Rawr! Gender Neutral Crochet Baby Liot set

I can't wait to see the sugar-booger in this get-up! I made this over the course of a couple days before Christmas for the baby. I saw the multicolor yarn at the store and had to have it even though I didn't know what to make with it at the time... the idea quickly came to me after seeing a baby lion hat on etsy. I melted and had to have one for our baby. I made the hat first and decided it needed a diaper cover complete with a tail to make it a set. The hat is SO FLUFFEH.

I love it; it's bright, gender neutral and homemade just for our baby. Plus s/he can wear it right away because I made it newborn sized! And of course, the diaper cover has a tail!

The buttons are from my own collection of buttons once owned by many of our family and friends so they are extra special.

Of course if you need a set yourself or you know a lucky mommy or baby-to-be that could use some crochet love, email me or hit me up on etsy! I even have the pattern for sale now!!!

18 Weeks Pregnant

Even though baby is just the size of a yam like one you may have enjoyed at dinner yesterday, s/he still got me a Christmas gift: no morning sickness on Christmas!!! I really enjoyed it and had a wonderful day with our family.

Baby is roughly the size of a sweet potato or yam, totalling about 8 inches from head to feet. I can really feel movements and I even just saw a little kick poke out the front of my tummy for a second!
Baby is also getting more and more aware of what's outside my tummy and s/he LOVES to lay next to daddy and Peach, too! When I spoon Shawn at night the baby tries to kick at his back. When I hold Peach, she will sprawl across my belly (I suspect she can hear baby's heart beat now) and the baby kicks and then snuggles up to her as well (can baby hear Peach's heart?). I think Peach loves the baby and the baby loves her already, too.

Thursday the 3rd will be my 120th day of Pregnancy: a very special day in Kundalini Yoga teachings/Sikhism in which the baby's soul enters its body. More to come on how we will celebrate very soon!

Christmas Cake 2012

Happy Solstice!

It's officially winter and it sure looks like it here in Nebraska. We got over a foot of snow, I believe!
So Happy Solstice today to you all, and Merry Christmas this Tuesday!

Baby is a rolling stone today. S/he's only jabbed me a few times here and there but oy! is s/he ever moving around trying to get comfy. S/he was sleepy mostly yesterday but today I believe the activity is picking up. I hope s/he reserves some energy for daddy so he can feel his or her backside against my tummy later. S/he'll lay in the front so that I can tell the difference between the squish of my belly and the firmness of what has to be a baby-back! It's so awesome that baby has gone from being poppy-seed sized to being so large I can feel his or her body... amazing.

Oh, and I can still see all the way over my toes... for now.

17 Weeks Pregnant

I feel SO. DAMN. PREGNANT.

Baby is almost 5 inches long!

I can't imagine what 30 weeks will feel like; I think my waddle has already started.
Baby is kicking regularly now and forcing me to eat things I usually don't EVER eat (my Wendy's cheeseburger was delicious, thank you) just in order to get through the day. About 10 minutes after giving into my cravings baby does a happy dance in my belly to let me know that the craving has been sated.
I gave up on the guilt that came along with my cravings yesterday for once and for all after having Jimmy Johns (with heated meat) for the second day in a row. It comes down to feeling sick the entire day and possibly puking versus eating something that I didn't intend to eat and feeling fantastic the rest of the day. I'll take the latter... especially when I only gained 1 or 2 pounds in the last 5 weeks. I think I'm looking pretty good! And we've come a long way from me not being able to eat anything.

A side note that I think is adorable:
Last night I told Shawn that the baby can see light through his/her eyelids (which are shut now) and suggested we use a flashlight to play with baby while it was in there moving around and awake. The baby should reflexively roll away from the light... well, baby went crazy for the light and started kicking towards it and going crazy. Shawn put his hand on my belly and projected the light over his fingers and the baby just went NUTS. S/He definitely knows when daddy is home, talking or near it at all; this baby just loves daddy already. So cute.

Chin Whiskers... am I pregnant or a cat?

When I fell on the stairs last week I did NOT hurt the baby. My appointment the next day for my 16 week checkup went beautifully and the baby's heartbeat was as strong as ever: between 154 and 158.

