Your burning questions--answered!

Thanks to everyone who asked questions yesterday...now  I don't  have  to think of a blog topic today! :-) Let's get right to them (in no particular  order)...

1)  Do you see baby #3 in your future?  A couple of you asked  that---do you not think  I look busy enough as it is?! :-) But  in all  seriousness, it's no secret that  I want/plan to have 3 kids. Actually, I wouldn't put it past myself to want 4, but Lee says no way--I'm lucky he agreed to 3 because he'd be fine stopping with 2 haha. So  the plan *is* to have one more. Can't  say I'm in a huge rush to have another as closely spaced as Raya and Brielle, just because  it's so much  work!, but at the same time we won't wait a super long time because there  are many reasons I like mine somewhat close together.  That and Lee would like me to get back  to work  at some time haha....and I said  I'm not doing that until the youngest  is a couple years old at least. So stayed tuned on  the whole  baby #3 thing I guess!

2) Do you work out? If so, WHEN?! I can see how  some of you  might wonder this---I mean, especially considering how toned and fit I always look in my pictures (ahem--sarcasm there ;-)   Truth is that  I HATE working out. I'd rather eat salad every day and skip working out. But a large part of the  problem is that  because of my rhuematoid arthritis my left arm is complete shot. The rest of my joints  (feet, knees, neck, etc.) are pretty sensitive to working out as well. I've asked my doctor about working out and he strongly suggests I only walk or swim. Swimming is pretty impossible in my rural area of Iowa...not easy to just  swing over to an indoor pool :-P So that  leaves walking which is boooorrrring. Really though I *should* eventually get a treadmill and try to walk  for an hour during naptime or something. Maybe  someday. For now maybe  I  should just work on question #1 so that  I have an excuse for gaining weight again ;-)

3) How did you announce your pregnancies to your family and friends? I  guess you could say we have been  pretty boring when it comes to this.  Usually  a phone call to family--and email or facebook for  friends lol. I love  the idea of the gender reveal  parties  that  are happening more  and more, but that just never would  have worked for us. I think those parties can only  be successful if  both parents  honestly don't care what the gender  is. In our case Lee has always wanted  a boy (poor guy!)....so I just have visions of a gender reveal  party where he bites  into the cupcake and sees pink and then pouts haha. For that  same reason we could never wait and find out the gender in the delivery room....because  if after 9 months and labor he expressed any disappointment  I  would have to kill him :-)

4) How did you choose the girls' names? Well, since about  high school I've  kept a running  list  of names I love and want  to use. (Let's just  say our girls' names did  *not* come from that list! haha). Funny how when you add a husband's opinion to the mix suddenly many of your baby names get thrown out. In high school I loved the names Camden and Claire. I planned to have boy/girl twins haha. I always joked that I would pick  my husband based on whether or not he'd go for the name Camden for  our son. And actually, I did run the name by Lee while we were dating! Of course at the time he said  "oh yeah, I like that".....and then after we're married and actually expecting suddenly he announced that he hates that name and over his dead body will we use  it (or something like that :-) Just  plain cruel! (I still love  that  name by the  way.) Claire I also still love, but it's just too "common" for me to actually use  right  now. So when we were expecting Raya we tossed around a lot of names and at  one time Lee said "I really want a girl's name that ends in "ah-na"". So  then we started going through the list---Briana, Adriana, Lilliana, Elliana, etc. Some were thrown out because they felt too  common or had common nicknames, others just didn't  sound right  with our last name, etc. Finally I just "invented" Rayana (now obviously  I didn't invent it haha...but I made it up at the time...didn't find it in a baby book or anything) ....and I thought the nickname "Raya" was cute  and unique. Lee agreed and she was named! Marie is my middle  name so that's where we got that from. Then for Brielle it was  actually  funny. I  was  watching an episode of House Hunters and the couple on there had a little girl named Brielle--I had never heard the name before and really liked it so I added it to my running list of names. Then one day I ran the name by Lee and he didn't like it! He had a few weird reasons  why and I was really bummed so I  waited and didn't  bring it up for a few more  weeks. Then one day I  decided to bring it  up again and pretend it  was a *new* suggestion...and guess what? That time he was like "oh, that's  a cool name!"  lol....what a dork. Her middle name Alyn is just a play on Lee's middle  name "Alan" ....so the girls have our  middle names.  Not sure  how we'd do  a middle name for baby #3 now!

