the brothers, three

the wee babe is on my mind.
i can picture it now.
this nameless new boy addition.
with just a few weeks to go – we’re ready.
++++
the brothers, three.
i can’t wait to watch them adventure together.
 

have a wonderful rest of the week and weekend!

Not sure what you'll be doing the rest of the week in this glorious city of ours, but it promises to be lovely, sun-shiny and fabulous! I'll be under the sails at the Convention Centre learning lot's at the Yoga Conference.

You can still print off free admission tickets here

Have fun whatever you get up to!

F-A-T

My mother was easily 150 pounds or more overweight my whole life.

Her weight was never an issue in our house growing up, in that it was never ever discussed. Yes, we were one of those families. No one monitored what was consumed, asked any questions or made any snide remarks.

Growing up, meals were "normal"... a meat, a starch and a vegetable. There wasn't a lot of desserts, but we had a lot of homemade cookies, of the chocolate chip variety laying around. I don't recall ever thinking my mother was eating more than she should.

Since my mother's weight was never an issue at home, I was never embarrassed by her appearance. I do, however, remember feeling bad for her when she would get winded walking up a flight of stairs. I remember wondering how she would fit in a certain sized chair or a seat on an airplane. I never bought her a single article of clothing because I never knew her actual size.

Once while we were on vacation, my mother lost her balance and fell down five or six stairs. She had cuts and bruises all over her face, arms and legs for weeks. Fortunately, she didn't break anything, but we were in the middle of the jungle in Madagascar, a 10-12 hour drive from the nearest city and she had to be flown back to our hotel and wait for my dad, sister and me to return the following day. That incident broke my heart.

My mother was an elementary school teacher, the smartest woman I ever knew and always carried herself with ease, dressing appropriately for her size. She wore a lot of primary colors and fun holiday-themed jewelery "for her third graders", she always said. Even though she was heavy, she never "let herself go" and always wore a stylish hair cut and nail polish on her finger and toe nails.

I have seen photos of my mother before I was born and she wasn't always big. In fact, she had a very slender frame until the Summer of 1972.

I still have no idea why she was overweight and unfortunately, I never will. She passed away in 2007 from unrelated causes.

I always thought, and she may have eluded to it ONE time, it was because she gained so/too much while pregnant with me, which made me fearful that the same thing would happen to me when I was pregnant. Some women take the "eating for two" literally and don't take necessary precautions to nourish their babies as well as themselves in healthy and safe ways. I believe my mother was one of these women.

I know firsthand now how difficult it is to lose whatever baby weight is gained during those joyous nine months, especially with a brand new baby in tow. I am still struggling with five-eight pesky pounds myself.

In spite of or because of my mother I have never been overweight. Weight may be hereditary, but I just don't think I could ever let myself get to that point. The point of being fat. On the other hand, I wouldn't know what the worst diet is because I have never been on a diet. I guess I tried the Atkins Diet once for about 3 days, but who can live without bread?

Since I was in college, I have chosen to take responsibility for my weight gain and loss by exercising regularly. I keep a Excel spreadsheet of every mile I walk and calorie I burn on the StairMaster, Elliptical machine or stationary bike. I exercise so that I can eat the way I do and luckily for me, I enjoy sweating. I can’t imagine feeling healthy or happy without an hour at the gym several days a week.

I know where my problem areas are and try to work with them or camouflage them when necessary. I have sizes 6 through 12 in my closet and like everyone else, I have good days and fat days.

I LOVE to eat, but don't gorge myself. I feel that I eat for sustenance and not just for the mere pleasure of it, unless of course it's Trader Joe's chocolate cover peanut butter cups or a glass or three of wine. I eat three square meals a day, rarely snack and consider myself a carb addict (hence the reason the Atkins Diet didn't last long).

When it comes to my relationship with my body, food and exercise, I always think about my mother. I think, I don't want to be 100+ pounds overweight. I want to live a long healthy life and I want to look good in my skinny jeans. And now, more than ever, getting and staying in shape is not just for me, but my son too.

This post is for Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop - Prompt #1 Describe the worst diet you ever put yourself on.

