Baby's First Christmas

Merry Christmas! This is the least awkward picture we came up with. Pictures are hard to time with an infant and a dog. Not to mention double chins and weird eye glare.

It's been balls to the wall since Thanksgiving for us Hoskinses. We learned at Thanksgiving that Mylo doesn't like crowds and if you're not mom or dad, he's not interested. We also have since learned that he hates the car, which, when we tell people, always gets the response, "Oh, that's unusual, my baby LOVED the car and would fall asleep the second we started driving!" How happy for you. We have a screamfest every time we go anywhere.


Anyway, we had a budget Christmas in order to avoid putting anything on our credit card, and Bryan hasn't started his newer, higher paying job yet, anyway. Oh hey, Bryan got a full time teaching position! (Right now he's an aid, but soon he will be a teacher). He starts January 9th and we're so excited! He will be teaching Inclusion English at the 9th grade level.


Anyway, budget Christmas. We made a lot of our gifts and also gave a lot of baked goods as gifts. It was a busy, busy month. You know, considering we still have to feed, poop, and generally care for a 3 month old while both still working our full time jobs. And that's why I haven't gotten a chance to post anything for a month!

Have you joined Pinterest yet? There are so many fun ideas like this one!

Mylo made out like a bandit this Christmas and he doesn't even know it!

Thank goodness for Santa and Grandparents!

Since the Mavs played their first game today, Santa brought Mylo his own little hat to match dad's so they could watch it together.

Again, this was the least awkward pic. Mylo is way cuter than he looks. 

Can I just say that I love that Bryan understands that toys are not just for kids? 

Yes, I already put together the legos. Yes, that's a Darth Vader alarm clock. After I opened the clock, Bryan got super excited about it and now we have to go get him his own Darth Vader clock for his new classroom. Because I don't want to share mine.

Merry Christmas from the Hoskinseseseses!

Baby Vaccinations from Baby's Point of View

Baby's first shots from parents point of view:


Poor little guys is gonna have to get his first shots today. I hope he's not up ALL FRICKIN' NIGHT. Like I need that again. Should he even be getting shots? I heard shots are to babies as Brutus is to Caesar. How can I live with myself if these shots betray my baby? Now I'm nervous. Should I cancel his appointment? That's silly. It will be fine, but man I hope he's not up all night. I feel for him and all, blindsiding him with needle sticks, but he's not gonna remember it, right? Right? I don't know. Should I cancel his appointment? No. We're doing this. Shots are good and protect him. Unless they don't. Okay, let's do it.


At the appointment:
Okay, let's hold him until we absolutely have to put him down. Oooh he's smiling! Make faces to elicit more baby smiles! He has no idea what's coming. He's gonna hate us. Shots aren't Brutus, we are Brutus. Oh, here's the nurse. Let's put him down gently. Hold his hands! Keep making faces! LOOK, MORE SMILES! This is going well, we've gotten through the oral vaccination. He seems to have liked it. What a smiley booger-wooger beans. Hold his hands, the shots are coming now. Keep his mind off it! Desperate silly faces to elicit smiles! It's not working! IMMEDIATE SCREAM AND FROWNS! Oh no, he hates us. He doesn't know we are protecting him from meningitis and whatnot, he just knows it hurt real bad and we are responsible. I feel like such bad parents. Hold him and snuggle. Oh, no more tears! Is he asleep already? 


Baby's first shots from baby's point of view:


Ooh look, we're going somewhere! I love car rides. I like swinging in my swing more. I hate this! When are we going to get out of this car? Why did you take me out of my swing? I want to swi----(snores).


