"I love inside jokes. I'd love to be a part of one someday."

In my post last week, I referred to the fact that Dustin and I call the restaurant Subway, "Way of the Sub." As this makes for an interesting blog post, I will now explain...

Dustin and I have both written before about some of our different ways of communicating with each other, but since those posts, the crazy has gotten a whole lot worse. We are now at a point where we almost cannot have a normal conversation. Normal being something that would make sense to someone who tried to eavesdrop on us.

We've gone from...
"You're a snowflake!" to...
"I'll show YOU a snowflake!" to...
"It's a FLAKE of SNOWINGNESS!!"

Sidebar -- Funny that I chose to use a snowflake in my example since Floridians are apparently the only people in the country who have not been snowed in at some point in the last couple of weeks.

Anyhoo, there really is no rhyme or reason to the things we say anymore, and though I would like to explain how we come up with our strange names for things, it's more of just an add-a-weird-syllable-here-or-mix-up-these-two-words-and-once-we-say-it-once-it-just-sticks sort of a thing.

Back to the Subway thing, though...a few minutes ago, I e-mailed Dustin to find out what he was going to eat for lunch. My actual words were, "What are you going to eat for lunchy-lunch? Way of the sub???? Remember, all foot long subs are only $5!!"

His exact response was, "I think I will probably eat way of the subby subington subalongadingdong for lunch. That sounds really good right now! I’m excited about the $5 foot long!"

Other things you might hear us say:
At least eleventy billion times a day...in person, e-mails, and text messges -- "I'm going to BITE you" or "I'm going to bite your face off."
When talking about Baggie -- "It's a tiny little teddy-bear headed bunny rabbit kitty!"
"I'll show YOU a diaper genie." or "I'll show YOU the laundry basket." or "I'll show YOU how to make the bed."

We're quite entertaining...at least to ourselves. Then again, it's kind of annoying when I want to talk about what to cook at night and the only response I can get is "I'll show YOU what's for dinner."

P.s. the title of this post is from one of the most awesome-est shows ever. Click here to see some funny clips.

NEW ETSY ITEMS

White Hydrangea Flowers with a Clear Swarovski Crystal on a White Stretch Ribbon Headband - $7.95 + S&H

Medium White Rose with Rhinestone Center on a Stretch Ribbon Headband - $6.95 + S&H

Pink Hydrangea Flowers with a Rhinestone center on a White Stretch Ribbon Headband - $4.95 + S&H


Visit my Etsy shop

Texting with Dustin...

Quick explanation -- "La Nop" is short for La Nopalera, a really cheap but good Mexican restaurant that we like to go to but that I could not eat while I was pregnant and so haven't been to in a long time; "Way of the Sub" is what Dustin and I call Subway. That's another story for another blog post...

*Disclaimer -- family members may want to skip this one :)



ICE Dusty (11:57 AM):
On my way to lunch at La Nop. What are you eating for lunch?

Me (11:58 AM):
Legtover way of the sub

Me (11:58 AM):
*leftover

ICE Dusty (11:58 AM):
Legtover?!?!?

ICE Dusty (11:58 AM):
What's that?!?!

Me (11:59 AM):
It's called a TYPO

Me (12:02 PM):
You should take me to la nop sometime. You go all the time.

Me (12:02 PM):
Or to tx roadhouse

ICE Dusty (12:02 PM):
K maybe we will for valentines day

Me (12:03 PM):
Psh...whatever! We're not doing la nop for valentines day.

ICE Dusty (12:03 PM):
Lol

Me (12:05 PM):
You take me me somewhere where my dinner costs $6 and you'll get the equivalent of that in "bedroom activities"...meaning i'll wear a pair of shorts instead of pj pants around the house.

ICE Dusty (12:14 PM):
Wow I can barely control myself

Me (12:14 PM):
I bet.

ICE Dusty (12:16 PM):
I'll make you a deal. The level of sexiness of your outfit you wear to dinner will dictate the level of fanciness of the restaurant we go to.

