Week 33

Whatever, I can't remember to take belly pictures.

The belly is getting large and kind of pointy... and in the way of things.  It's hard to snuggle Finley because there's this baby between us.  I have lots of heartburn, get to go the bathroom a lot and have some back pain.  Not as much as last time though. :)

Here's my creative self-portrait.  Do you like my sequined cardigan with skull pj pants?

I'm still running 3 miles a few times a week and trying to do an adapted version of Jillian Michaels once or twice a week too.  I can't imagine being pregnant for 7 more weeks, but I guess I will be.

I've changed directions with my plan for his nursery and am going to order fabric this week.  Last time I made allll of Finley's bedding and I'm going to buy a few ready made things this time.  We've decided to go ahead and buy a second crib--because of Finley's brace I don't think he'll be ready for a big bed quite as soon as we'd hope.  I haven't decided if I need a second changing table or not... hopefully they don't overlap by like a year in diapers.  Any two baby families out there want to weigh in on whether I need a second one?

We are still working on a name for this fellow.  I think we figured out his middle name and we are closing in on the first name.  With Finley, we didn't share the name because we weren't totally sure until several hours after he was born, and I'm guessing we'll be the same way this time.  Also, getting input from other people is scary--I'd rather wait until everyone has to pretend that they like his name.  Until then, I think we will refer to him as "He-Who-Must-Be-Named."

How cute is Finley?

I like to take videos on my phone... and Finley LOVES to watch the videos of himself.  I'm pretty sure the majority of the views of this video will be coming from one little boy who thinks he is hilarious.



But he is pretty cute.

Embracing my Hair

A few weeks ago we watched "Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps." I don't really remember if it was any good--I spent the whole movie googling Carey Mulligan's hair.  Which led me to decide that my hair wasn't quite short enough.  It needed to be cut.  After all, I had the longest hair in the family, and that just won't do.



So I took pictures to my hairdresser Dominique, and she got pretty close.  It's short.  Shorter than Finley's hair.  I'm trying really hard to make sure I don't look like a dude--I've been wearing eye make-up to make sure no one get confused. For the time being, I think the belly helps people also know I'm not a dude.



The hair looks a little better when I haven't been out running... unfortunately my face always looks like that.  Finley and I are practicing our "how cute is Finley?" faces on the left, and Finley and Sol are practicing "batbaby" on the right.  Here's a better picture of my hair.



Just kidding.  I'm wearing a hat.  Better hair picture sometime next week... and if you are lucky it will include my 8 month pregnant belly.  And in other haircut news... Justin Bieber cut his trademark hair, so now we look REALLY similar.

We love embracing our little guy.  Click on over to see other sweet embracers at the Anderson Family.

22 Months

I'm pretty sure Finley is 22 months today. This month thing is getting confusing. This means he's two months from being TWO and having a little brudder.  What a fun age he's at--he surprises me everyday with what he knows!  Tonight I told him he gets to wear his pirate pajamas and he started singing, "YO HO YO HO!"  I'm a proud mama.



He can match colors and occasionally tells me things are purple rather than always saying they are yellow. Progress.  He knows some letters and numbers, but not in any order.  He can sort shapes well and say some of their names.



His new favorite song... is the Glee version of "Baby" by none other than Justin Bieber.  I think Finley likes it because he likes the Bieb's hair so much.  He sings "baby baby baby oh..." and the "down, down, down" part.  Those are some of his favorite words.  His vocabulary grows more and more every day.



We got him a little potty seat to practice sitting on--he likes to sit on it and is starting to understand what he's supposed to do there.  He is pretty good at tooting on it and today he peed while standing beside it.  On the floor.  I'm counting that as a victory.



He likes to clean and be clean.  We spent almost an hour today cleaning cabinets and baseboards.  When I got out the Swiffer to clean the floors he yelled "BROOM! BROOM!" and ran to get his little broom to help.  He helps me pick up his toys every night and only occasionally dumps them back out after putting them away.



In addition to the standard baby trick of, "How big is Finley?" with raising his arms in the air, we have also taught him "How strong is Finley?" complete with flexing and "How cute is Finley?" where he strikes this little pose.



