A'Dell Stevens

1. I am super pleased that I did not send out Christmas cards this year. Every time I got one in the mail a feeling of relief washed over me that I did not have to go through all of THAT business this year, because honestly, I didn’t have it in me. I just did not. I was pleasantly surprised to receive quite a few cards though, and everyone looked so gorgeous and happy and it really was super fun to see everyone’s face in my mailbox. But, not sending any was totally the right call for me.

2. I am 37 weeks pregnant. (Due January 19!)

Over the past four days I have been sold, completely SOLD!, on four different names for this baby. I would text things to Chris like, “I think his name is Blankety-Blank. I’m certain of it!” and then six hours later I’d say something like, “Oh, I’m just not SURE that’s IT. I don’t KNOW!” I visited my midwife the other day and everything is normal. He’s head-down, though unengaged and there’s no dilation at all, which isn’t surprising and is exactly what I expected. She made no mention of his size, or purported size, and I am not straight-up miserable yet (that comes at 40 weeks for me!), so I’m feeling about on par with my previous pregnancies. My shirts still fit, so I know I’m not growing TOO big of a baby in there. I’m sleeping terribly, slow to get places, and I legit-for-serious got WINDED getting dressed this morning and I had to SIT DOWN TO RECOVER MY BREATH mid-way through putting my leggings on, which is moderately humiliating.I figure I’ve probably got 4 weeks to go until I meet my third, 41-week baby, which is fine by me. I will probably need all of those weeks to spend some more quality time waffling about his name anyway.

3. I just about have all of the Christmas decor put away, which I know probably makes my Catholic friends very, very sad but we run a fairly secular holiday schedule around here and the idea of having an early baby (even though I think that’s unlikely) and bringing him home to a house full of decor that needs to be put away is…off-putting. So, I’m trying to get it all back in the attic because if I DO bring home a baby with all this stuff still out? It will probably be out until Easter.

4. I got a Roomba for Christmas and I’ve only used it for two days but IT IS KIND OF CHANGING MY LIFE. I had no idea that Roombas were like, legit vacuums and not just frivolous things people laughed at! (I always sort of envisioned them in the same ha-ha product category as The Clapper. Useful to an extent but surely not all that functional and definitely FUNNY.) No, the Roomba totally does a good job! A great job, even! I am planning a Roomba vs Regular Vacuum Face-Off, but I can already tell you that as a person with two children littering my floor all day long? ANY pick-up of debris is better than NO pick-up of debris, so the Roomba was destined to be loved and adored at this house. I love it. I really, really, love it. Quality of Life = Much Improved.

5. Santa brought me these Dahlia earrings from Morgan Prather that I have been eyeing for MONTHS and I LOVE THEM SO.

6. We finally finished eating all of the Christmas dinner leftover roast beef and it’s pretty sad come lunchtime around here. I was really getting used to my daily panini of roast beef, caramelized onion and brie. It’s always so SAD when the The Christmas Eating is over, isn’t it? SAD.

7. My other favorite gift (which is not what this post started out as but OOPS I l just love what people got me for Christmas) is the Smitten Kitchen Cookbook. Jennie gifted it to me and it’s just the most lovely cookbook. I am actually not allowed to own physical cookbooks (I donated all of mine last fall!) because they take up space and I just use the internet for recipe-hunting anyway. But Deb’s book is gorgeous, a delight to read on the sofa in my pajamas (there’s actual CONTENT and not just recipes, which I ADORE), and most of all? DELICIOUS. I’ve made so many things from her website over the years that I felt certain the book would be pure recipe gold (it is). I’ve never owned a bloggy cookbook before and I’m so glad this is my first and only one. I also love that Deb took the time to incorporate SEVERAL recipes that are NOT to be found on her website, which gives the whole thing a lot more value in terms of both price and the space it takes up in my kitchen. Highly recommend this one.