Onto the next installment of "Being Pregnant is Weird" crap: today I woke up to about 5 chin whiskers. I'd be embarassed to share this but it was just so odd that I can't help but to extrapolate. I had a rogue 1 or 2 chin hairs before getting pregnant that I would pluck every couple of weeks or so and it was no big deal, but this morning I looked like a damn cat! I'm not even kidding when I say each hair was at least a half inch long (HOW LONG WERE THEY GROWING THERE?!).
Some of you may turn away in disgust now and the rest of you who are like me are more than welcome to collapse onto your keyboard in fits of purple-faced laughter.
Some days I admit that I have a hunch that the baby is a girl and then days like today I wonder if this is from extra testosterone... or just plain hormone changes in general. I really can't make a guess. Even when I dream I don't even give it away to myself; I always see a chunky blonde baby with beautiful green eyes and it has been a boy in a couple of dreams and it has been a girl in the last couple dreams as well.

In 3 and a half weeks I'll be 20 weeks pregnant and we go to see our baby's arms and leggies and all of the baby's other body parts... except for the between-the-leg bits. We want to be surprised and I am saying this like 5 times when we are finally in the room with our ultrasound tech next month just to make sure they don't say anything, label anything or show us anything. I am going to have to look away when they check for the baby's sex because I have looked at so many ultrasound photos and videos that I would know if I saw either set. At this point I wouldn't be disappointed either way but I would be disappointed if I knew; I'd be the only one... and I can't keep things like that to myself.

Please promise to exclaim my bravery in the face of the hem-and-hawers in response to my new status as a cat. I only share because googling this morning offered me solace in the midst of other catlike mommies-to-be and I wish to pass on the feeling. Thanks.

Newtown, CT Shooting: Thoughts

I didn't post Friday because of the Newtown shooting; I still don't know what to say about it. The only thing I can even say now is that even in my limited status of "mother" that I am in now, it frightened me. I just am so happy to have our baby as close to me as possible right now so that I feel it is in the safest place s/he can be.

My clumsiness taught me about mom-worries...

20th Century Fox

"Oh god, oh god..." I screamed at first as I slid down the first two steps, "...no," the last bit came out as a whimper since I started to cry before my butt hit the step I had slid on. I was instantly sobbing from fright and worry for our baby. Shawn called out to me and started to sprint down the hall as I righted myself and continued to wail. 
I had done one of the things I have feared most since becoming pregnant: I fell on the stairs.

Shawn tried to calm me while I cried and cried. A million things rushed through my mind and I went to the bathroom to check for any amniotic fluid or blood. There was neither. I called my mom who shared a similar experience when she was pregnant with me, falling up a few stairs and landing on her knees; obviously things turned out fine for her and I.
It was only a little after 6 PM so the baby wasn't awake and kicking me yet, but at 7 PM it started to oblige as per its sleeping/kicking schedule. This morning all is still well albeit that the baby has shifted lower into my womb and is now kicking my cervix here and there. I have an appointment later this afternoon (16 weeks!) where I'll ask to have the baby's heartbeat checked via Doppler again. Until then, I can't worry about this. I prayed and Jah gave me a sense of Peace--or rather the sensation that I "should shut up and calm down; He's taking care of the baby better than we even know and has been this whole time." Even Shawn and my mother both gave me the same advice: "the worry you carry out could stress the baby more than falling like that ever could."
This put things into perspective for me and I realized that carrying around worry for my child isn't the same as carrying a badge of honor around. My child does not benefit whatsoever from me worrying or stressing out and it won't make me a better mother. I'll have to remember this later when our kid wants to cross the street, pet that big dog or go to school for the first time. And I really do have to let it go and give it to Jah, who has known, selected and protected our child before he or she was even in my body... cuz kids pick up on vibes even if they don't know what's going on precisely. And I want to help keep the good vibes going.

*jabjab* Ouch!

The baby is kicking me now with an unexpected ferocity for something only as large as an orange! I know I'm the only one who can feel it right now but I wish Shawn could feel what I feel when I hurriedly grab his hand and place it on my belly; and my parents who are already so in love with their grandbaby (and fighting about which sex it will be) when I gasp or exclaim out with a particularly strong jab.
I came to blog about feeling this... it has almost been 2 weeks since I last posted! I want to share this and to record it to remember later for myself as well. It's amazing how the idea of the baby moving inside of me seemed alien at first. It still is quite strange to think about, but once I rationally accepted the fact that this is really how humans are made and brought into the world, it's become more matter-of-fact now that I have finally started to feel jabs and rolls.


Glowing and Round-faced!

