Baby Wallace Pregnancy – Week 21

Everyone’s heard it before – and it is true.  Being pregnant with baby #2 is WAY different than baby #1.  Not only do you feel way different, you no longer have those delightful evenings of coming home from work, kicking your feet up, and waiting for hubby to prepare you dinner and graciously attend to your every need, but life is just busier.  Way busier.  There are long stretches of time when I completely forget that I am pregnant!  Poor sweet baby #2.  But, in an effort to document this pregnancy (half way in…better late than never, right?!) – I am taking the lead from a friend and attempting to update every week.  Wish me luck!

At week 21 of growth, baby Wallace:

Is the length of a carrot (10 1/2 inches), weighing in at 3/4 lb.

Most amazing baby change this week: Baby’s eyebrows and eyelids are formed!

Baby activity: Haven’t really felt the stereotypical “fluttering” feelings with this baby at all.  For the past 4 weeks or so, I’ve felt the “swimming in the ocean” type movement from baby.  Trying to be more mindful of movements, as there is not much downtime!

Abi updates: She is quite convinced that baby is a boy.  She loves to say good morning to the baby.  It melts our heart.  She really will be amazing.  She is just so gentle and loving to all of her “baby friends.”

Nothin’ like Labor Day a few weeks late!

I’m not going to even apologize anymore…what would be the point?!  Instead, I am just going to embrace that I am a chronically late blog-poster, and just rest in that!  It’s all about documenting life anyway, right?!

Ahhh, labor day.  So long white-clothes, hello browns, oranges, and harvest tones.  There is something so wonderful in the rhythmic changes of the seasons.  I just love it.

We had an awesome Labor Day spent with one of my dear friends, Sarah, and her hubby and family.  We drove out to Opossum Kingdom Lake – so wonderful!  It reminded be quite a bit of Lake Travis with the fantastic rock cliffs.

Relaxing…yes, please.

 

Abi helping apply some Vitamin C to Rebekah’s arms…after applying mass amounts to her face and arms…she didn’t get the memo that vitamin C is pricey…

 

Oh, those red cheeks…bad mom alert!!!

We stopped on the drive home for dinner and to stretch our legs in Fort Worth…we love Fort Worth!  Such a relaxing, chill vibe.  Even though it’s only 45 minutes away, it always seems like such an event to go.  Maybe that’s OK.  We are always excited to drive west on I-30.

Apparently doons had a long day!

 

Walking around Sundance Square, on the best seat in Abi’s world.

Happy Fall, Y’all!

Oh, I can hear the groans in reference to that title.  But, I just had to.  I mean, that saying makes me laugh every time!

Anyhow…it’s fall.  Officially.  I can decorate.  I can internally celebrate and wear my sweaters, because let’s be honest.  I live in Texas – sweater weather doesn’t come until post-Christmas here.  I just adore fall.  It’s gotta be growing up in Michigan.  Cider-mills.  Leaves changing to insane amounts of color.  Crisp air.  Ahhh, please sigh out loud along with me.  Now through the end of the year is when I really miss the climate of my childhood.

But, enough nostalgia.  Texas or Michigan – pumpkin pies demand to be made.  Abi and I started this little tradition last year.  I’ve been excited about it for quite some time now.  Because I love fall.  And I love pumpkin pie ( my little secret…I love it cold and for breakfast!).  Here’s the baking events of the day!

*I must add a disclaimer here.  While baking on the floor isn’t typically a kosher practice, I have found that when I want Abi to be really involved…it’s the best way.  She has easy access and can move around easier – and I don’t stress out if I turn my back on her wondering if she’s going to fall off the stool!  PS…this little mat was given to us as a wedding gift – it is amazing.  Take it picnicking – take it to the art projects – take it anywhere!  We’ve gotten more use out of it as parents than married adults…well worth it!

The ingredients are out and ready…

Baby girl working her magic!

Hmmm, in the excitement – I allowed a bit too long without watching her…she opened the salt and dumped it on the eggs.  Surprisingly hard to clean off, because the eggs had condensation on them since taking them out of the freezer!

Do you think that she knows she’s a cutie?

 

Ready to go in the oven (Abi was quite disappointed at this point that she couldn’t eat the pie…try explaining the problems with raw eggs to a 2 year old)

Ahhh, delight.  Please excuse the christmas dessert plates.  I am on an ever-constant quest for all season dessert plates.  Haven't found any that I am completely in love with yet…

To reminisce…

 

And cheers to you, my wonderful autumn!

Green and Clean

Many of us have hopped on board the delightful bandwagon of reusable bags – hooray!  My heart just gets a bit more happy when I see them being whisked in and out of stores.  BUT, there is a whole new world to washing bags that I was naive to for quite some time…keeping them clean.  It makes sense, really – but I had just never put that much thought into the process!  I bring the groceries/purchased items into my house – unload - and then hang them on the back door until I leave again, and into the trunk they return.  Never thinking about the potential nasties that were making homes on my bags and having the audacity to disrupt my little green paradise.

So, read this article.

wash-your-reusable-shopping-bags  (PS, this is a great group of websites in general – very helpful and inspiring!)

Bring ‘em in and give them a clean.

Make a system that works for you.  I only put produce in certain bags – meat always goes into another – and I keep separate bags for the TJ Maxx / bookstore / miscelaneous items, and those bags never enter the grocery store/farmer’s market.

Happy greenin’ and cleanin’!!

