My favorite things

I am loving a few things right now.
1. Crinkle cookies from Aunt Sara. Yummy.
2. My armoire turned pantry from IKEA. now if only we could figure out how to the put the doors on.
3. Friends who come help us move. Even if we didn't get any pictures :-(
4. Our Fujitsu ScanSnap. That is some seriously fast scanning and I am not kidding.
5. The Jersey shore.
6. Reading home improvement magazines.
7. Rubber Lizards that Danielle brings to church with her.
8. Gesticare prenatal vitamins since they don't make me sick.
9. Being able to say I am having my baby "next month" and still wearing high heels.
10. Finding John a homeowner T shirt.

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Dear Waitress

Dear Waitresses across America.
I really appreciate all that you do.
Please stop touching me.
This includes rubbing my back and shoulders. Each time you come to the table you can feel free to shove the food in front of my face if I'm not looking. I don't care if it surprises me. I think I might actually prefer being surprised by food to being touched on the back. No rubbing, my massage, no side hug from the back, please.
What it is about pregnant ladies that invites touching? The other day I went out to dinner and every time the waitress came to our table she ended up touching me. This was probably the first time I actually wanted the waitress to check on us less.
So to that waitress, you should know that I don't want a hug or congratulations. Even if I look like I could use a massage you don't have to fill that need. Plus you forgot to bring more bread and my aunt wanted to eat it with Jarlsberg cheese which is yummy. Thanks for bringing me my daughter's backpack when we forget it. Why am I the only one that gets a hand squeeze as well as the backpack? I am not sure if the unwelcome touching reverses the positive return of the backpack or not.
I hate strangers touching me. Waitresses- you are still a stranger even though I trust you to bring me my food without poisoning it.
Also, I would like to publicly tell everyone that asking about pregnancy is fine. As long as we aren't in the bathroom. When I go to the movies I don't want to be cornered in the public restroom and talk about the spacing of my children. Why does everyone ask if this is my first baby? People with kids still go to the movies I promise. It almost makes me want to skip washing my hands just to get away from ladies who tell me their labor stories while I am trying to get back in before something interesting happens in the movie.
Thanks -Janae

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Dear Girls

Dear girls that sit out in the hall during Sunday School,
Thanks so much for playing with my daughter on Sunday. I really appreciate all the time I was able to set up people coming to help us move. Without you I would have had to run back and forth after Danielle who loves to run away. My beautiful Marc Jacobs shoes cut a little bit on one of my toes and running around church would not have worked.
The only downside that I could really pinpoint in your 20 minutes of free babysitting is really a minor detail. It happened over and over again, and Danielle has done it before. I'm not exactly blaming you... Please don't let Danielle jump on you or pretend that she is pushing you over. Maybe she really is pushing you over. Not that I'm against wrestling or think that baby body slamming is evil in some way. It's me. I don't like to be body slammed. Those little baby elbows she throws at me can really hurt.
Danielle doesn't always understand when she can and can't run into people with all of her might. For instance today she tried to ram into our friend's dog who thought (correctly) that she was trying to wrestle and knocked her over. She didn't cry but I think that she was less than thrilled. I know that dog was confused. Think of his confusion next time you pretend she is "getting" you.
The day after her little party in the hall I had a bit of a cold and when she rammed me in the stomach I sort of threw up all over her. Luckily we were already in the bathroom so I didn't have to clean the carpet, but it wasn't a pleasant feeling. I guess my stomach muscles just don't hold it together anymore. I had no idea that a Danielle to the side could induce vomiting.
It was messy to clean up and a little hard to explain to Danielle, who was less than thrilled with the "big mess."
Luckily after an hour and a half long bath with bubbles Danielle forgave me. I think I forgave myself a little later, although I still feel guilty that it was a little funny. Who throws up on someone and then laughs about it a day later?
On the plus side she hasn't body slammed me since the incident with the throw up, so maybe she can learn to be a selective rough kid.
Thanks
Janae

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The Box

When we moved here someone told us it would be shocking to get out of the box of Provo. I was baffled since we hadn't told them where we came from. Plus I think they were from Idaho. I only think of this now because of the boxes all over my house. We are moving this weekend, if I don't quit before then. Of course then maybe I will have something to post- pictures of our new place and the projects Danielle and I come up with.
Some people say that moving is really hard on children. So far for Danielle it is mostly about blankets and the new wire bin that she carries with her everywhere. When my aunt Sara came to visit and help pack up boxes Danielle just yelled at her for thinking about packaging up her room. So we avoided her room and toys would mysteriously disappear if she ever visited friends.
The other day though she saw me packing up an unopened pony present. I bought it on clearance at Target and am planning to save it for some holiday later on. She ordered "open" but I told her we were saving it for the new house. She asked "new house" (which didn't really sound like new house) and I explained that we were moving to a new house and we had to put everything we wanted to keep in boxes.
Two minutes later the box with the ponies was full of all her favorite toys and all her blankets. Then with her.
I fished the blankets out since she would need those for sleeping and loaded the box full.
So Danielle has a new favorite hobby- it is called hiding in the box. She likes to hide balls and toys and food and wipes and even herself in the box. Saying that moving is hard on kids might also mean that kids are hard on moving- you can't hide things in the box anymore if it is taped up. And Danielle wants to tape the boxes and help label them but I can't say that she is really helpful. She is one of the best work destroyers I know.
Maybe I only say that because we don't have any mommy sized boxes though.

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Money Saving Tips

When we first moved into our current townhome I wanted window coverings. There weren't ANY. Not even cheap mini blinds. Then again if you don't spring for ceiling lights window coverings probably aren't a huge priority. I didn't really want the neighbors to be able to see me at night so we bought some nice yellow drapes on sale.
Then we painted the wall brown and had to start over again. We ended up with silk ivory colored drapes and it is only now that I realized there was another option.
John and my uncle Mark disappeared for 20 short minutes to Lowes and then reappeared with "cordless" mini blinds. You just take the strip off the top and attach them to the window- the folded paper naturally comes down to cover your window in a day or two. Then the cordless feature can truly be appreciated, with just two little clips you can raise those mini blinds to just about any height (but putting them all the way up can compromise the stickiness and render them useless so use caution). Total cost? less than 5 dollars each.
My sliding glass door was a little bit trickier- but with the help of some Hallmark wrapping paper our window was usable and a little bit of happiness. Plus now Austin doesn't look out the window and bark at the neighbors.

Although I am in love with my new window coverings, I will leave them as a gift for my landlord. After all, the best part about finding something fantastic is sharing it. If you think you can't afford window coverings- think again. And you can always change the wrapping paper for birthdays.

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