Jun 26, 2016

My Sunday Best: Game Changer

Well, we survived our first Sunday Mass all together and Cora was the only one who cried! Phew.
Black midi skirt, chambray top, cognac sandals, wooden necklace
Shirt: J. Crew factory / Skirt: thrifted Gap / Sandals: Land's End Canvas / Necklace: handmade

During this pregnancy I ordered one of these (recommended in a comment on this post) for some postpartum abdominal support and so far- I only wish that I'd thought to look for something sooner! Getting dressed is so tricky when you're fighting the battle of the bulge, so having some support definitely helps when it comes to...reining in the belly in order to fit into things of the non-maternity persuasion.

FYI, the, uh, *girdle* I purchased is a little pricey but they were running a 30% off sale for Memorial Day, plus offering a free support tank (which I wore the first several pp days instead of the girdle) and free shipping, so if you're thinking of buying from Bellefit wait until there's a sale!

Linking up with Rosie for My Sunday Best!
My Sunday Best

And Heidi wishes you the happiest of summer Sundays. :)

Jun 24, 2016

Compare and Contrast and Other Miscellany

Joining Kelly today for some random quick takes.

1.

I just came across this book recently via a comment on Like Mother Like Daughter and ordered it used on Amazon. It's sweet and imaginative and (I'm hoping) a good companion for outdoor summer play, since I have a lot of not leaving the house planned for a good, long while.

2.
THIS: What It's Like to Have Four Kids (posts the woman who has been at it five seconds- although I feel like it could apply to life with more than one kid, too!). Be sure to read it with a box of tissues handy in case you laugh so hard you cry. (I did.)

3.
Before Cora arrived Heidi seemed so little but now I can't get over how big she seems! It feels like:

4. 
And now she's started playing dress up with her sisters; big kid status: official. 


5.
When it comes to births I can't help taking mental notes of all the similarities, differences, and patterns between them. (Warning, mundane info ahead...)

For instance, with Cora's birth *just* before the first official day of summer, we now have a child born in each season, and hers is the only June birthday on my side of the family.

6. 
Also, we've moved and happened to purchase a car each pregnancy (except this one)- we started out with a little pick-up truck and a two-door civic and have since graduated all the way to a minivan. I can't express enough how nice it was nice to keep the biggish life events to a minimum this time around!

7.
And, finally, might as well continue going overboard on photos with a one-week-old shot of littlest miss- our biggest baby and the one born with the least amount of hair. :) 

Happy weekend, and click over to Kelly's for more takes!


Jun 19, 2016

The Latest Addition



I'm sure there's a special place in heaven for a father of four girls. :)


Cora is a sweetheart and has proven to be very accommodating in her first few days, as her carrier is already being usurped for dolls and toys and her sisters like to plop down in her infant seat...
We're happy to be home and enjoying taking it easy as we get used to life as a family of six!


Jun 9, 2016

A Whale of a Wall

Whew- the whitewashed brick wall is finally complete!

And it only took about 10x longer to complete than I had anticipated. :-P

I do really like exposed brick walls but this wall in our family (play) room was dark brick and the room doesn't get a lot of natural light. In the winter (and especially on gloomy days) it feels very dark in there, so I've been wanting to whitewash it for some time.

Here's the before from when we first moved in:

And about a year and a half in:
An explosion of lived-in-ness
In process:
Whitewashed brick
And after:
Whitewashed brick wall, Painting brick wall
With an exuberant Heidi
Whitewashing a brick wall

Entire wall brick, painting brick in family room

Whitewashed dark brick

There's a plethora of tutorials on Pinterest about whitewashing brick...I just bought the cheapest flat paint from Walmart and mixed equal parts paint and water in a bucket. Then after brushing it on I wiped it down with rags. That's it! The trickiest part was finding the motivation to work on it after evenings of solo parenting. ;)

 Sometime in the future I'd love to paint this room since I'm not 100% in love with the color- it's sort of cream and with the poor lighting it often looks yellow (sallow is the word that comes to mind).
There is an extreme amount of nail holes in the walls from the previous owners and my attempts at hanging pictures (ahem) but a few months ago I said to heck with it and added even more in order to rearrange the pictures- I like it so much more than what I had done before! 

