{Art}

I LOVE looking through Caroline's papers from school. The girl never disappoints. Ever. Some recent favorites?

Not sure why this guy is so sad...? Todd, something you wanna tell me?

Me: "This is great! But.... why are your teeth so yellow?"

C: (dramatic sigh) Moooooom. (another sigh) Because when you're 100 you're dead. And you can't brush your teeth when you're dead!

{Bacon Bit...or 1st Trimester in Review}

There it is folks. The little Bacon Bit that's been causing all this uproar (in all it's 13 week glory). Awww.... (the top and bottom frames are head measurements, the middle is head on the left, then torso with little arm on bottom, legs curled up -- or that's what they tell me, anyway). Gotta love these early alien/gummy bear ultrasounds.

Thank goodness the 1st trimester is over. I knew how bad it was gonna be... but that just doesn't seem to make it any better when you're right in the middle of it all. Baby growin' makes me tired, sick, and super grouchy. Not necessarily in that order. I do have to be uber grateful that the sickies have ended sooner than my other pregnancies. Uber.

Not that we haven't had our bad days. I'm sure Todd hopes the day never comes again (hypothetically) when he comes home from work to find me curled up on the floor in our bedroom in front of the space heater and have this (hypothetical) conversation:

Him, "You OK?"

Me, "Nope."

Him, "How long have you been there?"

Me, "Dunno."

Him, "What are the kids doing?"

Me, "Dunno... but they're safer out there alone than with me."

Him, "Oooookay. Um, I'll start dinner. You just come out when you're ready."

Hypothetically.

Alright. True story. Not my best moment. How do you explain hormones to children?!?

Elizabeth has been a life saver. She is the kindest, most thoughtful, most patient little mother to the other kids ever. She has really stepped up and been so much help. It's a totally different experience this time around for me. Caroline is full of loves and sweet things to say, she always hugs the baby before she goes to bed or leaves for school. Even Louis has been a trooper. I have the best kids ever.

So far me and Bacon Bit have pretty much been surviving solely on:

homemade bread (bless my neighbor Michelle for bringing me the first few loaves, then giving me the best fool-proof bread recipe ever!),

smoothies,

dry frosted mini wheats,

animal crackers, and

ice water. Lots and lots of ice water.

Unfortunately there has been a strict zero tolerance policy for chocolate or sweets of any kind. (Is this really MY child?) I'm in negotiations for a policy change.

I think I'm still a little in shock that this is really happening. I could not be more happy, honestly! There was awhile there we really thought that our baby days were over, and I love me some babies, so I'm just overwhelmed with joy at getting to do this again. I cannot wait to smell that sweet baby hair, and snuggle that little face into my neck. *sigh* Plus, I get to tell Todd, "HA! I was right and you were wrong!" I want another one after this one just to show him who's boss. We'll see.

{Spring Cleaning}

For some reason when that sun starts shining in my windows and the snow is dripping off my roof, it totally makes me want to spring clean. Or maybe it's that I'm finally into the 2nd trimester and not spending every spare second hunched over the toilet and my house is a complete disaster...

Either way, since I've spent so much time over the years being someone else's professional "cleaning lady" I thought I'd share a few of my favorite products and cleaning ideas! Some are great for regular cleaning, and some are my deep cleaning "must haves" since that's mostly what I did.

For the kitchen you have to get this:
Greased Lighting. It's amazing for any old greasy sticky mess. (Some Wal-marts don't have it, but I've seen it at Ace Hardware). Be sure to spray it on and let it soak for about 5 minutes... I swear it does 90% of the work for you. Pull the knobs off of your stove and soak them in this and scrub behind them with an old toothbrush. Your vent hood (don't let it drip into your eyes! Ouch! ...been there), under those heating elements on the stove, back splashes, and diluted for wood cupboard doors, you name it. It's like magic.

Also, for your kitchen this little machine is amazing.

I have the Shark brand, but any steam cleaner will make you a happy woman. Seriously, it's so much fun to use! I especially love it for cleaning out the fridge/freezer because it melts away all those icky sticky messes because it stays HOT! Plus it gets into every little crack and crevice. Todd uses it all the time to detail the cars. I've steamed wallpaper off with it, cleaned nasty grout, stove tops (after they were soaked in Greased Lighting), bathrooms, you name it. Love!

My last "must have" for the kitchen is this:

Razor blade scraper. Soak it, scrape it all away. I use it weekly to clean my flat top stove. Also great for windows (tape residue, paint over spray, or super sticky jelly fingerprints). Just be careful to always keep it pressed flat or you could really do some damage!

Ladies, stop buying Windex now! It leaves a streaky mess. I always use an aerosol glass cleaner (sorry ozone!)
This is my favorite brand because my grandparents bought it and it smells like their house!...but when I can't find it look in the automotive section of the store and buy any of their aerosol brands. It just doesn't leave streaks or residue, and after you're done cleaning that bathroom mirror rub your paper towel over your faucets and they will shine, baby shine! Todd's even used it to clean the chrome on his motorcycle.

While we're in the bathroom, these are my secret weapons for hard water:
Scrubbing Bubbles +
Magic Eraser =
no more hard water spots or ring around the tub! Spray on the Scrubbing Bubbles and let it soak (noticing a trend here?) then rub with the Magic Eraser! TA-DA! (Tip for Magic Eraser: it will last a lot longer if you don't dip the whole thing in water. Just run one edge or a corner under the water and it does just fine!) I'm sure I don't need to preach the wonderfulness of the Magic Eraser to you gals, it really is magic. Be careful on some plastics, though (scratched up the window of my microwave once) and new paint (6 months +).

