When He Gets Close To Me....

.............I shiver.

The most amazing man's birthday was on Sunday (my husband's). Sure, I may be biased, but for good reason. 

He knows just how important the power of touch is. 

He also is aware of how equally weighted verbal language can be if used in the right way.

He's a man of integrity in love, in life, and in work.

He has a vulnerable heart, in the best way possible.

He'd sacrifice the very last thing in his possession if it meant making sure I had everything I needed to be happy.

He's a family man.

He doesn't just tell me I'm beautiful, he finds a way to make me feel it, inside and out.

To celebrate his coming to and staying in this world, I surprised him with a double date reservation, Carrie and Ryan were also celebrating their wedding anniversary, at Season's 52. Laughter and food is always a good combination. We only made too much of a ruckus a couple of times, as evidenced by the stares from neighboring tables who obviously weren't having as much fun as us. Even better, a sweet friend of ours is a manager there, but was off that night, and made arrangements to surprise us with a bill sans the appetizers and desserts we indulged in!

*Sorry you had to buy your own birthday card (since I didn't have any cash and my debit card had to be canceled, thanks to Target's security breech) and gave it to you two days late (my bad), and that the Cowboys lost (again), but I hope you had a birthday to remember for years to come. 

(Vickie got Patrick and Amy a cookie cake to commemorate last year's epic grammatical icing failure.)

Celebrating in the Spirit

After our OB/GYN appointment, I was starving and we had a Groupon that was expiring soon, so we hit up the shops for some sushi!!!!!

Naan had some great "cooked" choices, and after we told them our circumstance, said they could actually make any roll of our choice cooked!

We may have overindulged a bit, but it was soooooooo good!

Afterwards, we took a short walk down the street to admire the gigantic Christmas tree.

Patrick likes to be tough when he goes to work and never brings a coat, so we didn't stay long since he was freezing.

Then we went home to consolidate vehicles, make a warm drink, and headed back out to look at Christmas lights to get in the spirit. 

The shopping center in Highland Park had more lights on their trees than I have ever seen!!

It was gorgeous, like a lit winter wonderland. 

As much as I love the white lights, I think the colored ones are my absolute favorite, especially when they're on a real tree!

We brought the fur babies with us to cruise around town. 

Sumo never has enjoyed looking out the window much like Callie does (he gets too scared), but then we learned as long as we're going 35mph or less, he LOVES it, especially when the windows are rolled down and he can smell the really big dogs walking around town pulling those people behind them (AKA the horse and carriages touring the neighborhood).

In a multi-million dollar home area, one can only image how pretty some of the decorations were! It's pretty challenging to get a good picture in the dark in a moving car, but I managed to capture a few things. 

One house had personalized Jack-in-the-Boxes down their entire yard that were synchronized to music and danced (the picture only shows about half of them).

But me personally......I'm a sucker for the whimsical trees. 

The Sweet Sweet Sound: Week 16

The Friday before our appointment, I made a last ditch effort to call Dr. B's office and basically beg for an ultrasound. Going from having visuals of Cotton grow every 2 weeks to not even setting foot in the doctor's office for 4 whole weeks was already a big step for us. Unfortunately, insurance wont pay for any ultrasound that isn't medically necessary (we're going to look at that as a positive, since it means everything is going well), so unless we were willing to throw $100 on the table to see our baby in black in white for a couple of minutes, we were out of luck. Regardless of the cost, Patrick was still willing to pay the big bucks to see his little one, but scheduling didn't allow for it anyway, so the doppler it was!

Ultrasound or no ultrasound, it was still a really fun and surreal appointment, aside from the being the poked and prodded parts.

In other news, most of my shirts are getting a little too short to be appropriate and even my unbuttoned pants with a bellyband are just getting flat out uncomfortable (those bellybands don't take into account girls with voluptuous derrieres and I get so tired of pulling it down in the back every 3 seconds), so I hit up a Motherhood Maternity sale for some basics.

Obviously I want whatever I buy to stand the test of time, so I used the pillow belly to verify my size........and then I laughed out loud for about 5 minutes (but not so loud that the sales lady would think I was losing my marbles).
P.S. If you're finding yourself in the market, comfy shirts like I have on above are buy 1 get one free at Motherhood Maternity, and Burlington Coat Factory has a small selection with dirt cheap prices! (Both of those places can feel totally free to compensate me for my advertisement.)

All Work and No Play

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy Kayla a boring writer.

(source)

All my work days are ridiculously clustered together right now, so I'm being withheld from adventure, unless you call being relief Charge Nurse adventure (it was)! But that's okay, because I know everyone is busy this week celebrating the holidays and could care less about what I have to say. 

