Jenni and Robbie

On the Horizon

2012-02-16T14:02:00.000-06:00

Every morning when I wake up to go to work, the sky is just a little bit lighter...and it is making me so very happy! I miss spring and summer so much, and I love seeing the gradual swing back to long days of sunlight.

I wish I knew what kinds of birds chirp at dawn, but I've starting hearing them chirp in the morning too! It's not very many yet, but they are on their way.

Do you know what other birds are on their way? (corny segue, I know)

On Monday, our beloved Cardinals report to Spring Training!

Nothing can compare to the magical end to last year's season, but it is going to be awesome to watch our new team and new manager start fresh. I don't want to brag or anything...but I did suggest Matheny for the newly opened manager position the day of TLR's announcement. I think the Cards should just hire me to make all of their decisions. ;)

Opening Day is an official holiday here in St. Louis, and it is 57 days away! I guess I should go ahead and request that afternoon off work...

Maverick had his first sucker on Valentine's Day. He helped me pack some goodie bags for my kiddos at work, and that was his reward. He actually put the stick-end in his mouth at first, ha! I guess he figured it was a straw.

He did pretty good with it, and only managed to get gooey sugar slobber all over his shirt...and the floor, ha! It was sort of my test run to see how still he would sit while eating it, because I've heard suckers can be great for getting kids to sit still while cutting their hair. Not quite convinced it will work with Mav, he H-A-T-E-S getting his hair cut.

I'm also in a good mood because I have only 1 more day of work, and then I'm off for 9 days!!! Robbie and I both have some vacation days to burn, so we (with Mav) are going on a mini-staycation all next week. I'm happy that the forecast shows some good weather on the horizon...maybe we'll go to the zoo!

Working Mom Post

2012-02-11T12:04:00.000-06:00

One of my favorite blogs to read, Kelly's Korner, is doing a "Show Us Your Life" link up for working moms to share their stories. I don't know if I'll link up, but I have really been encouraged from reading the stories of other working moms. Mostly, it is comforting to see how many moms out there are working moms of young children. Sometimes I feel like I'm the only mom who has to balance running a household, raising my toddler, and all the demands of my job. Which is silly, of course.

Mav decided to try to crawl in this entertainment center...with a bottle of sprinkles...

I think it's important to emphasize that whether you're a working mom, or a stay at home mom, ALL moms work SO hard and deserve praise! I'm tired of reading articles that banter from both sides of the aisle about who has a more stressful day and which is the better parent. Let's face it people: we're all Moms who need to be encouraged and celebrated!!!! (and we're all tired, ha!) Why waste all that time and effort to tear each other down?!

Sometimes it's just not possible for moms to stay home with their children, and that's okay. We're in that boat. It's not like it's a question of cutting out pedicures, vacations, nice furniture, and designer clothes from the budget. We need both incomes to make ends meet for our modest home, vehicle, and all life's necessities. The greatest benefit of my job is that I can provide really great health, dental, and vision insurance to our family. Having been without health insurance for a few years, it is a sigh of relief! :)

And sometimes moms choose to go back to work simply because they want to, and that's okay too.

The importance of it all, is that the best interest of the child is at heart. The moments you have with your child, make them the best you can--and that can just be enjoying all the little things, loving and encouraging 'em to pieces. :)

Watching birds play in the snow!

I am so blessed with a job that allows me to be home with Maverick all day, except from 2-6pm. (I work early, early morning hours before he is awake, too). Sometimes I have to work longer hours. Fortunately, that isn't too often. I also have to use some home time to work on lesson plans, but that's not so bad either.

We are also incredibly blessed that my mom, and Robbie's mom take turns watching Mav in the afternoons. So we don't have to pay for childcare. Such a HUGE blessing! And both our moms will tell you that it is their blessing to spend that time with Mav. :)

I guess the irony of it all is that my job is in the childcare business, ha! Mav will be old enough in the Fall to start attending the place I work...but we're still working on maybe being able to afford sending him a couple days a week. It is such a wonderful school, and provides such a great environment for developing social skills and Kindergarten readiness. (No, we don't get a discount. Boo!) Again, the irony just kills me.