Me (12:16 PM):
Or maybe i'll just bite your face off.

ICE Dusty (12:17 PM):
I hope you like mcdonalds

Me (12:18 PM):
I hope you like sweat pants.

Clarification

Okay, this has been bothering me ever since I hit the "PUBLISH POST" button on my last post today. I must have been in a bad mood, because a couple of my interesting items sounded down right bratty. So, to clarify....

#1 - I did not mean to sound so negative about having another baby. Of course I hope that we will have another child someday, and if God happens to bless us with a little boy, I will definitely be one happy mama...not only because I am sure that he will be the sweetest, most precious and adorable little boy ever to be born but also because having son would make my sweet husband very, very happy. All I meant by my previous comment was that I hope that we will be able to space out our children a little bit, and I'm very happy that we were first blessed with a little girl since I (being a woman) know more about girls than I do boys.

#2 - I wish to take back *almost* everything I said about the whole talking-on-the-phone thing. I hate that I may have given my friends -- specifically the ones who don't live near me -- the idea that their phone calls to me are unwelcome. That is not true. While I honestly do prefer texting to talking on the phone, I still do enjoy catching up with my friends/family whom I do not get to see on a regular basis.

Having said all of that...I feel a little bit better, and now I'm going to go to bed. Good night all!

Fulfilling my weekly posting quota

A couple of weeks ago, my friend Julie tagged me for a blog award....


Thanks, Julie!! In order to accept this award, I'm supposed to list seven interesting things about myself. Honestly, I don't know if there is anything interesting about me right now. I feel like my life pretty much revolves around Dallas....which I LOVE, but other people may not care so much. Anyhoo, I'll give this a go...

1. I used to straighten my hair every single day -- even on the weekends. Since having Dallas, I wear my hair in a ponytail almost every day and I've been known to bring my straightener to work to fix my hair there if I have time. (I warned you that this wasn't going to be interesting!)

2. I am one of those people who can watch the same movie or read the same book over and over and over again without getting bored. For example: I read the entire Little House on the Prairie series at least once a year, and I like to memorize my movies so that I can listen to them while I do other things around the house and still know exactly what's going on (i.e. who's talking, character's facial expressions, etc.). I think this bothers some people. I am NOT, however, one of those people who will quote a movie that I've seen a bunch of times when watching it with someone who has never seen it before. I caught myself doing this once and I annoyed even myself, so since then I make sure not to do that.

3. I am terrified of having another baby right now. Mostly, because I'm afraid to have a little boy. I know all of you out there who have sons absolutely love them, but the stories that I've heard of what Dustin and his brother did growing up, and the stuff my brother-in-law Owen and his brother did, and my brother and my cousin.... Oh. my. goodness. Boys are scary. Period.

4. I think I've mentioned this one before but it's worth repeating: I HATE talking on the phone. HATE. IT. The only people I am really okay with talking to on the phone are Dustin and my mom. That doesn't mean that I don't love the rest of you because I do!! I just would much MUCH rather catch up over text or e-mail. If you're calling me with a specific question and don't keep me on the phone for more than like a minute and a half, that is okay. I'd just rather not do small talk.

5. I like to take pictures, and I like to have my picture taken. This is sort of a joke with my family.... If we have a birthday party or anything like that and I have the camera, you can count on as many random, self-taken pics of me as there are pictures of everyone else.

6. I am extremely anal when it comes to placement of objects. Things around me must be evenly spaced. If you have ever seen me make chocolate chip cookies, you have experienced this first hand. It takes me as long to space cookies on a cookie sheet as it did to make the cookie dough. Also, here is one wall of pictures in my office:


It took me probably an hour to hang those all just right. Yes, it is sad.

7. Since we're talking about my office, here is my calendar for this year:


Sock monkeys! I like interesting calendars. Last year my calendar was scenes from The Princess Bride. The year before, it was Gone with the Wind. Also, (on a slightly related side note) my slippers at home are sock monkeys. They are cute.

