and Toy Story Mania). Seriously - they did so good.

Current favorite

2011-03-13T08:55:00.000-07:00

This is currently my favorite picture ever:

{heart}

The best kind of egg

2011-03-11T08:16:00.000-08:00

I don't really like eggs.

I mean, I sort of do. I like them if they're scrambled, and they've got things mixed in (like, at least cheese) and I can put ketchup on them. That's all right.

But my favorite kind of egg? This kind:

Am I right, or am I right? {I'll give you a hint: I'm right.}

But I've got to take this one step further, because you see, there are a few different variations on the joy that is the Reese's egg, and I have a fairly strong opinion about which one is best.

Basically, Reese's eggs are available in the following varieties:

small: eggs are individually wrapped in Easter-y colored foil wrappers, sold in a bag

medium: eggs are individually wrapped in the yellow wrapper shown in the picture with me above, also sold in a bag

large: Very much like the medium eggs, but, well, larger. They have a yellow wrapper and are held in a white cardboard "shell" inside the wrapper. They are sold either individually or in packs of 6.

Personally - and I've put a lot of thought into this - I like the medium eggs.

The small ones are sometimes kind of hard to unwrap, and I think they're often a little light on the peanut butter. Or at least you can't really taste the peanut butter. Or maybe they just have a different taste. Dunno for sure.

And the large ones...well, as hard as it may be to believe, I think they are TOO big. I feel like I get to the middle and it's all peanut butter, which is no bueno.

But in the medium ones, the chocolate to peanut butter ratio is just right. For the whole thing. And I loves it.

I guess this whole post was written for the purpose of confessing to you that I have eaten way more medium Reese's eggs than is healthy. Way more.

Are you a Reese's egg fan?

Read this if you want to know what brand of baby we're having.

2011-03-07T15:55:00.000-08:00

Have you all been on pins and needles?

Is the suspense killing you?

Are there any other cliches about waiting that I can write while I stall?

No?

Well, okay then.

I am pleased to announce that our wonderful new addition, who is still set to arrive August 8, and who will undoubtedly bring an insane amount of joy to not only our little family but to the entire world...

is...

a...

Yep, my instincts were wrong. And I don't mind a bit.

And yes, the technician was extremely confident. She said it wasn't just the absence of boy parts, but the obvious presence of girl parts. Even I could tell from the picture. thankyouverymuch.

So there you have it. In 5 short months there will be another little Harris princess.

Can you wait? Because I can't.

Getting over my trust issues.

2011-03-01T07:30:00.000-08:00

It's hard to trust ultrasounds when they once told you that your little girl was a little boy.

{Remember when that happened?}

But in the name of getting over my trust issues, we are, once again, going to put a little faith in an ultrasound in an effort to discover the gender of Baby Dos.

And that ultrasound is happening this coming Monday, March 7. I'm stoked.

Dallin and I both initially thought boy. Pretty strongly, actually. That's just what seemed like it would "fit" better in our family, or something. It just...made sense. Does that make sense?

BUT, we had an ultrasound at our last appointment, when I was about 14 weeks. The lady (yes, different lady than last time...we switched doctors when we moved) said she could make an "educated guess," and that guess - that early guess, mind you - was girl.

So now, I dunno. Dallin and I both initially thought Maddy was a girl, so maybe we're intuitive about this sort of thing. But maybe not. I guess we have a 50% chance of being right.

Can I let you in on a secret, though? I would love for this baby to be a girl. I think it would be great to have two girls so close in age. Plus, I already have lots of girl clothes. Probably too many girl clothes...

Anyway, I'll be happy with a little guy too, of course. For now...I just want to know!

There's a poll up in the corner so you can submit your guess, so have at it!

35 Things: February Update

2011-02-28T08:44:00.000-08:00

And it continues...

2. Have one month when I go to the temple weekly (halfway done) - Tell me if you think this is cheating: my bro-in-law (who is leaving on his mission to Paraguay in May...yay...that rhymes) visited the temple for the first time ever on Feb 19, and we're supportive and all, so we went. The next week, my little sister (who is getting married March 3) visited the temple for the first time ever, and we're supportive and all, so we went.

And I thought to myself, "Self, you could have planned this out better and gone to the temple every week for the month of February!"

And then my self responded with "Well, self, you could still make this work...just go for 4 consecutive weeks"

And I thought, "By golly, self, you're right. After all, I made these rules."

