Parenting: Uncensored

Do you have a dollar to spare?

2012-02-09T12:50:00.000-05:00

If so, I know of some kids who could really use it. They are the kids who are suffering from lymphloblastic leukemia. It is the 13 year old, waiting on a liver transplant. They are the siblings of these children, who spend days, weeks, months at a time at the hospital, hoping for their brother or sister to get better.

If you have anything you can give....$1, $10, $20....it will help make the time those children have to spend in the hospital a little bit brighter. The money at this particular time will go toward iPads, Xboxes, and KINECT systems at both Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh and the pediatric unit at Allegheny General Hospital, as part of the Make Room for Kids Project, which you can read more about (and make your donation!) here:
http://thatschurch.com/2012/02/06/make-room-for-kids-3-0/

And you can read more about the beginnings of the project here: http://thatschurch.com/make-room-for-kids/

In total, they have raised over $86,000 from donations and corporate matching and have provided countless gaming systems, games, laptops, TV's and more. While our stay at Children's Hospital back in July for Liam's viral meningitis was nowhere near anything like what these children and parents are going through, the hospital now has a special place in my heart. Not just because of the wonderful care that we received from everyone, but because of what I saw while I was there.

Liam had to have a spinal tap (twice), and I am not ashamed to admit that I'm still traumatized by the whole procedure (and I wasn't even in the room, but unfortunately could hear it anyway). I think back to that with a lot of sadness, then realize that some kids are getting that done on a regular basis. While I was in the hallway, trying so hard to not hear my baby cry while getting that procedure done, I saw a little boy getting prepped for radiation treatment. He was wearing a steelers cap over his bald head, and his mother was standing beside his bed, holding his hand while a nurse talked them through what was going to happen, starting off with, "So I know you have the hang of this by now, buddy...."

There are children there enduring the same thing every day. Children who can't even leave their rooms at the hospital, let alone play with their friends or go to a playground. So go! Donate!

Oh, rats.

2012-02-08T08:51:00.000-05:00

Time for Tales of the Bus Wednesday!

Overheard on the CB radio:

Um, yeah, hey...so I got a rat in the back of my bus here. What do you want me to do about it?

I bet even the rat had the decency to only take up one seat on that bus, and keep all of his little rat belongings on his lap.

Or, maybe he was just a refugee from Occupy Pittsburgh.

You can't go back.

2012-02-07T10:35:00.000-05:00

Are there times in your life that you look back on and think to yourself, "no...I can't go back to that place, I just can't bring myself to do it"? You know, like the days before cell phones and DVR?

I feel the same way about my Kindle. Which is surprising, because I resisted this newfangled gadget for a long time, wanting to hold on to my good old-fashioned books. A big reason for this was because it was a rare occasion for me to actually buy books, I relied on the library for nearly all of my reading. (I worked at our local library in high school, did you know that? It was my very first job, I loved it, and have always felt a sense of loyalty to the library system) On top of the sense of loyalty, I'm also ~~cheap~~ frugal; the thought of forking over $10+ for a new book makes my stomach turn.

Fast forward to Liam being born, and my awesome coworkers decided to give something to ME for my hard work of giving birth...they went with the Kindle because of the new library-sharing capabilities it would soon have (and knowing about my frugal ways, gave me an amazon gift card so that I could buy books in the meantime)

So now, I'm at another one of those places in my life...a place where I look back on the past and wonder how I ever survived. How did I lug a hardback book with me everywhere I went? How did I manage to make the 1.5 block walk to the library every other week or so to drop off one book and pick up another? How did I endure multiple paper cuts over the years from turning the pages too fast in my excitement to continue the story?

I hope that the library sharing system continues to evolve and include more books, but it's been great so far (if you look at my list of books I've read from June 2011-present, nearly all of those have been from the library. I think I have purchased 3 books from amazon, and one of those was part of their monthly special for 99 cents). There's no going back now!

Matchy-Matchy

2012-02-02T08:42:00.001-05:00

Totally acceptable to put your kids in matching clothing, right? Yes? Good.

YES! My mom put us in matching shirts today!

The photo session quickly turned into mayhem...

BABY DOWN! I repeat, BABY DOWN!

Heart.Melting.

I said I should write a book about it...

2012-02-01T08:49:00.001-05:00

...but I think I'll just blog about it instead. My book idea would have been based on my adventures riding the bus. I have been using public transportation to and from work, nearly every day, for the past 8.5 years. I prefer it this way: the main reason being the cost-effectiveness of using the bus (especially since I don't have to pay to ride, thanks to my Pitt ID), I don't have to deal with the headache of sitting in traffic, and it gives me some down time to read or just unwind from the day.

Even though it's my preferred method of transportation, it is certainly not without faults. Late buses, crowded buses, having to stand at a bus stop in all kinds of not nice weather...but most of all, the faults tend to be due fellow passengers.

With that being said, I will be dedicating Wednesdays to tales of public transportation. Some of these stories might be older, I've built up quite the collection of horror stories in the past 8.5 years, but they will make you scratch your head and wonder what is wrong with the world today, so they are still relevant. Today's story is one that (sadly) occurs on a regular basis, including this morning.

Dear Fellow Passenger,

Your insistence on putting your work bag on the seat beside you is maddening and just flat out rude. You are no more entitled to a seat on this bus than I am. And your bag? Not entitled to a seat at ALL. As if it's not bad enough that you plop your bag down there every.freaking.day (when this bus is jam packed, standing room only every.freaking.day), the fact that you roll your eyes and sigh like I've asked you for a kidney when I politely ask you if I can sit there makes me want to slap you across the face and ask if you were raised in a barn. Instead, I take the passive-aggressive route and give an exaggerated, "WOW, thank you soooooo much!" as I sit down. With my bag IN my lap...because that's how it's done.

SURPRISE!

2012-01-31T12:30:00.002-05:00

Two weekends ago, I headed to Virginia to celebrate the upcoming arrival of my BFF's baby....the shower was a surprise to her, as was my arrival to her home, so it was a double surprise day for her, and it was wonderful to see the look on her face!

One of her friends from that area planned the whole event and did a fabulous job!

Congratulations to Melissa, Dennis and Ben...we can't wait to meet baby Parker, Liam is ready for his BFF :)

Recipe: Taco Pizza

2012-01-24T13:16:00.000-05:00

Another Pinterest find! What is below is the original recipe, I cut it in half (which was enough for me and Brian for dinner, then leftovers for lunch) and left out the olives and onions, and added a chopped green pepper in place of those.

Taco Pizza

1 lb. ground beef
1 envelope taco seasoning mix
2 (8 oz.) cans Pillsbury crescent rolls
1 (16 oz.) can refried beans (I used the jalapeño kind)
2-3 cups shredded cheddar cheese or Mexican blend
1/2 cup chopped tomatoes
1/4 cup sliced black olives
4 green onions, chopped

Heat oven to 375 degrees.
Brown ground beef and drain. Add taco seasoning to the ground beef according to the package directions.
Unroll crescent rolls into rectangles. Place in ungreased 11 1/2 inch x 16 1/2 inch jelly roll pan or cookie sheet. Press dough over the bottom and 1/2 inch up sides to form crust. Bake at 375 oven for 11 to 13 minutes or just until golden brown.
Microwave beans in a microwave safe bowl for 1 minute. Carefully spread beans over warm crust creating a thin layer.
Top with cooked beef mixture, sprinkle with cheese followed by tomatoes, black olives and green onion. Return to oven for 3-6 more minutes until cheese is melted. Serve immediately. Makes 12 main dish servings or 48 appetizers.

Birthday party and product reviews

2012-01-20T12:57:00.000-05:00

Cake: I ordered the cake from Sams Club; they get some points because they didn't have a "licensing fee" to use the Cars characters (Giant Eagle did) and their cake was cheaper overall. My mom was able to pick it up for me on the way to the party, so it was good for convenience purposes. It was a very affordable $21 for a 1/2 sheet cake (which was waaaaaay too much, I feel like I always over order food!) The cake was cute (and Jake loved it, which is really all that matters) and the cake part of it was good, not dry at all...the icing was ok. It almost had a gummy like texture (and I'm used to the gritty, sugary, rot-your-teeth kind of icing from Giant Eagle). But it was good, I'd order again and just know that the icing has a bit of a different taste to it.

Favors: Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of the favor bags I put together. The party place provided their own favors, so I only wanted to add a few "Cars" touches to go with the theme. I picked up Lightning McQueen favor bags from Walmart, then hit the jackpot at Target for the actual favors. Right after Christmas, they had a bunch of stuff from the dollar bins marked down 75% off (see? it pays off to stalk the dollar bins!) and I was able to score some Cars pens and magnets. I added in some Cars fruit snacks and the bags were all set!

Wildwood Highlands: I was really, really happy with our choice for the party site. I had never been there, but I had heard good things and they had decently priced packages for birthday parties. I was happy that (unlike most places) the price per child included food. They received admission to the play place, tokens for the arcade games, a bag of goldfish, lunch (hot dog or pizza), dippin dots ice cream and drinks. We had the room for an hour and a half, then the kids were able to stay and play as long as they wanted to (or until their parents could drag them out) the room was a good size and we had 2 party coordinators the whole time, who led the kids in games, took food orders, cut the cake, wrote down all of the gifts and who gave them and loaded them all up for us to take home. They let me drop all of my stuff off there earlier in the week, so literally all we had to do the morning of the party was show up with the cake and the birthday boy.

Obviously, we were there in the winter, so we were limited to indoor activities, but they have a ton of stuff to do there. And I'll be keeping it in mind for one of his older birthday parties, I think he'd love a laser tag party.

The big birthday bash!

2012-01-20T12:32:00.001-05:00

I have to admit, I was hesitant about throwing a "friend" birthday party for Jake's birthday this year. By hesitant, I mean that I had no intentions of doing so. I always thought that 5 was the big year that you started to invite friends. But, when all of Jake's friends started having parties, and Jake started to talk about his own birthday party, Brian asked if I would be willing to acknowledge the fact that 4 is the new 5 in the birthday party world. So, we decided to go ahead and do it this year...and I'm glad we did.

We had the party at Wildwood Highlands, and I was really happy with the way it turned out there (I'll do a full review post later on) Surprisingly, Jake seemed a bit overwhelmed when the party first started, and I got nervous that the whole thing was going to be a disaster. He was doing things that he normally doesn't do, like hiding behind my legs when people tried to talk to him, and at one point he even asked Brian to hold him (?) I asked him what was wrong, and he said he felt scared. My guess is that maybe it was all a bit much...most of the kids got there all at one time, and of course they're excited, so they're kind of all buzzing around him, trying to get his attention, etc...he warmed up once the cake came out and I told him we could open presents soon :)

After the cake and present festivities, it was time to move on to the play zone! Each child received admission to the play zone (ball pit, climbing tubes, etc...) and some tokens to play arcade games. All of the kids seemed to enjoy themselves, it was fun to watch them.

Liam hung out with GG and Pappy pretty much the whole party and really enjoyed checking out all of the lights and noise. He took a brief nap on GG, then had some lunch.

"Um...I was told there would be cake?"

GG and Pappy joined us back at the house and Jake got to open more presents from them, and we were able to relax the rest of the afternoon (well, everyone but Brian, who spent a considerable amount of time removing toys from packages and assembling everything) The day was a success!

Dirty little secret.

2012-01-19T14:51:00.003-05:00

Everyone has their secrets; if you're a parent, you probably have a secret that deals with the one thing that no one can ever seem to explain or get a firm grasp on for an extended period of time: SLEEP.

You've seen our type before, the sleep-deprived parents of the word...dark circles under eyes, vacant expression, the look of someone who would kill for another cup of coffee. I spent much of Jake's first year trying to figure out a way to mainline an IV of caffeine directly into my bloodstream. ahhh...memories.

The funny thing about the Sleep Secret is that it's almost shameful to talk about...if your kid isn't sleeping, you keep it a secret because you don't want people to think you're doing something wrong. Not to mention the fact that other people always seem to know what the problem is and feel the need to offer their opinion, even if you didn't ask for it ("Oh, you're holding him too much during the day, that's why he won't sleep at night!" "He's waking because he's hungry, put some cereal in his bottle, he'll sleep all night") Or, the super annoying ones who say things like, "Wow, that's terrible...all of my kids slept through the night from the day they were born on. Yep, all night. They never wake up." Which of course, we all know is a bunch of BS, but in our sleep deprived state, we don't have the energy to argue with them.

And if your kid IS sleeping, you keep it a secret because you don't want people to think you're bragging or (even worse) to jinx the good sleep.

I have been on both sides of the Sleep Secret. Jake was a terrible sleeper, literally from the day we brought him home from the hospital. He had his days and nights confused for WEEKS and it was torture. Not only was he wide awake at night, but just getting him to sleep took hours. He wouldn't nurse to sleep, or even just be rocked to sleep...oh no, you had to carry him around the house and do a bounce/sway/sing little routine that was exhausting, especially when it went on all night. There were some nights I honestly thought I would lose.my.freaking.mind. He was waking every 2 hours to nurse, so I'd nurse, change his diaper, begin the painstaking process of getting him to sleep and if, IF, I was lucky enough to get him to sleep and in his crib, he was inevitably awake again within 30 minutes to eat. It was a vicious cycle. Oh and one time, being the rookie parents we were, we got the bright idea to force him to adjust his day/night confusion...we kept him awake all day, assuming that he'd HAVE to sleep at night after not sleeping all day, right?? WRONG. Total and complete backfire. Instead, he was just awake allllllllll night that night. I want to cry at the memory.

