productivity, wraps, and secret-keeping

We had a productive and relaxing weekend. I saw some meme or something the other day that said something about how when you're in your early twenties, you measure your weekends by how 'epic' they are, how hard you party, and how exhausted you are on Monday morning. But by your late twenties and thirties, you measure the success of a weekend by how productive it was. I'm definitely there. I'm pretty sure I was there in my teens and early 20s, too, but that's beside the point. My weekend was productive and therefore successful.

We spent as much time as possible practicing our baby skills with Eliana, our 7-week-old niece.

I give myself an A+ for Getting Her to Fall Asleep.

But Matt got an A+ for Getting Her to Smile, which is possibly even more exciting. Either way, we were a good team. 

On Saturday morning we visited some yard sales and thrift stores. We picked up a few things to fill out the nursery, but nothing super exciting. The best deal of the weekend was one I found on a local baby-stuff-for-sale Facebook group:

A very gently used K'tan wrap!! I have been really wanting a K'tan, but haven't had any luck finding one (in my size, which is the tricky part...that they aren't one size fits all) secondhand or to borrow. But this one popped up Friday night and I jumped on it! Naturally, I immediately had to test it out with the only pseudo-baby I had on hand, my trusty childhood stuffed bear Booboo (if you have an astute memory, you may recall that Booboo also got called up in the fall to assist us in stroller-training Lola, among other things). I'm pretty sure I don't yet have the knack for properly wrapping the K'tan, but their web page is full of tutorials and videos, so I'm sure I'll figure it out eventually. I also have an Ergo that I bought in the fall, so I have to give myself an A+ in Baby Wearing Readiness. All I need is the baby.

In case you haven't heard, the World Cup is (FINALLY) over. I successfully managed to never watch more than 3 consecutive minutes of a game, so it looks like 2014 won't go down as the year I learned to appreciate soccer. Oh well. At least it's the year that I read Harry Potter! And now our TV will be available for much more important programming, such as the final weeks of The Bachelorette and the finally-on-Netflix Season 4 of Pretty Little Liars.

Last night I decided give the 'coconut oil as deep conditioner' thing a whirl. My hair has been really dry and icky this summer...I was planning to buy something fancy and expensive to try and remedy the situation, but my sister, Ms. Fancy Pants Expensive Hair Stuff herself, actually recommended the coconut oil thing. It kinda blew my mind. Here I was giving her carte blanche to recommend some ridiculously overpriced salon-professionals-only product, and she tells me to get something that NATURE created and that only costs like $8??? I nearly keeled over. I think that the pregnancy hormones must be making her brain go wacky or something. But anyway, I did it, and I must say...my hair is feeling quite sleek and shiny today! I even wore it NOT in a ponytail! I may be a believer yet.

Can't you tell how soft it is today? Ha.

Ugh. Okay. So have you ever had to live with a secret for a really long time?? Like the kind of secret that you can't tell on the internet because then the People That Want it to Stay a Secret could find it and then sue you because you had to sign a lengthy non-disclosure statement saying that you wouldn't tell their secret?? No, WELL I KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE. And it's really hard, friends. Matt and/or I have had a secret of this sort since MAY and we still won't be able to tell for like THREE MORE MONTHS and it is eating me aliiiiive, I tell you!!!! So now I'm writing this really annoying paragraph of vagueness because I want it to eat you alive too. HA. Also I want you to be mentally tortured with what the secret might be and how awesome it's going to be when it is revealed. I can tell you a few things that might help you guess/alleviate your stress (because I know you're probably losing sleep over my ridiculous drama, ha).

1. It has nothing to do with babies, adoption, pregnancy, or families.
2. It is extremely unimportant, really, in the grand scheme of things.
3. It has no real bearing on our lives, careers, or future.
4. As a reward for what we may or may not have participated in + keeping the secret, we were compensated a giant sum of money less than $200. Womp womp.
5. The opportunity came about because of our proximity to Atlanta and the ability to take off work at short notice.
6. Machine guns were involved.

Okay. I feel like I've let out enough to make me feel better now. Take the edge off the secret-keeping, you know? Phew. Only threeish more months til I can come clean.

Have a great week!!!