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.