Black and white gallery wall

It really makes a difference when you really like a space in your house vs. just feeling "meh" about it. Who knew? ;)


Jun 6, 2016

Life Lately {June '16}

A couple of weeks ago Evie had International Day at school. Luckily my mom still has a traditional Polish costume that belonged to her youngest sister from her dancing days (and the funny part is it's my dad's side that's Polish!), because other than that I think the best I could've come up with is pinning my large "It's Exciting to be Polish!" pin on her and calling it a costume. Two of my sisters wore the same outfit for school events when they were younger, so it was cute to see Evie in the same garb. :)

I tried get a picture together with all three girls but Heidi was not having it, which is a good thing because as it happens, sitting pictures when you're full term pregnant? NOT FLATTERING.


Belizean cutie :)
.......

I've been trying to grow a few meager vegetable plants in pots on our patio and keep finding them either knocked over or dug into by something- I'm assuming it's a squirrel because we have billions of them in our neighborhood. My Grandpa always highly disliked squirrels and I completely see why. They're such punks! Maybe next year we'll be able to put up some garden fencing...
.......

For the past four months I've tried, to no avail, to order a clean out bag from thredUP. The same message is displayed every time:

"Unfortunately due to overwhelming demand, we can't fulfill your bag request at this time. Please check in with us next month."


I've even tried on the first of the month and still, nope, which I find confusing because the "sell/ order a clean out kit" option is displayed on the site, I know of people who have been able to order bags during that time, and I've read positive thredUP review posts recently by two widely read bloggers that both mention the fact that thredUP offers clean out bags. Huh. So I sent an inquiry and two days later got a reply that mentions the overabundance of clean-out bags received and:

"we've had to place a waitlist on requesting new bags. Please reach out again in a few months for more updates on our inbound bag status."

Then why not display a big message in the site? I don't want to don a Scarlet 'V' for victim, but I don't think they're being transparent- I'm guessing they're only taking bags from certain costumers and if so, just say it! Has anyone else come across the same message from them?
.......
Evie had her last day of pre-K last week and it was a really fun morning with outdoor games for the kids + a pizza party for the families. I cannot believe we now have a Kindergartner!

"Cheese!"
Except for two more ballet classes for Audrey (which I wish with all my heart were over since I am too pregnant function in daily life), we are now in summer mode- but obviously keeping up with learning:
Audrey: "Yay, I did it! I wrote the 'i' in plane! Praise God!"
Bless her heart.
.......

Cheers to summer!

Jun 1, 2016

So They Say

I often used to bring Chick-fil-a home for breakfast on the mornings I'd go in very early to work...
Evie (holds up a scrub top in my closet): "This is your Chick-fil-a shirt."
#fairenough

Evie: Mom, in Mary Poppins, she had so much fings in her bag. Was it a diaper bag? There were no diapers in it...so I guess they're not having a baby anymore.
...And other deep thoughts by Evie Mayer.

After playing some sort of game where they're trying to capture each other-
Evie: Audrey, I'm free!
Audrey: (inaudible response)
Evie: No, I'm not the number free, I'm the word free.

Audrey: Well, you see Evie, you can see my mouth because I don't have a beard.

Evie: J is in my class- he has curly hair. Like Shirley Temple.
#complimented

Evie: Mom, I'm going to be new in Kindergarten.
Audrey: Oh, what will be your name?
Evie: Evie. I'm going to be Evie forever.

During a boisterous time in the car...
Evie to Audrey: Let's play high five!
Me: No- hands to yourself...you can give yourself a high-five, that's why God gave you two hands.
Evie: No, that's called clapping.

Audrey (with a baby doll stuffed under her shirt) to Evie: *urgency in her tone* Joseph, I'm having a baby! C'mon...let's go to Bethlehem.



Evie (out of the blue during quiet time): Mom, there are still people who are naughty to Pope Francis, so he has soldiers who protect him.
..............................................

Audrey has the most perfect way of unknowingly misnaming and misidentifying things- I love it and will be so sad once she grows out of this stage!

Her Marian Shining Light dolls she calls: "My womans"
Woodstock from Charlie Brown: "Cornstalk"
Lily of the Valley: "Valley of the Town" 
Graham crackers: "Jam crackers" 
A traffic jam: "Jam traffic" 
Calamari: "Californias"
Piggy banks: "Penny Banks"
And my very favorite- Asking for her St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Holy Heroes CD "Can I listen to my Saint Our Lady of Hungary movie?" So close and yet...

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...