Confessional Thursday | 3.31.16

Linking up with Jess of The Newly again for another Confessional Thursday!

I confess...

+  I bought into the whole "Turn on post notifications" for Instagram earlier this week when they supposedly rolled out their new algorithm. And then I immediately regretted it when I was getting noisy, annoying alerts every time someone posted something. I have since turned OFF post notifications for as many people as I could (there's no easy way to remember/keep track of who you turned post notifications on for), but I still get the occasional alert from people I forgot about. So far, I haven't noticed a difference in my Insta feed. Has anyone else??? Also, I've found myself reconsidering who I'm following on Insta.  Do I really need to keep up with the Kardashians? I might be unfollowing some people soon.

+  I can't bring myself to make Max's bed every day. It's so much effort (lower the side rails, pull up sheets and quilt, arrange stuffed animals and pillows) just to undo it all again at naptime and then again at bedtime. So, his bed is never made unless I've just changed the sheets. #sorrynotsorry #priorities

+  I cleaned my bathroom today and was shocked/disgusted at the dark brown film that covered our vanity top. It's from my dry shampoo (which I love); it's tinted so it doesn't leave white spots in your dark hair. Unfortunately, it leaves brown film everywhere else, and since I use it every other day, it piles up quickly. I couldn't see the film day-to-day, but when I wiped down the countertops, the rag was covered in the stuff. Ick. I'm still going to use the dry shampoo, though...

+  I'm considering keeping one of our snow shovels in the house to help clean up toys (both toddler and dog) at the end of each day. It's getting quite difficult/uncomfortable to bend over to pick things up at 32 weeks pregnant! Victor has asked me several times this week if I want him to get me one of these to help me reach things. I've politely declined, but it might be handy even when I'm not pregnant. Victor and I aren't the tallest people...

+  I always over-buy fruit at the grocery store. I love it so much! But then I forget about it and we end up having to toss rotten fruit after a while. Just this week, I bought strawberries, blueberries, mango, and bananas. We also have about 3 apples in our fruit basket, several clementines, and grapes in the fridge.

+  I love my new haircut. So much. There's nothing I don't like about it. Actually, that's a lie. I wore it curly one day shortly after I got it cut, and unfortunately, there aren't enough layers in the style, which causes me to have "triangle head" with my curls. However, I like how it looks straight and don't want to change that by getting more layers, so I'm dealing with it for now. It doesn't take too long to style now that it's short--which was the entire reason for cutting it in the first place--so that's enough to have me singing my hairdresser's praises for the foreseeable future. I think I'll need to bite the bullet and get some layers for the summer, though, since I almost exclusively go curly in the hot/humid months.

+  About every other day, Max wears one of his 18-month shirts for the last time (they're getting too short/tight for him), and I'm reluctantly coming to terms with the fact that he's almost 2 (HOW??? I feel like we just threw his first birthday party!!!) and is ready for 24 month/2T clothing. I'm just not ready!!!

+  Speaking of Max turning 2, I'm at a loss for how to celebrate his 2nd birthday in May. I'm nervous to plan anything because it'll be so close to baby's due date (just a little over a week prior). Any suggestions? I want to do something small with minimal effort, but I still want it to be special.

+  I was really getting discouraged about this pregnancy and all the "complications" I've been having (mainly occasional high blood pressure at the doctor's office), but we got some great news on Monday at our 31-week check-up and ultrasound: my 24-hour urine collection and bloodwork tests show completely normal creatinine and protein levels (yay!) and baby girl is growing right on track! The maternal-fetal doctor said that with the marginal cord insertion (the umbilical cord is inserted on the very edge of my placenta instead of in the middle), you have a 50/50 chance of having a small baby, but "obviously your baby isn't reading the textbooks!" So reassuring! Also, I find myself preferring male doctors over female doctors. I've seen 3 male doctors over the course of my two pregnancies and about 5 female doctors, and the male doctors, in my opinion, are more straightforward and no-nonsense. They actually put me more at ease.

+  Speaking of baby girl, I have yet to do any more work in her room. I painted a mirror frame for her last week, but that's it. I need to get on it!

I bought this mirror at Target years ago. The frame was off-white, but 3 coats of a coral acrylic paint from Michaels gave it new life!

That's all I have to spill! Until next time!