At the appointment:
Oh, I must have fallen asleep, how embarrassing. Ooh, mom is holding me. I love to be held. Being held is my favorite! Ooh look at the lights! Have you ever seen lights? Lights are my favorite! Hey, how come I have to take off my pants? It's cold in here. Oh well, mom is still holding me so I guess it's cool. Hey, don't put me down! Who's that lady? Where are mom and dad? Oh, there they are. I'm okay. I thought they abandoned me here with this new lady I've never seen! Mom and dad are being silly, I'll give them a smile or two. They're trying so hard. Mmmm the strange lady just gave me something kinda tasty. It doesn't taste like milk. I wish it was milk. Yeah, give me some more of that, it's delicious. I wonder if this lady could talk to mom about making my milk taste like that. Hey, mom and dad are holding my hands! I love mom and da-- what the...THAT BITCH JUST STABBED ME! How could you guys let this happen? No, I don't want to be hel---(snores).


___
Mylo did great at his 2 month check up yesterday. He's a healthy weight and length and took his vaccinations like a champ! He was pretty sleepy all afternoon and night, but this morning he seems to be fine and just wants to be held, swing, and play. 'Atta boy!

Mylo-ween

Halloween is our favorite holiday and now it's EVEN BETTER because we have a little one to exploit dress up! I didn't get to dress up myself this year - I'm using the new mom exemption - but we did dress up Mylo. Like Yoda of course.

And we couldn't have Yoda without carving our pumpkin like the Death Star, could we?

There are instructions on how to carve this one and lots of others at this site. Next year I think I'll try the Nightmare Before Christmas scene.


Here's Bryan and Mylo getting ready to hand out candy to trick or treaters. We thought it would be too obvious that we wanted the candy if we took Mylo trick or treating.

Note: That is not coffee in our coffee mugs. Parents have to have a little fun on Halloween too, am I right? Also, we didn't give away our cell phones to trick or treaters. But that would way better than candy.


Bryan had a wear-your-costume-to-school day as part of Red Ribbon Week, so he recycled a costume we did a couple of years ago. No one got it then and no one got it now. 

Come on, didn't anyone watch Nickelodeon in the 90s? Legends of the Hidden Temple? BLUE BARRACUDAS?! Ugh. You people.


This pic is from a couple of years ago when we originally did the costume, complete with pendants and all. You know, so that when the scary man in the maze pops out at you when you're trying to assemble the monkey statue to beat the time clock to win a vacation to space camp you can give it to him and continue on your journey. 

Obviously this was taken before we went to the party when our spirits were high because we thought we had such a genius original costume idea. We were wrong. We didn't even get a picture together. 


I've always wanted to go to space camp.

Recent Discoveries

Sometimes I discover things that I just feel like everyone should know about. This is a short list of these things. Not that I'm pulling a "Columbus" and claiming to have discovered any of this first per se, I just feel like I need to spread the word. Also, there is some potty language in this post. 

And now for a video that is amazingly apropos to my current situation (there's cussing in it. The F-bomb mostly):

1 - "Go the Fuck to Sleep" by Adam Mansbach. This version is particularly fantastic because it's narrated by Samuel L. Jackson, who is a purveyor of awesomely quotable quotes. "I've had it with these mother fucking snakes on this mother fucking plane!" comes to mind, as well as Bryan and my favorite, "I don't remember asking you a GOD DAMN THING" from Pulp Fiction. Okay, that one may be a tad bit obscure, but it's in there and it's super funny, especially when applied to an awkward encounter with a nosy host at a family theme park, but that's a story for another time.


2 - The Bloggess. Apparently I'm pretty late to this party, but this is a blog from a woman in Houston and her life. She rants. She raves. She cusses. A lot. She's pretty hilarious, and if you only read one post I think it should be this one.


3 - Tzatziki. It's a Greek style cucumber and yogurt dip with dill and sometimes garlic if you're feeling edgy. You eat it with pita chips because it's classy. It's super healthy too, so you can eat the whole bowl and not feel as bad about it as you would if it were something like 7-layer dip. Win!