Okay, I'm even bored with myself at this point so I'm pretty sure that anyone reading this post has already fallen asleep.

Oh...OH....OOOHHHHH!!! I just remembered that I have a HUGE announcement to make!! But not today, and no, I'm not pregnant again (obviously...see #3). I can't say anything until next week, so...sorry to keep you in suspense. I'm pretty stinkin' excited. And please, if you already know what I'm going to say, PLEASE don't write about it in a comment. I'm not telling yet for a REASON and I'd rather not spoil it. Mmm-kay? I gotta add a little spice to posts like this just to keep my readers coming back!

The prettiest room in our house

My daughter is four months and one week old and I am finally getting around to posting pictures of our room. I had a very definite picture in mind of what I wanted her room to look like, and I worked very hard to make it as perfect as I could. You can read all about it here, here, here, here, here, and here, if you so choose. I wish I could get a professional photographer in here to take some good pictures, and maybe I will someday...but for now, you're stuck with the best I can do myself.

The big stuff...

The view of Dallas's room from the doorway

View from the corner between the crib and the closet

View from the corner by the rocking chair

The crib as it normally looks...

...and without the mobile.
I had to smash myself up against the wall for this shot. We've got a lot of stuff crammed into that tiny little room.

Changing table/dresser - holds all diapers, wipes, receiving blankets, burp cloths, and bath supplies

Armoire - holds all socks, hair bows, pj's, onesies and pants that aren't part of a whole outfit, and big blankets and quilts

Rocker and nightstand - the water bottle is to squirt Baggie when she's bad in Dallas's room -- getting on her blankets and such :)

And the details of the room....

This butterfly hangs from the middle of her ceiling fan. It was a Christmas present from Dallas's Nonna and Poppy.

This hangs on the side of the armoire. It was made by Rachel and is signed by everyone who attended my first baby shower. Dallas's footprints from the day after we came home from the hospital are in the middle.

Rachel also made this "D." It hangs above the bedroom door.

Inside of the crib -- Dustin gave me this teddy bear for Valentines Day last year not too long after we found out I was pregnant.

Bows on the front of the crib

Knick-knacks on top of the armoire
Please excuse the layer of dust!! I didn't see it until just now :)

More stuff on top of the armoire -- I need to get some pictures to put in all of the frames!

James 1:17 -- So true!
(Vinyl wall cling from Uppercase Living -- designed by Dustin)

The cubby on the armoire

Shelf above the changing table -- those are Dustin's shoes from when he was a baby :)

So that's Dallas's room! We all love spending time in there, even Baggie! Hope you enjoyed your virtual tour!

hodgepodge

I have soooo many things to blog about that I'm going to need to make a list to make sure I get through it all. This will also help me if I ever need to find one of these things again.This post will include:

1. Dallas's 4 month update
2. Dallas's dedication
3. Dustin's new responsibilities at church
4. My new Etsy shop
5. A bunch of really random pictures of the cutest baby ever

Okay, so that wasn't a very long list, but it's still a lot for me to cover. I apologize in advance for how long this post will surely be.

Last week Dallas had her 4 month checkup. It was a few days early since her actual 4 month birthday was on Monday -- MLK Day, and I wasn't about to spend my day off doing such un-fun things as taking my baby to get shots. So instead, I took her on Friday morning and she got to spend the rest of the day with me at work! That made the difficulty of getting shots a little bit easier...for me, anyway.

The stats: Dallas now weighs 13 and 1/2 pounds exactly and is 25 inches long. That means she's just barely below average in weight, but in the 75th percentile for height. Long and skinny. Why is this not surprising? :)

The pediatrician said that we can now start her on cereal and stage one baby foods. I'm excited about this and a little nervous at the same time. On the one hand, I like that if we go out somewhere we'll be able to give her something to eat from a spoon rather than only having the nursing option (I don't want to make her take a bottle if I'm with her), but the down side to her eating real food is that real food = real poop. Gross, but true. We're probably going to try cereal for the first time this weekend. I don't want to start it during the week when I won't be able to really focus on what I'm doing. Our mornings are so rushed with trying to get all of us ready and out of the house that it's all I can do to get her to just nurse for about half an hour.