I also like to use Soft Scrub with Bleachin the tub, but hate the bleachy smell and spots I always seem to get on my shirt. But it works awesome (so it's something I use more for deep cleaning instead of weekly clean).

Hard water ring in your toilet? Use a regular cheap-o Pumice Stone (you can get them with handles in with the cleaning supplies, but I usually go for the bargain and look for them in the foot care section of the store). I know it's super scary, but just muster up your courage and go to. It scratches off the hard water ring, but is softer than whatever your toilet is made of and doesn't hurt it at all. I promise! I've been using this one for a long time (gotta love Idaho's super hard water) and it's totally safe for the potty. You can use it on some tubs, but they need to be porcelain and not plastic, so be careful on that one. Sinks are usually fine too.

For almost all other cleaning everywhere else I use regular 'ole Lysol. I'll just add it to a mop bucket with hot water for mopping floors, or to wash walls, all cabinetry (inside and out), etc. or diluted in a spray bottle for counter tops and such. Pretty much anything and everything in my house has wiped down with this stuff. Disinfect, baby.

Except I hate to mop. Ech. So for my home I got this for Christmas last year: the Shark steam mop. "Ahhhhhh!!!" (do you hear that choir of heavenly angels singing?!?) Love that it uses just water (cheap!), love that it sanitizes, love that the pads are machine washable, love that it gets that hairspray buildup goop off your bathroom floor like a snap! (I know you know what I'm talking about!) LOVE! Don't love that it leaves streaks on my wood laminate floor that you can only see in front of my big double glass doors. Grr... but everything I've tried so far does. Rag mops, Swiffer mop (HATED!!!), blah. Anybody have any ideas on that one for me? It seriously makes me crazy.

So that's just a few of my favorite (cleaning) things. I would love to hear all your secrets and favorite products too!

{MaterFace}

Remember when Caroline lost four teeth in less than 2 weeks?

Don't worry. Those new ones grew right in, bless her heart.

(My older, very much wiser sister says you can cay anything about anybody, and as long as you add a "bless your heart" onto the end, it's not mean.)

Bless. her. MaterFaced. heart.

(Don't worry, Caroline's super proud of her MaterFace. I would never post this if I thought she'd need major amounts of therapy in the future. Well, probably wouldn't.)

{Love Notes}

First, gather round and get ready for a little background story.

*ahem*

For Valentine's day, I practically begged Todd not to take me out on a date. The idea of trying to order (let alone eat) at a restaurant was completely nauseating, and the thought of even smelling popcorn at a theater had me sprinting for the bathroom.

So. romantic.

We mutually decided to kinda just skip it this year... it's obvious from my 'current condition' he's crazy about me anyway.

But I couldn't let the day go by without some sort of lovey gesture. I am a romantic at heart. So I covered our bathroom mirror in a giant pink heart of post-its declaring my love and adoration for my fine man. That, and bought him a lot of white chocolate.

Skip ahead to present day, when the girls got home from school on the bus before I did. What do my darling angels decide to do with their unsupervised moments of glory? Run amuck? Gorge themselves on forbidden treats? Zombie-fy in front of the tube? Nope!

They covered our bathroom mirror in love notes.

Awww...





Some highlights:

"Love? What is love" I dunno. Maybe I should play them this song. Or this adorable little French cartoon. That should pretty much clear it all up.

"Ture Love!" Well, since I'm rounding out their education with You Tube, I think I'll go with this...

"Bacon sandwich" makes another appearance. (This baby's guaranteed to have issues.) That, or my family is really trying to tell me what they want for dinner.




While I'm extremely flattered at the "Best Parents Ever" title, it's a little difficult not to be concerned about the sheer size of the girth on those belly drawings. They must have really good memories from when I was pregnant with Lou. But really??? Layin' it on a little thick and a little early, aren't we ladies? Check me out. Barely a 12 week baby pooch. It's more like a "Wow, Alynn's really packin' on these days... or did I hear she's preggers? pooch."

But hands down, this one is my favorite:

Nope. I keep tellin' em. He was messing with his belly button screw when he was a youngin' and his bum fell off ages ago.

See?

{What's on my phone?!}

OK, so I have an adorable friend (that I've never actually met in person, but I'm pretty sure we were sisters or something in a past life) named Candace that lives in NC (and I totally found out she has a super thick accent today *giggle*) that plays this fun little game every Tuesday... that she got from a friend here:

from Jessica who is equally hilarious and adorable. Any who, I'm super lame and usually never take pictures with my phone. In fact, I may or may not have spent the last 2 hours trying to figure out how to get the 2 pictures I have taken off of my new phone and onto this dangity dang computer. I'm so techy lame. But, I had an Iamwomanhearmeroar moment, and did figure it out. Boo-yah for me. (Never mind that I had big plans to scrub my bathroom with a toothbrush and try my hand an making actual factual homemade bread today. This, somehow, made the priority list.)


So, without further ado, I give you WHAT'S ON MY PHONE?!

I call it "Fun with Funkle Adam."

Louis calls it, "Help me Daddy!" (Daddy wasn't even there, daddy was at work. Which is why I took this picture. To send to daddy. So he could laugh his little behind off right along with me.)

Caroline begged to be let in on all the fun. Papa was a little put off with the "wasting" of "all that perfectly good duct tape." I think it was worth every penny. Especially the 4 inch strip Adam used to cover Caroline's bum crack.

So, what's on your phone?!