can i just mention the fact that i just realized that 2 months is actually equivalent to 8 WEEKS?

and holy granola batman ... i have A LOT to do.

for example... 

15-ish orders for necklaces.  which yippee!  is money in the pocket ... or actually money that will quickly move from the pocket to various shopping locations in the attempt to fulfill christmas lists ... because as much as i would like to claim a completely homemade holiday around here ... we all know that isn't gonna happen.

cora wants a pumpkin.  from santa.  and i am overwhelmed by the possibility that FINDING an actual pumpkin at the very tail end of december will be remotely impossible.  (and a certain someone that i'm not going to mention ... stella ...told her that "santa is magic.  he can do anything.  he has flying reindeer.  someone that has flying reindeer can grow a pumpkin in the winter."  crap.)

16 current evaluations to complete before early february ... at work.  each one approximately 2 hours in length and about 1 hour to write up.  which if i calculate that correctly ... is basically ... AN. ENTIRE. WEEK. OF. WORK.  and i still have to do all of the other daily tasks associated with my job.  so in other words.  when am i gonna find the time?

the baby has next to nothing.  minimally ... yes ... i'm a third time mama here ... i am fully aware of what a baby needs from a minimal point of view. 
diapers.  clothing.  blankets.  car seat.  burp cloths.
diapers ... i think i saved some of our prefolds or at the very least rescued them from the to be used as rags pile.  not sure that i can even remotely remember where covers are.  i have no pockets for baby-ish size.  and he could potentially wear all pink and purple pocket diapers from age 6 months on.  (apparently the thought of having another baby ... or that the surprise! grand finale! baby would be also receive the nickname of little boy blue ... was no where in my brain when ordering cute little pink and purple cloth diapers!  oops.)
clothing ... so lucky.  a friend has willingly thrown donated a box of 0-6 month boy clothes so that she could finally get that giant box out of her storage room we didn't have a naked little boy blue.  except.  their boys were more summer-ish ... and there is a lot of short sleeve action happening in that box.
blankets ... most of which have been overtaken by the just slightly baby obsessed little girls that play in my basement with oodles of baby dolls.  i don't even remember which blankets are real and which ones are baby doll blankets anymore.
car seat ... unfortunately it will be too cold to walk home from the hospital.  which is only about 2 miles away ... so technically ... walking is an option.  but ... oh yeah! ... we live in minnesota.  in january-ish/february-ish ... freaking ass cold.  not the weather you take a new baby out in willingly.  same friend mentioned above said her little guy might be out of his car seat by then.  but what if he's not? 
burp cloths ... probably not a must on everyone's list ... but ... oh my holy goodness ... if you've ever seen my babies as little tiny things you will eagerly note their preference for sucking down the milk so wonderfully and then spitting it all up a mere minutes later.  (and still managing to gain weight like nobody's business.  i make pure whole milk ... i'm thinking.)  so burp cloths?  a must.  and i'm pretty sure the previous baby ones are no where to be found at this point in time.  or are just plain uck. 

my car is a mess ...
i need to do about 5 loads of laundry ...
i don't have a breast pump ...
i haven't even started the baby quilt ... but i have the fabric! ...
i have to get cora completely moved out of the baby room ... and into the big! girl! room! ...
oh yeah ... and they need a bunk bed option ...
because we soon realized that stella tends to sleep ON cora at night ... and cora isn't such a big fan of that.
i need to get through the girly-girl clothes so that they both fit in a single dresser ...
i need to make sure that everything is in order at school so that i can walk out one day and not feel oodles of anxiety over what will happen while i'm gone ...

and at the very least ... i want my girly-girls to know that i love them.  absolutely and completely.  all the time.  that they aren't being pushed out by this new little love.
even when i'm crabby and chaotic and rushed and dying to get them in bed so that i can have a few free minutes all to myself. 
even when i'm yawning as they tell me for the 68th time about something that never even made sense to me the first time around.
even when i forget the fact that they have been asking me to buy teddy grahams at the store ... and i've been to the store 3 times and have never once remembered the freaking teddy grahams. 

whew. 

honestly?  sometimes getting it down ... on paper ... or the internets ... or whatever ... makes it look a little less threatening.

there are so many people dealing with so much more than all of what i have to do. 
i just need these little reminders to be more thank-full. 

so ... i'm thank-full ... right now.  for my 2 months.  my 8 weeks.  and my 56 days.