State Parkin’

A few weeks ago we headed east to Lake Tawakoni for some swimming, camping, and hiking.  Those were our thoughts, but 0nly the swimming ended up happening as the “low” was only going to be 88 – we didn’t think that Abi-girl would handle the tent well in sauna like conditions!  But, if you’re in dallas, think heading to a state park would be great, but only want to invest half a day…well then Lake Tawakoni is the place!  We plan to go back when the weather is cooler and explore/sleep a little bit more, but at only around 1 hour to get out there, it’s nice to have a state park so close!

Haha, Abi’s a bit of a trucker, a girly girl, a scholar, and a sports fan in this picture.  The many hats (pun intended)of Abi!

Check out how low the lake was!  We visited the lake right before we received the 4 inches of rain that rocked the metroplex…the lake was about 4+ feet low.  Crazy.  It did enable Abi to move a bit more on her own, which was nice for Donald and my arms!  Well, who am I kidding – mainly donald’s arms.

Brilliant Angela maneuver.  First round – bring delicious chocolate cookie that hubby bakes in a plastic bag.  2nd round – bring those cookies outside in a larger bag, removed from the protection of the car.  3rd round – forget that said cookies were brought outside, and leave the bag at the base of a tree.  4th round – Realize that the tree has a small population of ants who apparently have quite the appetite for mentioned chocolate chip cookies.  Awesome.  5th round – Upon leaving the lake, realize that the ENTIRE bag is now the new hub of ant life (headquarters chosen for delicious cookies), place baby in a far away locale under the shade of the tree – start killing insane amounts of ants by force and dunking.

Happy Homecoming, dear Oslo

This day has extremely meaningful significance for our country, it is hard to imagine that it was 9 years ago when that horrible and painful event occurred.  We are thankful for the beautiful reminders of humanity, grace and love that persevered – when the power of the human spirit and our Lord’s loving-kindness endured throughout the pain and shock.

Our little family also remembers this day 4 years ago, when out little Oslo rode down Central, heading home to Villa Rosa, panting all the way home (we couldn’t decide if he was really that stressed or just that thirsty) – he went through Chick-fil-a drive through too!

Donald would hate this (he doesn’t even like it when I refer to Oslo as “Oslo Wallace”) – even though he really does love his redheaded male buddy – but it is so funny to think about how much we babied Oslo when he was just a kitten.  We took him everywhere.  Kind of like a little kid, really.  So funny.  Much easier maintenance than a baby, though.

 

Oslo gets allergies in September every year (look at his poor red eyes here!).  His first year he was so so sick.  True to form, a few days ago he began sneezing again.  Oh dear Oslo, repetition is semi-comforting – albeit annoying for you.

I don’t even think Oslo could get his rear end in here anymore…

For Halloween, Oslo was a mummy…I told you, we treated him like a child.

Ahhh, look at him now.  All of him.  Hehe, actually don’t call my kitty fat, he’s pleasantly plump, please.  Just sitting outside Abi’s door while she was sleeping.  He is a dream dog-cat.  We love him.  Happy Homecoming, Os.

I know you’ve wanted this kind of education…

Please meet Mr. Dragonfly.  He resides in our yard – he’s been the subject of many-a-made-up-adventure for Abi & I (really, thought of writing a children’s book – you’d buy it, wouldn’t you?!).  And we think he’s wonderful and beautiful.  On to that education we were talking about.  Scientific name – Anax junius (or the common green darner, green is not specific to species color) – they are awesome to have in your backyard as they eat all of the annoying insects – think of them as the hawk of the insect world! 

These handsome little buddies can fly between 25 and 30 mph!

I saved the best for last…those amazing compound eyes…up to 30,000 facets (nope, not a typo!) can sense blue spectrums and UV light (the top facing ‘eyes’) and orange and green spectrums (bottom facing ‘eyes’).

See, now you can go about your day fully satisfied that you will know something more about dragonflies the next time that you see them!  (And thank you for humoring me!)

All American Tuesday

So, we’ve started this little “tradition.”  It’s really been an evolution of thought for us.  Even though we call it “All American Tuesday” the event actually takes place on Wednesdays now because of donald’s class schedule (hooray, for the last year of MBA! – actually, it’s been a pretty incredible time for our little family).  So here’s the deal – we are trying (remember, an evolution here) to eat healthier, being more mindful of what we are putting in our body, how those goods are produced, basically seeking some good balance.  Our dilemma that we’ve found in this: we really love a good bag of Cheetos (yikes food dye, nasty mass produced, preservatives, etc. etc.) every now and then, we L.O.V.E desserts, and find that if we try and completely refrain all of the time, it leads to feelings of guilt and cravings.  Not good.  So, we practice a bit of freedom once a week – and believe me we have fun planning it and really look forward to it!  We cook something yummy – it’s not always healthy – get pumped about the dessert (which is an essential), and kick back with some good ol’ TV (another evolution, as we are trying to limit the amount of TV watching the rest of the week) and just enjoy one another.

(Recipes that I clip or my momma sends me are stored in a box…abi got a hold of that box)

Dinner one Tuesday (or wednesday, I don’t remember!)…

 

Did I mention that we really love the dessert part?

Little shout out for the cups here: 1) Phi Lamb Birthday Cup, a dear and incredibly unique sorority experience at our beloved A&M and 2) Hairspray – when my dear hubby bought me a ridiculously overpriced pop in NYC during intermission while seeing Hairspray b/c I was so thirsty while visiting our beloved Kristian & Katy – I love these cups.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies…no flour…score!!  Hehe, doesn’t it look like SJP is trying to eat the cookies or at least envious that she can’t have any??