Happiest of Mondays to all of you! 🙂 No baby yet! 😉
I’ve been up since the early hour of 4 a.m. I got a batch of granola baked before I went to teach this morning and the rest of my day has looked like cleaning, laundry and starting to car browse.
Remember last year when I was having all of those car problems? Yes, well they decided to resurface. Talk about bad timing. My check engine light came on last week and then my car wouldn’t start. I had $600 worth of repairs done and it’s still not running right. Neither the dealership nor the independent repair guy I love have been able to figure it out so with baby coming…it’s time to trade. I can’t keep playing the back and forth with this car. Such a bummer because it only has 68,000 miles on it and I would much prefer NOT to buy a new car. Ugh.
To be honest, my small sedan wasn’t exactly the most baby-friendly car to start with but I was hoping I could make it work for a while. (And wondering in the back of my mind WTF I would do if I ever had to transport both dogs and baby somewhere…haha.)
(this photo has nothing to do with car shopping but came up when I searched “car” in my images and I had to share it again)
We just took a trip to CarMax to look. They’re great there…the rep left us alone to walk the lot and look inside of all the cars (they’re all unlocked!). It really helped me start to narrow my focus. I’m leaning towards a used mid-size SUV at this point…something like a Highlander or MDX. Also considering Subarus because I’ve heard great things. We shall see. Not rushing the decision…and it might not be the very first thing on my priority list here in a few days. 😉
Can we just all agree that car shopping is the worst though?
OKAY. Weekend!
FRIDAY
Y’all. I never got my act together on Friday. I had the laziest day minus going to teach a yoga class at 4:30. At one point in time I put on a bikini and drug a lounge chair out into my driveway to get some sun. I was a sight for my neighbors to see, let me tell you! Lunch on Friday was a pressed sourdough sandwich with ham, brie, avocado and fig preserves.
After teaching I came home, showered, did a face mask, heated up a stuffed pepper and vegged on the couch. We finally watched The Greatest Showman and it was so good!
SATURDAY
Saturday brought another early wakeup…5:30 a.m.! I had a blueberry bagel with butter and cream cheese before kicking off a super active morning. I had to sub Y2 Strength at 8:15 a.m. and then I took a hot yoga class and then taught one after that. I was pretty wiped out after all of that activity. Note…I was also crazy sore after teaching strength. I can’t believe that up until a few months ago I taught 4-5 strength classes a week and was never sore. Times have changed!
I was SO ready for lunch after all that activity. Per usual, we had lunch at Namastay Kitchen and when I got showered and downstairs, Tanner had biscuits waiting for me.
I had a kale and roasted beet salad with avocado and chicken for lunch.
I spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing on the couch, watching The Great British Baking Show and working on thank you notes. I finally got up and got dressed for a movie later that evening.
We went to see the new Avengers movie and it was really good. Not going to lie, 2 hours and 40 minutes of sitting in a theater with a super active baby in my belly wasn’t the most comfortable thing ever but worth it. The last movie I saw in the theater was Black Panther and baby also went crazy, crazy during that. He must like all the noise! I made dinner out of peanut butter filled pretzels that I packed in my purse and a bag of popcorn.
SUNDAY
The day started with a smoothie bowl.
And then a 3.5 mile walk with the girls. When I got back from my walk I realized that I had totally forgotten about a Lululemon brunch that I’d been invited to. Like, it never even crossed my mind that I had RSVP’d to go until I saw it on a friend’s social media feed. Guys…baby brain is for real!
Lunch was a salad with baby kale, quinoa, tomatoes, olives, pistachios, avocado, hummus and Trader Joe’s Cilantro dressing…which I’d been wanting to try for a long time. Verdict? Tasted great, but then the taste stayed with me all afternoon and I don’t enjoy that. Oh well.
I taught yoga at 4p and then headed home for more relaxing…
I don’t think I’ve taken as many baths in the last 10 years as I have in the last 9 months of pregnancy. They are so relaxing. And my bump is the perfect shelf for my book. 😉
The evening concluded with a pretty epic grilled cheese. Spicy pimento goat cheese, gouda and brie on sourdough with fig preserves and lots of salted butter.
Big thanks to all of you who have sent me IG messages about the car stuff. Your suggestions are super helpful.
Any tried and true car buying tips and tricks?
Best movie you’ve seen lately (Theater or at home? And have you seen The Greatest Showman? What did you think!?)
Did you celebrate Cinco de Mayo, the Kentucky Derby or maybe a hybrid Cinco de Derby?
The Great British Baking show is an all time favorite! We also saw Avengers and I couldn’t believe how hilarious it was. I’m a movie snack packer too. That’s my only hope for something healthy!
