Merry Christmas and Stuff, Ya'll

Merry Christmas, everyone!  Or Happy Hanukkah, or whatever it is that you participate in this time of year!

Our holiday has been a great one, and of course it was the first one with the baby.  He didn't need much (or anything for that matter) given that he's only 4 months old, but of course he received some great gifts anyway!

With his new Lollacup from Nicki and Brian.

Over the next week, it will be time to decide what my New Years resolutions are.  I think this year, besides a few typical resolutions, I'm going to make some new ones that revolve around completing a few planned projects.  Some of these projects have been on my To-Do list for way too long - others for just a short while.  Here are a few of the projects on my list:

1.  Print and frame photos.  I have had plans in my mind FOREVER to print out some of my favorite photos and frame them around the house.  I visit other peoples' homes and see photos everywhere and it reminds me that I need to take the time to do the same! 

Cool photo canvas collage idea.

2.  Create photo books and box frames.  I have photos and memorabilia from trips Lucas and I have taken over the years, and I have had plans to create a photo book for each trip and collage the memorabilia into shadow boxes.  I originally planned to scrapbook each trip, but I think the task would be WAY more likely to get itself done if I just let Walgreen's create photo books for me.  So I just need to organize my photos into files and buy some shadow boxes for the rest.

Except mine will have trip memorabilia in them.

3.  Update my address book.  I've got addresses located everywhere...in an old address book, in notebooks, on pieces of paper, on saved letter envelopes, on Facebook....and I need to get them all into one place.

I want an address book with this cover!

4.  Re-velcro diapers.  Some of the used diaper covers I've purchased off Ebay (before I knew to ask) have extremely weak velcro on them, which needs to be replaced.  I've already bought the velcro, I just need to replace the old stuff.  It just takes time that I haven't allotted for myself yet!  And I'll actually be able to resell some of them for a decent chunk of change once I fix them (since I have an overstock)!

I just wanted to add in a pic of this year's holiday gdiaper!  I didn't buy Delano one, but it sure is cute!

5.  Magazine day.  This is a new project of mine.....to sit around one day and read magazines!  I have a fat stack of magazines that I haven't even touched since having had the baby, and there are others I've been saving for certain articles and/or recipes that I need to tear out.  I haven't gone through them because it seems so unproductive.  But yet they need to be gone through!

Pretty much.....

So besides the typical resolutions of eating better, running more and getting the scale back down to my pre-baby weight (THEN back down to my PRE-pre-baby weight), those five things are what I want to accomplish this year.  I'm actually hoping that I get them all done sooner than later, because then I can work on new projects!

Nom nom nom presents!!

Sweet Christmas baby!

Upside-Down Heart-Shaped Pudges

Lucas is an ass man.

Sure, he likes boobs, as does any straight man and boy out there.  But some men are boob men, some are leg men, some like a juicy pair of lips, and others are all about the eyes.  And then there are those with a serious foot fetish.  Lucas's "body part" of choice is the booty.  Which I greatly lack.  Sorry, Lucas.

If I had Nicki Minaj's booty, Lucas would seriously be in heaven.

Yesterday, Lucas took me shopping for new jeans.  I have two pairs of jeans right now that fit (though my had-a-baby-muffin-top still floweth over) and I wear them DAILY.  They say some moms live in sweat pants and sweatshirts.  Others in yoga gear.  I live in blue jeans and tshirts.  And maybe a sweater if it's cold outside and I need to leave the house.  But if you happen to run into me one day, it's a given that jeans and a tshirt are what's on my body.  I have no need to dress up, as most stay-at-home moms don't.  And it's not like I'm throwing on the heels on the weekends anymore like I used to.

I don't feel like I dress frumpy.  Just plain and boring in my array of old Chili's tshirts.

So in the store, I grab a couple of styles of jeans in a couple of different sizes to take into the dressing room.  My standard go-to is the boot cut, which I instantly grabbed.  But I grabbed some skinny jeans as well because Lucas wanted to see them.  And I grabbed a different style/brand from the shelf that looked like it was in the boot cut family.

The difference between me and Lucas is, while I'm putting on jeans, I'm looking at my muffin top while Lucas is looking at my butt.  He wasn't even remotely glancing at my waist (until I pointed it out, of course).  The last pair of jeans I grabbed were the first I put on.  I knew I was in trouble the second they hit my calves.....they were a lot more form-fitting and stretchier than I first thought.  As I'm hiking them over my butt and buttoning them around my waist, Lucas is already nodding "yes" while I'm thinking, "ewww".  Sure, from the back, I admit I looked pretty good.  But the jeans buttoned precisely into the little upside-down heart-shaped pudge that is my muffin top, therefore causing it to be OVER the top of my jeans.  So the conversation goes something like this:

Lucas:  Yep.  I like'em.
Me:  You like them?
Lucas:  Uh-huh.  They make you look like you actually have an ass.
Me:  Have you not SEEN my waist?
Lucas:  What about it?
Me:  What about it?!  Look at it!  My belly is pouring over them like a busted can of biscuits!
Lucas:  (rolls his eyes) Nobody's looking at that!  Everybody's going to be looking at your butt.
Me:  Haha no they're not.  Just you, sir.  These are too small.
Lucas:  I think you should try on a size smaller.
Me:  A size smaller??!!  Now you've really lost your mind.  If anything I need a size bigger.
Lucas:  No way.  These are perfect.