On the flip side of it all--I love, love, love my job. I can't be too specific due to legal restrictions...but I will say that I am in the Early Childhood and Elementary Education field. I have a degree in Elementary Education and I love that I get to expand on it everyday...and then some! My job has given me SO much knowledge about child development. It is really cool that I get to work with children of all ability levels, and watch them grow.

It's really great to learn about a teaching technique, lesson plan, or developmental intervention at work and then bring it home as mommy knowledge. At the same time, I have a mommy's mindset when it comes to caring for the children at work. They are so precious. :)

My life is filled with too many blessings to count!

Celebrations

2012-02-04T16:39:00.000-06:00

Happy 1st Birthday Noa!

It really does seem like it was only a week ago that we were anxiously awaiting Noa's arrival. I couldn't wait for Jon and Jo to experience the awesomeness that is becoming a mommy and daddy!! It is such a pure joy that is hard to describe, and you want everyone to experience it.

I had never experienced waiting in the hospital for a baby's birth before...so it was incredibly fun! My only other experience was delivering my own child, ha! Which--don't get me wrong--was THE most amazing experience of my life...but it was nice not to be the one in labor. ;)

We were all betting on how much he would weigh, when he would be born, etc. Robbie entertained everyone with his trash basketball skills. Our big crew took up almost the entire waiting room, ha! The anxiousness/excitement in the air could have been cut with a knife, especially once we knew she was ready to push.

Besides meeting Noa for the first time, my favorite memory is when our friend Kim and I were keeping Johanna company (to give Jon a tiny break). The nurse came in to check Jo's progress, and she told us to go get Jon now. Kim and I sprinted to the waiting room giddy with excitement, and Jon's eyes got huge when he saw us running. We shouted, "Go Jon, go!" And he took off. :)

It felt like an eternity waiting to see Jon appear with the good news. All of us took turns "forgetting something" or "trying to find the elevators" as a guise to walk by their room. On my turn, I saw the nurse wheel the baby scale out so I knew he had arrived!

And now we are so blessed to do it again in mid-May, waiting for yet-to-be-named baby girl to arrive. Yay!!!

Other than that, it's been pretty quiet around here. Until yesterday, we've had ah-mazingly warm weather so we've been taking full advantage of outside play. I love that Maverick wants to go outside and play in the backyard first thing in the morning (well, at least when its warm). I really miss the baby stage, but now that he is older everything is so much more fun!

We go out and Maverick loves to jump-throw his baseballs and tennis balls up in the air. Poor unsuspecting Belle usually ends up getting hit a few times, ha! But she loves that Mav likes to play tug-o-war with her and gets her revenge by pulling him down. :)

With this tease of warm weather, we sure are getting spring baseball fever! Can't wait!!!

Mav has lately been adamant about wearing a helmet when he rides his bike. Except he likes to wear daddy's...backwards. :) We're hoping that he never thinks it's lame to wear one...being in the bike business we hear a lot of stories that end with "if they were only wearing a helmet".

Pay no attention to the mark on the wall from where Belle likes to sleep...ha ha! Besides we're still in the middle of re-painting and putting in new floor boards. It's just taking 600 times longer than originally planned. ;)

Happy Super Bowl weekend! Who am I kidding...we're baseball fans!

Happy Yummy Party Food and Commercials weekend!

Nostalgic Film and Flashback Friday

2012-01-27T23:28:00.000-06:00

It's been so much fun looking back in time on Fridays! Unfortunately we've owned a digital camera only since 2008, so my digital library isn't too extensive. Well, our hard drive is almost full...but that's because Mav was born, ha!

Looking back, it's funny to me that I resisted the digital change for so long. I've been into photography since high school (it all started with my 11th grade weather photography project...nerd, I know). I remember receiving my first "fancy" camera for my 19th (or 20th?) birthday. It was a Canon Rebel DSLR, but it only took film and I loved it!!