Sleeping has been a struggle for the past few weeks--he used to go to bed so sweetly!  We'd pray with him, tell him we love him and then tell him goodnight and he'd hug his stuffed animals and make sweet baby noises.  But RECENTLY he's been yelling "MAMA DADDY!" repeatedly and cryyyyying instead of sleeping sweetly.  But tonight!  He went to sleep real sweetly.  So I'd say we're cured.

Rachel vs. the Boston Marathon

If you know much about me, you know that all I really want is to qualify for the freaking Boston Marathon.  One time I lied and said that there is special qualifying time for new mothers, but that is untrue. Up until today, I had to run 3:40:59 to qualify.  A normal person would say, "Wow.  Three hours forty minutes and 59 seconds?  That seems like a really long time to run."  But not me.  I say, "Three hours forty minutes and 59 seconds?  I'm going to have to run my tail off to make it across the finish line that quickly."

(This is what I will look like when I eventually run the big race.)

So the big news in that marathon world today... the qualifying times for Boston have changed.  In a way that is not good for people who are 30 seconds shy of qualifying already (3:41:35... see my recap of the Pittsburgh marathon).  I'm a little hazy on what the actual implications are... but it sounds like in 2013, the new qualifying for me will be 3:35 instead of 3:40.  And in the meantime, they will register runners in order of fastest qualifying times.  So even if I ran a 3:38 in the next year, there's a chance it would still fill up before it got to me.

Grr.

Well, who knows what will happen.  Since I'm currently running 13 min/miles I have a long way to go.  Running for two is slow.  My current plan is still to give it another try--I'll run something in the Fall (Chicago? Marine Corps? NYC?) and likely not qualify since I didn't qualify last time I had just given birth (4:06:58... see my recap of Marine Corps).  Then I'll run something in the Spring (Poconos? Houston? OKC?) and hopefully qualify.  And then I may give up.  That certainly is easier.

I feel like pushing a double stroller full of children is going to help me run a little faster?  And I know there are things I can do to help myself be faster (stop eating like a crazy person, stretch, cross train...) and I feel like I owe to myself to try once more, even though it's going to be a little harder.

***And for the record, I think it is probably a good idea that they are making the qualifying times a little faster... last year the race sold out in 8 hours!  Marathons are becoming more and more popular and people are getting faster and faster... so I guess it's fair.  But that doesn't mean I like it.

Wish me luck.

LOVE

Happy Valentine's Day!

The internet will be full of bloggers telling the world how much they love their child... significant other... dog...  but since this blog is essentially a giant love letter/stalker's diary to Finley, and I blogged about my husband last year, I thought I would break with tradition and blog about what I LOVE most right now.

Ice.

I really love ice.

It's my only pregnancy craving.  I've been told this is a symptom of Pica, but luckily I don't have any desire to eat metal, batteries or dirt, so don't worry about me too much.  I just love ice--cold, crunchy ice.  I sometimes can't stop thinking about it--I told Sol I really needed some during church Sunday.  He didn't get me any.  Anytime someone leaves school to get something to eat, I request that they bring me back a large cup o' ice.  Mmmmm.

I've been slowly collecting pictures of my favorite types of ice to share with you.  (That's a completely normal thing to do.)  I'm missing my ABSOLUTE favorites, but here's a little rundown of what I love currently.

What I'm looking forward to most about the giving birth in a hospital?  ICE CHIPS.  Least?  Having an IV.  I don't like stuff under my skin.  (Which is why the 8th graders are beginning to drive my crazy...)  But seriously, I've been able to go to the hospital twice in the last month to visit people and got some delicious ice chips both times.  Hospital ice is designed to be eaten--so really it's perfect.  It never hurts your teeth to crunch it because it's airy and delicious.  Five stars.

Chick-fil-a ice is about as close as you can get to hospital ice--plus it's marinated in caffeine free diet coke which adds some extra flava.  Sometimes it tastes a little bit like styrofoam, which is not delicious.  And, free refills.  And fried chicken.  And play place.  Everyone wins!

Not my favorite ice.  It is very similar to Chipotle ice (not pictured) in that it is a little too solid and sometimes hard to crunch.  Still delicious and does the trick, but not my favorite.

While this ice is the most readily available, it is my least favorite.  It has to sit for like, an hour, for the ice to break down enough that I can eat it.  But it's still good.

Absolute favorite?  Z PIZZA!  It's a local pizza chain and their ice is basically shells of ice.  Very thin and delicious.  I think I like it better than hospital ice.  I KNOW.  Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks also have delicious ice and are probably tied for 2nd.