So I hereby decided that 4 consecutive weeks fulfills the "every week for a month" requirement. And so it is written.

So I'm halfway done with that one. Cheating? Bah.

7. Create a meal plan - at least once a week for every month - check.

12 Bake a new cookie every month - February's cookie: Rolo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies, found on My Baking Addiction (click the cookie name to go to the recipe). And these were every bit as yummy as they sound and look. Yumzo.

25. Read 30 books - while I didn't make as much progress as I did in January, I read a couple books this month, bringing my grand total up to 7:

-Fire by Kristin Cashore: not a sequel to Graceling, but a "companion" to it. Really, really liked it. I plan on reading the third one when it comes out, thanks so much. 4 1/2 stars.

-City of Glass by Cassandra Clare: the third of The Mortal Instruments series, which I had to finish, but I'm pretty glad is behind me now. 2.75 stars.

29. Do not drink soda for one month - you.guys. If you don't know how huge this is, then you don't know me. I HAVE NOT HAD A SINGLE SIP OF SODA FOR AN ENTIRE MONTH. This is amazing. I am incredibly proud of myself for doing this. I won't blubber on about it, but it was not easy. BUT I DID IT. Holy crap. Go me. Now where's my DP?

30. Babysit for free - done. Just because it's done doesn't mean I won't do it for you and your kids. I'm willing to do it again. I probably will do it again. Cool.

35. Complete an act of service every month - again, won't go into detail, but I didz it.

So there you have it. I'm doing all right, no? Plus, I got started on several others on the list, including cleaning out/organizing the pantry, finishing the nursery, and donating old clothes to DI.

I'm really liking having this list, y'all.

What food does to me

2011-02-25T09:48:00.000-08:00

Before eating my breakfast this morning:

About 30 minutes after eating my breakfast (of Mini Wheats + a banana) this morning:

It's a pretty big difference if you ask me.

Almost 17 weeks.

When you're pregnant and don't have church until 3

2011-02-13T12:13:00.001-08:00

Your Sunday morning can easily become full of mindless munching and computer browsing.

Also, Poore Brothers Three Cheese Jalepeno chips are yum.

For the sake of putting up a new post...

2011-02-10T16:46:00.000-08:00

Random thoughts:

1) Did you know that the lowest zip code in the United States is 01001, which is for Agawam, MA? BUT there are two exceptions: (a) 00501, which is in NY but is used only for the US Internal Revenue center there, and (b) 00601, which is in Puerto Rico. The highest zip code is 99950, and is for Ketchikan, AK, which is mighty fun to say.

2) Many Valentine's Day cards out there are waaaaay too wordy. Like, I was looking at the cards for husbands and couldn't really find a single one that didn't have a novella in it. What if I'd rather just have the card say something simple and sweet so I can write my own novella, if I so choose? The fact is, Hallmark doesn't want us to become novella-ists. They want to make us illiterate so we have to say everything we ever want to say with a Hallmark card.

And look at that, I'm a conspiracy theorist.

3) Dallin was gone for 4 days last week, in Mexico doing some awesome work/church stuff. I didn't tell you because ~hello~ this is the internet, and I didn't want the internet to know that I was home alone for 4 days. I missed him terribly.

4) 14 weeks pregnant. Dallin and I have kind of been thinking boy from the beginning, but in the past couple days I've been questioning that hunch. I guess we have a 50/50 shot, and we'll know March 7.

5) I have to be a reference for a guy I knew in high school that is applying to be a police officer. It's really hard to answer questions like "What is the applicant's temperament?" when you haven't spoken to said applicant in 4 years. I mean, I could tell you what he was like when he was 19...but...do you really want to know that? Humph. It's annoying. But necessary, I suppose. So, I plow on.

The end. Have a happy day!

35 Things: January Update

2011-01-29T12:44:00.000-08:00

So I'm off to a good start on my 35 Things to do in 2011! Here's a quick update:

7. Create a meal plan - at least once a week for every month - done for 2 weeks in January. Holla!

12. Bake a new cookie every month - January's cookie: Oreo Cheesecake Cookies, recipe found here. They were okay. Not as great as the name would leave you to believe.