I physically feel better than I have so far; the second trimester isn't my "honeymoon" period like it is for some pregnant ladies but it is definitely an improvement from how weeks 6-11 were for me. I haven't gained much more weight since my last appointment (just a pound) but my face is rounder... like my quickly growing belly! I have to wear maternity pants everyday so I have 2 pair (now 3; thanks Mom!!!) I rotate like I used to with my regular pants.
Last week I started sleeping better after Thursday or Friday. I wake up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and maybe between 3:45 and 5 AM to get sick once if I didn't eat anything in the middle of the night. Then I go back to sleep with a very active-feeling belly and wake up between 7 and 7:30 AM (but I feel like I could sleep all day)! I have to eat first thing when I get up or I get sick again; I usually have cereal. Cereal is the only thing I have craved for the entire pregnancy so far. Other than that I have gone through a mac n' cheese phase, an egg salad phase, and now a (heated) turkey sandwich phase. I've been obsessed with turkey for a while now that I think of it...
I have been able to start cooking more again and now I cook most of our meals! Yay! Shawn enjoys that, too; he missed my cooking quite a bit I'm sure. Shawn is amazing at helping me and making life as easy as possible. He cleans everything and does all of the dishes so that when I am hungry I don't have to clean a bowl or plate and gag from hunger at the same time; there's always a dish ready for me! All I have to worry about is being comfortable, getting enough rest, and feeding us all.

Our next appointment is Wednesday. They're just going to check on me and maybe listen to the baby to check in on him or her. The next appointment after Wednesday we will finally be able to see our baby for the first time since 9 weeks! I'm so excited and I'm sure Shawn is, too. Imagine how big I'll be then... :o)

Being Pregnant is Weird

My belly LAST week!

At just about 14 weeks, no one is more amazed at how fast this is going than I.
I could go on about all the little changes happening; the little pinches, pops and twitches in my belly; or how I somehow received implants gradually over the course of the last 10 weeks and have no memory of it whatsoever. But instead I just want to put it out there: being pregnant... is WEIRD.
Some days I lay on my side, imagining the fruit-sized fetus inside me wriggling with life and its own heartbeat and I get as teary and excited as the first day I found out it was finally in there.
Other days I sit and feel the new pressure in my uterus, the sensations of what must be the baby rolling and turning in its small space only to get the sensation that I've been holding a snake and I'd  like to put it-down-NOW. NOW. NOWNOWNOW. But I can't; I have to keep holding it.
Like I said: it's weird.

I also go from being very happy and excited for a few days, almost completely worry-free, and then I get overwhelmed and wonder if we did this at the right time. I also obsessively fear miscarrying and being in a car accident while pregnant every few days.
I blame hormones entirely. And lack of sleep.

Sleep is like something entirely new now. I sleep whenever and wherever I am able to do so for an hour or more. Sleep is also the 3-4 hour stints of rest I get at night between trips to the toilet and the pantry. I used to get so much sleep that I dreamed crazy pregnant dreams; now my sleep is so broken I haven't dreamed in almost a month.

Eating is still what my life revolves around. Every hour or two (sometimes 2 and a half) I must eat, or die... not really, but if I don't eat I'll puke and that hurts like I could be dying when my stomach is empty. This is why I not only visit the toilet in the wee (ha!) hours of the morning, but also the pantry: the baby bitch-slaps me with early morning (3:40 AM) hunger-induced nausea. What works the best and buys me the most time back asleep are my homemade oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.
The nausea I still have is almost always due to hunger. I have to be eating 2 hours after the last time I started to eat or else I'm asking to get sick. Yesterday I stayed on schedule and I still threw up, so who knows? As soon as I figure out my pattern I have a weird day or a new variable to toss into the mix, like sneezing. If I'm starting to get nauseous I sneeze. Sometimes the nausea goes away after I sneeze and sometimes it's a warning that puke is imminent.
Like I said: weird.

Pregnancy isn't at all anything that I thought it would be.

Crochet Sleepy Owl Baby Cocoon and Hat by HiLLjO

Before we got pregnant I used to make a lot of things for other people with babies or for those waiting for their babies to be born but only made one thing for our own child that I wasn't even sure would fit. Luckily, I now know it will fit in the late winter after baby is born.
I ordered more yarn with each negative test, dreaming of the day I'd be able to pick up my hook and skeins armed with a due date, and thus a timeline of ages/sizes, with which to make our baby enough items to be draped in mommy-made crochet almost daily.
With the first trimester over in a mere 2 days, I have now only made one thing for our baby since getting pregnant. It's cute, I'll give you that, but it's ONE THING. I need to get busy...
If you would like the pattern for this cocoon/hat let me know, or you can just order one here!!!