He eventually worked out his day/night confusion, and got to a point where he wasn't waking every 2 hours to eat...so we had a bit of a break. BUT........

Then, it happened. The dreaded 4 month sleep regression. It's every parents' worst nightmare; you're going along, everyone is happy and well rested, then BAM! Parties at 1am! 2am! 3am! Hey, let's never sleep again!! Such a slap in the face. You can read my blog post about his regression here.

So here's my secret about Jake's sleep: we Ferberized him. Think what you might of this method (which, by the way-is NOT the cry it out method, they are 2 different things, so google it before judging), but it was what worked for us. He was miserable from waking up all night, every night, on the hour...we were miserable from his nighttime shenanigans. We wanted our happy baby and our own sanity back. After weeks and weeks of it not getting any better (and actually getting worse) we decided that it was time for Dr. Ferber to pay a visit. Jake was around 5.5 months old. It took 3 nights. I honestly don't remember the details at this point, but I remember it was not quite as bad as I had anticipated. And what we got in return was a happier, more well-rested baby. I think that's an overall win for everyone involved.

Moving onto Liam, I really hoped while I was pregnant that I would get a sleeper. I figured I was due for one....and he came through for me! When he was first born, he woke every 2-3 hours to eat for the first few weeks, but by some type of miracle, did NOT require the elaborate routine to go back to sleep that Jake did. I would nurse him, he would fall asleep after he was done eating, I'd put him in his crib...he'd stay until he was ready to eat again. I felt ecstatic. I felt human. But-I kept my mouth shut unless people asked about it. You know, the whole bragging and/or jinxing thing.

As time went on, he started to stretch those night feedings out more, until he was going 4-5 hours every night, then shorting after that waking once overnight to eat around 3 or 4 months. He also started to go down in his crib for the night awake. Bliss!! Around 5.5 months he pretty much stopped waking up for that middle of the night feed....after he consistently did this for a few days, he did wake up randomly for a few nights, but I sent Brian in (if I went in, I know he'd assume the all you can eat all night buffet was open for business) and he was always able to rock him back to sleep.

There was a rough time after Thanksgiving where he started waking up again; he'd had the stomach flu, then we traveled for Thanksgiving, then he had a cold...so once he was healthy again, we took the same measures, pretty much just sent Brian in to comfort him and rock him back to sleep. We were back on track pretty easily. Same thing more recently---it took awhile longer, but after his recent ear infection and spending a few nights in our bed, he was waking over night. Rinse, lather, repeat.

So here is where we are with Liam---he goes to bed around 7:30pm and sleeps through the night. Which is great, and please dont' think I don't realize how lucky I am...but for Liam, his definition of "end of the night" is somewhere around 5am. 5:30am if I'm really lucky, and 4:30am if I'm having an unlucky day. There's my secret---I have a baby who sleeps through the night consistently and who we can put in his crib awake to go to sleep for the night, but this same baby seems to think we work on a farm and need to be up before the sun rises. So what do you do?

At this point, we found there's nothing we really can do...we've tried nearly everything, it seems. we've put him to bed later. We've put him to bed earlier. We've gone in and soothed him, tried to rock him back to sleep, turned on his soother and left him in there (while crawling back under the covers and praying that he puts himself back to sleep)....nothing. I even tried feeding him as soon as he woke up one time, thinking that would lull him back to sleep. FAIL. He is just wide awake in there.

Yes, I know I should be appreciative of the fact that he sleeps through the night (and trust me, I am!) but of course, if he could just stretch his definition of the night by just a teensy bit of time, that would be great. For now, we're just going with it, taking turns getting up with him on the weekends (because really, do you need 2 parents to be awake before 5am on a Saturday?) and hoping that it passes.

So there...my secret is out. I have 2 kids: neither of them are perfect sleepers. But I think I'll keep them both anyway. Just keep the coffee coming. You know, for the next...oh, 18 years or so.

Jake's 4 year check up

2012-01-16T16:52:00.001-05:00

I'll be sure to do a post about Jake's party (it was a success!) but I did want to post details about his 4 year check up today. First up, the stats:

Weight: 33 lbs
Height :38.75 inches

Last year for his 3 year check up, he was 30 lbs and 37.5 inches. So 3 lbs heavier and 1.25 inches taller...which is strange, because I really would have thought he had grown more than that (height-wise anyway) It seems like he's hit at least 2 growth spurts in the past year that have caused me to have to suddenly change pants/short sizes for him because they were suddenly all like floods on him (or, in the case of shorts, suddenly looked like he had been teleported back to 1977). but he's growing right on track, which is all that matters.

The doctor said everything looked great physically and that he's right on track for his age developmentally. He was very impressed with how social he was (he didn't stop talking the whole time once the doctor came in...he filled him in on school, his party, what kind of cake it was ,the presents he got, and the fact that he loves chicken nuggets). He got 3 shots (which he was not thrilled with), but the good news is that we're DONE with vaccines (aside from the flu shot) for him until he's 11. Finally, the end! The shots must have taken a toll on him, he took a 3 hour nap this afternoon...I had both of the boys home with me today since it's MLK day, so score for mommy, I had a huge chunk of time to myself this afternoon since Liam took a nearly 2 hour nap in that same time period.

Speaking of Liam, we also had an appointment for him this morning to have his ears checked after the infection he had...fortunately, that had cleared up and all was well. He received the 2nd half of his flu shot, so he's all up to date until his 9 month check up next month.

Here's Jake getting ready to ski in our backyard yesterday...yes, in our backyard.

Happy 4th Birthday, Jake!!

2012-01-15T08:00:00.000-05:00

If kisses were colors, you'd see every one of the bands of a rainbow that shines in the sun.

If kisses were pebbles, your beach would be lined with stones by the millions, of all shapes and kinds.

If kisses were comets, the sky would be bright with flashes of fire that streak through the night.

If kisses were flowers, you'd have huge bouquets of roses and daisies picked fresh every day.

If kisses were raindrops, a sea would appear, created by showers that fall far and near.

If kisses were acorns, a forest would grow of beautiful oak trees, in row after row.

If kisses were snowflakes, your world would be light, sparkling with crystals of silver and white.

If kisses were blankets, you'd always be warm, wrapped up from the cold during winter's worst storm.

My kisses are colors, and raindrops that flow, and pebbles, and acorns, and comets that glow,and flowers, and snowflakes that fall from above; they're my way, sweet baby, to give you my love.

~If Kisses Were Colors, by Janet Lawler

Jake,

I know you're not at all a baby anymore (and in fact, if I were reading this to you now, you'd probably tell me that yourself), but we used to read that book to you at bedtime nearly every night for a long time, and thinking of it still makes me smile. And reading the words right now, while writing a happy birthday post to you brings tears to my eyes as I sit here and wonder how four years have already passed.

You never stop amazing us, and your daddy and I are so very proud of you every day. Whether it's coming home from school with projects that show off your creativity, your new reading and writing skills, or just stories of how you played with your friends...it's one of my favorite parts of the day. Catching up with you on YOUR day and getting to see the world through your perspective. Last week, you made a snowman out of marshmallows at school...something so simple as putting a few marshmallows together with a toothpick and giving him M&M's for buttons brought you so much joy...it's times like those that really make me stop and catch my breath, and force myself to slow down and take in those moments.

There isn't adequate space on this blog to be able to describe you...in summary, you are smart, funny, kind, sensitive, the best big brother in the world, headstrong, stubborn, you have the memory of an elephant, you have endless amounts of energy and enthusiasm, and you're so sweet that it's all I can do to not squeeze you to pieces at times.

We've really been seeing you come into your own lately...I've heard stories of you sticking up for your friends at school, volunteering to be first for things in front of a group, and showing a huge interest in your brother recently. I can't wait until he's a bit older, and the two of you really can play together and have that bond.

You're into Toy Story, superheroes, blocks and Cars right (Cars the movie, and Hot Wheels tracks). You're becoming a pro at puzzles, and you find one or two books that you like and we read them constantly for weeks at a time, then switch. (Right now, those books are 101 Dalmatians and The Cat in the Hat) Lately, you've been great about entertaining yourself...I'll be cooking dinner and hear you setting up an elaborate "city" of blocks, filled with superhero meetings, bad guys and race tracks. Your go-to TV shows are "Jake and the Neverland Pirates" and "Scooby Doo".

You don't like to sit very still, you're constantly on the go...but at night, you always ask me to lay with you for a few minutes before you go to sleep. You put your hands in my hair and sometimes pat the side of my face, while you chat about your plans for the next day (including what's for breakfast--you still have an amazingly large appetite!)

Thank you for being you, Jake...we love you! Happy birthday!!

Another Pinterest project

2012-01-13T15:11:00.003-05:00

I was inspired to make a wedding frame gift for my brother Nate and his new wife, Katie after seeing something on...where else? Pinterest of course!

Don't mind the watermarked picture (Photography by Amanda); I didn't have any of their pictures to use yet, so I had to quickly print one off of her site to have something to put in there. I was pleased with how it turned out! The letters and numbers for the monogram and wedding date were from this Flickr page and I followed the directions for formatting it correctly in Publisher on this site, then I uploaded it to snapfish, changed the pictures to sepia toned and I was done.

Loyal kid.

2012-01-13T10:47:00.001-05:00

"I pledge allegiance, to the flag...of the United Steaks of America..."

~Jake, reciting the pledge last night

mmm....steaks.....

Hit the slopes!

2012-01-09T14:05:00.003-05:00

The temperature around here randomly climbed up into the mid-50's over the weekend, so Brian decided to take advantage of it and took Jake skiing on Saturday. You can imagine how excited Jake was to wake up and discover that was the plan for the day!

Love the sign!!

My little guy hit the slopes at 9:30am and after some coaxing, finally left for the day around 5pm. Brian said he had to talk him into taking a few breaks throughout the day, Jake just did not want to stop. At one point, Brian told Jake he had to go to the lodge to use the restroom and take a break; Jake's response was, "that's ok daddy...you go ahead and go to the potty, I'll stay out here and ski some more" :)

Yes, they were there at sunset :)

By the end of the day, he was falling asleep on the chair lift in between runs but was still adamant that he wanted to keep going. I think it's awesome that he loves it so much and that he and Brian now have this as their "thing". Brian said he passed out in the car pretty much right away:

Done.

Here's a video of him, one of the first runs of the day on the little kiddie slope area:

Book List: 2012

2012-01-05T09:00:00.000-05:00

Wow, I definitely read far less this year than I did in 2010 (I read 28 books in 2010, as opposed to a mere 20 this year...I blame my maternity leave, since I do most of my reading on the bus during my commute) Here is the full list of books read in the past year:

"The Postmistress" (Sarah Blake)
"All That is Bitter and Sweet" (Ashley Judd)
"The Paris Wife" (Paula McLain)
"Genuine Lies" (Nora Roberts)
"Saving CeeCee Honeycutt" (Beth Hoffman)
"Commencement" (Courtney Sullivan)
"The Breakdown Lane" (Jacqueline Mitchard)
"Barefoot" (Elin Hilderbrand)
"The Lincoln Lawyer" (Michael Connelly)
"The Big Five-OH" (Sandra Bricker)
"Mockingjay" (Suzanne Collins)
"My Horizontal Life" (Chelsea Handler)
"The First Husband" (Laura Dave)
"If You Were Here" (Jen Lancaster)
"Best Friends" (Martha Moody)
"Sing You Home" (Jodi Picoult)
"Sweet Valley Confidential" (Francine Pascal)
"Little Bee" (Chris Cleave)
"The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest" (Stieg Larsson)
"Unbearable Lightness" (Portia De Rossi)

You can read my full list of book reviews here.

Food for thought.

2012-01-04T12:00:00.003-05:00

Christmas Videos

2012-01-04T08:00:00.000-05:00

As promised, here are some videos from Christmas morning...the first one is us telling Jake it's Christmas and that Santa came, and the second one is his opening the gift he had been asking for for months, the giant talking Finn McMissle.

Wild & Crazy NYE!!

2012-01-03T08:30:00.000-05:00

New Years Eve is my least favorite holiday of the entire year; I'm not sure why exactly, I've just always found it to be anti-climatic and somewhat depressing. It marks the official end to the Christmas season (*sad face*) and means that it's just a loooooong winter ahead of us. Plus, I really don't like any holidays that would require me to stay up past 10pm.

Thus, we never really make any plans for NYE...but this year, we went all out!! That's right, we got dressed (it may or may not have been the first time I had been out of sweatpants in days), loaded up the car and went to (wait for it, wait for it...) RED ROBIN!! I hadn't cashed in on my free birthday burger there yet and time was running out (oh yeah, did I mention I had a birthday? I'm officially over the age of 30 now. Yikes.)

This was Liam's first trip to RR, so it was a big milestone. We busted out shoes for the event...yeah, that's right...those are teeny, tiny Chuck Taylors. (thanks, GG and Pappy!)

seriously? the cuteness level is out of control!

Liam fell asleep on the ride home, so after his little power nap he was ready to party looooooooong after his usual 7:30pm bedtime.

NO SLEEP 'TIL THE NEW YEAR!!!

So, we decided to let Jake stay up a bit later, too and played cards. Santa brought him Go Fish and Snap for Christmas, he's obsessed with playing both of them.

