Tales of Me and the Husband

sponsor giveaway: tiny prints!

tiny prints!  my online store of choice when an invitation, address label, or announcement is needed.  remember this?  anyway, the site is full of beautiful things, but this post is focusing on the address labels.  anything coming through the regular old usps is always a bit fancier and more sophisticated with an return address label stuck to the top left corner, am i right?  so, check out what tiny prints has to offer in the address label department.  here are some of my favorites!
today’s giveaway is for a 
$50 gift certificate to tiny prints!
| to enter | 
{u.s. addresses only!}
+ leave a comment below (include e-mail!)
| additional entries |
{separate comments!}
+ check out the address labels and pick your favorite
+ blog / tweet / FB the giveaway and provide URL
giveaway closed!
merylanne is the winner!  congrats!

our weekend.

you already know this, the weekends in the hunt abode can be pretty quiet these days.  with snow on the ground outside and the sky mostly gray, this weekend was no exception.  well, that’s not entirely true.  we headed downtown boston to meet my sweet friends’ new baby {welcome, vivienne!} and that was altogether wonderful and surreal.  those newborns.  they are altogether magical.  then, i made those muffins i mentioned last week (except i didn’t have whole wheat flour so i subbed one cup normal and one cup coconut flour.  totally worked!  oh yeah, and i didn’t have almond meal either so i subbed flaxseed meal.  again, worked!).  everyone liked ’em but lindsey so i declare them a keeper!  there was reading, and sleeping, and a little bit of sledding.  and while going in the basement freezer for last night’s dinner, i found a stash of william’s snowballs!  i laughed and asked him what the deal was with them.  he said he made them to bring out at parker’s first birthday party.  not sure why, but really cute nevertheless.  anyway, we did some card-playing too (crazy eights).  and there you have it.  the first weekend in march has come and gone and spring is a-coming!
and i had a formspring question that i’m going to address here too.  the question: where’s jordan??  it’s a valid one!  he’s never on the blog!  so, fearing that ya’ll think i’m an evil stepmom who crops him out of pictures all the time, i will disclose that he was at a basketball tournament all weekend!  and all the other times?  he is either working, at school, skiing, playing basketball… or, if those all fail, having a major case of the teenagers.  explanation enough?

random thoughts on a wednesday (for a thursday).

it’s snowing here in boston.  and I DON’T WANT NONE OF IT.
i made this soup last night and it was pretty good.  i won’t say the fam was gushing over it, but they ate it.  don’t expect cheesy broccoli soup cause this ain’t it, but it is yummy in my opinion.  and it’s the prettiest color green you ever did see.
i realized (too late) that yesterday’s post could have been downright painful for some of you.  i’m talking about those of you who want a babe of your own but it’s just not happening for and here i am all, “it’s the coolest thing you’ll ever do.”  well, i just want to say i’m sorry.  i looked at my note in a different light when i thought of you and realized it might’ve stung quite a bit.  so, that’s all.  i’m sorry, really.
referencing another post, my commune/ off-the-grid dreams… how can we seriously do it?  steve came home yesterday and i was like, “so, can we make this happen?  a commune in the country?” unlikely.  but, power in numbers!  let’s band together!  and then i checked my e-mail for the 10th time and cursed myself and my hypocrisy.  
but seriously.  i wanna do it.
assuming i have four very ripe bananas, i’m making these this weekend and i’m really excited about it.  a recipe for a muffin that doesn’t call for sugar??  a muffin that can actually be considered a good-for-you breakfast???  sign me up!
pinterest is the bomb, don’t get me wrong.  but it almost makes me anxious.  yes.  i’m saying it here: i have pinterest-induced anxiety.  i mean, all the do-it-yourself things?  i’m like, “yes!  yes!  i have go to to ac moore RIGHT NOW AND GET THE SUPPLIES FOR THIS AND IT CANNOT WAIT ANOTHER INSTANT.”  it’s just too much.  i need some time off.  like this for instance.  it’s amazing.
i think that’s it.  over and out.
photo

to all the soon-to-be mamas.

