2014 in review

Happy 2015!!!!

We hope you have a blessed year! It is going to be a big year for my family, considering anytime now, we will be adding a new member to the Mims clan. I'd say that we have lots of other things on our plate, but honestly, all I can see right now is baby #2. And that's not because I can hardly see the keyboard around my pregnant belly. I've had fun looking over the past year's posts and pictures. It's hard to believe Isaac looked so little! I only blogged a measly 70 times, which breaks down to only 5.8 blogs/month.... it's been a busy year! It's nice to reminisce about the good times and see where the Lord has taken and grown our family this year.

Here's a quick recap of 2014:
January: Girl's Retreat 2014 was held at a fantastic waterfront home and we studied Gods at War. It kicked off a really wonderful small group of girls that I've met with regularly ever since.

February: Student Life Conference and Passion 2014 kept us away from home two weekends in a row. Also, Isaac and I went on a whirlwind trip to Austin to visit some dear friends.

March: While Jordan spent spring break traveling the southeast with our students, I spent spring break with Isaac. This was also the month I started the journey towards becoming a Fetal Monitoring Educator (which didn't become official until November! Sheesh!) and we took a family trip to Austin to spend the weekend with another set of dear friends. Lastly, this was when our stubborn little boy decided he wanted to walk (finally) and ever since hasn't stopped moving.

April: One of our two 2014 trips to Augusta was in April and I was able to celebrate the pregnancy of an especially dear friend.

May: We learned that our family would be expanding! Positive pregnancy test and a due date of 1/25/15! I also ran my one and only race this month.

June: I rolled over into a new decade! 30 years old as of 6/4. Hubs turned 31...Old man. We also took our first Isaac-free vacation, spending a long weekend in San Antonio.

July: Jordan and I celebrated our 8th year of marriage. This was another busy month where we spent almost as much time away from home as we spent at home. Isaac took his first trip to the zoo and we took our first lengthy road trip to visit friends in north Texas.

August: This was a pretty quiet month, which was well appreciated after a busy summer.

September: I took a rejuvenating mommy only trip to Nashville to visit my sister and her husband.

October: My sweet boy had his second birthday! It was perfectly low-key where we spent the whole day doing and eating exactly what Isaac loves. He also moved out to his big boy room and the nursery was stripped down and rearranged to prepare for baby #2.

November: Second trip to Augusta and my first baby shower for kiddo #2. Instead of flying this time around, we drove the trip and it was a huge success. We celebrated Thanksgiving with our Houston family.

December: We celebrated Christmas and continued prepping our home and family for baby #2.

It was a wonderful year! Here's hoping for another fantastic year!!

Currently...

Seems like everyone has posted a "Currently" blog in the last few weeks, so being the always-late-to-the-party-follower that I am, I thought it'd be a funny glimpse into my mind. Also, I have a few moments to blog with nothing in my brain worth sharing.

Maybe it's because my brain is feeling more and more empty as this pregnancy goes on. Placenta brain: It's a real diagnosis.

Here's what's happening in my corner at this moment in time:

Listening... to the hummmm of the air conditioner. And nothing else. Sweet, sweet nap time silence.

Eating... a handful of candy corn. Lunch consisted of a frozen pizza. I should make sure to take my prenatal vitamin today, since my nutritional intake so far today has been sugar and cardboard.

Drinking... A big glass of water!

Wearing... The t-shirt I slept in last night, a pair of Nike shorts, and a nursing bra. My overall plan for today was to clean the house and play with my kid, and neither of these tasks require makeup, hair, or appropriate attire. At least I'm wearing shorts and a bra. You're welcome!

Feeling... Irritable. (This hits close to home.) Not sure if it's hormone-related or if everyone around me has purposefully been dancing on my last feeble nerve. Plus, I'm battling another round of congestion and a toddler who has a newfound love of the word "no". All in all, it kind of feels like survival mode. Hence the pizza and day old clothes. #RealLife

Weather... is beautiful! Sunny, breezy, and not fry-an-egg-on-the-sidewalk hot. Here in South Texas, we call that a "cold front."

Wanting... a pedicure! It's getting harder and harder to reach my toes, which are woefully neglected right now. Plus, it's still warm enough to wear sandals and flip flops, despite the aforementioned cold front, meaning my toes are committing the ultimate girl crime.

Needing... another glass of water. All this stuffy-nose mouth-breathing has me parched. I guess I could also use some chapstick.

Thinking... I really need to get up and clean the bathroom already. Because it certainly won't clean itself and with lots of wedding festivities this weekend and 12 hour shifts on Monday & Tuesday, it's now or never next week.