Dallas is doing great switching back and forth from nursing to drinking from a bottle. It got a lot easier for her once I was actually working full time and her schedule became more regular. She still prefers me to the bottle, but she won't refuse the bottle any more when she's with my mom during the day. Funny side story -- last week, our good friends Son and Julie kept Dallas for us one night while we had to go to a dinner at church. I left several bottles for Dallas, and told Julie that she hopefully would take them with no problems since she'd been doing okay at my mom's house all of that week so far. But when Julie tried to feed her, Dallas absolutely refused and eventually started crying. Julie tried a few times, but after a while she gave Dallas to Son for him to try. What do you know -- Dallas took the bottle right away for Son. She is such a stinker! I have a theory that Dallas did not like the way Julie smells because she also nurses her son, Collin-the-cutie-pa-tootie. If that's really what it is, that's amazing that Dallas can tell the difference. I don't know what else it could be since I'm sure that Dallas really does love Julie :)

Dallas still has not rolled all the way over. She does the back to side thing on a regular basis, though, and I'm not too concerned because I think this is just a 4 month milestone. I'm sure she'll make it all the way over, soon. She's gotten a lot better about the changing-of-the-clothes thing just in the last couple of weeks. Maybe she's decided that it's inevitable that Mommy is going to put her pj's on every night and regular clothes in the morning no matter how hard she screams. She's smart to just save her energy for screaming about other, more terrible things -- like when Mommy makes her do tummy time. She's gotten over the hatred of letting other people hold her, too. I will attribute this also to her getting used to being on a schedule where she's away from me regularly -- not that this makes it any easier for me to leave her in the mornings. She still does like me and Dustin the best, though, so that makes it better.

As of last Friday, Dallas now sleeps in her own bed in her own room. It was hard moving her out of her bassinet, because it makes me feel like she's growing up way too fast, but it really is better for all of us. We've found out that Dallas likes to move around a lot in her sleep, as witnessed by the following pictures:

This is how I put her in her bed at night:


This is how I found her when I checked on her when I got up this morning:

Yes, she sleeps with her feet in the air.

This is how she looked when I actually went to get her up out of bed:


Quite the little wiggle worm, our Dallas! It is so sweet to see her smile up at me when I wake her up in the mornings. She's always glad to see me and that just makes me so incredibly happy.

This past Sunday, we had Dallas dedicated at church. Before we had Dallas, it was impossible for me to fully understand how this act is much more for the parents than it is for the kids. In having Dallas dedicated, we made promise before God and our church family that we would raise Dallas in a Godly home -- that we would be faithful to church and teach Dallas the importance of having a relationship with Jesus Christ. Her dedication service was so much more than just a chance to show off how beautiful she is, like some people might think. Although she was pretty darn beautiful...

With our pastor, Dr. Brunson

Other babies dedicated that night were Brookelynne (her parents are our friends Jennifer and Mitch....we didn't get a picture...boo!) and Maxwell (his parents are our good friends Brad and Whitney)...


Another exciting thing happening at our church is that Dustin became a deacon! He was ordained a week ago this past Sunday and we've already gone to dinner with the pastor and all of the other new deacons (there were 8 ordained in one night) and he had his first deacon's meeting this past Monday. Dustin feels very honored, but he is a bit apprehensive. As some of you know, our church is quite large as is the number of deacons, and some of those men have been Christians for longer than Dustin has been alive! It is quite humbling for Dustin, but I am so proud of him. Unfortunately, the battery on my camera died, so I didn't get any good pictures. Here is one of us with his parents that I got on my phone...


