Sunny With A Chance of Birthdays & Baby Showers!

Well today is my 29th birthday, ahhh! This year flew! Flew I tell ya.

Let me back up a tiny bit. Thanksgiving was small this year but so amazing. Our 5th Annual Friendsgiving was delightful and full of food and good friends, old and new. We had a blast. We spent it with my pals from college whose kiddos I babysit for. It was great to be with the 4 of them and to meet 4 of their pals from Vegas. Joe and I made Polish dill mashed potatoes, New Orleans style sweet potatoes, garlic glazed green beans, chestnut stuffing, homemade caesar salad, and pumpkin pie. All vegan of course! Our pals made turkey which Joe loved since it was the first he's had in 4 years since I became vegan. I didn't partake but I certainly filled up on sides! Such a feast! And we watched Frosty Returns 6 times, Frosty 2 times, and Alvin & the Chipmunks Christmas specials 3 times per the kiddos requests. We also watched my Detroit Lions win big. It was great.

Friday I had a cast photo shoot for my upcoming show as my last level in the Second City Hollywood Conservatory. The photo shoot was such a blast and we used my favorite L.A. photog Miss Kate Compton! It was such a blast and I cannot wait to share the photos with everyone and for our show to open January 6, 2014 (7pm at the Second City Studio Theater Hollywood). Please follow our show on Facebook (Me, My Selfie, & I), Instagram (memyselfieeandi), and Twitter (@MeMySelfieeAndI) and come support us! I followed that up with babysitting, to keep myself humble.

Then Saturday we moved a bunch of our stuff from our apartment to a storage unit we got. This is to make room for the ever growing pile of stuff we are receiving for Little Dude. He is going to be here SO SOON! AHHHH! January is so close and he is so big (already about 4lbs. 6oz.). Then I went to rehearsal for the aforementioned show. Then I did a shift interning at Second City Hollywood. Followed that up with making pasta salad for 20 ladies for my baby shower. Then folded about a month's worth of laundry. I didn't go to sleep until 3:30am. Not the wisest decision...

Today I woke up, Joey brought me breakfast in bed, the pups snuggled me-great start to my 29th year! Then I made vegan rice krispie treats, homemade caesar salad, and Joe made buffalo cauliflower whilst I showered and got ready. Then I went to my Birthday Party/Baby Shower. It was so lovely! Loads of food, good friends, well wishes, very thoughtful gifts for little man (and a few for me too), and some major laughs and fun. It was such a lovely afternoon. Then Joe whisked me home where I have been resting with my feet up. A pretty great day  full of loads of calls, texts, messages, etc. for me and my little dude. I am so grateful for all the love being showered on us.

Next up for us is putting up our Christmas tree & decorations! I love this season. I can't wait to curl up in pjs and watch feel good holiday movies and snuggle with my pups (and Joe if I can beg him hard enough). And sooner than later Little Man makes his big entrance! I can't wait to meet him and snuggle him up too. Yay for this season! :D

Take care dear Chickens!




 

Partly Sunny With A Chance of Products!

I thought I would weigh in on some of the products I am loving in the midst of my pregnancy. SO here we go:

1) Anything Acure brand. I've used their shampoos and conditioners, their facial cleanser & creme, their brightening facial scrub, their radical resurfacing lotion and day cream, their toner, their argan oil, and their line eraser and eye cream for a long while now. BUT I recently have fallen head over heels for their body lotions. These suckers are so moisture packed (great for a dry skin and for pregnancy issues like stretch marks and itchy boobs) and are thicker without being heavy. They're amazing! I've tried all 4 and I love them all. Currently I'm using the mandarin orange scented one and it wakes me up in the AM and smells so fresh. Ladies (pregnant or not) try Acure Organics brand anything, I dare you not to fall in love with it. Acure Organics

2) Earth Mama Angel Baby brand Nipple Butter. This stuff is AMAZING. Not just for your nips but for cuticles and dry areas like elbows and knees. Smells delicious too, sort of chocolatey. Nipple Butter

3) Mother's Blend Oil. So frigging delicious smelling, like chocolate almonds. It is sheer and not heavy as some oils can be. It is super moisturizing. I love it! Mother's Special Blend

4) Oh Baby! by Motherhood brand pants from Kohl's. I was having major issues finding pants long enough to fit me being 6' tall. Most maternity pants looked like capris on me. This brand though-thank goodness for them! My pants fit my growing belly and are long enough to cover my entire leg. Huzzah. I also got a few cute tops from them too. All were affordable and super comfy so good work Kohl's for helping us tall pregnant gals out! Oh Baby! by Motherhood