13. Clean out extra room - Dallin's aunt and uncle stayed with us one night this month, and since they needed a place to stay, this kind of needed to be done. And guess what? Dallin did it the weekend that I was deathly ill. Because he's the bomb(dot)com. Now I just have to refashion it into the cutest little girl room for Maddy. But it can be crossed off the list because it is definitely "clean."

25. Read 30 books - Obviously, not done yet, but definitely in progress. Here's what I've read, with a sentence or two on how I felt about each one:

-And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie: Actually very enjoyable, a little creepy (not really a bad thing, in my opinion). It kept me guessing. I'm glad I finally read something by the famous Agatha. 4 stars.

-Graceling by Kristin Cashore: Kind of a teen candy read, but an awesome one. I like the characters and I think the idea of "graces" is clever. 5 stars.

-Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout: Meh. Never really got into it. Great writing though. 3 stars.

-Matched by Ally Condie: Another teen read (they're fast and fun, ok?!). Futuristic setting that shows what society might become if we let it (I love that). Poetic writing. Loved it. 5 stars.

-Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta: A little hard to get into, and somewhat confusing at times. But it is a very touching story. 3.5 stars.

***Side note: Dangit it's embarrassing to admit that I like those teen reads so much. And both the ones mentioned above are the first in their series, so I've got to keep reading them. AND there's other ones on my list. Oh well. I shall not be ashamed. More refined stuff is on my list too! Side note over.***

26. Buy skinny jeans - Yep yep. Got em, like, the first week in January, with an American Eagle gift card I got for Christmas. Have I mentioned that American Eagle jeans are just the best for me? Well, they are. And I'm actually loving the skinnies. This was a big confidence thing for me, by the way. I've always thought I couldn't pull the look off, but I'm just going for it.

35. Complete an act of service every month - I won't tell you what it was, but trust me, it was done.

So yeah, feeling pretty good about this!

Also, I've chosen February for my no soda month. I'm calling it Fizz-Free February. And it's only partly because February is the shortest month of the year. But yes, that definitely had something to do with it. Anyone want in?

Positivity

2011-01-28T13:48:00.000-08:00

Is everyone ready for Debbie Downer/Negative Nancy/any-other-sad-word-and-name-combo to be gone?

I totally am. I know I haven't blogged very much over the past several days, so you haven't really gotten to see grumpy/tired/generally-bummed-out Katie in all her glory. But she's been here - believe me. And now, I'm ready to get rid of her.

BECAUSE:

-Food and drink have stayed inside my body for two, almost three, days. Woot. I say again, woot.

-I just got back from a nice little trip to Sedona with Dallin. We flew up with my uncle (a pilot) and my dad, had lunch, and flew back. And even though I am not really so much a fan of small aircraft...fun!

-The Valentine's wreath I am making is turning out quite nicely, and I am proud. Also, I love Valentine's. I need to do more for it.

-Madelyn gets cuter every day. It doesn't seem possible, but it is.

-My house actually looks decent, thanks to my amazing hunk of a husband who cleaned it from top to bottom last weekend. Now I just need to keep it up. I can do that.

-Maddy is napping at Grandma's right now (Grandma watched her while we went to Sedona) which means I've got the time AND the energy (simultaneously!) to get things done.

Let's go.

Ay yai yai

2011-01-26T09:20:00.000-08:00

Is that really how you spell that? "Ay yai yai?" Really? That's odd.

Just thought I would let you know that I am still alive. But just barely.

The past 5ish days have been so.so.so.so. bad.

Food doesn't stay in. Weight doesn't stay on. Sleep isn't constant. Energy is nonexistent.

I'm convinced I've had some sort of other bug that is making me sick. Like, I'm not just pregnant-sick. I'm sick AND pregnant-sick. And it's bad.

It's especially bad because one of those past 5 days was Dallin's birthday. And I was simply unable to do anything to get ready for it or make it extra special. Oh, except...

Thankfully, I got this done right before the major sickness came on. Also thankfully, my mom and sisters helped me out with it. Cool, no? I'm a little proud.

I'm also still trying to make up for his birthday, which was now two days ago. We'll see what I come up with. He deserves so much.

Anyway, I'm feeling better today than I have in a while. Hopefully it keeps up, because I would really like to get back to life now.

Here we go again...

2011-01-11T14:56:00.000-08:00

Yep, it is what you think it is.

Due August 8.
Which makes me 10 weeks along.