Fourth on my list -- I have decided to open my own Etsy shop. I've been making hairbows and things for Dallas since she was born, but for some reason the idea of selling them didn't cross my mind until Dustin suggested it this past weekend. And once he came up with the idea, there was no waiting at all -- he had my first two items listed that very night. There's not much there, yet, but I plan to make a few new things and take pictures of stuff I've already done this weekend so there will be more of a selection. Making hair bows and flower headbands is not necessarily easy, and it takes a lot of time, but it's something that I really enjoy doing, so I'm hoping that my shop will do well. I will be very disappointed if it takes like 6 months for me to sell anything. That was a hint for all of you out there who have or know little girls...which pretty much encompasses all of the internet world :) Here are the two headbands I currently have up for sale...






And last but not least, how could I do a post without including some more cute pictures?! Here she is! My pride and joy...

Gator shirt...check!

Gator socks...check!

Watching Daddy play Mario on the Wii

Lovin' on her elephant blanket -- a present from Santa

Helping Mommy cook dinner

My two sweeties

Getting ready to go to Grammy's house for the day

Eating her fingers -- one of her favorite activities

First night in her big girl bed -- watching her mobile

This last pic reminds me that I never did a post showing her room completely decorated. Maybe I'll do that next.

Happy Hump-Day peeps!

You know it's the Tuesday morning after a Monday holiday when...

I just answered my phone at work and said, "Good morning, D;aflkjhdf* office. This is Sherry...er, uh...I mean ANGELA. This is Angela."

Seriously.

Thankfully, I actually knew the person calling me, and she just laughed, so it's all good.

Aaaannnnd...cue Dustin's comment about how the baby is eating my brain.

*The real name of my office has been changed to protect MY innocence :)

P.s. FYI...my mom's name is Sherry. Maybe this is a severe case of the whole "I'm becoming my mother as I get older" thing? I really have no clue.

Wordless Wednesday - My Cutie Pootie

For Julie and Stacie...

....and all of my other friends who keep insisting that I update my blog. People just can't live their lives properly unless they know what's going on in my head, right? I'm sure that's it :)

I am going to state right off the bat that this post is probably not going to be cohesive (I got out of that one by doing a title that has nothing to do with the post) and I'm probably going to end it abruptly when I get tired of writing.

You might think from reading that last paragraph that I don't have any interest in doing my blog any more. Well, that's not really it. I do still like doing my blog, and I do still read all of the old blogs that I used to, I just can never muster the enthusiasm to actually do a post, and I type a lot of comments and never hit "submit" because they're always really long and rambling (like this sentence) and by the time I go back and edit them over and over to say what I really meant to say I've talked myself out of commenting at all and just delete it. I'm going to blame all of this on pregnancy brain, and yes, I feel quite certain that I'm going to continue to blame a lot of my problems on the crazy baby hormones for at least another nine months. Because in nine months Dallas will be a year old, and I think it's just pushing it at that point.

Okay, now for a whole bunch of really random stuff...

1. A long time ago, I did a post on why I like blogging to justify my internet obsession to some of my family. Now, I feel I need to expand on this and discuss the fact that I now feel like I actually have a relationship with some people that I've never even met. I've been thinking about this for a while, but a comment from Allison on my last post helped me to know that I am not the only one who has these feelings. For example, I have been reading her blog for nearly two years now, so I feel like I sort of really know her. And despite what Dustin and some of our other friends may have tried to convince me of last night at the dinner table, I do not think that she might really be some creepy 45 year old man sitting on his couch in his underwear making stuff up about being a 26 year old girl living in Texas. (No offense, Allison.) In summation, I have made many blog friends whom I feel like I can confidently comment on whatever is going on in their lives and care just as much as any of their know-them-face-to-face friends do.

2. I have recently joined the Etsy rage. No, I'm not selling stuff, and no, I haven't even actually bought anything from there, yet, but I am obsessed with looking. Specifically -- I love looking at all of the baby headbands and bows. I am convinced that I could make 95% of the stuff that's on there if I really tried, but laziness prevents me from trying, and I don't want to spend $15 on something that I could make for less than $5, so here I still just sit.

