21 Questions with Heather

YAY! This little series is back! This week Heather from I Put the Blah in Blogger is our featured mama-to-be. We became fast friends where we worked and then she left me for her home state. I miss her mucho! She's a great writer and friend. Check her out!

1. What is your #1 bucket list to-do item?  Questions like this make me really confused about how to answer them.  I feel obligated to say things like, "Be the best Christian ever," or "Change someone's life," or "Save a baby from a runaway train."  But I'm going to skip all that and say... Be a famous singer-songwriter who has awesome hair and rocks out every night on my piano in front of a large crowd.  Does a bucket list item have to be realistic?


2. What is the worst injury/illness you’ve ever had?  Injury:  Badly sprained ankle in the 8th grade.  Illness:  Mono in the 7th grade (no, not from kissing a gross boy).  It was the best diet ever.  I lost 25 pounds.


3. Do you collect anything?   These pregnancy hormones have me collecting pimples, which is a lot of fun.  Other than that, I don't really have a certain thing I collect... do earrings count?


4. What is your guilty pleasure TV show?  Any of the Real Housewives of Wherever shows.  Those ladies are cccrazy.


5. What is the most special thing your spouse has ever done for you? Gotten me pregnant.  Oh wait.  I mean, hmm... He offers to give me a foot/back rub just about every other night, which is pretty dang special.  He is fabulous, every single day.


6. Do you believe in ghosts? Gonna have to say no to that one.


7. What does your exercise routine look like? Pre-pregnancy:  running a few times a week, strength training a few times a week.  During pregnancy (now):  occasional walks, pilates & yoga dvds, eating vigorously.


8. If you could witness an event past, present or future, what would it be? Oh gosh.  These questions are intense.  I think it would have been cool to see Jesus turn the loaves and fishes into a giant feast that fed thousands.  I love Jesus AND food, so that would be neat.  But only through like a time machine that could then transport me back to here.  Bible times seem scary, am I right?  Also, I would like to be in attendance at this year's Royal Christmas just to see what it is really like.


9. If you could change anything about your high school/college experience what would it be?  I've tried to mentally block high school, so I'm going to go with college.  I would have studied something different, instead of art.  Actually, after typing that, I'm glad I studied art.  I would have left my nose ring in for longer than three months.


10. What season do you enjoy most? Fall, hands down.  I love everything about it.  The clothes, the smells, the sports, the anticipation of the holidays.  It's just so nice.


11. What celebrity do you most look like?  I've been told Alanis Morissette, but I think I am a dead ringer for Gisele Bunchkin or however her name is spelled.  We just really have the same body type, it's kind of creepy really.


12. What band/singer are you enjoying most right now? During the holidays I was all about some She & Him, but now I am enjoying Madeleine Peyroux and Sara Bareilles.  And of course the way I sound in the shower/car.


13. Do you implement any of the things your parents taught you into your parenting style?Little Nugget Child won't be here until May, but there are some things I plan to implement.  We went on lots of really fun trips when I was growing up, and that is something I'd like to do.  Something I think I've decided I do not want to implement that my parents did is use spanking as a form of punishment.  I don't know.  It's a touchy subject.  Literally.  


14. What is/are your family traditions? Family traditions were kind of thrown out of whack when my parents got divorced two years ago (suck).  BUT, back in the day there were so many good ones.  Taking first day of school photos outside while holding up the number of the grade you were in.  Mom stomping some boots out the door on Christmas morning and yelling, "OK KIDS!  Santa's gone!  You can come out now!"  Mom used to make monkey bread in the shape of a cross on Easter morning.  Dad crying every single year when we watched Prancer.  Good times.


15. What is the best parenting advice you’ve ever received? Don't let your worry get in the way of enjoying and parenting your child.  Also, let him/her make messes.  And don't stress too much.  Aaaaand, always love your husband more.


16. What was the best gift ever given to you/that you gave? Given to me:  it's a tie between the Nike necklace I got for Christmas in the 4th grade and the entire dvd collection of SATC that Andrew gave me for Valentine's Day one year.  That I gave:  I used some of the money I earned from selling a few paintings my senior year of college to buy Andrew a PSP.  I gave it to him totally out of the blue, and he was so surprised.


