Too bitter to blog?

Perhaps, but I will try to repress my ever present frustration with THE ANGRIEST TODDLER IN THE WORLD (whose name starts with B and ends with ernadette), and with the fact that I am only just entering the 3rd trimester of this pregnancy and, well, I already feel like I have been pregnant f o r e v e r, and the fact that I feel like someone took something like one of those industrial strength leaf suckers and used it instead to suck every single ounce of energy from my body... but I will try to push those things aside and focus on some positives. You're welcome.

---

This weekend held many things for us at the Hahn home, among them was a much begged for trip to the history museum.
Starting to feel like your 3-year-olds aren't as smart/cultured as mine? Well, stop.
She only begs to go 70 times an hour because of the following:

From the top: Bernadette cooks fish for the 3 of us; While mother waits in tipi for her food; Naomi in a dunce cap that fits all too well; Naomi in another hat+apron; more fish cooking; a feast fit for a pregnant queen; Naomi studies; trading post; end with more fish cooking

More fun than you can handle, for real.

Next positive:
This morning the eldest tyrant in the home decided to sleep until... wait for it... SEVEN o'clock.
You have no idea how unprecedented this is, and how rested I should be feeling.

This of course meant that I had no excuse whatsoever to skip our morning exercises/walk around the block.

Which then brings me to the 3rd happy happening of the morning:  I walked for our enitre allotted amount of time WITHOUT feeling like I was going to pee my pants right there on the ground at any point (thousand exclamation points) And also meant we could stop to see the always asked for "crazy man" aka inflatable, flopping, cigarette man outside of the tobacco store near our home.

And all parties were happy, content and dry.
Have yourself a pleasant Monday.

Quick, boring, takes

Joining Jen and others for some quick takes to round up our week thus far.
I will warn you now, the boredom from reading may kill you.

1) One of my 2 besties here in the Bend moved far far away yesterday (I know, way to start the quick takes off on a bright note, Ana, you're the best!). But it's pretty much the main piece of news I've got for the week, and has left me only 96% down in the dumps, not too bad. I plan on writing a little homage to her at some point, but I am assuming that will require some actual thought and that it maybe shouldn't be written while fending the girls off with my feet. So, it may take a while.

I'm going to be fine

2) On that note, the interview process for a new best friend has commensed, I have written up a few criteria that I plan on sending out int he local news papers. Here are a few:
WANTED: A NEW BEST FRIEND. Must have:

• a cheerie disposition
• rosie cheeks
• be willing to play games
• no warts
• never cross or cruel
• are you catching on?

3) As a result of these recent sad occurances, I have been eating away my sorrows, as well as patting myself on the back for a job well done, with these little PUPPIES. Seriously, why did it take me so long to look up a recipe for oven-less chocolate chip cookies, it is JUST LIKE EATING COOKIE DOUGH. What could be better?

VIA

Now I must give the disclaimer that I substitute every even remotely healthy ingredient in this recipe for the unhealthy variety: all I can say is if you do that you will not be disappointed. I cannot speak for the healthy form of the recipe, but I know is my gut tells me that chocolate chip cookies should never try to be healthy. the end

4) We're having some fam-a-lam come to town in a few days, which means it is time for some of my semi-annual house cleaning, which I have motivation to do only when comparing it to the motivation I have for the alternate activity of working out. There is NOTHING I want to to less than to work out. Why?

5) Um, maybe because, since it only ever rains here or is so humid that you cannot breath and are left pealing your own skin off, that makes it so that going for our little morning jaunts is no longer a possibility. This leaves me with only one other workout option here to be done in the house. Which is pretty much like throwing yourself into a lion cage every morning.

So I chose to clean.

6) I am a whopping 27 weeks pregnant now, with no belly pictures for you, because you will be utterly convinced that I have my due date wrong and am in fact a full 40. Let's just say I am somewhere between this:

And this:

So maybe next week.

7) We are celebrating the triumphant return of QUINCY THE BEE! this week. A long lost family friend/pet who has come back a larger, hairier, totally different bee. The short explanation: dead bees make excellent house pets. The link above will provide much more explanation.
I will leave you with a not-so-quick video showcasing some of the excitement on his return:

Things I don't like to do: Pregnancy edition

Joining the ever awesome Jen for some free complaining via 7 quick takes this blazin' Friday.
Since I figured that you are dying to know the top 7 things I do not ever want to do while pregnant, here they are-- 7 being the one I want to do the least of all-- for your reading pleasure:

1.

Eat healthily. You may recall from several of my pregnancy posts that this is a struggle. It is my main struggle during the first trimester and then for the rest of the time it isn't that bad except for when I just want to plop down on the couch and enjoy a 1/2 bad of frozen chocolate chips. Then it's hard.

2.

Not talk about pregnancy. That is, while I am pregnant, I could sit and talk pregnancy for hours, HOURS I tell you. This is something I am not proud of and am working on since I know the rest of the world should be spared gratuitous uterine talk.

3.

Not drink. All I want to do is drink when I am pregnant. It always sounds good and can not always happen as it is generally frowned upon-- at least in public. And let's be honest, if there were ever a time you could use a stiff drink it is during pregnancy, especially when there are other small hellians at your feet all. day. long.

Just enjoying a potent afternoon cocktail at 9 months pregnant. C'mon, we all know that Mad Men=real life

4.

Give birth to the baby. I am terrified of all things labor and prefer to be in complete denial up until the day that things absolutely must happen. Which is why my second birthing experience being a c-section was not half bad. As Steph aptly describes it, it was pretty much like going into Starbucks, ordering your coffee and taking it home. 
But I could really do without the whole recovery from a major surgery/having my entire midsection sliced open/not being able to role over in bed by myself for 2 weeks, etc... I prefer to rip the band aid off and take the babe home like I did the first time. I am, nevertheless, terrified. 