I have to admit, even though I don't care for the holiday, we had a good night. I stuck with my usual tradition and passed out by 9:30pm. 2011 was a fantastic year for our family, and we're looking forward to finding out what 2012 will bring.

2011-a year in germs.

2012-01-02T08:00:00.000-05:00

I shouldn't say that...it hasn't been this whole year, but the last half? ugh! It started with Jake getting some type of weird virus back in July when we were visiting my in-laws. A few days later, Brian came down with the same thing. A few days after that, Liam caught the bug, but his turned out to be viral meningitis. I had to pick Jake up from school one day with a random fever in September. Same thing with Liam. In October, Jake randomly ran a fever of almost 103 one weekend. That weekend happened to be my brother's wedding...Jake was the ringbearer. Terrible timing!

Then in November, Jake was sent home with the stomach flu; Liam came down with it a few days later. The following weekend, Brian and I both had the stomach flu. On the same day (brutal!). And you may remember that more recently, I had a weird flu type illness a few weekends ago. Then my mother-in-law had the stomach flu right before Christmas. Phew. You'd think we'd had enough for the year, right?

Wrong. Liam has been sleeping through the night for awhile now, but on Christmas Eve, he woke up 2 times overnight. We didn't think too much of it, could have been teeth or anything. On Christmas day, he seemed a bit off....but we chalked it up to him being overstimulated with so many people in the house and so much going on. He woke up again that night a few times, then started running a low-grade fever the next day. He also decided to become a permanent fixture to me that day. More overnight wakings that night and a slight fever the next day (tuesday) so I took him to the pediatrician, but nothing was wrong....lungs and ears were both clear. The doctor said it might just be a virus, but if he was still running a fever by the end of the week to bring him back in. Thursday night his fever went up to 102.8 and he was MISERABLE. I felt so bad for him, he was just crying and crying :( We took him back in on Friday...ear infection. A first for him, so I guess that's good. He's been on antibiotics for a few days now and he's like a new kid.

So seriously 2011...take your germs, stay away. Here's to a healthier 2012!!!

And this has absolutely nothing to do with this post, but check out this ornament Liam made for us at school...I melted when I saw it. I love the handmade ornaments we're collecting from both kids.

Um....how could I forget???

2012-01-01T17:05:00.001-05:00

I realized that I didn't post pictures of one of the best parts of Christmas day...THE FOOD!! :)

the appetizer spread

No major catastrophes during the cooking process this year, go me!

Christmas Recap

2011-12-31T08:30:00.000-05:00

Remember I said things got a little bit crazy this week? It all worked out in the end, but it initially started with us thinking that my in-laws wouldn't be able to join us for the holiday; my mother-in-law was in the hospital with a very severe stomach flu. We were really sad that they wouldn't be here, but lo and behold...she was released from the hospital on Christmas Eve with assurance from the doctor that she was no longer contagious after being on antibiotics for over 24 hours, so they decided to make the trip out here that night!

This might put us in the category of "big meanie parents" but we decided to not tell Jake that it was Christmas Eve. I know, I know...it seems cruel (and I was a bit sad, because it meant we couldn't put out milk and cookies or any of that fun stuff)...but seriously, it would have been bad. This is the same kid who last month couldn't fall asleep the night before PJ & movie day at school, and then proceeded to wake up at 2am begging to go to school already. And that was just PJ's and a movie!! Can you even imagine what the arrival of Santa would have done to the poor kid??

But it was fun getting to tell him on Christmas morning :) And Santa certainly came!!

Jake got the gift that he has been asking for for months...the giant, talking Finn McMissle. I have a video of him opening it, but blogger isn't cooperating right now for uploading videos, so I'll have to post that one later. His other big gift was a set of skis (thanks again, Joy!)...I'm not sure who was more excited for them though, Jake or Brian :)

He also got a bike from Nana and PopPop! It was warmer here yesterday, so he was able to test it out in the driveway...it was a success!

Don't worry, Liam got some stuff, too! Santa brought him some Puffs, fork/spoon set, plate, and a Little Tikes swing to add to our outdoor swingset in the spring. And of course, the grandparents hooked him up! He has been loving this Leap Frog drum from GG and Pappy:

He would have been just as happy if we would have let him do nothing but eat the wrapping paper all day.

After the marathon of gift opening, we spent most of the day taking toys out of their force-field like packaging and assembling them (by "we" I, of course, mean Brian, Uncle Nate and the grandpas) and testing each and every one of them out. (the next day was spent sorting through old toys and sneaking some up to the attic while jake was napping and couldn't protest!)

After not napping all day, Jake was finally starting to come off of his sugar/toy high around 7:30pm and went to bed without much of a fight...after we agreed to let him snuggle with his new favorite toy :)

Everyone was fairly healthy for Christmas, so we were grateful that we could all be together..the germ invasion started pretty much the day after Christmas and has led to a tiring week for all of us...more on that to come. we hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!!

Christmas is over?!?!?

2011-12-30T13:35:00.000-05:00

It never ceases to amaze me that something we spend what feels like weeks and weeks getting ready for, is over in the blink of an eye. I'll have to do a full post at some point when I have more energy to recap our somewhat crazy Christmas this year, but I just wanted to say that I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas. As you can probably tell from these smiles and hugs, these two boys had a fantastic Christmas:

From our family to yours, Merry Christmas.

2011-12-22T11:33:00.000-05:00

"Maybe Christmas doesn't come from a store...maybe Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more"

I just wanted to wish all of our friends and family a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, or any other holiday celebration...I'll be taking a blogging break after today to spend time with my 3 favorite boys at home, a fluffy little puppy, and all of the family who will be coming to visit us over the next few days. We feel very lucky to be able to spend time with everyone, and I am counting down the days until Christmas to be able to share this special time with Jake and Liam. I can't even begin to put into words how excited Jake is for Christmas...it's going to be so much fun watching him enjoy the magic of the day.

Santa came to daycare yesterday and Jake was all excited to tell him his main item off of his list (the giant talking, Finn McMissle) and I was told that Liam got to meet the big man and wasn't afraid of him. Tomorrow is PJ and movie day at school which of course, Jake is very excited for...and he made this adorable ornament earlier this week (the snowmen are his handprint):

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year!!!

Call me crazy.

2011-12-19T14:23:00.001-05:00

Remember my post a few weeks ago where I said I wasn't going to go crazy with Christmas prep this year?? For the most part, I can pat myself on the back and say that I've held myself to that. (go me!) I was feeling right on track, happy with the way everything was going and felt very prepared, overall.

Last Friday, I had scheduled a day off of work, and my plan was to drop Gracie off for her holiday haircut, go grocery shopping (trying to get most of the stuff purchased that I would need for the Christmas dinner), then wrapping up a few stray gifts and doing some light cleaning in the afternoon. That would have been a great plan, had I not woken up overnight with a FEVER OF 102.5 AND THE FEELING OF DEATH COMING UPON ME. Are you kidding me?? neither of the kids are sick, Brian felt a little run down the day before, but bounced back quickly...why me?? UGH!!

Now, this is where I should have gone back and read my old post, the one where I vowed to NOT go crazy. Because crazy I went. I popped some tylenol, chugged a bunch of water, got my temp down a tiny bit and felt at least somewhat functional (in this case, the definition of "functional" means able to hold my own head up, which was an improvement from pre-tylenol). I knew my own name, and I knew how to drive to walmart. Good enough for me! Off I went.

Worst.idea.EVER. At some point around the paper products aisle, the tylenol started to wear off...I got a terrible case of the chills and aches so bad I wanted to cry. But I was already there, with a cart already starting to be loaded up...what was I going to do?? I made it through the shopping trip, I just had to stop in every other aisle and sit down on the bottom shelf to rest for a few minutes. I got more than a few strange looks, and one lady did ask me if I was ok....I waved her off, saying I was fine, just needed a bit of a rest!! I seriously probably looked deranged. I guess most people don't need to clear out a space on the bottom shelf in the cereal aisle to sit with their head between their knees.....

Oh and I mentioned this was the grocery shopping for Christmas dinner...the main thing on the menu that day is turkey. I found the turkey bin at walmart, stared at it, limply stuck my hand in to start to dig for the proper sized turkey and I had to stop myself. I couldn't even move one side to side to check the weight, there was no way I was going to be able to lift it out of the bin and into my cart. I was so overwhelmed by the thought of doing that, that I swore at the turkeys in my head for being so heavy and cold, then walked away.

By the time I got through the check out line (I'm pretty sure I set a record for longest time taken to put all food on the conveyor belt EVER) and into my car, I was already kicking myself for thinking that this was at all a good idea. Then it hit me that I also had to get this car load of stuff INTO the house. Our garage goes into the basement, so that means I also had to carry it up a flight of stairs. I briefly considered knocking on a neighbors door and offering them cash to carry it all in for me...but I figured it was one thing for strangers in walmart to think I'm crazy, it was another thing for the people who I have to live near for an indeterminable number of years to think the same thing. I performed a little triage type assessment of my groceries in the trunk, then took in and put away only the refrigerated and frozen stuff.

I got the items that made it through my triage assessment put away, popped some more tylenol, put on my PJ's and collapsed on the couch. I took a nap, and woke up drenched in sweat, which I took as a good sign that my fever broke while I was sleeping.

I still felt pretty horrible and ran a fever the rest of the day, and a little bit the next morning. I haven't had a fever since Saturday morning, but man....that brief illness must have really done a number on me. I still don't feel 100% like myself, and it's Monday afternoon! I don't feel sick at all, but just drained...getting dressed and ready for work this morning felt like I had run a marathon by the time I was finished.

BUT, if we're looking at the bright side of things...at least I wasn't sick ON Christmas. And most of my grocery shopping is done. :)

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

2011-12-18T21:56:00.002-05:00

Love this shot!!

It barely covered the ground, but it was enough to get the boys bundled up and out to go sled riding!

I don't really want to talk about it, but the forecast has changed and is no longer calling for snow on Christmas. Boo. Fingers crossed that it changes again in the next 6 days.....

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas

2011-12-17T11:39:00.000-05:00

Forecast for Christmas day in Pittsburgh....please, please, please let it be true!! Or maybe even change it to snow on Christmas eve, too?

Snow Shower High
35°F

Precip
40%

Merry Christmas.

2011-12-15T14:14:00.001-05:00

More Spider Chippy

2011-12-15T08:15:00.000-05:00

Rainforest playmat-fun for all ages.

I'll have a skinny latte, double espresso, extra foam, hold the whip....

All aboard the Spider Chippy Express!

I ordered the extra-extra-large slurpee with this popcorn, has anyone seen my slurpee??

Recipe: Make ahead mashed potato casserole

2011-12-14T12:18:00.000-05:00

These potatoes turn out sooo delicious, and the best part about them? You can make them ahead of time. Which means one less thing to be spending time in the kitchen for on Christmas day, score!

5 lbs potatoes
8 oz cream cheese
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup sour cream
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 c onion
1 tsp salt
1/4 milk

-Mash potatoes & add cream cheese
-cut up butter and blend
-add sour cream, milk, eggs & salt
-stir all ingredients & mix; put in greased casserole dish
-refrigerate overnight; bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes

Dishing out the compliments

2011-12-14T08:30:00.000-05:00

A few days after we had decorated the house for Christmas, Jake said, "mommy, I have to tell you...your decorations are beautiful." He said it in the sweetest voice, and in the most sincere way, I had tears in my eyes. Really, I did. He noticed and asked why I was crying, and I told him it was a happy cry, that what he had just said to me was very nice, and that I appreciated it.

Jake must have filed this away in his "how to get brownie points with mommy" part of his brain, because every few days now, he tells me again that my decorations are beautiful. :) And it gets me every time!!

The other day, I told him he looked very handsome in the sweater he had on...his response was, "awww...thanks, mommy...you are so sweet to say that". Maybe that's something I say? It sounded so adult-like coming out of such a little guy.

Sometimes he'll randomly compliment Liam as well; the other day Liam was wearing a new pair of PJ's and Jake said "Oh wow baby Liam, those jammies are really nice. I have some nice jammies, but not ones like that!" He cracks me up!

Here he is, enjoying some time with his baby brother (in their nice jammies) in some containers...who needs toys when you have this stuff around the house? It provided easily 45 minutes of entertainment for both of them. first it was a fishing boat, then a ride, then a hiding space, then a car....

Christmas Show 2011

2011-12-13T09:55:00.001-05:00

You may remember Jake's big stage debut last year, that resulted mostly in tears and sadness. I'm very happy to report that it was a much more positive experience for him this year! He had been cast as a sheep (although when his part was first revealed to him, he confided in me that he was disappointed, he had been hoping for the role of a pig or a cow...I'm not kidding, he really said that...but eventually, he fully embraced his role as the sheep) Here's a video of one of the songs, he's the enthusiastic sheep right in the middle of your screen :)

I was really proud of him, I know he tends to get nervous when he's in front of a lot of people...so this was a big moment for him!

Elf on the Shelf

2011-12-08T08:11:00.001-05:00

If you have kids, are you doing the Elf on the Shelf? I was too cheap to actually buy the book/elf doll set from the store, but I happen to already own a creepy elf (thanks to my brother, who bought it as a joke for me years ago) so we decided to participate this year.