17. Have you and your spouse written a will? No.... should we?  I guess we should.  That's just so sad.


18. If you could change one thing about your wedding day what would it be? I would have chosen cheaper bridesmaids dresses. Oh, and tried more food than my one bite of cake.


19. What have you done that you said you’d never do as a parent? I can't really answer this yet.  I'll get back to you in 4 months.


20. How long have you been married? 3 years, 7 months, 19 days, and 3 hours.  It's been wonderful :)  Well, after that first year.  Man.  No one warns you about that.  Here I am, warning you.  The first year is rough.  If you need more details than that, I am happy to tell them to you.


21. Do you want more children? Yes.  1.4 more, please.  Also, 6 more cats.  I love cats.

21 Questions with Rachel

Happy Thursday everyone! I'm really beginning to look forward to this day of the week! I'm happy to share a dear blog friend with you all. Rachel from B & R Plus One More and I found each other through blogging a few years ago while we were both pregnant with our first babies. Ella and Logan are only a week apart and even though we both live in Colorado, we have yet to meet. People, Rachel is a true mountain woman, living way way up there with all the wind and snow. She's also got another little babe on the way! Hop on over to check her out.

1. What is your #1 bucket list to-do item? To watch Ella meet her little sister come February.


2. What is the worst injury/illness you’ve ever had?   I had a weird strain of Mono my junior year of HS, it took 6 months and weekly blood tests to find. Yuck!


3. Do you collect anything? Not really, I used to collect Barbies when I was younger, that stopped a while ago though. Now if someone would just tell that to my mother so I wouldn't get a Barbie every year for Christmas. Ha!


4. What is your guilty pleasure TV show? Keeping Up With The Kardashians and 19 Kids & Counting. I'm miserably addicted.


5. What is the most special thing your spouse has ever done for you? My husband is pretty awesome and he does special things every day. The best little thing lately though is he's been taking over the cooking. I have NO energy this pregnancy and he has been awesome at taking over things like that.


6. Do you believe in ghosts? Yes, I absolutely do.


7. What does your exercise routine look like? Walking up the stairs at work. ha! I have an exercise bike in my office, it gets used far too infrequently.


8. If you could witness an event past, present or future, what would it be? I think I would have to agree with Sarah's answer on this, I was completely captivated by the royal wedding and would have loved to have been there!


9. If you could change anything about your high school/college experience what would it be? High School, definitely study more. College, stick with it. I left not so long in to college to move to Colorado. I don't regret moving here as it was for the man I eventually married, but I would like to go back to school some day.


10. What season do you enjoy most? Summer for the weather and Fall for the colors!


11. What celebrity do you most look like? I don’t think i look like any celebrity, I've been told Gwyneth Paltrow but that was before I had kids and kept my chubby face. Haha


12. What band/singer are you enjoying most right now? Blake Shelton, I puffy heart him!


13. Do you implement any of the things your parents taught you into your parenting style? I think I will implement a few things that I was taught by my parents. It's important to instill the values that your grew up with in to your children, as long as you believe in them.


14. What is/are your family traditions? Oh man,celebrating holidays to the fullest! I love that Ella is old enough to really enjoy books. We do a Christmas book advent calendar. Wrap up 24 books and place them in a basket, each night of the advent she can open 1 book and we'll read it together. Such a fun way to count down!


15. What is the best parenting advice you’ve ever received? Kids are put here to test your patience, remain calm!


16. What was the best gift ever given to you/that you gave? I think it will be the same answer for both given and received, my children. I think they are (and will be) the best gifts my husband and I could ever give each other.


17. Have you and your spouse written a will? No, but we absolutely need to, especially with a 2nd child on the way.


18. If you could change one thing about your wedding day what would it be? Not giving Brad the keys to my car. We couldn't afford a DJ so I stayed up until 2 am the night before our wedding making mixed CD's, including our first dance song. We didn't dance because Brad locked my keys in my car! Ha!


19. What have you done that you said you’d never do as a parent? I put Ella down for bed with a sippy of milk! Gasp! I know this is bad but this is how she goes to bed now.