I'm pretty sure Finley doesn't actually like ice, but he's seen me eating it so much lately that he screams, "ICE! ICE!" whenever I have it until I give him a piece... which he spits out.  It's kind of ridiculous.

Happy Valentine's Day.  I hope there is something you love as much as I love ice.  (I still love my family more, but I love ice too.)

the Joy of the iPad

My parents popped over for the weekend (my mom had a business meeting nearby and my dad came along too--then my mom's meeting was cancelled, whoops!) and my mom has had the nerve to ask me twice why my blog hasn't been updated.

I've had company, MOM.

So here are some pictures of Finley with MY Christmas present--as it turns out, the real gift of the iPad is how much Finley loves it and learns from it.  Also,  Finley likes to brush his teeth.



His current favorite app is "Talking Tom," which is a silly cat that repeats what you say to it--and you can punch him in the face.  Finley loves it.



We also have quite a few "Duck Duck Moose" apps which are GREAT.  They teach him lots of things and keep him entertained for a long time... possibly endlessly.



I try to use the iPad only in emergencies (we want to go out to dinner and need him to sit sweetly for the last fifteen minutes... we need him to stay awake on the car ride home... I need to lay on the couch and nap...)



It's a fun toy.  Thanks Grandma and Grandpa G!  And I blogged.  So there you go.

The Things I Sell on Etsy

I haven't done any self-promotion on the old blog lately... and this lull in my ability to blog seems like a good time to start.

As you may know, my pal Victoria and I have a blog design business.  We're all about clever names--so we called it RV Designs.  We have gone a little nuts learning the ins and outs of photoshop and html.  We have REALLY enjoyed creating blogs for our friends, and the random strangers that come our way.  Secretly, and selfishly, we love designing blogs because it provides us with more blogs to read, and we have a borderline unhealthy love for reading about other people's lives.



I recently designed a blog for our other business... it's equally cleverly titled "The Things I Sell on Etsy."  And that's what I'm here to shamelessly promote today.  The blog is a little bare bones... I don't actually know what to post on it.  We also have a facebook page that you can go be a fan of if you haven't clicked enough places in this post already.



I was infected with the crazy mom birthday bug that comes when you have to throw a birthday party for a one-year old--they obviously care a great deal about their invitation and decorations and all the thought that goes into a party.  Finley had a cute cowboy birthday party last year and I overspent a little on decorations (even though I made them all.)  To help offset the costs, I started selling the designs on Etsy and was pretty successful!  Vic and I now have quite a few different party themes available for sale.  It's given us a nice, steady (small) income so that we can continue to live like the ladies of leisure we fancy ourselves to be.

So just in case you are interested... here are the different themes we have available. We sell these lil packs for folks to print, or we sell all the items a la carte. We also really like designing things for friends (or frenemies)--so if you have a party or shower coming up and you'd like a custom design, we'd probably be thrilled to do it.  Unless your theme is lame.

(You can click on each image to go see it a little bigger on the Etsy page.)

Adorable, no?  So yeah.  I'm an entrepreneur.  And entrepreneur motivated solely by my desire to have the Canon Rebel T3i.

The Faces of Universal

Yes, we went to Universal about a month ago.  But there isn't much exciting current things to post and these pictures were itching to be shared.  We had a blast at Universal and experienced a wiiiiide range of things.

Sometimes, we pressed a button a zillion times and clapped for ourselves every time.



Sometimes we did really cool dances as we walked down the street.



Sometimes we cried because our parents made us sit in the stroller, and not even our monkey could console us.



Sometimes we rode in fishes with our dad and we thought it was lame and just wanted to drink our coffee.



And sometimes dad thought the fish ride was AWESOME!



And most importantly, sometimes we got crimefighting tips from Wolverine.

Before We Got Sick

Saturday was a fun day--we went to a fabulous pizza place in DC and got a double jogging stroller.  Fun all around!

We've had a lot of snow... three days cancelled due to snow.  It has been nice to be home with Finley so much.  And yesterday I didn't go to school either!  Because I got Sol's stomach bug!  YIPPEE!  I'm hoping and praying it passes over Finley; a pukey baby would break my heart.

Don't you want to kiss him?  Or give him pizza?

Thanks to Victoria for being our official family photographer... this also means you get to share the stomach bug germs.  We're tight.