Pregnancy is coming on stronger this time, in more ways than one.

I'm sicker. I did get pretty sick with Madelyn, but I'm sicker this time.

I've already got a little pooch. No weight gain, but a little pooch.

I think I've already had more cravings this time around than I did my whole first pregnancy.

I have this nesting urge that I never really got the first time around. Plus, doesn't that usually come later?

I'm so so excited, but also freaking out about having TWO kids.

Having one is like, having a fun little friend to take with you everywhere.

Having two is like, business.

We specifically requested an ultrasound that was not planned. They squeezed us in. I wanted to see what all the gagging is for.

We saw the baby move. We heard the heartbeat.

The gagging is worth it.

I feel so blessed. Life is good.

Death by Baby Gap

2011-01-05T09:38:00.000-08:00

Ever since I had a little girl, Baby Gap has been trying to kill me.

The other day, I think they may have succeeded. Madelyn and I wandered the mall because Dallin was out doing missionary stuff and because that's what girls do when they have nothing else to do - they shop. Here are just a few of the things we stumbled upon.

This is just a few random things I picked from their website. It's even cuter in person. And there's so much more of it. *Sigh*

Now, just so you don't go thinking I'm a baby clothes snob, I'll have you know that I got Maddy a few shirts from Walmart the other day for $3.50 each. They were adorable too.

But to be honest, we'll probably be going back to Baby Gap before too long...

35 Things to do in 2011

2011-01-03T10:08:00.001-08:00

Hello, all.

So I read this very adorable blog written by this very adorable girl I knew in Junior High and High School. Her name is Emily and she just has the most cheery disposition ever. If only I could be as positive as she is...

Anyway, several months ago she and her husband created a list of 101 things to do in 1001 days.

When creating my New Year's "resolutions" this year, I decided following in their footsteps was the way to go, for a few reasons:

1) If you remember from years past, I'm not really into the traditional "resolution" stuff. I think it is setting yourself (ok, myself) up for disappointment.

2) Making a list of "things to do" keeps things specific and measurable. I've made too many "I want to be better at X" or "I'm going to do Y every day!" goals. Those end up getting me down because either I miss one day and the whole thing goes out the window, or I have a hard time defining what "better" is. Either way, it's discouraging. Hopefully, having "things to do" will keep me more on track.

I changed things up a bit, which you've probably realized if you read the title of my post. I decided to scale it down for one year instead of the 2.74 years that is 1001 days, which means I also scaled my list of things to do down by 2.74, coming out to 35 instead of 101. (Okay, so it is technically 36...but 35 is...rounder.) I think keeping it to one year somehow seems a little less overwhelming to me; plus, it will hopefully keep me from procrastinating.

Anyway, enough justification. I don't have to justificate myself to you anyway (no offense).

So here's my list, divided into categories and listed in no particular order:

35 Things to do in 2011

Spiritual

1. Read the whole Book of Mormon...twice
2. Have one month when I go to the temple weekly
3. Reread all 2011 Conference talks
4. Memorize the Family Proclamation
5. Attend a missionary discussion

Food (yep, it gets its own category)

6. Try a food I've never tried before
7. Create a meal plan - AT LEAST one week every month
8. Make hi-hat cupcakes
9. Make homemade bread
10. Build food storage (3 month supply)
11. Grow herbs
12. Bake a new cookie every month

Home

13. Clean out the extra room
14. Donate old clothes to DI
15. Finish the nursery (really finish it!)
16. Clean out and organize the pantry
17. Clean out bedside drawers

Activities

18. Go on a picnic
19. Sing in the ward choir
20. Go on a hike
21. Throw a party

Financial

22. Start a savings account for Madelyn
23. Create a grocery budget
24. Save up to buy something I want

Personal

25. Read 30 books
26. Buy skinny jeans
27. Graduate from Grad school
28. Write one blog post every day for one month
29. Do not drink soda for one month
30. Use cloth diapers exclusively for one week
31. Babysit for free
32. Watch 10 movies I've "always wanted to see"
33. Send 10 thank you cards for no real reason
34. Update my ipod
35. Complete an act of service every month

I'm working on more specific planning, like deciding which books I'm going to read and which movies I'm going to watch, or deciding which month to make my "no soda" month (EEK) or which month to write a blog post every day (lucky you). I think planning it out pretty specifically will help me stick to it even more.

