On Not Finding Out the Gender of Our Baby

12.20.2019


31 weeks! Single-digit weeks, people! Hold me.

I've always thought not finding out the baby's gender before he/she was born sounded so fun. That's what my parents did for all four of us, and I have had a handful of friends who have done it over the last couple of years. 

When I was pregnant with R in 2015, gender reveal parties were only really starting to be a "thing." Now it seems like everyone does them! I personally don't have any desire to host one myself, but I love attending them. 

For both R and J, Jordan and I found out together in the ultrasound room during our anatomy scan. We kept it a secret just the two of us for a few days until we could see our families in person to share the news. I loved finding out during the ultrasound! After we told our families (through a balloon pop for R and a colored streamer pop for J, both so fun), we texted/called other family and our close friends.

We have friends who have done it where the nurse writes the gender down on a paper, and then they go out to eat later and open it together. Other people give the envelope to a close friend and have them plan the gender reveal for the couple to find out for themselves in front of everyone at a party. Some people do the early blood test, and I've had friends go to one of those third-party ultrasound places and find out before the official anatomy scan.

There's truly excitement about finding out the gender of your baby whenever and however it happens. Everyone has their own preference, and there's absolutely no right or wrong. I don't regret finding out about R and J the way we did it, but I told Jordan that if we were able to have a third baby, I wanted to wait until delivery. I think it was a lot easier to make that decision since we do have one boy and one girl, and Jordan was totally on board. (Not that he really had a choice since I'm the one growing and pushing out this baby LOL ;) But I did want us to be on the same page about it.

Even though I always thought it sounded fun to wait, I also thought it sounded really hard to wait so long! Who is in there? What's his/her name? Nine months is a long time!

But guys, I'm telling you, this is the most fun ever! I love it! 

For one thing, it's so nice to not have people constantly asking me what the baby's name is going to be. We chose not to share the name with anyone other than immediate family for R and J, and maybe I'm just overly grouchy about it, but I found it so annoying that people acted so weird about us not sharing. Don't get me wrong, a lot of people were fine with it, but a lot of people also acted semi-offended we would dare to keep such a secret from them. Even strangers! Good grief. But since we don't know the gender, whenever someone asks what I'm having, I say "We are waiting to find out," and then people get so surprised that they don't even bother to ask if we have names chosen yet. It's the best!

It also seems like in general people ask me way fewer questions. I think they just get surprised I don't know and don't think to ask anything else. Like, I still do know my due date and how far along I am, but I rarely get asked about it!

I am loving the extra anticipation. Obviously you're excited and anxious and anticipating the birth of a baby either way, so I'm not saying it's necessarily more exciting this way, but it's just an added layer of fun. And since I'm emotional about all the things these days + mildly panicking about giving birth again (I cannot for the life of me decide if I want to get an epidural or not; that's another post for another time; also yes, I'm nuts. don't @ me. I know epidurals are the wonder of all modern medicine. I HAVE MY REASONS), it's nice to have the excitement and unknown of whether this baby is a boy or a girl to look forward to.

It's actually strange to think about people knowing the gender of their babies, and thinking about how we knew that R and J were a girl and a boy before they were born. A friend of mine is due a few weeks before me; she's having a girl, and she was talking about her baby moving and said, "She's been moving a lot lately." It took me a minute because I got so confused by the reference to "she." I said, "Oh! I forgot you know you're having a girl." That was so funny to me.

The last thing I'll say is that it's actually not as hard as I thought it would be. Unless you have a high-risk pregnancy and are going in for ultrasounds every week, after you don't find out at the anatomy scan, it's not like there are a ton of chances to change your mind. It's not like I have a picture hidden somewhere in my house or a word written down on a piece of paper, and I'm not going to take off work to head to our nearest Peek-a-Baby, so really now I just have to deal with it even if I wanted to find out!

