Baby Borobia 2014 is a.....

Have you ever seen a cuter profile?  Pretend you don't have your own children and that the answer is is an unequivocal "yes" because oh my gosh....so cute!!!!

Y'all, I totally cried.

Throwback Theme Thursday: Barns

Wow, look at how sunny and pleasant and wondiferous it is in Michigan right now!  I mean there's the green grass and the literally cloudless sky, ahemCariDonaldson, and the child with nary a jacket to be seen...

What I'm Reading + 5 Faves

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The Long Winter

I'm pretty sure it's only a matter of time before every blogger north of the Mason Dixon line starts rereading (or just reading, I guess.  I forget that there are people in the world who have not read all of the exact same books I've read because I'm humble and self-aware like that).

Bad guy

This morning Tommy got up at his usual o'darkthirty to get ready for work.  Brewed his coffee.  Checked his email.  Opened up the front door to let the dogs out for their morning potty break....and the storm door wouldn't open.

Pregnancy minutiae that no one cares about

The other day Cari mentioned that Saturday is the perfect day to post stuff that no one cares about because who's reading blogs on a Saturday?

So here's a time capsule kind of post about this pregnancy so far so that in a few years when my memory has smashed five or six years into a small blur of babies and kids and dogs and popsicle stains on carpets, I can read it and say "oh, now I remember that.  I can't believe that was YOU in my belly.  Amazing!"

Nail polish, army dudes, cute kids, and other things (7qt)

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Right now, this is what Mary looks like:

 NB: monkey footie pajamas; fairy costume sized for a seven year old girl; MiMi (small blanket without which we cannot even consider sleeping);super stylish hairdo; favorite thumb snack.

20 week belly. With comparison photos!

20 weeks! 20 whole weeks and we have still not seen Pointy Bird on ye olde ultrasound a single time.  I swear I am calling that scheduling office myself today and....doing...something that will result in the appointment being made.  Yes, something for sure.  As soon as I find their number.

You know what I love?  Comparing bellies.  Comparing my belly against other people's bellies, sure.  But mostly comparing my belly now against bellies of the past.  And guess what?  I've got three whole 20 weeks bellies in a row to compare up in here for your viewing enjoyment.  Fun times!  I'm even wearing the exact same outfit today that I was wearing two years ago when we took the MaryBellyPhoto so we can make the most neurotic comparisons possible.  Yay!  Neurotic!

Preventative Measures

Last year, February totally kicked my butt.  It was like....like I sat around all January enjoying the excuse to stay home, and by February, when there are still mountains of snow all over the place and a thick sheet of ice in your gutters, I was all irritated that it wasn't spring that I had already sat around for a whole month and now what am I supposed to do?

Obviously this is not reasonable behavior, but not many have accused me of being as such, so I think I can safely stop explaining right there.

The embroidery bandwagon

Maybe I should be embarrassed that this colorful bowl full of untangled embroidery floss is my greatest accomplishment of the year so far, but I'm not.  I'm just not.  I mean, do you SEE how knot-free and undisgusting all that thread is?

What the Kids are Saying (7qt)

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Welp, I kinda suck as a mommy blogger.  I had decided not so long ago to post newly taken pics of my kids every week.  How can I manage to take so few photos???  This is a problem.  Must solve.  Here.  How about a story about Mary in lieu of a photo?

Today I was changing her diaper before naptime and she, as usual, snatched a wipey from the the container and started wiping her face and hands while I worked on the less pleasant regions.

Stuff for tights-loving dorks (Five Favorites, WWRW, & TT)

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This is my favorite new project going on in this house, the fact that I'm not doing it coming in a very close second to the fact that my Katy (she's switching back from "Katie" to "Katy," fyi.  I try not to ask too many questions) is so stinkin' talented.

Right now is all there is

I used to say things like "I can't wait to have my baby" and "if I can just make it through this pregnancy...," treating the time that the baby is safely tucked away inside of me as The Waiting Time, and birth as the magical starting line of good things.

This pregnancy has already been so different.  So different in so many ways.  But the biggest difference is that I feel like I already have my baby.  I've acknowledged that I already have my baby.  He or she just happens to be on the inside instead of on the outside.  But the baby is alive and is real and is my baby.  And today, as I feel him kick and roll, I have him.  He is here with me, with us.

Prayer request for Cecilia Harrison

I probably have a soft spot for little girls named Cecilia.  Or maybe for little girls in general.  And for mamas who are worried worried about their little girls.  And their little boys.  And...

You know what?  Maybe there's not specific soft spot.  People just matter, man.

A flag cat, Chesterton, and 18 week belly pic (7qt)

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Earlier this week, Mary got in "trouble" for the very first time.  Little Miss Thang (18 months old) acquired herself a crayon, see, and designed for us a we bit of wall art.  Totally age appropriate, fo sho.  But since I caught her in the act (suweeeeeeeeeeet), I was able to grab her hand, kneel down to her level and say "NO." Firmly.  You know, the thing that mom's gotta do sometimes?

Projects and toys and bare things (phfr) (tt)

{pretty}

 Lizzy made this candle yesterday on a whim. 

He says it 'cause He means it

I can hear my husband reading Paul his bedtime story in the living room.  Paul chose the children's gospel from Ignatius press.  Really we're mostly a SpongeBob and potty jokes kind of family, but despite us God is doing His work anyway, I guess.

Mary isn't feeling well.  A cold turned into a little tummy trouble and now the world's best sleeper isn't sleeping.  So instead of being in bed, she is on her big sister's lap next to her big brother, listening to her daddy read.

Snowmaggedon, southwest Michigan style

Oh yes. I'm pretty sure you have NOT seen or heard or read enough about this little weather spell we're having.  Definitely not.  No.  Let me fix that for you, yes?

We got some snow, y'all.  Some serious snow.  Even though we're fairly far from Lake Michigan, there is a band of lake effect snow over our house at all times.  Tommy will leave work in Kalamazoo, which is in a valley, and there will be, like a quarter inch of snow that looks like someone spilled some powdered sugar or something.  But then he gets home and our driveway looks something like this:

Ridiculous, y'all (TT)

I bet when Cari hastily chose the word "ridiculous" for today's Theme Thursday, she wondered if maybe the very idea was itself a little ridiculous.  Well guess what?  No.  That was not ridiculous.  Because today IS ridiculous.  I mean, is it really Thursday?  Wasn't yesterday Sunday or something?  Why is it completely white outside?  What time is it?  Do they really expect to eat three entire meals today?

I'm so confused.

So here ya go-