"How's the campaign going?"
It's the question I get most often. It's also the question I'm never quite sure how to answer.
Good? ... Great! ... Your guess is as good as mine. ... We'll see May 17th!
The truth - I suppose - all depends on what you're measuring.
This weekend we hosted a Winter ONE-derland party in honor of Felix's first birthday. Considering this child was born during a snow, it seemed like an appropriate theme. Well, the weather had other plans and it was 70 and sunny! I could have hosted the dang party outside!
For my 30th birthday, I created a list of 30 things I wanted to do. One was to write a historical fiction short story. This is the story and as Ruby keeps calling to me here lately. I thought I'd share it here.
One of Nicholas's New Year's resolutions was to try freezer meals. He'd prepped meals for the week on and off through 2015 and wanted to see how it would work to prepare an entire month's worth. Then, we could just pull a meal from the deep freeze, throw it in the crockpot, and on a busy day dinner would be waiting for us.
This is the sermon delivered by The Rev. Richard Paxton on April 26, 2015, the date of Felix's baptism at Grace Episcopal Church.
Whenever I begin to formulate a sermon, I often start by consulting Bible commentaries. I like to see what biblical scholars are saying as I ponder their meaning myself.
In the case of today’s readings on this Good Shepherd Sunday, I consulted a few commentaries, and a recurrent theme kept cropping up—in fact, a recurrent adjective: “superfluous.”
I love Louis C.K. He is considered one of the greatest comedians of his generation but I think he is so much more. Great comedy comes from wisdom and intelligence and - most of all perhaps - vulnerability. Louis C.K. possesses all these things and while his standup is hilarious, I found his recent interview with Terry Gross on Fresh Air more than just funny. I found it smart and insightful. I HIGHLY recommend the whole interview but had to share some of what he had to say here.
I thought that after a year and a half pregnancy in 14 months I would feel different. I thought that after the heartbreak of pregnancy loss followed closely by the emotional and hormonal roller coaster of another pregnancy I would feel certain.
I thought after the nausea and the hip pain and the sleepless nights I would hold this baby in my arms, look down at him, and say, "Hello, little one. You are my last."
I tried.
I wrote this post a couple of years ago but have been thinking about graciousness a lot lately so thought I'd share it again.
I stumbled upon this quote recently and immediately taped it up on my bathroom mirror. It seemed to perfectly capture how I have been feeling late. I spent so many years trying to gain confidence and learn to stick up for myself that recently I’m beginning to wonder if I’ve overshot my mark. In my efforts to defend myself, do I forget about other people?
I love Joanna Goddard's series My Beauty Uniform on her blog A Cup of Jo and decided I would share my own beauty uniform since my post on my new creme cleansing routine sparked such great discussion!
My Daily Beauty Routine
Depends on the day! Truth talk. Now that I have a new baby some days I straight up don't have time to do much beyond pin my bangs back and throw on some clothes. However, I really try to keep those days few and far between.
Most days I wear L'Oreal Paris True Match Naturale Mineral Foundation. My mother-in-law stuck some in my stocking about five years ago and I've been wearing it ever since. Not the most traditional way to discover new makeup but I love this stuff b/c it provides nice coverage without making me feel like my skin is gunked up. Plus, it's REALLY nice in the summer when it's hot and it contains SPF.
In fact, I liked it so much I also wear the blush!
I usually sweep a little bit eyeshadow on - usually whatever color I have on hand. Then, add a little bit of brown eyeliner to the outside of my upper lids and put on mascara. I've switched brands a couple of times recently but I'm going back to Maybelline New York Volum' Express because I haven't found anything I like near as much.
It’s birthday party season in the Holland household. Griffin's birthday is May 16th and Amos's birthday is June 3rd so the party planning has begun in earnest. Every year I spend a ton of time planning (and designing and crafting and baking) for two big parties to celebrate these awesome little guys.
I go big and I'm not going to apologize.
Not only am I pregnant, but two of my closest friends from college are also due within weeks of me – one with twins! In an effort to save our friends multiple car trips, we scheduled both Aimee’s and Erin’s baby showers last weekend. It was a party planning bonanza and I thought I’d share some of the adorable details.
First up on Saturday was Aimee’s shower celebrating the arrival of twin boys – Noah and Charlie. Our theme was “A Perfect Pair.”
Brown and green were also the colors in her nursery and we tried to use baby items she could take and use in their room – blankets, onesies, and a name banner. The adorable invitations above were from Paperlicious. We played a Twin Baby Babble Word Game that I designed to match the invitations. We also had a “Pear Tree” where everyone could write their hopes for the babies on little paper pears to hang on the tree. The momma-to-be took them all home in a little book at the end of the shower.
Everything went beautifully and we passed out Doublemint gum as party favors as everyone was leaving.
Just in case you have a twin shower around the corner – I’m sharing a free printable version of the Twin Baby Babble game with all of you!
Enjoy!
I love holding my babies. I've always felt like holding a sleeping infant is a form of meditation and I can feel my heart rate slow and my body relax as Felix naps on my chest.
I don't get to hold him enough. There are chores to do and places to go and I feel like I'm always rousing him to shove him in his car seat or his swing. I hate it and I get downright weepy when our snuggle time suffers.
And yet...
Since the week he was born I've heard the same message.
“You need to put that baby down.”