This post is not an attempt to convince you that you should wait to find out the gender of your baby! Like I said, it's super exciting no matter if you find out at 10 weeks or 40 weeks. But I will say that I'm loving the suspense this time and recommend it if you're considering! It's so fun.

How and when did you find out the gender of your baby?
What do you think about gender reveal parties?

Chicago Weekend | 30 Weeks Pregnant

12.18.2019

I took the day off last Friday and spent the weekend in Chicago with my family! This was a rather spontaneous trip for me. I decided to go and booked my plane ticket a little over a month ago, which might not be that spontaneous for some people, but it felt like it to me.

My parents were going with my sister and her fiancé, and I decided to tag along, and then my brother and sister-in-law booked tickets too, so it became a family trip, minus my other brother and SIL, and Jordan and the kids of course. Special online shoutout to Jordan for watching the kids and holding down the fort for the weekend.
For those who don't know, I grew up in a Chicago suburb, so I went into the city fairly regularly as a family and with friends. Chicago has always been and continues to be my happy place. I love being downtown, I love visiting all our favorite spots that hold so many memories. Jordan proposed to me close to The Bean in Millennium Park the day after Christmas nine years ago, and I have memories of day trips with friends and our annual Christmas Eve downtown to eat Italian food and visit Lincoln Park Zoo to see the lights.

Baby Bum is due to arrive in almost exactly 2 months, and I know I wouldn't be doing much traveling in 2020, so I am so glad I could make this trip happen. Since I joined the party with my parents and sister, I was truly just along for the ride. I took a 5am flight out of OKC on Friday morning, met my family in Dallas, and we all took the same flight to O'Hare. We spent the entire day downtown and walked a good 8 miles according to my brother's phone.
We stayed overnight at my grandparents' house (my mom's parents), and Saturday afternoon we went to visit my grandpa (my dad's dad). He's 94 and in a wheelchair and has a full-time caretaker.  Honestly seeing him made me feel really sad. Just sad about people getting older and about how beautiful my grandma had the house decorated every year before she died in 2011. My grandpa doesn't officially have dementia, but he was definitely slow to process and seemed at times confused about who different people were. But he cracked some jokes and sang a few songs; he still has his wit and an amazing voice!
Sunday we went to church and then to brunch. Afterwards we said goodbye to my grandparents and drove to the town I grew up in. We drove by our old house, walked around downtown, and stopped at a few of our favorite places. Then we headed to the airport! I flew from Chicago to Dallas, had a very short layover, and got back to OKC around 10pm. It was a fast, fun weekend filled with memories and laughter and great times with some of my favorite people. I only wish Jordan were there. It just wasn't quite the same without him!
My grandparents are in their 80s and walked all over Chicago with us! So thankful for their health and to have such wonderful examples of Christ and of marriage in my life.

*This is my dad, and we constantly have people refer to me as his wife! I posted on Instagram about it, and I got multiple messages saying people do this to them and their dad too! I mean it's not at all awkward or anything. WHY.

Thirty weeks pregnant is probably the latest I'd want to do a trip like that. It was a lot, and I had to pee all. the. time. I'm sure everyone was annoyed, including myself, but you can't tell a pregnant lady she can't stop and use the bathroom! I'm very thankful that I felt great for the most part, and everything seemed fine with Baby Bum. I enjoyed having a little travel buddy with me and just had such a fun weekend in my most favorite place.


p.s. books! I read Blake Crouch's new book Recursion this weekend, half on the plane the way there and half on the way back. Anyone else read it? What did you think? I liked Dark Matter better, but overall it was a great airplane book. I did get bored in the last third, though. I thought the first half of the book was better than the second half.

How I Feel About Pregnancy

12.09.2019

Baby 3 from a couple of weeks ago.

I'm just a few days shy of 30 weeks pregnant, and I wanted to share a bit of a stream-of-consciousness post about how I feel about pregnancy. Not necessarily pregnancy at 30 weeks, but just pregnancy in general.

