My Husband Doesn't Read Posts With Too Many Words...

I thought today was the day. The day I would start liking burritos. Like maybe the past ten years was just a big joke and I kept lying to myself that I didn't care for large quantities of mexican food mashed together inside a mushy soft shell. I don't like my potatoes touching my salad, but that doesn't mean I can't start liking burritoes again, right? I went to Moe's Southwest Grill. And I ordered it veggie because I know myself and how much myself hates meaty and beansy things. And I couldn't even finish it. Maybe it was because I got it "to go", and by the time I got home the rice was the same temperature as the sour cream. Yuck. I forced myself to finish half. Then I admitted to myself that I just couldn't do it. So I finished my chips and salsa and chased it with the rest of my Orange Fanta, which was delicious. Sometimes I wish I could have slushy drinks all day.

Sometimes we just need to talk about food.

-I don't like burritoes, olives, rice/tapioca pudding, jello, bananas, scallops, capers, any type of beef (except hamburgers with cheese so you can't really taste the meat), and sometimes chicken.
-On the other hand, I love salmon, shrimp, cod, talapia, ANY type of vegetable (including avacados, arichokes, zuccini, leeks, any color pepper, cabbage, raw mushrooms and cucumbers) and salad. In other words, I love to eat things that are fluffy or crunchy. Nothing mushy. I prefer rice over mashed potatoes. One of my favorite things to make are veggie wraps with white rice, tons of veggies, hummus, sundried tomato paste, little bit of parmesan, some italian dressing or vinagrette, and any kind of sprouts. And of course, I love most types of fruit.
-I have a love/hate relationship with cooking. In general, I hate using recipes for entrees. They make me feel like a sheep (don't ask). This is definitely a personal quirk that I have not yet figured out completely... So I try to glance at a recipe and then sort of elaborate, or some meat in a frying pan with olive oil and then just start throwing things in with it. The results are often far from fantastic, but it makes me feel like I'm being creative.
-For any kind of bread or dessert, using a recipe is a must and I always follow...
-I hate going to buffets. Especially Golden Corral in North Lakeland, FL. Mmm no.
-Favorite two places to eat: Cheesecake Factory and Cafe Rio.
-My all time favorite food would have to be a huge cobb salad, hold the bacon and blue cheese. With a glass of ice water or orange juice. Follow that up with something sweet about an hour later, and I am soooo happy.

-And I must say thank you to Ashley for watching the girls today so I was able to 1.Think straight 2.Eat 1/2 a burrito 3.Shop for, but not purchase, a cute expensive bag (Vera Bradley) 4. Blog and perhaps even lie down!

-36 weeks today people, 36 weeks. You know that crease in your shirt between your chest and your tummy? My crease has of course turned into a shelf and I have noticed that most of my shirts and dresses have spilled food and drink in that area. I'm a mess, I tell you.

Every Day is a Vacation

I had to post the wedgie photo... Just can't help myself.

And here is Grace being thrown by Jake.
Some goggle marks.

Ruby lapses into these self-deprecating episodes... Picture her sitting by the side of the pool, eyes down, staring at the ground. Sometimes this lasts up to 45 minutes. It's usually just a long display of introversion. I take the "ignore her and she'll come out of it" approach. Jake, of course, is reeled in by the sheer depression and drama of it all. And that's why he's a good dad. And that's why we are given three daughters, because he's just cool (sensitive) like that. Some photos from over the weekend... We live about five minutes away from Jake's parents. We swim in their pool almost every day. Between their house and ours is a chicken place called Zaxby's, and Sonic. I love these two places! From Sonic I usually pick up a cranberry limeade, and if I'm feeling generous and super hungry, I'll also pick up a chicken salad from Zaxby's. And it is so delicious (but 7 bucks!). And then we swim, usually with our cousins. And we eat chicken nuggets from Nana's freezer. And we have popsicles and fruit snacks, tomatoes, oranges and taquitos (we live by Sam's Club also). So without further explanation, today we are off to do the same thing we always do.

