Vranicar Family: Party of 5

The other day it occurred to me that I was no longer the high-heeled strutting, pencil skirt wearing, looks like she baths regularly girl I used to be. You would think it would have hit be sooner seeing that I haven't been in an actual paid working position for a few years now. I am aware that I have a closet full of beautiful 4" heels that are collecting dust and my feet are most often doting six year old Nike's with grass stains.  I'm also aware that I now almost feel awkward putting on a skirt instead of jeans or running tights. It feels like I'm playing pretend or that I'm not feminine enough for that anymore? This all hit me when I saw a (beautiful) picture of my friend Mindi- find her super cool blog HERE. Not to say Mindi hasn't always looked so pulled together, but seeing her in this photo; hair up, black asymmetrical lace detail dress on, coordinating bracelets in just the right spot on her arm- I saw how she was so polished and professional she h...

Over the next few weeks I'll be working on giving the blog a face lift. As you can see, it has had a few nips and tucks already. Looking forward to getting back into a regular schedule once school starts and (hopefully) getting a chance to post all the ideas I've had running around my head. For some reason I can't find a chunk of time to sit down, with two free hands, and do it.... hahahahhahahhahahah UPDATE........................ Oh dear I feel delusional. Here I thought I would actually get time to turn this blog into something once school started and we got into a routine. Boy was I wrong. Here I am weeks later.  The extra time I get I spend quickly clearing the floor of toys, throwing in a load of laundry or on occasion, getting in a little time on the treadmill. You see, I have this on-going internal battle called Mom Guilt or maybe it's "catholic guilt." This is completely self inflicted and for a majority of the time unnecessary. I think that I sh...

We are officially half way to meeting Baby #3! The question now: is it all uphill or downhill from here? I'm hoping that things will just keep getting better in comparison to the first 20 weeks. Whoa! I still have heartburn at the sight of most foods and eating generally makes me feel ill, but other than that we're good! ;-) I really shouldn't complain, the past few weeks haven't been as bad. Plus, I feel like I have more of my energy back, which helps with feeling so sick. Our anatomy ultrasound will be right before Valentine's Day and while we won't be finding out the baby's gender (just like we didn't find out with either of the boys) it will be exciting to see this little person! I've been telling people that rather than knowing the gender I want to know hair color! With neither my husband or I have red hair and having two little boys with very red hair I'm curious if our luck will continue with our third baby. I've still been getting...

Since forever, truly forever, my husband and I have made the four hour drive between Minneapolis and the northwestern part of the state to either see each other or family. In college it was to Moorhead while I finished school and now we pack our two redheads in the minivan to head to my dad's house. So with those two little, highly active, boys (plus one more little person on the way) it has become important for us to strategically pack our minivan with the tools to survive the drive. Since the says of traveling with a baby or toddler who will nap for an hour or more we need to fill our time wisely. This list not only helps the boys have an enjoyable ride, it prevents us parents from pulling our hair out. Snacks: I pre-pack nearly every snack into two small containers, one for each child. This way at the request of a snack, I can grab a container and simply hand it back. Snacks that I have found work well to travel with include: apples, bananas, grapes, small oranges, fish crack...

My friend Mindi recently blogged about the upcoming year and all of its possibilities.  While I hadn't physically written any of my own goals for this new year, there were things that I had been wanting to tackle and accomplish once the baby arrived in June. After reading Mindi's post I realized that the best way to get to where I want to be, I need to have an actual goal set. I know this list will grow as the year continues but for now here is my personal to do list for 2015: * Learn to Ski (again) *"Master" Crow pose and chaturanga (Amber Gort Husevold) *Blog every two weeks Skiing - I once was fairly comfortable on a pair of skis, but this was almost 15 years ago and my last memory of it was me eating a face full of snow and flip flopping down the hill. As I laid in the middle of the ski hill, I decided that had been my last run at it for awhile, I never imagined it would take so long to want to try it again. This time I would like to really learn the right way...

A thing my husband and I (kind of) thought wasn't in the cards for us. But here we are, nearly the half way point in this pregnancy with our third child! With the boys' pregnancies I would often say how easy and wonderful being pregnant was. How I really didn't feel much different; no "real" morning sickness, heartburn was under control, I gained weight (nearly 50lbs each time) but that didn't bother me. Oh how things have changed! From right around week 5 I have felt like I am on the verge of throwing up. I have no appetite and then suddenly when I am a ravenous monster I eat something and it makes my stomach ache. The heartburn is out of control. I am MOODY (my poor husband) and I have already dug out the undergarments that I usually saved for the very end of the 40 weeks. Think Dolly Parton or at least for me and what I used to. Now of course I am overjoyed that we have a healthy third baby on the way, but that doesn't change that I have been a me...

The bog is alive! I'm trying to revive it this week. As I tell myself daily- be patient.  The three of us are busy having fun.... ;-)