Last Sunday, I stuffed the creepy doll into a box, and while Jake was occupied in another room, put the box on the porch and rang the doorbell. He tore into the box when I told him it was addressed to him, then I read him the note that was sent from Santa, which explained the elf and told Jake that he had to name him.

After some intense deliberation, he decided on the name "Spider Chippy Elf". Spider, as in Spiderman, and Chippy, after the Elf that's featured on the Elf on the Shelf TV special that he's been obsessively watching.

A perk to the elf is that parents can use him as leverage for good behavior; I tried this for the first time the other night when Jake was doing something, I can't even remember what, so it must have been a minor offense, and I told him that he'd better stop, Spider Chippy was watching and reports everything back to Santa. This statement was met with a blank stare, followed by the statement "No he doesn't mommy. Spider Chippy can't talk." WHAT? I cannot be outsmarted by my 3 year old. Thinking on my feet, I told him that he can't talk around any people, that his magic is only used when everyone is sleeping, just like on the TV show. He still looked suspicious, but said, "Oh. Ok. I hope Spider Chippy talks to Santa tonight". Phew.

So the thing with doing this is that I have to remember to move Spider Chippy every night after Jake goes to bed. I forgot to take a picture the first day, but I put him at Jake's seat at the kitchen table. Since then, Spider Chippy has been doing some interesting things in our home.....


SpiderChippyElf@gmail.com


Away in a manger


Yo-ho-ho, mateys! (ho-ho, get it??)

Stay tuned for more adventures of Spider Chippy Elf....

6 month report

2011-12-07T07:58:00.001-05:00

We had Liam's 6 month well visit earlier this week, and everything looked great. Here are his stats (at 6.5 months, technically):

16 lbs, 14 oz (25th percentile)
27.5 inches tall (75th percentile)
44.5 cm head circumference (50th percentile)

I looked back at Jake's stats from his 6 month appointment, and he was 17 lbs, 10 oz and 27 inches tall. So Liam is a bit lighter, but 1/2 inch taller.

Overall, he's been very consistent in his growth and they were pleased with his development and all of that good stuff. We discussed his reflux, which much to my dismay, has not improved. I was really hopeful that we would be weaning OFF the meds by this point, not increasing them. But he's still on 2.3 mL of zantac, twice per day. We discussed the possibility of needing to see a GI specialist at Children's, but the dr. didn't feel it was totally necessary at this time, since Liam is gaining weight appropriately for his age, and the zantac is working when it's the correct dose. He said it would be something that he would consider down the road, if we max out on the zantac dose or he were to start losing weight. But for right now, he just doesn't feel that it would be necessary to send him there to have procedures done that probably won't tell us too much aside from just verifying that yes, he does indeed have reflux. He said that while "most" babies start to outgrow it by 6 months, there are some who don't outgrow it until closer to 12 months; I guess we just fall into the latter category.

On a lighter note, he has started to sit up completely unassisted! I think I mentioned a few weeks ago that he started doing the whole "tripod" sitting with his hands in front of him....then it was just like one day out of the blue last week, I put him down on the floor, he lifted his hands, sat straight up and hasn't looked back since. I was proud of course, but also sad in some ways since it's just one more milestone that he's reaching that means he's becoming less and less of a baby all the time. At least he's not mobile...YET!

Now that he is spending more time in an upright position, Jake has been excited to play with him a bit more, which is really cute. He'll bring him a bunch of toys, line them up in front of him and start talking to him about what the toys do, he'll show him how to play with them, and reminds Liam that many of the toys were his when he was a baby :) Here they are playing with one of Liam's Christmas gifts (thanks, Martini Family!)

We also gave him a sippy cup the other night after dinner, mostly just to see what he'd do with it. I filled it with water and handed it to him, and after examining it for a moment, brought it up to his mouth. At first I was impressed, thinking he was drinking it, then I realized he was using the spout as a teether :) Hey, whatever keeps him occupied!

He's still loving his food...since I last wrote about it, we've introduced green beans, avocado, sweet potatoes and apricot. This is what happens nearly every single night at dinner when his food is all gone and he sees me put the dish in the sink:

THIS IS SO NOT FAIR!

PIN ALL THE THINGS!!!!!!!!

2011-12-06T08:00:00.000-05:00

Are you on Pinterest? If not, you should be! You know, if you like to find new sources of absolute time suck. But seriously, it is a great site. Before discovering Pinterest, I would save ideas in a Microsoft Word document...I would have a million documents going at one time, with recipes, decorating ideas, crafts for Jake, luau ideas, pictures I wanted to take, etc.... Instead, this is an amazing place you can go and just "pin" all of these fabulous ideas onto one place. Genius, right??

My latest favorite Pinterest find was this free Christmas subway print. It's being featured on the table in our entryway:

Rockin' around the Christmas tree

2011-12-05T09:43:00.001-05:00

If you've been reading my blog for awhile, you'll remember that thanks to Brian, we've become the family who goes out to some farm and chops down our own tree. However, we weren't sure that would happen this year since we had Liam. After some deliberation last week, we finally decided Saturday afternoon to throw in the towel on the experience this year, with the promise that we'll make an effort to do it next year. We checked out the selection at Lowes first, but those trees were deemed "wimpy" by the King of All Christmas Trees himself, and we ended up at a lot right across the street from our development.

While he might have initially been bummed about not going to chop it down ourselves, Brian came around very quickly when he found the tree that ended up coming home with us. It's huge and really full, we were very excited! To give you an idea on the size, when the guy was done trimming it and bundling it, he asked me which truck was ours. I replied that we didn't have a truck, it was going on the Elantra parked right in front. The other guy working turned around really fast and said, "you're putting that thing on a car??" :-)

Liam slept through his first tree selection.

And what would Christmas be without some type of mishap?? Brian put the tree in the stand on Saturday night, but we forgot to put water in it (which actually ended up being a good thing...keep reading). We got up on Sunday morning & wanted to decorate it...I was testing the lights and Brian put water in the stand. A few minutes passed and I looked down on the floor and noticed water leaking all over my living room floor!! The stand must have had a crack it in. FAIL. So, at 7:30am on Sunday, Brian made an emergency trip to the store, bought a new stand, then had to re-do the tree. At least we hadn't decorated it yet!

Once we finally got all of that sorted, we were able to decorate. Jake was so excited he could barely contain himself :)

Liam was intrigued by the lights, and Gracie was super helpful as usual.

Drumroll please...the finished product!

Movie Quote Trivia Time!

2011-12-02T14:54:00.001-05:00

Can you guess the quote from one of my favorite movies of all time? It's the first thing that popped into my head when I put this outfit on Liam the other day.

"(S)He could be a farmer in those clothes!"

Worth watching

2011-12-01T12:23:00.001-05:00

I don't normally talk about my personal/political/religious views (outside of parenting) too much on this blog, but this video that has been floating around Facebook really got to me this morning, and I think it has a great message. When there are so many things going on in our country (and the world) that are so terrible, and in desperate need of fixing, is the subject of gay marriage really something that policy makers should be spending so much time (and money) on?

I can only hope that by the time my boys are old enough to marry, they will be free to choose to marry whomever they want to at that point, regardless of sex.

*stepping off my soapbox now*

Book Review: The Paris Wife (Paula McLain)

2011-11-29T12:56:00.001-05:00

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain

Description from amazon.com: Chicago, 1920: Hadley Richardson is a quiet twenty-eight-year-old who has all but given up on love and happiness—until she meets Ernest Hemingway and her life changes forever. Following a whirlwind courtship and wedding, the pair set sail for Paris, where they become the golden couple in a lively and volatile group—the fabled “Lost Generation”—that includes Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, and F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald.

Going into this book, I knew very little about Ernest Hemingway, so I really can't vouch for the authenticity of any of the events described, but I did enjoy the book overall. I do have to admit, I was much more into the book at the beginning, it kind of started to lose some steam for me by the middle. While I was rooting for Hadley, she did annoy me in parts of the book....that could be due to the character herself, or the fact that the way she was portrayed was maybe an accurate depiction of the way things were then...I'm not sure. I found myself swept away in the book completely when it was discussing their courtship and the beginning of their marriage, I was flying through the pages (or whatever they're called on a kindle!). The second half of the book was not bad, by any means, but I enjoyed the first part more....but it's still a book I'd recommend!

Up next: All That is Bitter and Sweet (Ashley Judd)

Checks & balances

2011-11-29T08:00:00.000-05:00

You might have gathered from some of my previous posts that I love a good to-do list. And while I definitely have a decent sized to-do list for the upcoming holiday season, I've also made a vow to myself that I'm not going to drive myself crazy with it. I think it's so easy to get caught up in trying to get everything done, and have everything be perfect that you lose sight of what the holiday season really means. And to me, the season means being able to spend that time with friends and family, introducing the kids to the magic of the season, and being thankful for all that we have.

I already have the house decorated (and Jake "helped" me this year and had a blast) so that was a huge check off the list. Shopping is totally done for Jake, and Liam will be getting a toy box so I just need to find one to order. Other shopping is about 50% done. Last year, Brian and I made a night out of wrapping while watching "Elf" so I think that's something we'll make a tradition...we had a good time, and wrapping is so much easier when there are two people involved!

Photos for photo card were taken last weekend, photo cards created and ordered, just waiting for them to be delivered. My address list is updated and ready to go, I'll probably address the cards on my lunch break one day.

We need to get a tree, and that will probably be done and decorated next weekend. I hate baking, but I was invited to do a cookie exchange this year...I'll probably make things easy on myself and just buy the cookies. We'll take the kids to see Santa of course, Jake has already been asking when we're going to do that. My house is in desperate need of a deep cleaning...since I'm hosting Christmas again, I'm thinking of outsourcing that task. My mother-in-law was nice enough to give me money for Christmas last year to be used toward house cleaning that I never used. She's going to be mad if I don't use it for that purpose :) So I figure this will be a good time to put some of it toward that.

I'll need to grocery shop for Christmas dinner, but other than that...those are really the only things I HAVE to do. I'm concentrating on those things, and those things only...anything else that gets done will be considered a bonus. I'm sticking to that vow and making this month about spending time with my family, rather than running around stressed out about the whole season.

What do YOU do to make sure you stick with the spirit of the holiday season, whatever that may mean to you?

One man comedy show

2011-11-24T11:00:00.000-05:00

While doing laundry one day, I bent over and my pants must have come down a bit in the back (I have a tattoo on my lower back on the right side); Jake said, "Mommy! Who gave you that stamper? It's very nice, you must have had a good day!" (they get stamps sometimes at school if they have a good day)

When talking about Christmas/Santa recently, he confirmed with me that the reindeer live at the North Pole. Then he asked where the elves live, and I told him they live at the North Pole, too. Then we had this conversation:
Jake: Oh. Ok. That's good that they live there because they have to sell the toys, right?
Me: You mean make the toys? the elves make the toys at the North Pole.
Jake: No, they sell them.
Me: um...who do they sell them to?
Jake (in his "duh" tone): They sell them to Toys R Us, mommy!

He'll probably be embarrassed later in life that I shared this one, but oh well. Brian was doing the Jillian Michaels 30 day shred at home the other day and while Jake was watching him, he made this observation: "Daddy...we don't have the bouncies. The ladies on the TV have the bouncies. Only girls have bouncies, right?"
I was not in the room at the time, so poor daddy was totally unprepared in that moment to have any type of body part conversation with his 3.5 year old and just made some type of strange noise of acknowledgment then quickly changed the subject :)

I had a hot date.

2011-11-22T09:23:00.001-05:00

And it wasn't with Brian. I'll give you a few hints...it involved a handsome little man who has blonde hair, brown eyes, and is about 3 feet tall. If you guessed Jake, you're correct. (and if you guessed anyone else, I'm disturbed to know who)

I've been wanting to have a day out with Jake, just the two of us, for awhile now. Last Friday was Light Up Night in Pittsburgh and since I try to avoid that event like the plague, it seemed like a good idea to play hooky from work and take Jake out by himself for the day. Our day was going to start out with the breakfast buffet at Eat n Park (YUM) followed by the Carnegie Science Center.

As we were loading up the car to leave, I reminded him that our first stop was going to be daycare so that we could drop Liam off...Jake apparently missed the memo of it being a day of fun to ourselves, because he got sad and said he wanted Liam to come with us. I told him that we were doing stuff that Liam was too little to do, and Jake replied, "But mommy---he's growing so much everyday!" Where does he get this stuff??

I finally convinced him to leave Liam at school, and we were off to the buffet! The highlight of breakfast for Jake was the discovery of "rainbow Cheerios" (translation: Fruit Loops) The kid has never really had sugary cereal before, so you can imagine his reaction to the bowl of sweet goodness in front of him. Don't worry, the server will still bring your kid a free smiley cookie, even for breakfast!

We got to the Science Center right when it opened; it was our first time there and I have mixed feelings. We had a good time, don't get me wrong...but for the price, I don't think it's somewhere we'll frequent until he's older and can take advantage of more things. A lot of the stuff was geared toward older kids, but we did spend a good amount of time on the top floor where they had water play, construction stuff, and some lizards to pet.

I present to you, the next Demetrius Ivory!

What Jake is thankful for....

2011-11-21T08:25:00.001-05:00

Happy 1/2 year!

2011-11-17T08:30:00.000-05:00

It's hard to believe that Liam has gone from this...

to this....

in just 6 months.