9-1pm: Chores and errands

1-4pm: Swim at Nana's house (sometimes replaced with a trip to the museum, but not since Mommy has been feeling very hot with low energy!)

In Florida, every day is a vacation.

Moving On and Growing Up

PLEASE LET IT BE OVER... I'm just sending that out into the nothingness, maybe this time around 35 weeks of pregnancy will be enough. But who am I kidding? I should just fall in line behind all the other weighty pregnant women of this world and wait. I think the last four weeks of pregnancy is a daunting journey of self-discovery. It's a mental and physical pain that only I can endure. Not even my husband's attempts at being sympathetic will really relate to the mountain that I am about to climb. And you would think that after you have a baby you are the most sympathetic to that last part of pregnancy, but those women have a baby bouncing around in their lap, and they're distracted. And God helps them forget the pain quickly so they'll somehow do it all over again.

On the lighter side, Miss Thaing #3 is growing and measuring right on. She'll be another 8.5-pounder. I am so excited to see, kiss, meet, greet, hear and cuddle her. Before I know it she'll be 1. Or I'll be attending her Kindergarten Orientation. Like I did today for Grace.

We get there. She's nervous. She has to go to the Science Discovery Room for activities while Dad and I listen to the principal talk and sign some forms for about an hour. She gets whisked away by a teacher who doesn't notice that Grace's bottom lip is tucked so far into her mouth that I think it's going to get bitten off. Her classic nervous face. I watch her walk down the hall a bit, only to see her feet skip once--the excitement just kicking in-- before she enters the classroom where all the other pre-kindergartners are.

They say she needs snack and lunch every day. She has to wear a uniform with plain white socks and has P.E. for 45 minutes a day. She has to be there from 7:50-2:30 and she can't be late. She needs to read a lot every night and she will have homework. When we pick her up after the school tour and orientation, she tells me that "One girl had nice hair" and that she "Played duck, duck, goose and picked a boy named D." and "Isn't that a funny name for a kid?" and "School is so, so, so fun!" She must have read something somewhere like, Phrases to Say to Put Your Mother's Mind at Ease Regarding the First Day of School. It helped. And all the Kindergarten teachers are really nice ladies who have taught there for years. And I'm taking deep breaths and being very, very calm. On the way home, she is playing with her balloon animal. One of the ears pops and it hurts her tooth and scares her, and she breaks out in a high-pitched, pitiful cry with huge tears streaming down her freckly cheeks. And I calm down even more because in the comfort of the family car, buckled into her booster, with her mom driving, she is still a baby. Phew.

TV

Is it Monday, May 19th: official day to whine? Because my girls got the memo. They are whining in full force. Lots of flopping on the floor too. Maybe it feels good. I mean, I haven't flopped on the floor in awhile, so thinking objectively, maybe it's what my body needs. I'll keep everyone posted on how that turns out.

This week we have a good line-up. Tonight is the first night of The Bachelorette. I will be able to tell with this first episode whether or not I'll be into it. Tuesday and Wednesday are the American Idol Finales... And Thursday is the Grey's Anatomy Finale. I am still a die hard Grey's fan and will be until I... well, die hard. American Idol, hm, I know David A. is going to win but I kind of don't want him to because then he'll do that "Aw Shucks" face that he does every time someone says something nice about him and I'll just get more nauseous.

If you told me ten years ago that I would own a TV, watch TV, have cable, and time my night around the start time of a TV show, I would say that you were ON something. But here I am, a TV watcher. And I blog about it. I swear, I do talk about more interesting things.. just not this week.

Peanut Butter, Tantrums, Elbows.

Sometimes Grace gets her own breakfast while Ruby and I are still asleep...