Recently I was talking on the phone with a good friend who lives in another state, and she said, "How is your pregnancy going? You don't talk about it much, so it seems like it's going pretty well." I honestly never really know how to answer questions about how I'm feeling or how I'm doing. 

My body seems to handle pregnancy pretty similarly regardless of the baby's gender or my age or any other factors. Until our 18-week anatomy scan with J, I thought he was going to be a girl only because my pregnancy had been so similar to R's. All things considered, there's really nothing I feel I can complain about, and nothing all that notable to share, and so I just don't really talk about it all that much.

I have standard morning/all-day nausea for the first 10-12ish weeks, but I never throw up. My feet don't really swell. I don't get heartburn. My blood pressure stays well within normal ranges. I don't have gestational diabetes. I gain the recommended amount of weight. So far I haven't gotten any stretch marks.

My symptoms, as they were, are basically your typical pregnancy complaints. I get out of breath walking across a room. I constantly feel the urge to pee even if I don't really have to go. It's hard to stand up from sitting or lying down. My hips are sore. I get leg cramps sometimes. I randomly feel nauseous until I eat something. Sleeping can be uncomfortable. And there are other complaints too. Truly all of those things actually are frustrating and can be painful, but when someone asks me how I'm feeling, it's easier and seems less whiny just to say I'm feeling fine.

Physically, I don't struggle as much as I know some people do. Mentally and emotionally is where I have a really hard time.

I constantly struggle mentally with anxiety about the baby, and I struggle with controlling and processing my emotions about basically everything. It's not that I enjoy being morbid, or even that I try to be morbid on purpose, but I'm so aware of the fact that my baby could die at any moment. Obviously anyone could die at any moment, but it's the stories about people losing babies before they are born that really get me. Jordan tells me not to read stories like that, but I don't seek them out! They find me somehow, and then I can't stop thinking about it.

Just a few days ago I was looking up the hashtag Fresh48 on Instagram to get ideas for what I should wear for our hospital pictures in February, and there was a photo with that tag that was someone sharing about her baby who died at 37 weeks. They went to her regular appointment and the baby had to no heartbeat. So then for the rest of the day I was all weepy thinking about that happening to that sweet mama and also freaking out about that happening to me. It feels like things like that pop up all time when I'm just trying to innocently look something up.

This is my third pregnancy and my third baby. Not everyone can say that. When I went in for my first ultrasound at 9 weeks, the nurse asked me, "What number of pregnancy is this?" I said three. Then she asked, "How many living children do you have?" I said two.

For some reason, I feel like the Lord has given me a sensitive heart toward those who struggle with infertility and miscarriage and loss of a baby. And I'm very aware that there are many women who aren't able to answer questions about number of pregnancies and children without sadness because the numbers don't add up like they should.

The reality is that although the percentages sit in favor of pregnancy and childbirth ending up just fine, there are so many sad stories of women losing babies, and I don't take it for granted that it seems at least so far that I'm able to have healthy, normal pregnancies. I've personally known three people who all delivered early within months of each other and were in the NICU for an extended time. One of those is one of my best friends. I have close friends who have had multiple miscarriages and friends who tried for years to get pregnant at all. I honestly do not take one single day of carrying my babies for granted.

I truly don't feel like I have anxiety to the point where I need medication or anything like that. Don't get too worried about me! I'm a verbal processor and don't actually think it's even possible for me to bottle up emotions to the point where anyone should be concerned. But I also realize the fact that I do struggle mentally and emotionally with pregnancy more than I do physically. Some of that is also just because I enjoy being in shape and enjoy doing things and going places, and physically speaking, I just can't do things like I am used to being able to; it's a difficult mind-set adjustment.

Truthfully, pregnancy is just so hard physically, mentally, and emotionally. That said, I love how nice and accommodating everyone is. I think it's such a fun and exciting time, and I actually do miss it when it's over, while in the same moment I just wish it were February and the baby was here safe and healthy already--and always with the knowledge that my baby might not actually get here safe and healthy in the end.

