Dodger Tested and Approved

This last week my boss gave me a coupon she found for a free baby carrier sling using a promo code. You pay shipping and handling.

I went to the website, www.sevenslings.com, and looked through the designs. I laughed at all the pictures - these tiny little models that have probably never had kids - sporting little tots they have likely never seen before the day of the shoot.


I mean look at those girls! That is not normal...

Anyway, I decided I would try it out. Shipping plus their return insurance came to about $15. Still kind of pricey for shipping - but it looked pretty cool, and a lot better than $48 plus shipping which is what they normally run. The idea is that it works for tiny kids up to 6+ months. You just change the way you carry them.

The sling arrived within a couple of days. Since I had purchase the return/exchange insurance, I figured I should probably figure out if it would work. It was a little difficult since the baby is still inside and my belly is kind of in the way, but Ryan had a genius idea of how to figure out if it would work...


Enter Dodger - about 10 pounds, about as wiggly as a real child, and just as thrilled to try it out too. Hahaha. He said his modeling price has recently gone up and wasn't sure if we could afford him... but a few milk bones sweetened the deal. :)

See, I think I can pull off that pose from the website too.


Hands free. Dodger was clearly wondering when the ordeal would be over.

And he even managed to worm his way into the side-hip 6+ month pose. Well done, Dodger. You were an excellent model.

My impression? Well, the return insurance won't be necessary because we got the right size. I think they are pretty neat. The coupon said that the promo might end at any point without warning, but just in case you want to try it out, the code is VP9. You can use the same one at www.uddercovers.com for a free nursing cover, or the code "seven." No guarantee how long it will last. I didn't get one of the nursing covers because I bought fabric to make my own for a fraction of the price.

I am pretty excited to use my hip new baby carrier. And Dodger is thrilled that soon it won't be him being carted around the kitchen for kicks and giggles.

According To A 4-Year-Old

Yesterday I had a surprisingly frank baby discussion with my 4-year-old nephew, Preston. (The one that has been convinced for months now that I am growing a baby dinosaur.

He approached my belly cautiously and gave it a very soft pat. (This is great improvement over his typical over-zealous punch-to-the-gut welcome.)

"Your baby's growing!" he said.

"Yes, it is! He is getting bigger, huh?"

"It get bigger and bigger?"

"Yup. It will keep getting bigger and bigger."
"Then it pop?" He made a great whooshing motion with his hands and arms - like a dam breaking.

"Yes, then it will pop." Technically it's true - even if his visual was something like this:

"It make you dead?" he asked.

"No, it won't make me dead."

He seemed to consider how it was possible that I could survive something like my stomach popping. The next question was a perfectly logical next step.

"Then you swallow it again?" He mimicked popping something small, like a seed, into his mouth and swallowed. He mentioned something similar to this the day I announced I was pregnant. He was quite convinced the only way the baby could have shown up in my stomach in the first place was if I had swallowed it and allowed it to grow. It appears I am growing a watermelon after all.

"No," I answered, "I won't swallow it. The baby will grow and grow and when it's big enough it will come out and go, 'Whah! Whah!'"

At that he giggled hysterically like there couldn't possibly be anything more absurd and walked away.

Surprise! Suprise! A Pretty Surprise for Cinderelli!

My favorite movie to quote when it comes to birthdays is from Cinderella.

"Dah, dah... Happy Birthday!" - Gus, the fat mouse. It's not much of a quote. It's mostly in how he says it...

So this is now a month late - but I am officially wishing myself a belated happy birthday. Truthfully, this post is late because I was waiting for the perfect picture to go along with it. I had it all planned out in my mind, but the opportunity never presented itself. Oh well.

My actual birthday was on a Wednesday and I had to work. (Well, I think if I had really tried I might have been able to find someone to work, but Ryan had to work anyway and what was I going to do all day without him? Better to get paid on your birthday, right?)

So we had a joint celebration for James and myself on Sunday since our birthdays are 5 days apart. We also celebrated two of my nieces birthdays, but they just turned 2 and didn't really know the difference.


As always, it was fun to hang out with the family and enjoy some delicious birthday cake, ice cream and unwrap some wonderful gifts. Thanks family!

Wednesday before work, Ryan and I went to the gym and then went to celebrate my birthday with Denny's. Yum!!! They just so happened to have a tropical theme going on so I was able to get some pancakes with coconut whipped topping, macadamia nuts and pineapple chunks along with my bacon and eggs. So good!