And her tummy is happy, and her teeth are all buttery and we have a good morning. Until it's time to clean and I have to get her to clean this off the kitchen table:

It's a village of animals with large, scary eyes. Not matter how hard I try, I can never fully understand how important this world is to Gracie. The way their bodies face, whether they are on the left or right, where they are in proximity to tiny chairs and swings, are all of great [tantrum-threatening] importance. She remembers who she has downstairs and who she has upstairs and her heart literally seizes up when anyone touches them. I keep thinking Hulk will rip right through the center of her body and attack me if I continue "helping" her clean them up. And when she starts screaming at me, I have to count backwards from ten and visualize how sad I think I'll be when she is too old to play with toys to get me through the next few minutes of pre-k meltdown episode #17. This happens almost every day. As I try to get Grace to transfer her traveling circus to the little toy table, Ruby's doing this:

She's got like one or two toys that she even cares about. And they are usually on the floor under the table. And when I ask her to move them, she picks them up and idly chucks them into the toy bin. If they fall to the bottom? Fine. She just skips off with all her little nondescript bruises riddling her knees and elbows, her two-day-old ponytail bouncing between her shoulders. Can't wait to meet my third little friend.

Moms Love Sentimental.

The girls weren't feeling well and hardly slept on Saturday night, so I went to church alone and when I came back three hours later, these cards are what they had made for me! I love them so much and anyone that has talked to me knows I can't stop talking about them. Jake made up the questions, took photos of the girls, uploaded them, and printed them along with the questions. The girls answered everything themselves, and I was in heaven. Moms love sentimental, and that's the truth.

I also got a NEW LENS. Let me emphasize: this lens is a heart melter. I love it, the possibilities are endless and now I've got a great Zoom and a great Prime. The new lens for those of you who care: Canon's 50mm F1.4. Nothing short of exactly what I wanted for Mother's Day. And how, do you ask, did I sneak in a prenatal massage on Saturday? I do not know, but I am one lucky, lucky girl. It felt so nice.

A Mother's Day Weekend

(10 bucks if you can guess which one is me)

Things I learned from my mom:

Life Takes Instruction: Every task, even the most mundane, has a myriad of instructions attached to it. If she doesn't give you instructions, she will instruct AFTER the fact, like, "You didn't wipe the table effectively because you wiped the crumbs onto the floor, you have to wipe them onto your hand and rinse in the sink", etc. You have to be organized in order to raise 9 kids.

I Love Your Dad: A fierce loyalty to my dad is something that taught us when we were young to respect the work my dad did every day for our family. In turn, it helped me respect my mother for the work she did without asking for much recognition. She stuck by my dad when it came to the kids.

Everyone is Worth Your Time: To this day, in the small town of Eureka, CA, my mom will talk to anybody in a grocery store. ANYONE. This includes the woman with no teeth, wearing a faded, stained tank top, smelling like alcohol so bad, and won't quite look you in the eye. She will talk to her. Ask her where her kids go to school. Tell her she should go to the beach because the ocean "has never looked more glorious than it does today". Not because she feels compassion for her, but because she truly wants to know about her. She sees through everything and just wants to make friends with people.

You Can Cry Whenever You Want: Like her mother before her, she is a crier. We used to watch Anne of Green Gables in neat little 8-hour increments on Saturdays. They were our Green Gables and Avonlea marathons (what else do you do with 6 daughters?). When it came to a touching part (or every 20 minutes), all of our heads would swoop to hers and see if she was crying. Sure enough. But it was normal, comforting, and I miss it.

Makeup is for Special Occasions: And I mean SPECIAL. Like, your anniversary. My mom is rad. She really helped me either realize that I am pretty without makeup, or helped me realize that caring about my appearance is overrated.

Husbands Need Prodding: She is married to my dad. Who thinks you can go backpacking and sleep on the ground and eat dried refried beans every day and not bring bug spray. And we did that. Thousands of times. But my mom, she got him to roll up a mattress and put it in the car, bring flashlights with new batteries, plan REAL food, and actually PLAN things in general. My parents are an excellent combination.