There was something just so awesome and sort of nostalgic about still using film--but the coolest thing to me was the painstaking decision of whether or not to snap a picture. There was only 24 exposures available. I would carefully zoom, re-position, zoom, and re-position about 30 times before I actually took a picture...if I took one at all, ha! No memory card to haphazardly fill and delete later.

I actually still had a roll of film left in that camera that I discovered months ago. Now the roll is sitting on my dresser and I keep meaning to drop it off and the drugstore. I better do it soon, they might be getting rid of the machine to develop film, ha ha!

I have a huge album of photos taken with that camera. Most of which I've been able to scan into the computer. Ironic? :) Here are a few...

Those bring back lots of great memories of wandering about town, just me and my camera. Crazy to think that at one point in my life I had time to do that, ha! But I wouldn't trade my life now, for anything-ever in the world. Maybe once I retire I can return to wandering aimlessly in the name of photography...on my Hoveround. :)

How about a few flashback photos?

Speaking of having lots of time on my hands--this is from January 31st, 2009. I made my infamous, made-from-scratch-crust apple pie. Just for the heck of it. It's been so long since I've made this, I'm afraid my crust making skills have declined. My mouth is watering!

Below is one of my favorite pictures of (almost) all of my bestest bestie friends in the whole universe!! This was January 20th, 2010 (Marcy's birthday!). Lexi was in town to meet Maverick and visit with all of us girls; plus she stayed with me for a few days to give tons of new mommy advice. I love these girls SO much. God has truly blessed us with keeping us so close-knit for many years, over many miles of land (and back).

This little guy was almost 2 months old! (and the reason why I look so exhausted, ha!) I can't believe those shoes were too big on him there. They are now in his keepsake drawer, and they look so tiny!

January 24th, 2011--apparently Maverick was training to be a Deejay. :)

And now we've caught up to 2012. Maverick is such a big boy compared to last year! I know I'll be saying that for the rest of his life...at least until he goes to college, ha! This is Mav rockin some new clothes before church last Sunday. Don't let the innocent Nordic hoodie fool you, there are skulls and cross bones in the design...do you see them? :)

Showing off his fancy new Nikes. To be honest, I haven't super cared or been impressed about the "quality" of kids shoes until now. (aside from the normal "do they fit?") I think we might have to stick with Nikes for Mav's running/playing shoes from now on. You can really tell they take care to design and manufacture their kids' shoes just like adult athlete shoes, which is why they are so expensive. We got these for 75% off, so we'll have to keep our eyes peeled for more sales like those!

Have a super wonderful weekend!

A spare minute to post!

2012-01-23T23:27:00.000-06:00

Okay, so can I tell you how WONDERFUL it has been to discover Mav's new schedule?!

It is like a new life for him, and us.

He has been sleeping twelve hours straight from 8p-8a. Let the peasants rejoice! :)

Of course there are still moments of needing to go in and soothe him occasionally...but nothing like the drama before. And most importantly--he has been doing great going all day without a nap. No crankiness, tantrums, etc. Which makes me feel more at ease about taking out the nap. I guess Maverick is just ready for it a little early...we'll see! If not, that's cool too. Just want the best for our little guy!

However---there have been a few days that he's fallen asleep during the day on his own accord. Which is fine, too. We've pretty much figured out: no nap = 12hrs at night; and 2 hr nap = about 10hrs at night.

So there is a 2 hr give in either direction...we'll take it!! And Mav seems to be doing alright with it.

Anyways...on to the important topic! :)

Have you heard of the show "Downton Abbey"? Well...I'm sort of addicted to it. (thank you Jo)

I have to admit...I was a little scared away due to a particular scene in the first episode...but as weird as this may sound...you kinda have to push past it and later on you realize how it makes sense with that character.