It's Friday, I'm in LoVE!!! #39

What a week! It seemed long but now that it's Friday it feels like it went fast.
I am kind of giddy so today's list of tings I love are all over the place :o)

1. I love that I am gaining such a realistic point of view of my pregnancy as time goes on.
2. I love that I'm suprisingly enjoying my friends and family touching my slightly protruding bump. I thought I would hate it, but I love it! Especially when Shawn pats the baby goodnight.
3. I love how much I eat. It's hiiiiilarious to me; I have never eaten this much. I used to be the queen of forgetting to eat.
4. I'm drinking lots and lots of water again! YAY!
5. I love that my body when from Rh- to Rh+ so I don't need a Rhogam shot! YESSSS!!!
6. I have yoga'd everyday this week! WUTTT!!!
7. I haven't puked at ALL in 2 DAYS! YES! ON MY OWN!

Have a great weekend, everyone! Only 6 days until Thanksgiving!

PS: baby is the size of the apple in the photo above!!! CRAZY!

12 Week Appointment Update!



Our baby will make this baby look like a pansy...

Just a quick note about our appointment on Tuesday: everything is great!
The doctor used the doppler device to find the baby's heart beat. It's a very healthy 159bpm! At first it was difficult to find because the baby likes to snuggle up to my uterine artery to feel the pulsing of my heart, so we could actually hear both mine and the baby's hearts at once. It was cute.
After listening to the baby alone for a few seconds the doppler sounds "warbled" and then the heart noise resumed to which the doctor advised, "The baby kicked at the doppler!"
This baby takes no shits. I hope I'm passing on the strength I am gaining to him or her... I am no longer taking shits from anyone (at work specifically) either.

12 Weeks

Blue is cartilage and Purple is bone forming in its stead.
Via

Today/tomorrow marks the 12 weeks pregnant point.
This means a lot of things: the entire first trimester is behind us. There is less than a 1% chance of miscarriage now. The organs are all almost formed and everything about the baby is just going to grow and get bigger now.

Today we are going to go see if we can hear the heartbeat. We're kind of excited... ;o)

Peace + Pregnant Cavewomen + Dingos

Monday I removed my medicine pump. The side effects were making me miserable and I needed a break. I was scared to start vomiting again, but it has been almost a full 48 hours and I only gagged a bit this morning because I didn't eat in time. Other than hungry nausea, I am fine!

I returned to yoga again, every day so far for at least 10 minutes. I also meditate/pray and that has been the most powerful mechanism for me in the last 5 days. I don't dislike being pregnant anymore. Feeling connected with myself and the Universe once again has calmed me greatly and even started to make me like my body again. This morning I thought I looked pretty finally. For the first time in a long time.

Being pregnant ain't no picnic, but it is important and amazing. Of all the crafty things I do and make, this baby is by far the coolest thing I have ever made with my body. It's hard to explain the peace that came over me last night during my meditation. It did make me consciously realize that I have become something I always wanted to be as well... a Wild Human.

By Wild Human, I mean driven by instinct and removed from the domestication of the masses, then left to evolve separately from the pack into something similar to but not like a domestic human at all. It's almost like being a human-dingo.

Being pregnant, something so ancient yet still common among human women, is very primal. You are driven by food almost entirely; your day revolves around eating. I eat more than 5 times a day! Even though they are small meals and snacks, that's a lot of time taken up for the sole purpose of foraging, gathering and eating.

Pregnant women are also driven by hormones, the most primal of all chemical messengers. I am feeling all sorts of things everyday. It makes me very defensive in lots of different ways: I cry (defense mechanism), become irrational (reassurance/isolation mechanism), and can be very sensitive at times (protective mechanism). Some thoughts that come into my head of the irrational variety I know must have been thought by pregnant cave women long ago. There's no other way to explain some of these feelings.

So for now I go forth with my shiny pregnant hair and long pregnant fingernails, both of which are growing like mad, and enjoy today. Because that's all I have for sure and I don't want to take any of it for granted.

I'm growing a human; this is awesome.

It's Friday, I'm in LoVE!!! #38 - Confessions

It's been a while, hasn't it? Almost a month, actually. A wild month...