5) What are your favorite TV shows? I will only  answer  this question if  you promise not to  completely  lose all  respect for  me! I'm kind of a reality tv junky haha. I love American Idol, Teen Mom/ 16 and Pregnant, Toddler and Tiaras, Hoarders, Pawns Stars, American Pickers, etc. As far as non-reality shows I  like Grey's Anatamy, Private Practice, and House.

6) Your favorite recipe? I'm not a cook. Actually, let me rephrase that. I  *can* cook pretty well, I just  don't  enjoy cooking! If someone went to the grocery store  and got all  of my supplies for me and then promised to clean the kitchen  up afterwards I would mind doing the actual cooking part. But when I find a recipe that  sounds good  and then think about the work involved in getting the supplies and cleaning up the kitchen afterwards then suddenly a grilled  cheese or pizza  sounds just fine! :-) One of my favorite recipes though would have  to be Strawberry Pretzel Salad/Dessert  It's kind of a fruit salad/dessert. I love it so much I could  eat an entire 9x13 pan of it by myself in one day haha.

7) Other than blogging and sewing, what is something you're really good at? Is it weird that  the  first  thing that  comes to  my mind is "BS"?! As in bullshitting lol. I  think  that is one character trait that  made me good at my job as a school psychologist. It is probably how  I rocked my only  interview and got offered my  first choice  position on the spot. Or how I  was able to smooth over angry parents during school IEP meetings, etc. Basically if I'm in a situation and don't know what I"m doing I can bullshit  my way on through and come out sounding pretty darn intelligent on the other end :-) Now that's not  to say  I  didn't know what I was talking about in my job... But we're all in situations every day where we might be  caught off guard/confused/etc. I'm someone who rarely stumbles/fumbles/mumbles my way through. Instead I can immediately start in and make you feel  like I know exactly what I'm talking about, and I  think that's  actually a really  good thing in most cases. Everyone wants to be put at ease and feel  like the person they are talking to knows what the hell they are doing...and then I was always able to  run off and study up afterwards to back  up my BS with actual talents/knowledge :-)

8) What's something you're really bad at? Well, as much as  I  think I am an awesome "stay at home mom" I can't say that  so  far I've  really  done that  great at the other  part of my job---the whole "housewife" thing. I'm not someone who gets up in the morning to make my husband lunch and  lay  out  his  clothes, I rarely have supper sitting on the table  when he walks  in the door (I do cook, but  usually something last minute that I throw together when he's home), I don't like doing laundry or  dishes, etc. Frankly I'm not sure how  much of my time *should* be spent on that  stuff, when I've got two little  kids  to care for all  day, but  obviously  I could stop blogging and doing  Etsy in order to cook sit down meals nightly and iron Lee's dress shirts---probably won't  happen any time soon though ;-P

9) What are your best qualities as a wife & mother? I think I have a lot of patience and I'm easy going. I'm laidback and let the  kids be kids. I  think  I'll be a "cool" mom when they are older, but hopefully not so cool that they walk all over me. As a wife I'm also pretty laidback  and easy going too. Lee is able to go on hunting trips pretty regularly and go fishing in the summer etc. and I watch  the girls and don't (usually) throw fits haha. I'm low maintanance and don't require extravagent gifts and stuff, which I'd also  say would be  near the  top of Lee's wish list :-)

10) What is your dream date with your man? I'd love to re-do our honeymoon for  our 5 year anniversary. We went  out west to Yellowstone and stuff and it was really fun and a great  getaway--right up both our alleys as far as being low maintaince. We aren't cruise/island people :-) However our 5 year anniversary is this  year! Probably  won't  happen that  soon.

11) Can you share the story of the first time you and your hubby met? When did you know he was the one for you? How did he propose?  This  is best answered by a blog post I did a couple years  back--it's hilariously lame so be prepared!  :-) Check  it out  here!  How we met, got engaged, etc.

Hopefully  I didn't  bore you all with this  post! Thanks again for the questions....if anyone has any more for me feel free to ask  away! I'll be back tomorrow with some pictures :-)