Happy Easter, everyone! (Yes, it’s still Easter!) I hope you’ve been enjoying the Women Speak on NFP series. I am learning so much from our guest bloggers. I interrupt all the basal thermometer chat for a little update (but don’t worry, the series continues next week!). It’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve been able to post a Miscellany so prepare for some long-windedness!
First things first! Winners of the Les Miserables DVD/Blu-Ray giveaway are:
- Amy Paraskevas
- Jill T.
- Pam A.
- Whitney Mihalik
- Lisa (of the very last comment!)
On the Homestead: The most perfect thing to happen on Easter week!
Our first egg from the new layers. It’s a GORGEOUS pale green, the picture doesn’t do it justice, so it must have been the Aracuana!
BlissDom: My sweet husband held down the fort while I went to a social media/blogging conference in Dallas a couple of weeks ago. To be honest, none of the sessions were mind blowing, but I learned a lot from the time I got to spend with the other Mama and Baby Love writers and new friends. Then on Palm Sunday I got to meet up with two of the dearest folk in the world, my best friend Eleanor and Lucy’s Godfather, Luke for a day of fun (I went to college in Waco, TX so my sweet friends drove up to Dallas for the day). We went to a beautiful Latin Mass for Palm Sunday, ate Indian food, saw the Marc Chagall exhibit at the DMA, then moseyed around the Bishops Art District (mostly the chocolate shops and pie shops) before meeting up with two other dear college friends for my first chicken and waffle dinner. A truly perfect day of laughter and friendship. But boy was I ready to see my sweet family! And I came home to a clean house, flowers, and homemade plum pie because my husband is a rockstar:
I probably wouldn’t go to BlissDom again, but I’m thinking about going to Allume in Greenville because it might be more up my alley. Anybody else going or have any experience with it?
Pregnancy Update: 33.5 weeks! On the homestretch! Fun new developments: acid reflux so bad that I wake up vomiting. I know. Super cute. And absolutely no way to find a comfortable sleeping position, even with the help of the giant body pillow I’ve nicknamed Nagini. And lightheadedness in the morning if I don’t have protein first thing. Cool! OK, enough whining. This has been a doozy of a pregnancy, but I’m so grateful for a healthy little one and that we’re so close to meeting her. I remember the newborn exhaustion, believe you me, but it’s always an improvement to the way I feel during pregnancy. I’ll be full term in 3.5 weeks! Let’s hope she doesn’t stay content inside for two weeks after her due date like Miss Lucy.
Reading: North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell. So yes, I’m definitely behind on my 2013 Reading Goals but I’m plugging away and completely loving this one!
Watching: Call the Midwife! I am in love with this BBC show that’s airing on PBS. The first season is available with Netflix streaming (the only way I ever watch anything). It’s about a convent of Anglican nuns who are nurse midwives and the young nurse midwives (not sisters) who train with them in East London in the late ’50s. I warn you that it is intense as to the birthing scenes and that some might be particularly difficult to watch if you’ve suffered miscarriage or stillbirth. But it really is a wonderful show with fantastic characters and I cry whenever a baby is born. Maybe just because it feels like I gave birth to Lucy yesterday and am preparing for another birth in the next few weeks I can just FEEL the labor pains and the relief of delivery. It’s amazing. Please watch it and tell me if you like it. My favorite character is Chummy and I wish she was my best friend/next door neighbor.
The Quotable Benjamin:
“Look! I grew antlers!”
“I so much need you to help me find a squirrel!” (weird bedtime requests. always weird.)
“Why wouldn’t it be safe for me to have a REAL lightsaber?” (says the kid with marker all over his face.)
Links Worth Reading:
If you read nothing else, please check out Other People’s Kids by Calah Alexander of Barefoot and Pregnant. It’s the best thing I’ve read in awhile.
Fairy Tales and Holy Week – The Imaginative Conservative
I love reading a good birth story and this one by Kaitlin of More Like Mary reminds me so much of my labor with Benjamin. Grab a tissue and enjoy.
Explaining where God is when we suffer, when there are no words by Jennifer Fulwiler
Instagrams Worth Sharing:
My sweetheart in her Easter dress, flirting with the folks at the table next to us at special family breakfast after Easter Mass. How did I ever live without this precious one in my life?
Unfortunately she’s just discovered that she can climb into our dining room chairs but can’t quite figure out how to get down. It makes her feel like SUCH a big girl, though 🙂
Here’s me super excited about one of our last date nights before Baby Gwen arrives. We got to eat at a fancy restaurant thanks to a gift card from my sweet friend Melanie.
And look how handsome my wonderful date is! The best!
Wishing you a wonderful weekend!
