Currently

So yeah, I haven’t done one of these since August.  Oops.  I have  just been so busy with life and working full time and being a mama that I just haven’t had time to really blog.

That being said, I thought I would try and sit down and write out some updates!

C

During the Carrie Underwood concert...he bought me tix for Christmas.  He looks excited yes?

We made it through the offseason and the Arena Football League started up again this March.  Unfortunately, C’s wrist injury from a few years ago is coming back to haunt him.  It’s been causing some pain and he has also had a pinched nerve in his neck from it. Confusing I know, the human body is so interconnected.  Because of this, the team put him on IR (injured reserve).  This means he can’t play and even if he gets better, he must sit out at least 5 weeks.  It’s been really difficult for him to watch his team play without him.  Hopefully, he should be back soon.  His 5 weeks is up this week and he is feeling better. Now we need a doctor to clear him!

In his free time he has been driving for Lyft and Uber, which he really enjoys.  Something about meeting new people constantly and instantly seeing the money he made for the day give him great joy.  It’s nice because he can do it whenever!  If I feel like going to bed early (which is like, always) he can go out and drive for a few hours and make money.

Noah

By the time this posts, he will be just a few days from being a year old. I can’t believe it.  Everyone says they grow so fast, but you don’t really believe it until you are living it.

We did a photo shoot recently to celebrate one year and also did a smash cake. It was amazing!  Noah loved it.  I can’t wait to share the photos with you. He took a little taste of frosting and enjoyed it so much that he picked up the whole dang cake to take another bite!

Right now he is in size 3 diapers and busting out of his size 9 month clothes (switching to size 12 month when they arrive this week) which is awesome because he is finally starting to catch up to where he should be.

He loves crawling and standing up on things.  He cruises the halls in the house in his walker with ease while I am getting ready in the morning. He’s gotten great at backing up and turning around when he hits the end of the tile, it’s quite funny.

He isn’t talking yet, just lots of babbles and dadadada.  I know he understands us though, because he listens.  Every once in a while he will copy something we say though and its incredible.  I’ve heard him babble “peek a boo” and even caught “happy birthday” on video!  Too bad they were all one time deals though. No solid words yet. I’m trying not to get too worried about it.  Every baby does these things in their own time!

Momma is so proud of being able to breastfeed for a full year, but she is also very tired.  I am beginning to work on stopping pumping at work.  I am hopeful we will be able to still nurse in the mornings, evenings and weekends, but we will see. We are now working on transitioning Noah to more big boy foods and meals, instead of little snacks here and there.  It’s quite a confusing process for me and stresses me out honestly.  I just want to make sure Noah is getting all the nutrition he needs! He is so easy going that he doesn’t fuss much if he is hungry (we had a lot of problems early on with that) so it’s hard to tell what he needs.

Me

As I mentioned I am working on stopping pumping milk for Noah during work hours.  It has been a rough year breastfeeding and I honestly hate pumping with a passion, so I am proud I have kept up with it through our goal of one year.  As much as I hate it, I am really having an emotional time with the transition, which is very odd to me.  I thought I would be so happy to stop this.  I guess even if you don’t like doing something, once you’ve done it for a full year it kind of grows on you.  I just hope I am making the right decision about it and I’m not thinking selfishly. Noah love’s his momma milk!

Noah is still not sleeping through the night and it is really affecting me.  I spend my days exhausted.  Once I get home from work, all I want to do is eat dinner and go to bed. I hate it.  Last night I was in bed by 8:45pm.  That’s pretty embarrassing for a woman in her early 30s!  He has started to sleep a pretty long stretch, but usually still wakes up anytime between 430 and 545.  The problem is, my alarm goes off at 615! If he wakes up at 545 to eat, I don’t really get to go back to bed and get more sleep (even though he does) before my alarm goes off. So basically, I am waking up every day very early.  I have never been a morning person, so it’s very rough!

(Ok though this updated was about me….it’s still kind of about Noah.  Imagine that. Mommy life!)

Books 

Since Noah was born I haven’t gotten to read nearly as much as I used to.  Since the last updated, these are some books that I’ve read:

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain

Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter

I Like You Just the Way I Am by Jenny Mollen

Cartwheel by Jennifer Dubios

I am currently reading Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty.

Unfortunately….I just didn’t love any of these books.  Pretty Girls was good and kept my highly interested and wanting more, but it was also VERY disturbing. I wish the subject matter was a little different, I would have liked it a lot more. The Paris Wife was soooo boring and took me forever to get through.  I really wanted to like it, but it was not for me.