What Lucas saw.

What I saw. (Not actually a pic of my belly, though it could be!)

Granted, I found it to be a really sweet sentiment that I was all concerned about my waistline while Lucas thought it was a silly concern and that "nobody's looking at that".  At least I know that HE'S not disappointed with my waistline.  I mean, I did just birth his child 4 months ago, so he'd better not be!  Only kidding.  But a girl does get paranoid when she has a baby (or just simply goes through some weight gain) and her body doesn't look like it did before.  You worry that your other half isn't pleased with the "after", especially when you're not even pleased with it yet.  Turns out Lucas is still just trying to make my butt look bigger/rounder/firmer/like it exists.

I guess it's just the difference between men and women.  I feel like everybody will be looking at my waist.  And maybe that's because a lot of women out there WILL be.  Women can't help but compare themselves to other women, especially the parts of their own bodies that they consider flawed.  But the men are just out there checking out their favorite part(s).

Yep.

We both dismissed the skinny jeans (neither one of us liked them) and Lucas nixed the basic boot cut jeans before I even had the chance to button them, so I left with the first pair.

Lucas was pleased, but now I've been given even more of an incentive to lose this final gaggle of baby weight.  I'll never have a washboard stomach no matter how hard I try, and now that I've had a baby I'll probably always be sporting the upside-down heart-shaped pudge in the front, but I can at least work towards feeling a little better about it all!

For this, though, it was all worth it:

Happy 4 months, Delano!!

Fa-La-La-La-La......Where's The Egg Nog??

There are two weeks until Christmas!  Are YOU ready?

This guy is READY.

I'm decently ready for Christmas. 

Lucas and I don't do gifts, so that's one thing I don't have to worry about.  Though I guess in the future we'll have to start so that our children don't think Santa doesn't like us.  One year we decided to start a tradition that involved a letter, a color, the East Ridge antique mall, a $50 budget and a one-hour time limit.  It was super fun the year we did it, but we failed at making it happen again.  We really should, though.  It was fun.  Lucas ended up with a pineapple lamp and a glass panther planter.  :)

The only gift my parents have wanted from their kids for the past several years is an updated photo, so that's easy every year.  Sometimes we do a sibling picture all together, and sometimes we do separate pictures.  But we always try to be creative.  One year we recreated a picture of the three of us from when we were little....even knocked on the door of the house we grew up in to ask if we could borrow their tree.  We didn't fit in it quite as easily, but it worked!

My brothers and I do stockings each year with a $50 limit per stocking.  These are fun, and tend to get creative.  Budgets always make things creative.  As well as the fact that everything is SUPPOSED to fit into the stocking!

I've gotten a couple of little things for Delano, but he's still too little to want anything, and he NEEDS nothing.  But I still want to have some presents to wrap!  I can't NOT buy my child presents!  And actually, I just realized I bought him some underwear.  Hahaha!  Go figure.  But they're so cute....

Come on....he's going to look adorable in these!!!

Speaking of Delano's underwear, we are now at an "in between" stage with his gdiapers.  The transition between the newborns and the smalls was smooth.  But there's a bigger size difference between the smalls and mediums, and I guess Delano hasn't chunked up in the thighs fast enough to make the jump.  The mediums are still too big and we're pushing it on the smalls.  He's had some pee leaks in both sizes.  He's also been leaking through his other diapers, too.  The only one he hasn't leaked through so far has been his Otter Blotters one, and I only own ONE of those!  Granted, he's only leaked through his Swaddlebees ONCE.  And I currently have five of those.

This is my actual Otter Blotters.  It's kind of a complicated diaper (both velcro AND snaps to deal with) and I only have one insert for it, but it's worked great for me.

I own this Swaddlebees diaper, though the one in this pic is not mine.  Mine are all All-In-Ones, so they're a one-use diaper each time, but EASY PEASY to use and wash!

Sidenote:  I made a comment in the past that I don't like diapers with snaps.  I've decided that I don't hate diapers with the side snaps like the one above.  Though velcro is still the easiest, these aren't bad at all.  But I still don't like the ones that front-snap, like this:

What the front looks like open.

Snaps are very popular, because they outlast velcro.  And most companies will convert your velcro diapers to snap diapers for a small fee if you want.  Just fyi.  :)

So anyway....I've been experimenting with diaper combinations and Googling info trying to find a "cure" for the leaking diapers, because cloth diapers shouldn't leak if you're doing everything right.  To sum it up, Delano is currently wearing the Swaddlebees, the Otter Blotters and the small-sized gdiapers with a disposable liner during the day.....I'm making sure the interior fleece liner of his Happy Heinys is tucked completely within the waistband of his diaper at night.....I'm making sure his pee-pee is pointing DOWN when I diaper him.....and it's time to strip all of my cloth diapers and liners (which I will do tomorrow).  So hopefully by the end of the day tomorrow we'll be in good shape!

Go figure that I went from talking about Christmas to talking about my diapers.  I talk about them a lot, don't I?  Ah well.  They're a big part of my life nowadays! 

But now it's time to let the dogs out to pee and get ready for bed....aka, be up feeding Delano the next hour or so.  Instead of asking me if I'm ready for bed, Lucas asks me if I'm ready to go watch him sleep.  :)

With a face like this, how can you be upset about it?  :)