I shouldn't be surprised at how quickly the time goes since this is my second time around, but it never ceases to amaze me. He's really starting to develop such a little personality; he's such a happy little guy and his giggles are contagious.

He doesn't sit up unassisted yet, but if you kind of put him in place using his little arm as a kickstand, he can prop himself up for a few seconds. I sense that his love affair with the bouncy seat is coming to an end, as his interest in it lasts for only a few seconds at this point. He is much more of a fan of sitting upright these days, so he's really been enjoying the exersaucer, jumperoo and bumbo.

We don't go for his check up until the first week of December (somehow we fell behind on these visits), but my at home estimate using our scale the other day put him at around 16 lbs.

He's still struggling with the reflux, despite the fact that we started him on solids a month ago. Unfortunately, the quantity of the spit up remains the same, the consistency of the spit up is the only difference. It also started bothering him again last week, he was doing his usual symptoms of needing to increase the dose (which is why I weighed him at home) so I called the office late last week, he had definitely outgrown the previous dose. We increased it right away, hopefully we'll see some results soon.

So even though the food isn't helping his reflux, he looooooooves it. His little feet start kicking a million miles a minute and we can't ever spoon it in fast enough! So far, he's had carrots, peas, squash, applesauce, bananas, pears and peaches.

Happy 6 months, my little man!

Laughing Liam

2011-11-16T08:47:00.001-05:00

Liam, showing off his adorable giggles...brought on by the person who can make him laugh the most, his big brother :)

Book Review: Saving CeeCee Honeycutt and Genuine Lies

2011-11-15T13:22:00.001-05:00

Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman

From amazon: Steel Magnolias meets The Help in this Southern debut novel sparkling with humor, heart, and feminine wisdom. Twelve-year-old CeeCee Honeycutt is in trouble. For years, she has been the caretaker of her psychotic mother, Camille-the tiara-toting, lipstick-smeared laughingstock of an entire town-a woman trapped in her long-ago moment of glory as the 1951 Vidalia Onion Queen. But when Camille is hit by a truck and killed, CeeCee is left to fend for herself. To the rescue comes her previously unknown great-aunt, Tootie Caldwell. In her vintage Packard convertible, Tootie whisks CeeCee away to Savannah's perfumed world of prosperity and Southern eccentricity, a world that seems to be run entirely by women. From the exotic Miz Thelma Rae Goodpepper, who bathes in her backyard bathtub and uses garden slugs as her secret weapons, to Tootie's all-knowing housekeeper, Oletta Jones, to Violene Hobbs, who entertains a local police officer in her canary-yellow peignoir, the women of Gaston Street keep CeeCee entertained and enthralled for an entire summer.

It probably sounds cheesy, but I would best describe this book was "heartwarming". Seriously. It was a good balance of a sad story, mixed with funny, light-hearted moments that made you love the characters. Definitely worth the read!

Genuine Lies by Nora Roberts

This was the first book I've read by this author, and overall I enjoyed it. I would categorize it as romance/mystery (if that's a real book category) and the mystery aspect of it kept me guessing the whole time. There were some parts that seemed to drag on, and the author was a bit wordy for my taste at times...I found myself kind of skimming a lot of parts. But other than that, it was good & I would read more by the same author.

Side note-this book was written in 1991, so I was entertained a lot of the time by the description of the "high fashion" of the time, the lack of airport security, and the fact that people still had to rely on letters and home phones as their main way of communicating.

I would also like to note that I was able to read both of these courtesy of my library for FREE on my kindle!! YAY for the new library sharing feature!!

Up next: The Paris Wife, by Paula McLain

Go Gracie, it's your birthday!

2011-11-15T08:10:00.001-05:00

You're gonna eat apples & peanut butter like it's your birthday....

Peanut butter is difficult to get out of a dog beard, just an FYI.

Gracie's birthday was last Saturday & we celebrated with her favorite special treat. Hard to believe my baby girl is 7 years old!!

Stay away from my kids!

2011-11-14T09:19:00.001-05:00

I'm looking at you when I say that, stomach flu virus. ICK. Last Monday, Jake was sent home from daycare (along with a handful of other kids) with the stomach flu. I stayed home with him on Tuesday (and spend his afternoon nap time sanitizing the house, washing sheets & towels, etc...trying to keep it from spreading).

Fast forward to Saturday, Jake was in better spirits, but Liam didn't seem like himself as much. Brian was out of town on a man weekend with his dad to fish (he picked a great weekend to not be home, right?), but fortunately, my mom was at my house helping out with the boys. We noticed that Liam seemed clingier & fussy, although I was initially chalking it up to the tooth that is trying to poke through. But, by mid afternoon it became obvious that he had also come down with the flu. I will spare you the nasty details, but let's just say there was a LOT of clean up involved. Ourselves, his clothes, my floors, towels, sheets...the list goes on & on. He was up a few times throughout the night and was just a mess in general.

A big shout-out to my mom for being there to help---I would have lost my mind (more so than I was already doing-on Sunday, I declared I was ready to go back to work, which I never say!!) had she not been there. Thanks, GG!!!

Fortunately, Sunday seemed to be a bit better (aside from the fact that there was so much laundry, my laundry chute actually jammed at one point). Liam took a nice long nap on my mom in the morning (after barely napping at all the day before), which gave Jake & I a chance to make some FunFetti cupcakes.

The best part of FunFetti cupcakes? The fact that there is always extra icing left in the end...but don't tell Jake that, I hid it in the back of the fridge for my own guilty indulgence :)

So, hopefully no one else is affected by this bug! On a lighter note, here are the kiddos on a healthier day being their cute & goofy selves:

Happy Monday, everyone!!

My 1st and last experience with squash.

2011-11-10T12:17:00.000-05:00

Remember my post last week, raving about how easy it is to make baby food? Yeah, I hadn't ventured into squash yet. I made a lot of Jake's baby food, but never tried squash for him, he just got good old jars. I figured I'd give it a shot this time around, because my father-in-law gave me 2 squashes (squashi? squashes? just squash like deer? what is the plural?) out of his garden, and then Aldi had them for .97 each, so I figured why not? (3 of 4 featured here, I had 1 butternut & 3 acorn)

Let me tell you why not...first, I nearly severed a piece of my finger trying to cut them in half. It was like trying to saw through a boulder. Once I did manage to cut through them, I was faced with nasty piles of guts and seeds. I am seriously repulsed by those types of things (which is why I have successfully avoided pumpkin carving every year). The initial scoop of guts & seeds wasn't bad, but I had to do a lot of digging/scraping to get all of the strings out. GAG.

THEN, after I baked them for almost an hour, I had to peel off the skin and remove all of the "meat" to blend up. Again, it was just really gross to me. And not an easy task, that skin is stubborn.

It at least got easier once I got the meat out, it was just business as usual...tossing it in the food processor and pushing a button.

So, the 4 squash(es)(i) cost me a total of about $2 since 2 of them were free and I got about 32 ounces of baby food out of them. Had I bought those in a jar, it would have cost me closer to $7 or $8 for that amount. Hopefully this is the only squash he'll ever need while eating purees, since it did make quite a bit...because that will be the last time he gets a homemade batch!

The countdown is ON.

2011-11-04T09:04:00.000-04:00

Only 3 more weeks until Black Friday, I'm currently in training.

Are you ready??

Nom-nom-nom.

2011-11-02T08:00:00.000-04:00

Now that we're doing solids with Liam, it was time to blow the dust off of the food processor and fire that thing back up! I made a bunch of Jake's food when he was a baby, and it was so easy that I had no hesitation in doing it again. So far, we've made peas, carrots, peaches, bananas and pears. (and so far, he's loved all of that food) Here is a quick picture tutorial, just in case you're curious about making your own food.

Cook the veggies as you normally would:

Catch the water when you drain the veggies to use for thinning the food out once it's in the processor (the water has some of the nutrients that are lost in the cooking process). I find it's easiest to just put a mixing bowl with a pouring spout directly under the strainer:

Put peas into processor, add water as necessary...blend it up!

Once you have the right consistency, spoon the food into ice cube trays (each cube is about an ounce), cover with saran wrap and freeze:

Pop the frozen cubes out of trays, place into ziploc bags for freezer storage:

So simple!! And so cost effective---the bag of peas was $1.06, and I got 22 oz of food out of it. Earth's Best baby food runs around .60/jar for stage 1 baby food (2.5 oz), so 22 oz of jarred baby food would run me about $5.40. That's a savings of $4.34 for less than 10 minutes of work.

Nate & Katie's Wedding: Video Preview

2011-11-01T11:59:00.000-04:00

I still need to get a full post up about the wedding, but I'll give you a little preview, via some videos....

Unfortunately, I didn't get my camera on in time to get the full effect of this garter removal. But let me just tell you, if you know my brother at all, you would have been amazed by it. Nate is generally very quiet, so when he busted out some choreographed moves while removing the garter, jaws were dropping all over the reception. It was awesome.

Speaking of sweet moves, I'm not sure where Jake & Ben picked up theirs, but they had a great time. We practically had to drag them off of the dance floor whenever they needed to use it for the more formal dances.

Meet Jake!

2011-11-01T11:53:00.000-04:00

Happy Halloween!!

2011-11-01T11:45:00.001-04:00

We had an early Halloween celebration on Friday, which was 1 of 2 parties for Jake at school (they had one on Halloween as well). He didn't get to wear his costume to the one on Friday, but parents were invited and we were to make a silly hat to wear that day. (guess who totally forgot about the hat making until the last minute and was then up at 9pm the night before with a glue gun and some foam visors??)

my fabulous face painting job

Monday was the school party AND trick or treat, so it was a big day for the kids.

Our neighborhood has a parade for the kids right before trick or treat starts, which was really cute. (you might notice in the pictures below that Liam is in a different costume than what is pictured above--the zebra was a total man down after being spit up on, so we had to switch to this lion, which he was not really happy about).

Jake & our neighbor, Amelia

Liam and I headed back home to pass out candy after the parade, while Brian took Jake around the neighborhood, along with another little girl who lives down the street. Unfortunately, it was raining, but they still had a great time and made it out for a little over an hour.

Happy Halloween!!

2011-10-26T08:00:00.000-04:00

I randomly had to take a day off from work on Monday (poor Miss Gracie had a UTI and had to go to the vet)...the kids were in school, so I basically had the whole day to myself. As tempted as I was to stay in my PJ's, plop myself on the couch with some Halloween candy (what? I have to do quality control to make sure what I'm going to pass out is appropriate!) and watch The Real Housewives of NJ (hot mess!), I instead forced myself to be productive.

For weeks now, I want to scream in horror every time I open up one of the closets in our bedrooms. I don't even know what happened, or how they got so bad so fast, but it looked like a war zone in all of them. My closet just had shopping bags exploding out of the bottom, mostly with some Christmas gifts that I've already purchased, sweatshirts spilling out of the shelves on top, and shoes thrown all over the floor. The boys closets were both filled with clothes that dont' fit them any more, but needed to be sorted by size then placed into bins to go up to the attic; instead, I had started piling them up in bags in their closets, but those bags were overflowing at this point. The closets needed some serious attention.

Here is Jake's closet, the before & after shot...my favorite organization piece for the boys' clothes are these hanging things with slots in them; perfect for pants, sweatshirts, etc..without having to stuff every single piece of clothing into the dresser.

Before-explosion!

After! ahhh....

Here is the discarded pile of clothes that no longer fit him....later placed into bins and ready to go to the attic!

And here are some before/after shots of his dresser drawers. It's amazing what a difference just taking everything out and refolding it can make!

PJ drawer before

after taking out clothes that don't fit, I was able to split the PJ's into 2 drawers

shirt drawer before

folded-ta da!

Unfortunately, I didn't get a before shot of Liam's closet (but trust me, it was bad), but here is the after!

And my closet:

pay particular attention to the bottom....

much better!

This project literally took me about 5 hours...I was exhausted and my back hurt by the end of the day, but it was so worth it!!

Zoo Boo!

2011-10-25T12:26:00.001-04:00

We look forward to Zoo Boo every year; it's just a great excuse to get another use out of the Halloween costume and of course, we always have fun at the zoo. My mom was able to join us for the fun this year, too!

Jake wasn't too interested in seeing many of the animals this trip, mainly because he was so distracted and intrigued by all of the other kids in costume. It was like he was meeting a celebrity every time he saw someone dressed up, it was so sweet. He even introduced himself as Batman to a few kids and asked if they wanted to be his friend :) And, he found a girlfriend at one point...it was hilarious to watch him interacting with her. He was giggling, trying to follow her around...totally smitten!

Liam power napped through most of the trip, but he did so in style, sporting his zebra costume.

Lion Costume: ur doing it wrong

2011-10-25T11:39:00.001-04:00

If you don't get the title of this post, please head over to the Lolcats website for a good laugh.

Here is Jake, after stuffing himself into Liam's lion costume (size: 6 months) and enthusiastically declaring, "Mommy! I think it fits me!"

Book Review: Commencement (Courtney Sullivan)

2011-10-19T09:38:00.000-04:00

Commencement by Courtney Sullivan

Description from amazon:
There is a curious thing that happens to nearly all of us in the haze of our post-college years, and that is this: we anticipate the prospect of becoming honest-to-God adults with both heady excitement and unfathomable dread. Dread because we know, wisely, that once we cross this threshold, we cannot go back; there is no sleeping in past eleven, no immature antics that can still be written off to childhood, no phoning our parents when the checkbook hits zero. Excitement because it is such a relief to evolve into something bigger than we were before, to embrace the world as ready, steady grown-ups. And J. Courtney Sullivan, via her debut novel, Commencement, explores these very complexities and growing pains of leaving behind our adolescences and surrendering to adulthood.

