jebediah heidi

 recent goals have included trying really, really hard to be fun because i have been so incredibly lame over the last few months. thomas has started to refer to me as "jebediah atkinson" of saturday night live weekend update fame because of our similarities in disposition and personality. google his SNL commentary on the tony awards. right now. i'll wait. we're twins. and he's right about cats. 

the day i brought home a few meager gourds and miniature pumpkins with which to decorate our entry table, thomas even commented on the upswing in my mood. "look at you, not biting off the heads of harmless bunnies AND decorating!" it was a good day, indeed. 

today's adventure in fun included the local grocery store halloween party. our publix halloween party in simpsonville last year was lights out awesome so i was hoping that our local kroger would be more of the same. unfortunately, we got off to a rocky start. i got posed pictures with the two tolerable kids. reagan was a bit angsty because he was so worried about being late and missing all the candy. i assured him that the party was supposed to last from 4-7 and that we would have plenty of opportunity to get candy if we arrived at 5. 

scarlett is a dream who recognizes that chaos often reigns and she needs to stay my rock of composure. poor thing also thought the layered skirts that i made for her costume were the bee's knees even though i failed to do a bit of finishing stitching on the waistband and said to heck with everything on the hem and just cut all skiwampous to finish it. 

blythe required manhandling to have her stinky diaper changed, further manhandling to put on her costume and the always effective knee-to-the-shoulder technique to force on her shoes. 

it was so crazy bad that i didn't dare take the time to change my own clothes and i committed the egregious sin of wearing my maternity leggings as pants in public. for shame. (however, i was not the only one at kroger guilty of this offense, but i was the only one who knew it!)

at this point as i was driving down the street and AC/DC's "for those about to rock, we salute you!" was blaring through my speakers and i could not think of a more apropos song to describe what we were about to do to kroger. 

kroger halloween party disappointments

1. i had to search out the party upon entrance to the store. it was not readily apparent where all the fun was being had and therefore it indicated that not much fun was being had. 

2. there was no employee costume dress code. you would hope that the adults in charge of a children's party would be able to make the distinction of appropriate and inappropriate but the employee wearing the slutty bumble bee costume with NO PANTS and fishnet tights and a saggy elasticized strapless top had never had the thought of appropriate costume occur to her(and yes i did try to get a picture but gollum was climbing all over me and making that crucial snap impossible.) bumble bee's boyfriend was assisting her and his costume was that of sweaty lawn mower operator. i'm glad he was in charge of passing out the cookies, which he was also stingy about.

3. only about 3 pieces of candy person child. the mom in me didn't mind but it did make reagan a bit of a prophet with amount of candy concerns.

and then the scariest part of the halloween party arrived home, stripped off her shirt and ran around the house as happy as could be.  

and then she ate a corndog.

i am kate middleton

i'll spare you the pregnancy test with positive symbol on it (because no one really wants to see a stick that i've peed on) and just come out and say," i'm PREGNANT! and having a baby too!" 

 

• bullets dodged- being pregnant during the summer. baby #4 is due march 20th. 

• direct hits- 1. TIRED. the kind of tired where you sleep and sleep and it's never restorative. it's like having a dead cell phone battery that you still need to use so you plug it into the charger but now cannot move from that corner in your kitchen without losing all energy again. 2. and BLOATED. as bloated as former toronto mayor, rob ford. 

• and here's my gender reveal party(that you also have zero interest in being invited to) he's a boy. pretty clearly. release the blue balloons! cut into the blue cake! his name will be herschel. i'll call him hersch for short. you don't have to like his name, but you sure should pretend you do. i've certainly pretended to like all your kids names. reagan is over the moon at the prospect of having a brother and plans on calling him, gus. he also wanted to call athena blythe, gus. i can't break that kid's heart one more time so i'm sure we'll quickly adopt that nickname too. 

i actually discovered i was great with child two nights before our moving van was set to depart from simpsonville. you can't make this stuff up people. surprise #1- athena blythe surprise #2- herschel as we are planning to relocate? typical simpson live comedy. we're excited. we're on the cusp of being a "big family". i'll get stares and sympathetic looks whether they are warranted or not. 

• while i've been pretty vomit free, my sciatic nerve has caused me incredible pain. i've kept up with my running and weightlifting until two weeks ago when i woke up one morning and i couldn't even walk. the worst day was 2 sundays ago and i was reduced to having to call thomas on the phone from the upstairs bathroom because i could not get off the floor. i even started wearing FLATS to church! perish the thought. if i can't wear heels once a week, i might as well just start wearing elastic-waisted everything and get a rascal for when i've got to grocery shop! i've been to the doctor and then a physical therapist and it looks like a possible explanation is that my nerve has somehow slipped between two muscles due to the hormones and weight gain. talking about my weight gain is my favorite so that explanation was most pleasing to me. i was prescribed "no running for a month and a we'll see after that". (i'll show that physical therapist what i think of that and never go back for more therapy ever again!) after that appointment, i went and sat in my car and cried for a while(because WHY NOT?). i texted thomas with my news. you know you married the right person when they immediately call you back and listen to you cry about not being able to run in a 10k you had been planning on for 6 months. we've got a special thing going on. i realize it's not the end of the world, but when i'm feeling like a zombie-elephant, it's the little things like running that i miss the most. i will be back with a vengeance. i will OWN you local 5Ks!

• in other news, this week i was deep cleaning out of desperation to stay active(if i can't go to the gym i guess the least i could do is clean this place. quel horreur!). i was laying on reagan's bed trying to retrieve all the items which have been lodged against the wall for the past 2 months. this also happened to be the first day i busted out my new maternity pants to accomodate my increasing girth, and i BROKE one of the support boards on the lower bunk bed. i'm going to save the broken board to show other people in case anyone gets the hair-brained idea to comment on my increading size(because some hapless male ALWAYS does) and i will BEAT them with it.  this means only one thing: i am absolutely in competition with kate middleton as most fashionable and lithe pregnant woman due in spring 2015. i'm sure the exact same thing happens to her when she deep cleans. 

we're practically the SAME PERSON!

• my saving grace has been progresso tomato basil soup and a grilled cheese sammich for lunch. then later, a bowl of frosted flakes at 9pm because i am STARVING about that time every night. hopefully i can soon add to my food repertoire, but so far meat products and i are on the outs. pun intended.

this child should absolutely be an older sibling:

            m