i feel like i am surrounded by pregnancy and babies right now, friends due to give birth soon, friends just finding out they’re pregnant, or friends trying to conceive.  i have a particular soft spot in my heart for the new mamas.  the really new ones.  i remember all too well how amazing it was, on all levels really, to hold my new son in my arms after having just labored and given birth.  how naive i was.  not knowing how huge this shift in my world would be, how vulnerable i would feel (and still do feel, at times) bringing this child that i am responsible for into the world, how the intense love for a teeny, tiny, helpless person can be, at times, altogether beautiful and crippling all at the same time.  how the hormones would cause me to cry a thousand tears at the tiniest heel-prick to check his bilirubin levels (a most minor procedure!), worrying whether he’d have to spend more time under the lights.  how you want to give this child the world on a silver spoon, but will you be able to?  
so, it is with these new mamas in mind, that i wrote the following letter.  i sent it to two of my sweet friends within the last month when they were within days of giving birth.  i figure i’d post it here, for the mamas i might not know personally but who could still benefit from reading it.  
here it is.  for you, soon-to-be mamas.
dear whoever you are,
without wanting to sound too dramatic (but, fair warning: i am going to!), i want to tell you guys that what you’re about to do, specifically give birth, is the coolest thing in the entire world.  the world is abundant with the gory and scary stories.  let me be one that stands out to tell you that it is amazing, empowering, exciting, and altogether surreal.  no matter how it goes.  because at the end of it you have, in your arms, YOUR CHILD.  a baby that you and your husband made.  the greatest gift of your life, no doubt (i am literally sitting here beginning to get weepy as i write this… it doesn’t help that i’m listening to our birthing playlist at the same time).  your life will never be the same.  but it is such a good, good thing.  the sweetest change a life can undergo.  ok, here come the tears.  you will feel this insane, insane love for this baby and a new vulnerability that you’ve probably never felt before.  these aren’t my words, but i’ve heard it said: it’s like your heart is walking around outside your body.  you love your husband’s.  but this love, the love between a mama and her baby.  it’s altogether different and it is a sweet, sweet love.  the sweetest, i think.  
birth: you’ll feel super-unsexy for a time.  you’ll wear mesh panties and your vagina will feel sore.  i tore and needed 8 stitches and am hear to tell the tale.  it’s not that bad.  seriously.  chances are you’ll be so wrapped up in your new baby, it won’t be a big deal.  i’ve had sex again, and it’s been totally fine too!  our bodies are amazing and they heal and they heal well.  your belly will be this weird, gelatinous glob.  fear not!  it goes away.  your first poops will suck.  take stool softeners!  i had hemorrhoids (fun!) for a time and they sucked too.  stool softeners, lots of water, and eat healthy.  let people dote on you.  let them wait on you.  
your boobs: they’ll get big and hard and feel like pins and needles when your milk comes in.  then, when the baby latches onto one, the other one leaks like crazy!  use nursing pads faithfully.  the lansinoh ones are best.  they absorb the milk but keep you dry.  again, you’ll feel super unsexy.  and you’ll wonder if you’ll feel sexy again.  you will.  you will feel normal again.  you will fit into your jeans again and blow dry your hair and wear makeup.
your emotions: even if you don’t have “postpartum depression” you’ll have some baby blues.  you may wonder what you were thinking getting pregnant, how will this change things between your husband and you, how it’ll never be the same, how you can’t give it back (!!).  you’ll be tired.  you’ll worry about this baby and germs and people touching him or her.  you’ll think the baby is growing up too fast.  you’ll cry.  it’s ok.  let it out.  it’s normal.  so normal.  call me if you need to.  i remember thinking that i could not, would not go to the grocery store with parker in the winter time.  too many germs!  he won’t be vaccinated!  how can i?!  i implored steve to do all the wintertime grocery shopping.  now we’re into winter and the hormones have chilled the eff out and i can do it just fine.  but the hand sanitizer is never far!
your baby: don’t worry about the kitchen and the cleaning and the laundry and this and that.  just get in bed and sleep and cuddle with that new baby of yours.  smell him or her and take it all in.  nurse and sure, check your email on your phone while doing so, but also put it away.  just look at your baby nursing and savor the moment.  it goes fast.  i hate that that’s even true, but it is!  it feels like yesterday that contractions were starting and i was heading to the hospital to meet parker.  but it is so good.  it is fun.  they start to laugh at you and look at you with love in their eyes.  they become this little buddy of yours that goes everywhere with you and you develop this sweet history together.  
and finally, when you think ‘what the eff!?’ because sometimes it’s hard and crazy and you won’t feel all uber-sappy, you can call me then too.  because it’s all normal.  highs and lows.  but it’s still really stinking awesome and probably the coolest thing you’ll ever do.  
love you girls so much and wishing you soooo much good energy and relaxation during the next few days (or week or so!).
bridget
ps. hope i didn’t freak you out with any of this.