5.

Cleaning. Shouldn't someone else be doing this for me while I am in this condition?

6.

Working out.  Again, shouldn't someone else be doing this for me while I am in this condition?

as proof that while I DO NOT WANT to do any of these things, I do them anyways (occasionally). And I force my children to do them with me. Look at Bernadette's form on that push up. Impressive.

7.

Wake up. If I could I would sleep the pregnancy off, labor in my sleep, and then be holding the baby. I am barely partially kidding.

What are your least favorite activities during pregnancy??

Dear vanilla cream sandwhich cookies,

If that is your real name.
You can go back to the bowels of whatever soul sucking calorie filled hole you came from and stop ruining any attempt at healthy eating that I am lying and saying I am doing.
I think I have eaten 10 of you today, that is not ok. But it feels so right.
I was wrong. Don't go away. Stay by my side and never leave,
I love you.
Love,
Ana

creeeeepy

Valentimes

Putting off working out again... so pathetic, but at least I have my priorities straight.
Here are some highlights from our V-day.

Pez dispensers and new clips

definitely brought more joy than I thought they would

for real

happiness abounds

And continues with gratuitous sugar consumption alllllll  day

 And that about sums things up.
While I think it is possible that I have never been this tired in my life, I will summon all the residual guilt from yesterday's calorie fest 2012 and try try try to do something that at least minimally resembles exercise. You have a good day,
Ana

Hurrah!

After highlighting yesterday how difficult it can be to have children and how challenging it is, on every level, and how crazy and ornery kids are, (I realized today that that post may have made some people a bit terrified of having offspring of their own, not my intention but nevertheless a possible outcome- good thing so few people read this! Sorry if I did that though) Anyways, after all of that semi-complaining, I was in the kitchen cooking or something and all was quiet for what felt like a long time and I figured someone had spilled their drink all over and was lapping it up like a cat, but then I looked out to find this:

Reading peacefully together. The cups of hot chocolate perched in each of their laps are not hurting. Not at all.

And then the sun was out so I got to enjoy some of these fantastic smiles:

umm, she was smiling, but she just refused to look up...

And then sometimes your kids do this:

Bernadette insists on draping herself in as many layers of clothing that will stay on her sometimes, I don't know what this indicates developmentally, but it makes for some funny pictures.

And then after procrastinating all day about working out, wearing my fitness clothes all day to try to motivate myself, I finally got it together after the girls went down which is unprecedented, and did WEEK 4 of this:

I feel like an all star.

And now I wait eagerly for my parent's arrival for a fun weekend visit. Hurrah!

Just for laughs

Second post of the day = a weird mix of pride and embarrassment.

This post is really just to give you a little something to laugh at because I know that everyone could use a good laugh and I am always here to give the people what they want.

I keep looking down and catching a glimpse of myself and laughing and it dawned on me that you might too if you saw me.

I was awoken from my 15 nap by the worst napping children in the world, for real. And decided to dress for success:

"oh, you wanted to take my picture?"

I was hoping to workout while Naomi was in her room talking after a whopping 20 minute cat nap, but then Beezie began a marathon scream sesh and I couldn't take it.

So my plans changed but my outfit did not.

Workout shorts- Dicks clearance about 6 years ago, pretty sure they're walking shorts for old ladies; workout shirt- gifted from mother-in-law; cardi- old navy; crew socks- walmart; NB shoes- Vincent de Paul thrift store $3, that's right baby, high class

Over Christmas break my little sister made fun of me every day that she saw me about to go work out and after a few days of denial, I had to accept the fact that I look ridiculous. One day I will have money to buy expensive, cute work out clothes but until then... enjoy!

I believe it's jogging or yogging. it might be a soft j.

Some days I will do anything to be able to say I "worked out", including but not limited to: doing bicep curls with a child pushing down on either arm, attemping crunches with a baby crawling over my abdominals, doing plank exercises whilst being mounted by a nearly 40 pound toddler (I highly doubt Jillian counts for the extra calorie burn there, since she has decided never to have chidlren. They should make a workout dvd with babies and toddlers in it climbing all over the women trying to workout and depending the size of the child or amount of resistance they tell you the extra calorie burn. But I digress...)

Yesterday was one such day and since pigs were flying and it is MID NOVEMBER and was 62 degrees and sunny out (I do not htink people around here are appreciating how amazing this is) I decided to head out for a jog, or yog, it might be a soft j. So I pack the chillins up in our double NON jogger, loaded the bottom up with plenty of treats and cups and toys and off we went.

The stash

 Again, why does nobody tell you how much harder you are working when you are pushing children? In my case over 60 pounds of children PLUS the double stroller, which is no light weight and it is not meant for brisk jaunts. And I decided to run on the 3 busiest streets around us, clipping along at barely more than a brisk walk but I am sure giving all bystanders quite a sight to entertain them since I could barely breath. I am always thinking of others and how I can make their days brighter.

Toward the end I decided to really pick it and switch to a  l i g h t  jog, more entertainment than people could handle I'm sure, but luckily by this time I was off of the busy streets. During the home stretch, to top it all off, I passed a very fit looking mother in some seriously cute running gear with a seriously posh jogger. Of course she gave me a huge smile and wave making me feel uber guilty or coveting her cute gear and sweet stroller, oh well. We made it home with only 1 bottle and 1 shoe missing, for which I had to searching in my van only to recover the bottle, oh well again.

Obviously I am not so overly concerned with physical fitness everyday as I sit typing next to an almost empty bag of frozen reeses cups, best ever. I think I met my weekly quota for extra effort in the fitness department yesterday, now I am done.

Stay classy San Diego,
Ana