all quiet on the western front

All five of you readers may have noticed I haven't updated in awhile, and that is because Stella ruined our laptop by spitting milk on the keyboard. (Ever since she's gotten really good at spitting her toothpaste into the sink while brushing, she finds spitting to be a super fun activity/skill). The milk seeped down inside and fried the circuits. We need to go back at some point and see if the Genius Bar at Apple can salvage our hard drive. Brett regularly backs up stuff on an external hard drive, but had not done so since we moved in July. I am hoping they can extract the hard drive because I upload pictures from my phone to iPhoto at least once a week because I don't like having a lot of pictures and videos on my phone. I find that I organize my pictures and videos better if I upload them to the computer on the regular. Anyway, we bought a new MacBook to replace the damaged one.

BSF started two weeks ago. I like my discussion leader and group of women. I think it's going to be a great year. Stella is in a new classroom this year, and is having a ball. The first day she was so excited to return to BSF. No tears this year like last year. No separation anxiety. As soon as I picked her up afterward and we were walking out to the car, she said, "I go BSF again?" I told her not until next week. When we got home, I think she anticipated my asking how it went because she volunteered: "I had a good time 'a BSF." And a little while later, "The teacher read you books." She is still a little mixed up with pronouns and often uses "you" when she means "me". When we run errands, I often play a BSF cd for her which is little kids singing the songs they learn throughout the year. She made up her own words to one of the songs. It goes something like: "Stella go to BSF; Stella go to BSF; Stella go to BSF ANOTHER ONE DAY!" Since they teach the kids a simplified version of whatever we adults are learning that week, I asked her some questions about Mary and Joseph (see Matthew 1). I asked what the name of their baby was, and she enthusiastically answered, "JONAH!" Looks like I need to do some reviewing with her. She is also learning a verse this month in her toddler class at church: "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right."

Brett has been really busy with work, so home projects have come to a bit of a standstill. We did have a guy come and remove the stump and roots of the tree we lost in a storm at the beginning of August or end of July. He had to dig really far down to remove everything; he filled it in with topsoil, and planted grass seed. Thankfully we had a bunch of rain recently, and the grass is coming in really nicely.

Brett installed a new door to Stella's big girl room, and she has been sleeping in her bed the last three nights. I am so glad the transition went so smoothly. She really likes her bed. Sometimes she asks me to lie down with her for a little bit. She then gives me lots of kisses and hugs, pats on the back, and Eskimo kisses. Yesterday she was having trouble settling down for a nap, so I cuddled with her a little bit. She was just about to fall asleep, and to let me know that I could leave, she said, not unkindly, "Mommy go out the door."

I will be 33 weeks pregnant this Thursday. This Friday at my next checkup, I will be tested for Strep B, so that just goes to show I am on the homestretch. I think after mid-October, I will be going in for appointments once a week. The heartburn and back pain have been bad, and I don't get much quality sleep. Yikes. I can't believe we'll be having another baby in November. Her name is picked, and we're very close to picking out a Bible passage for her. The glider we ordered for her room will be arriving the beginning of October. A rug arrived for her room last week. I still need to decorate her walls and go through Stella's newborn clothes to see what will work for her in a cooler birth month. I love buying baby and kid clothes, so I am hoping I will need to buy a few things at my dear Baby Gap. :) Baby shouldn't have to have all hand-me-downs, right? I mean check these out, or pretty much anything here I've also been checking out Etsy for baby girl headbands, but still haven't purchased any because I found the selection to be pretty overwhelming. Oh, I started filling out her pre-admittance forms for the hospital and experienced some major deja vu.

I saw the movie Austenland with my mom at the Edina Landmark theater last week. It was cute. I just got done reading the highly entertaining and heartwarming The Importance of Being Seven by Alexander McCall Smith. I also have Bebe Day by Day by Pamela Druckerman on tap.

Will anyone else be watching The Voice this season? It starts tonight. I will especially be watching it this season because the daughter of our church worship leader is competing on it! Her name is Holly (link takes you to some of her original music), and she did some covers here.

I have been reading a lot of Dietitian Cassie's blog lately, and I recently started following her on Pinterest so that I can check out her recipes. She's a registered dietitian who has some really good tips. Her big thing is to eat PFC - protein, fat (healthy fat like avocado), and a carb (healthy, duh) at every meal. She is against counting calories, and instead eating real food that will keep the body satisfied. She is all about debunking the outdated myth that fat is bad. Your body needs fat to function. Anyway, she explains it really well on her blog and through tweets and other tidbits on Facebook. I want to hire her after I've had the baby because I think my body desperately needs a nutrition reset.

Alright, time to rest while the toddler naps. :)