Saturday, January 21, 2012

Cute Baby Things

Since I'm still just sitting here waiting for the baby to come, I thought I'd take a few pictures. . .



























































Now I just need one more thing. . . oh ya THE BABY!

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Before the Milk Expires

Scenario: It's coming up on finals week in December and you're at the grocery store, you're in the dairy isle, reach for your gallon of milk, and you notice the expiration date with pleasant surprise: sell by Dec 26. Holy cow! Christmas break seemed forever away, the end of finals--some date on the calendar that would never actually arrive, Christmas day far too far in the future to even be excited for yet. But no--it's almost here! You have renewed hope and encouragement because the relief you seek now seems within reach. It will be here before you know it--before the milk expires!

Well friends, Tanner bought a gallon of milk yesterday and guess what the expiration date is? Jan. 30. I've made it to the home stretch. January 30th is my due date. Which means (unless she decides to play some kind of horrible trick on me and try my patience before she's even out of the womb yet) I will have a little baby girl in my arms before the milk expires!

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Clean House?

Ya know those people that always have spotless apartments/houses? Not only when they are expecting company or something, but always. And if you drop in unexpectedly, they will without fail say something like "oh my gosh, I'm so embarrassed, this place is trashed" leaving you to to look around (noticing the vacuum lines still in the carpet, the sink without a single dirty dish, and through their bedroom door left ajar--a made bed) and wonder "if this is trashed, what does clean look like? and they must have had a serious OCD attack last week when they dropped in unexpectedly to my trashed apartment."

How do I be like those people? I mean, how on earth, really? Don't get me wrong, I clean my house, but to keep it in perpetually pristine condition like that is just an unattainable goal. When I wonder how they do it though, I start to wonder if I even want to be like them because the only conclusion that I can come to is that they don't ever actually do anything but clean and they must really be missing out on life. It reminds me of those cheesy "Isn't it about. . . Time?" commercials that show a sink of dirty dishes and then a mom spending time playing with her kids instead of washing those dishes.

My mess gives my house character right? The sink (and counter) full of dirty dishes in the kitchen means I tried 3 new recipes and cooked a really awesome dinner. The swim clothes and towel hanging up all over my bathroom to dry means that I figured out a way to still work out, even at 8 1/2 months pregnant! And the explosion of yarn and needles in my living room is just a manifestation of my latest hobby.

So my only conclusion is that these people with perfectly clean houses are either immune to the laws of entropy, or instead of having hobbies and exercising and cooking and actually living in their homes, they spend every waking moment wiping out their microwaves and dusting the bookshelves--because I swear there is not time to do both make the mess and clean it up. So next time I come by your house and it truly is a real mess--don't apologize. It makes me like you more.

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Your Cool Life

I just read this article that nailed on the head something that Facebook does to our brains (and blogs too, I'd say). It said that "university students consistently believed that other people were leading lives filled with far more joy and fun than their own." Why? Because the Facebook and blog updates we're constantly looking at are “showcasing the most witty, joyful, bullet-pointed versions of people’s lives, and inviting constant comparisons in which we tend to see ourselves as the losers." So basically, we wake up and do something completely ordinary with ourselves like sit in traffic on our way to a boring day at work or class, have a pb&j for lunch, do some homework, grocery shop, watch t.v., whatever, and then we check our Facebook page. And there we find an album of pictures Sam just posted of his weekend road trip to the beach. We learn that Mike, Sarah, and Emma got engaged, married, and pregnant, respectively. Ben posted a shot of the amazing sunrise he saw this morning from the top of a volcano he hiked while on field study in Nicaragua. Megan was admitted to a prestigious law school on the east coast. Emma, the master of all DIY enthusiasts, just re-upholstered and/or painted every piece of furniture in her apartment and sewed herself an entire new spring wardrobe (and it was "super easy"). Will got a new dog, Brad completed his 5th triathlon, and Jane is taking up back country skiing . Dan is listening to something cool, Anna is wearing something cool, Ryan just ate something cool, Alice just went somewhere cool and Taylor just, well, is cool. By the end of your 20 minutes of Facebook browsing, maybe without even realizing it, you feel like you live a completely lame, uneventful, unsuccessful and downright boring life. This, obviously, is the bad thing about viewing other people's lives in this showcase-style of "the most witty, joyful, bullet-pointed versions of people’s lives." (I think especially if they are people you don't ever actually talk to or see and therefore know about their problems, their lame days, and that their hair doesn't always look as good as it does in the pictures they post of themselves). However, I was thinking about this and realized that this is precisely the reason I have always been so obsessed with and loved my notebooks (call them journals if you must)--of course I write about my problems and negative things in my life, but I try not to give that too much page space if I can help it. What I do instead is fill my notebooks with highlights. The good moments, the funny stories, the "bullet points"--the joyful, fun, most interesting things that go on in my life, the noteworthy things that happen between the traffic, boring days at work, and the peanut butter sandwiches. And when I read back through my notebooks, instead of the good parts getting lost in the mundane, they are the only thing that's there--making my life seem awesome.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

This is Dana pregnant

Ok folks, something you've all been asking me for. . .





Big (October)













Bigger (early December)















Biggest (late December)











And I'm about ready to pop my friends. This month is the month! January 30th :)

Monday, January 2, 2012

I knit now








I have a new hobby. It's knitting! More specifically knitting baby hats. Who knew I would ever take to knitting? Certainly not my mother, who has already tried at least 18 times to teach me how. But there is something about knitting an adorable baby hat that is appealing and something else about knitting a boring ugly scarf for an adult that is not. When Corrie came with me to Michaels crafts to search for yet another pair of needles (bamboo, circular, 5.5 mm. All sticks are not created equal apparently) I asked her where the line was between knitting being a trendy, indie, DIY cool kind of hobby and a lame, old-fashioned crafty mom kind of hobby. With no hesitation she said "Vests. When you start knitting vests, you have crossed that line. Hats are cool." So here are some of my cool hats!
Just in case you're wondering how I gained such mad skills so quickly I want you to know it took a lot of trial and error. Knitting patterns are complete gibberish. And each of those hats took at least 3 restarts before actually turning out.
The end goal here, of course, if for my baby to have a ridiculous collection of hats. Wish me luck, I'm still knitting away. Also, if you invite me to your baby shower, I will make you one.
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