(and yes ... for your information ... i totally had to use a calculator for that.  i'm allowed to blame pregnancy brain.  aren't you glad i don't teach math?)

sunflare on the slide

sunflare slide, originally uploaded by jenniferlivolson.

another entry at i {heart} faces ...




i love seeing sunflare in people's photos.
i try to replicate it ... rather unsuccessfully most times ... but it's practice that makes perfect, right?

i wanted all weekend to get another attempt ... but with sick kids and sick husband and minimal-ish sun up here in the soon-to-be frozen tundra ...

i had to settle for an older attempt.

she knows she's not supposed to climb UP the slide ... but i caught her doing just that. ah well. we got sunflare.

check out the other entries ... just click on their logo above.

my autumn beauty

autumn beauty, originally uploaded by jenniferlivolson.

another photo entered over at i {heart} faces ...







my autumn beauty.

there's this awesomeness in the spring and summer of living beneath a canopy of oak trees on a plot of land that was once a tree farm.

during the summer months, you can lie on your back completely enveloped in the shade that is provided in the middle of our backyard.

as summer fades into fall ... the acorns begin a serious game of dodgeball.
side note? did you know that you can make acorn pancakes? seriously. i've considered it as a side income in the midst of acorns falling on my head as i sat by a bonfire.

and then ... true autumn.
a time of great beauty watching the leaves tumble to the ground ... before the trees are left completely bare for the upcoming winter.
a recollection of childhood jumping into the monsterous piles of leaves ... before daddy carts them all away.
a moment when you can lie in the middle of the backyard and feel the sun upon your face ... before old man winter reduces your chances of lying in the middle of the backyard to virtually nothing.

this girly-girl of mine enjoys it ... every. single. time. doesn't it show?

see more autumn beauties ... here.

too far away ... today.

"tell me some things we did in august," i whispered to my husband across the queen sized mattress ...

"we went camping.  i had my vacation time.  it was your mom's birthday," he answered thoughtfully, "why?"

"i'm just trying to see how long ago 2 and 1/2 months feels."

he smirked in the darkness.  i could tell. 

i'd been complaining about how frustrated i am with being pregnant this third time around all evening. 
how i feel like my entire body could fall to pieces if it wasn't for my skin holding me together. 
how i ache.  everywhere.
how i can't sleep an entire night. 
how difficult it is becoming just to roll over in bed. 
how i'm just not sure that i can really truly make it through another 2 and 1/2 months.

"and??"  he asked.

"all of those things feel like a really long time ago,"  i answered as a small tear escaped down my cheek and rested on my pillow.

because she asked ...

pamela wants to know my chai recipe ...

and i feel a little silly showing it to her ... because honestly ... i really did truly start with a recipe ... a long long time ago.
but you know how those favorite foods and recipes evolve ?? 

and then you kinda end up with something similar ... but not quite ... what the recipe said??
but it's just as good ... if not better ... and then someone wants to know how you did it ...
and it's hard to describe without a lot of kind-ofs and sortas and -ish directions???

well that is this recipe ...
and when i actually ever get home and have a moment to look up the actual recipe ... i will share it.  pinky swear.

because it is so good.  so much better than the attempts at chai tea at most local coffee shop chains.

(came from a restaurant that we went to one time in the mountains of colorado.  seriously winding roads.  major altitude sickness.  freezing cold nights.  and a new years eve party that we left at 9:00 pm.  but, a whole lot of fun.  and in the midst of this colorado vacation ... we found this chai tea souvenior.  yum.)

enjoy.
on a crisp autumn day ... with a warm mug in hand ... and children quietly playing in the background. 
good luck with that last one.

and if you'd rather ... we have the most delicious ... chai tea restaurant restaurant that happens to serve chai tea ... ever here in minneapolis - namaste cafe. 
if you are ever here ... call me ... i can not pass up the opportunity to have a cup of their coconut creme chai tea. 

delicious.

i'm drooling just thinking about it. 

and tonight we have plans to meet family at the spaghetti factory ... which kinda makes my stomach turn.  ugh.  spaghetti.  haven't been able to eat it since before being pregnant with cora.

i'll just dream of chai tea and edamame while i'm attempting to not look at anyone's plate of slimy noodles with oodles of tomato sauce on top.

dear pioneer woman,

dear pioneer woman,

while this may come off as unusual ... i feel compelled to send you a record of this bizarre-o pregnancy dream that occurred last night. 
because, truly, you know how dreams are really only funny to the people that are in them?  or at least that's what people say over at the office water fountain in the morning?   "i had a dream about you and i last night," they say ... but then sometimes they don't SHARE the dream and then it's even creepier, 'cause you just walk around with the realization that jim-bob had a dream about you ...