For now, I'm really excited about my list. I think it is a good motivator without being overwhelming (and I get overwhelmed easily). It's amazing how quickly time passes and I think this list will help me do the things I want to do before the whole year slips away.

Happy 2011 everyone. Let's make it a good one, shall we?

Currently...

2010-12-29T10:32:00.001-08:00

We're in Seattle. Well, technically, Redmond. And there's snow.

We flew up on Christmas Day.

Yes, I survived a 3+ hour flight with a 13 month old. I would say "No applause, please," but I actually think applause is pretty appropriate.

So far, we've had a great time. Lots of relaxing, movies, playing with Maddy (entertainment in and of itself), and just spending time with our family who we don't get to see very often.

And then, last night, it snowed.

So far, we have yet to actually go outside into the snow. But we are going into downtown Seattle today so we'll have to brave it!

It looks so cold. I don't know how you snow people do it.

Hopefully I'll actually pull my camera out for the next few days while we are here so I can show you what we're up to. Don't stake all your happiness on it or anything...just...hopefully.

I hope you all are enjoying your Christmas/New Year's week!

Christmas, brought to you live from...

2010-12-25T09:03:00.000-08:00

MY NEW MACBOOK AIR.

I told Dallin to NOT get me this amazingly slim, beautiful, light, fast, shiny piece of technology.

Sometimes, I'm really glad he doesn't listen to me.

I hope you all are having an amazing Christmas! I know I am.

Laugh, eat, party, rest, remember, love.

Thank you all for being my friends!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Frustrated

2010-12-22T09:40:00.000-08:00

Most of the time, I use this blog to comment on random things I notice or think about. It's fun. I like it.

Today, I'm going to use this blog to complain. You have been warned.

I'm very frustrated. Maybe if I express this frustration, it will make me feel better.

You think? Let's try it.

I guess mostly I'm frustrated at school. I'm frustrated that it's been so hard (time-wise) and so expensive. I'm frustrated because I don't even know if it was a good idea to begin with. I don't know if I'm ever going to use my degree, and if I'll just have put the burden of student loans on my family for the sake of "getting a master's degree." That makes me feel awful. And the more I get into it, the more I think that I would never make a good teacher anyway. I have no clue what I'm doing in a classroom. And my classes, honestly, don't make me feel prepared for it at all. Not to mention I just lost a 4.0 that I've worked hard to keep up, because one of my teachers decided that a 95% should be an A minus; and because the teacher I did my internship with hasn't finished my evaluation (despite several reminders to do so) which has left me with a (hopefully temporary) D in that class, which is infuriating because I worked insanely hard at that internship.

I'm also frustrated with being sick. Yes, I'm sick again. I feel like I've been sick more often this past year and a half than in the previous 10 years combined. I used to never get sick. And now I get sick and it lasts for weeks at a time and I'm miserable through it all. I try not to let it get to me, and I think I've actually done a pretty good job of that in the past, but I guess this time is just the straw breaking the camel's back. And I'm the camel. The sick camel. Without the energy to keep my house clean or make dinner. It's...well, frustrating.

I'm frustrated because I'm in this yucky mood, and it's Christmastime and I just want to be enjoying it and looking forward to everything without all the worry hanging over my head. Christmas just brings with it so much that needs to get done, which can be both good and bad, I guess. Good because it keeps me busy, and bad because I feel like I could never get it all done just right. Anyway, I firmly believe that happiness is a choice, but sometimes it's really hard to just "choose" to be happy and make it so. But I guess I should keep trying, so...

I'll be done complaining for now. I am well aware that there is so much good in my life and that I am extremely blessed to only have the "problems" that I have. Hopefully my frustration will blow over soon. In fact, I feel better already.

So, thanks.

3 {Other} Christmas songs

2010-12-14T14:52:00.000-08:00

I love Christmas music.

Golly, who doesn't?

Also, who says "golly" anymore? I think we should bring it back.

Anyway, Christmas music is splendid. I love traditional Christmas songs that there are a zillion different versions of.

BUT I also have a few songs that aren't quite as well known. Like, there are only a couple versions of it, or maybe even just one. Or it just doesn't get the play time that all the other songs do.

I thought I'd share three of those with you today. Just the ones that came to mind first...