apartment therapyyyyyyy.

this little ‘ol blog was nominated!  i’m gonna be honest, i don’t see us movin’ too high on the charts with the likes of some of the beauts that are over there, but if you have a minute to spare and you like what you see here, maybe you’ll lend us your vote over there?

OR I’M SHUTTING THIS OPERATION DOWN.
(just kidding)

maybe this little lady will give you a strawbs or two if you cast your vote.  for us.
(but probably not)

and if you think we’re not there, oh we are.  just scroll down.  keep scrolling.  keeeeep scrolling.  ah!  there we are.  towards the bottom (sad face).

grazie.

Dreams of living off-the-grid.

I’m a part of this culture, no doubt about it.  I’m in it, enjoying the luxuries it affords me, its conveniences: checking my e-mail on the go from my phone, driving a little over three minutes to the nearest grocery store, tuning into my favorite show on TV (and if I miss it, it’s most likely online the next day!). When it works for me, it works for me.  But there is a tension I feel all the while.  I like it but I don’t want to be slave to it.  I don’t want to check my e-mail at every stop light because I can.  I don’t want my kids to remember their mom as someone who had her nose in a screen instead of her eyes on them.  They’ll do as we do, not as we tell them to do, right?  The coming generation, I worry, is losing the ability to communicate outside of texting and Facebook.  These are the kids my kids will be growing up with.  A community that, I’m afraid, is missing out on real life.  That is watching people live their lives on TV instead of actually living theirs.  That is playing games with a Wii controller inside instead of with a baseball and a glove outside.  Was I the last of the generation that used their imaginations?  I used to play school by the hour in my basement.  I played store with my friend Sally, making price tags for everything in her room and taking turns being shop-owner or customer.  I rode my bike around town, weaving throughout the streets of my small town with my friends from morning till evening all summer long.  I didn’t have a cell phone in my pocket and yet I managed.  We all did.  Does that exist anymore?  While I totally take part in this culture, I chafe against it so much.  At times, I want to be rid of it completely opting instead for a simpler time in which we weren’t fighting the “keeping up with the Joneses'”.  (Parents, I mean no disrespect, but WHAT are we doing buying six and seven and eight year olds iPhones or computers?  Setting no time limits for their computer or TV time?  Why can’t we, quite literally, tell them to go outside and play on a beautiful day and not dare come inside for one whole hour?  To read a book to earn their TV time?).  I’m not saying it’s simple.  Kids are stubborn.  They don’t want to do those things when they could be so easily entertained and put no work in by watching a show.  And parents, well, we’re tired and sometimes lazy and a screen is a cheap babysitter!  But goodness, does it worry me.  I don’t want my kids to miss their lives.  I don’t want them to look back and wonder why I let it happen.  Here’s where my (and I should say our, because Steve is so of this mindset as well) dreams of living off the grid come in.  I want to live a simple life.  Where a regular day could consist of passing the time in a hammock outside with a book.  Where walking trails wind all around and gardens of vegetables grow waiting to be picked.  Where I don’t feel the need to check my e-mail ten times a day and instead I’m really present.  I can do my best to give this life to my kids, but can’t we all?  Shouldn’t we all?
And if my blog suddenly disappears, you can find me in that cabin up there (like-minded people, join me!  We’ll start a commune!  Complete with backyard chickens!).
photo  

our weekend.