~Anyways~ this show is so BEYOND fantastic! I can't even begin to describe how epic the writing, character development, cinematography, wardrobe, etc, etc, ETC(!) is of the show. I hope it is around for a long, long, time! It seems like anything that is genuinely great isn't on for long though. Boo!

And since Maverick fell asleep at SEVEN o'clock tonight, I'm all caught up on the first season!! I can't wait to watch the 3 episodes for season 2 this week (errr...maybe tomorrow night?!), so I can be current for the new episode on Sunday. I'm thinking we need to plan a weekly DA watch party. :)

Also, I probably love this show so much because I (not so) secretly wish I was British Aristocracy. Kinda like how I (not so) secretly took a vacation day off work to get up at 3am to watch the Royal Wedding...

Would you tell his Lordship that I've tired, and have gone to bed?

Really Random

2012-01-18T23:32:00.000-06:00

Sometimes life is SOOOO frustrating!!

Well, just government policies and beaurocracy. It would be incredibly boring to yammer on about it all...but it would feel so great just to complain about a few things.

Government offices are just plain inefficient.
Not opinion--fact.

And so much waste of taxpayer time and money. (it's like they know it too...and seem to enjoy it)

Example #1267: Window clerk no. 4 walked 15 feet away to use a phone (a corded phone, with said cord needing to be hopped over by those that walked by) to call Window clerk no. 7 who was sitting 3 chairs away, originally. I wish I was making this up. I have tons of examples from this past week alone...it's bringing on a stress headache.

The Gateway Clean Air Program is a bunch of bunk, and just a sham to make money. (Kinda like when a road is built, but then completely torn down and redesigned 2 years later. Really? You didn't think about it the first time?)

Even before our current fiasco, I totally believed this. Don't get me wrong--I love the Earth and the human race, and want them to stick around for a long time. But the program itself needs a lot of revisions to be effective, without needless cost to citizens.

Need an example? Gladly! :)

So our Jeep Cherokee has a microscopic leak in the fuel evaporation system. Microscopic.
And this microscopic hole is keeping the Jeep from passing the emissions test, because it is coding the Check Engine light and the computer.

A microscopic hole that has absolutely NO effect on the Jeep's exhaust, emissions, or even overall performance.

However, the GVIP has decided that if the Check Engine light is on for any reason, it can't pass.

Soooo how much money does it take to find this microscopic hole that does not have any effect on our Jeep's emissions?

Well. Let's see. The average auto serviceman has to completely flush the fuel lines and take apart the fuel evaporation system to find the microscopic hole...which is a lot of labor hours...and if they find it at all...should set us back $300-$400 at the minimum.

To find a microcopic hole that doesn't effect our Jeep's emissions.

Grrrrrr. It's just frustrating. Because it's uneccesarily making our lives harder. We can't renew the plates on that Jeep until it all gets fixed...and it's making life a little crazy trying to get 3 people to 2, sometimes 3 different places at the same time.

Okay, enough of the grumbling. Just needed to vent. And really, I need to look at the positives to stay sane and most importantly--be so very grateful for what we have. People have survived on a lot less, and we truly have been blessed with so much. Too much.

How about an update on Maverick? Because you know, he never gets talked about on here. :)

Well, he LOVES his cousin Noa. Like, they are the bestest of best buds. Granted they've only known eachother for almost a year...but I can already tell they are totally going to be those cousins that you think are brothers until they tell you otherwise.

Noa came over to hang out last night, and had the grandest of adventures with Mav. I tried getting a few pictures of them wearing fireman helmets, riding Mav's bike together, etc. But couldn't quite get a good shot. This was the best one, and even then its blurry. They're just too wiggly and my lighting is just too bad at night.

We also rearranged Mav's room into a more big boy room. With every "baby" thing we moved to the basement...the more my heart wrenched, ha! It was mostly out of necessity. He has a ton of new toys from his birthday and Christmas, so we purged his toybox. I kept holding up all these little soft toys and said, "Remember when he couldn't even grasp it?" Sniffle sniffle!

