Caleb...

I was waiting to publish this post until I had thought of something to write along with it, but I'm just not  feeling it. So an almost wordless picture post is what you're going to get...

But let's face it, this kid is cute enough for these pictures to speak for themselves!

See, told ya.

Enjoy....

My Parents Are In Town....

...thus the lack of posting! I've been basking in naps and laziness these last few days and it's been fabulous. I feel more rested and my shower is sparkling ;)

Gotta love having a clean-freak for a mom in town and I have no shame, yes please, scrub my shower!

Aubrey is in her glory with Opa and Oma around, they have all the patience in the world for her... something Mamma was running out of.

We're (not so) patiently waiting for baby to make it's appearance....

I'm due on Monday (the 12th), but I'm already feeling 2 weeks over due!

Ahh the joys of the second pregnancy ;)

I'll try and post more, but I can't promise anything...

Napping is very important these days.

I do it like it's my job..... 

that and eat. Two, VERY important jobs.

Just What I Needed....

My oldest brother Ed sent me this today. 

And let me tell you, it's exactly what I needed on this Monday morning.

 Seeing as to how our family all grew up speaking German(and our parents still have a pretty thick accent), I'd say it's quite appropriate ;) 

But Ed and I...and Astrid...and Will....and Arv....pretty much everyone in my family... has a special love for the accent and when he sent me this titled, "Is this about you??" I just about died laughing! 

I'm not sure what this guy is/was on, but someone was smart to film it. Bravo!

Thanks Ed.

Enjoy...

How's This For Random?!

*It's cold here people! Like really cold, get out the sweaters and scarves cold! Who knew this could happen in Georgia?!? Certainly not me.

*I'm wearing a zip-up hoodie....I'm in my happy place:)

*I have a big family, see...

*That's right, immediate family.

*It. Gets. Loud. at a family gathering.

*Might be the fact that the kids out-number the adults....yup, I bet that's it...although, we are not the quietest bunch of adults out there....

*When we get together there is a lot of this going on....

Mass chaos.

*and we eat a lot of this....

*I would like to add that I took this picture after a bunch of people had already taken some steak...and we actually, if memory serves, ran out of meat on this occasion. 

*we Kliewer's love us some meat. 

*One of my sister-in-law's doesn't eat meat. Seriously. I bet she goes home at night and cries over our crazy consumption of meat....probably not. She's used to us by now.

*Moving on from all things meat, I'm about 20-ish weeks along now

*I have yet to find a doctor here in Augusta, probably should get on that one.

*The baby is kicking up a freaking storm! LOVE this part(no, that was not sarcasm, I really do love it. Figured I'd clarify because I tend to err on the side of sarcasm)

*Aubrey is going through cousin withdrawal. Who can blame her?! She had someone to play with at ALL times in Canada and now, just me. Poor thing.

*Did I mention that I was cold and wearing a hoodie?!? Because I am :)

Forget Packing....

After packing for a cross country move (well, kinda cross country, more like down country....that doesn't sound right....you get what I mean, right? a move down South... I'll stop now) packing for a three week trip seems like nothing, thus the procrastinating :) It's what I do best.

So instead of boring old packing, I've made my nieces cute head bands! I just took plain ribbon and tried to spruce it up, and I'm loving how they turned out! My nieces range in age from 2 to 12 and random ages in between. Ergo the reasoning behind them looking a bit different to try and accommodate their ages.  

This one is for my oldest niece, Taylor. The rosette is detachable and has a pin on the back so she can use it on something else--if she so pleases

Because my measuring was a bit off and this one was slightly bigger than the one in the below picture, it's for the next in age, Jordis

This one's for Jamie, who's four. Not sure if these girls will wear them, hopefully... I did painstakingly make all those pleats.... maybe I could guilt them into wearing them, something to consider.

The not-so-little-anymore Aniya gets this one, most comfortable and shouldn't slip off when she's running around like a maniac ;) 

And because Aubrey has outgrown a lot of her clothes for fall....understandably, she's been wearing her clothes from when she was 18 months. And before you go and think it's because we were too cheap to get her new ones and let her walk around with ankle biters and 3/4 length sleeves(not the cool kind), it was actually because I was a good frugal mom and bought her stuff a bit bigger....and then she decided she was too cool to grow. No joke, she can still wear a pair of 12-18 month jeans...she was blessed with my leg length, poor girl.

Anyways, this just in--clothes are expensive! 

So me being the crafty person I am (riiiight) bought some plain cheap/on clearance shirts from Target and Walmart and decided to do a little applique on them.