This is one of the better books I've read this year, I flew through it, devouring the pages, particularly the sections that were set when the girls were still in college. I found myself relating to so many things that were discussed in the book....staying up all night talking to your roommate about nothing and everything, planning your entire class schedule around how late you can sleep in, essentially having your entire day revolve around meal times with friends, doing silly things in the dorms just because you could (In my case I distinctly remember doing things like trick or treating in our apartment in December, having water fights in the dorm with some guys down the hall, and "ice skating" in the community bathroom with a bunch of girls, using papers on our feet to skid across the floors at 2am) and so on. The story flips back and forth between the time spent in college, and after graduation, following the girls as their friendship evolves over time to adjust to adulthood, which is part of what made the book so enjoyable...you could really see why these girls (women) came to be the people they were when you were seeing what they came from in years past.

Up next: Saving CeeCee Honeycutt (Beth Hoffman)

$$$ Money, money, money, money!! $$$

2011-10-18T09:29:00.001-04:00

Once you live on your own, is there ever a time in your life when you don't find yourself talking or thinking about money? It's obviously a conversation that takes place frequently in our house because...well, we're the ones paying the bills! (how much should we put aside for college for each of the boys? how much are we each contributing to our retirement funds? the list goes on and on), but it's also a conversation that I find myself having with friends, coworkers, etc....everyone wants to save money! I am, by no means, an expert, but I do consider us to be a pretty frugal family, and I absolutely love getting a bargain. So, here are a few things we do to try and save a few dollars each month (mostly food related):

Non-food related: we asked for a programmable thermostat last year for Christmas. After quite an effort to get it installed ("Easy 15 minute installation" advertising on the package was a bunch of BS!), I will say that it was definitely worth it! I was running the AC pretty much constantly in the month July since it was so hot and I was still home on maternity leave, so I didn't bother with programming it. But, I went back to work at the beginning of August and programmed it to not really run for the 9+ hours that we're not there; doing that made a difference of almost $50 in our monthly electric bill!!
Coupons: I stopped getting the sunday paper (our subscription ran out and I'm holding out on renewing until they offer me a better deal!), but I get at least one packet of coupons in the mail with all of the ads every week. I also get my mom's leftover coupons once she's gone through them, and we do a coupon exchange at work where we all bring in our stash and clip the leftovers (dorky? maybe...but it saves!)
Stock pile: If I have a coupon, I stock up, even if we don't need it right at that minute. Fortunately, we have the storage space to do this (for both food and other products, like cleaning supplies, shampoo, soap, etc...) For example, had you opened up my pantry a few months ago, you would have found about 10 boxes of Kashi cereal bars; they're one of Jake's favorite snacks, and they were .75 off per box at Target that week, and I had coupons for $1 off of 3 boxes. So, I stocked up! I do the same thing with meat; I buy the huge packs of chicken breasts and ground beef, then divide it up and freeze it. Oh! And diapers! I have a few boxes of diapers in my laundry room right now because Babies R Us had some great sales a few weeks back (if you bought 2 boxes of diapers, you got a $25 gift card, AND they let you use manufacturers coupons along with that) I'm not on a hoarding level or Extreme Couponing or anything like that, but I will buy some extra products, within reason.
Aldi: I LOVE Aldi. I especially love the fact that Aldi is about a 2 minute drive from my house, just across the street from our development. The prices are just so unbelievably low, especially on produce. We normally made a weekly trip here to get mostly fresh items, like fruits and veggies, cheese, eggs, milk, bread (they sell whole wheat that doesn't contain high-fructose corn syrup, that's hard to find!) It's also a great place to get canned goods, salad dressing, etc....
Walmart: *GASP* I know, I shop at Walmart. I'm sure many people think I should hang my head in shame, but I don't really care all that much. It's about a 20-25 minute drive from my house, so a bit out of the way, but I would rather drive that distance than go to the Giant Eagle by my house any day. The prices at Giant Eagle are so out of control, it drives me crazy. And I know, some people "shop the sales" and GE (or other local stores) and it ends up being as cheap as Walmart in those cases or maybe even a bit cheaper...but when I want to shop, I want to get everything in one big trip. I don't feel like having to wait until the next week to pick up some cereal when the price drops to a reasonable amount at another store, when it's always that price at walmart. So, there's my plug for the evil empire...they should pay me for this promotion! I usually do one big monthly trip to Walmart, then pick up what we need for in between at Aldi and occasionally Target if I'm there getting something else anyway.
Check the date: stores mark down the price of meat as it nears the expiration date, so I always check that section first. If I can't use it that day or the next, I just freeze it. I've been able to get some great bargains on steaks, roasts and stew meat from doing this. And if I notice the date is within 2 or 3 days but the meat hasn't been marked down, I take it to an employee to have it marked down.
Flexibility: With the exception of a few items, I'm not really brand loyal to anything. If the generic is cheaper, I buy that. If I have a coupon for something and that brand ends up being cheaper at that time, I get that.

That's all I have for you. Now go forth and save, my friend!!

Pumpkinhead

2011-10-18T08:00:00.000-04:00

Road Trip!

2011-10-17T13:59:00.001-04:00

We took a road trip this past weekend that served 2 purposes: 1, to visit Brian's family and 2, to meet our friend's new baby girl! (our friends live in Texas, but their parents happen to live near Brian's family, so they were having a "meet the baby" party while in town...worked out well for us!)

We drove out on Friday morning and unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate for a trip to the pumpkin patch as we had hoped, but it was good for baking cookies and building forts with Aunt Amy!

The weather was much better on Saturday, so Brian & PopPop decided to take Jake to a nearby state park to walk the trails and throw some walnuts into the stream...he had a blast!

Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of baby Nicole at the party, but trust me, she was a cutie! later that afternoon, Joy & her family stopped by to visit. Joy was completely initiated into Liam's circle of friends when she picked him up above her head and he promptly spit up, within a centimeter or so of her mouth. close call!

Brian's aunt & uncle also stopped by later that evening, so we were able to have lots of visits in such a short period of time.

Words of wisdom.

2011-10-14T11:39:00.000-04:00

Peas, please!!

2011-10-13T08:30:00.000-04:00

Guessing game!

2011-10-12T07:30:00.000-04:00

Our boys, at almost the exact same age...can you tell who is who?

Recent Jake quotes

2011-10-11T10:18:00.001-04:00

*He came into the room while I was pumping one day, stopped dead in his tracks and said, "Mommy! You are making so much milk! Baby Liam is going to be so happy!"

*The song "Black and Yellow" came on the radio in the car one day and Jake immediately asked me to turn it off. When I asked him why he didn't want to hear it he said (with that "duh" tone to his voice), "The Steelers do not play today, mommy so we can't listen to a Steelers song."

*After going to a Scooby Doo themed birthday party, Jake requested to start watching the show; it's become his new favorite, but he refers to it as "Scooby Dooby" :)

*He always gives me a full report when I pick him up from school as to whether or not he had any Liam sightings that day. If he didn't actually see Liam himself, he will tell me, "I couldn't see baby Liam in the baby room today, but I did see his car seat in the window. I checked on it for you. It was ok."

*He was having a hard time settling down to go to sleep one night recently, so I told him that if he wanted to, he could leave his nightstand lamp on until he was ready to go to sleep as long as he was quiet. I guess he hadn't heard lights being referred to as "lamps" before, because his eyes grew huge and he said "Lamp? Is there a genie in there??". The look of disappointment on his face when I had to break the news that there was no genie was heartbreaking...

Super Jake!!

2011-10-11T09:16:00.000-04:00

Brothers.

2011-10-10T14:00:00.000-04:00

Some pictures don't even need captions....

Weekend Recap

2011-10-10T09:08:00.001-04:00

It was probably one of the last really warm weather weekends for awhile, so we took advantage of it on Friday night and had dinner outside (although we didn't make it too long after the eating, the bugs are out of control!!)

We kicked off our weekend on Saturday morning with a surprise 30th birthday party for our friend, Lisa. The party took place at the zoo, so of course Jake was all about it (cake, food, AND the zoo?? sign him up!) But first, there were donuts to enjoy.....

This is how Liam spent most of the party, though he did wake up for the last hour or so to show off his cuteness to everyone:

Jake and Lisa's son, Aaron, had a great time together and were typical boys, crawling under the tables and "sharing" goldfish snacks.

After nap that day, we were able to visit with the Martinis, who were in town for the weekend, yay! As always, Ben and Jake had a great time together and Liam got to sit in the bumbo seat for the first time (thanks for the loan, Melissa!)

My mom joined us on Sunday to watch the Steelers game. But first, we had to go through the HUGE stash of clothes that she brought up for the boys! She is a pro at consignment sales and scored some really great deals for both boys at a recent sale...it was like christmas at our house!

Later in the day, we had a relaxing dinner (Liam enjoyed peas for the 1st time, we'll get to that in a later post), followed by a marathon of board games per Jake's request, while Liam logged in some more time in the bumbo.

4 month check up and FOOD

2011-10-05T09:28:00.001-04:00

Weight: 13 lbs, 14 oz (about the 25th percentile)
Height: 26" (75th percentile---he's tall & thin!)
Head circumference: 42.5 cm (50th percentile)

I looked back, Jake was heavier at this age (15 lbs, 3 oz) but a bit shorter (25 & 1/4 inches), so they're pretty similar in size so far.

The appointment went well, he's right on track for everything which is always reassuring to hear. He flipped from back to belly the other day, but hasn't done it since then. He's also done belly to back a few times, but overall just doesn't seem to be too interested in rolling.

Jake had a pretty decent flat spot by this age, so I was relieved to hear that Liam's head is "beautifully rounded".

The doctor said it would be fine to start solids whenever we felt comfortable and whenever we felt that Liam was ready. We've had him at a chair at the table for a few weeks and while he's not swatting at our food or anything, he's certainly shown more of an interest since being up there with us. The doctor also mentioned that many babies get relief from their reflux and less spit up once they start solids...that was all it took to convince us to give it a go!! :) My clothes and my carpeting will thank me if that's true....

He was a bit fussy most of the afternoon from his shots, so I wasn't sure if he would be all that into trying out the cereal for the first time, but I figured we could offer it and if he didn't seem interested, we'd try again next week. Well, not only was he interested, he consumed the entire bowl of cereal, then cried when it was all gone. SUCCESS!


First bite, a bit unsure....


Hey mom, let's get some more of that going here!

Aaand, here's what happened when we were pretty much out of cereal, trying to scrape together one last bite....

In other news, we pulled out the exersaucer last weekend and said goodbye to the swing (he's never really been into it, anyway) I have to stuff a blanket around him to kind of prop him up, but he seems to enjoy it.

Why do you always have that thing in my face??

Chop, chop!

2011-10-03T08:55:00.002-04:00

Before/After:

Please excuse the horrible lighting in our gameroom & exhausted look on my face in the "after" picture, it was 6am & I had already been up for 2 hours, but that's a different story...

You might remember my post from awhile ago, lusting after the adorable Chelsea Kane cut, but deciding against it because I was pregnant & didn't want to chop off at that time. Then, back in July trying to decide if I should keep it long, or take the plunge. After more deliberation going into this hair appointment, I decided to go for it. It feels good to have all of that hair gone!

When I came home, this was the conversation that took place with Jake:

Brian: Jake, look at mommy, doesn't she look pretty with her new hair cut?
Jake (pausing a moment to stare): What happened? I don't like it. Where did your hair go? (then about an hour later he was just staring at me again) Mommy, where is your hair? Let's make it long again!

Kids: brutally honest.

Go Steelers!

2011-09-30T08:13:00.004-04:00

Happy Friday from my little Steelers fans!!

Look! We left the house! By ourselves!

2011-09-28T10:00:00.000-04:00

After the bridal shower on Saturday, my parents were nice enough to volunteer to watch the boys so that Brian & I could go out and celebrate our anniversary. After a small debate about where to go to dinner (I'm not really sure why Brian vetoed my original idea of Red Robin...), we settled on a local restaurant near my parent's house called Al an' Rubens. Our dinner was delicious, and it was nice to have some time to ourselves to catch up without feeling rushed or pulled in a million different directions.

After dinner, we headed over to the local outlets to do some shopping...shopping is such a different experience when you're not pushing a stroller, passing out snacks, taking breaks to feed or change a baby, etc...it was very enjoyable! Of course, we ended up buying stuff mostly for the kids, but that's ok :) It was a really nice night out, and I'm so glad that we got to enjoy the time together.

Sir Spits-a-lot

2011-09-27T12:41:00.001-04:00

Liam has a lot of nicknames, L-I-AM (his rapper nickname), bugga (I'm not sure why, I started calling him this as a shortened version of snugglebug), but perhaps the most accurate nickname we use is "Sir Spits-a-lot". Poor thing...his clothes just stand no chance. We use bibs all of the time (which drives me crazy, half of the time the bib covers up something cute on his shirt, but it's easier to change bibs 49 times a day than it is to change his whole outfit). but sometimes, even the bib can't provide enough protection and the outfit is ruined.