Also, he kept climbing his changing table and jumping off it...giving me a heart attack. We weren't using it as a changing table anymore, so we just needed to figure out where to put all the stuff we were keeping on it. We moved his little blue sofa from the living room into his room, where the changing table was.

We scooted his bed over to the corner to make room for the little toy shelf that was also crowding our living room. In case you are wondering, Mav likes to put those boppy pillows there so he can lands on them when he jumps off the bed. At least he is being cautious? (!) Sigh.

This corner used to have the bookshelf and 3 plastic shelves (like the black one in the first picture holding diaper supplies) where the toybox is now (the toybox used to be crowded next to his bed). The black plastic shelves was our storage system for Mav's clothes...but that only works well with tiny baby clothes. So now all of his clothes are hung in the closet. Like a big boy. Sniffle sniffle.

I am bummed I had to move his wall map decal so high, but that little stinker kept peeling it off and it has torn in a couple spots. I'll keep it up there until he is old enough to peel & stick the states on like it was designed. :)

Our basement is now overtaken with baby stuff, ha! We're hoping that someday we'll get to use it again, but its nice to know that should God have other plans for us, there are lots of people out there who could use it.

We might have a breakthrough!

2012-01-16T21:56:00.000-06:00

Don't want to jinx it...but I think we may have solved our months-long bedtime battle with Mav...

This will be the 4th day in a row that Mav has been sound asleep by 9:30pm, without all the drama!!

New Cars jammies!
What a cheesy smile :)

So, what has been the secret? Well. No nap.
I don't even know if its good to cut out the nap with a 2 year old...but it seems to be the golden ticket for us. Hey, every kid is different...right? He is getting his 10 hours per day, just all at once. And this all goes without saying that this might not even work next week, ha!

Before, Mav's naptime was pretty inconsistent. Sometimes it was 2-4p, sometimes it was 3-5p. Heck, sometimes it was 1-3p, or even 3-6p. (I'm not even kidding when I say that on the days when he slept until 6, I would swing him around to get him to wake up...and it barely worked, ha!) Whenever he naps, he would only sleep 7-8 hours at night...plus getting him to go to bed (and stay) was a complete nightmare.

And add on the molar teething...yikes!
(side note--Mav is like the worst teeth grinder in his sleep. We can hear it over the monitor, and it makes my stomach churn. I have no idea how he still has teeth left, ha! The doctor said he should grow out of it, and it's most likely due to teething pain...and there is nothing we can do, aside from a personalized mouthguard...which is only needed if there is actual tooth damage)

He acts so goofy for the flash on my camera!

The first couple of days with no nap, he was a mini terrorist by 7:30p. We're talking: pulling clothes off hangers in his closet, throwing blocks, stripping down naked and running circles, tugging at curtains, and unwinding a full toilet paper roll into the potty. (the last one was SO much fun to clean)

If it wasn't so awful in the moment, it would be hilarious. And really, it was pretty hilarious. Straight out of a scene from Kindergarten Cop or something, ha!

But today, he has been in a great mood all day...even close to bedtime! Tonight he was all smiles as I was tucking him in. Now all I have to do is tuck him in, rub his back for a couple minutes and he is out like a light. And he stays in bed, asleep, until about 7:30-8am. Hallelujah!

Of course, we'll see how long this lasts. Probably have to figure out a new strategy next week.
As I've found out...that's how parenting goes. :)

Flashback Friday, well Saturday now

2012-01-14T16:07:00.001-06:00

Last night I was reading a couple other blogs, and they did a Flashback Friday theme. I thought that would be cute, too! I picked out some photos and thought about what to write for after when Mav went to bed...but then it never happened.

Maverick didn't go to sleep until 3:30am

3:30 AM

Yep.

Still battling the separation anxiety PLUS cutting his 2 year molars.
No bueno.

Guess what time he woke up? 7:00am.
No rest for the weary.

