lament

I have a few pieces of favorite clothing items: things that the second I put them on, I feel poised and confident. Comfort clothing, and I don’t mean sweats, although those work at times, too. I have a lovely purple dress from Proenza Schouler that is one of those pieces. If I’m feeling kind of hefty or just need a pick-me-up, that dress does it for me. I pair it with purple heels and a breezy Proenza Schouler shirt underneath and I’m ready to take on the world.

Today was the day of choice to wear the dress. I shaved my legs, slathered on some pomegranate body butter, put on the blouse, let the silk slip over my head, and asked Phil to zip me up.

It wouldn’t zip.

I seriously contemplated crying for a few minutes. I stood there with my dress half on, just waiting for the joke to end.

Over the weekend, I had removed items from my closet that had numbered days, and put in some summer favorites that were destined to be my stand-bys for the months to come.
This lovely, empire-waisted number was one I was counting on!

It is not my belly.

Let’s suffice it to say, I will not be wearing my favorite dress for quite a few months because some other, ahem, areas have grown exponentially, and of my 10 pounds of weight gain, half of it is in my bra.

I’m crying inside.

I'd be...

If I were a season, I’d be fall.

If I were a piece of furniture, I’d be an armoire.



If I were a country, I’d be England.

If I were a food, I’d be fresh bread. Or Gaufres de Liege.



If I were a day, I’d be Wednesday.

If I were a color, I’d be turquoise.

If I were a letter I’d be the letter a.

If I were a book, I’d be The Little White Horse.

If I were a political leader, I’d be shaking things up.

If I were a drink, I’d be fresh ginger ale.

If I were a man, I’d be my daddy.

If I could know the future, I’d want to know my children love Jesus.

If I were you, what would I be and why?

{{List from Bianca}}

she

She’s on her way. It’s official, the newest baby Douglass is a girl. To most, that is old news, but to her daddy and I, we’re slowly digesting this. We had such a great weekend, and every bit of the planning and figuring out how to make the babycake happen was worth it. I have to thank my mom and mother-in-law and sister-in-law for making quite an effort to make the event so much fun! Everyone contributed an item reflecting what gender they guessed. We got some adorable things, and even the boy items will just wait (alongside a few other things) in the Armoire Drawer. The “girl guessers” were right, though.



The instant we cut the cake (complete with wedding-cake-united-hand-pose) the entire collective audience “leaned in” because at first the icing looked white! (can we say "pregnant pause"?) The pale pink was enough though and somebody said “GIRL!”



Such a great moment. Me and the daddy had to hold each other for just a minute because it was precious and so real now.



There’s a “she” in my belly and it’s been really fun to be able to talk about her. Out of the six of us due in September, five of us are having girls (and one is having boy/girl twins). It was the best thing to all be pregnant at the same time, but now to be having girls all together, well, that’s just phenomenal. It makes me really happy. (the only downside is that none of our kids can marry each other, though *wink*)

Many happy pink thoughts! I reiterate:

the best name

A good friend of mine is pregnant and due about two weeks after me. It was super exciting to find out that they will be undertaking the same journey we are. It’s not quite “misery loves company” but new parents will love someone close by going through the same thing… Anyway, we both are finding out the gender of our respective babies this weekend and next week, but she mentioned that they’re having issues agreeing on names. Her husband is deployed in Iraq (thank you, Sal!) but they are going through baby name books and copious phone calls to figure out what they’re going to call their little bean. (As previously mentioned, we have ours picked out—since last year. It only took 6 years.) Well, she mentioned to me that Sal likes the name Abigail. And one of his boy names was Philip. After they laughed and laughed at the idea of naming their child after their friends, they really did have good reason—family ties, name meanings and the like.

I must add that I think they’re perfectly great names.

So, in honor of Kristin and Sal, I have a list of my favorite Abigails in blogland and elsewhere.


a gorgeous photographer and all around sweet person...
Abi Q photography


an amazing woman with crazy similarities to another Abi we know...
Through Abby’s Lens


the fabulous editor of Style Me Pretty...
Abby Larson



a fantastic designer...
Abbey Goes Design Scouting

one of the coolest women in ancient history...
Abigail from the Bible

and of course, the Abigail I'm named for...
Abigail Adams

photo credits to: Abi Q Photography, Stacy Reeves, and Cunningham Photo Artists

BA

Phil found a spider in our bed last night.

Yes, our bed.

And yes, it was a good-sized spider.

He tried to make me feel better by saying it was a mosquito, but I saw it.

And you know this is how I feel about spiders. [please be advised, while funny and accurate, there are some f-bombs in that link]

I didn’t sleep well, to put it mildly.

HOW did it get there? Well, scuttling obviously, or whatever it is that spiders do.

WHY was it there? Well, the good thing was that the two significant spiders we’ve now come across in the house were both found by my strong, brave BA husband—who can diffuse bombs with his bare hands. I kid you not. Like spiders even have a chance.