It'd only be fair...

...if health benefits doubled when you chose something healthy, like a banana, over what you really want, like a dozen Reese's peanut butter cups.

Shouldn't we get some kind of extra credit when we're making good choices and fighting back our inner estrogen-fueled demons? Silly sweet tooth...why can't I convince you fruit is just as tasty as a DQ Blizzard?

What I Love about Sundays

1. Sunday morning service with B. (Baby Mac moves around to let me know he's there, too.)
   
2. A long, leisurely lunch now that our Sunday School year has ended; our sweet four-year-old class has moved up to the "big kid" 5k room. We're taking a brief hiatus from teaching and hope to resume next spring. It was so much fun but I'm grateful for a little extra time on Sundays - I think we'll need it these next few months!
   
3. The return of our small group! Our church takes the summer off from small group meetings, so I'm excited to catch up with everyone and welcome our newest member. (One of our small group guys got married this summer, so obviously his adorable wife is invited to join the fun.)
   
4. Time to cook a real dinner! (For us and for a friend who's recently had a baby.)
   
   
5. A little free time to pick up the house, put on some clean sheets, mentally prepare for the week ahead, catch up on reading...and then just plain relax.
   
6. My snuggle partner Blue, who is always willing to help me sit, nap or lounge. Who wants to do yard work or clean bathrooms when you can curl up with your 80-pound lap dog?
   
7. Chat time with far-away family and friends.
   
8. A new episode of Mad Men!
   
9. A work-free, errand-free day with B that includes all of our favorite things - a little sleep, a little worship, a little time with friends and a lot of taking it easy.

Hope your Sunday is wonderful as well!

xo

A Public Service Announcement

Things that are not ok:

....telling someone her face is expanding when when she is 17 weeks pregnant. (Or anytime, actually.) This was clearly a while ago - and patently untrue at the time - but if I'm giving a PSA I want to be thorough.

....prefacing anything with, "You probably don't want to hear this, but..."

....squeezing someone's calf to see if she is retaining water.

....asking someone repeatedly if she is "excited...right?" to be having a baby. "I mean, you are. Right?" Especially if you're meeting in a professional capacity about non-excitement-related things.

....slowly, deliberately and obviously checking out a woman's ring finger when she's a wee bit too pregnant to sport her wedding ring any longer. (B was with me at the time but I think he was perceived as my no good K. Fed baby-daddy boyfriend, not my 'til death do us part knight in shining armor husband.)

Things that are very, very lovely:

...telling a patient she is "pulling pregnancy off beautifully." Especially if you are a doctor who had a baby two years ago and is so knowledgeable, thoughtful and helpful that I want to hug your tiny neck. Thanks for taking as much time answering my questions as I spent reading in the waiting room!

...remarking that a baby's lucky to be born into such a wonderful family.

...reacting with surprise at a woman's announcement that she's pregnant. (Extra double bonus points if she's eight months along when she mentions this to you.)

...commenting on your (real or imagined) jealousy at someone else's (real or imagined) pregnancy "glow."

Ok. I'm off my soapbox now. Let's all try to be friendly to everyone. Especially pitiful ladies waddling around Target parking lots in 100-degree weather. Trust me, y'all, I'd wear my sparkly rings if I could!

In the meantime, is it inappropriate for me to throw my arms around someone who pays me a compliment? A thank you note seems way too small because these days, such niceties mean the world!!

Born to Buy Jeans

What girl doesn't have a love/hate relationship with the denim in her closet? Branching out is always hard, finding new styles and designers can be scary - and seeing the total after you've splurged on a new "makes my backside look ridiculously amazing" pair can be even scarier than the dressing room nightmare.

I'm pregnant but I've still bought two pairs of jeans this summer - a fabulous pair of Citizens that has been a remarkable buy and a less-than-perfect pair I am barely pulling out of the closet. I'm already looking forward to slipping back into pre-prego jeans.

With fall (and fall clothes!) nearly upon us, fashion is clearly the hot topic in print and online. If you have so much as a single magazine subscription, my guess is you've seen the ads Gap is bombarding us with to let us know that their Born to Fit premium jeans line has launched.

(Blogger slynnro recently wrote about a giveaway for them here.)

I'm curious - who's tried them? Who's going to? Do we think ads in Vanity Fair, Oprah, Glamour and the like can help Gap compete with the higher end Nordstrom brands?

If I can find and love a pair of great-fitting $55 jeans, girls, please believe I'll be doing it. In the new year, of course. In the meantime, I'm just living through you...

Go Tigers!

Clemson's holding strong at #22 on U.S. News and World Report's Best Colleges 2010 list! Get excited - and take a peek at President Barker's video message here. (South Carolina is #55 on the list. Just stating facts, people.)

We're just 15 days away from the most exciting 25 seconds in college football, y'all! I may be enjoying this season more from the sofa than the stadium, but I'm still so looking forward to it.

Having a mid-football season baby definitely puts a damper on the tailgating, but I'm already looking forward to Mac's first games next fall. I'll be a bit otherwise occupied, so you and your 82,000 closest friends will just have to cheer a bit louder in my absence.

(And I did tell you his name's Mac, right?)

Crazy (Book) Love

I just bought Crazy Love, a recommendation of Angie Smith's and the focus of her blog's upcoming book club. If you're interested in joining, swing by Bring the Rain to take a peek.

(Or you can let me know and I'll share my copy with you once I'm finished!)

I also grabbed Babywise and The Happiest Baby on the Block while I was Amazon-ing. Don't those saved credit card numbers and shipping addresses just making click-click-clicking your way through checkout the easiest thing ever?

I had J. Crew delete my credit card number from their virtual website memory, but until I delete it from my own, it's way too easy to just tippity-type those sweet sixteen digits and find myself clicking BUY before I know it.

Anyway, that's not what this post was about, was it? Back to books. My sweet friend Heather shared a few great books with me last week in the most delicious FedEx package stacked with novels. First up is The Time Traveler's Wife (saw the movie already, but we'll chat about that later), then two others that look equally enticing.

What's on your reading list these days? Can you tell I'm trying to get super-prepared for Grapenut by stocking up on my reading material? Surely that's all you need to be a good mom, right? (Someone told me that if Jamie Lynn Spears can do this, I can do it. It's almost become a mantra...)

Forgive the pregnancy brain - back to the topic at hand. Will you be buying Crazy Love and reading along with Angie and her "Sundays" this fall?

What's on your nightstand these days? (Book-wise, that is. A glass of water and your trusty tube of Burt's Bees is a given.)

So you CAN write a thank you note too quickly

When I arrived home on Wednesday evening, I noticed a lovely package on our front porch - a baby gift! I was so excited to open it and happily whipped up a little thank you note for the generous couple who sent it our way.

After dropping my note in the mail on Thursday, B and I headed to our exciting hospital excursion last night and got home pretty late. When I woke up this morning, he told me there were two packages we missed on our front porch! (That, by the way, is a great way to get me not to hit the snooze button. I was out of bed in a flash!)

Friends, it was parts two and three of our original gift. Bradley's wonderful brother and his wife had sent us three fabulous items off our baby registry - and now there's a note en route to their home thanking them for exactly one of them.

So now - another thank you note explaining the situation and raving about our newest additions? I tried, girls, but so much for manners!