Septuagesima and Super Bowl Sunday

I haven't linked up with What I Wore Sunday in... a long, long time. I don't even remember. But I realized recently that, with Little Bear, I was so good at staying behind the camera that we literally have just one photo of me pregnant with him, and I happen to hate how I look in that photo. And we have very few photos where I look at all pregnant with Alex. So today, at 20 weeks pregnant with Kit, I was feeling pregnant-but-pretty and figured it might be time to try WIWS again.

In the old calendar, today is known as Septuagesima: seventy days before Easter. We're moving quickly toward Lent, y'all. We're starting to hear more themes of sacrifice, of putting God first, of getting ready. More about Lent, and how I'm oddly excited for it this year, later this week. Today in his homily, Father spoke about suffering; how at times suffering can seem to drag on, and on, and on, wearing us down. We should try to accept it as purgative, Father reminded us, instead of complaining. I'm going to try to remember that this week, as my sciatica continues to flare up at the most inconvenient times.

Dress: Liz Lange Maternity, thrifted

Cardigan: GNW, thrifted

"You look pregnant today!" a friend exclaimed after Mass this morning. Yep, I do... We're halfway through! I'm kind of avoiding the scale these days, going on the principle that if I don't know how much I've gained I won't stress about gaining weight and then be frustrated with myself for being unhappy about gaining when that's supposed to happen when you're pregnant... Complicated? Yes. Silly? Yeah, probably. But I don't feel like I've gained very much, and last we checked I hadn't, so right now, holding onto that (possibly false) knowledge is letting me be happy with what I'm seeing in the mirror these days.

This afternoon, what I was seeing was a very subtle green-and-blue combo that I'm pretty sure most of my family—who were halfheartedly cheering for the Patriots on the grounds that the Seahawks won last year—didn't pick up on. Did you watch the Super Bowl? What a game! I love games when you honestly can't say which team will win, when it comes down to the fourth quarter and one team is ahead, then the other, then it's "obvious" how the game will end, but something unexpected happens... That incredible catch by Jermaine Kearse, when he somehow managed to keep the ball airborne and away from the Patriot defender until he could bring it in... The beautiful, perfectly-timed jumping interception by Malcolm Butler, preventing what looked like a Seattle win...

We'd planned to have my parents and the kids still at home over to our place for the game, but at the last minute out tv decided that it couldn't receive that station; we only get broadcast television, and sometimes signal is spotty this far out with hills between us and the towers in town. Fortunately, my dad could get the game fine—they're only 10 minutes away, but on the town-facing side of the hills—so we packed up the food we'd made and headed over there. It was kind of funny how obvious it was that my mom and I think similarly... For "Super Bowl food," she'd made deviled eggs, salmon dip with crackers, and a crock pot with sausages for sandwiches. We'd made deviled eggs, a plate of cheese and crackers, and cocktail sausages wrapped in crescent roll dough. I'm not sure where it went, but when I do find this recipe again I'll have to share it: half of the cocktail sausages I made plain, for ketchup-dipping if the kids desired, but the other half were "reuben dogs" with sauerkraut, pickle relish and Swiss cheese tucked into the crescent roll dough with them! Mmmm. I'm definitely adding that to my collection of go-to finger food recipes.

It was a pleasant, relaxed Sunday, and temperatures are looking up for at least the next few days; we might have several positive-temperature days in a row before it drops back into the -20s! Let's hope so... it would be nice to take Little Bear out sledding tomorrow.