I was going to recap what I went through but really, I just can't.
Suffice it to say being pregnant is not rainbows and lollipops; it is not fun to me at all. I'm happy I'm finally pregnant and the baby is healthy whenever we get checked, but this is no damn picnic. I am 10 weeks pregnant this week and feeling every bit of it.
All the notions I had about being glowy, experiencing brief nausea, eating as I always have, and walking on air are no longer clouding my head.
I have pimples everywhere where I once had beautiful skin; I won't even go into how bad the morning sickness has been (IV fluids... *cough*cough*); I eat like I used to when I was a child (and suffer the after-effects. Kim, you know...); and I don't even know whose boobs I have on my body right now but they are not mine.
I no longer know my body. It has become a stranger.
I fell off the yoga, meditation and astrology wagon. I no longer even think like myself anymore. I'm stressed, tired, and so-so-so emotional all the time. I started praying again this week, though. I had been a bit, but not as much like I used to at all. It's helping.

So today, even though I am being so hard on myself lately, I must say:
I love me because

1. At work, I just can't bring myself to GAF about all the idiots anymore. There are some lovely people here that really do care, and I concern myself with them.
2. I take it easy; I have no choice, but I still am gentle with myself.
3. Even in my pregnancy-induced insanity, I recognize how amazing Shawn is and how much he helps me. I'd be dead by now without him, many times over. Or in jail...
4. My nails are growing like a mutha... they're pretty.

That's it for now, everyone. Have a nice weekend and pray for the East Coast.
Take care.

Happy Halloween!

Around here we love Halloween! We decorate and hand out candy; it's a blast!
I have been so busy and worrying about all my East Coast friends and family so much that I don't have much to say, but I have some photos to share with you to brighten up your spooky day!

IV Fun

Monday night the morning sickness got crazy. I couldn't eat or drink anything and make it stay down. I went to work Tuesday feeling like crap and actually had to leave halfway through the day; I had such a bad headache, was dizzy and continued with the sickness. At home I slept and slept. The sickness continued no matter what I tried to eat and drink. Every 20 minutes another episode.
Yesterday I woke up and knew something wasn't right. I called the Dr to see how you could tell if you were dehydrated and they asked me what was going on. They wanted me to come in. I went into the office in the afternoon and by the time I left I was going home to meet with a nurse who would administer and IV for hydration and some nausea medication as well. This was crazy. I haven't taken any medication and wanted to keep it that way the entire pregnancy. I also didn't want to keep vomiting and felt scared I had lost 4 pounds in a week. I did what I thought was the best for me and for the baby.
Now I'm laying in bed, feeling tired and nursing a Zofran headache but I'm not sick. I actually have to get up and use the bathroom instead of wondering when the last time I went was. I feel pregnant again, which relieves me more than anything.
Shawn helped me so much yesterday: he flushed my IV, changed the bag before bed and cleaned the house so I could relax. He is so appreciated and I hope he knows just how much so.
The animals won't leave my side. They are all worried, and admittedly curious of the noise the IV pump makes. I'm going to curl up with them now and take another nap.
Have a great day and go hug your mother or call her if possible just in case she went through anything like morning sickness whatsoever.

Peach Tries the Safe Glow Dog Collar

A while back a representative from Cade Ryan asked me if Peach would like to try and review one of their new LED dog training collars. Their information on the product:

"The Safe Glow dog collar ($29.95 retail value) is made of wear-resistant nylon and houses a flexible, light-transmitting polymer core that illuminates when the collar is turned on. A reflective stripe adds additional safety by providing passive reflectivity. The collar is powered by a super-efficient (100,000 hour) LED bulb. With three different settings and a durable clasp, we believe the Safe Glow dog collar will become the collar of choice for evening or early morning walks."