So how am I doing? How am I feeling? I'm tired in all the ways. I'm grateful. I'm anxious. I'm excited. I'm nervous. I'm truly taking one day at a time and doing my very best to trust Jesus with what comes after that.

"In your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them." - Psalm 139: 16 (ESV)

a few more fall things before we get out the Christmas stuff

11.18.2019


Before it's May 2025, I wanted to share a couple of final pictures from our fall this year! We had a couple of rough weekends lately, but overall I've had the best time with the kids and am enjoying their ages so much. If you've been around a 2yo and 4yo for any amount of time, parent or not, you will likely understand what I mean when I say that it's at the same time exhausting and stressful and frustrating and SO MAGICAL. Like, just so wonderful that I sometimes look at them and get sad because they're getting older and I can't stop it.

And I know that getting older isn't a bad thing either. I get excited thinking about all the adventures we will have. But J's soft baby cheeks and R's wonderful imagination will never be the same as they are right now. It's such a struggle of wanting time to slow down and time to speed up and also whyyyyy do I have to go to work every day. It might seem unrelated but really, it's not because who wants to go to work in the fall? Or winter. Or spring. Okay any time! And no, that's not an invitation for you to email me about selling essential oils. I don't want to do sales! I repeat: I don't want to sell things. Anything. This is why I've never made it as a blogger. Well, that and the fact that I don't have white walls to take pictures in front of or a neighbor/best friend who also happens to be a professional photographer to take pictures of my family wherever I go. But I digress.

Where was I? Oh yes, fall. I took R to the zoo a few weekends ago, and it was a semi disaster because it was 8 trillion degrees and everyone in Oklahoma was there. I was by myself and got lost and ended up circling the pond, so we basically drove 30 minutes to the zoo and 30 minutes home to sweat profusely and look at ducks for an hour. I regretted going, but! The bright side is that we got to see Oklahoma's largest pumpkin. The other bright side is that I now know when to not go to the zoo next October. It never before occurred to me until recently that my parents likely gained their wealth of knowledge by making a bunch of questionable decisions and learning from their mistakes. At the rate I'm going, my kids will soon be convinced I'm the smartest person they've ever known.

Baby Bum #3 is still cooking! This picture was taken a few weeks ago. I'll be 27 weeks on Friday, which according to my pregnant book is the start of the third trimester. I have to say, the first 24ish weeks did not seem to go quickly, but the last 3-4 have flown. I blame daylight savings! It's dark when I leave for work and dark when I get home, and it just makes every day feel so very short. Things you don't think about before you have kids and go back to work.
In semi-exciting news, I've been having a lot of Braxton Hicks contractions recently. My uterus is getting primed! Okay it's weird to think of it like that, but seriously. As much as I want to meet him/her in there, I actually don't quite yet because we are not even close not even close to having anything ready. As in, a name. We have no names narrowed down. We're going to be those people who don't have a name for their baby and end up drawing one out of a hat. Which, interestingly, is I believe how my own name was chosen!
We took the kids trick-or-treating for the second time (last year was our first time to go as a family), and they had an absolute blast. Like, maybe best time ever. J ran around yelling KNOCK KNOCK and shouting THANK YOU at everyone once they gave him candy. He ended up with so much more candy than R because everyone would give him a piece and then see his dimples underneath his scarecrow hat and give him more.