Enjoying... all the little bumps and wiggles from baby #2. (He/She likes candy corn apparently) This child squirms around 24/7, and I love it. What do you think Baby Mims #2 is? Little sister or baby brother??

Miscellaneous Monday Musings

• On Friday, I will have a one year old. ONE. 12 months. 52 weeks. 365 days. Why does it feel like all the air just sucked out of the room?! Where did the last year go? 
• I really need to call and reschedule Isaac's 12 month well child check up. It'll be the third time I've had to reschedule since making the appointment. Whoops! Hopefully I don't run out of do-overs, or at least don't talk to the same receptionist every time. 
• I have been a major procrastinator in all things first birthday party prep. I felt a little ridiculous thinking about birthday things when Isaac was 6 months old, but then at 11 months, I kept telling myself I have a ton of time to get things together. Now I've got 5 days. Time to throw the Pinterest ideas out the window and commence crazylady mode. 
• On top of Isaac's party, I'm also throwing a baby shower for a friend in a few weeks! Shoulda made her invites... oh... like yesterday. 
• On top of these parties, tomorrow I start orienting a new graduate nurse to the wild & crazy world of Labor & Delivery. We'll be paired up for the next few months and over the course of our time together, I'll impart every morsel of wisdom I have upon her. And hopefully she won't run away screaming. It should be fun! 
• And then rounding out my too-much-on-my-plate-kinda-life, I'm in full swing planning mode for this year's Girls Retreat. We'll be working through the book Gods at War by Kyle Idleman, which I have recommended to anyone who will pay attention. It's incredible - one of those painful but good kinda shakeups... and yet, it's written with lots of great anecdotes and funny moments, which makes for an easy & enticing read. I hope the girls enjoy it as much as I did. 
• I never had a SINGLE problem last week after dropping breastfeeding. No engorgement. No leakage. No Isaac problems. It was easier than I could have ever imagined and I feel like I'm out of the woods regarding those uncomfortable issues. I've even started introducing whole milk mixed in with frozen breast milk and Isaac has taken to it really easily. Totally awesome & two thumbs up. On the negative side, I've had one two THREE bags of frozen milk with a hole, which turns the thawing process into a huge mess. How did that happen? Thumbs down.
• I ran my scheduled 7 miler this weekend. It was nice to finish in less time than it took me to run 6.4 miles the week before. Maybe my half marathon time goal isn't so far off base after all. I am already dreading the thought of running 8 miles this week. To ice bath or not to ice bath? That is the $10 question. Those of you seasoned runners, what distance do you start with the ice baths? Or do you ice bath at all? Can I say ice bath one more time? Ice bath. Ice bath. Ice bath. 
• I beat my husband and retained my first place status last week in fantasy football. It wasn't the face-stomping I was hoping for, but a win is a win. Of course, I'm currently in the middle of another week and another opponent which I may or may not beat depending on how tonight's game plays out. Fingers crossed.

• I love y'all and all.... but I gotta get back to party prep. 

Bye Bye Breastfeeding and other weekend events

So last week ended up being link-up central around these parts. Midweek confessions, #onebigtruth, and SUYL, olé! While they're all significant to me in my life at this time, it's also nice just to sit & chat for a minute.

For the first time in a long time, this weekend had nearly nothing on its agenda. And that was awesome. Jordan and I were able to steal away a night alone and ate a delicious dinner baby-free. In true parent fashion, we spent the majority of the meal talking about how cool our kid is. Because, well, he is. And what else do supercool parents do on a date night? Go to Target of course. After dropping some major cash on things like sippy cups and shower gifts, we went home and rescued our valiant babysitters from Mauve.

After a lovely and relaxing night out, I got up before the sun (and my son) did and went on a run with one of my half-marathon training friends. You know how sometimes, during a run you feel like you could go 1,000 miles and still have energy left over? And sometimes you feel like every step is a physical and mental battle? This run was definitely NOT the 1,000-mile-and-still-have-energy-left type of run. It was humid. It was hot. I literally got a dozen mosquito bites. It was my toughest run to date. Slowly, but surely, we churned out 6 and a half miles. I'm not proud of my time, but I am proud of finishing. Plus, it totally justified a cupcake at the baby shower I attended Saturday afternoon. This week's schedule is 3 miles / 3 miles / 7 miles. I'm confident after finishing this weekend's run, that 7 will happen. I think I can I think I can I think I can I think I can...