(source)

Please be careful if you're traveling, don't eat so much food that you need to add to the swamp of an ER with an "upset body", and above all else, remember to have a great time!!!!!

(source).

I Almost Got Caught!!

(2012 is my favorite kpLOVE Christmas CD to date and our first year of using Garage Band instead of the old school recorder with missing buttons and knobs!!!)

A December day fill with beautiful weather, a beautiful latte from my favorite coffee shop, and a couple of beautiful girlfriends is about as much as a girl could ask for. 

Ale brought her little man Gabriel to visit and I swear he's doubled in size since the last time I got to party with him!!

He was totally outnumbered by girls talking about girl things, but I don't think he minded much. 

After our day date, I had one last minute gift to purchase and wrap before Patrick got home. I was thrilled with the thought of having plenty of time, since he was going to workout after work. 

Imagine my surprise when I heard the dogs bark and the keyless entry beep while I was in the garage gathering supplies while his present was completely exposed in the dining room!!! I immediately ran to the gate and pleaded for him not to come inside, just yet, while I hid the goods. 

Unfortunately for him the migraine fairy had come to visit, which allowed me to shoo him upstairs, so I could nurse him back to health and have privacy downstairs to finish what I'd started. Predictably, he still tried to mosey his way back down a couple of times, hoping to catch a glimpse of something, but alas, he still knows nothing. And THAT, my friends, was a very close call!

Veggies, Tears, and Yoga....Oh My: Week 15

(As promised, here's our kpLOVE Christmas songs from 2011.)

It's unbelievable how much better I'm feeling this week. I'm cooking. I'm checking things off my to-do list. I'm even eating vegetables and salads!!!! But my favorite part about this week is the new gym Patrick and I joined (Lifetime. We used to be members at another location but quit when we moved, and until recently, had no clue there was another one close to us. If you can afford an actual yoga studio that has prenatal yoga classes, then more power to you, but they are flipping expensive and none of them offer child care, so I'd have to quit as soon as Cotton arrives!!! ) has allowed me do go to so many yoga classes!!! Vinyassa Yoga, Body Sculpt Yoga, Hatha Yoga, Slow Flow Yoga, you name it, I've been there........except Hot Yoga, which I think I'm suppose to steer clear from. All the stretching, deep breathing, and muscle building is really helping my tailbone feel better, and as always, I feel so mentally invigorated afterwards.

 Another great thing is I've discovered a birthing technique to put all my yoga skills to use, Hypobabies. The name sounds a little kooky, but I've read great first hand testimonies, watched inspiring interviews from practitioners, and even reached out on a pregnancy board to personally ask women about their experiences and if they've done it in a hospital setting. Their responses were all positive and very informative. I guess it could best be described as meditating one's way through labor, which in-turn helps relax the body and promote progression and is suppose to help keep pain tolerable. It's a process that takes a great deal of dedication, though, like practicing the meditation process for an hour a day throughout the latter part of pregnancy. But remember that one time when I accidentally went to a meditation class (that usually costs extra money, but I got to do it for free because I didn't know where I was until it was over)? I loved it, and felt so relaxed and rested afterwards (which they say if you do it right, an hour of meditation is just as restful as a 3 hour nap). We have about 8 weeks until we actually need to start the program, but I wanted to explore our options early, to get a feel for what's out there.
Off topic, but not really, do you ever feel so hungry that you start to get scared if you were to kiss your husband, you may actually bite his lips off for a snack instead. And he's being all lovey-dovey because he likes you so much, so you have no choice but to treat him a little meaner than normal, and he doesn't understand that the reason you're being so nasty towards him is because you're actually trying to protect him from seeing your cannibalistic side? Yeah......me neither....(or do I??)

And lets just touch base on my hormones for a brief moment, like how they made me cry during The Little Mermaid. (Yes, I was watching it without any children around. No, that's not weird.) The worst part is I tried to tell my girlfriends about it the next day and I couldn't even tell them which part ignited all the emotional drama when they asked because I started crying all over again!!! Which brings me to my next point: you know just how awesome your girlfriends are when they can actually guess which scene made you cry! Let's just say they got a really good laugh at my expense out of that one!

Pass the Torch

I don't know why, or what it is about my face or my aura, but strangers always think I either look familiar or feel the compelling urge to spill their guts and tell me all about something. Maybe my nurturing nursing persona constantly radiates vibes to people. Maybe I have an angel sitting on my shoulder waving people over. Whatever it is, I don't mind it; it's actually warming. 

I had an absence of judgment on Sunday and decided to pop my head into Walmart for a few things (that always turns out to be a basket of things) after yoga and boy was I in for a treat. The place was swarming. A mad zoo. Traffic jams on every isle. I took a deep cleansing breath and eased my way forward, trying to stay focused on the task at hand. 