I totally support people if they don't "do" Halloween. I think it's a personal preference/personal conscience decision, so unless you're going to judge someone for participating in Halloween, we can still be friends. Personally my conscience is okay with it! I grew up trick-or-treating and have such fun memories. I am 100% not a fan of creepy ghosts and costumes dripping and blood and skeletons and whatnot, but otherwise I think it's fun!
My brother and SIL drove up from Texas to go to a Thunder basketball game with us. We danced crazy and got on the big screen for approximately 1.7 seconds. They lost in the final minutes, which was a bummer, but the game was good and we had a great time on a double date! My parents came up and watched the kids for us, and it was my mom's birthday, so we had a special birthday lunch and hung out during the afternoon. It was a super fun family weekend that redeemed the last family weekend disaster.
I know there's snow in other parts of the country (and Canada hiiiii), but Oklahoma is trying to keep fall alive and well with a final few days of 70+ degrees this week. Yes, 70 degrees. This is the reason I can't get into the Christmas spirit quite yet. And the reason it's impossible to actually switch out your closet for summer/winter clothes. Oklahoma is perpetually confused, and as a result SO AM I. You basically have to dress for winter in the morning and summer in the afternoon, and it's just silly. PICK A SIDE.

I'm flying to Chicago in a few weeks, and I don't think I'll have this problem. I have complete faith that Chicago in December will put me in the right headspace for all the Christmas things.
That might be all from me until after Thanksgiving, so if I don't hop back on here, I do wish all my American friends a very thankful holiday! And all my Canadian friends a very thankful regular Thursday. Believe it or not, Christmas will be here before we know it! And then January, and then we really do need to nail down a few solid name choices for Baby Bum. ;)

Covered Goods Multi-use Nursing Cover

11.06.2019


*I received a nursing cover in exchange for this review. There are no affiliate links in this post.



Almost exactly four years ago I wrote a post (this one!) about Covered Goods, and I'm back again to share about this great company since Baby Bum #3 is on the way. Since we don't know if a little boy or girl is cooking in there, I guess I probably should have gotten a more gender-neutral design, but I picked the flower print shown on the right below because I loved it so much!

Covered Goods covers are multi-use for nursing, infinity scarf, carseat cover, or shopping cart cover (side note about shopping cart covers: I totally thought I'd be the mom who used one of those, but it turns out I am definitely not lol). They are suuuuuper soft and really stretchy. I used my first one a lot and it's held up well over the last four years.

If you are looking for a great baby shower gift or Christmas gift for the upcoming holiday, check out Covered Goods! They have a lot of cute prints and designs. 


So sorry for using stock photos, but I just haven't been able to get a good picture of my new cover in use because our infant carseat is currently up in the attic above our garage. But I did take it out of the package, and I just love the design and how soft and stretchy it is. Thank you to Covered Goods for sending me this cute new cover!

Fall Memories

10.26.2019


It's funny to me that the title of my last post mentioned that going places is a fiasco, because last weekend we went to Texas and it was pretty much one of the most disastrous weekends ever. It wasn't a tragic weekend like something really sad happened. It was just that everything went wrong that could go wrong, and I think what made it seem worse is that Jordan and I both took the day off on Monday so we could have a long weekend and spend the whole day on Sunday instead of leaving to come home like we always do. We were super excited about going, and it just was kind of a bust. A fiasco, if you will ;)

Among other issues, I got bit in the ankle by a fire ant, and holy cow it was painful! My entire ankle swelled up, and I couldn't see my ankle bone. It also stung and itched like a mosquito bite on steroids. It's been over a week since it happened and my ankle is finally looking seminormal and not itching like crazy. 

We went to a pumpkin patch that was super crowded and so dusty that Jordan had an instant allergy attack. We tried to go visit the fountain in the middle of the town square but the fountain wasn't turned on. We tried to camp in my parent's backyard, but it started raining, which turned into a severe thunderstorm and tornado watch. We tried to watch sports and all of our teams lost.

Sometimes I wonder why I ever leave my house.

I often see moms on Instagram and blogs talk about how they aren't a "fun mom" and don't really like doing activities with their kids because it's stressful and extra work and just kind of a lot. And all of that is true. It IS stressful and extra work (and extra money) and just kind of a lot. But I love doing things and going places with my kids. I really, really do. And as stressful and as much work as it is, I keep doing it, because at the end of the day we are making memories.