Mommy + Isaac photo session after a sweet shower for baby Grace

There's another significant thing that happened this weekend: I stopped breastfeeding. Saturday night was my last nursing session with Isaac and it was sweet. There are lots and lots of reasons why I chose now to be the end, but essentially (and without long explanations), it just felt right. He did wonderfully well transitioning from 3 nursing sessions per day, to two sessions and one bottle, to one session and two bottles, to done! I'm thankful to have a plentiful stash of frozen milk to carry him through the end of his first year without needing any kind of supplementation. I'll probably even have enough to make one final donation to the milk bank. Surprisingly, not only has Isaac done incredibly well with this new transition, but I'm feeling really fantastic about things as well. I assumed I would be a basket case on Saturday night after that very last feeding, but I think the perfect word to describe my state of being is nostalgic. It was an incredible end to an incredible journey.

I know everyone is on pins & needles to hear how my fantasy football week ended up after I confessed my (ahem) unhealthy obsession with winning. Or perhaps I'm the only one who's on pins & needles. Of course, the week doesn't end until MNF is over and done. Unfortunately, it's not going to be the face-stomping I was hoping for. (Maybe this isn't such a good thing for my marriage...). In fact, it's going to be really close. Really really close. And because I'm all played out, I just get to watch my husband rack up the points tonight and feel utterly helpless, which isn't the most awesome position to be in.

See? I'm so verklempt, I'm ending sentences with prepositions.

[insert title here]

We're [still] dealing with baby sickness here in the Mims house, which has brought productivity to a standstill.  I can't really justify using nap time to blog, considering there's at least 3 loads of laundry that need folding or drying. I'm convinced nowadays that laundry is never "done."

What I should really say, is that I can't really justify using ANY nap times anymore to blog. My time is better spent elsewhere. To be painfully honest and transparent, I'm struggling to put interesting content on here. Grasping for topics. Holding myself to a "numbers" standard ( x number of followers, x amount of blogs per month, etc.) Trying to navigate the whole tweaking of photos and creating little graphics to add that punch & pizazz that all the cool blogs have. It's all just become a burden. Each day my brain tells me "it's been __ days since you last blogged, time to start typing."

Shut up brain.

I've had my share of stresses heaped upon my shoulders in the last month which have absolutely nothing to do with blogging and haven't been shared in this forum (with the exception of Isaac's virus... or now viruses. Darn you summer cold). It's becoming overwhelming just dealing with the many pots that are boiling over on my proverbial stove. Instead of moving the task of blogging to the back burner, I'd like to just dump the whole thing out. Press delete. Or at least make it private. SO many things take precedence over this it's hard to carve out the time it requires. Those of you moms of multiple children who also work and crank out interesting, funny blogs with photoshopped photos and artist-quality graphics get two high fives from me. I can't even pretend to have it all together.

Maybe I'll have a writers block breakthrough and start churning out the posts. Maybe it'll be a couple of weeks before my digital words grace the screen. I've got to shake off this funk I'm in. Only time will tell how long that will take.

Until then,

Monday Musings

It's been a jumbled few days here at home. Here's a ridiculously random assortment of what's mulling around in my head this Monday morning.

1. I'm going to have a NINE month old this week. That means he's been out of my tummy as long as he was in my tummy. On thursday, he'll be exactly 39 weeks old. I was pregnant for 39 weeks. What a weird thought. I guess I ought to start thinking about a birthday party. Maybe monsters?... you know, since his birthday is only a few days shy of halloween and all. I'd definitely be open to some one year old birthday party suggestions. Wow, just typing one year old seems bizarre. Almost like typing that i'll be thirty in less than a year. 
2. My nearly-nine-month-old had a doozy of a week last week - hence the lack of bloggage. Seriously short (or nonexistent) naps plus no relief equalled one tired mama at the end of the day. I was never so happy to have my husband home after a long two weeks at camp. I'm also totally jealous that he got to spend the week hearing David Nasser and worshipping with Kristian Stanfill. Yes please. This year ended up being a total wash with youth camps and myself. I was really legitimately disappointed to be staying home, but it was both too soon to leave Isaac with someone for a week and not really worth taking him along. Maybe next year...
3. Apparently I'm not the only person who's lost the PW magic. Lots of you told me that you're no longer her target demographic. My new must-read superblog is definitely The Small Things Blog. Maybe it's our shared appreciation for beauty products?? Kate, you should check out my L&D series [shameless plug].
4. I only thought that curdled milk spit ups were the grossest. If only I had realized that solid foods become spit up too... which are mixed with curdled milk. Seriously disgusting. Thank goodness we have dark couches. I'm more than ready to be done with this phase. 
5. I've got a few posts in the works for this week, including a Frugal Friday first. That'd be a great new series, except I really only have one money-saving idea worth blogging about. And considering I've made a plethora of purchases recently, I probably don't really qualify to be doling out thrifty advice. Plus there's a lot of math involved. And we all know I don't do math.  
6. It's my dad's birthday! Happy Birthday Dad!

