Two Songs

{one} "I'll Stand by You" by the Pretenders
our wedding song

{two} "Baby Mine" the Kenny Loggins version
I used to sing this to Little M all the time when she was a baby

Blog Sale!

Hey guys!  I decided to jump on the blog sale bandwagon to get rid of some of my old stuff.  This first sale is all things I wore while pregnant, though they are not all maternity.  I will have more stuff once New Baby makes its appearance!

GAP maternity shorts, size 1 $6.00 {sold}

GAP maternity jeans, bootcut style size 2 $10.00 {sold}

Non maternity dress, green size Medium.  It is an empire waist $5.00 {sold}

back of dress

Same as green dress, but a pinky, red color.  They are both a halter top $5.00 {sold}

One piece shirt, though it looks like 2.  Never worn.  There is a belt that can also just tie in the back Two Hearts Maternity size M $5.00 {sold}

Back of shirt, color is maroon and grey stripes

Bella Band, one size fits all, tan color $3.00 {sold}

Black empire waist tank top, size M non-maternity $2.00 {sold}

Empire detail

Same as black.  Reddish, pink color. M $2.00 I also just realized I have one in white as well.  Same size, M $2.00 {sold}

Please add $3.00 extra on for shipping.  I have a PayPal account that you can pay through, or you can send me a check.  All clothes are in good condition, no tears, stains, etc.  Please email me at mommymandymusings@yahoo.com if you are interested in anything!!

Memorial Day

It is easy for me to complain that my husband is working today.  I feel bad that he never seems to get a holiday off, and I feel bad for Little M and I because we are without our favorite guy for the day.  But this morning I stopped myself.  Because while we are without him today, he will come home to us tonight.  Many years ago he signed over his life to keep this country safe....but thankfully never had to give that much of himself. 

Today we remember those who gave the ultimate sacrifice....who gave their lives so that we may be free and live in safety every day.  I will say a prayer of thanks for each of them, and another for their families and friends left behind. 


Final Inspection

The soldier stood and faced his God

Which must always come to pass

He hoped his shoes were shining bright

Just as brightly as his brass.



“Step forward now, soldier,

How shall I deal with you?

Have you turned the other cheek?

To my Church have you been true?”



The soldier squared his shoulders and said,

“No Lord I guess I ain’t

Because those of us who carry guns

can’t always be a saint.



I’ve had to work most Sundays

and at times my talk was tough,

But, I never took a thing

That wasn’t mine to keep…



Though I worked a lot of overtime

When the bills got just too steep,

And I never passed a cry for help,

Though at times I shook with fear,

And sometimes, God forgive me,

I’ve wept unmanly tears.



I know I don’t deserve a place

Among the people here,

They never wanted me around

Except to calm their fears.

If you’ve a place for me here, Lord,

It needn’t be so grand,

I never expected or had too much,

But if you don’t I’ll understand.”



There was a silence all around the throne

Where the saints often trod

As the soldier waited quietly,

for the judgment of his God,

“Step forward now, soldier,

You’ve borne your burdens well,

Come walk peacefully on Heaven’s streets,

You’ve done your time in HELL.”



- – - written by Joshua Helterbran

Three Films


{one} Notting Hill

{two} The Hurt Locker

{three} A Few Good Men

Four Books


{one} Little Women

{two} A Farewell to Arms

{three} Dear John

{four} Gone With the Wind

Five Foods


These are five of my favorite foods!

{one} Pizza

{two} Sesame seed bagel with butter

{three} Cupcakes

{four} M&M's

{five} Mike & Ike's

Six Places

I wasn't sure what they meant by this, so I am making a list of six places I have been to

{one} Paris

{two} London

{three} Punta Cana

{four} San Diego

{five} Disney World

{six} Barbados

Seven Wants

{one} New countertops in the kitchen

{two} A master bathroom

{three} A walk-in closet

{four} A beach house

{five} All-stainless steel appliances

{six} A pool

{seven} Never to have to work again

Eight Fears


{one} Something happening to Skip at work

{two} Something happening to Little M or New Baby ever

{three} Skip losing his job

{four} My kids thinking I was a bad mom

{five} This nausea not actually going away once I give birth

{six} Our house being broken into

{seven} Another terrorist attack

{eight} Permanently losing one of my senses or the ability to walk

Pregnancy Update - Week 36

How far along - 36 weeks

Maternity clothes - Well since it's been raining almost every day for about three weeks with no end in sight, I spend most days in my jammies...cuz why not


Weight gain - I was at 37 lbs the other day...hopefully that's as high as it goes!

