clothes: 2 // carly: 0

There's an undisclosed "rule" at my work where they strongly suggest that you keep a change of clothes in your car in the event that something happens.  Things that would happen include, but are not limited to: getting your shirt ripped, getting bodily fluids on your clothes, getting general unwelcome items on your clothes.  All of these things have happened to me in the last five years, however, it wasn't until this past month that I started abiding by said "rule" and stocked my car with a complete change of clothes.

Earlier in the month, I shared the unfortunate event of my first exceptionally terrible wardrobe malfunction at work.  From then on, I decided it might be best to keep a change of undergarments on hand... But yesterday, yesterday was the day it finally happened.  As I was getting into my car for outreach (a wonderful time in the middle of the afternoon where I get to go into the home of one of my kiddos and do work there rather than in the classroom) BAM! (or should I say RIPPPPP!).  My black skinny pants decided to give out... right in the crotch.

Now, I know everyone is going to blame this on me being pregnant and refusing to wear maternity clothes, but that was not the reason this happened.  I've had these pants for about four years, and I definitely spent less than $20 on them at Target, AND all of my pants give out in the crotch (I can't explain it - but keep those dirty thoughts to yourself!).

But what a predicament I found myself in.  I was supposed to be driving to Newmarket, but instead, I sat in my car in disbelief.  After a quick snapchat to some key players in my life, I texted the lovely mama of the kiddo I was going to go see and let her know I'd be a little late arriving.  From there, I carted myself over to Old Navy, waddled in, and found myself the first pair of pants that didn't look terrible. 

I must say, I actually like these pants a lot (aside from the fact that they're totally not made for short people like myself and I'm totally going to have to get them hemmed) I'm glad that I had a decent reason to buy them.

pants: old navy // flats: union bay

I'm not sure if I should consider this whole incident an epic fail or win, but either way, I got a new pair of pants :)

happy tuesday!

Happy Tuesday!

Since Tuesday is supposedly the most productive day of the workweek, I hit the ground running this morning by getting myself up, showered, and out the door before 6:30am.  Unfortunately, I didn't get up as early as I'd hoped (pregnancy insomnia is real!) which resulted in my air dried hair turning into a wavy, frizzy ball of crazy, but I still managed to get to work in time for Birchtree's Employee Focus Group meeting at 7:30am.  Aside from working out the normal happenings within the school, we're gearing up for our annual auction this fall (more details to come!)

From there, I quickly popped myself over to the Portsmouth location of my doctor's office for my make up appointment I missed last week.  Lucky for me, The Juicery is located in the same building.  Now, I've always recognized the logo, and basically everyone at my work goes there, but it wasn't till last week that I became a believer.

I highly recommend the acai energy!

Anywho, it's back to the daily grind for me.  Hope you're all having a fabulous week so far!

saturday splurge!

Despite the fact that weekends are supposed to be a time to relax, I'd been mentally preparing myself all week for something a little more crazy.  This weekend marked the beginning of wedding season at the farm, which meant that we needed to relocate Knox (and ourselves) for the weekend.  I was already flustered on Friday from waking up super early to drop Knox off at camp, so when I got a call later from my doctors wondering why I was a no-call/no-show on Thursday (opps!) I was already done with the impending schedule that lay ahead. 

On Saturday, my best friend threw a first birthday party for her second son.  Olive had been singing "happy birthday" all morning, and was so excited to celebrate with her friends.  Lis and Chris did a fabulous job planning a nice outdoor get together.  The work her husband does to their home continues to amaze me.  The kids were so happy playing out back on the homemade tree fort/swingset all afternoon.  Later in the day we spent some time in Portsmouth at a small BBQ our friend was throwing.  It was nice change of pace to go from a small gang of children to just one - especially since overall it was a no-nap day.

On Sunday we decided to wake Olive up early, pop her into the car, and pick up Knox early from camp.  Olive did a phenominal transfer from her bed to the car and basically slept the entire way there.  She was super pumped to check out what camp was all about, and the staff was nice enough to let us look at the pool and play group areas.  After we grabbed Knox, we made an impromptu pit stop at Target so that this mama could get her starbucks fix.  Luckily, Paul wanted a coffee too, and we all thought it would be a great idea to get Knox some tennis balls for our (surprise) trip to the beach later.  I ordered myself the biggest iced chai latte, and grabbed Ollie a small cup of ice (to share my tea).  She was beyond pumped to have her "own tea" (which she told us about 3,200 times).  On top of the starbucks splurge, I talked Paul into letting me get a weekender bag (perfect for my impending hospital stay)!  Olive decided it was a "new purse" - which she's been trying to tote around since we brought it home. 

As D-day creeps closer and closer, I'm happy to know that my list of things that need to get done before baby #2 arrives includes having a cute bag to pack!

Hope everyone else had a wonderful weekend!

silver linings :: celebrating mother's day

Not that life ever goes the way you plan it to, but this mother's day was no exception...  Our mother's day brunch plans went from "plan a" to "plan b" to "plan c" real fast, much to the dismay of a few people.  After an impromptu 6pm shopping trip to market basket, brunch was back on, and the only things missing were my parents and mimosas.

