Wordless Wednesday/ Picture Dump

Updates and pictures. I forget how to write a witty title.

I just looked at my blog and realized that the last time I posted was June 30th.

What?

Where have I been?

Who knows really. This summer has been a whirlwind of work, baby, commuting, you know..

Here is what's been going on:

* MM is almost 10 months old (how, How did that happen?)

* She is not only standing, but cruising on the furniture

* She is finally getting another tooth, and this round of teething is being a reeeal butt. She isn't being the worst child ever, but the amount of snot we're dealing with is unreal.

* I've really been enjoying work recently, aside from the commute and not hanging with MM all the time, it's been fast paced and crazy, and I've kinda really been enjoying it.

* Charlie started back to school last week. He's teaching History, Latin, and then his chosen elective Shakespeare and Christianity. This is his first full time teaching job in a few years, and he's already worn out when he gets home. Rookie.

* I'm back to spin classes which is amazing and wonderful, but whowza my body is not used to working this hard.

Ok, so here are some pictures  of what's been going on this summer.

We turned 9 months old and started eating everything in sight

I spent a weekend away from MM with her in Charlie's sole care.
Yipee! That we all came out ok

We acquired some necessary facial accessories.

Uncle Winny left us for Yale

I giggle at this every. time.

I repeat, we're standing and cruising.

We dresses up and went for a brunch date with daddy.

Short story: I found this bow one day at Charlie's pool in a doll's duffel bag. 2 weeks later it was still there so I took it out of the Lost and Found. Maybe I should be embarrassed, but I'm not. 

It's the perfect size and I now put it with everything, even this stained and overly dirty onesie that she's wearing at Lowes at 8 am.

Oh, oh, Oh, oh!!! We're also finally getting our sweet girl Baptised!!  We're complete heathens who have no sense of religious responsibility for our child. I get it. 

also, shhh, we're getting our marriage convalidatied on the same day! Guess who's getting a new wedding dress??

I so wish.

Dose of Introspection

Although I will openly say I'm trying to improve and/or maintain a healthy lifestyle. There are certain parts of my body that I doubt will be the same after having Mary Margaret.

"Shhh Penguin, I'm looking at something"

Megan, who is a twice-weekly Mary Margaret Wrangler, opened my eyes to a beautiful photography project that is going on with moms and moms-to-be that are requesting to have their pregnant or post-partum pictures taken and shown.

This has nothing to do with this post

Neither does this one

I think this is so very very important because new moms get a really tough road ahead of them, even after things get easier with their new babe and you lose a majority of the baby weight (most times) but then everything is in a different place than it used to be. For me, there is a cute (not cute) little front-butt that shows up whenever I sit down. Mary Margaret LOVES to use it as a trampoline when I'm holding her, and as much as I suck my stomach in it is being reallll stubborn.

I have been writing for Fit for Expecting for about a month or so. Doing the circuit and elliptical workouts. On Thursday, the day of Megan's post, I did said elliptical workout and while I was changing back into my work clothes I took a good hard look at my body in only panties (do grown women still use that word?) It was under the always-flattering florescent lights. After this sobering look at myself for a good 5 minutes I thought "this isn't so bad. Yes, you can see my ribs a little more, and my thighs and hips are wider than previous. But this isn't the worst, I can handle this".  I know my body is going to be a fluid thing through out my pregnancies, and I think this is one of the most beautiful things about the human body. The way it can change and adapt to life. Don't get me started on breastfeeding, but the fact that my body knows to do that is really freaking awesome.

I did make it out without a TON of stretch marks (I have some from previous weight loss/gain) and they make push up bras for a reason. So I think I'll survive.

Greek Life in retrospect

This past weekend Charlie and I were invited to a super fancy-schmancy black tie wedding. The bride was one of his best students from his years at Broughton. She and her now husband are recent graduates of Wake Forest University and were both very involved in Greek Life on campus.

I should stop here and say that I am also a product of Greek Life at my undergraduate. I joined Kappa Delta Sorority in the fall of my sophomore year. I went through “formal rush” (which, if you know anything about rush, is intense both physically and emotionally) and was active in my chapter until I graduated in 2008.