The Magic Blanket

It's been a month! We've had a super fun time being parents, except of course for the lack of sleep. In our case, the sleepless nights were due to our squirmy little toot wiggling out of his snuggly swaddled blanket, in which case he would find his newfound unrestrained freedom completely unacceptable. Thank goodness for psychic aunts though, namely Aunts Pat and Jennie, who sent us a special swaddling blanket with velcro to keep it in place so he can't wiggle out of it. Now Mylo gets to sleep 3-4 hours in a row, so he's happy, and mom and dad get to sleep 3-4 hours in a row too, so we're happy. Win-win-win!

He told me to say he's got the moves like Jagger.

He's Here!

Weighing in at 8 lbs. 6 oz. and 20.5 inches long, Mylo finally arrived on September 16! 

From start to finish I was in labor for 22 hours. That included 3 hours of pushing when the time came, and finally ended in a c-section to get him out. He was either super stubborn or super comfortable. 

This is Bryan and me right before they started the c-section. I had about 6 blankets over me because I was so cold - I think my body just freaked out after 3 hours of pushing then being cut open. I remember a nurse asking if Bryan wanted to look over the curtain and watch. Why would anyone want to do that? Yes, I would like to watch my spouse get cut open, please. After that maybe I can eat some maggots or slam my hand in the car door, because all of those things sound equally appealing. 

Once they got him out, all I remember is waking up a couple of hours later. Bryan took one for the team and held him while I was sleeping.

Then I woke up!

And that's when I got to hold him. My doc warned me that my labor may end in a c-section early on in my pregnancy because Mylo was measuring big and my frame is pretty small. I tried to make it happen without being cut open, but I just couldn't do it. Oh well.

About half an hour after the above picture was taken I started experiencing the WORST pain I have EVER felt in my neck. I couldn't move, breathe, sit, lay, talk, or sleep without it hurting. They tried all sorts of pain killers and nothing was working. They finally had to call my doctor at home at 4am (sorry about that, doc...) to get an opinion on what to do. They think that I pulled a muscle in my neck from pushing so hard for 3 hours. I experienced labor, and then pain WORSE than labor, all in the same day, and what makes it even worse is that I couldn't even hold or feed Mylo at all during that time because it was so excruciating. I suppose I deserved a difficult labor since I had such an easy pregnancy.

Now it's over though, and Mylo is here and super cute and definitely getting held and fed! So far he's been a pretty good baby with minimal fussing. Knock on wood.

Sorry for the blur.

Somebody just woke up and was unhappy about being disturbed. 

After 5 nights in the hospital we finally got to go home, so I suited Mylo up in his very first outfit! 

Heh :) 

He doesn't like getting his diaper changed. I don't blame him, I bet it's really unpleasant. He has socks on his hands because baby nails are really sharp and he kept scratching his pretty lil face.

Upon arriving home, this is how we found him.

Surely that's not comfortable...

And now we're at home and settled in! The first night home was the hardest I think, because at the hospital I was basically waited on. I ordered whatever food I wanted and it was prepared and brought to me. A nurse brought me the medications I had to take on schedule, even during the wee hours of the morning. If I needed to take a shower the nursery would come pick up Mylo and watch him for me. There was a whole team of experts at my disposal for me to ask questions and keep an eye on both Mylo's and my health. Then we got home and I felt suddenly so isolated and inadequate. Since then it's been getting easier as we figure out Mylo and how he works.

I like this picture because of how tiny Mylo looks compared to Bryan. And that's it! Now it's time for Mylo to be fed again, so off I go! Then I'll put him down with a full belly and hopefully get to take a short nap while he is sleeping.

A Rant on Extreme Couponing

Have you heard the news? Kroger is going to stop doubling and tripling coupons, and as a sane, well-rounded, non-crazy coupon-clipper, I'm disappointed. They say that they made this choice because they want to focus that expense on lowering prices throughout the store, and if that's the case, then great. I, however, have a different theory. I think it's less because of that and more because of this:

Note the part at the end when her husband just wants to "clarify" that she took herself, their son, and her pregnant friend dumpster diving for coupons. I just feel like there's a line. And she crossed it. Big time. Dumpster diving is so far past the line that she can't even see it anymore. The line is gone to her. What line?