You Know You're A Mom When-sDaze

You know you're a mom when...

• As soon as you paint your finger nails, your child wakes up from a nap. Grrr...
  
• If left to his own devices, your tot would sit in front of the television all. day. long.
• You rejoiced the day your child tried a vegetable for the umpteenth time and not only liked it, asked for more!
• Your kid has had a melt down at a restaurant, so you packaged up the entire meal to-go and downed a full glass of wine in one gulp quicker than you could say "check, please!"
  
• No matter how high you put things in your home, your child finds a way to get them anyway.
• You can't go anywhere and see older children without thinking, "we'll be there soon enough"... or younger children and think, "aw, I remember when...".
• Based on the crankiness level of your child, you can tell when any given situation is going to go completely south and must be aborted immediately.
  
• Your heart melts every time you see that sweet innocent smile even if the body it's attached to is up to no good.
  

Be sure to link up with your own list at Mommy of a Monster.

What's The Trouble Bubble?

No trouble here! Your aunt Leah gave you a bubble machine last week and you love it.

This post is for Wordless Wednesdays and if you want to link up or see some really beautiful photographs, visit Alicia at A Beautiful Mess.

Semana Farroupilha ENCERRAMENTO

Com alguns dias de atraso, mas ai estão as noticias dos ultimos dias da semana farraoupilha na Congregação São Lucas, bem como do Culto Crioulo e o encerramento na segunda feira, 20 de setembro.

A sexta feira a noite foi muito boa, com uma participação muito grande não só de membros da Cel São Lucas, como também da comunidade em Geral.

Nosso momento como o de costume, começou com um devocional, que neste dia foi dirigido pelo Estágiário Douglas Wendler.

A noite seguiu com o jantar preparado por nossos cozinheiros da noite, e com muita musica.

  E olha que músicos foi o que não faltou nesta noite, cada um com alguma coisa que fazia barulho, e quem não encontrou acompanhou cantando e animando a noite.

CULTO CRIOULO

O domingo foi especial mais uma vez, pois além do em nosso culto louvarmos ao nosso Poderoso Deus, tivemos a oportunidade de lembrar como nossos antepassados farrapos louvavam a Deus, lembrando nossa tradição, e a vitória maior que foi conquistada para Chimangos e Maragatos pelo grande farrapo Jesus Cristo.

 Casa preparada, com apetrechos lembrando a Cultura Gaucha, e apontando para o altar da casa de Deus, a chama do amor de Deus que brilha em nossos corações, e a cruz de nosso Senhor e Salvador

 Processional de entrada.

 Musicos que embelezaram o nosso momento de louvor - Leandro Lemke e Pastor Paulo Brum.

 Grupo de Coreografia da Cel São Lucas de São Leopoldo.

Oficiantes do Culto: Marcos Augusto dos Santos, Jones Rubira(Pr. São Lucas - São Leopoldo) e Pastor Maiquel Hellwig.

Segunda Feira, 20/09 - Encerramento da Semana.

 Arriamento da bandeira - Silvio(Guto) e Vera Guterres

Gauchos e gauchas da CEL SÃO LUCAS.

"Declaramos encerrada a Semana Farroupilha 2010 da Congregação São Lucas"

(Palavras de nosso Presidente Silvio Lemke)

Mas lembremos sempre, que a chama do amor de Deus continue sempre Brilhando em nossos corações e que nossa vida seja um reflexo deste amor a todos aqueles que nos rodeiam. E que assim também seja a união e a comunhão desta congregação em todos os dias que o Senhor a conceder, por mais muitos 40 anos de bençãos e de semanas farroupilhas.

Pr Maiquel Hellwig

Seattle

My mother was born in Seattle in 1948, but didn't live there very long before moving to Texas, D.C. and then around the world. I wish I knew more about her life there and where exactly she lived.

I had never been to the "Emerald City" until March of 2002. I spent a long weekend visiting my dear and heartbroken friend, Sarah. Shortly after moving to Washington from Arizona, she and her then fiance had just broken off their engagement. It was a rainy, deary and sad trip. I was immensely proud of my friend for staying in a new city, making new friends and finding a new job, especially given all the rain the Northwest gets. So much rain that I never cared to return.