When I finally made it to the checkout line, I patiently waited. Patience. I don't think we're born with it; it's a learned skill, like holding chair pose for an extended amount of time with your arms extended to the sky and every muscle in your body tremoring like the world is about to collapse from under you, as if an earthquake is taking place in your body, but you stay put, unwavering, inhaling and exhaling slowly as if you were doing nothing more than laying in bed.  

When it was my turn to pay, the checkout girl started venting about how crazy it was. I sympathized. She went on to give me examples of how cruel and patronizing people can be while they're waiting in line and don't things are moving as fast as they should be. 

Fast, fast, fast. Hurry, hurry, hurry. And the kicker is, when people get in these zones, they seem to forget that anyone but themselves possess feelings or perceptions about what is happening.

I apologized for those hurtful behaviors as if somehow the entire consumer population was represented by me, and suggested that maybe in January, after everyone goes on their New Year's Resolution diets, things will quiet down. But she wouldn't be sticking around for that, just saving up for school over the holidays. I almost felt like this sweet girl was traumatized by the decency people lacked and just needed so badly to reach out to someone, hoping they'd restore her faith in humanity or make her feel more worthy than a checker that couldn't do her job fast enough.

Please, I'm begging you, try not to get so wrapped up in yourself this busy holiday season that you forget to spread love and cheer. Even if you feel like you're the only one in a sea of greedy mongrels, don't fret. I guarantee you will impact someone's life in a positive way and maybe even inspire someone else to take off their Scrooge hat and pass the torch of kindness.
What do you want your ripple in the water of society to look like?

It's That Time Again

As always, we waited until the ultimate last minute to start working on the annual kpLOVE Christmas CD and now it's crunch time! We work better under pressure. 

Of course, we can't send out a CD filled with Christmas cover songs without a cheesy picture of the two of us on the cover. Don't worry, I wont use the one with my belly hanging out (see above)....THAT kept happening and it was a few weeks ago!

You may be wondering who our photographer was........which would be none other than Me, Myself, the self timer, and this amazing new tripod I found that starts off about 6 inches tall and expands to 42 inches! (A big step up from last year, which was balancing our tiny bendy tripod on top of a box, sitting on a stool, centered on a chair....haha)

Oh, and those candy canes that we so cleverly used to make into a heart (yeah right.....TOTALLY stole the idea from Pinterest) are Sour War Head Candy Canes. Best candy cane ever invented!!

I wanted better scenery than the backyard privacy fence this year, so we headed down to Deep Ellum and stalked the vintage walls, taking selfies of ourselves like a couple of crazy people (which only helped us fit right in, if you're familiar with the area).

Being in Deep Ellum is almost like being back in Hollywood, a little bit of this and a little bit of that; a lot of old and ghetto mixed with some spiffy new, equipped with crazy's, normals, and hippies, with music, art and food on every corner, and never a shortage of police sirens or character.

A few people got intuitive and asked if my blue shirt with the blue walls indicated a gender reveal, but I assure you, we have no idea; blue just happened to be the "it" color that day.

It is funny, though, considering Patrick wore blue, I wore blue, and we kept ending up in front of blue walls!

But it was nothing more than pretty, promise. 

One more confession........we weren't really on our A-game this year. Apologies. 

You'd think getting iced in over a weekend and having an actual decorated studio room devoted solely to creative thinking would reinforce some production, but sickness is a powerful force (2 days before we recorded, I could barely swallow my throat hurt so bad, and Patrick was no better off).

The good news is, there's always next year!!!

The extra good news is I'm dedicating this entire week to kpLOVE Christmas songs of years past by including them in my posts!!!!! I know you're excited, especially if your CD's are as unorganized in the trunk of your car as mine are and you've been wanting to pull out your old favorites to get you in the spirit, but couldn't find them!

What you may not know about this tradition is we started it 5 years ago, our first Christmas as a married couple, to send out the gift of joy to family and friends since we wouldn't see anyone for the holidays (we were living in California) and couldn't afford to buy anyone gifts (we were very poor, but very happy).

If you have a this year's coming in the mail, well, I hope it arrives in time.

And with all that being said, I really do hope you have a Christmas filled with love, laughter, and peace.

Remember, love comes in all different sort of ways; spread it as much as you expect to receive it!

Hello Second Trimester, Goodbye Half Marathon: Week 14

I was so bummed the Metro PCS Half Marathon was canceled due to the terrible icy roads. I was ready to kiss my first trimester goodbye with a bang by breaking new records. I even had my list all planned out.

First record: My slowest time yet to ever complete a half marathon race (since my OB/GYN strongly believes in not running during pregnancy).

Second record: The longest I've walked at one time since I've been pregnant.

Third record: The coldest half marathon I've ever participated in.