Work was fairly normal. I was lucky enough to only have to work a 6 hour shift instead of 12. When I got off I hung out with Ryan for a while and then took myself window shopping and then off to clean the car. By the time I got around to washing the car it was almost 9 pm and totally dark. The whole time I was scrubbing away frantically at one of those outdoor do-it-yourself joints, I was praying, "Please don't let anyone mug me! Please don't let anyone hurt me! This is by far the stupidest thing I have done in a long time. I promise I will never do it again. Please let me make it out alive!" Thankfully that prayer was answered and no strange men decided to attack a lone blond chick cleaning her car in the dark. Lesson learned. Funny thing was, in the morning I noticed what a horrible job I had done. There were still bugs plastered to the front. It didn't even look like I had done anything. Well - that's another reason not to was the car alone at night.

Anyway, the following day I had a few piano lessons in the morning. When I returned I noticed a present sitting in the middle of the living room. It was a 14 inch Lodge Dutch Oven! Ryan and I have both been wanting a bigger dutch oven for a while now - and a birthday was a perfect excuse. Ryan had filled the inside with candy and a gift card to Joann's Fabric! Is that boy sweet or what?! Something for our outdoorsiness and something for my feminine side (and sweet tooth too). I love him so much! Which, I think that if anyone wants to come over before the weather gets too cold, we should make some cobbler in the dutch oven and enjoy the deliciousness!



We also went out to eat at our favorite place - Mi Ranchito! Seriously so good. Get #6. Two Beef Tacos. Sounds simple - and it is, but there is just something about it... Fantastic stuff. And get the strawberry daiquiri (non-alcoholic of course) to go along with it if you can. :)

It was a very chill, but good birthday.

Now, going back for a minute, you may be wondering why, on my birthday, I would choose to wash the car at 9 pm by myself. Well, it all goes back to that desire for the perfect picture. The one that still doesn't exist...

A couple weeks before my birthday I decided to "buy" myself a gift. I came home one day and forced a worried confession look onto my face. I told Ryan that I had bought myself a gift. A big one. An expensive one. He looked at me curious - not at all upset, but the wheels were certainly spinning. I told him it was in the car - too big for me to bring in. I took him upstairs and outside. As we approached the car I jumped into my cheerleader presentation stance with my arms showcasing the car. He looked at me, and then the car, and then back to me as realization dawned,

"You paid off the car?!" he asked.

"Yup! I paid it off! Happy birthday to me!!!"

At that he threw his arms around me and gave me a big hug. We had planned to pay it off before baby came, but I was going to draw it out a few more months and pay it in smaller chunks. But I decided to just pay it off as a birthday present.

The title arrived later that week. It was for this reason that I wanted the car to be all cleaned and spiffy so I could take a picture with the title. Maybe I still will. But I don't want to put of posting any longer. I am so very far behind as it is.

So here it is - our 2008 Toyota Highlander, purchased Sept of 2009. This picture was taken the day we bought it. It has been the best purchase ever. I love the way that it drives. It gets great gas mileage. Plenty of room. And it has been amazing for all of our trips. Certainly big enough for our new 14 inch dutch oven and baby on the way cause you better believe we will be taking this little guy camping and fishing. :)

I suppose it is appropriate that I postponed this post for a while because I had a funny experience this week. Wednesday night I ordered a book off Amazon. Friday night I had a package from Amazon in the mail. I was very much surprised, but also very impressed. I thought to myself, "I have got to give them a 5 star rating!" I opened the package and found that the book inside was not the book I had ordered at all, but instead 'The Hiding Place' that I had read earlier this year. I looked for a shipping slip, but there was none. The outside had a returned mailing address in Nevada, but no explanation. I was immensely confused. I had looked at buying that book months ago - right after I read it. I loved it so much it was one I really wanted to own. But I never bought it. In fact, I never even put it in my shopping cart or on my wish list on the time. Just looked. I simply didn't know what to do. I checked my credit cards and emails and couldn't find anything related to the purchase. I decided to leave it sitting on my desk for a few days while I tried to decide what course of action to take.

Finally today I sent a text to my sister and to my best friend Nicia to explain the situation. My sister said it was certainly bizarre, but maybe someone had sent it to me. Nicia responded almost right after that said, "Hmm... no packing slip huh? So there was no note that said losa - happy birthday (a month late!) I love you. - Nicia in there? Because if there was one in there that is what it would have said! :) (which p.s. it was suppose to!)

Hahahaha. Oh my Nicia. How well she knows me. And to think that I fretted about it for days trying to decide what to do when all along it was a birthday gift! Well thanks Nicia! And if anyone still hasn't read it yet - what are you waiting for?! Read it!