1) "Ding Dong Merrily on High" by Celtic Woman

Dude, this song is awesome. It is an older carol that you've probably heard before, but if you haven't heard this version, check it out. It just feels Christmasy. It makes me want to ice skate while it's snowing and angels are singing and bells are ringing...or something.

2) "A Baby Changes Everything" by Faith Hill

A very pretty, very meaningful song. Sung by Faith Hill. Gorgeous.

3) "Christmas Makes Me Cry" by Mandisa and Matthew West

Kind of pop-y, but moving nonetheless. Good vocals, too!

Have you heard these? What other Christmas songs do you like that don't get played a a gazillion times every year?

Happy Thanksgriving

2010-12-10T16:36:00.000-08:00

I haven't told you about our Thanksgiving. Silly me.

I loved Thanksgiving this year.

So much good food! So much good company!

We went to my grandma's house in Thatcher. We ate, had our traditional rocket launch, played games, took naps, etc. It was yummy, relaxing, and perfectly enjoyable. Everything Thanksgiving should be.

But I don't have any pictures, which...well, let's be honest, is typical.

And I SO wish I had a picture of what was easily one of my favorite parts of the day, but I don't. So I'll just tell you about it.

We drove up to my grandma's house, made our way to the back porch, and saw a nice little scarecrow adding a little fall flavor to the back porch. The scarecrow was holding a little sign to welcome us all there.

And what did it say?

"Happy Thanksgriving."

It made me laugh. Every time I saw it. And now, just thinking back on it, I still laugh.

My grandma is the best.

So there, a Thanksgiving post. Glad I got that off my chest.

The bark and the bite(s)

2010-12-04T14:43:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time, there was a boy named Mint.

One day, Mint met a girl named Chocolate.

He was a boy, she was a girl...can I make it any more obvious? (Thanks, Avril).

They fell in love and got married.

The world has been a better place ever since.

The end.

Do you understand the moral of this half-baked fairy tale? Let me make it as clear as possible to you:

mint + chocolate = perfection

And one of the reasons Christmas time is the best is because it is during this festive season that mint and chocolate come together to create one of their finest accomplishments: peppermint bark.

Hi, my name's Katie and I'm a peppermint barkaholic.

It started with Williams Sonoma peppermint bark several years back. Mm mm good.

However, this goodness comes with a price...a price that is right around $20 per tin.

Bummer, dude.

I've tried making peppermint bark. Believe me, I've tried. It's all right, edible and all, but just not as good. Not as good.

BUT this year...I have discovered two - yes, TWO - acceptable alternatives that do not - do NOT - cost $20.

Presenting:

No, neither one is the Williams Sonoma stuff...but they are both chocolaty, minty, and downright yummy.

If you're like me, and peppermint and chocolate rocks your world, try these. I predict that you will like them.

And if you don't like them, e-mail me and I'll send you my address so you can send me the leftovers.

And the world will be a better place

2010-12-03T07:45:00.000-08:00

Is it just me, or does the world actually seem like a better place after the Devils' WIN over the Tucson team last night?

Block 1:

Block 2:

It pretty much makes you forget about how crappy the rest of the season has been.

Until next year.

Sweaters

2010-11-20T10:12:00.000-08:00

So...I feel like lots of people swoon over fall.

Am I right? I think I'm right.

Well, I am not really among the swooners.

Sure, I like fall. I may even like fall a lot. I like Thanksgiving. And I like pumpkin things. And I like the end of 142 degree weather every.day. And fall means almost Christmas, which is super cool.

Yes, fall has its benefits, but in the end, I'm more of a spring/summer kind of gal.

Except for one thing - sweaters.

Dude. I love sweaters.

Maybe it's because I love layered looks. Maybe it's because I don't love my arms. Maybe it's because sweaters keep you (mostly) warm, and I'm a huge fan of warmth. But whatever the reason, I think sweaters are the bomb. I even have short-sleeved cardigans that I like to wear in the summertime.

And I know - I KNOW, OK?! - that most people don't really consider Arizona's fall to be "sweater weather," but guess what? I do. 70s or below = sweater.

So here's some sweaters that I'm currently loving/coveting. Yes, they're all from American Eagle. If you don't know by now that I love me some AE, well, now you do.

Oh, the cuteness!

For Dallin: I guess I'll have to wait until Christmas...since I would never just up and buy a $40 sweater! Sheesh!

For everyone else: I guess now I just have to decide which one/two to splurge on.