Sometimes, like last weekend, it's more of a character-building memory; other times it's a super fun, this-is-the-best-ever, once-in-a-lifetime memory. Either way, I don't regret doing things, and fiascos don't stop me from trying again (after I have an emotional breakdown because emotions). I don't know how much of that is me being a "fun mom" and how much of that is me being extroverted and how much of that is just me being just a little crazy, but I really do love finding things for us to do and places for us to go. 

This causes issues sometimes between Jordan and I. He would be happy as a clam to stay home all the time, and I'm constantly like, hey do you want to do this and this and how about this? And he's like, hey how about we stay at home. So we don't do all the things I'd like, but we also do more than he would like, and I guess that's the definition of compromise. And he always tells me that he's happy we went after all ;)

So I guess I'll conclude all of that by sharing that while last weekend didn't go quite as we planned with anything we tried, we still did make some great memories. Specifically on Sunday night. Before the rain started, we got the tent up, and my dad made a fire. We cooked hot dogs, and it was my cousin's wedding that weekend, so family was in from Illinois, and my grandpa roasted a marshmallow with us. The kids slept in my parents' house in the floor in their new sleeping bags, and... well, actually now that I think about it I didn't sleep at all because I stayed up all night itching my fire ant bite. Good times ;)

Okay not always the very best times. But what's that quote I see floating around?
We were together. I forget the rest.


fall fun + a tangent about the fiasco that is going places

10.14.2019


There's really just something so fun about fall. Oklahoma summers are so hot, and although I honestly don't mind the heat too much, the cooler weather is such a nice change. Sadly, fall in Oklahoma is about 1.5 days long, so I am a big believer in packing in as much outside time as we possibly can. I like to stop at the park on the way home from daycare pickup, which makes for a rushed and hectic dinner rush and a bit later bedtimes, but it's so nice to be outside! Minus the mosquitos, which love me and thus ruin my life.

Two weekends ago we went out to our friend's parents' house to hang out and pick some pumpkins. Last weekend we drove downtown for one of my favorite things to do every year: Pumpkinville at the children's garden.

Getting there was a bit of a fiasco, and I had a.... well, let's just say I had a moment with the lady at the ticket booth because they wouldn't give me $2 off admission even though I'd brought the sticker they said I could use. They ended up giving me a voucher to paint a pumpkin, which normally costs $5. The gesture was nice, but I didn't want to paint a pumpkin. I wanted my $2, people! But I didn't say that.

I used to think I wasn't the kind of person who liked confrontation, and I wouldn't say I like it necessarily. But more and more lately I'm realizing that I am in fact exactly the type of person who will confront if I have a problem/complaint/issue, especially when I feel like I'm being ripped off. It is extremely embarrassing to Jordan, and sometimes embarrassing to me, but I find that sometimes I just can't help myself.


As I'm sitting here writing this and looking through the pictures I took, I have to admit that I wish I hadn't gotten so upset over $2. I worry that my kids are going to get the worst parts of me, and that I'm setting a bad example. I've never cursed at anyone, and I don't straight up yell or throw things or wave my arms wildly. But I do get frustrated and don't always speak with grace. Often I end up going back and apologizing to people for getting upset, which is probably super weird, but I do it anyway.

Anyway, I don't know why I went into all of that except to say that behind every nice photo and every fun event we do it feels like there's also a fiasco of some kind. Either the kids are freaking out or I'm freaking out or Jordan is freaking out. Why is going places so stressful sometimes? Maybe it's the pressure of having a good time that makes people nutty.

Anyway. We did rally, and I calmed the crazy that is my indignant rage and intense emotions. The kids had a really good time, and I got some fun pictures! I only wish it were slightly less crowded, but that's what happens every year because we have to go on a weekend since it closes at 5pm during the week.
J is surprisingly great at throwing and knocked down a few of the faces. I'm so thankful for Jordan and what a great dad and husband he is. Love getting to do things like this as a family! We had planned to go to the zoo, but this was the only weekend we were going to be able to get to Pumpkinville while it was open, so we came here instead. So glad we did! I feel like the kids are at such magical ages where things like this are so fun and exciting. That makes it super fun for me too. Until next year!

