life lately.

running a lot more, and that makes me happy.

optimistically planning for some major changes to our house.

and playing with this one as much as possible. can't get over these pictures- captures our little mila mopenstein perfectly.

how our weekend was spent.

aside from a pretty lazy saturday, the weekend started off to a very productive start. nick's grandma came to town for a visit and gave me a serious lesson on how to make flan. not exactly sure where she got the recipe, but this one is perfect. normally i'm turned off by the gelatinous texture of flan but this one was almost a custard. sooo good. my mom might have had two pieces. one after another. for breakfast. unfortunately this picture is a very appropriate image of our little abuela about ninety-percent of the time. gotta love her.

{typical 'lita}

and we just polished off this hot weekend with a walk around the park. very much needed after too many spoonfuls of the deliciousness in my fridge {a.k.a. flan}.

apparently i only had one shirt to wear for the weekend. i'm fine with it.

loving.

this mobile for M's room

this shoe organizer for when mila moo takes those first few steps

this girl on the right, because she came all the way from ny {by way of memphis} to meet my little girl

priorities.

as much as i love documenting this wonderful life that we live, since the babe has come, hanging out with her {and not typing on a computer or writing in a journal} is always at the top of my to-do list.

being a breast feeding mama, my life is now lived in two- or three-hour time segments. i could easily crack open my computer while nursing {since we've finally passed that 'first two weeks of breast feeding is so horribly painful' point} but giving her my full attention is just so much more important. maybe, once i can pry myself away from my beautiful baby {if that day ever comes}, my blog posts can get a little more regular. seriously, how do you blogging mamas do it?! but until then, i have no miraculous updates to the home or creative workouts to boast about {so far, running three miles has been a huge success for me}. only more pictures of this one.

{such the big girl}

but this weekend is a busy one for us. a good friends baby-bbq, ten-year 'semi' reunion and one of mila's future prospect's future birthdays. maybe we can snap some shots of our new parental life.

when do i blog?

when this babe decides to fall asleep before me.

and she's not hungry anymore. and dinner is done. dishes are clean. house is spotless. laundry is folded and where it's supposed to be.

and i manage a workout.

yeah, that's my 'might get a blog post in today' criteria.

and today was one of those days.

mila's "due" date.

after a three-mile walk this morning and a spicy thai lunch,  husband and i headed out to the beach house for some much needed relaxation. and we might have taken the boat over some serious waves in hopes that the bumps would jostle mila around enough to make her debut tonight.

now we watch the heat hopefully beat the mavs while we listen to the playlist that the dad-to-be made for the birth of his first daughter. doesn't get much better than him.

and so we wait.

on the surface it may look like i didn't get much done today {okay, maybe i didn't accomplish much beneath the surface either}, but all in all, today's day of waiting has actually been a pleasant one.

last night, nick and i went to his mom's house to make possibly the freshest salsa ever with loads of freshly-picked veggies from each of our gardens.

and today, when husband came home at lunch, he mowed the front yard while i micro-managed by eating some fruit curbside.

mind you, this is what our yard looked like when we moved in:

...pretty much burnt to a crisp.

then at about one, i felt something we haven't had for over a week now: cold air blowing through our vents. i do love the fact that on the sunny west coast and many parts of these beautiful united states, air conditioners are not necessary, but corpus christi is not one of those places. dry air and mild temperatures just don't exist here, it's humid and it's HOT. especially in the summer {which for us, ranges from about april to october}. so imagine my joy when i finally saw the complete installation of this

in our backyard. especially considering the fact that it's the most efficient system we could get and should cut our electricity costs by about sixty percent.

between all of the 'busYness' of today, i finally worked up an appetite that i knew only buckwheat pancakes could satisfy {and no, all of the above did not happen before noon arrived, my pancakes were definitely consumed riiiiight around three o'clock}.

i've made buckwheat pancakes from scratch before but today i just didn't have the energy, so i bought this mix from the store. it definitely needs a LOT of tweaking. i went by the instructions on the box and the only thing that got me through them {besides the fact that i was STARVing} was that lovely little bottle in the background of the last picture. sugar-free maple syrup, which makes just about anything taste better. especially oatmeal.

aaaaand, i may have watched last night's episode of 'the real housewives of new jersey'. i can't decide how much/little i like melissa {teresa's sister-in-law}, thoughts?

today's day.

according to my iphone.

had a blast with these two today. even if taylor did hog all of the grapes before jett and i had a chance to have some.

an unexpected drawback to not sitting at a desk all day.

lack of water!!! and i am a serious water drinker. if it's possible to drink too much, i drink too much. but these past few days, my water intake has seriously diminished. maybe i'm going to have to resort to hooking a water bottle onto a keychain and sticking it on my hip all day long. or maybe not. instead, i'm just going to keep random hydration stations all over the house today.

{a nap is inevitable today}

{book reading 'nook'}

{along for the ride}

{obviously SOME amount

of time is spent at my desk}

{while i wash dishes and

cook in the kitchen}

my 'first morning at home' necessities.

{a much more pleasant

workspace than 416 starr st.}

{npr via my tivoli}

{a little nudge for the little one

to come out and meet us}

happy monday!

you my friend.

are on my 'to do' list*.

{blackberry macaroon tart

courtesy of my bff, ms. stewart}

*in a completely non-perverse way

happy monday!

when without.

{...an idea for a new post} focus on things that make me happy.

not having back pain, thanks to night-time showers and lots of belly and foot massages.

actually RUNNING {okay, jogging} again {thanks, skinny runner}.

having normal eating habits again.

{chick + butternut squash + sauteéd spinach}

putting together loads of stuff for the babe tonight.

{stokke stroller}

{bloom seat and high chair combo}

my *new* idea for a 'push present'. a push to lose any stubborn 'baby weight'.

{garmin four-o-five}

{ipod nano}

{sticking to my 'run a marathon, ANY marathon in 2011' goal}

and looking good while doing it {running, that is}.

{ta ta tamer by lulu}

{26.2 apparel top}

{nike's tempo running short}

{newton running shoes}

now how's that for a PUSHHHHHHH present???

although.

it didn't result in the best sleep. last night we made our way to a little dindin for the school district's super-intendent {our architecture firm designs mostly schools}. there were a lot of laughs to be shared but i mostly enjoyed my time with two of my favorite-est people.

{my red lipstick queen}

{the husband and me. because he's great}

happy weekend.

i NEVER win ANYthing.

which is why this deserves its own post. the other day i commented on a give away over at fig+sage {a go-to must for reviews on organic products}. and look at what my little inbox decided to give me this morning:

Fig+Sage  to me

show details 7:28 PM (15 hours ago)

YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Many congrats!!!  Please send your shipping address so that the lovely ladies at Zoe Organics may ship out your pampering organic pregnancy prize to you :)

Thanks so much for reading Fig+Sage, we hope you enjoy it and come back often!

xoxo,

Stancie + Erin

www.figandsage.com

yeah--preTTY excited. can't wait to try out all of the mama-to-be pampering products that are coming my way.

expect lots of reviews on these beautifying, make me feel great tubs of gold!