Stretch marks - Okay, how is far that I went 35 WEEKS without a single one, and now they are popping up like crazy?!?!  Thankfully none on my stomach yet...still holding on to my bikini dreams for next summer!

Belly button - Definitely out

Sleep - Still my favorite part of the day.  It is nearly impossible to get up once I'm laying down though, which makes my 4857092873598327 trips to the bathroom every night super fun.

Best moment this week - Realizing I officially have less than a month to go....WAHOO!!!

Foods I'm loving - Candy, some chocolate, and all carbs


Foods I'm hating - Anything healthy, haha {wish I was joking} Also, I can only eat small meals and drink little bits at a time.  Anything more than that in one sitting and my stretches my stomach, thus stretching the skin on my stomach, practically to its breaking point.  NOT pleasant let me tell you


Movement - Still consistent but much less than before.  New Baby has definitely run out of room.

Symptoms - Still nauseous, back pain, hip pain, stuffy nose, swelling, headaches, exhaustion, some cramping, pelvic pain that makes it almost impossible for me to walk some days


Gender - Still time to vote in the poll!! It's pretty even but I think boy is pulling ahead these days

What I'm looking forward to - Next week I will be full term!!!

What I miss - Not being nauseous and out of breath all the time...comfortably picking up Little M, it gets harder and harder each day:(

Emotions - Lots of crying

Whoops, forgot a picture.  Will post one later in the week!

Springtime with Shutterfly!

Though you wouldn't know it by the weather around here, spring has come in full force!  I have always loved spring, and not just for the warm weather.  Spring is a time to break out of the mundane winter routine and finally have some fun!  There always seems to be an abundance of activities to keep everyone busy during the spring as well. 

Spring always marks the start of wedding season.  Everywhere you look there are blushing brides and bridal showers.  There also seems to be a plethora of pregnant ladies these days as well {me included!}  And with those growing bellies comes tons of baby shower invitations and birth announcements. 

Let's not forget that sprinkled in amongst all these events are both Mother's and Father's day!  Thankfully Shutterfly is there to help with whatever needs we may have for these events.  Personalized gifts and photo books are always a huge hit with my parents!

So whether you are looking to share some good news with friends, or the perfect gift for another, head on over to Shutterfly for all your photo needs and wants!

Have a blog? Sign up for a chance at 50 free cards from Shutterfly.




Disclaimer: I will be receiving free photo announcements from Shutterfly for this post.  All opinions are my own.  I was not swayed in any way for my opinion.  Other experiences may vary. 

Nine Loves

Obviously I love my husband, Little M, New Baby, my pups, and family and friends the most of anything in the world.   But I decided to dedicate this list to all the 'silly' things in life I love

{one} the beach

{two} Diet Coke

{three} all kinds of candy

{four} throwing parties

{five} warm summer days and nights

{six} movie theater popcorn

{seven} football season

{eight} sundresses and flip flops

{nine} having a really good hair day

What do you love?

Ten Secrets

I saw this over at His & Hers Infertility and thought it was a really fun challenge {that and I seem to be in a bit of a blogging rut recently and need some good material}  Today's topic is ten secrets.  This was way harder than I thought it would be, but here you go!  Oh, and feel free to join in the fun!  Just make sure to come back and tell me so I can check out your posts too!

{one} I had surgery on the backs of my feet in college.  I had extra bones growing back there that they removed.  It looked like I had chicken feet.

{two} I have never been pulled over.

{three} I still have a scar on my lip from where Mr. B bit me when he was a puppy.

{four} I feel like a failure as a woman since one of the main reasons we aren't having any more babies after this because I am so sick during my pregnancies.

{five} Just after Skip and I got back from our honeymoon, I had a total freakout that he could kill me and no one would be there to stop it.  I have no idea why since I'm not actually afraid of him, haha.  I guess it was just nerves since I had never lived with a boy before. 

{six} My least favorite chore is folding and putting away laundry.  I am the worst at getting this done in a timely manner.

{seven} I love hosting parties and having people over our house.

{eight} I DVR General Hospital every day.  It is one of my most favorite guilty pleasures.

{nine} I nap every single day when Little M does.  I figure I won't be able to once New Baby comes and besides, it's two hours out of the day where I'm not nauseous

{ten} I always wait up to see Skip when he works the night shift until 11:00 pm.  I just miss him still when he is at work and want to catch up with him about his day.  I hope I never grow out of this "honeymoon phase" of missing him all the time!