Fortunately, his reflux is a bit better as of this week. He had been on 1.6 mL of zantac for awhile now (probably almost 2 months), and it was working well, but then he started having many of the same symptoms as before...crying when trying to nurse, crying and fussing right before spitting up, arching his back, etc.... An estimated weight check at home showed that he was about 13.5 lbs, which bumped him up to the next dose at 2mL. He's been on that dose for about 6 days now and is showing improvement. The volume of spit up is still unbelievable (seriously, sometimes it sounds and looks like a someone just threw a bucket of water all over my floor), but he seems to not be bothered by it as much now, so that's all we can ask for. The doctor seemed confident before that once he starts solids, we would see an improvement in the reflux and hopefully be able to start weaning off the meds soon after that. He goes in next week for his 4 month check up and I'm assuming they will tell us it's ok to start solids, so we'll see if he seems ready and if we feel comfortable. But if it helps, I'm all about it!!

Here is a shot of what his shirts inevitably end up looking like after being on for a short period of time, this was over the weekend, I was trying to get some nice, smiley shots of him while he was playing on his playmat...before I could snap a single smiley pic, this is what happened!!

One year ago today....

2011-09-27T08:00:00.000-04:00

Exactly one year ago today, we found out that we were expecting another new addition to our family :) I can still remember being in bed that morning and wondering if it was even worth it to take a test, or if it would be too early. But of course, it's me...and I just couldn't wait.

Here's our little guy, doing his "frat boy" pose...this is what happens when you go a bit overboard on the milk consumption. (I really have no idea why, but he always puts his hand down there when he falls asleep in the bouncy!)

Katie's Bridal Shower

2011-09-25T21:13:00.001-04:00

My brother is getting married next month, so my mom hosted a bridal shower yesterday for his fiance, Katie. The shower was held at Palazzo 1837 Restaurant in Washington; if you're looking for a unique and beautiful location for any type of get together, definitely check this place out! The restaurant is an old home (built in 1837-hence the name), and all of the rooms are still in tact. Here is a look at the room we were in:

and the food is delicious!

My mom ordered these favors from Country Confections, how cute are they??

The fabulous (and delicious!) cake (thanks, Lisa of Lisacakes!!) :)

We interrupt the coverage of the actual shower to bring you this slightly humorous side note...Melissa & I are known for doing everything together. We've worked 2 jobs together, we got engaged and married within a few months of each other, and our kids are just a few months apart, just to name a few examples. sometimes, things like this happen:

As you can imagine, the joke of hte day quickly became, "did you guys plan this?". As if the twin look weren't bad enough, as Katie was opening the gifts, we discovered that we actually bought her the same gift. Yeah...it's scary sometimes. (But look how cute Melissa's bump is!!!)

Back to the shower, Katie got a lot of great stuff!! she's a very fun girl, and I'm looking forward to having her as my sister-in-law soon :)

At the end of the shower, Nate & Brian came...mainly so that we could put them to work to load up all of the gifts, but also so that everyone could say hi to Jake & Liam.

Happy 5 years to us!

2011-09-23T08:00:00.000-04:00

5 years have gone by since our wedding, and in that time, we have managed to buy 2 houses and have 2 kids. Those big life changes have certainly kept us busy, but in that time, we've also managed to make a lot of great memories (as both a couple, and as a family). We've also learned a lot about finding balance, between marriage, kids, careers, etc.... It has been a fantastic past 5 years, and I like looking back on days like today and reflecting on how lucky and blessed we are to have found each other, and created a life for ourselves and our children.

Jake: Unsupervised.

2011-09-21T08:40:00.000-04:00

Last night after work, Jake was coloring and putting some stickers in books in the playroom. I told him I was going to start dinner, and to keep playing nicely by himself. I put Liam in the bouncy seat in the kitchen, get dinner started....elapsed time of approximately 5 minutes, I peek my head into the playroom to check on Jake & find this:

Me: Jake, where are your clothes, why are your underwear backwards and what are you doing exactly?

Jake: *sigh* Mommy. (said as if I should clearly know the answers to my questions) I am a transformer. So I had to take off my clothes and transform my underwear. My legs have lasers. These are my wings. Is dinner ready yet?

Love this kid.

Book Reviews

2011-09-20T11:34:00.002-04:00

I'm reading faster than I can review these books! The past 2 books I've read have both been from the Kindle Daily Deal site; I think the books were .99, so I figured I'd give them a shot.

The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly

This movie was released a few months ago & I thought the ads for that looked decent, so when the daily deal came out I figured I'd give the book a shot first. I really, really enjoyed the book! It was a John Grisham-y type of plot, but a bit more....snarky? I don't know what the best adjective would be. But the plot was suspenseful, and the author kept you guessing.

Barefoot by Elin Hilderbrand

Again, another daily deal, but the description sounded like something I would enjoy (actually, the description reminded me a bit of Beaches) I found the author to be a teensy bit wordy at times, and I found myself skimming some of the long, super-descriptive passages, but overall I really liked it. I found it interesting that at different times in the book, I liked and disliked the same characters...there were times you were rooting for one of them, and agreeing with their choices, and other times I just wanted to reach into the book & slap sense into one of them.

The book was set in Nantucket, and I loved the setting and the way the author made you feel like you were right there in the quaint little beach town. I would read more books by this author, they would make for great summer reads!

Happy 4 months!

2011-09-17T08:50:00.000-04:00

Happy 4 months to my little Liam, looking dashing as always in his little business casual outfit.

Go Steelers!!

2011-09-16T08:34:00.001-04:00

All decked out for Steelers day at school!! (Jake was sporting his jersey, too....but was not really feeling the photo session at 6:45am. I'll have to try to get some of him on Sunday instead)

Falling in love with fall.

2011-09-15T13:34:00.000-04:00

Every year, I fall in love with fall even more. Like a lot of other things, I've found that having kids gives me a whole new perspective on holidays and seasons. While I've always loved the season, I really look forward to it now, knowing that we get to take the kids to pumpkin patches, Zoo Boo, dress them up for Halloween, etc...

But of course, I still love fall for my own selfish purposes:

Pumpkin Spice Lattes---I love you. I love everything about you, from the warm, cozy feel of your cup in my hands, to the lovely dollop of whipped cream that is perfectly placed on the top.

Boots and Sweaters---there is something about pulling you back out of the closet after a long, hot summer that brings me much joy. Putting you on today for the first time in months made me squeal with delight. Opening up my armoir that is devoted entirely to my sweater collection nearly made my eyes fill up with tears at the pride that I felt over acquiring such a lovely collection. (I think Brian's eyes fill up with tears when he sees that same collection, but probably for a different reason)

Fall Decor---I put you out last week. I love you dearly, but I need to get you some more friends, the house looks a bit bare this year. Must buy more pumpkins! But I do love the fact that I catch a wiff of spicy candles when I walk into certain rooms...ahhh.

New nail polish---I'm not a big fan of dark or deep red nail polishes, as I feel that my vampire complexion mixed with dark colors tends to make me fall into the Goth side of life. But, I saw this new Essie color ("Carry On") in a magazine and had to have it (side note-did we know that walmart now carries Essie? I was excited to see that as well).

Pants off, dance off!!

2011-09-13T08:25:00.002-04:00

"Mommy---want to have a dance party with me??"

I was excited to hear this question..I became even more enthused when I turned on the radio & Britney was playing. My excitement level was completely over the top when this was his reaction to the song, I immediately had to sneak away unnoticed and grab the camera to capture this moment (because you never know when you're going to need blackmail down the road):

You may or may not be aware, but I have a teeny tiny obsession with Britney Spears. This obsession has been going on for 10+ years now; Britney & I have had our ups and downs (I refer to the whole KFed incident as the dark ages in our make believe friendship), but I will always have a place in my heart for Brit & her fantastic music. After this dance party over the weekend, Jake has asked multiple times for the "Bwitney" song to play....love it!

Time to eat?

2011-09-12T10:00:00.000-04:00

It's not quite time for Liam to start eating food yet, but we figured it was time that he moved up to a seat at the table. As I mentioned in a previous post, I had been stalking craigslist for a used Fisher Price Space Saver seat that attaches to a chair, rather than the big high chair we had with Jake. I struck out on Craigslist, but did find a good deal on walmart.com (marked down to $44 from $60 and it shipped free to my house-I love online shopping deals!) Here he is, showing off his new seat at the head of the table (and his awesome slippers):

And looking confused as to why there's no food in front of him....

"This is what you meant?"

2011-09-09T14:46:00.001-04:00

Why yes, that IS my kid in his Christmas PJ's. Sitting in a cardboard box. With a sour look on his face.

Jake was home sick from school yesterday, he had been sent home the day before with a fever of 102.5. Fortunately, he was feeling better the next day, but still had to stay at home. It was nice to spend the day, just him and I, snuggling on the couch together, watching "Nemo", then making this deluxe edition pirate ship. Why are you laughing? Oh wait, probably because you saw the picture above.

Ok, so we needed to pass some time before lunch, and I told Jake that we could make a super cool pirate ship! What kid wouldn't want that? I guess he had different visions in his head. Because when we finished everything (like drawing windows on the side of the box, putting that flag up and making a telescope out of a paper towel roll), he said (and I quote): "This is what you meant?" Ouch. My creative skills are clearly not up to par. Walk the plank, mama!

One of the perks of being a baby....

2011-09-09T14:29:00.001-04:00

...is that overalls are socially acceptable for every day use.

Happy Friday!! :)

Big Boy, Big Backpack

2011-09-08T14:14:00.004-04:00

Thankfully, the "summer camp" aspect of daycare is over! I'm sure the kids really enjoy the camp idea since there's water play every morning, picnic lunches outside and generally much less structure than during the school year....but as a parent, it was kind of a pain. I needed a personal assistant just to keep things straight for me, since every day required sending Jake to school in swim clothes (and shoes!), but packing extra clothes and shoes to put on after water play was over. A clean towel had to be sent in on Mondays, then brought home for washing on Fridays. Thursdays were outside picnic lunch days, which meant a brown paper bag with items that didn't need to be refrigerated or microwaved. It might not sound like much to do, but since I was on maternity leave most of this time, I never had any idea what day of the week it was, let alone which camp day it was at school.

Which brings me to my post today---camp is over, which means that Jake got to start carrying his brand new backpack. Over the summer, I took him to Toys R Us one day & told him that he could pick out his very own backpack and lunch box. I had no idea that this would turn into a 30 minute agonizing decision. (I'm such an indecisive person myself, I'm guessing he picked up this trait from me) In the end, he went with a superhero backpack and a Cars lunchbox.

I can't wait to hear about all of the new things he's going to learn in class this year!

Labor Day Weekend 2011

2011-09-07T08:47:00.007-04:00

Sometimes, I feel like I live for 3 day weekends. I measure time at work in between paid holidays. (thus, the time between Labor Day and Thanksgiving seems to draaaaaaaaaag) We spent our Labor Day weekend visiting the Martini family in Virginia! The boys had a fun time reuniting, as always.

On Sunday morning, we headed out to Great Country Farm to participate in their potato dig. Our reason for going was two-fold; the adults got some potatoes out of the deal and the kids were forced to do some manual labor (in the hopes of wearing them out before nap time!)

The farm had so much stuff for kids to do! We enjoyed a pancake breakfast, tractor ride, train ride, playgrounds and a moon bounce.

Liam enjoyed his time at the farm by taking a nice long nap while Brian carried him around in the Ergo, then had a little snack, then took in all of the sights and sounds for the last hour or so.

On Sunday evening, the men headed into DC for the night to celebrate Brian's 30th birthday. They enjoyed themselves (even though they headed back to the hotel early in the night and still woke up out of habit at 6am!), and we had a girls night back at the house once the kiddos were in bed.

Thanks for having us, we look forward to the next visit! :)

Rock & ROLL

2011-09-06T11:28:00.002-04:00

We have a roller!! While doing tummy time last Friday (3.5 months), Liam lifted one arm up and after just a moment's hesitation, flipped right over onto his back.

Happy House-iversary!

2011-09-01T08:30:00.008-04:00

Wow...we closed on our house exactly one year ago today. A quick look at the updates we've done so far:

1st floor bathroom

Before

After (painted, replaced faucet, towel bar and knobs)

Kids Bathroom

Before

After (just new decor, but it made a huge difference, as I couldn't stand the southwest theme that the previous owners had left us!)

4th Bedroom/Liam's Room

Before

After (just some new paint)

Jake's Room (big boy room makeover plus new dresser and new curtains!)

Before

After

Of course, there are other projects that we (I) would love to do...nothing major, just some updates. The bathroom in our master bath has gold fixtures that I don't care for, so eventually, I'd like to replace those and maybe paint the vanity (it's just a meh color, I think it would look better if it were white) and replace the mirror/medicine cabinet. Same thing with the bathroom in our gameroom---replace the gold faucet, and repaint eventually.

The paint in the dining room is a beige color, which is fine, but there's a nice white chair rail in that room & I'd love to have 2 different colors on the wall eventually. I'm thinking a warm latte type color scheme....I need to find some examples/inspiration at some point.

We also have this set of doors in the playroom:

They look fine from that angle, but if you look carefully by the door knob, you can see that the previous owner's dog must have had a field day clawing up the wood on the doors, it's totally scratched up. At first, we were kind of like, eh...oh well we'll deal with it for awhile. But, then the winter rolled around & we also discovered that the doors/windows are terrible in terms of keeping the cold out!! That room is always warmer in the summer, and downright cold in the winter. And since it's what we use as a playroom (and thus, are in there quite a bit) it's annoying. we'll be looking into replacement options at some point soon.