We are buying our latest car from Carvana (arriving today, actually). The process is SO simple, and we both hate dealing with dealerships. They are delivering the car right to our door, and if we had been trading in our current vehicle, they would have picked that up, too! (Sadly, I am selling that car as salvage after 13+ years and nearly 222,000 miles because it’s worth more that way, due to some mechanical problems.)
It’s been a while since I’ve seen a good movie! I did celebrate Cinco de Mayo: a friend hosted a fun themed party at her house, two blocks from mine. 🙂
Hi! First time commenting…I have a Subaru Forester and it fits two car seats for our toddler and 7 month old + two doggies well, but we live in COlorado and need a Subaru for winter. Not sure you would need the AWD all that much and maybe you could get a more fuel efficient SUV? Anyway, good luck over the next few days-I’m thinking of you. My first daughter was three days late and it was not as bad as I thought it would be going past the due date.
I am also looking for a second hand Subaru Outback, good quality, a family car with less gass emission (depends of the years). Where I live, Highlander or MDX aren’t consider mid- size suv haha…
I have an escape and love it. Bigger than it looks and great gas mileage.
I have to chime in that I absolutely adore my Subaru outback. I went from a fairly small sedan to the outback when we were expecting our first child, now we have 2 car seats in the back and we still have plenty of room. The trunk is a great size too. I highly recommend it!
We have the Subaru Outback and Forester (both 2017 models). Absolutely love them both. Plenty of room for 2 full size car seats in each, but there’s definitely a bit more room in the Outback (width and length wise). Cargo area in the Outback is also bigger, which would probably be better if you plan to put both dogs back there (we also have 2 dogs but have yet to go anywhere with both boys AND both dogs in the same car). The Forester drives more like a small SUV since it’s a bit higher, whereas the Outback feels more like a wagon but still has good ground clearance. Both are pretty fuel efficient considering they’re AWD. Obviously here in the South AWD is not as important as elsewhere, but it sure is handy in heavy rain and on the rare occasion there’s snow. Prior to this we had a 2008 Subaru Legacy for 9 years which literally traveled the country with us and was extremely reliable. Only reason we traded it in was because we needed more space! Newer used Subarus with lower mileage are usually VERY hard to find so if you decide you want a Subaru and see a good one, snap it up!
Good luck with the car buying decision and baby! Hope he’s here soon!
We have an outback too and love it. Mine is a 2017 and I love the safety features that come with the “eyesight.” My mom has a Highlander. I don’t think her back seat is any roomier, but she does have more room in the trunk.
We bought a Jeep Renegade from CarMax in December and really like it! Our experience at CarMax was great, and I recommend the car for a baby+2 dogs. We also have 2 big dogs and they both fit in the way back, no problem. Before we settled on the Renegade I had my eye on the Subaru Forester – those are also great cars, but at a higher price point. Good luck, and I hope you find something that works for you!
We LOVE my mom’s MDX in theory, but I will say that the anchors are a real bitch to get a carseat in and out of. We seriously struggle so much when we have to install the seats in her car, because the anchors are nearly inaccessible, and double the impossibility once you pull them tight and have to get them out. Weep.
We just bought the Highlander and LOVE IT. We also needed something more family friendly, and the Highlander is super safe + still cool. Definitely would recommend.
Car shopping is definitely the worst. We need to buy a new car for my husband soon and I’m dreading it. I have an MDX though, and love it! Not sure how it will do with the car seat, but I’m due in a couple of months so I guess I’ll find out soon! It seems like it will be plenty roomy though. And I love going to the movies while pregnant! I think my baby must like the noise too because he always moves around like crazy. 🙂
I’ve had several highlanders and also an MDX. HIGHLY recommend both of those!! Both excellent choices!
I agree, car shopping is definitely not fun! I have had a MDX for the last 7 years and love it! It is roomy enough for all three of my kids & has the third row that folds down. Good luck with car shopping!
I have a Jeep Grand Cherokee and love it, it’s considered mid-size, but does feel bigger. I am just a bit behind you (38 weeks on Thursday!) and we just did a baby’s first ride car seat check and it was very easy to put in the car seat base as well as just the infant carrier if we were to drive a rental or uber and didn’t have the base. We also just bought a Subaru Outback (2011) this past Saturday! Even though we knew exactly which car we wanted, we were at the dealership for a few hours for all the paper work… no fun! My husband just installed the car seat base and it was pretty easy to do! We traded in our Subaru Legacy (2008) since it was starting to have some problems and we didn’t want to risk being stranded with the baby. Highly recommend both cars! I live in CO, so an AWD or 4WD is necessary for us. Also while we don’t have 2 Goldens, we do have 1 big dog, so we’ll see how she is with sharing her back seat with the baby!
Is your current car an A4? It looks exactly like mine! Thankfully I haven’t had too many problems with it yet, but when I do, the repairs are so expensive! ?
Last time I saw a movie in the theater, my baby was going crazy as well. I think you’re right that it’s all the loud noise!