And they turned out so cute! ...if I do say so myself *insert pat on own back*

I mean, look at all that shabby goodness! 

So that was how I spent yesterday...I'm pretty sure I should get some packing or cleaning done today, buuuut I think I'll sew again. There's always tomorrow night to pack (that would be the Kliewer way....).

Random Nuggets From My Day To Day....

Nugget Numero Uno--- Zach technically gets every other weekend off and the weekends he does work, the days are supposed to end around noon (for this particular rotation he's on....and noon?? NEVER). Anyway, last weekend he needed to do a little work in the eventing and Aubrey thought she'd "help" him. I don't know how he gets anything done, but he does. And check out the colossal mess these two can make while "working! I spy another place where my mask has been lovingly placed....

Best part was that I didn't see it there until I looked at the picture, so I went back the next day and took another close up for your viewing pleasure :)

Nugget Numero Dos--- Ok, so you know how you finally decide to confess one of your crazy anallities (spell check hates me for that, but it's a word now) to your spouse and you hope for support and love in return?! Not in my house. I confided in Zach that once I have used something from the medicine cabinet, I have to make sure that all the bottles have their labels pointing nicely forward....and this is now what I come to see every morning.

Sad thing is he goes waaay out of his way to put them in perfectly backwards. Keep in mind that he's getting ready at 4am! Seriously?!? Trouble. Why do I even open up my mouth? I can just picture him at 4am grinning like an idiot, pleased as can be with himself. Sadly, it's just another reason why I love that man.

Nugget Numero Tres----- {side note: I'd like to give a shout out to Dora the Explorer for teaching me Spanish} I won my first giveaway over at Pink Stitches , it was from Live.Laugh.Photograph and it's this super cute necklace....

Isn't it fabulous?!? I love it and have worn it since I got it! I'm loving mixing it with other necklaces I already have.

Nugget Numero Quattro--- I saw this the other day and it made my heart melt! Aubrey set herself up by the window with her chair and her blankie and was waiting for Daddy to pull up. Her love for her daddy is so precious, like I said before, him being gone a lot is hardest on her. But when Zach is home, he puts his all into playing with her and it just makes my heart swell! He's the perfect example of quality time, he gives her his undivided attention when he is home and that is making this whole thing work. She still knows that daddy loves her, no matter how much he is gone! Like I said before, love that man!

I Wish.....

*that I was already living in my house in Georgia....

*that New Jersey would stop having such schizophrenic weather

*that I didn't have a mouse(most likely mice) in the house

*that said mouse/mice hadn't got into Aubrey's Birthday chocolate....that was in the gift bag already...and I had to throw away...and Aubrey was devastated:(

*that my house would pack itself

*that I had motivation to work out

*that chocolate wasn't so stinkin' tasty

*that Aubrey wasn't so stinkin' cute because it plain ol' hurts to love her so much!

Big Girl Now...

My baby girl turns...

{Photo Credit to Amy Rehbein}

today....

I'm a crazy mixture of excited and sad. I know everyone says this, but why do they have to grow up?? It seems like just yesterday I was cuddling her chunky body and nuzzling her bald, peach-fuzz head. *sigh* We can't win can we? We always push our kids to learn the next thing, eat solids, roll over, potty train(Aubrey's SO not on board with this)....Guess we have ourselves to blame when we look back and wonder where the time has gone!

