Hurricane #2: Check!

Sandy has come and gone and we faired just fine. :) We didn't think we were going to get much as far south as we were, but the Lord still smiled on us. While lots of neighboring communities had flooding or lost power, we were spared of both. The worst part for us was the cabin fever! Yesterday afternoon, we had to make a break from the four walls that were closing in quickly and went puddle hunting. :)

Puddles are definitely my favorite part of storms, I'm glad Neva agrees. :)

Now we're just enjoying the cooler weather. As a Colorado native, it's nice to be out of the 70's and 80's when it's almost November. The cooler air is refreshing, and it's nice to not have the air conditioner on anymore!

Neva did learn a new skill during the short incarceration, she can now climb up onto our high dining room chairs. No place is safe anymore! :) She got her daddy's agility, I'm afraid. (Not a bad thing, just makes for a tired mama.)

Why I love Dutch Bros Coffee....

Next to family, the mountains, friends and familiarity, one of the things I miss most about Colorado Springs is Dutch Bros Coffee. It sounds a little silly, but let me explain.

Dutch Bros came to C-Springs a few years ago as a little coffee hut downtown where they played good music and the coffee was good (and a really fair price!!). There are a million other coffee chains all over the city, but for some reason I would drive across town to go to Dutch Bros. One day, after all of my boasting of this awesome place, my mom asked me what was so special about it.

I don't know what the hiring staff does at Dutch Bros, but it's amazing. I wish more businesses would sync into their special recipe for finding amazing people. I have never gone to a Dutch Bros when someone is having an "ok" day. Every time, the staff is enthusiastic, excited and so friendly!! The music is pumpin' and they are having a blast. They aren't drones, they get to show their own style and they get the freedom to give a little. If you fill your punch card, they give you the most expensive drink free, not the cheapest. Once in awhile, they'll shoot you a couple extra stamps on your card "just because". They remember your drink, name, and smile. They hire people who care about people. The staff is incredible.

They know to get customers, you've got to give a little. They give free stickers a lot! I love stickers, always have. I also love promoting businesses I love, this works out well for all parties. :) Stickers are cheap, advertising is expensive. It's just smart.

I've written in on their corporate website on two different occasions, both times to toot their horn. Once was just because I wanted the higher-ups to know that they're doing an awesome job, the other was a couple of months after my husband and I had moved cross-country. We hadn't really settled in yet and didn't have any friends in 1,500 miles. We have a "Powered by Dutch Bros" sticker in our back window on our car. We had gone to the beach when my mom came to visit and when when we got back to the mostly vacant parking lot, someone had parked right next to us with Idaho plates and a Dutch Bros sticker in their back window. This might not seem like much, and maybe it wasn't. But that was the first time I felt like I had a friend in VA. I never even met this person, but felt a kinship. It sounds lame, but I really needed that. (I was pregnant, emotional, and far away from everything, don't judge.) Both times I have written on the Dutch Bros website, I've received an actual, personal response within a couple of days. Awesome. :)

Oh yeah, the coffee is really good too... and at competitive prices. :)

Out here, the places for coffee are gas stations, Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks. I have found few (if any) small business coffee houses out here. Every time I make it back home, I make sure to frequent DB and say hello. I hope they are able to continue to grow and expand and I wish the best for them! :)

If you'd like to check out the "Dutch Love" for yourself, here's their website. :)
Dutch Bros

Pink or blue? I'm takin' bets!! :)

Ok, so I'm a little over halfway into this pregnancy and we still haven't found out the gender. Honestly, it's not bothering me near as much as I thought it would. I think it's bugging everyone else more than Tim and me. :) But I thought it might be fun to conduct a few little old wives experiments and see what actually happens. :)

Old Wives Tale #1:
Hold your wedding band on a string over your belly. If it swings back and forth, it's a girl. If it circles, it's a boy. :) Here's a link to the short video of the experiment. Please excuse the messy house in the background!

Wedding band on a string gender prediction. :)

[Spoiler alert: It circled!!]

Old Wives Tale #2:
If you're having a girl, she'll steal your beauty. It's rumored that if you're having a girl, you'll have acne and more blemishes. This was TOTALLY true with Neva, my first baby. I had acne all the way through my pregnancy and she was definitely a girl. :)

This pregnancy, I've had a lot clearer complexion.... which has been awesome! :) I don't know about the "glow" I keep hearing about, I think I just feel like I sweat more. ;)

Old Wives Tale #3:
If you're carrying high, it's a little lady; low it's a little fella.

It's a little hard for me to tell on this one, but from what I can tell by comparing belly pictures from Neva (a little less than 2 years ago) and currently, I feel like I'm carrying about as high as I did before but I don't think it's as wide as with Neva. I feel more basketball-y this time around. I don't know if this has to do with gender, the fact it's a 2nd pregnancy, or that my starting weight was a little lower this pregnancy. But looking at the pictures side-by-side, it definitely looks like this little one is lower!! The picture on the left is with Neva at 23 weeks, the right picture is from earlier today, 21 weeks.

Old Wives Tale #4:
If you're craving sweets, you're having a girl. If you're craving salty, it's a boy. This one's a toss up: I want to eat everything I hear anybody talk about. There's been a lot of sweets, but the biggest has been chips and salsa. So I guess salty wins out.

Old Wives Tale #5:
Chinese birth charts use your age (and time zone, I guess) at conception to determine the gender of your baby. I trust this about as far as I can dig to China, but it's all part of the fun. :)

(I'm not sure if the link will take you to the site or the results, but here ya go)
Chinese Gender Calander


The results:  It's a girl!  (Chinese Age 28 at Lunar month 4)  .... whatever that means lol. :)


Old Wives Tale #6:
If your hubby has sympathy cravings and gains a little extra padding, you're in for a sweet little girl. Again, I don't know if it's the gender of the baby, or the fact that Tim's working full-time, going to school full-time, living on a steady diet of coffee and.... coffee and still trying to be here for his wife and toddler, but I think he's lost weight this pregnancy. 

Old Wives Tale #7:
If you've got morning sickness, you're having a girl. With Neva, I had it fast and furious in the morning and at 4 p.m. like clockwork all through my first trimester. I think I only got sick about a dozen times, but the morning sickness hit me pretty hard. This pregnancy, I was a little queasy for about 3 weeks, but I never got sick. Which was nice. :)

Old Wives Tale #8:
Burn, baby, burn!! If you've got lots of heartburn, you're having a boy with a full head of hair. I hardly had any heartburn with Neva. She was a cute little girl with hardly any fuzz on the top her little dome. This time around, I haven't had any heartburn at all. Granted, I am only 21 weeks, so we'll see if that sticks later on in the pregnancy. :)

Old Wives Tale #9:

If you grab a sole key by the round part, you're having a boy. If you grab it by the skinny part, you're having a girl. Honestly, I usually grab my keys by the Carbineer, but when I have had to grab one alone I snagged it by the round part. But I can't ever recall seeing someone pick it up by the skinny part. :)

So, according to 9 popular old wives tales, the score is 7 for a boy and 2 for a girl. :) Time will tell and I'll be sure to post the results to follow up when we find out the gender for ourselves. :)