This morning I woke up (at the same time I always do, there's no sleeping in on mother's day) and my requests were simple: 

an uninterrupted shower

to paint my nails

guaranteed endless mimosas for mother's day next year

That's not asking too much, right?

Paul, his mom, and I put together an epic mother's day brunch (if I do say so myself), complete with all the things I love about breakfast: iced chai tea lattes, bacon, eggs, sausage, waffles (with real maple syrup and squirty whip cream), orange juice & champagne, cheesy hash browns, and fruit salad.  This was my first attempt at making (gluten free) hash brown casserole, but I must say, it was exceptionally awesome (just don't ask me how many/much dairy products went into it).  Staying in was great.  I had been having epic anxiety all week about taking Olive out to eat (she's just not there yet), and this way I didn't feel like I needed to be presentable first thing in the morning.  After some morning tea, Ollie and I decided to wear matching outfits, and she happily ran around the house playing with her Grammie, Pap, Dada/Dadito/Daddy, Mama, Knox, (cousin) Henry, (Auntie) Jessie, and eventually Uncle Aaron.

All in all, it was a good day.  I finally got that shower I'd be longing for, I did 3 loads of laundry, and I've actually got a date with a fellow mom friend from work to go see Mother's Day (I can't remember the last time I went to a movie, but I'm sure it's been years).  So I'm writing this one off as a win. 

Here's a glimpse of my 4th-5th helping (I kind of lost track but did downgraded to a smaller plate after the second course).

Oh, and here's one of those "I woke up like this" photos... because, it's mother's day, and this little lady made me the mom I am :)

Happy Mother's Day mamas!

"treat yo' self thursday"

I'd like to preface this entire story by saying that I didn't plan to "splurge" on myself three days before Mother's Day... it just kind of... happened.  Paul and I aren't big on spending money unless we absolutely have to - hence why I buy a lot of pre-loved items from thrift stores and craigslist.  However, today was an exception to the rule.

Before I get into it, I'd also like to say that in my experience, pregnancy and motherhood comes with a certain level of humility.  Am I right? 

Ok.  I've prepped you guys enough... So here's what happened...

I'm at work today, and it's a day, much like every other day.  Some kids are having a harder time than others, and I'm trying to balance that fact with my ever growing need to use the restroom every thirty minutes.  When I finally found some time (right around 10:30am) I was super pumped.  Everything was fine until BAM! My (technically 12-13 year old) undies decided to essentially disintegrate out of nowhere.  I threw in the age of the undies because this mishap had nothing to do with pregnancy/size/weight gain ... but it was exceptionally ill timed.  My outfit consisted of a non-maternity shirt and leggings, so going comando really didn't sound appealing.  But what's a girl to do in that situation?  Hide in the bathroom for the rest of the day?  

I decided to that I'd attempt to wear the remaining garments out of the bathroom, but wasn't sure what my next move was...

Luckily I have the worst poker face ever.  So, as soon as I emerged from the bathroom I was greeted by a co-worker who assumed that (judging by my facial expression) that I'd just blown up the bathroom she was about to use.  I couldn't lie (I'm really bad at that too) so I spilled my unfortunate event with her.  After a few tears from both of us (happy ones, I promise - who couldn't laugh at that situation?), she offered to fill in for me while I made an impromptu shopping trip to the mall (which happens to be across the street from my school).

Typically I avoid the mall, however, today was the day.  I ran directly for Victoria's Secret.  I know, it's kind of cliche.  However, the tattered remains of my undies were from there, and overall, they have cute stuff.  Naturally, I went for the deal they always have in the Pink section: 5 pairs for (gasp!) $27.50 - it totally used to be for $25, but whatever... I bought five.

I let a few key friends in on my series of unfortunate events today, because, common, we all need a good laugh every now and then. 

:)

a new tub toy...

My school had this past week off for April vacation, so I was lucky enough to spend full days with Olive.  Paul took the week off too, which was exceptionally nice, especially since these days as a family of three are fleeting.  During the week, we really tried to focus on knocking off items from our ever-growing to-do list.  I really wanted to make Ollie a bath toy that would honor her love of dumping water from one container to another, but keep her away from the edge of the tub (and inevitably dumping water all over the floor).  After hearing out my suggestions of using PVC pipe to create a "water works" area, Paul admitted that he was game, and just like that - we were off to Home Depot to gather supplies.

pvc pipe // elbows // suction cups

 Paul used a pipe cutter to cut the PVC pipes to assorted lengths ranging from 3-8 inches.  

After removing the metal rings from the suction cups, I hotglued super glued the suction cups onto the fittings, then went back and reinforced them with hot glue (this was a learning experience after a trial run with a toddler).

From there, we pieced the fittings and pipes together to create different pathways for water.  Since reinforcing the glue (some did initially come apart using just hot glue) they've all held together well.  They're a new fun toy that cost less than $20 to make and Olive is currently too interested in dumping water into the pipe rather than onto the floor.

Enjoy!