TV

Well….we still have a DVR full of shows that we need to catch up on!  I’m not sure we will ever get through them.  Right now my must watch shows are Scandal, Nashville and Grey’s Anatomy (C doesn’t watch this one).  I’ve also done some guilty pleasure watching of LA Clippers Dance Squad!  I was a dancer once upon a time, so I enjoy seeing the behind the scenes things that make these teams work. It’s not the best quality show, but I still like watching it!

Any new TV shows I should add to our list?  What about awesome books you suggest?  I have less time for both of these things now, but I still want to watch and read the best! 

Currently

So yeah, its been way too long since I have given everyone an update on what C and I are up to these days!

As you all know I am currently growing a little tiny human being….so that has taken up my life!

House

So we moved in at the very end of August last year.  We had a wedding, a honeymoon and then found out we were expecting.  The house and the decorating became a low priority to me because it was just too exhausting.

That is, until last week!  I went a little nuts with my “nesting” and spent the weekend shopping and decorating not one, not two, not three, but FOUR rooms in our house! Our master bath is completely done, the master bedroom is almost there, one of the guest bedrooms is fully decorated and the guest bathroom (and main bathroom in our home) is almost done too.  Craziness!  Hopefully soon I can get some pics up for you all!

Last I wrote we were working on re-doing our kitchen cabinets.  They were this awkward orangey brown color and we just didn’t love them.  We started this work in September and then boom, hello baby!  I had to quit working on them due to dangerous fumes and C was on his own.  I am happy to say, these are FINALLY almost done!  All the visible spots are complete, we just have to do the side of the cabinet that faces the fridge. I am so excited! We finally have all of our stuff in the cabinets and a real, live working kitchen!

Next up is baby Noah’s nursery.  I’ve got lots of ideas in my head, I just have to now execute!  We just sold the queen bed that is currently in the room, so once that is gone we can set up his furniture and I can get started.  His crib still being in the box is driving me nuts. I want to set it up sooooo bad!

As for our break in, we are finally almost back to normal.  It was such a bummer to deal with and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone, but there was a little good that came from it.  New stuff is sometimes exciting J  The police haven’t found any suspects and I don’t think they ever will.  We’ve since beefed up our security big time and are trying to move on.

C

C is still working full time in the off-season at Crate and Barrel. That time is coming to an end though, he reports for training camp at the beginning of March!  I can’t believe the season is almost here again.

I think he has gotten a tiny bit of the nesting bug as well, he has been excited to help decorate, working really hard to finish our cabinets and even completely organized our garage the other day!

Books 

Oh man, I have read a lot of books since this last update!  

First off, for book club I read and posted on both Wonder and Z. You can find those reviews here and here.

Next up, I read several books on my own.  My favorite of these was the Racketeer byJohn Grisham.  Oh man, this book was soooo good!  I know Grisham writes a lot of lawyer type books, but I have never really read them because of that. A friend suggested this book and I am so glad she did.  It had great suspense, I was totally engaged the whole time. It has lots of twists and turns too and keeps you guessing until the end, which I love!

Other books I read were Belly Laughs by Jenny McCarthy, Dad is Fatby Jim Gaffigan, Uganda Be Kidding Me by Chelsea Handler and the Tao of Marthaby Jen Lancaster, who is my favorite author.  Belly Laughs is a “truth about pregnancy” book that took me about a day and a half to read.  I’m not sure I read anything I didn’t already know though. Dad is Fat and Uganda Be Kidding me were mildly funny, but nothing to write home about.  The Tao of Martha wasn’t really my favorite either.  I used to really love Jen Lancaster books, but I think that is starting to change.  I think she needs to switch up how she does things, many of her books are quite similar.

I also read My Story by Elizabeth Smart for Bon’s Book Club, but that got pushed out until February of this year, so you will see my review then. Finally, I am currently reading Where’d You Go Bernadette by MariaSemple.  I’m over 60% through with it and its finally starting to get a little better, but I don’t have high hopes for it.

Clearly I need help choosing my next few books. I have not done good recently!  Any suggestions?

TV

Oh man, C and I are sooooo behind on our TV watching!  We got caught up during the “fall break” most TV series take, but the day after we did that all the shows got started back up again. So now we have multiple episodes of all the shows we watch piling up again. 

The only show I ever watch religiously on the day that it airs…..is the Bachelor. Yes, so lame I know, but I just can’t help it.  My co-workers and I even have a bet going this season haha. We all picked our top three girls based on only the contestants pictures before the season started.  Whoever picks the girl that goes the farthest wins the pot!  I have high hopes for the two girls I have left (Jade and Kaitlyn if you are wondering) but I’m not sure either will become Mrs. Chris Soules.  I guess we will see!  (Please no spoliers if you already know).