3. I have also recently joined the Twilight rage, only I am not crazy. Haha! No offense to those of you who do these things, but you will never see me put a picture of Edward on my sidebar or wear his face on a t-shirt. Not going to happen. They are good books, though. Yes, I'm only reading the books right now -- haven't decided yet if I'm going to watch the movies. Kind of still leaning towards NO on that one.

4. I was going to upload a bunch of new pictures to this post, but I left my camera at home today. Bummer. Still, here are a few from a few weeks ago that I have saved on my computer of the CUTEST BABY IN THE WORLD:

playing on her Winnie the Pooh mat that she got for Christmas from her Nonna and Poppy

this blanket is her absolute favorite toy

sitting up like a big girl
(she's actually leaning on the pillow -- not sitting up by herself yet)

dressed up in her Christmas dress from her Grammy and Paw Paw

dressed and ready to go to church

I never did a 3 month post for Dallas like I said I was going to, so I'll just write a couple of little things:

• Dustin and I are fairly sure that Dallas is going to roll over (belly to back) any day now. She is sooooo close! She can roll almost onto her side from her belly, but she can't quite make it over her arm. She pretty much always rolls onto her side from her back, now, every time we lay her down. It's so cute.
  
• We just put her in her Johnny Jumper for the first time the other night. She's probably still a little too small for it, but she seemed to like it after a while. I took a video, but it's on my camera...
• She smiles all the time, but is still stingy with her giggles. She has to REALLY get excited to laugh, and she'll do it at the oddest times...like when she's sitting in her swing (which she still loves) we can look over at her and she'll just be sitting there smiling at us, and she'll let out like one little laugh. So cute!!
• Just in the last few weeks, she's gotten really good about riding in the car. She used to sca-reeeeeem every time we'd put her in her car seat, and she'd cry every time we'd stop at a red light, but thankfully that seems to have passed. Now she'll fuss when we put her in her seat, but she'll stop really quickly, and once we're in the car she's totally fine.
  
• She still hates to have her clothes changed. Hates. it.
  
• She loves to stand up on people's laps. She hates to be held in a cradle hold by anyone unless she's being fed. Which brings me to...
• She doesn't really like for other people to hold her. This started when I started back to work. It got better over the Christmas break when I was pretty much with her for two weeks straight again, but as of a few weeks ago, she almost always cries if other people hold her. Even Dustin gets the poochy lip from her sometimes. I HATE THIS SO MUCH, but I don't really know what to do. Contrary to what people may think when they see her, I do not spoil her by holding her all the time at home.
• She has recently started what I call putting herself to sleep at night. We stopped swaddling her several weeks ago (because she was breaking out of it every night anyway) and she made the transition with no problem at all. Now at night, I feed her till she is just about to sleep, then put her in her bed and zip her up in a sleep sack. By the time she's all tucked in she's completely awake, but I don't even remember the last time I had to get her back up out of the bed to feed or rock her again. She's gotten really good about just going back to sleep on her own. Sometimes it will take a good half hour of talking and playing with her hands (which she sucks on CONSTANTLY) for her to fall asleep, but it always eventually happens!
• She still sleeps in the bassinet in our room, but I know that she's going to have to move to her big girl bed pretty soon. She's so long, now, that she can touch both ends of her bed when she stretches out. I'm just putting this one off because I don't want to be that far away from her at night since I have to be away from her during the day.
  
• She talks ALL. THE. TIME. It is one of the cutest things EVER. When she's being held, or in her swing, or in her bed, or playing with her toys, she's always got this constant string of baby babble going on. I L-O-V-E it. It's kind of nice that where she used to just immediately cry when she was upset about something, she'll now start off by just telling us that she is upset, first. Dustin actually recorded her doing this while he was holding her the other night. Another thing that I need to upload here...

Okay, I think that's about all I can squeeze out of my brain for today. I'm pretty proud of myself for covering so much stuff! I'll get around to posting pictures of Dallas's first Christmas soon...maybe tomorrow. No promises made, though :)

Happy only-one-more-day-of-work-till-the-weekend y'all!!