ok ... so i'm realizing that this entire email may just come off as really creepy.  or maybe even it's just funny to me ... but i may just publish this on my blog ... because as you'll see in my description ... i need material.

and on a sidenote? 
pregnant dreams?
way. too. vivid.

so ... it all started with a blog post. 

no ... i take that back ... it all started with a tweet.

i was in the midst of attempting to tweet the @thesdcowgirl to tell her that she should come to mpls to join me at your book signing.  because apparently i decided that she, in sd, was the closest person that i "knew" out here in bloggy land.  my tweet included the word "thy" ... though, i'm not sure why that is important ... but i was having a really REALLY hard time typing "thy" while rocking my 2 year old to sleep, while pregnant and tweeting.

that part is possibly true.  because it is hard to type and rock ... but luckily my 5 year old (even in my dream) was sleeping already ... because ... seriously ... it was probably just the smartest thing to do in this case.

so i was having trouble tweeting.  so i put the 2 year old in her bed.  awake.  and she was crying.  maybe kind of sobbing.  and i could here a funny noise coming from her room.  but i had to write a blog post because my husband had informed me that the internets were complaining about the lack of bloggy material on my blog.  rumors were spreading about the coconutbelly family.  so he wanted me to post something (anything) so that the rumors would stop spreading.  (apparently all 7 readers were REALLY concerned.  thanks mom and friends.)

so ... anyway.  back to the dream ... i decided to read your blog instead of posting something.  and i came across a video you made inviting people to your book signing in minneapolis.  and you had a giveaway!  6 lucky winners were going to possibly win a chance to be the first six in line. 

and then i realized what the funny noise was in my daughter's room.  it was my cell phone.  which had apparently called my best friend when i sat on it and forgot it sitting on her floor.  and after i finally realized it and picked it up ... i saw that my best friend had spent the last 74.07 minutes attempting to garner my attention by shouting into her end. 

so i stopped to chat with her.  because that is what most normal people would do in the midst of trying to get children to sleep and read your blog and write their own blog post.

she, also getting ready to pop out another baby, told me about how they were getting their two dogs used to the idea of a second baby around the house.  they bought two statues.  one of their oldest child and a second one of a baby.  and she was convinced that all was going to go really well because the dogs were licking the statues. 

so i'm kinda listening to her tell me about the statues - because sorry sara ... but even in my dream i could tell that was a little screwy -  while listening to your blog post about how you were going to choose the winners. 

you had a cake.  sectioned into six pieces.  (it was chocolate in case you were wondering.  no frosting.)  and you held in one hand the cake slices.  in your other hand you held a conglomeration of toothpicks.  and everytime you picked up a piece of cake you said ... not one!  not two!  not three!  not four!  not five!  but six winners!  and each time you said one of the numbers, you one-handedly manuevered the toothpicks so that you could poke that number into the top of the cake.  you would wiggle your fingers until the toothpicks were in the shape of a 1! or 2! or 3! or 4! or 5! or 6!  and punch them in and pull them out.  and there would be a perfect number on top.

and you could totally tell the cake was done.  because there was never any cake remnants on the toothpicks.

and you told everyone that wanted to enter to send you three blank checks, signed and written out to you.  and then you would pick the winners and cash the checks to pay for their copy of the book.  smart business move, lady.

fast forward.  (because that's what happened in the dream.)

mall of america. 

i was one of the winners.  unfortunately @thesdcowgirl never made it.  because, apparently i never got past the "thy" in that tweet.

however ... i was the last winner.  and you had decided that the winners would really only get to pick one chapter of the book.  even though they sent 3 blank checks and paid for the entire book. 

because i was last ... i ended up with the sour cream chapter.  (someone else had already picked the chocolate chapter.  which i was really bummed about because it had the recipe for the sea salt topped chocolate truffle-ish things.)

and then ... i woke up.

because my two year old really did wake up yelling out in the middle of the night, "I NEED A BAND-AID."
and then my five year old really did wake up yelling out that she couldn't breathe.
and we made a 3:00 am emergency room visit.
don't worry.  she's fine.  just has a 103 degree temperature and is vomiting.  and was sent home after 6 hours at the ER.
and the two year old didn't really need a band-aid ... she was just having weird dreams too.

fun times.

just thought you should know that some crazy pregnant lady out there is having dreams about you. 

sincerely,
jen