fourth trimester

I remember friends telling me that they needed to create a new line of clothes between maternity and regular clothes. For the fourth trimester, or those months after you had a baby. I always figured that I would just wear maternity clothes until I could fit in my regular clothes again. Well, that is not true my friends. After wearing the same 10 outfits for an entire pregnancy, the last thing I wanted to do was put those stretchy pants back on.

But sadly, I am not back in regular clothes yet. I have been able to lose all of my pregnancy weight, but my body looks nothing like it used to. Now I have to own a whole new temporary wardrobe. One with pants one size up and shirts that are loose for nursing and that hide stains and do not require dry cleaning. So many things I never thought about before I had a baby.

Especially with my new job starting next month, I have to think about what can be a nice transition from home to work. TJ Maxx and department store sales, here I come! By the way, I could totally be that girl in the "Maxxanista" commercials. The silly thing is that I am usually covered in spit up most of the day on my fancy new clothes. But at least I look cute while changing diapers.

Clothes make the man.

Naked people have little or no influence on society.

~Mark Twain

the napping house

I love taking evening naps on the couch in the evening. I love feeling the weight of Lila's body on my chest. I love hearing her little baby noises as she sleeps. It was one of the things I looked most forward to when I thought about our life with our baby. And nothing makes me feel more like a mom or makes Brian look more like a dad than protecting our sleeping baby girl. I am glad she is such a peaceful sleeper. It always makes we wonder what she dreams about in her little baby mind.

No day is so bad it can't be fixed with a nap.

~Carrie Snow

dirty laundry

We are truly suburbanites. I am writing a post about my excitement of getting a new washer and dryer. Cause we're flossy flossy. Our old washer and dryer were O-L-D. We bought them 5 years ago when we got married from my college roommate Emily who had bought them from a little old couple. So they were 15 years old minimum. Basically half as old as me.

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And then we got a fairly new (only 3 years old) Kenmore High Efficiency set. So fancy! So many cycles. I was beyond excited. Since as a new mom, I basically live every moment of my life putting clothes in or out of a washing machine. I mean for real, why can't poop just magically wash itself off? What about those commercials for pants where the liquid just slides right off of them...can I order that up in a onesie?

So we hooked up the shiny, multi button, digital read appliances and loaded up the washer. I washed a load, put that in the dryer, and then started another load in the washer. After the dryer cycle beeped that it was over, I went to pull the load out. Oh no, they were still wet! Hmm. So back in the dryer on high for a little longer. Hmm still wet.

That is about when I realized that the dryer, while technically on, had blown a breaker and was not actually blowing any air. And now I had 2 loads of soaking wet laundry. I remembered there is a laundromat down our street that did not look too sketchy from the outside. I mean, I have never been to a laundromat...how hard could it be? I throw the 2 loads of wet laundry in trash bags and run down the street while Brian watches a sleeping Lila.

As I am dragging the 2 ton bags of wet laundry to their front door, when a man stops me and tells me that the laundromat closes at 10pm. It is 9:45pm. He also acts as if I should know this obvious fact but I can't think of a way to tell him "How should I know?? I have never been to a laundromat! I am only here because my expensive high efficiency dryer is broken tonight" without coming across as a bit stuck up. So I wisely keep my mouth shut.

I am now standing in a laundromat parking lot at 10 o'clock at night with 2 soaking wet bags of laundry. Thank God for cell phones as I was saved by a friend who happen to be up and let me dry clothes at her house until midnight. Laundry=1, Lindsay=0.

Now they show you how detergents take out bloodstains,

a pretty violent image there.

I think if you've got a t-shirt with a bloodstain all over it,

maybe laundry isn't your biggest problem.

Maybe you should get rid of the body

before you do the wash.

~Jerry Seinfeld

she works hard for the money

One of the logistics that had to be figured out when Lila was born was my work situation. Up until I got pregnant, I was working as an event planner at the college where I went to undergrad. I loved my job, but I worked a lot of nights and weekends. It was also an hour commute each way every day. Once Lila was born, I could not imagine leaving my little girl for that long every day.