How I Started [and Stopped} Potty Training in 24 Hours

At the beginning of May, Skip and I decided it was time to start potty training Little M.  We bought a potty in the summer, and have watched the Elmo Potty video about a million times since then, but never really made a big deal out of the whole thing.  But with New Baby's impending arrival, we thought it would be a good time to do our own version of Potty Training Boot camp.  Little M was almost 2 1/2 {what I thought would be an ideal age} was able to take her clothes off and on, and was able to sit still for at least a few minutes at a time.  I assumed we were ready

I always knew that I did not want to drag potty training on for months and months on end, just my personal preference.  Once we started, there would be no going back.  I would not go back and forth between underpants, diapers, and pull-ups. {Well, pull-ups would be done at night still since night training solely depends on their physical development, and can take a lot longer}  I was prepared to keep us at home for a few weeks until she was completely trained during the day. 

I awoke the morning of May 3rd feeling determined.  When I went in to get Little M out of bed I told her we were done with diapers and from now on she would be going bathroom in the potty and only wearing underpants.  I brought her into the bathroom, put her on the potty, and waited....and waited...and waited.  Little M patiently sat on the potty for almost 5 minutes, but nothing happened.  She must have just gone in her diaper before I woke her up and so she was good for now.  I put her in some underpants and we headed downstairs for breakfast.

Not five minutes had gone by when we had our first accident.  No big deal I thought, I had prepared myself for this.  But the rest of the morning only went downhill from there.  I put Little M on the potty every 10 minutes, but she would never go.  Instead she would go in her underpants in the five minutes in between potty times.  We watched Elmo Potty, read potty books, sat on her little potty, sat on the big potty.  By nap time we had gone through six pairs of underpants and tried just about every trick in the book.  I was exhausted and at my wits end.  I popped Little M in some pull-ups and we thankfully both napped.  I figured we would be rested enough to go for it again once Skip came home.

But the rest of the day was as bad as the morning.  Even with Skip's help, nothing was working.  By the end of the day I was crying {and not just from these pregnancy hormones} and Little M was yelling "no potty!" every time we tried to put her on it.  She had not once gone to the bathroom in the potty {even after sitting on it for 20 minutes one time} and she really didn't seem to mind running around in a wet diaper.  It just didn't seem to bother her. 

After talking it over with Skip that night, we realized Little M was just not ready for this next step, so why force it.  I didn't want it to turn into a miserable experience or turn it into a battle.  It would be a much easier process once she was really ready.  So if that means we are going to have two kids in diapers for awhile, so be it.  We'll reevaluate the whole thing again in the fall when Little M is almost three.  But until then I'll just enjoy having fun with my little girl who could care less about still being in 'diapies"

Wordless Wednesdays

The Many Faces of Little M

The Pink Room

A *huge* shoutout to my BFF Kim for still having my post on Little M's pink room saved in her reader and emailing it to me!  So glad I don't have to try and remember what I wrote.  So if you missed it the other day, here is a peak into Little M's new big girl room!

Okay, I really meant to sit down and write this weeks ago, but better late than never right? We moved Little M to her new big girl room about a month or so ago, and the transition really has gone smoothly. I think it helped that we moved all the furniture, including her converted crib-to-toddler bed from her nursery. I think it helped her feel more secure. We built it up for weeks, always talking about her "pink room" and how it was for big girls. We let her just play in there for a few days before the move as well, which also seemed to help. She still gets excited to go up to her "pink room" all the time, and has show no desire to go back to the nursery, even with the New Baby's crib set up already. I'm really happy that she's adjusted so well. I'm even happier with the way the room turned out! I went with a pink, black, and white French-themed room. I love that it is something she can grow with, and can also be easily changed with a few accessories. When she is a little bigger we will be trading in the toddler bed for a four-poster bed that matches the other furniture in the room. I will also then be getting the bedding set that matches the curtains, nightlight, and hamper. Now for the pictures....Enjoy!!

View from the doorway

Changing table will obviously get moved to New Baby's room in June

Nightlight matches the curtains!  Both from CSN.com

Every little girl needs a rocking chair!

Some pictures and video monitor above her bed

I framed some decorative paper I got from Michaels

Highlighting a few accessories

A few more accessories...most of which I got at Michaels

Paris sign from Michaels...lightswitch cover from Etsy...hamper from CSN.com