20. How long have you been married? It was 5 wonderful years on October 7th.


21. Do you want more children? We are undecided, I would LOVE 3 kids, that has always been my number. Brad is fine with the 2 we have (are expecting), but I would also love to have a 3rd shot at getting a little Mama's boy. =)

21 Questions with Dana

This week's featured blogger is Dana from Hancock Heir. She is an awesome mama to sweet boy Aydan who is just a few months younger than Logan. I've followed her blog for nearly 2 years now (GASP!) and have yet to meet. Maybe that should be your bucket list item! ;) Enjoy!

1. What is your #1 bucket list to-do item?Can you believe I actually don’t have a “bucket list”?  I can’t decide if it’s because I don’t want to feel like a failure when half of the list probably won’t ever get checked off – or if it’s because the things I want to do/accomplish are always changing.  But I must travel to Australia one day!


2. What is the worst injury/illness you’ve ever had?This is an easy one – Meningitis!  In 2004 I had the worst headache ever!!!!!  Seriously…..thought I was going to die!  I was throwing up just about every hour. I felt like this for days (2 or 3 I think) before I went to urgent care….who told me to immediately go to the hospital because I might be bleeding in the brain.  Nope – I’m stubborn and didn’t want pay for that medical bill when I was convinced I had my very first migraine.  My mom finally convinced my boyfriend (now hubby) to take me to the emergency room.  After a cat-scan, numerous tests and a spinal tap they found meningitis!


3. Do you collect anything?Not unless you count shoes and purses


4. What is your guilty pleasure TV show?Vampire Diaries!  And it’s an extra plus that the boys are yummy!


5. What is the most special thing your spouse has ever done for you?He’s pretty sweet all the time.  I get flowers for no special reason.  We go out to romantic dinners not only for special occasions – but just because we need a night out.  He watches Aydan quiet often so I can go out with the girls.  He’s actually pretty thoughtful J


6. Do you believe in ghosts?Sure – while I’ve never experienced an encounter and hope I never do – I definitely believe in spirits.


7. What does your exercise routine look like?“Routine?”  Blahahahahaha.  No – so I have a habit of doing a work out (lately it has been one of Jillian Michael’s video) hard core for about a month and then I totally slack off and do nothing for about a month.  I do Zumba every Monday and love it!


8. If you could witness an event past, present or future, what would it be?No specific event – but I would like to go back in time and live in each era for a while – 1800’s, 20’s, 50’s, 60’s. 


9. If you could change anything about your high school/college experience what would it be?  Is it crazy that I actually wouldn’t change anything?  I actually liked both high school and college.  In high school I was active in dance and band (yes – I was a band dork) and had a great group of girlfriends.  In college I grew, did ok in school – but again – had a GREAT time and had a good group of friends.  I know it’s cliché – but I think that all the experiences in my past have made me who I am today.  And I like who I am today J


10. What season do you enjoy most?Fall!  That’s why I got married in October.  I like the weather where I can wear a scarf but no big winter jacket.  I love the colors when all the leaves turn to orange and red.


11. What celebrity do you most look like?I’ve heard so many – Angie Harman, Sandra Bullock, and when I was younger – Celine Dion.


12. What band/singer are you enjoying most right now?Adele – I love singer at the top of my lungs along with her in my car  (I’m sure my husband doesn’t feel the same way).


13. Do you implement any of the things your parents taught you into your parenting style?Patience.  And really – just letting kids be kids.  Not to worry too much and the milestones they are supposed to reach at certain age – just let them grow and learn at their own pace and let them be kids!


14. What is/are your family traditions? Opening one present on Christmas Eve, waking up really really early to open the rest on Christmas morning.  It has become me and Michael’s tradition to get up about 3am Black Friday and go out for one item. 


15. What is the best parenting advice you’ve ever received?I can’t think of any right now!!!  I guess it would that they grow up so fast to just really enjoy it and don’t take it for granted.  And……take lots of photos – something I definitely listened to!


16. What was the best gift ever given to you/that you gave?I really love my Panadora bracelets (I’m on my 2^nd one).  I have charms from my husband, my parents and even a few friends.  So it is very special to me.  And I remember who gave me each charm and the reason behind each one!  The baby carriage charm is even how I told some friends that I was pregnant – told them I had a new charm and showed them it!  A lot of squeals were heard!