Confessional Thursday | 3.10.16

Linking up today with Jess at The Newly for Confessional Thursday! If you're a blogger and have some juice to spill, link up!

I confess...

+  I just don't understand Snapchat...not that I've really tried to understand it (my sister explained it to me once, but...). It looks like a huge time-suck with all of it's goofy features. I'm sure it's fun to play around with, but I'm resisting the urge to jump on the bandwagon since Bloglovin' and Instagram take up enough of my time. Admittedly, though, I have a bit of FOMO with regard to this newer social media craze. Hopefully I can stay strong.

+  I'm seriously considering (and by seriously, I mean I have the salon's number queued up on my phone right now) chopping my hair off. While I like having it long, I'm beginning to loathe how long it takes to dry my hair in the morning. It takes flippin' forever since I'm a bit of a perfectionist. I have naturally curly hair, so if I'm going to blow it out straight, I'd like it to look decent. I always say I want to keep my hair long so I can "do stuff with it," but the only "stuff" I do is blow it out and leave it down or throw it in a messy bun. Shorter hair = less drying time. It think it's time to snip. I want Carrie Underwood's hair.

Here's my long hair looking particularly fab in Florida in January.

Carrie's adorbs hair via her Instagram

+  Speaking of Carrie Underwood, I can't make it through her Greatest Hits album without crying a handful of times. Girlfriend has some deep tunes...blame it on the "storytelling" side of country music. Here's a list of the songs that get the tears flowing: "Jesus Take the Wheel" (I used to belt this out in the car years ago and never cried. Perhaps my preggo hormones are getting the best of me); "Wasted;" "Something in the Water;" "The Girl You Think I Am" (this one's on her new album. As a gal who lost her father too soon, this song about wanting to make your daddy proud does me in every time); "Mama's Song" (I wanted to dance with my mom to this song at my wedding but considering the fact that I could only get a couple of lines into the song before crumbling into a sobbing mess, I thought better of it); "Temporary Home" (the old man telling his family, "I can see God's face" in his hospital bed--stick a fork in me, I'm done); "What I Never Knew I Always Wanted" (also from her new album. I can't imagine my life without my little ginger baby and his sister still cookin' in my tummy).

+  I bought my first pair of TOMS during a Zulily sale last month and I'm wondering why I didn't do it sooner. I LOVE them and wear them nearly every day (I can't find the ones I got on the website. Perhaps they were a Zulily exclusive). I also got Max a sweet pair of TOMS sneakers (similar), but they're still too big for him. I hope he grows into them before the summer or can still fit into them in the fall!

+  I'm constantly praying for patience in this new "big boy room" transition with Max. We're still in the first week and it feels so daunting and endless, even though each day is getting better. I'm never one to welcome change with open arms (self-proclaimed creature of habit over here), so this new arrangement is really taking its toll on me; our routines have been flipped upside down and I'm spending over an hour at naptime and bedtime helping Max wind down and fall asleep in his new room. When he slept in his crib, I read him a story and put him in there, and he'd fall asleep on his own and sleep for 2-3 hours/through the night; granted, it took a couple of weeks to get him not to cry/scream when I left his room. I'm praying that my good sleeper is still in there somewhere and just needs some time to get used to his new surroundings.

+  I'm peeved with our post office/postman...not sure who to place the blame on. Every day last week, we received mail for other addresses on our street--and not even junk mail--important-looking mail! I always write "delivered to wrong address" on the envelopes and throw them back in the mailbox, but I'm uneasy about it all. If we're regularly getting other people's mail, other people are likely getting ours. We never received a Valentine from Max's bestie last month, and my brother-in-law's wedding save-the-date was delivered to someone else (we know this because that someone kindly contacted his office to let them know about the error). It's been on my to-do list to call and complain, but I don't like confrontation so I'm avoiding that task.

+  One of my favorite things to do now that I'm a mom is swap cute/funny/weird anecdotes about what my kid does with my other mommy friends. It's so fun to hear what other kids Max's age are doing.

+  I still haven't made our 2015 family yearbook. I need to get on that. If you want to make a yearbook for your family, check out my post about last year's book.

+  The weather we're having this week just makes me want to SING! I actually said those words to my husband today as I was driving home from my doctor's appointment. It's been sunny and in the mid- to high-70s! Max and I are clocking in some serious outside time, and we're giving our grill a workout for dinner.

Until next time!