5) Liz Lange maternity tops from Target. They're long, again I'm tall y'all. I need long clothes. Apparently most pregnant women aren't as tall as me so everything is WAY too short on me. Liz though, she makes some long tops for me, they cover and hit where a shirt should and have room for my growing bump. Thanks Liz! Liz Lange tops

6) La Leche sports bra for nursing. No under wire, size 36G for my giant boobs, ultra comfy, surprisingly supportive. I am in love with this new purchase from zullily.com. Fantabulous! La Leche Blue Bra

7) Traditional Medicinals' Organic Pregnancy Tea. It's tasty, caffeine free, and supports healthy pregnancies. Good work. Tea Time!

8) TOMS shoes. As my feet swell with edema and look like flat boards with sausage links attached as toes I am loving my TOMS more and more. They accommodate my large tootsies, are comfy, are vegan, and have stretched with me. My feet and sausage toes thank you TOMS. Vegan TOMS

So that is it for now in the products I love for pregnancy. Try them out, most are great pregnant or not! :D


 

Sunny With A Chance of Pups!

I feel like poor Colonel Mustard and Zebbie have been neglected on the blog. Not at home that's for sure. Just wanted to update you all on the other little dudes in my life (other than the one in my womb). So here's what our pups have been up to:

-sleeping all the time
-cuddling mama's big new tummy
-wrestling like fiends on top of mom's new tummy whilst she tries to sleep
-being ridiculously cute all the time
-trying to eat any new stuffed toy that comes for the baby
-smelling all of the baby's new stuff/clothes/etc. to make sure it's a-okay
-getting spoiled by mom with new toys
-barking at dogs outside the apartment window
-sleeping next to mom at night rather than dad because she is now a warmer temperature than him (very opposite of usual)
-pooping and peeing in the house yesterday. Not their faults but boy did they feel bad, poor little dudes
-getting loads of cuddles, pets, kisses, scratches, and I love yous as we prepare to rock their world with the new baby brother in January.

So that's their super tough life as of late. Rough, right? I wish I had easy days like those two do!


 

Sunny With A Chance of Being Cool (I hope)

If I'm being honest I think I'll be a pretty cool mom. Not cool as in Samuel L. Jackson cool but cool in the sense that my kid will know some rad and random shit, my kid will be able to play and imagine with me all the time and I will encourage it. I'm not going to pretend swear words don't exist-they do and they're awesome. I'm going to encourage my kid to read and question and learn, I'm all about getting dirty and falling down and picking yourself back up, and I live for random silly and singing and dancing and crazy. All of that is pretty cool, I think. I also know this kid is going to have a semi-insane mother and most likely will need therapy as an adult for some ridiculous thing I do or say. It'll happen. I'm honestly okay with this. Here's what I hope I remember though.

-To admit when I'm wrong and say I'm sorry. I am HORRIBLE at this, ask my husband, he always apologizes first because I am too stubborn and bull-headed to own up. I need to work on this BIG TIME.

-to tell my kids they are pretty/handsome AND smart. That way their kid brains don't think one excludes the other because it doesn't. It definitely doesn't. I know I thought it did for a long time and I do not want them to have the body issues I had.

-to not say fuck all the time. I know I will say it, again-totally cool with that, just not all the fucking time Alex.

-to teach them to respect the planet, the environment in which we live, the animals, even the grossest bugs out there because well, this is all we got. I don't want to forget to talk about this often, it's important.

-to not yell when they're being little assholes. It's hard, I know. I am positive I will yell at some point but I want to always go to talking first and asking them to stop or why they're doing what they're doing and explain why we don't do that, instead of immediately screaming.

-to encourage the vocalization of ALL feelings, not just the "good" ones because it took me forever to learn, they're ALL good ones. There are no bad feelings, they're just feelings and there is always a reason behind them and  talking it out helps (thank you therapy).

-that anything about our bodies is natural and beautiful and not weird. You're a ginger who is tall and wears glasses and braces and is super skinny with a frizzball 'fro atop your head? Awesome! Mom was too and y'know what, it is amazing and gorgeous and just the way you're supposed to be. You're tall and lanky and have straight white blonde hair and crooked teeth and feel awkward all the time? Cool beans buddy, Dad felt that way too when he was young but he was adorable and still is and landed Mom (isn't he lucky?!). It's all good and normal and wonderful, embracing me will help my kids embrace themselves. So don't be insecure Alex!