I had a feeling when I heard TLC was doing a show about "extreme couponing" that it may one day ruin it for the rest of us average coupon users. That day is upon us. I mean, who needs 27 packages of cream cheese? Or 1000 tubes of toothpaste? Who wants to have to store all of that? In short, I think these crazies (I said it!) took advantage of the system and now no one gets to benefit. At least at Kroger. As far as I know, Tom Thumb and Albertsons still double and triple. You can also come out pretty good at CVS and Walgreens with the right combination of sales and coupons (although they don't double or triple). Since Kroger is my grocer of choice, however, I am looking forward to these new lower prices they've promised me.

The Story of How I Still Have My Ring Finger

We made it past September 1st! That means Bryan's wicked new insurance will cover the pregnancy! Please pause for a moment while I do a happy dance.

...

Okay.

You're welcome for this nicer weather, by the by. I asked my doctor to please lower the temperature because I just can't handle any more of this crazy heat, and apparently she's God, because it happened. I've learned my lesson, though. Next time we're gonna plan this better and try real hard to avoid being in my third trimester in July and August in Texas.

38 weeks down!

2 to go.

My doctor is pretty sure I'll make it all the way to (and probably past) my due date, but still, just a couple more weeks of none of my clothes fitting and getting stuck on the couch like a turtle on it's shell.

I had to get my ring cut off last week. It was a sad moment, but I did get to see a fire truck up close, so that was neat. 

This is K. Hargrove with his tool *snicker*. You know, his ring cutter. I didn't think to ask what the "K" stood for. Probably Kevin. He looks like a Kevin. 

So it begins. 

 Action shot! I've never seen a ring cutter before. It's basically a mini-saw that he had to crank.

Close-up action shot!  There were 3 people pulling my finger in different directions.

Sad. But also happy, because I still have a finger. Also, Kevin was really nice and helpful.

And this is my battle wound:

It looks worse than it felt. My doctor said that my hands could swell even MORE (wtf?), so since I already couldn't get my ring off we had to cut it. It seems silly that I let it get this far, but I never ever take my ring off. Not to sleep, shower, wash my hands, never. I guess I'm just more committed to my marriage than you are. It wasn't until it got to be 6000 degrees this Summer in my third trimester that I realized that my ring was stuck. 

Since it was SO WEIRD not having a ring on, I made one.

Don't judge mah pudgy fangers. If YOU were pregnant, YOURS would be pudgy too. Don't worry though, this ring is elastic and comes off very easily.

So, word to the wise my pregnant friends, get your ring off before your fingers swell in your third tri! Otherwise you have to get it cut, which is sad. Also, you have to pay to get it re-soldered. Boo.

In other pregnant news, I finally packed my hospital bag. I guess that means I'm ready. Oh, and I bought my first tube of nipple cream, so I guess that means I'm a grown woman.

Bryan's New Job!

Bryan-got-hired-Bryan-got-hired-Bryan-got-hired-Bryan-got-hired-Bryan-got-hired! 


He's a special ed aid in Lewisville ISD. Do you know what that means? He's has a salary and BENEFITS! Do you know what THAT means? It means that as long as I can hold Mylo in until September 1 when the health insurance kicks in, we will be covered and no longer paying for it out of pocket! Fingers-crossed that Mylo doesn't come before then. It's not that we don't want to meet him sooner, it's that it would work out better for everyone if he arrived in September. Come on, Mylo. Take one for the team.


Bryan's super stoked about finally moving up the ladder from substitute teacher to aid, and since he's basically awesome, this will hopefully lead to some opportunities for a teaching position next year.

I'm Huge. In a Preg-Meg Way.