Love,
Haley
P.S. You can also follow me on Twitter (@haleycarrots), Pinterest (haleyofcarrots), FB, and Instagram (carrotsformichaelmas). I love connecting with my wonderful readers!
I heard Blissdom was wonderful but I must say Palm Sunday Latin Mass sounds better to me! 😉 I was just telling my mom about Call the Midwife. I watched the first few episodes in the fall but then lost track… I’ll have to catch up soon!
I LOVE Chummy. I find her character wonderful and the actress who plays her fantabulous. When she first appeared, I googled the actress to learn everything I could about her. I’m interested to learn more about the other young midwives. It really tugs at my heart strings to go back to school and become a midwife like I wanted to when I was little.
If Chummy was your neighbor-I’d move to your neighborhood!
Thanks for the link to ‘Other People’s Kids.’ I wasn’t really sure where it was going for a while there, but I LOVE it’s conclusion! Just beautiful.
I also really enjoyed N&S but it was one of those very rare books that I felt wasn’t necessarily better than it’s movie adaptation.
Also (I knew there was something else I meant to say) – I’m so sorry about your symptoms!
Thanks, Deirdre! At least I know I’m on the homestretch and the discomforts make labor pains more appealing 🙂 I’ve seen the N & S miniseries and loooove it. I’m going to treat myself to it when I finish the book. It’s actually what I watched when I was in early labor with B.
Have you seen Episode 1 of Season 2 of Call the Midwife yet? I got it through the PBS app – I am dying to hear what others thought of it but don’t want to spoil anything! And those pictures of Lucy are too precious.
I watched it through the pbs app too! It was very interesting. I thought their chosen controversies, even the subtle ones, were all very compelling and I’m so excited to watch what’s coming! They definitely had some *gasp* moments from me as certain details and events transpired.
Thanks, Lindsay! She’s my cutie pie. And no I haven’t watched it yet! Our internet is super slow so it’s a little bit painful to watch things streaming on PBS but I definitely plan on catching up this week!
1. I finished Kristen Lavransdatter just now putting Pip down for the most recent nap. We should talk.
2. We love Call the Midwife, too! It lets us use our Bradley skills and also get a bit weepy over all the happy births.
3. I love that you call your body pillow Nagini. I haven’t been able to give mine up yet.
4. You are so obviously more pro than I am at pregnancy (your three to my one) but I had that problem with reflux with P, and found that if I served myself dinner in a really small ramekin and could only eat that (but could eat again later when I got hungry), then I wouldn’t throw up. Worth a try?
1. Ahhh! Kristin! Yes, we must talk.
2. I am a puddle of tears every single episode.
3. Nagini takes up so much room. Poor Daniel.
4. Definitely worth a try! I’m also trying to eat dinner earlier in the evening and I’m not following it up with a big bowl of ice cream anymore (feels great in the moment but then the lactic acid which I just found out existed makes it worse.)
I majorly love Chummy! She is awesome!
Everything about this made me happy, except your current pregnancy discomforts! But 1) so many adorable photos of Lucy. is her hair really reddish like it looks?? 2) you are reading N & S! one of the best things about it is how Gaskell goes instead the man’s head, which you never get from Austen…not sure if it’s realistic or not, but it’s fun to read. 3) antler boy! 4)Daniel’s beard is back. that’s a relief. Which fancy TLH restaurant did you go to?
Sweet Lois, it’s kind of a warm brown these days. It was pretty gingery at first if you remember and I was so excited but it’s darkened. Still lovely, though 🙂
And I do really like that about Gaskell! Thornton is great.
D’s beard just keeps getting bigger, haha. We went to Mosaik! Hadn’t ever been there for dinner and hadn’t been there in at least 10 years. Super yummy and fancy and fun.
A pie to boot! That IS rockstar material. Way to go husband!
I know, right?!
I don’t know anything about Allume, but I live in Greenville and its a pretty neat place. 🙂 Our church does a beautiful Latin mass every Sunday. You should definitely come if you decide to attend Allume!! Hope these next few weeks of pregnancy go smoother!
Oooo, I will! I’ve attended Mass there once because we have extended family living there. St. Mary’s? Is that the beautiful one in downtown?
I just found your blog, and I LOVE it! Your posts are so great, your kids are adorable, and your husband is definitely a rockstar. (Also: diggin’ the beard.) As a newly-welcomed candidate for Confirmation, I just love finding these blogs. You lead a truly blessed life with a beautiful family. I hope you catch a break from the Braxton-Hicks contractions!
Thank you so much, Mary! He is such a rockstar and sooo proud of his beard 🙂
Welcome home! It’s so exciting to connect with other converts. And the Braxton-Hicks have been chiller lately, although my little lass has been having dance parties all night, haha. Hoping for a good night’s sleep so I’m not grumpy, boring mom tomorrow!