these are a few of my favorite things

 a few weeks ago, i taught a lesson on journal-writing. i pulled out several old journals i had written in through the years. i remembered what a great journal-keeper i was before we got married...and before the whole blogging movement happened. reading some of the entries, i realized how i've been missing out on a lot of the "real me" by replacing hand-written journaling with blogging. don't get me wrong, i really love to blog. it gives me the chance to document so many things i wouldnt' have had the chance to document before. i get to add pictures and videos. i get to keep in touch with family and friends who are so far away. but that doesn't mean that i think blogging is a good replacement to journaling. because i don't always expound on things, or record all the details, or write the more intimate things on my blog. because it's so public. and i've never been a huge PDA person :) anyway. so i started journaling again. i love it. it's so wonderful to just sit down and write whatever comes to my mind. unfiltered. without worrying or sensoring or feeling like i am bragging or complaining too much or wondering what people would think if i actually wrote that down. it's so liberating.

one of the journals that i looked through from growing up was solely dedicated to writing about "my favorite things" during that phase of life. i wrote a whole 4-page entry on how much i loved food and my favorite foods in that time period. it made me laugh. hard.

and last night when i was writing in my journal, my mind once again went to writing a list of my favorite things. i can't help it. i like to write about things i really like. and i think it's interesting how the things we like change over time. like i used to loooovvveee German sausage (reflecting on that journal entry about my favorite foods). i can't stand sausage now. totally gets lodged somewhere before my stomach and gives me thee worst burps. gross.

anyways, so i decided i'd share some my faves with you. beacuse it's been a while since i've just had a brain dump on my faves. and because even though this is my public blog and this isn't my journal, i still can do whatever the heck i want on it.

i love bedtime. and not just because it's time for Ellie to go to bed (that sounds so mean). it's actually hard for me to put Ellie to bed at bedtime because she's always so stinkin' cute. i love bath-time, and the way she smells after bath-time. it's delicious. and i usually consider consuming her right on the spot with a little whipped cream. i love how snuggly her PJ's are, i love how she says prayers, i love the way she hugs me and holds me while i rock her to sleep, i love the way she asks me to sing to her over and over again, and i mostly love the way she sings along with the lullabys i sing to her now. it. is. so. cute.

{Ellie in her jam-jams (as we call them) before bed. she usually dresses up with some other random stuff she can find too...which usually includes some item of my clothing (in the 1st picture, it's a pair of my shorts and dad's socks), and a princess crown. she then dances and runs around the house like a crazy person. it's pretty adorable}

i love Glee. i'm missing it. i know that it can be naughty. i know that i shouldn't love to watch teenage drama. but i do. and i'm not gonna lie- i've watched the season finale at least a half a dozen times. spoiler alert: i think my favorite part was when Finn tells Rachel that he loves her. it made me remember how i felt the first time a boy told me he loved me. and how i felt the first time i said it back. and mostly, it made me remember the first time M said he loved me. it gave me chills to watch, and it gives me chills to think about how wonderful love is (oh, and i also loved seeing Sue Sylvester cry. seriously!?).

 i love kiddie pools. like, so much. it's so weird how you go growing up living in them...and then they sort of disappear for a while...but now, i have a feeling they're going to be back for a long, long time. Ellie can't wait for the water to fill up in the pool...and she squeals, requesting me to put her sunscreen on so she can just play already. Ellie loves splashing. she loves pouring water back and forth in cups and water pitchers.

she loves having her little friends over to play with her in the pools.

i love the excuse to sit outside, enjoy the sunshine, and ignore the messes inside. kiddie pools are the best.

