Happy, happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Whatever your day looks like, I hope it's the best one ever! 

Have you seen this?  I can't believe I haven't blogged about it... or that it exists. I am thankful my students showed it to me last Monday and they hated it, too. Although I do appreciate the educational value of teaching us all the holidays..I am further afraid of the youth of America...

I am thankful we are having a baby...and we will never dress him up as a hunting success story or a turkey.

Wouldn't it be amazing if you were going over to someone's house for Thanksgiving and they came out to do the big reveal and you saw this? Just me? I love it...in a I'm kind of afraid way. 

See caption above. 

Why happy Thanksgiving to you too, pilgrim pandas! 

And the classic....Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

For Natalie's News this has been, Natalie-Corinne. 

Jenna's birthday celebration!

This weekend we celebrated Jenna's 30th birthday! Taylor threw a bonfire party complete with a s'more bar and fabulous friends. Although my precious rebels lost in a really painful loss to those smell-like-a-corn dog- coon asses, and most of the other party goers were mourning another loss between UT and Vandy. (honestly this native Nashvillian was pretty happy to see Vandy win, but let's get back to Jenna). Taylor did a great job planning this soiree and everyone had a fab time! 

Happy 30th birthday, Jenna! 

For Natalie's News this has been, Natalie-Corinne. 

Happy Birthday to that girl in the wheelchair

Happy dirty thirty, neighbor/blog stalker/bravo lover/ friend, Kimmie! 

I hope you've had a fabulous 30th filled with awkward hipster observations so I can relive them via your blog. 

Happy Birthday!!!

For Natalie's News this has been, Natalie-Corinne. 

Election Day

Rest assured, this will NOT be a political posts. I'm so sick of all of it, I quit watching the news unless it was about Sandy. Obviously I think of my Mom all the time but this morning I am struck by her patriotism and thinking of her more than usual. There wasn't a time I can remember that she didn't cry after she voted. She was so sweet and would say something like, "we are just so fortunate to live in a country where we are allowed this privilege, it's just overwhelming". The first time I voted she made me sit outside of the Nolensville library and take a picture. 

Losing Mom has been the hardest challenge ever, but I don't think anyone is prepared for all the little things. When you're close to someone and you know all their "innards" or "good stuff" it makes it so much harder and so much more beautiful at the same time. 

Happy election day! 

For Natalie's News this has been, Natalie-Corinne. 

Adventures in utero motherhood

Sometime circa kindergarten or first grade I watched Adventures in Babysitting at my best friend Ashley's house. I was not allowed to watch PG-13 movies and let's be real, this was so cool. My friend Ashley had a pool, an older sister who knew pretty much everything and was very pretty, and she could watch mature movies that included every kind of 80's drama including an outrageous amount of hairspray. Anyway, all night they go around Chicago attempting the impossible. 

Currently, I feel like I'm attempting the impossible. I've been really anxious about, well everything so we took a birth class this weekend. I'm really glad we took it, I feel a lot better, and have even more questions to ask my baby doc. Other than all the "responsible" stuff we learned, there were also some more highlights. 

The instructor was an "experienced" labor nurse and said "ok---aaayyy" approximately 5,000 times an hour and lacked using adverbs. She seemed so sweet and knowledgeable and I would have loved her for my nurse. She was a bit hippy-dippy, earth lover and pushed the natural birth hardcore. Then she proceeded to show labor stories of women without meds and all of them seemed totally miserable and 10 years older. 

We also practiced all of these humbling activities like fake pushing, breathing, squatting and other gems. I would love to pretend that P and I were really mature but rest assured we laughed so hard I was afraid we would be kicked out. During the relaxation portion where our instructor was teaching the partners how to comfort the mother in labor, she gave different massage techniques while we were lying on the ground. They were actually really helpful but something about lying on the ground with 24 other people was just super awkward and I couldn't stop laughing. I literally had to cover my face. 

After P said we better pull it together we were able to make it through the rest of the class with minimal laughter interruptions. 

Although I know we learned a lot, I felt a little lame because of how funny we thought, well everything was and all the other couples seemed super serious and missed all of the insanely hilarious and awkward moments of the class. For a second I panicked and thought this was already a sign that we would be bad parents, but then I realized that everyone else was just super sad and lacked an amazing sense of humor. Suckas. 

Happy weekend! For Natalie's News this has been, Natalie-Corinne.