The time is drawing near and I still have almost a kajillion things to do. Almost.


Want to see how giant I am? I know you do.

Please ignore my double chin, although I think there's a pregnant exemption when it comes to a double chin, right? Aside from that, WHA-BAM I'm huge! And this pic was taken about 10 days ago, so I'm even bigger now. And I still have a month to go.

Bird's Eye View:

I know that I have feet because I can walk, otherwise there would be no way to know if they were still there.

Once we've finished organizing Mylo's room we will post pics. Until then, use your imagination!

Recent Discoveries

1. Hanson. Before you judge me, listen to this: 

They've come such a long way from Mmmbop! And if you are skeptical (like I was) that this is a fluke because anyone can write ONE good song, check out "Give a Little" too. Both songs are so dancey-fun-awesome-happy. They definitely don't write in the key of D Minor. 

2. Coconut Milk. It's the most delicious addition to coffee, and it's way better for you than the Coffeemate Coconut Creme that we normally use. Also, sometimes regular milk hurts my stomach, so this is a delicious substitution without the soy milk flavor. In conclusion, it's basically heaven in a carton.

3. The Geeky Hostess. If you haven't checked out her blog yet you should. She's geeky-cool and she posts fun finds like this and this. 

Do YOU have any recent discoveries that have rocked your world as of late? Tell me!

Baby Shower Round 2

We had Mylo-Party Part Deux this last weekend hosted by Kim, Brianna, and Michelle. 'Twas a feat of Hoskins Awesomeness (Hosksomeness? Aweskinsness?). I have to admit, baby showers usually make me nervous. I don't like cheesy games or awkward social interaction, both of which are typically par for the course during a baby shower. I have to thank both the Hoskins' who threw this party (yay for no cheesy games and minimal belly touching!) and my aunts who threw my side of the family's shower for really listening to what Bryan and I were hoping for - a laid back coed gathering with family and friends. After all, baby showers aren't just for women anymore! So THANKS! :)

At this party we had a couple of present-opening helpers: 

At one point Hannah said "It's another baby thing!" I'm not sure she grasped the intent of the party. I suppose we can let it slide, she is just 4. 

And now Mylo has more clothes than I do:

But I guess it's okay. His clothes are way cuter anyway. Miniature little suit, anyone?

I'd just like to say thanks again to ALL of our family and friends who were able to come to the shower and for the ridiculous amount of gifts and useful hand-me-downs we've gotten! You guys are the bomb dot com.

In unrelated news, I learned today that there is a Superman reference in every episode of Seinfeld. Thanks a lot, book of useless facts. Now I have to go watch Seinfeld just to find the references.

NOW it's fixed.

I was wrong before. About the a/c being fixed. As it turns out, when you are woken up by the sound of someone weed-eating outside at 5am, you should maybe consider that it's not, in fact, a weed eater that you hear. You should maybe consider the options and perhaps investigate the strange noise. I didn't go that route, I chose instead to go back to sleep. It was when Bryan woke up 2 hours later that he discovered the sound was coming from our a/c unit...whoops! And that's the story of how we woke up to a super hot house because the a/c is officially broken now. 


Well, not "now" anymore thanks to our fantastic family! I love having a big family because someone always "knows a guy". Bryan's grandpa spread the word last night when Bryan called about pointers for increasing a/c efficiency, and good timing too since the a/c promptly went out as soon as we thought we fixed it. Aunt Sheri knew a guy and he was able to be out here today for minimal super-hot-house-time. It turns out the capacitor (flux capacitor?) went out and that means the fan wasn't moving, which means it's broken. But now it's fixed and cooling nicely!


We really appreciate all the effort and everyone who cares about us so much to make our a/c a priority on a Saturday :) 

There, we fixed it.

For a second, I thought we were idiots.