Ultrasound and Enneagram Numbers

10.03.2019


On Wednesday, Jordan and I went to our anatomy scan for Baby Bum 3. The doctor said everything looked great; the baby is growing right on track, and I do not for one minute take that for granted. What an insane miracle that I literally do nothing (other than things like drink lots of water and not do drugs), and a human baby grows inside my body. It's just incredible. I am so very much aware that there are so many people dealing with loss and infertility, and I consider this sweet baby such a blessing.

The appointment was at noon, and then Jordan and I both took the rest of the day off work. We went out for lunch downtown at a Mexican restaurant that I've been wanting to go to, and we drove to the local running store to get Jordan fitted for some new shoes. After that we picked the kids up early from daycare and went to get ice cream. Then I took them to the park. Overall it was a great day!

We successfully did not find out the gender, even though Jordan was trying his best to see the screen the tech was looking at while she reviewed the sensitive areas. I'm really excited for the surprise! I thought it would be excruciating not to find out, and maybe it will become so, but honestly I can truly say I don't have a burning desire to know if Baby Bum is a boy or a girl. I'm just so thankful he/she is healthy so far! 

I'm 20 weeks, so halfway! And you might think this pregnancy is flying by, but in fact I will tell you it is not. I disagree that it goes faster just because I have kids to take care of. If anything it's moving slower because I'm just.so.tired. Honestly sometimes I feel like I'm just on autopilot and my brain is not contributing any actual forward progress to life.

Right at the end of the ultrasound, the tech turned on the 3D, and we got to see the little baby wiggling around, and they even yawned. It was amazing. We've seen pictures of other people's babies in 3D, so obviously we know what it looks like, but we've never seen 3D for any of our babies before, and it was really neat. So much different than just the black and white alien version we were used to.

I did find out that I have anterior placenta, so that explains why I haven't felt baby movement! The doctor said it's totally normal if I'm not feeling a ton. I have felt a few wiggles, but honestly nothing much at all for twenty weeks, so it was reassuring for me to hear that it's just the placenta blocking it.
I've been finding myself feeling All The Emotions lately. Which I realize is totally normal, what with all the extra pregnancy hormones and such. I'm kind of a nutter when I'm pregnant, and that's saying something because I'm a bit of a handful regularly anyway. If you want the truth, Jordan's just really too nice for me. I finally took that Enneagram test after getting tired of feeling left out when everyone posts memes about being a 7 and I have no idea what they are talking about.

I'm a 1. Or an 8. The test gave me those are my top two but said ultimately I'm a 1, and I think that's accurate. I'm of the mind-set that all personality tests are basically the same thing. There are only so many types of personalities, but there are tons of different tests that like to categorize people in certain ways. The Enneagram is just the current fad. (My opinion; no one freak out.) That said, I find personality stuff extremely interesting and generally get annoyed at the test for knowing me so well (lol). 

Type 1s at their best are said to be inspiring and hopeful, organized, fair, ethical. That's great. But at their worst (my worst), my type can often be highly critical of self, picky, judgmental, extremely opinionated, impatient, and indignantly angry (SO ME; it get indignant about things all the time).

Anyway, I haven't (and probably won't) take the deep dive into the Enneagram world, but at least now I can participate in all the number fun! Although none of the descriptions I've read about Type 1s really sound much fun, so there's that. It's fine. I've made my peace with the fact that I'm just not a calm person. It's not that I love confrontation, but I do speak my mind and have zero poker face, so I can't even fake it if I disagree with someone. It's very unfortunate for everyone around me.