Never say never.

I now have nothing but kind words for a city that has made it's way on my short list of favorite cities in the U.S.

I just returned from a fabulous weekend in Seattle. From the famed Pike Place Market overlooking Elliot Bay with it's fresh fish, flowers, fruits and vegetables to the Space Needle and birth place of Jimi Hendrix and grunge music, I have nothing but kind words for a city that is now on my short list of favorite cities in the U.S.

The main reason for my trip was to celebrate Sarah and her new fiance, Chris at an engagement party hosted by her wonderful friends (some of Sarah's same friends that I met eight years ago).

Another highlight was seeing an old friend from junior high school! 22 years later and we picked up right where we left off. I love it when that happens. To me, it is the definition of true friendship. My visit with Siobhain did wonders for my soul.

Next summer, we will return as a family when we attend Sarah and Chris' wedding.

Here are a few of my favorite shots from the weekend:

By the way, it did rain on Sunday.

Please don't forget...

There's no yoga with me this Thursday due to the Yoga Conference!

(That means no baby & me yoga, no prenatal yoga and no mixed levels classes).

I'll see ya the following week♥

“in creating… she becomes herself”

i’ve been going to bed with PROJECT: craft on the brain for months now.
danyelle + i hatched the idea in our heads and we completely ran with it. no detail was spared. i really truly feel like it was a complete collaboration. both of our brains contributing tiny details that all seemed to fit perfectly together.
we were so excited when tickets were actually purchased + new friends + old friends were coming out of the woodwork to join us on our crafty adventure.

we felt so happy once every pretty-little-thing was in place + people began to arrive. danyelle + i had created the perfect space to inspire an amazing creative energy. i sat back and listened to the happy chit-chatter while stitching a little somethin’ sweet for the wee babe. 

i hope that all of those amazing women left feeling as happy as we did.
 
 

i’m a little sad to pack up PROJECT: craft. i want to collect everyone back up + check on their projects. i want to have my new friends over for lunch + visit some more. and of course danyelle + i have already got the wheels spinning for PROJECT: craft part two. will you join us next time?

be sure + check danyelle’s blog all this week. she’ll be posting all the teeny tiny details about our community craft night over there. i’m afraid that my big bellied pregnant self couldn’t stand to sit at this computer long enough to share them all with you here.

i’m so thankful to my sweet friend danyelle for appreciating + encouraging my lindsay-girl self to create. i’m amazed at what we did together.

Flying Solo

Lucas and I have been on 10 solo journeys together that involved airports, airplanes and lots of gear. Last weekend I went to Seattle to attend my good friend, Sarah's engagement party (more on that in another post) and I went alone!

I haven't traveled without a child in SO long.

Here are some of my childless travel observations:

• I actually dressed up for my flight and by "dressing up" I mean that I wore real shoes instead of flip flops and my "good" jeans.

• I checked my suitcase so that I could walk on the plane carrying only a reasonably sized purse.

• There wasn't any struggling with a stroller, squirmy child, two pairs of shoes, diaper bag or waiting for FAA to "test" bottles of formula when going through security.

• I took the stairs whenever possible instead of elevators.

• I didn't have to walk around the terminal trying to tire out someone by looking at airplanes, other children or anything else.

• I bought and read an entire issue of People magazine and completed the crossword puzzle.

• I'm sure it'll be days before I get to crack it open again, but I read 100 pages of a new book (Little Bee by Chris Cleave) while on board.

• There were no beads of sweat collecting on my brow because I wasn't accompanied by someone prone to get overly loud or have meltdowns at 37,000 feet.

• The last thing on my mind on the layover and hour delay on the way home was running out of diapers.

• I thoroughly enjoyed strolling through the airport newsstand and waiting in a long line to use the bathroom in peace.

• On the flight home I took a much needed uninterrupted nap.

• I loved waltzing off the aircraft without having to wait for the ground crew to bring me our stroller

• I appreciated the time away, but missed my little travel buddy and look forward to our next adventure together.

I am glad to be home.