So I took a leap of faith. I quit my job, praying that God had another job out there that would better fit our lifestyle. Our priorities are just different now. And I have been LOVING the last 12 weeks at home with my baby girl. But to be honest, I miss working. I miss going to an office, being productive, talking to adults. Oh yeah, and that whole getting a paycheck thing. It is such an internal conflict for moms. Because when I am at a job, I am not with her.

I am excited at the blessing of a job God has brought along to fill all of our needs! Yesterday, I accepted a job planning special events for a local non-profit. 10 minutes from our house. And I just love the atmosphere, with lots of kids running around and a family friendly office. In fact, I will only have to work in the office 3 days a week! And the rest of the time I can work from home with my little girl! Thank you Jesus for allowing me to take care of Lila, work to help support our family, and enjoy the amazing event planning and fundraising work I will get to do.

Choose a job you love, and you will

never have to work a day in your life.

~Confucius

snuggle bug (and not so snuggly thoughts)

Lila just looked so adorable curled up on the couch this morning with her new toy. It has crinkly wings (so unbelievable exciting for a baby) and sings a lullaby when you pull its tail. We picked it up on Saturday during our date night. Yes, that is right, we went baby shopping on date night to buy some cute stuff for my good friend who just told us she is pregnant (shout out to Mrs. M!). Losers. Right before we saw "Robin Hood." Double losers. Pretty lame movie, except for that part where he shot an arrow through a guy's throat from like a mile away.

I know, I just can't help but like gory stuff like that. Not like, chain saw massacre gory. But like funny because it is so crazy absurd gory. Top 2 awesome gory movie moments:

1. In "Lake Placid" where that guy is scuba diving in the lake and all of a sudden his buddy in the boat sees it bubbling underneath the water and the scuba guy pops up screaming and his buddy tries to pull him out of the water and the giant gator had chomped the lower half of his body clean off.

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2. Another fabulous movie "Gladiator" with Russel Crow (Huh, same guy as in "Robin Hood." Maybe he also has a thing for crazy gory scenes...). He is the gladiator fighting all these bad guys in the Coliseum and he takes two swords and stabs this guy in the chest and then pulls the swords out and swings them through the air and chops off his head. Hilarious!

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I know, I am one sick sick puppy. But it makes me laugh for some reason. I promise to be more particular about my movie choices once Lila is old enough to watch movies with me. Do you have a weird type of movie that you love? Leave a comment and tell me some funny stories.

A good film is when the price of the dinner,

the theatre admission and the babysitter

were worth it.

~Alfred Hitchcock

4 pack o' fun

Having babies at the same time as friends is so special. Sharing stories, favorite toys and products, and parenting advice has been a life saver. But the best part about the "4 Pack" of babies, as we call them? Dressing them up and subjecting them to baby fashion shoots! Who spent their Memorial Day posing babies?? Yes my baby does not like to be squished.

Daisy, Raelyn, Sam and Lila all trying to hold it together long enough for one good picture.

Look at us, we're babies in a wheel barrel!

And there's my Lila girl!

Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind.

"Pooh!" he whispered. "Yes, Piglet?"

"Nothing," said Piglet, taking Pooh's paw.

"I just wanted to be sure of you."

~A.A. Milne 

molly the dog

It makes me so sad to write this post. I am so worried that people will think bad of me, because we love our dogs to death. However, Molly has not been adjusting well to life with Lila. She is so sweet to her and not violent at all. She is just not getting enough attention. She is upset because we can't play with her as much. She is needing more love than we can give her.

We have decided to find a new home for Molly. We would love to see her with a family with lots of kids that want to run around the yard with her. I so desperately want to find her a home and know she is taken care of. We are trying to do the right thing for our family and for Molly.

With that being said, I am putting out the call to anyone who has thought about adopting a cute, house trained dog. Here is the posting with all her information. Please comment below if you want more info and please pray we can find a place of love for our sweet puppy.

Molly is a sweet, playful 2 year old hound mix. She joined our home a year and a half ago and has been a wonderful addition to our family. She loves children, loves to play with toys (especially balls and ropes), and does well with other animals. She is spayed, up to date on her shots, and has tan coloring with dark brown markings. She is house trained, but likes to sleep in her open crate. She would be a wonderful dog for a family with a big yard to run in. Please think about bringing Molly into your family!

There is no psychiatrist in the world

like a dog licking your face.

~Ben Williams