Even though our DVR is pretty full, are there any must-watch shows I could be missing?!

Now that I finally have another laptop I am hoping to start back up with the wedding photos.  I just have to find the time (and energy) to set up all the posts for you all!  Hopefully soon!

Currently

You guys I am so tired these days. Wait, scratch that, I am exhausted. I have been working all day and then coming home to try and organize our new home.  Yes, we moved in over a month ago, but then we have a wedding and a honeymoon and everything is still just an utter mess!  There just aren’t enough hours in the day and so blogging has kind of taken a back seat.

That being said, I thought I’d let you know what we are currently up to!

House

While we are on the subject, I thought I’d show you what is really holding us up in the whole “settling in” process.  That would be our kitchen cabinets. We decided when we moved in we were going to stain or paint them before moving anything into the kitchen.

It was a terrible idea. 

We purchased the Rustoleum cabinet transformations kit from Lowes and got to work.  The kit itself is amazing….but it takes soooooo much work.  Like hours and hours. And hours. They were an ugly brown-ish orange color and we are turning them into a beautiful chocolate brown, which is the only thing that makes us push forward.

This gives you a good idea of the process.  Thankfully, that whole side is now almost complete.

Bad news is….now we have to do this whole side!

Here's a closer look at the two side by side:

I seriously can’t wait until these are done.  I think they look amazing and the color looks beautiful with our countertops, but time consuming would be a serious understatement!

C

Well now through February is considered “off-season” for C.  Good news is that while I am sad I don’t get to watch my hubby play football, there is still plenty of football to be viewing!  Football year round is a glorious thing.

C surprised me after the Arena Bowl in August by telling me he had signed for another year which is really exciting.  Next up are contract negotiations, which should hopefully happen in the next week or two.  It will be nice to know what to plan for next season.

Currently he is working at Crate and Barrel (hello discount!) while he studies to pass the insurance exam. I know right? Insurance?  Ew.  It just sounds terrible to me, but it’s something he really wants to do!  And it’s something he can definitely do during the season with flexible hours, which is awesome.

Books

As you’ve seen on the blog, since the last update I finished InCold Blood by Truman Capote, Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Calahan and Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell. You can click on the links to read my reviews.

Two other books I read while on my honeymoon were I Didn’t ComeHere to Make Friends: Confessions of a Reality Show Villain by Cortney Robertson (from the Bachelor) and Still Missing by Chevy Stevens.  Both were great books!

If you have ever watched the Bachelor or Bachelorette TV show I would highly recommend I Didn’t Come Here to Make Friends. It was absolutely fantastic.  It was a very easy read (I think I finished it in two days while on my honeymoon) but that didn’t make it any less exciting.  I had watched Cortney’s season and it was very interesting to hear about the show in general from someone’s point of view.  I have to say, even though she was portrayed as a villain, hearing it from her side almost makes me feel sympathetic towards her! There were tons of behind the scene details about the show which I really found interesting; I couldn’t put the book down.

Still Missing was very good as well; I would put it in the same category as Gone Girl.  A crazy story to start with and then lots of twists as you get deeper into it.  It was a bit uncomfortable when I was reading it because it is about a Real Estate Agent that gets abducted while showing a house.  If you have paid attention to the news at all lately….there was just a Real Estate Agent that was abducted while showing a house in real life.  Creepy! 

TV

Ok, I love fall!  Soooo many new TV shows!

I’m pretty sure we recorded 15-20 new shows.  Is that sad? I mean, that’s a lot of TV!  We decided though we will give each show that sounded slightly interesting a chance and weed the bad ones after after watching an episode or two.

One that I instantly connected to was How to Get Away With Murder.  I hope that this show is able to keep it up.  A lot of new shows have a few awesome episodes and then have nowhere to go.

Another show that I forgot to mention that’s almost over (sad face) is 4^th and Loud.  This show is on AMC and it follows the new Arena Football team the LA KISS in their first season.  The team is owned by Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons (of the rock band KISS) and the show is really interesting.  If you’ve ever been interested in what goes on behind the scenes in football, I recommend this show.   C and his team have made several appearances and I even had like a 10 second cameo. Woot!  I’m famous now guys!

Well that’s all for now.  I am really hoping to have some wedding pictures soon for you….why must photographers take so long?!?

Any book recommendations or awesome fall TV shows you think I should check out!?