 & i think Ellie would have to agree.

i love painting my fingernails + toenails. i used to hate it! seriously. i was sort of anti-girly stuff in high school...and even through college. why? i don't know. i think in high school, the majority of my close friends were guys- and i liked being one of the guys. don't get me wrong, i had great girl-friends. but i always wanted to gag at the excessive pink and flowers and lace. but now, i love being feminine. i think partially it's because Ellie loves it so much. we have so much fun sitting down together doing our nails. she even blows her fingernails now so that they'll dry. and even though i'm feeling swollen (already), larger than i'd like, and just not-cute most of the time, having my fingers and toes done all cute makes me feel just a little better about myself :)

i love my new maternity jeans. did i seriously just say that?
yes, m' friends, i did. Gap was having a rocking sale while me & the Mr celebrated our anniversary in the city, and i found these cropped jeans (which go to my ankle, but whatever) that are diiiivvviine. and they were hecka cheap too. thank you, Gap Maternity. i love you. and wish i could buy more online, because i wear mine every day now, but they are sold out. sniffle.

i love having fresh flowers in the house. i think my favorite flowers right now are hydrangeas and peonies. i can't wait to get some beautiful hydrangeas in my own yard.

i think more than just about anything, i love to sit down with a bowl of ice cream before bed. it reminds me of growing up-- how we used to have at least 3 cartons of different flavors of ice cream in our freezer on any given day. and how my dad and my brother would always (and i mean ALWAYS) end each day with a bowl of ice cream. unfortunately, anyone who knows me knows that this experience is somewhat difficult, since i'm lactose intolerant. but sometimes, the whole experience is worth the hour or two of misery.

yes, i'd like some of that please. no, don't get me the store-brand stuff. if i'm going down, i'm going down on the good stuff.

i love bobby pins. but only the ones i can buy at Sally's Beauty supply. because the ones they sell everywhere else don't work worth beans. (beans aren't worth much, right?). anyway, i use bobby pins pretty much every day. especially when my bangs are being annoying, which seems like every five minutes. and when i go somewhere, and realize i've forgotten my bobby-pins, i will either turn around to go grab a few, or freak out in the car and complain to M until he turns around the car for me so i can go grab a few. i'm a bobby-pin-aholic. and i love them.

i love that i am almost 6 months pregnant. and even though the thought of the "newborn infant" stage scares the bajeezes out of me, and i haven't properly nested yet, and i don't have baby things out or ready yet, and i don't want the baby here tomorrow or anything, i'm so glad that pregnancy is more than half over. i feel huge and i look huge. my body is an alien to me. and i'm moody. i've said it before, and i'll say it again: being pregnant is NOT my favorite. but, being a mom IS my favorite. so i guess i'll do what i have to do :)

i love how Ellie sings now. she sings ALL THE TIME. it's so stinkin' cute. i even recorded her singing I am a child of God on my phone- i just tried sending it to myself- but it's not working. i promise to upload it when i can. because it's adorable. she also quotes along to random parts of Toy Story 2, her recent favorite movie. she even imitates the voice inflections. it's so funny! i love how playful and sweet Ellie is. (and i remind myself how much i love those things about her when she's kicking my poor pregnant tummy while i'm changing her diaper or when she randomly freaks out and starts hitting me for no apparent reason). she is 2, but she is such a cute 2 year old.

i love just sitting here and imagining what baby girl 2 will look like someday. i hope she's cute. Ellie's pretty stinkin' cute-- and i think baby girl 2 deserves to be cute too. don't worry, i'll love her no matter what. because i'm her mom. and i'm nice like that :)

i think my favorite girl name right now is Roxy. Roxy Lynne Chapman, to be exact. you see, Ellie has a baby she calls Roxy. and so she always calls baby sister in mama's tummy "baby Roxy in mama's tummy." i think it's so cute. M isn't the hugest fan. he says that I named her baby Roxy to begin with, not Ellie. so, who cares? but, he says it's growing on him. still, in my heart, i think that's her name. i can just kind of picture it. and it makes me love Baby Girl 2 even more to be able to call her by her name when i talk to her. cute little baby Roxy.

please don't name steal on me.
and please don't be a hater and tell me you hate the name.
because both scenarios are equally mean.
and i might be mean back.
i'm pregnant, remember?

and i think i'll leave you at that.
some of my favorite things.
oh yes, let me add one more:
i love summer.
and i love that my 2nd favorite month is upon is.
because i love july.
and i love that in july (aka 3 short days) i'll get to spend some wonderful time with my family on the sandy beach and in the sweet southern california sun.

hug hug hug to you all.
because you're my favorites too.

xoxox