Fourth Record: Making my mother the most nervous wreck she's ever been.

Fifth record: Accomplishing more records than I ever thought possible in one day, in only 4 hours.

The worst part about it all is there'll be no re-do and absolutely no refunds, just a t-shirt for a race I never got to participate in mailed to my door.......which will officially be the most expensive t-shirt I own!
 I guess I should feel good about that money being donated to charity, but honestly, I feel like it was donated under false pretenses. Oh well, right? It's a darn good thing I didn't actually invest my blood sweat and tears training for this race or I'd be losing my mind right now (I feel extremely sorry for those who did, especially the runners that actually trained for the entire marathon)! Never again do I think I'll register for a winter race in Texas. Our weather is just too unpredictable.......and as a result, never again will this probably ever happen! Next year, watch it be sunny with a high of 80F (not too outrageous, considering that's exactly what it was here less than a week ago).

In other notes, I'm all about being affordably comfortable, so I gave in and went to a resale shop to practically steal 2 pairs of maternity pants for only $6 each! (Those jeans in the picture above??? Totally one of them.) I know my belly doesn't look very big yet, but life without buttons and zippers makes a world of difference when I sit down since there's no such thing as sucking in anymore!
Physically I'm starting to feel better, except for my "spells", as I call them. I'll be feeling really good, and then once or twice a day I get slammed with a ton of bricks and feel extremely overwhelmed with exhaustion, like if I don't lay down I'll pass out or throw up. The best part is I officially finished taking all my extra pills (no more metformin, no more antibiotics), which means I'm down to only 3 total pills a day (prenatals) and don't have to look like a sick old lady who carries around her 7-day pill organizer with a mini pharmacy inside!! YAY!!!!

P.S. I know last week's picture said Cotton was the size of a lemon, but I guess that depends on how big the lemon is!! Other sites say last week could better be compared to a pea pod, measuring in at 3 inches. 

I can't feel my toes!

It would be the coldest Baylor football game in history, with dangerous driving conditions for traveling to Waco, but you couldn't convince these boys to miss the game to save their lives. Oh no.

This was the very last game to ever be played in the Floyd Casey Stadium, and it's history was to be celebrated under conditions we'll not soon forget. 

If you've never had the pleasure of experiencing how cold Texas can actually be, you're missing out. 

If it weren't for our ridiculously thick apparel and white breath, you might not think it was very cold outside by the landscape's appearance, but I assure you even though it was 24F, the wind chill of 11F, cloudy skies, freezing fog, wind, and humidity of almost 100% were the real kickers.......without any snow to romp in and make it all feel fabulous and worth the suffering. 

The family gathered early for a tailgate party, complete with a T.V. to watch more college football, a Keurig machine to make hot chocolate, two little space heaters (because all the really awesome propane heating lamps in North Texas were completely sold out due to the winter storm and lost electricity), and a generator to power it all. 

This game was sold out forever ago, so Baylor made accommodations to squeeze in more people by opening up the cement bleachers and even removed part of the stadium to add more seating. 

And the weather didn't seem to scare many people away......at first.

I had on my insulated winter running tights, blue jeans, ski socks, Uggs, a tank top, a long john under shirt, a sweater, the inner layer of my ski jacket, a trench coat, running gloves AND ski gloves, a scarf, my fleece neck guard that I used to cover most of my face (and hide the fact that my nose was constantly dripping cold-induced-snot), and a fleece lined knit hat; so bundled, in fact, that my trench was overstuffed, comically limiting my range of motion........and I was struggling. 

We assumed after we were out of the open wind and nestled within a crowd, the cold wouldn't feel as harsh, but boy or boy were we wrong; even sitting close and using a blanket on our legs was no match.

"My toes are so cold!" 

"I can't feel my phalanges! They're numb!"

Everyone had the same complaints, but the strongest of the strong toughed it out, together, for the big finale. 

Sure, some of the crowd bailed early, but the important part is they came out and tried. 

The heavy fog even tried settling down on us, in efforts to scare us away, but if these players were sticking through it to play their hearts out, so were we to scream our hearts out. 

Even more importantly Baylor pulled it off with a solid win to conquer the Big 12.

Smiles were abundant as we watched the fans rush the field for the last time.

Public displays of affection were pretty common too.

And even Patrick well tell you, emotions were high as he hugged his dad and reminisced about all the great times they spent in this very stadium. 

We waited for the shutting down of the lights ceremony to commence, celebrated the win over a Mexican dinner, and then Patrick and I tried not to die as we drove home over too many frozen, melted, and refrozen overpasses to count. 

Did I mention I wasn't sure if my toes were still attached by the end of the game and I was afraid to walk because I literally couldn't feel anything past the balls of me feet?!!