Stretchy pants

For the last year I've been wearing all things stretchy. Stretchy tees, yoga pants, jeans with no zippers, etc. At first it was awesome. If I had been able to eat anything, I could have eaten a buffet full and my pants still would have fit. Fast forward a year, when I'm no longer pregnant, and no longer enjoying my zipperless pants, and I have some serious shopping to do.

Since I still have 12 a few pounds to go, I'm focusing on tops, not bottoms. Here are a few of my recent purchases:

I bought the top, but actually like the look of the leggings.

Not sure I would like them on me, but they look great on the model.

I bought this sweater in black and cream. It's so darn comfy. I just love it.

 

I did cave in and buy these lovely twill pants.

 

 

I picked up a few other things, but all of these items came from Forever 21. I purchased a jacket, 4 sweaters, and 2 pairs of pants for less than $100. That's my kind of shopping. And just in time for our trip to Virginia in a couple of weeks. Now I just need a few accessories to pull it all together. Feels good to shop in the normally proportioned person department!

Travel Plans

I FINALLY booked our flights home to Arizona in December. I've had the time scheduled off for forever, but had to wait for David to get the leave approved. Easier said than done. After much consideration, he finally got the ok from his supervisor, so we booked our flights. In the few weeks we had been waiting for approval, flights went up about $100. So it's costing us $850 for the two tickets home. Ouch. But seriously worth every penny.

Most of family is in AZ and we have long standing traditions that no one ever misses. EVER. I would be heartbroken if I wasn't there for the annual Farmer Family get together at my great aunt's house, or for the Christmas Eve get together at my Grandpa's. Although, the Christams Eve party hasn't been held on Christmas Eve for several years now. Now that my generation is all grown up, it makes more sense to hold it the Saturday before Christmas so no one has to worry about trying to get there from work or whatever.

This Christmas is particularly special because it will be Tennessee's first, and one of my cousins is pregnant due about a week before we fly in. I'm hoping she's a few days early so her baby girl will be there for all of us to love on. I just love babies at Christmas time. Well, I love them all the time, but the holidays are definitely more magical through the eyes of babies.

As far as Thanksgiving goes, we're driving from the Florida panhandle to my in-laws' in Virginia the Friday before. It's about a 12 hour drive, and we're taking Tennessee (obviously) and Duke the Bloodhound. Should be an interesting drive...

We'll have a week with David's family, and this will be his first trip home since our wedding in 2010, and his first holiday with his family since he joined the Air Force almost 4 years ago. Definitely long overdue. We are also excited to spend time with our niece Corinne, who is 3 years old but we've only met once. We are definitely looking forward to the trip - and to having 6 whole days off of work!

Monday update

David and I had a good weekend. We explored Destin a little, which David had never been to and I only had driven through once. We went to the Bass Pro Shops, but weren't too impressed with their inventory. Small store, very cramped. Maybe next time we'll check out the one in AL. We walked through the little outdoor mall and picked up a couple of holiday scented candles at Bath&Body Works, and had lunch at the Hardrock since it's all right there together. Next time we'll check out the Harbour Walk.

Yesterday we mostly watched football, and made homemade potato soup and homemade mozzarella sticks. The soup was delicious, the cheese sticks were just ok. Will do a few things differently next time. David went out last night so Tennessee and I watched the SNF game and I tackled laundry and dishes. Not the most exciting Sunday evening.

The Weather: Highs are currently in the low-mid 80s, but the nights are clooling down in the 60s and sometimes 50s.

Right Now I am: Watching Monday Night Football and giggling at Tennessee rolling all over her play mat and trying to put all of the toys in her mouth.

Thinking: Not much. I'm pretty tired after work, schoolwork and housework, but trying to keep myself busy until Tennessee is ready for bed.

Reading:

I've been reading the Highlander series from Marti Talbott. There are 13 books in the original series, that follow one clan through generations of war, murder, and daily life in the Scottish Highlands during...I'm not sure, exactly. I think these start not too long after the death of Christ. They're easy reads but certainly entertaining enough. I'm on book 7, and I understand that after these 13 there is another series that follows the same clan once they come to America. I found them on my Kindle, first book was free, the rest have been $4.99.

On My TV:

Even though there are shows I love, like Grey's Anatomy, I really don't watch much tv besides football. I don't have the time, and now that David and I are on a more similar schedule I don't have any time to watch what I want without hearing whining in the background. We do, however, usually watch Raising Hope and New Girl on Tuesday nights.

On the Menu:

Not a whole for me at the moment. I'll still be cooking for David, but I am trying really hard to lose the last of the baby weight I'm still carrying. I gained a rediculous amount of weight (60 pounds), most of it at the end of my pregnancy, but I'm 3/4 of the way there. Only 15 pounds to go! Until I hit 125 pounds and my size 4 pants fit, I'll be eating less than exciting food. Sundays will be my cheat day since we like to make snacks for the football games.

On My To Do List:

Ah yes, the never-ending to do list. Pretty much the usual. Cook, clean, homework, take care of Tennessee, watch as much football as I possibly can, fit in time to run every day.  And sleep. Yes, definitely sleep. I also need to get Duke's nails cut and his ears cleaned. He hates both, and I have to tackle him to do it. Not my favorite thing to do, but better than dealing with bleeding quicks and ear infections.

Speaking of Tennessee, I am still on the hunt for food she will eat that will help keep her full longer. She has slept through the night since she was 6 weeks old and now she's waking up every few hours to eat. The formula isn't enough, and she doesn't handle the cereal well at all. I'm trying stage 1 baby foods with her, but she's still trying to figure out the spoon so she doesn't eat much at a time before getting really frustrated. It's a work in progress, but hopefully she gets used to it soon.

Also, we're supposed to get our travel voucher Wednesday, which I am using to buy our flights home to AZ in December. Wish I could actually get time off at the holiday, but the week before will have to do. I am also going to FINALLY order Tennessee's crib and bedding so I can finish the nursery and move her into it. I will definitely post pictures once it's all finished.

Fall

I have been a little MIA here lately. We've been busy, but I will owe an apology to the family members who come here for an update on our lives now that we're too far away to just drop by and visit. Here's what we've been up to lately:

FALL

As much as I love the heat and freedom (more imagined than real) of summer, I also love the change in seasons. I love packing away the shorts and tank tops and pulling out my boots and cozy sweaters. I've never lived anywhere where it gets really cold, but I still enjoy the coziness of the season. I can't quite fit into my favorite fall clothes just yet (almost there!), but for now I'm happy to have my house decorated with pumpkins and various Halloween stuff.

I also LOVE that football is back, and David and I are spending Sundays, Monday nights, and Thursday evenings catching as many games as possible. The downside is that we can hardly stay up late enough to finish the night games now that we're on EST. I did, however, stay up to catch the end of the Jets v. Texans game last night. And yes, Tebow should get more play time.

HOUSE

I was excited just to get it cleaned and decorated this past weekend! I'm still working on a few projects, but the biggest is the nursery. I need a few more of those lovely 3M strips to finish hanging pictures, and then I just need a crib. Almost finished. Once we have the crib (maybe sooner) I'll be moving Tennessee into her own room. I was going to do it this past weekend, but just never got around to it.

TENNESSEE

Speaking of Miss Tennessee, she has grown like crazy over the past couple of weeks. Not so much physically as mentally. Her coordination has greatly improved and she is now much more interesting in toys, as well as anything that moves, lights up or plays music. She is still primarily eating formula, but I'm also throwing in some baby food to help keep her full. We tried the baby cereals and no matter how I fix them, they don't agree with her. Poor thing.