Our a/c has been struggling lately - side note: You know what? When I mention that our a/c isn't working well, how about you don't say, "Yeah, nobody's is" or anything to that effect. It's not that I don't have empathy for other people in this stupid-hot weather (I do! everyone is hot and I get that), it's that I'm 8 months pregnant, I'm sweaty, I'm hungry, and I'm in a bad mood about it. Okay, being hungry only sort of matters in this particular situation, nonetheless it's a state of being that I am constantly in these days and it can be unpleasant.


For the record, our a/c isn't "broken" "yet". It cools to a pleasant 74 at night, it's during the hot part of the day (111 yesterday! wtf?) that it won't get below 80, which isn't SO bad if you're just sitting. It's when you have to move around or use the stove/oven (this is where being constantly hungry can be unpleasant) that it gets stupid-hot.


Anyway, so I thought we were idiots. For just a second. Then I started sweating and decided that we aren't. Here's what happened: We went to the store to buy a fan so that Bryan and I can each have one blowing on us constantly. The fans are on the same aisle as the air filters. You may see where this is going. 


Me: "How long has it been since we changed our air filter?"
Bryan: "I dunno. How often are you supposed to change them?"
Me: "I dunno. Do you think that makes a difference in the temperature?"
Bryan: "I dunno. Let's get one just in case."
Since having this conversation though, I've googled how often you're supposed to change your air filter and I got results ranging from every 30 days to every 6 months. So I still don't know.


We elected to purchase a new air filter on the off-chance that it had been too long. How do you know it's been too long? When the dirt and lint build up on your current filter is so thick that it can speak to you. It had been too long. We changed the filter, and Bryan did some more research about increasing a/c efficiency. It turns out that if you open all the vents, it circulates the air better. Seems obvious. Not to us! So we opened the vents. We thought our problems were solved and we devised a plan to tell our friends and family that we had a repair man come out and fix it rather than admit that we're just dumb. 


Well, as it turns out, we never got the chance to lie to our friends and family. It's still 80 degrees and I'm sticking to my chair. Only because I already sat down and forgot to bring the fan with me. At least we have a clean filter though! And, if you stand right under a vent it feels real nice. And now we each have a fan. And 80 degrees can actually be quite pleasant with the fan blowing in addition to the vents and ceiling fans, in fact it can even be a little chilly if you're just sitting, so I'm not complaining at all. We also have discovered the positive effect of taking a cold shower, which is a double bonus because it forces me to take a shower at least once per day. Don't judge me.


Cost of DIY repair: $30 for the fan and air filter
What the repair man quoted us: $69 for the service call, then who knows what it would cost for the actual "repair"


I think it's safe to say:
Team Hoskins - 1
A/C Repair Man - 0


We're gonna have to get another fan for Mylo. 


I'm kidding, if it's still this hot when he gets here, we will definitely have a professional come out. I don't want anyone thinking I'm a bad mama right off the bat. I'm sure there will be plenty of "oops his diaper is on backwards" and "don't eat that!" and "I don't know how he got that bruise, but there's a chunk missing from our coffee table and I think it may be related" in the future to prove that. 


Oh, and we have super nice neighbors. They offered suggestions on how to fix the a/c - Drew is what some may call "handy", while we are definitely not. AND they offered us a place to stay for the night if it got too hot. Thank you to Drew and Jennifer! :)

Quarter of a Century

Can I just say that I've never looked forward to Winter in my life? I'm perfectly happy if I never see snow again. That is, until I experienced being 7 1/2 months pregnant in the second hottest Summer North Texas has ever seen. And we haven't even finished August yet! Our home a/c just can't keep up - we asked it nicely to go down to a comfortable 75 degrees and it can't seem to get any lower than 81. FAN-tastic. Literally, I have to take a fan with me wherever I go in the house. 

Anyway, so I've never looked forward to Winter until now. Especially because yesterday was my birthday and Bryan got me this sweet new hat! 

I Went with funny face because none of the smiley pictures I took were satisfactory. 