17. Have you and your spouse written a will?No – and we keep saying that we need to.


18. If you could change one thing about your wedding day what would it be.  Our caterer!  The food was alright – but she was a crazy lady!  While we were getting pictures taken and the guest were to enjoy cocktail hour – she wouldn’t let anyone upstairs to get a drink.  Said it was off limits!  They were supposed to provide the bartender – but nope – my friends had to pour their own wine and get their own beer) no big really).  But then Michael and I left a little early, so when everyone was downstairs seeing us off – they started cleaning up and closed down the party.  She got a little hate mail form me.


19. What have you done that you said you’d never do as a parent?Lick my finger to wipe something off Aydan’s face!  I always said I would never do it – ewww.gross!  But yup.  I have found myself doing this multiple times!


20. How long have you been married?We just celebrated our 3 year anniversary


21. Do you want more children?Definitely.  I absolutely want at least one more.  Then we will revisit and decide if we want one more or stick with 2.

21 Questions with Amy

My dear friend Amy is a new mama blogger over at These Are The Days. She started writing a few months ago after she found out she was going to join the club. Now, she is only 10 weeks away from meeting her little man! He and Logan will be two years apart and we both hope they grow up to be great friends. Amy and I worked together for a few years and now we see them as often as we can. She saved Tulo's life the day she was babysitting Logan and rushed Tulo to the emergency vet. She's an amazing friend so I hope you'll all check out her great new blog and enjoy getting to know her. Love you Amy!!

1. What is your #1 bucket list to-do item? meet my son!


2. What is the worst injury/illness you’ve ever had?  I have actually never been sick enough to go the hospital or had any major injury. I guess the worst thing that I could consider was the summer after my freshman year of college when i got a 2nd degree sunburn on my legs. I was on Dr ordered bed rest for a week.


3. Do you collect anything? when I was younger I collected Madame Alexander dolls, and trinket boxes. Both collections I still have. Now I just collect shoes and purses


4. What is your guilty pleasure TV show? I watch the worst TV ever. Teen Mom and 16 & Pregnant might be the worst ones I watch though.


5. What is the most special thing your spouse has ever done for you? I have an amazing husband so its hard to pick. I think the most special thing he has ever done is getting me pregnant with our son!!!ha ha


6. Do you believe in ghosts? that's just silly


7. What does your exercise routine look like? Right now it looks like an exhausted pregnant stretching in the living room.


8. If you could witness an event past, present or future, what would it be? I think I would have liked to be apart of the march on Washington with MLK Jr.


9. If you could change anything about your high school/college experience what would it be? High school, I think I would have paid more attention my senior year rather than partying and for college I wish I had majored in social work and gerontology rather than history and gerontology. I Mean seriously what i am going to do with my history degree


10. What season do you enjoy most? I love the fact t hat we have four seasons, but I would have to say I love summer the most. Summer nights are just the best time to be outside!


11. What celebrity do you most look like? I don't think i look like any celebrity


12. What band/singer are you enjoying most right now? I know i am a bit behind the times but i am really starting to get into Adele.


13. Do you implement any of the things your parents taught you into your parenting style? I think I am going to implement a lot of the things that my parents taught me. I think it was important that they let me make my own decisions and thus my own mistakes. I think its important for children/ people of all ages to recognize that actions have consequences. I think that is something that Ted and I will try to instill in our son.


14. What is/are your family traditions? We have so many fun ones. Now that Ted is apart of our family we enjoy the giant caramel apple that his cousins send us every year for Christmas. I also love playing board games every family holiday. Roasting peeps on Easter is another favorite.


15. What is the best parenting advice you’ve ever received? I don't think i have gotten to that point yet where i will actually be able to put any of the advise i have received into practice.


16. What was the best gift ever given to you/that you gave?The best gift that I ever received...I think would be the money that my grandmother gave me to pay for a good chunk of my college education. That is something that I will never be able to thank her enough for or repay her for. The best gift that I ever gave would be in high school when we collected books for students at an under funded school in Denver and i got to hand each child in the elementary school


17. Have you and your spouse written a will? No we don't have one yet but we want to have one in place before our son arrives, so that if anything were ever to happen to us that our son would be taken care of by the people that would raise him the best. We have nothing valuable to give


18. If you could change one thing about your wedding day what would it be? Not drinking so much. I was so nervous so i got a little tipsy before the ceremony....ha ha bad idea.