It was 76 degrees today, and I celebrated by wearing a long-sleeved shirt and a vest even though it made me hot. Because FALL. I also bought a pair of maternity overalls, and maybe if I stop feeling weird about them I'll actually wear them in public and maybe post a picture on the blog. It's not that I hate overalls, it's just that 8-year-old Amanda loved overalls, and 33-year-old Amanda just isn't in that headspace yet. I need more time. You know you're old when you've lived long enough to see fashion trends in, go out, and then come back in. I'm talking about Birkenstocks and overalls specifically. I should try to find an old picture!

Okay that's all I've got for now. Hope you all have a great weekend!

Have you taken the Enneagram test? What number are you?
How do you feel about overalls???? I must know.

Family 5k

9.30.2019


Finally! Finallllllly. Hello. Hi.

Do you know what happens to me almost every day? I wake up and think, I'm going to blog today. I miss it. (Well, okay that's not actually the very first thing I think when I wake up, but you know what I mean.) But then I get the kids ready for the day and I get myself semi ready for the day (read: I have pants on that aren't sweatpants, you're welcome, coworkers), and then I work, and  I pick the kids up, and we do dinner and clean up dinner (read: we put the dishes in the sink) and get teeth brushed and pjs on and books read and meltdowns dealt with.

Then we take turns trying to get them to stay in their beds and in their rooms and be quiet, and then we take turns sitting in their room until they fall asleep, and then while waiting for them to fall asleep *I* fall asleep in the rocking chair. Jordan shakes me awake an hour later, and I wipe the drool off my cheek, take my contacts out, and get in bed and think, Maybe I'll blog tomorrow. 

Repeat.

I'm not apologizing. I'm just saying that all my hobbies are dead to me right now, and yes, it's because I have kids. I love them so much, so it's fine. But also I miss not falling asleep at 8:30 every night. Just saying.

Anyway, enough about that. What I really wanted to tell you about was the 5k Color Run we did this past weekend! As you all know, running is a hobby that I love doing, and I really hope I can get my kids to love it too! I didn't start running until I joined my college soccer team sophomore year (LOL; I was so bad), and it's not a huge life regret or anything, but I do wish that I had started running earlier in life, because I feel like I might have really enjoyed cross-country. I also just love the idea of my kids seeing me active and of us being an active family.

This was our second ever family "race" and first 5k. We walked a 1-mile fun run downtown OKC a couple of years ago, which was rainy but fun. I carried J in the Ergo, and Jordan carried R most of the way except for the beginning and the end, and R still talks about doing the race together. This time we went crazy and I signed us up for a full 3.1 miles, and I'm really proud of us for finishing, because both Jordan and I had real doubts. 

Saturday morning started off completely terrible. I wasn't feeling well, Jordan wasn't feeling well, and both kids woke up at 6am, which is at least an hour earlier than we expected them to wake up considering they'd gotten to bed late the night before. Let's just say they were extremely grouchy. Extremely. Which means super fun. I considered just not going at all, but we loaded up and drove to the park.

I cannot stress this enough: I legitimately did not think we were going to finish. I told Jordan I would be okay if we took a shortcut through the neighborhood to get done faster. The kids ate the snack I brought within ten minutes of starting, I still wasn't feeling great (I was really sore from doing a huge closet reorganization the night before; nothing actually serious), and Jordan's knee was hurting (hashtag we are old). But we kept on! Bumgarners are not quitters. Just kidding kind of. Okay not really kidding. Both of us hate quitting ;)

By the end, we actually ran a little! I ran through all the colors, and Jordan pushed the stroller through the finish line. Our official time was a blazing 52 minutes, and I'm actually really proud of us. Not only for finishing the race but for going at all even though the morning didn't start off smoothly. We still had a great time!


Jordan pushed the kids in the stroller around the last color station because they didn't want to go through it. I ran through it, and two kids pelted me with colored water guns. Excited for our next family race! Maybe it will have a smoother start than this one ;)
・ DESIGNED BY ECLAIR DESIGNS