Those are really the only "projects" that we would want to do at some point. Other than that, it's just little things that need to be done (that we can hopefully tackle this winter when we're not quite as busy), like touching up paint in some of the rooms and patching up holes that the previous owners left behind, scraping some peeling paint from the outside of the house and touching that up, and hopefully planting some bulbs that will pop up next spring! (I was disappointed to find that there were no tulips left behind this past year)

Happy 1 year House-iversary to us!! :-)

Book Review: Mockingjay (Suzanne Collins)

2011-08-24T14:00:00.003-04:00

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

This is the last book in the Hunger Games trilogy; I don't think I've done a review on any of the books yet, so I'll just sum up the series.

Based on the description, I never would have picked this book up on my own to read. I'm not into fantasy/sci-fi stuff at all (Twilight being the exception to that rule-don't judge) but I kept hearing great things about this series, so I decided to give it a try.

It took me awhile to get used to the subject matter in the first book, but once I got into it, I was hooked. The 2nd book was a bit disappointing, and I didn't find it to be nearly as riveting as the first. But of course, I wanted to read it because I was already invested in the story & characters at that point.

I'm glad that I stuck with it, because halfway through book #3, I was actually looking forward to my commute on the bus so that I could continue reading.

If you're going to commit to the series, my only suggestion is that you read all of the books together. I was on the library wait list for the first 2 books, so I had to wait about 2 months in between them. There were about 7 months in between books 2 & 3, just because I got caught up reading other things, and that was way too long for my brain. I found myself confused for some of the first part of book 3, just trying to piece back together bits of the story line and characters.

Tummy Time: SUCCESS!

2011-08-24T08:00:00.000-04:00

As an update to the last time I blogged about tummy time (which, at that point was titled "FAIL"), I am happy to report that tummy time is improving in our house. YAY!

My friend, blogless Meghan, suggested that I use a big ball to balance him on during tummy time; the round shape would make it harder for him to cuddle in and turn tummy time into nap time. So we dug the exercise ball out of the attic, dusted it off and got started. It was pretty much an immediate success because he hated it, and caused himself to pull his head up because he wanted to cry about being on it. Score one for mommy! Eventually, he learned to not hate it quite as much and would agree to doing it for a few minutes at a time. They also have scheduled tummy time sessions at school, which I think are really helping, now that he has a grasp on the whole concept. Here he is, doing his job!

I'm so proud! It's still not his favorite activity, he starts to look pissed after a few minutes. Exhibit A:

So much to say....

2011-08-23T12:30:00.003-04:00

I feel like there are many times throughout the day that Jake will say something, or Liam will do something, and I'll make a mental note of it, but then never remember when it comes time to blog about it. I blame my horrible case of Mom-nesia. (what? it's totally real.) I'll try to remember some stuff....

Jake

His teacher recently told me that he's really starting to "come out of his shell" at school. I find this amusing because there are many days when he doesn't stop talking at home! but, I guess he's a bit more quiet at school & until recently, has fallen into more of the "follower" category with his friends. But lately, he's been initiating play with other kids, and often shares his thoughts and ideas during circle time.

He's starting to recognize some letters, and (when he wants to) he can spell his name out loud.
He is obsessed with the little girl, Juliette, who lives behind us. Many mornings are started with the question "Can we go see Juliette now?" The 3 year old mind does not understand why we cannot go knocking on her door at 6:30am on a Tuesday.... But when the time IS appropriate to play, they play very nicely together and the parents are really nice, too, so it's been a lot of fun. I will; however, be bolting Jake's windows shut in a few years...we don't need any Dawson's Creek type business going on, a la Joey & Dawson!
He loves to talk about all of the things that he and Liam are going to do when Liam gets bigger. One day when he was eating some strawberries for a snack, he pushed half to the side & told me he was going to save them for Baby Liam for when he got older, so they could eat strawberries together. Awww!!
The kid is obsessed with Christmas. His "wish list" is 19.2 miles long at this point, and consists of everything from cars, to toy story dolls to chocolate chip cookies.
He has a new favorite show every few days; recent favorites have been Jake & the Neverland Pirates, Wild Kratts and Curious George. Diego & Mickey Mouse Clubhouse have been favorites for awhile, and inevitably, he returns to those even after going astray to something else for a few episodes :)

Liam

He is in the smiley baby phase and we, of course, eat it right up!
While he manages to just tolerate his baths every night, he loves the time after the bath, when we just let him hang out on his changing table & kick and coo before getting into his PJ's.
He's starting to try and mimic actions, and he loves when I sing "twinkle, twinkle little star" and do the hand motions
He still loves his bouncy seat, and is still just meh about the swing. I hope to be able to bust out the exersaucer pretty soon, but he needs to get some better neck control before I feel comfortable putting him in it.
I always get great reports from daycare, they say he's such a happy baby and that he rarely fusses for them. He's taking his bottles just fine there (I just moved him up to a level 2 this week---I guess it was taking him 40 minutes to finish a bottle. Oops. I kind of blocked some of this stuff from the first time around, I almost forgot about moving up to different levels altogether)
He's still in 0-3 month clothes, and has room to grow in most of them except for his footed PJ's. We've noticed in the past week that they're getting a bit small on him, length-wise. Our to do list for this weekend includes dragging down the bin of 3-6 month stuff and seeing what we have for the next season.

Welcome to Club 30, Brian!

2011-08-19T09:45:00.003-04:00

I'm the cougar in our relationship & already turned 30 months ago, but Brian finally caught up to me this week and joined the big 3-0 club. We didn't do much for his actual birthday since it was a school night, but we plan on heading out to dinner this weekend to celebrate. I'm always at a loss for what to get him, but I knew months ago this year that I really wanted to find a nice painting of Heinz Chapel for him (we met at Pitt, then we were married at Heinz Chapel)

I ended up going with a Linda Barnicott print and he loved it! (we still need to get it framed, I dropped the ball on that one & didn't realize how long the turnaround time is to get something framed...oops)

Happy birthday Brian, we love you!

If I had a million dollars....

2011-08-12T14:11:00.004-04:00

...I think one of the first things I'd do would be to hire a cook. Seriously. I despise cooking. I hate everything about it...the time it takes, the clean up required afterward and I hate the fact that I'm absolutely terrible at cooking. I lack the patience involved....just give me the end result!

If I lived by myself, I would probably survive on cereal for dinner every single night. Seriously, who doesn't love a good bowl of cereal for every meal? But, in case you haven't noticed...I have some kids to feed. Now that I'm back to work, I HAVE to get back into menu planning. It's something that comes & goes in waves for me, but I definitely notice that getting dinner on the table is much easier if I know ahead of time what it's going to be and can do some prep for it. I'm hoping that once things settle down a bit, I'll have some free weekend time to make some freezer friendly food that will be good to have on hand for week night dinners.

I also like to make some stuff that's a bit more involved on Sundays, then force my family to eat the leftovers another day that week. Here are 2 recipes that I probably posted before, but that I made recently and need to add back into the regular meal rotation.

Taco Cornbread Pie

1 lb browned ground beef
1 medium green pepper, chopped
1 pkg taco seasoning
3/4 cup water
1 cup kraft shredded cheddar cheese
1 pkg corn muffin mix

-Preheat oven to 400
-brown ground beef; drain fat
-add green pepper, seasoning mix and water;bring to a boil
-reduce heat to medium low; simmer 10 minutes stirring occasionally
-spoon mixture into 9 inch pie plate; sprinkle with cheese
-prepare muffin mix as directed on package; spoon over cheese, covering cheese layer
-bake 20 minutes or until golden brown; let stand 5 minutes before serving

**When I originally posted this recipe, I used to make it with chicken, but found that it was sometimes dry. The beef tastes much better!

Chicken & Spinach Pasta Bake

8 ounces uncooked pasta (I usually use whole wheat penne)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 c medium onion, finely chopped (I cheat here and just use dry minced onion-so much easier, and it's always on hand!)
1 (10 oz) pkg frozen chopped spinach (thawed)
3 cups cooked cubed chicken (I use the cans)
1 14.5 oz can italian styled diced tomatoes
1 8 oz container of chive & onion cream cheese
1.5 cups shredded mozz cheese

-prepare pasta according to package
-meanwhile, spread oil in bottom of 11x17 inch baking dish; add onion in a single layer, bake at 375 for 15 minutes or until just tender (if you're cheating like me & using the dried onions, you can just skip this step & add it to the mixing bowl!)
-transfer onion to a large bowl, then set aside
-drain chopped spinach well; stir pasta, spinach, chicken & next 4 ingredients into onion in bowl
-spoon mixture into baking dish & sprinkle evenly with shredded mozz cheese
-bake (covered) for 30 minutes; uncover & bake 15 more minutes or until bubbly

Too cool for school!

2011-08-12T08:43:00.004-04:00

All good things must come to and end...my maternity leave ended this week, which meant I went back to work, Liam started going to school and our family has to adjust to a whole different schedule/routine!

I have to say that going back wasn't *quite* as hard as I thought it would be; I think the anticipation of going back was actually much worse than just getting up that morning and going. Even though I was really upset on my last day of leave, and very sad to leave in the morning for work, once I got to the office I was surprisingly ok (the donuts bought by my coworkers helped ease some of my pain). Of course, I still had all of the same thoughts flowing through my head that day...Liam just seemed so little, what if he doesn't want his bottles, what if he feels abandoned by me, etc, etc... The logical side of me knows that he's going to be just fine (and probably will grow to love school, just like Jake always has), but the working mommy side of me felt that guilt that sometimes creeps up. His teachers always have a great report at the end of the day and have been telling me what a happy baby he is. He takes all of his bottles with no problems, and naps like a champ.

I was a slacker & forgot to charge the camera for his first day of school (shame!), so this is technically day #2:

We did the same pose that we did with Jake on his first day of school :)

So far, it hasn't been too bad trying to get everyone and everything out the door, then back in the house in the evenings. We've been really good about getting everything prepped and ready to go the night before AND actually getting out of bed when the alarm goes off (I have always struggled with this...I love me some snooze buttons!!) Day #1 was kind of a fail; either the alarm didn't go off as planned at 5:15am or I turned it off without even waking up (there's a pretty good chance that it was the latter) Aside from that, I've managed to catch my bus on time every day, and Brian hasn't had any horrible incidents trying to get both boys to school just yet.

I usually don't get to see Liam in the morning (little sleepy head has to be woken up by Brian every day!) but since we all had to leave by 7 today, I got to get him up and ready and hang out for just a bit:

big yawn in the middle of our photo shoot...is it time to go back to bed? This morning stuff is for the birds!

Many good things come with the start of fall...

2011-08-11T11:45:00.004-04:00

....pumpkin spice lattes, cooler weather, sweaters, football...and NEW SEASONS OF TV SHOWS!!

Here is the line up of when my favorite shows will be starting (yes, I'm a dork & actually took the time to research this, while hoping that there weren't so many overlaps that my DVR explodes):

Monday, 9/5: The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (Oh, Camille Grammer, how I love to hate you!)

Tuesday, 9/13: 90210 (I'm very in touch with my inner teeny bopper)

Tuesday, 9/13: Parenthood

Wednesday, 9/14: Up All Night (new show, I'll give it a shot!)

Monday, 9/19: Dancing with the Stars (I try to cut this out of the line up every.single.year, but they always have one "star" who draws me back in, time and time again. Why can't I quit you, DWTS??)

Monday, 9/19: Castle

Tuesday, 9/20: Glee (I'm hoping it's better than last season)

Wednesday, 9/21: Modern Family

Wednesday, 9/21: The X-Factor (I really wasn't going to do this one, but the recent commercials have intrigued me)

Thursday, 9/22: Grey's Anatomy

What will you be watching this fall? Did I miss any good shows??

Luau Party 2011

2011-08-09T15:23:00.008-04:00

After freaking out about the forecast all morning (scattered thundershowers, starting at 3pm...the party started at 4pm), we somehow ended up with a stroke of luck and NO rain!! That's 5 years in a row of no rain on luau day, woohoo!

Some party details:

THE FOOD!!

I realized that if our friends keep reproducing at the current rate, there will soon be more kids at the luau than adults. It's never good to be outnumbered by kids hopped up on sugar!! But for me, the kids have become one of the highlights of the party, it's so much fun to watch them run around together. And for there being so many kids so close to the same age (I think there were at least a dozen kids, ages 2-4 there), I didn't really hear too many squabbles amongst them. They seemed to play very well together, and it was nice to have the extra yard space this year for them to run around.

Brian's birthday isn't until the 16th, but since it's the big 3-0 for him, I figured I'd take advantage of all of our friends being there & get a cake (mental note-never, ever listen to the guy at giant eagle when he tells you that you need a full sheet cake for the number of people that I told him would be there. I will be eating cake for all 3 meals and snacks in between for the next few days, trying to get rid of it!)

Liam sported a teeny, tiny luau shirt for his first party and even managed to make it until the very end before spitting up all over it. And he decided to share that spit up with Michelle's son. Directly onto his head. I believe it was Michelle's husband who made the comment, "It's just not a party until someone gets thrown up on!" So true my friend, so true.

Here he is, snuggling with Aunt Missa:

And some other random party pics...can't wait until next year!!