• Sweet pickles are the best thing in the world right now. But maybe they’re not as great as Haagen Dazs strawberry sorbet or raspberry sorbet. Obviously the little things get me going! Or maybe it’s just food that gets me going.

• I am about two weeks away from reaching my limit with maternity clothes. I expressed these opinions during my pregnancy with Hudson, but I just don’t love pregnancy. I spend so many weeks being sick, then wearing the same clothes over and over again, and then hobbling around because I’m so uncomfortable. I love to feel the baby move, but it also kind of gives me weird motion sickness when he moves a ton. I’m just ready for my baby to be here for me to hold!

• I have some big concerns about this summer. Hudson doesn’t have school in the summer and I worry about him getting bored at home when his baby brother and I can’t really leave the house yet. Thank goodness KK will be here for  a while to keep him entertained and to spoil him to no end. He won’t even know he has any reason to be jealous!

• I get super competitive. And not over things that should matter, but over silly things like card games and board games. TC and I bought Connect 4 (yes, we are children) one night at Target because we thought we’d have a good time. But I hate to lose and I usually did lose. Except the times he let me win because I was so sad about losing. (I probably shouldn’t have admitted any of that.)

• I struggle with loving other people’s kids. Okay, correction. I love my friends’ kids and my friends with kids know who they are. If I tell you that I love your child, then I love your child. (Blog and IRL friends whose children I have met – or haven’t met- and have told you I love them, then I really do!) But I don’t love kids just because they’re kids. And I realize that not everyone loves my kids. I have some super respect for teachers who deal with other people’s kids (and parents) on a regular basis. I like to be able to correct a child without feeling like I’m going to get in trouble! Please don’t think I’m mean-spirited because of what I just said. I’d just prefer to spend my time with adults. I think this is why God has put me in positions to work with families and children in a volunteer capacity. My patience level has greatly increased in the last few months when it comes to this topic.

• I sneezed yesterday and I thought my body had been turned inside out! Why does it hurt so bad to sneeze when you’re pregnant?

• I had a little more than 5 inches of hair cut off this week. It basically looks the same just lots shorter. But apparently not short enough for most people to notice. So I guess that’s a good thing? Because I already really miss every single one of those inches. I don’t want to be the crazy hair lady with hair down to my butt. I only had super long hair for a couple of years, but I’m already having an identity crisis. Someone slap some perspective across my face and tell me to snap out of it.

• It really bugs me when people just come right out and ask me if I’m planning to breast feed. I know it’s not a super personal topic for a lot of women, but I still feel super private about it. Which is why I didn’t talk a whole lot about it when I breast fed Hudson.

• Would you believe that I am a private person even though I put so much of my life on the internet?

As a Southern Baptist, I have never really been a stickler for giving up something for Lent. Not because I don’t want to make the sacrifice, but because it wasn’t part of my religious traditions.

But the more I think about it as an adult, I think about my child. I think about what sacrificing my child means. And then I think that I need to be willing to give up more for my Lord- the way He did for me.

I could give up Cokes (because you know pregnancy didn’t force me to give them up), chocolate, or fast food. But I’d like to do something where I feel like I am really sacrificing. And I know that giving up Cokes, chocolate, or fast food are huge sacrifices for some people. But my biggest sacrifices would come from the way I spend my time.

Should I give up buying any non-essentials (anything other than food) until Easter? What about Twitter or blogging? Those both take up a lot of my time and are big distractions. What about television? We don’t watch as much as we used to, but we definitely have television as a part of our nightly routine. And while television is part of my routine, daily quiet time in the Word with my God is not a part of my every single day routine. And it should be!

I have decided that the best way for me to sacrifice something that means a lot to me while gaining spiritual growth, is to give up my sleep. Don’t worry- I’m not giving up all of my sleep. But until April 24, I will intentionally wake up every morning before TC and Hudson (around 6:30 a.m.) and spend time in the Word preparing my heart for the day.

Since Hudson was born, I have basically used him as my alarm clock. And if he sleeps until 9:00, I’m probably going to sleep until 9:00. Since he has been in school, he hasn’t been able to sleep as late in the mornings, so I have to get up a little bit before he does to get myself dressed. But the rest of the morning is spent rushing around getting him fed and dressed before dashing off to school. And then the day begins and it doesn’t slow down.

I am going to wake up to have a quiet hour or two in my home, with the Word of the Lord, and just listen and learn. My prayer is that I will love it. That I won’t complain about missing those couple of hours of sleep. And I pray that this will not be a habit that is abandoned come Easter Sunday.

I owe this to my husband and children. And more than anything, I owe my Savior the time that He hasn’t been given. He deserves more than a rushed few minutes at bed time. When I think about all that I’ve been blessed with, how could I not make my own sacrifice?

Are you giving up anything for Lent?

The comments have been turned off and it is time to announce a winner for the big giveaway! I cannot believe how many entries there were. I double checked IP addresses to make sure that each person only got one entry if they commented more than once.

Congratulations to #79!

Sarah-Emily, shoot me an email at eeakin11@gmail.com by the end of the day tomorrow so your swag bag can be shipped to you! Congratulations!

• I have been feeling like my body is breaking down. I know it’s not, but I’m just not very strong. We have reached 30 weeks in this pregnancy and while that sounds like I only have a little bit of time left, I know that the last few weeks are the slowest. And that’s because they’re the most physically uncomfortable.
• I had a lot that I wanted to get done this weekend. We didn’t have any plans or obligations and we just wanted to tackle the big task list before I get too uncomfortable to want to do anything at all.
• I got all of the baby clothes out of storage and washed them. Have I mentioned how excited I am and how lucky I feel that we get to reuse all of the same baby clothes? Another boy born in the same season. The nursery closet is now full of soft, sweet like Dreft smelling, onesies. Seriously, the smell makes me ache to hold this sweet baby.

• We also cleaned out the closet in Hudson’s new room. It was full of our “office” stuff and my scrapbook stuff. Then I cleaned out the closet in the guest bedroom to make sure that it was functional again.
• We went to Target to pick up some new storage solutions and while we were at Target, I really thought the baby might just fall out. My walking slowed to an extreme waddle and I could not have moved any faster if someone was dangling a million dollars in front of me.
• But we worked our tails off that day and then got Hudson settled into his big boy bed for his first big boy nap.
• Our beloved Boudreaux came down with some awful virus and spent all day getting sick. We finally took him to the vet when we realized he wasn’t going to stop getting sick and he got a couple of injections of pain reliever and anti-nausea medicine. The vet recommended Pepcid and a diet of boiled chicken and white rice. So I cooked our sweet puppy a meal and he has been on the mend ever since.
• Hudson’s new room is all arranged and we’re just waiting on the bedding and curtains to be finished. Here is a sneak peek of the shelves that TC and his dad moved from one side of the room to the other this weekend. I still need to accessorize.

• I feel completely frazzled and consumed with to-do lists. This is mostly frazzling because a lot of the things on my list aren’t things I can do myself.
• One of the things on my list is to have a gorgeous back deck and patio area completed before #2 arrives. This is a stretch. My sweet husband did arrange for me to finally get some outdoor backyard lighting. The dogs and I appreciate it!
• Happy Mardi Gras everyone from Hudson, Boudreaux, and Fiona! Hudson is sporting his Mardi Gras outfit today and enjoying Animal Crackers.