Three Things

I'm starting a new regular Friday series on my blog: THREE THINGS! It's dedicated to featuring three things that have interested, inpsired, excited me over the past week. Hope you enjoy!

This Blog. I've never met Heather but everytime I read her blog(s) I am moved. This week she's made me laugh out loud, cry really hard and become excited all over again about adoption. I think if we had the opportunity, we'd be good friends. She's friends with Staci, by the way!

This woman's Jewelry. Check it out. Very, very cool!

This book! Life of Pi isn't a new book but I am just finally reading it. It took me a while to get really into the story but now I'm about 1/2 thru and find myself thinking of it often.

I'd love to know what has your motor running this week?!

Big Waves!

We had some crazy big waves this past weekend. I love Santa Barbara. The smell, the touch, the look, the tastes, the sounds....all 5 senses fulfilled in one little beach town. Every winter we get rain - a few years ago it lasted a month straight. Santa Barbarians (as Tessa would say) are not fans of the rain. When you live in a town where all the fun stuff is outdoors, it's totally understandable.

There was rain this weekend but it wasn't heavy. I'm not sure where the storm came from but somewhere in the ocean a storm was a brewin' and the results were these amazingly huge waves. Surfers were warned, the pier was closed, a few people even got swept off of the Breakwater! It was gnarly and the smart folks stayed out of the water.

Sunday night we all headed out to the Biltmore wall to watch the show. There were many other spectators at the wall. It was cold and wet and smelled like ocean and was absolutely wonderful. These are the memories of SB that I'll cherish forever.

I ask you...

Is this the body of simply overweight woman? Is there any question as to whether or not this woman is pregnant?!? My sweet and very tiny girlfriend, Tessalita was recently asked if she was expecting. Horrifying and devastating at any weight or confidence level. To comfort her, I shared that I, in my final 6 weeks of pregnancy, have been asked a couple of times if I'm pregnant. Excuse me? The alternative MUST be that they wonder if I've become this rotund do to a few too many Double Doubles Animal Style! So far, I've answered, "A little." and "Yes, I am." but I swear the next time I'm asked I'm going to say, "No...it's a tumor." I guess people don't deserve that as they are genuinely trying to not offend me, I guess.

Is it ever ok to assume a woman is pregnant? As I sit here enduring another Braxton Hicks contraction, I feel like the answer is YES. Maybe if I had one of those cute outie belly buttons. That's a tell-tale sign of a pregnant belly. Instead, my belly button offers a Grand Canyon effect under the cloak of my tight t-shirts. Which is odd b/c it's literally flush against my mound. Invention idea!!! I'm going to create an outie belly button for pregnant women who don't have one! It'll be like a neon sign: THIS IS A PREGNANT TUMMY...

On a side note, many of you know that I am oft confused for store employees. I can be pushing Brody in a shopping cart and someone will ask me, "Do you work here?". One time I was 9 months pregnant with Brody, wearing a skirt and flip-flops and sitting on a chair in Home Depot because my ankles were swelling by the second and a (nice enough) man had the very nerve to look me up and down and ask if I worked there. I saw it coming but was still shocked. I sort of threw out my hands like "Hello? Am I wearing an bright orange apron with "You Can Do It and We Can Help" printed on the front?! And have you noticed my huge pregnant belly!??!" and ignored the question completely. The fake outie might have served me well here.

Well, twice this week someone has dared to ask me for help. Just this morning I dragged Kevin to our local flee market in search of the perfect changing table for Baby Sister. At one point, I'm standing by a table actually looking for some help when I lock eyes with a man who is also apparently looking for some help and I think...here we go. Sure enough, "Do you work here?". Today I said, "I have my purse on my shoulder...do I look like I work here?". Lord, forgive me. I've had enough. He made an 'eek' face and said "Sorry" and I immediately felt bad. But kinda good too.

So, to answer all annoying questions in one post...

1. Yes, I'm pregnant. Jerk.
2. No, I don't work here. Dammit.

One Sister for Sale!

One really funny thing about Cara is that she is such a hoss! She's this perfect little girlie thing but has this amazing brute strength. I always joke that it's nice to live with two men in the house! I'm sure she'll love this post but she actually makes me quite proud. Cara will never be the girl to let a physical challenge stop her because a muscly man isn't around. It also translates to her amazing work ethic and result-driven successes. As well as her personal strength and independence.

