Fall Favorites #2

Since I love the fall so much, I decided to post a few more of my favorite fall things!

1) Sweaters, scarves, boots, and boot socks! I wear my cowgirl boots pretty much all year round, but in the fall I like to bust out my calf-high boots with boot socks. And I LOVE sweaters. I have to admit I normally end up putting on a sweatshirt, but sweaters make me feel so pretty! And my closet is full of scarves...

2) Candles. Granted I burn candles all year round, but the "fall" smells are my by far my favorite. I love how warm, homey, and inviting they are.

3) Crock Pot cooking. There are so many things you can cook in a Crock Pot all year round, but my favorite things are chili, spaghetti, pot roast, and stew... fall food items in my opinion :)

4) Frost. I am not a warm weather girl at all. I max out at about 75... anything above that is too hot for me unless I can be on the water. I like cold weather. So when nothing makes my heart as happy as waking up to frost. Its a sure sign that fall is here and winter is coming soon. Plus, how can you not love frost? They way it delicately covers everything and the sun shines off it, dancing in all directions *sigh*. So beautiful.

Fall Favorites

I love fall. I love the coolness in the air and the smell that comes along with it. I love decorating for the holidays, and baking goodies in the kitchen. There are so many things I love about fall, but here are just a few:

1) When the leaves change colors. It is so pretty to look out and see different shades of red and orange. I love walking along a path that is covered with crunchy, colorful leaves. Fall leaves are so beautiful!

2) Wood stoves. There is nothing better then cuddling up in front of a fireplace. The glow from the fire is beautiful and warming, and the sound of wood cracking and popping inside is music to my ears.

3) Wood! I love the way M smells when he gets home from a day of getting wood. I also love the way our house smells from the stack of wood sitting next to the stove.

4) Lattes. To be honest, I love lattes all year around, but there is something extra to love about drinking a sweet, warm, frothy latte on a cool fall day.

5) Football. Born and raised a Packer fan, I look forward to football season all year!

And here is my little football buddy this past Sunday: (Pumpkin and Miss L have Packer outfits too, but they weren't home to watch the game with LL and me last week :) )

Something In The Water

Baby fever hits a little when EVERYONE around you is pregnant! Honestly, I have a long list:

• Neighbor around the corner
• Other neighbor around other corner
• Our friends in town
• Girlfriend in Texas (41 weeks now... so any day!)
• Lady I work with
• M's cousin
• A blogger I follow
• Carrie Underwood (technically she isn't "around" me, but its all over the internet!)

To be honest I'm pretty sure I am missing a couple people too... Plus, my sister's baby is only 3 weeks old, so that's almost the same ;)

3 of those people are due within like a week of each other too! 

I really do miss being pregnant, and I love me some newborn babies, but to be honest... I wouldn't want to do it again. I am so happy with my 3 kids, and I could not imagine trying to take care of another! It makes me sad that we won't ever go through that again, but my kids are such a blessing and I am ready to watch them grow and be there for them. Sometimes when I look at LL though and see how big she has gotten, and how damn cute she is, it makes my heart ache for 10 more. 

M and I have been talking about taking more permanent precautions... like him visiting the Dr for once! We haven't decided for sure, but wouldn't really want a surprise baby either.

One of the girls on the list had told me that they were done, but then they never did ANYTHING to prevent, and Wham! Pregnant again. I wanted to give her the sex talk, you know: "if you don't use anything to prevent a pregnancy, you will more then likely end up pregnant". I just told her congrats instead though :) At least we are using the protection of Miss L sleeping in our bed, and a Mirena for the few minutes of alone time we do get. 

T&A #2

Last week we took a little road trip to get Miss L's tonsils and adenoids removed. We had to go to the neighboring town because they have a pediatric specialist there.

Because we were from out of town and having surgery done, we were able to stay at the Ronald McDonald House. It was so nice to be able to stay somewhere for free since we had the cost of gas and food, and it was practically in the hospitals parking lot, which made everything easier. They had a yard and play set too, so the girls had some fun the night before.

We had to be at the hospital the next morning really early, and I took her back to get her prepped.

Seeing my little girl go into surgery though was much harder then I thought it would be. She cried and tried to get me as they walked her back despite the medicine they had given her to try to relax her. I smiled and told her it was ok and I loved her and would be back soon, but once she disappeared around the corner I bawled. And that hour during surgery drug by.

Because of her age and medical history, she was required to stay in the hospital for 24 hours, which I am so glad. Her recovery was a million times worse then Pumpkins. She refused to take the liquid Lortab because of the horrid taste, and then when we tried to give her Tylenol instead, she refused that thinking it was Lortab. They ended up having to give her Morphine in her IV.

The day after surgery she got a little energy up and went out and explored the hospital floor.

Since she was eating and drinking ok we got released that evening. I wish things would have continued to go well, but her pain was almost unmanageable. She refused all liquid meds so we had no choice but to do suppository Tylenol. Unfortunately it wasn't enough to take all the pain away, or keep it away long enough. We were in tears and almost headed to our ER. Luckily M remembered taking chewable Tylenol and Ibuprofen as a kid, so he went to the store and bought 3 jars of them! They have been our saving grace!

It has been a week since surgery now, and things are looking better. She is still in some pain, but not as much, and eating and drinking normally. We are really hoping and praying that this will help her with her sleep apnea and we will be able to get our bed back sometime in the near future!

Natural Beauty

Normally I try to stay away from the news. It is sad and depressing and makes me sick at the things that people do. But, while at  work the other night, I was browsing through MSN and saw an article about Kim K and "waist training", which, if you don't know, is wearing a corset to get your waist smaller. 

Sadly, she isn't the only celebrity that has/does do this. This got me thinking about a couple things:

1) Don't they realize that you have internal organs that take up room? Organs that need to be in certain spots and need so much room to function properly. It is so unhealthy and dangerous to try to shrink your waist in this way... squishing all your insides into places they don't belong!

2) What ever happened to natural beauty? I look at my girls and they are so gorgeous... no makeup, completely natural.

Of course, you say, all babies and kids are so pretty and cute, but then you grow up and get acne and yucky skin, and the baby fat doesn't go away, and so forth, so you have to do something to make yourself look better. Sure, I wear makeup, powder and mascara... unless I am going out then I'll add a little eye shadow and maybe some blush, but I am still "natural". And I think its our differences that make us pretty. 

The lady I get my lattes from gets fake lashes put on. I am still kinda confused on how this works... I had actually never heard of it until she told me about it a couple weeks ago. I guess she goes to some sort of "lash bar" and they put these extension things on your lashes so that they look extra long...? Do you know what I'm talking about? And of course they look pretty, but to me they looked a little freaky too. Like abnormally long... spider leg long... I hate spiders.

My waist is not unnaturally thin. My eyelashes aren't fake. I have no tan. I don't put on makeup to give the illusion of a thinner nose, higher cheek bones, or more defined chin. I wear powder cuz I'm shiny and mascara cuz my eyelashes are blonde. When you look at me, you see ME. Would I like more defined features? Sure. A smaller waist? Of course! But that wasn't what God gave me, so I am not going to manipulate myself into something I am not. What you see is the real me.

The saddest thing is all the little girls that see there moms, sisters, celebrities, doing this stuff to themselves because they don't think they are pretty or skinny enough, and then they think they need to do it too. How are they going to have any confidence or self-worth if they grow up thinking that the bodies we are given are not good enough and need to be manipulated into something "better"?