19. What have you done that you said you’d never do as a parent?Again i haven't gotten to that point. I will answer this question again in 6 months!!


20. How long have you been married? Just over 3 years!


21. Do you want more children? yes we have always wanted 2 children, but we have always wanted to adopt so our next child will be adopted in probably about 5 years or so.

 

21 questions with Katie

This week's featured blogger is Katie over at Life With the Little R's. Katie is an amazing woman, friend, wife and mama! I have known her since high school (10 year reunion coming up GASP!). Katie has a full heart for her family and Jesus. Go check out her adorable kids and awesome hubby!

1. What is your #1 bucket list to-do item? That would be to go on a beach vacation with just me and the hubs. Preferably somewhere all-inclusive! We didn't go on a big Honeymoon so I am holding out hope for a second one in the not too distant future!


2. What is the worst injury/illness you’ve ever had? I have been pretty lucky in that department. I did get a really bad kidney infection in college though that landed me in the hospital for a few days. Not fun!


3. Do you collect anything? Currently I collect "R"s. The monograms you hang on your wall. I am slightly obsessed and currently have a gallery wall in my living room of different "R"s.


4. What is your guilty pleasure TV show? Guilty pleasure? For sure that would be whatever the current trashy reality show I am secretly loving is. Sometimes it is The Bachelor or Bachelorette. Most recently it was The Real Housewives of New Jersey.


5. What is the most special thing your spouse has ever done for you? I can't really think of a super special "big thing" but my husband is very good at making me feel special in the day-to-day. When I call him at work if I am upset about something he never acts too busy and always makes me feel valuable and that means a lot to me.


6. Do you believe in ghosts? The holy ghost? Does that count?


7. What does your exercise routine look like? The fact that you said "routine" totally calls me out! I am horrible with routine! But, I do like to workout to DVDs at home, I have a gym membership and I like going to classes and I also like my treadmill in my basement. Basically, my routine changes every week!


8. If you could witness an event past, present or future, what would it be? Hmmm... I am thinking I would love to witness Jesus performing one of his miracles during his lifetime.


9. If you could change anything about your high school/college experience what would it be? I would have just enjoyed it and not worried about what other people thought and trying to be someone else.


10. What season do you enjoy most? Fall. (Convenient, right?) I just love how life becomes so homey in the fall. And fall in Missouri is gorgeous. All of the leaves.... love it!


11. What celebrity do you most look like? I don't know! Someone once told me I looked like Natalie from the Dixie Chicks... but I don't think she is super cute so it kind of hurt my feelings!


12. What band/singer are you enjoying most right now? Sara Groves, her music says everything my soul wants to say sometimes!


13. Do you implement any of the things your parents taught you into your parenting style? Absolutely. My parents always talked to us like we were adults when we were little. They never talked down to us and had real conversations with us from an early age. I loved it, and I love watching them have those same conversations with my kiddos now!


14. What is/are your family traditions? We have a lot but one of my favorites that we passed on from my childhood is "unbirthday presents". That is where all the kids in the family get one present for their siblings birthdays.


15. What is the best parenting advice you’ve ever received? I can't think of a specific piece of advice but when we first had kids I got tons of bad advice. Somewhere along the line someone encouraged me to just do what I felt was right and enjoy my kiddos and it really changed everything. unfortunately, that wasn't until after I had my second!


16. What was the best gift ever given to you/that you gave? Probably my engagement ring! I loved it so much and was so impressed that my husband (fiance then) sacrificed to buy me such a beautiful ring while he was still in college!


17. Have you and your spouse written a will? Yep.


18. If you could change one thing about your wedding day what would it be? Um... everything! Except for the man I married! No not really, but that day was a bit of a disaster! Thankfully, it ended with me having lots of people I love there, amazing support from my family who worked so hard to put everything together, and at the end of the day I got to be married to my favorite person in the world.


19. What have you done that you said you’d never do as a parent? Let my kiddos sleep in bed with me as babies. All of our kids did this for a little while as babies and it was a lifesaver. And, contrary to lots of "advice" I was given... none of them sleep with us now!


20. How long have you been married? 6 years!


21. Do you want more children? I don't think so... but, I want God's will for my life more than anything else so whatever He gives us will be exactly what I want!