Also I'm wearing my Mario t-shirt standing in my Mario themed room. I should take this opportunity to remind you that I am a 25 year old female. 

What?

It was pretty much the best birthday ever. Brit-the-Bestie came down for a surprise visit to come to the baby shower and take me out for birthday cheesecake. She and Bryan coordinated this behind my back, and although there was a brief scare that I may have found out the plan (I didn't), it all worked out in the end.

I also bought myself a Cricut - which is pretty much the bomb dot com when it comes to crafting supplies. And you know how I love a good deal - it's a $250 thingy that I got on Ebay for $60! And as a special bonus, there were 4 coupon inserts in the Sunday paper this week. Ebay and the Dallas Morning News must have known it was my birthday. 

The rest of my birthday included Star Wars, Super Mario, the biggest Half Price Books ever, cupcakes, crafts, office supplies, and Harry Potter all thanks to Bryan! So yeah, it was pretty awesome.

And now that it's over I'm just a 25 year old sweaty pregnant lady. Sweatin' for two, like a boss.

Baby Shower #1

We had Mylo-party #1 this last weekend and it was such a good time! Since both of our families are huge, we split the showers into one for my side and one for Bryan's side. Big shout out thank you to Barbara, Terri, Lindsay, Jenny, and Becka for helping put it all together :) 


We invited men come to the shower too because Mylo's a boy and I didn't want him to feel lonely. Also, it was more of a party than a "shower", so that was super fun. Beer and margaritas FTW! Well, not for me, but for everyone else.

And now for pictures!

Errbody getting food ready! Barbara is just testing out the margaritas. You know, just to make sure they're safe. She can always be counted on to take one for the team ;)

Onesie clothes line!

It's hard to see, buy my fave is the pink one on the end that says "don't judge me". That was Jenny's. Well, not Jenny's onesie, but one that Jenny made. 

This might be my favorite bit:

It's from a bakery, so no judging my family! At one point it said "Mylo", but then Texas Summer happened and the icing melted into a blobby swirly mess. If you look real hard you can kinda see it. Maybe we can get it on Cakewrecks and Mylo's party #1 can be etched in internet history forever! Or maybe it already is...

Holy balls look at all them presents!

Mylo is gonna be all stocked up!

I love that my friends embrace how geeky I am, and what a fun little geekling I will most certainly produce.

I opened a couple of gifts, but Bryan was way more fun to watch. 

Bryan: "Hey look, bottle toppers!" 

Me: "Um, those are nipples." 

Bryan: "Hey look, nipples!"

This, of course, has nothing to do with nipples. It's a car seat base which is equally as important as nipples.

Nipples.

And one last picture:

Robin, Brit, Andrew, me, and my big ol' belleh! 

I wasn't great about taking pictures the whole night, so this is really the only posed one, but I like it. 

Thanks to everyone who came and for all the awesome gifts. Mylo's gonna be one well dressed lil dude rollin' in style in his sweet new stroller! We have one more shower coming up soon and then we can finish putting his room together!

Bear-Cut Round 2

Since we have a baby on the way (omg 2 months!), we have been looking for ways to save money lately because, as it turns out, babies are quite the money pit. One of those ways is to avoid the $60 professional groom for Bear. You may remember the last time we tried home-grooming, though...


This time I used scissors instead of an electric razor. He was a good boy, as per usual, and let me cut away as he just sat there in my lap. So without further ado:

Before:

He wouldn't come out from under our glider...I think he suspected it wouldn't end well if he did. Just look at all that hair though! Poor guy, that's no way to go through a Texas Summer.

After:

Okay, so it's not the greatest job. He got fidgety when I got up to his face, so that's why it's all uneven. His fault.

...

My poor dog.

In actuality, he likes it. He is more energetic outside and doesn't get overheated as easily - a vast improvement from his last DIY haircut that resulted in him hiding under our bed and not eating for 2 days.