this weekend was a nice one, a quiet one.  much like they usually are these days.  i got some good cleaning done, the sun was shining, the wind was blowing, and the temperatures were on the lower side (well, considering that it’s been in the 50s, 30s + 40s now feels chilly.  this winter has made a wimp out of me!) so we didn’t go out too much.  i had a hankering for breakfast foods this weekend so we ate a lot of it–for breakfast, lunch, and dinner in the form of oatmeal with vanilla, peaches, and blueberries, banana sour cream pancakes, eggs, hashbrowns, bacon, and dreamy cream scones.  interrupted by a lasagna and sauteed brussel sprouts on saturday night (by the way, if you don’t already sauté your brussel sprouts, please do so immediately.  they’re even better than roasted.  just cut them in half, and sauté with some olive oil, butter, then sprinkle liberally with sea salt.  i literally cannot keep my  hands out of the pan when i’m making them and we have had them weekly for about 2 months straight).  so, there was some good eatin’ to be done this weekend.  beyond that, relaxing, fort-building out of blankets and pillows, reading, cuddling, and playing.  and now, gotta go watch the oscars!

7 months.

the happiest people
do not have the best of everything
they make the best of everything they have
{unknown}

Bloom by The Paper Kites on Grooveshark

these pictures, you’ll notice, are becoming a bit more… active?

in other news, some new parker haps: 

little boy sits up!  like really sits up.
he wasn’t, he wasn’t, he wasn’t, then one day he was.
it’s like a new world!  a vertical world!
he loves to play with spoons, bowls, pots, forks, knives
(just kidding about the last two).
he can keep himself contented for quite awhile.
also, recently he discovered exactly where i sit in the car (when driving)
and will try to crane his neck and look at me and smile from his seat.  
it makes me die a little.
he’s starting to discover that i’m mom and i’m who he wants 
instead of someone a little less familiar to him.
again, makes me die a little.
we haven’t tried any food beyond the avocado and sweet potato.
he’s totally not into it.
we’ll try again some time.
what else?  
he’s napping more consistently,
and is just a pleasure to be around.  
we love him around these parts.
that’s all!
happy 7 months, baby!

also, this time last year.  crazy.

(also, i remember seeing other moms with 7-ish month olds and being like, “oh, they’ve been at this awhile.  they are like full-blown moms who know what they’re doing.”  now, all of a sudden, i’m that mom and i realize, none of us know what we’re doing and i got here in like a day.)

a sunday walk.

with the weather as gorgeous as it’s been this winter, i’ve taken full advantage and gone for lots of walks.  when i’m feeling particularly lazy and not in the mood, i tell myself it’s good for parker (and for family life in general.  if we’re all home, we’re sitting doing our own thing, ya know?  it’s not really together time.).  fresh air!  keeping germs at bay!  vitamin d!
  so, last sunday, i talked steve into coming too.  we walked for hours and by the end william and lindsey were tuckered out.  parker kept shouting to continue moving from his cozy seat in the stroller though.  so we had to, obviously.  we checked out some old cemeteries, old homes, a park or two, and just wound in and out streets of an unfamiliar town.  
by the end, we were all hungry, and we stopped for a bite to eat.  a pizza and sandwich sort of place.  and i did the unthinkable (marianne, stop reading).  we all got cokes!  but, they were these mini ones!  in glass bottles!  they’re practically good for you, right?  WRONG.  but they were delicious nevertheless.
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