In this photo, we caught her on her way out the door (at 9pm...ah to be young..) to help Kevin carry our 300 lb. fake tree down to the garage. She squatted and lifted like a little heavyweight in her high-heeled boots and knee socks. I bet she could have full pressed it over her head with one arm if asked!

Hoss.

Baby Sister's Bedding

I've picked out the crib bedding for Baby Sister today. This was a crazy-hard task when picking out bedding for Brody. This time I wanted to keep it simple. Go in, pick fabric and leave. Santa Barbara has only one fabric store so I knew this would be a challange. I already knew the color scheme I was going for so it was just a matter of finding the fabrics that would work. The turquoise will be the bed sheet. The patterned pink is the outside of the bumper. The fluffy butter is for the inside of the bumper and the bedskirt. The hot pink will be for pillows, possibly cording for the bumper, or somewhere else?

Walls will be at least two shades of yellow - bolder yellows than the butter of the fabric. Furniture is mostly white. Accent colors are black-n-white (pillows, frames, lamps, rocking chair pads, etc.) and turquoise (pillows, sheets, knick-knacks, etc.).

Theme: Sort of a Miami beach/Key West tropical. Definitely not Hawaiian which is easy to get distracted by given the massive amounts of Hawaiian fabric and decorations available. :) Do you love?

Big Boy Bed!

We found the PERFECT bunk bed for Brody last week! No more crib (which was converted to a toddler bed months ago) for Bubba. He adapted immediately. We decided to only get one mattress for now and convereted the upper bunk into a play area for his many cars.

I found this bed at Kmart! I haven't been impressed with Kmart's furniture in the past but after reading the reviews of this bed we thought we'd go for it. It was on sale for $179 and you just reallly can't beat that price. Even if it only lasts for a few years, it's been worth it! And amazingly, the stain is a perfect match to the rest of his furniture. Another reason we really like it is that it's not too tall. The top bunk starts at Kevin's chest. AND there is a ton of under-bed storage. So, we're thrilled with it.

Kevin spent all Saturday afternoon setting up the bed - which was more challenging than we expected. It's a surprisingly sturdy bed. Brody LOVES it!

Then on Sunday, Kevin got passionate about building a ramp for Brody's Cars cars. He and B went to Ace hardware to get the supplies and then Kevin spent some time whipping up this awesome ramp! He had a vision of he and Brody building this ramp together but after about two minutes of hammering Brody got bored and came inside. Then after playing with the ramp for two minutes, Brody was over it too. It's ok. He'll play with this ramp for years to come! Thanks, Daddy!!

Monkey Boy

Not only do I have a Monkey Boy but I have the coolest monkey boy on the planet! Brody and Daddy had a fun morning at the zoo last week. Brody came home wearing this get up and I had to hold back my scream in the back of my throat! It's a little frightening at first sight to be honest. He loved my fake screams and chased me around the house. Such a great sense of humor. Cara takes all the credit for his highly developed sense of humor but I mean, come on. I actually take full credit for Cara's highly developed sense of humor so at the end of the day I think we all know who we can thank for Brody's (and Cara's and Kevin's, for that matter) brilliant funniness!! Hee hee

Check out my Slide Show!

Our Little Techie

Kevin and I marvel at Brody's technical genius. He's learned how to operate the DVD player before he was 2 and he now knows how to unlock and operate Kevin's iphone so he can watch watever movie (or movie sceen) he wants. The phone also has a cool scroll feature for viewing photos which Brody uses regularily. This photo was taken on our most recent drive to Phoenix. He's watching Toy Story on Kevin's ipod and controlling the volume on his own. I swear, he's a genius.

We regularily talk to Grandmama over the computer using Skype. We trip out on the fact that it's totally normal for Brody to video call. We still get caught up in how 'Jetsons' it all is! What will life be like for Brody when he's 30? Hologram video calls? Flying cars?

We figure when Brody starts a family they'll probably have some capability to perform sonograms on their home computer/TV screen. It's amazing really. We love technology 'round these parts. And watching Brody grow up around so much technology excites us for what he'll be able to accomplish one day. That's not to say that he'll have unlimited access to technology. His computer time will definitely be monitored. But the fact that he'll grow up knowing how to operate a computer as tho it were a freaking tape deck, blows my mind. And since he's such a genius he'll probably know how to take the machine apart and put it back together! That's my boy. Actually, that's his Daddy's boy.