Lean, mean cleaning machine

In March, I wrote this post about my "grown-up chore chart" and how I hoped it would help keep me organized and my house clean. Well, that chart crashed and burned — and I've yet to clean up that mess, too. I realized it'd gotten bad when the dust bunnies were packing up to move somewhere cleaner.

Some how I've completely lost all semblance of control when it comes to keeping my house clean. I blame our weekends away, but it's really more because of this ...

I've gotten so behind that the house is a monumental task, and I can't leave my poor couch all alone without me. I know in a few months idea of what being tired is will drastically change — between the baby, work, school, and the house — so I want to find a successful method before then.

So where do I turn, but to Pinterest. I found this cleaning chart designating each day a job. And while I turned my nose up at the idea of cleaning every day, I'm willing to give it a try and see if it is as terrible as I think it is. If it works, then I'll have a clean house and a happy husband.

I'm going to start this next week and then I'll report back and let you know how it goes. If it doesn't, then we're going to Plan B, which is buying this sign and calling it a day.

Week 10 and my spelling is trashed

I thought pregnancy brain was a slightly blown out of proportion ailment. I mean, as a non-pregnant person, I was forgetful and scatterbrained at times. That's just being ditzy. However, in the past week and a half, I've felt like an 80 year old in need of some ginkgo biloba. There are little brain fuzzies clogging up my thought process.

Conversations have been difficult as my vocabulary has seriously dwindled. Yesterday I couldn't summon the words "cookie sheet," "cooling rack" or "couch." (Maybe it's a C-words thing?) These things by themselves wouldn't be so bad, but now I can't spell either. Today alone I have racked up two glaring spelling errors on Facebook — and I'm a copy editor! What does this say about my reliability at work? I'm an occupational hazard.

I stand before you declaring that pregnancy brain is not a myth and that it had greatly affected my verbal/written capacity. I'm not responsible for any typos in this post. 

Drum roll please!

I've tossed around a million ways of doing this, but I decided that simplicity is the best route. With that being said ...

We're having a baby!!!

That's right! Little baby Hannigan will be making his or her way into the world in April! Scott and I are overjoyed and have been bursting at the seams wanting to tell everyone. It's such a difficult secret to keep! I'm currently 9 weeks along and have felt pretty nauseous and very sleepy for the most part. (The first sign that something was amiss was my dozing off at work.)

We found out in the best possible way. We were in Nashville for my birthday weekend. I didn't think I was, but Scott kept telling me, "I think you are. I think you are. I've always said I'd know when you were." I was floored when I saw that little plus sign. After months of only negative results, I was shocked to see that those things could actually make a plus sign, too! It was definitely the best birthday present I've ever received!

I am so amazed at God's timing and so thankful for this blessing. I know he will guide us on the journey ahead. I marvel at His power when I think about how we come into this world. He’s stitched each of us together and made you uniquely, wonderfully, specially you. He has given this little olive-sized individual growing inside of me such careful thought and planning. His love is truly breathtaking.

Our first ultrasound was Monday when we got our first peek at our little one and that beautiful heartbeat!

Our little peanut! 

The top part is baby's head. The bottom part, the booty. The dark spot is the heart. We could see little arm nubbies waving, too.

Our family is quite excited as well. My sister found shirts for everyone and, as you can see, she's taking her promotion very seriously.

We still have a few weeks to find out the gender, so take a moment to venture a guess in the right side bar. Winner gets diaper duty!

Scott and I are thrilled about what the next seven months hold and can't wait to share them with you!

Fair-y tale

Last Thursday night, Scott and I went to the fair with Rusty and Cassie. I'd never been to the fair, so I was excited to see what all the hubbub was about. We weren't there to ride the ferris wheel or eat various meats on sticks, but to do what Scott and I do best — model. OK, so that last part is said sarcastically, but we were there to serve as models for Cassie against the fair's bright, blinking lights.

If you know anything about Cassie, you know she takes awesome pictures. I'm a big fan. if you want to see more of her amazing pictures from last week, click on over to her blog. Believe me. It won't disappoint.

Substitute speaker

This week has been kind of a slow, dull week with not a lot of blogging inspiration to turn into those wonderful posts you've come to expect from me (ha. ha.). So, I thought I'd let someone else do the speaking for me today. I'm always pinning quotes on Pinterest, so I thought I'd collect some of my favorites and share them with you today. 

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What are some of your favorite quotes? Feel free to leave them in the comments. I love a good quote.

His and hers: Coffee table books

On our coffee table, Scott and I have each picked out a coffee table book to add to the pile of magazines and other knick knacks that are drawn to that space during the week.

Scott's addition to the table is Jimmy Fallon's Thank You Notes. Each Friday on his show, Jimmy "catches up with his correspondence" and writes thank you notes to various things, and this book is a collection of those. Such recipients include the Dog Snuggie ("Thank you, Dog Snuggie, for allowing us to embarrass animals in a way I never imagined possible. You did it. Thanks for that."), slow walking families ("Thank you, slow walking family in front of me on the sidewalk. No, please, take your time. And definitely spread out, too, so you create a barricade of idiots. I am so thankful that you forced me to walk in the street and risk getting hit by a car in order to pass you so I could resume walking at a normal human pace."), and preseason football ("Thank you, preseason football, for having all the excitement, commercials, and time-outs of the regular season, but with none of it mattering. I appreciate it. Thank you."). 

My contribution is Boo: The Life of the World's Cutest Dog. In this book, Boo dresses up, plays hide and seek, and eats chips and salsa with his friend, Buddy. Boo and I have a lot in common. We each have adorable faces placed on disproportionately large heads. What's not to love, right? And while Scott and I aren't dog people (a terrible thing to announce to the world, I know), this book brings all the joys of dogs (their adorableness) without the hassle of them (the eating, pooping, yipping, etc.). 

Your turn! What's on your coffee table? 

Crochet show and tell

After I sold my summer textbooks back to Amazon, I spent part of my credit on this crochet book. I'd stumbled upon it in my search for free amigurmi patterns, but after looking through it online knew it was worth the price. I mean, "seriously cute" is in the title. They're not mucking about with the cuteness factor.

As a result, I've been crocheting a lot lately, which has filled my need for adorable animals and gifts with which to bribe children to love me. It's a win/win, really.

Here are a few of my recently completely projects.

The puppy dog is for a little girl in our home Bible study. She loves to act like a dog, crawling around on the floor, barking, rolling over, etc. I figured she needed a puppy pal. I did change him up a little bit, though. The book called for nubby-like ears similar to the legs, but it came off looking more like a reindeer than a puppy. So I made the elephant ears instead to give him sweet floppy ears instead. I like how they came out a lot better. 

The lion is for our friends' brand new baby boy. Every boy needs a lion to go on adventures with, right? In the process of making the lion, he was one-eyed for a long time. I'd run out of black yarn. I thought he might look good with an eye patch though. 

Right now I'm in the middle of a making a monkey. The building stages of making an animal is funny because during the process it looks like some kind of massacre with legs and heads and stuffing strewn about. But it all comes together in the end. 

This hat is for the baby boy, too, but the pattern isn't from the book. I had a baby beanie hat I built this pattern from, adding the bill, leather buttoned strap and colored trim. I used the same basket weave stitch I did for the bear hat only this time I did it all over the hat. I think it's perfect for a dapper little man.

I knew I'd done well when Scott was extra impressed with the hat. The Scott stamp of approval is a hard one to get.