Aubrey is such an amazing girl, smart beyond her years, and one of the funniest kids I've ever known. I know that I'm a little biased, but her comedic timing is bang on. We'll say something and she has a witty retort in seconds! LOVE that about her! She's a beautiful girl inside and out and I feel so blessed to call her my daughter. I'm thankful every day that the Lord chose to bless us with her and pray that the years to come with her are just as amazing.

~~~~~~~~
In other news, we found a place to live in Georgia!!! SO excited! The one thing that I'm sad about...other than moving away from great friends and an awesome church....the backyard with the house is small:( BUT we HAVE a backyard...all to ourselves!! YAY!!
I'm done my traveling for now and will back to my regular blogging tomorrow:)

Random Thoughts

*Zach's mom was supposed to get in last night and she missed her flight, so she's getting in later today. My heart is breaking for 2 reasons...Aubrey and Zach's mom:( They were both SO excited to see each other and are NOT happy about this delay.

*I am beyond excited about Boston this weekend!! And Zach just surprised me with tickets to the Red Sox game tomorrow night...for my Birthday!

*It's my Birthday on Saturday and yes, I'm one of those obsessed-with-my-Birthday-and-let-everyone-know people:)

*My love language is TOTALLY gifts and I think that Zach is getting it finally. Uh-oh, now I'm making him sound bad! I don't mean it like that, we're just poor and he's now getting that I don't care how small the gift, flowers,homemade, whatever, I'll love it!

*I love random surprises, so the fact that he's planned this since March makes me love it/him even more!

*If you are either a die hard Red Sox fan or a die hard Yankees fan, I apologize in advance for this next comment...

*Zach and I can't pick a team. We love the whole rivalry business and can't get enough of it! So even though we live in the NYC area, we can't commit to just the Yankees. We just love them both...sorry.

*whew. I feel better having got that confession off my chest.

*This spacing is off again?!? What is up with this stupid thing???

*Have I ever mentioned how much I LOVE Boston?? I do. I LOVE Boston. So much that I have to write LOVE in capitals every time, see? LOVE LOVE LOVE Boston:) And Boston in the Spring?!! Are you kidding me?!? *This is the second East Cost birthday(out of 3 so far) that I've spent in Boston(LOVE!!). Now that is a yearly tradition I can get behind!

*If you asked me where my dream place to live is? Boston, hands down! Why? Because I....you guessed it---LOVE it!

*something I'm not excited about----I have to go back to the DMV today. Yes again. At least I have my wonderful companion, Amy, to go with! Bless her, she's going with me again today and that's the only reason I'm not dreading it.

And Now, Deep Thoughts.....

Anyone remember that from SNL?!? How do I remember you ask, being only 27? Simple really, I had older brothers...like 12 years older than me, older! With that kind of age difference a poor child ends up watching things well beyond their years(and listening too... Montley Crue, Guns N'Roses, Def Leppard.....the list goes on)! No matter how many times my mom would try and rescue me from the bowels of my brothers bedrooms, or from their giant group of friends in the basement/front yard gathering around their "cool" new cars/motorcycles, I kept going back....

Which leads me to the other problem, my brothers adored me:) Seriously though, I can't remember an instance where they were EVER mean to me, and their friends weren't either. I have three older brothers, one 12 years older, one 11 years older and one 8 years older and they all treated me like a princess(my sister on the other hand....).

This is what my mom was battling, I would run downstairs to play with them, they'd be watching SNL, they'd welcome me into their giant group of friends, I'd sit there---on my latest crushes lap, fall in love---and I'd watch/listen to whatever they were. Then my mom would come(for the hundredth time),pull me out, put me back in bed and I'd sneak out again. Trouble. I sometimes think it would have been easier for my mom if my brothers hated me, or thought I was a giant pest. Alas, I was tooo wonderful and they couldn't get enough;)

Allllll that to explain the title of this post....how's that for a bunny trail?!?

*I'm gonna go with the random style again today...it's where my head is....don't believe me? Reread above story;)

*I've laced this post with pictures of two of the three dates Zach and I went on while my parents were here...to Brooklyn and Hoboken....you're welcome.

*we're heading to Connecticut to today to spend some time with wonderful friends we haven't seen since Thanksgiving!

*I've been spending most of my time either studying for the written test to switch my licence over to an NJ one....or procrastinating it:)

*found out the manual for it is...get ready....231 pages long!!!

*I don't know if I've ever mentioned it before....I HATE studying! I know, hate is a strong word...but it applies.

*I have mega anxiety attacks when I am in a test setting...no joke...wish I recognised this in high school, probably would have felt better knowing what I was up against!

*I have to stop in between each of these points to stand on my chair and make tons of noise so the mouse that is scratching around my ceiling will stop.

*I'm so ready to get out of this apartment!

*mice are gross. *my coffee maker has now morphed itself into a cappuccino machine....I put in enough water/beans for 6 cups(yes, all for me) and out comes 2...of the strongest cups of espresso EVER. and I like my coffee strong.

*I'm waiting for my pending ulcer to show up.

*I LOVE Hoboken. If given the chance, I think I'd live there and then be super close to Manhattan and be in my happy place:)

*As much as I love Hoboken...I love Boston more!

*I'm going to Boston next weekend...2 of my 3 birthdays that we've lived in these-here-parts will have been spend there!!

*That is Brooklyn Bridge in the above picture. *Zach's mom is going to be here this next week! Aubrey=happy. *I have waaaay more pictures that "thoughts" so this is going to be a little lop-sided:) *I warned you that I had can't-decide-between-pictures-and-decide-to-post-them-all-itis.*Am I the only one who has issues with the auto spacing on the blog??!?