-to remember that kids take everything seriously so when silly, hilarious things happen or are said I want to remember that to them it is SO important. To honor that important feeling in their heart. To also encourage humor and that life isn't always so serious.

-to enjoy food. Seriously. I want to encourage the love of food. It nourishes us, keeps us healthy, and damn it is delicious. We're planning on doing vegan for our kiddos until they are conscious enough to talk to about it and they can then decide for themselves. It's something I'm very passionate about and Joe is on board with me. I love food and Joe and I are both such foodies. We want to encourage a positive relationship with eating and food and body image. I want to remember this and never say things like diet or fat or skinny or any of that junk we're advertised to think about. Food is Good!

-to instill a love of reading and cinema. My imagination was (and still is I think) pretty amazing and it was due to reading my face off as a kid and adult and watching loads of films that are cinematically brilliant. I fell in love with pretend, with learning, with thinking outside of the box, with everything really from reading about it all and from seeing films that made me feel like anything was possible. I want my kids to also have that appreciation and encourage their imaginations to flourish through reading and from QUALITY films (not crap movies, there is a difference).

-to remember that at the end of each day I want to spend some time talking about their day, their feelings and thoughts, anything really. Just some quality time with my kiddos at bed. I want to hold on to that until they no longer want it. I want them to go to sleep every night knowing that I care about them and I love them.

All in all I think that will make me a pretty cool mom. In my eyes any way. Hopefully in my kiddos' too when they're a little older. :)


 

Mostly Sunny With A Chance of Exhaustion

Hello Dear Chickens! Sorry for the extended time off, my life is crazy. Let's catch up, shall we?

1) Joe and I had our One Year Anniversary of being married on 10/11. We had our One Year Anniversary BBQ on 10/12 and our Popriviny (traditional Polish brunch hosted by the mother & father of the bride) on 10/13. All took place back in MI and it was lovely. It was a crazy week for us as Joe, my mom, and I cooked all the food for both the BBQ & Popriviny. We made oodles of food all week and gussied up the favors (apple butter from a local MI Orchard) with cute tags, made some decorations, made signs, got together activities for the kiddos, and loads of other prep stuff. Our friends and my family helped us do it all and we are so grateful to all of them. They were miracles. We had a blast of a time! Here are a few preview pics of the weekend:

 It was the best time!

2) We came back to L.A. and both Joe & I hit the ground running. I am now working 3 jobs, going to conservatory class at Second City Hollywood, interning at Second City Hollywood, taking childbirth classes, prepping for baby in our tiny apartment, mentoring kids in a writing program, and trying to fit in Pilates and swimming (not doing so hot on that right now). Joe is finishing his thesis for his PhD, teaching, and has taken up 2 (so far) tutoring jobs for high school kids in math and science. Needless to say we're both exhausted. All the time.

3) I failed my first glucose test and now have to do the lame 3 hour one which is a pain in the ass because they're making me take a morning off which with my schedule is nearly impossible. Blerg.

4) I tried to laminate our ultrasounds to preserve them for eternity and instead I melted the first 2 pictures we had of our son in the womb. I then proceeded to have a full pregnant melt-down in Kinko's. Those poor people didn't even know what hit them.

5) This has been a shit week, for the aforementioned Kinko's debacle, rough days at work, general exhaustion/crankiness, majorly swollen ankles & feet, and my iPhone decide to delete everything on itself today (apps, pictures, video of my show today, all my contacts, etc.). To replace it through the insurance I pay monthly for it would cost me $199.99, to just upgrade my phone to an iPhone 5S costs $199.99. This is a g.d. scam from Verizon and Apple I swear. Bunch of crap!

6) I am practicing the Month of Gratitude again. Today made it tough but here are my first 3 entries:

     -A day late but my day one in my month of gratitude is that I'm grateful for Joe. He has helped me through a tough week, a really tough year, and is my best friend. Can't wait to see him be a dad to our little dude soon and continue to be the best puppy dad there is. Thankful for him every damn day.

   -Day 2 in my Month of Gratitude: I am thankful that my Spartans beat the crap out of the Wolverwieners! Go Green! Go White! :D

   -Day 3 in my Month of Gratitude: I am thankful for Daylight Savings so I could sleep an extra hour, my Prepared Childbirth class for the laughs, and for everyone coming to my class' first preview today at 6pm at the Second City Hollywood. Please come support us! :)



So that's it for now. Oh baby is the size of an acorn squash and is 29 weeks or 7 months or third trimester-AHHH! It's happening so fast! Cannot wait to meet our little dude. He's going to be amazing!