You Are Worth Standing Up For: My mom stood up for me. Any chance she got. And she taught us to do the same for ourselves, with teachers, peers, and boyfriends. She is not shy about sharing her opinion, and I love her for that. Embarrassing at certain times of my life, but indispensible at others.

The Gospel is True: The fire inside my mother is unquenchable. She rose from difficult circumstances in her childhood and became a rock of religious truth, moral standards and unwaivering testimony. She is a light.

Love you Mama.

32.5 weeks

Donna Smylie took some maternity photos for me! With my third, I feel more blimpy than ever, so it was nice to have some photos in great light. And thanks for your editing help, Ashley! I especially love the one of me and Rubes together. She has always been such a baby to me, and the new one will be an adjustment. I am blown away with the talent in Jake's family, and have to just say I am so lucky to have a mother-in-law like Donna! Her expertise in photography (as well as many other things) has blessed my life immensely.

Frosting for Breakfast.

Questions and Statements from the Gallery this month:

Grace: "Mom, how come sometimes you talk super serious and sometimes you don't?"
Grace: "Aren't you so glad that we have a Daddy, because he has so much fun with his baby girls!"
Grace: "Ya sure look cute today, Mommy!"
Ruby waking me from a groggy sleep: "Mom, can we eat frosting for breakfast?"
Ruby: "Can I have a baggie full of choc-lat-ee cereal?"
Grace: "Maybe tonight Daddy can take us out and you can just stay home and reeelaaaax!"
Ruby at a stop light that's just turning green: "Mommy, goooo!"
Grace on the way to the museum: "Maybe today we can make some new friends, wouldn't that be cool?"
Grace at a gas station: "Why do we ALWAYS have to get GAS?"

I can't remember how they really talked last year, or a few years ago, each year seems to go by so fast and I struggle to write things down as they happen so I won't forget! Grace is my little friend and often needs communication and confirmation of opinion every few minutes. Her favorite phrase is, "Huh, Mom." I spend most of my day just agreeing with her, building her confidence and listening to her observations of the world. She is so outgoing, but also easily embarrassed and very aware of herself. I don't know when that started.. probably this past year. Before that she had no fear. Grace does not have a high tolerance for pain and after an accident, requires bandaids and long question and answer sessions about blood and broken skin. She has a high-pitched cry that I recognize from the moment she was born, it really does sound the same. She suffers from Jacob's OCD, but in a girl version. So instead of just needing the stuffed animals to line up in their appointed position, a slight disruption of that organized method results in a torrent of tears and a red, squishy face. Poor thing.

Ruby has started to get very angry when she can't complete a story. If Grace jumps in, Ruby starts a little three-year-old sulk that just cracks me up. Like, Ruby, that can't possibly be REAL. So then I help her finish her story so she can feel like part of the conversation. She's a daredevil and finds herself in weird pickles like teetering from a jungle gym or stuck on a high kitchen counter. Yet, she is still my girl who is deathly afraid of small, black ants. She pronounces her "r"s sharply and accurately. However, she still says "dat" and "dank you". Hilarious. She's a total nut and teases everyone. She's getting skinnier as she's growing and thinning out and the result is her feeling cold easier. When swimming, she likes to wrap up in a towel and sit perched on a lounge chair, preferably with a snack hidden in her little hands. The towel has to be mostly over her face so she can't see the bugs that may walk by the pool.

Both the girls have little crescent tan lines now around their swimsuit and I just love their little brains, hearts, and bodies. They are a lovely combination. Just today during breakfast, the girls and I were discussing what the new baby girl could possibly be like. Gracie said she might be bald like Mommy was (during which Ruby and Grace exchanged a glance and a nice little giggle between each other. They were born with hair and MOMMY. WASN'T. How embarrassing for Mommy!!), or maybe she'll like vegetables? Imagine!!! Or maybe she'll like puppies like us, or maybe she won't like bottles or binkies? We all speculated and then ate some frosting for breakfast.