We requested a medium sized collar per the site's size chart but we found it to be too large for Peach. She's a "skinny pug" but it is highly adjustable so we hope she will grow into it over the next year. It would be helpful to have the size chart measure in inches instead of by breed since dogs of even the same breed can vary greatly in size.
The collar has a non-safety latch buckle-style clasp so if you use it as a collar to attach a lead to, it will not snap off when your dog sees a rabbit or any other distraction on your walk. There is a sturdy metal loop on the back of the collar for the lead; I believe this placement will protect the LED, buckle and on/off button features; it seems to be a low stress point on the collar.
Peach got used to the collar pretty quickly even though the medium size was roomy enough to slip over her head. She usually does not like to wear things that are too small nor too big so I was glad she allowed us to give it a try. We used it as a supplemental collar over top of her usual harness and still enjoyed the safety feature of the LED light. It also looks really cool at night!
The LED is brightest on the same side as the on/off button. It appears to "fade" towards the other side but once it is warmed up and on in a dark surrounding, it glows well all around. The collar has several settings: constant glow, slow flash, fast flash and off. To activate the different settings, you simply continue to click the on/off button until you arrive at your desired setting. They all function very well and look adorable. I don't know what other colors are available but we received a lime green collar (mommy's favorite!) and the LED matched the collar color so it looks great in the light without the LED on as well.

We didn't take any video of Peach outside in the collar but we shut the lights off in the house to get a few seconds of the LED settings in action.

I think Peach likes the collar now; it might even make her feel a bit fancy. It would be a great and safe addition to any pup's Halloween Costume for the upcoming Holiday!

Guess what...

One month ago, I was late.
I knew when I felt the mittelschmertz September 5th that I had ovulated--on the right (where there's no tube)--and I thought it was just a wasted cycle. There was no way an egg from the right would travel all the way to the left tube and be magically met by Shawn's gametes, fertilized and then proceed to implant in my womb. Right?

I had taken tests on the 15th and 16th which were STARK white negatives. I just "knew" that is wasn't going to happen yet again. But when I got to work on the 17th, something just wasn't right. Still nothing and no sign of the bitch.
On my lunch I went to the grocery store and purchased a test, went back to work and took it. It looked like nothing, as usual, so I set it on top of the TP dispenser and pulled my britches up. I looked again...

OMGWHATWHATWHAT was my first reaction. Then the tears and giggles; I just stared in disbelief. I had been OH-SO-WRONG.
So wonderfully wrong!
We were finally PREGNANT!!!

I went to tell my boss I had to leave an hour early, and when 3 o' clock came around I left and went to see Shawn on his break. I set the test in the passenger seat of the car. He got in and saw it, "What is that?"
"It's positive."
    "How many do you have to take before it's in there?"
"One. This one!!! It's not an OPK; we're pregnant!!!"

Tears and laughter ensued.
Our first appointment was this past Monday, the 15th. Here's our baby:

Happy Birthday, Momma.

We can't wait to see you later. :o)

Just when I thought I knew anything...

It's really hard to grow up. And it's really hard to be a woman.
And it's really really hard to grow up strong enough of a woman to be a mother.

When you want to see the best in people, they show you their worst. A side you never knew was even possible to be seen. It's a cold, hard fact that some people are just mean.
This fact took me 8,936 days to learn and I'm still having a hard time swallowing it down today on day 8,937.
Part of the difficulty I have had in learning this is completely my fault. I give more credit to people than they are worth and I have too high of expectations for people based upon how I conduct myself. People are not me, they are people, and they are all very, very, puzzingly different. Makes the world go 'round, I suppose. But this is hands down the hardest lesson I have learned in my human life so far: some people just suck.

No matter how much of yourself you share with them, no matter how much you give or care, some will never be moved by that. And I must accept that, spend no more time poring over it and move on.

I just have to remember that even though I am forced to work with some of the meanest people I have ever met and will meet (I am sure) in my life, it must not become me; I must be unmoved by them as well. There is nothing wrong with me, dammit; I am nice. I am loving and full of rainbows and unicorns.
I hope I can adequately learn from this and use it to increase my strength. It's going to take a lot of strength to be a good mother one day; this can only be work done towards that.

It's Friday, I'm in LoVE!!! #37

It's Friday and I cannot say enough about how very pleased I am with that.

Today I love me because:

1. Instead of spending so much time being/getting/staying angry at others (crazy drivers, blabbermouths, etc) I stop and remind myself to just worry about me.
2. I'm getting much better at no-guilt.
3. I am being gentle with myself.
4. I don't keep anything from Shawn. Anything.
5. I just want to snuggle at home with my animals and hubby. Work, be over!!!

Have a snuggly weekend! It's going to be cold here!

Never, never, never give up.

I see this on my daily walk everyday... and it reminds me:

Hooray for Fall

Hooray for Fall by hilljo featuring a navy blue cardigan

We're All Mad Here

We're All Mad Here by hilljo featuring long sleeve tops