From September Til Now

Well, it's been nearly a year since I updated the blog-o-rama. I suppose I just got busy and kinda forgot about it...So much has happened though! Let's do a quick recap of the past 9 months:


Last fall I painted 4 new murals: 

Fairies! 

Tree House! It's an under-the-stairs crawl space converted into a kids play area. Love it!

Ariel! 

Flowers! This isn't as much of a mural as it is accents painted around the room.

I am currently working on a new website, meghanhoskins.com, so stay tuned for more pics of all the murals I've done - maybe one day I can be a successful artist!

Last fall Bryan went to Nashua/Boston to visit his best friend, Daniel, who moved up there a couple of years ago. 

He was really excited to see all the different colors of leaves. There aren't any pictures of him and Daniel together because "men don't do that".

And then it was Christmas! 

Bryan Claus

Bear-a-Claus

Christmas plywood character cut-out overload! But since Wall-E and Up are in my top five favorite movies, I forgive them. Because I know they care about my forgiveness and approval.

I would also like to thank all of my friends and family who ordered holiday cookies from me last Christmas! I was cookie-making in almost all of my spare time, but it was totally worth it and you guys are awesome.

After Christmas we had snowpocalypse 2011. Four days straight of not driving anywhere because Texans just don't know what to do when it snows/ices. I'm not making fun, I'm one of them. You actually may remember this from the news, it was Superbowl weekend.

This car is actually parked in the road (note the mailbox). I'm assuming that they couldn't get enough traction to get up the small curb to get in the driveway. 

The ice - at least 3" thick here- hiding secretly under the 8" of snow. 

Our backyard on the 3rd or 4th day after we were done playing. We are adults without children...what?

So that was all fun and games until...

My office flooded...

From the ceiling. Twas a burst pipe due to the cold weather I'm told. This took 100% of my time and energy to deal with, so I suppose this could be a contributing factor to the lack of blog updating. 

Oh, that and I'm pregnant. They aren't lying when they say it's exhausting! 

This was taken about 2 months ago. I'm a lot bigger now - just in time for Texas Summer! I've already lost count of the number of days it's gotten over 100 degrees, thank goodness for air conditioning!

When we found out I was pregnant we booked a baby-cation/baby-moon trip of awesomeness as one last big trip for just the two of us. We went on a Southern Caribbean cruise that left out of San Juan, PR. It was the best! Lemme tell you, a cruise is the BEST value vacation to go on when you're pregnant - ALL you can eat, ALL the time! Here are a few highlights, we took a zillion pictures but I won't bore you with all of 'em.

We are happily riding the bus in Barbados!

Big ol' belly.

It seems like everywhere we went the beer was buy one get one free, so Bryan lucked out and got to have both :)

We would highly recommend this cruise to anyone! It was the Carnival Victory out of San Juan visiting St. Thomas, Barbados, St. Kitts, St. Maarten, and St. Lucia. The only thing I would say is don't bother with Puerto Rico. We stayed an extra couple of nights in San Juan after our cruise and it was disappointing. Or, if you're really interested in San Juan, go a day early and do it at the beginning of the trip, that way you end on the high note of the cruise. 

I also just got back from visiting my bestie in Kansas. That was super fun, but we don't have any pictures because "women don't do that" either, apparently. She painted my toenails, which was nice because I can't reach them in my current state. I got a tour of Ft. Riley and went to my very first Commissary and PX! It was a fun, relaxing trip. 

So that brings us up to now-ish. I'm due September 17 and it's a boy! Mylo Robert Hoskins is the name we've settled on and we're both super excited! 

Bryan is currently looking for a full time teaching job (as opposed to the substitute teaching he's been doing) and he's had a couple of interviews so far, so wish him luck! It's a tough time for teachers here in Texas, but there are a handful of positions open and I just KNOW one of them is for Bryan!

Thanks for reading, I'll be more consistent about updating now. Promise.