Keep looking... verrrry back

Nowadays one might not look at me and think, “She was definitely in sorority.” I have morphed into an interesting blend of health educator, semi-hippy mommy, natural childbirth survivor (still so proud), clinical researcher, supposed-to-be active body, and wife, among other things. I don’t have one million monogramed items, nor do I dress Mary Margaret exclusively in smocked dresses, nor did I seek out that bankrolling husband. I knowingly married a high school teacher.

Maybe it’s because the couple was RIGHT out of college, but the wedding party of 22 (not kidding!) consisted of all sorority sisters and the groomsmen were almost all fraternity brothers.

* Side Note: One young female guest came up to us to compliment me on my singing-voice (guess who sings her hymns LOUD and CLEAR?) mentioned that this was her FIRST wedding ever. She did mention this after throwing back a shot, which she convinced the bartender to pour for the crowd.

I had one sorority sister in my wedding, but the rest were friends from before, during and post college. Honestly, I’m not really close with lots of my sisters. I have a few that I stay in touch with directly, and most of my sisters are Facebook friends whom I stalk on occasion and "like" their pictures.

What I got out of Sorority life, other than the ability to take a shot and sing the entire Greek alphabet, was how to be a lady. I learned how to dress from my still-close-friend Liz (who also introduced me to Charlie), the correct way to put on make-up, but, most importantly, how to make conversation and have confidence in speaking to others. As we prepared for Rush each year, we had a “How to make conversation” boot camp. We were told how small talk is done, how to look into people’s eyes, and did lots and lots and lots of practice. I have found that, more than anything, the ability to make conversation is one of the best skills anyone can have. Charlie and I have made close friends with strangers, mainly because we are both great at making conversation. As a couple, this makes life so much easier if neither is a non-small-talk person.

Will I encourage Mary Margaret to join a sorority when she makes it to college? I won’t discourage it; it was a formative time in my life and I owe a lot to it. It was also really helpful in showing me some of the qualities in men I didn’t want for a husband.

But that’s a whole separate conversation.

My many excuses..

My third week back to exercise is up over at 

FIT FOR EXPECTING

Go check it out pretty please!

Mini Weekend Recap: Post-Wine Style

OK, so I'm going to be honest that I'm writing this at 10:51 pm on a Monday night after having split a bottle of wine with my bad influence Sherry. Who I invited over on a whim at about 2 pm this afternoon. I like to plan head apparently

So, lets be honest I'm definition tipsy and this should be a good post and if nothing else very stream of consciousness.

1) Mary Margaret is like, THHHHHIS close to crawling. She can get places, but has really no idea what her knees do. She grips with her finger tips and her sweet little toe-tips but if you put her on her knees she's useless.

2) MM has become a great substitute for a Swiffer. She wallows on her belly for at least an hour and can pick up massive amounts of dog hair when I get lazy and dont can't sweep in time.

3) She got her first taste of ocean water at the beach this weekend. I sat her down in front of me and let the tide come in and get her. She only cried the first three times. She also ate sand by the handful.

4) I actually got to take a nap when MM was awake this weekend. I was asleep for a whole 10 minutes before I heard the sweet jingles of her gentle rattle slamming on the hardwoods downstairs in the beach house. I have two sets of grandparents to thank for this brief nap, and subsequent run, and further margarita s) that followed it.

5) I will admit that today at work I had three cups of coffee, and a diet mountain dew. That's it. No Water. The entire time I was justifying it with this article and the fact that I didn't drink much caffeine over the weekend.

6) I made it through the weekend with a slight burn on my chest from a forgotten-about v-neck I was wearing during the coffee cruise compliments of my father-in-law's boat.

Ok. Now it's 11:09 PM and I'm getting up at 5:15 6:00 AM to make the 45 minute commute to Durham again tomorrow.  Wish me luck.

Running behind again

People, I'm trying here is the first part

Here is the second chapter in my road back to exercise.
Check it out HERE!