Midweek Confessions

It's been a while since I participated in E's midweek confessions, but I've got a real doozy for you this week. Let's spill the beans...

I think i'm over Pioneer Woman.

Go & retrieve your smelling salts, put your head between your knees and take some nice deep breaths. This one might be bigger than the "I don't like Downton Abbey confession." I know it's a total shocker. I used to be such a fan, but times they are a'changin. Nothing catastrophic or Earth-shattering has occurred to drive me away from her blog, it's just been a gradual overall decrease in interest.

I remember reading her blog back in like 2007 with only about a few thousand other people. I was a hipster like that. Back in those days, her confessions were Black Heels to Tractor Wheels (be still my heart),  her recipes were of cinnamon rolls (be still my thighs), and her giveaways were actually win-able.

Nowadays she has a show on food network, a half dozen cookbooks, and a whole team of extra writers to fill her site with content. I find myself wondering when she has time for her family. I dont really connect with her confessions anymore. The most recent recipe posted is for jalapeño quesadillas, which, (I'm sorry because this is going to sound ugly) is no culinary mystery. A recent giveaway garnered over 50,000 entries. I might have a better shot at winning the Pick 3 than winning a Le Creuset courtesy of PW.

All in all, I think the Pioneer Woman has gotten so big that she's no longer relatable to me. I certainly wish her all the best. I'll always treasure my autographed cookbook. Her cinnamon rolls, chicken spaghetti, and apple dumplings will forever be at the forefront of my recipe repertoire... even if her link is no longer in my bookmarks.

On Watching too much TV.

It's that time of year again.

Well, it's been that time of year again. You know, that time where we put our cable on hold and live without for a few months. Don't be fooled, we do the Hulu thing. We also have Amazon Prime, which is pretty similar to Netflix from what I've been told. So we aren't totally devoid of television. I do happen to miss HGTV and Duck Dynasty though.

To be perfectly honest, when the cable is turned on, I am really not all that big of a tv watcher. I don't particularly care for reality tv, nor do I latch onto shows with the same basic formula each week (i.e. House. I mean, every episode was: crazy symptom patient then wrong diagnosis then wrong treatment then crazy symptom patient gets worse then lightbulb moment then right treatment then patient lives. Every week. Yawn.) Because of this, I don't have a plethora of shows that I follow routinely and for the most part, I end up settling for the same old junk.Why is it that you can have hundreds of channels and yet nothing on is worth watching?

Interestingly enough, somehow when the cable turns off, my interest in following tv shows increases exponentially. Everybody wants what they can't have, right? Until cable makes it grand reappearance in the fall with the NFL preseason, I spend my time working through a few good shows during nap time and after Isaac goes to bed. Here's what I've watched-slash-am-watching:

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The Mindy Project. The couple of shows I do typically watch in the fall are New Girl and Raising Hope. The Mindy Project airs the same night, so I would see the lead in each week and was always intrigued, but never actually tuned in. Enter Hulu time and I laughed my way through the entire first season. Maybe I wasn't feeling the whole "Mindy dates a pastor" storyline, well, mostly because I don't really think that pastors get drunk and sleep around. Regardless, the show is a hoot.

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Parenthood. Wow. How did I miss this gem for 4 seasons?? This show is a roller coaster. It drove Jordan crazy and he called it my "night time soap opera," which I considered an insult. I clung to every hanging storyline. I sympathized with the conflicts, knowing one day I might walk through something similar. It's just real life played out on a tv show. It'll make you laugh. It'll make you cry. It'll make you hug your family. I think I watched all 4 seasons (between Amazon Prime and Hulu) in like a week. Probably more like a month actually, but it felt like it was over in a week and I'm really looking forward to the next season. It is so good.

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Suits. This is my current conquest, which is funny because I never go for dramatic shows about law. Most of the law and cop shows (lets just lump them into the same category, eh?) follow that same boring formula: the week repeat. Crazy crime committed, look for the wrong perp, lightbulb moment, find the right perp, justice is served. While Suits has its share of legalrepeaterdrama, (as in, there's always some really tough case with an obscure and overlooked detail that breaks the whole thing wide open and the good guy wins) it's also got some fun little story lines. Plus the main character guys aren't so hard to look at. Needless to say, I got sucked into this show and have almost made it through the first season. I don't know what it's "rated" when it comes on USA, but the Amazon Prime version has a few questionable words thrown in here and there. Despite the occasional bad word, it's smart and witty without taking itself TOO seriously.


What shows do YOU watch?