Bye Bye Boppy

2010-11-19T08:44:00.001-08:00

Have you seen "Bye Bye Birdie?"

I never had. I knew a lot of the songs since one of my high school choirs did a review of them, but I'd never actually seen the movie.

And then I found out about Biltmore Fashion Center's movies in the park (free movies outside - fun!) and the only weekend that worked for us was the weekend they were showing "Bye Bye Birdie." So now I've seen it. Er, most of it. We were a little late. But that's beside the point.

In fact, that whole thing is kind of beside the point, because what I really wanted to tell you was this: I'm done breastfeeding.

Hoorah!

No one told me that BF-ing took over your life. For me, it was very time consuming, and at times, pretty darn painful.

Not saying I won't do it with the next one, because I totally will. It's just...I'm going to enjoy the break. And I'm going to take Excedrin for my headaches because I can and it's da bomb.

And when I moved the boppy pillow from it's home of 11 1/2 months (our bedroom) to its new home (our spare/junk/tornado-just-hit-it room) I couldn't help but sing "Bye bye Boppy" in my head. Or maybe out loud.

Maybe.

One.

2010-11-14T07:38:00.000-08:00

Oh, you clicked over to my blog hoping to find out what we've been up to for the past few weeks? Maybe get a picture or two of Madelyn in her adorable Halloween costume? Perhaps hear about how school has been going for me (hint: blegh)? Or my feelings about Fall? Or an amazing pumpkin recipe or two?

Well stop dreaming my friends, because I'm not updating you on any of those things right now.

Today we're talking about today.

Today is Madelyn's very first birthday.

Now, I don't want to get too sappy about this. I'm honestly not freaking about too much about having a one-year-old. It is crazy...but come on, I knew it was going to happen someday. In fact, I knew the exact day that it was going to happen, so I could prepare. So don't expect me to be all "AAH MY BABY IS ONE!!!" kind of thing.

But there are a few thoughts I have.

Mostly, I just want to let the cyber-world know that I love love love my baby girl.

I'm so proud of everything she's already accomplished and become in one short year.

I'm grateful to her for making me a mother. It's the most rewarding job I've ever had.

I'm so very excited to find out what the coming years bring for both of us. I hope she grows up to be happy, healthy, loving, brave, smart, confident, and well aware of how much so many people love her.

I'm starting to wonder if the day will ever come when my heart doesn't just expand every time I look at my girl. I don't think it will.

Happy birthday, Madelyn!
Thank you for being my sunshine.

Dam Jenna

2010-10-26T13:51:00.000-07:00

If any of you have ever made the drive from Arizona to Utah, you'll know that you have to pass over the Glen Canyon Dam.

And if you've ever driven over a dam, you've probably made a dam joke.

You know what I'm talking about....the dam Visitor's Center, the dam tourists, the dam tour guide, dam pictures, etc.

Wellllll...

on our trip to Utah earlier this month, we were driving over the dam and snickering at the dam wordplay.

"Watch out for all these dam tourists on the road!"

"Anyone need to use the bathroom? We could stop at the dam visitor's center!"

And so on. So hilarious.

Just as we were crossing the dam, my sister Sarah's phone rang. It was our other sister, Jenna. While I was obviously not a participating member of the conversation, I still got the idea, and have reconstructed said conversation here:

S: Hi Jenna.
J: Hi Sarah. How's the drive?
S: Good.
J: Where you guys at?
S: Just driving over the dam.
J: Oh really? Cool. Well I'm calling to see if I can borrow your dam car. (She was no doubt chuckling at her cleverness.)
S: .....
J: .....
S: Jenna, you can't say -
J: But I need to borrow your car! Are you still at the dam? Where are your dam keys?
S: Jenna! Just because we're at the dam doesn't mean you can put "dam" in front of everything!
J: Oh. Well, can I borrow your car?

Bahahahaha. I sort of thought this was hilarious.

But perhaps you have to know my lovely sister Jenna to really appreciate it. You know, the girl who was sure that the phrase "might as well" was actually "mineaswell" (one word), who was convinced that she was stuck in an elevator before realizing (after 15 minutes) that she hadn't pushed the button, and who asked if a football game would still be considered an "upset" if everyone was happy about it.

Those are just some of my favorite Jenna-isms. I just love her to pieces.

xoxo