You know the teething diarrhea that doctors say doesn't actually exist? Well, that's a bunch of gump. Ever since tooth #1, Mav always gets it. The 2 yr molars are no exception. And this morning it showed up in full force. All over my shirt.

With ALL that said, we've actually had a great day. We spent the morning/afternoon celebrating one of Mav's buddies' 2 year birthday. All the kiddos had so much fun, and all of us grown ups celebrated that we're finally at a stage where we can sit back and relax while the kids play (all of our kids are about 2-3 yrs old). That is until we all start having more kids I guess, ha!

I was so relieved when Mav fell asleep on the way home. FINALLY a chance to quietly relax on the couch. Maybe watch something on Netflix that isn't Diego or Mighty Machines.

And then Mav woke up.

And never went back to sleep.
No matter what I tried.

Sigh.

BUT. Life could be way worse. Way, way, way, worse.
And I am rejoicing in the blessings I've been given.
Even if they are cranky and poo-squirting. :)

So...how about some Flashback Friday?

Can you believe it? Obviously its not the same hawk...but we've been having hawk friends visit (I suppose on their migratory journey) for a few years now. In almost the exact same spot on the fence, ha!

January 17, 2009.

Crazy to think Maverick was ever that tiny! I guess he was about a month and a half old, all snuggled in his carseat and bundled up under his seat cover.

January 13, 2010

Playing in the laundry basket. I love that sweet face. :)

January 15, 2011

Sundays are Fundays!

2012-01-08T20:48:00.000-06:00

We finally made it back to the early service at church today! Between the holidays and waking up late...we either went to the 11 o'clock service or didn't go at all. Nothing against the later service, we always like that one too. But it's so nice to get out of church at 10:30am and still have most of Sunday open. That sounds terrible, huh?!  Lol!

Mav used to be terrified of church. He would start fussing as soon as we drove up to the building. But now that he is a bit older & wiser, he knows there is SO much fun to be had. :)

After running down the hall, he knocks over the gate to get into his classroom, ha!  As a preschool teacher I know parents love to hear great things about their kiddos, so it always warms my heart when we pick up Mav after church and get a great report. Today his teacher told us that he is always a gracious share-er.

I often wonder if my preschoolers' parents keep all the millions of drawings/crafts/papers that we send home...because I do! Okay, maybe not all of them.  I did put this one in the keepsake box.  He colored it today during church. I don't think he traced the number 3 though, ha ha!

Mav loves to color so much that he decided to freestyle a bit on the back. And it's probably just me...but I think it looks like a fish. :)

Let's see...what else did we do today? Sundays are usually our big laundry and tidying up days, then having the rest of the evening to chill and enjoy family time. I don't know why, but I love having all my laundry clean and put away by Sunday night. It just feels good to start off the week with all empty laundry baskets.

Mav did about 400 laps with his Towmater, ha! It is actually a bubble machine...but we haven't given that surprise away yet. It does make a really cool engine sound when you push it, I think that's why Mav likes it.

Maverick often requests "Horsey rides" and we often oblige. :)

We extra splurged on dinner tonight. The kitchen was really clean. Neither one of us felt like cooking (or dirtying dishes). So we splurged on ordering pizza, and then extra splurged on Cecil Whittaker's pizza! Normally our budget calls for Little Caesar's hot-n-ready pizzas...but we haven't had Cecil's (our favorite!) in forever and they had a good family deal. Plus--Cecil's pizza is the best pizza to eat cold for breakfast.

We don't normally follow football (I should mention that pitchers and catchers report to spring training in about a month!), but we half-way watched the Steelers-Broncos game (we did watch the entire overtime though!). Mostly I had to show Robbie what "Tebowing" was, lol!

We "Tebowed" in front of the tv at the end of the game. With the rest of Denver. :)

It's All Good

2012-01-06T00:23:00.000-06:00

Robbie noticed that I had a whole bunch of hawk websites up on the computer and he asked if I was looking to adopt one, ha! No...just trying to research about my new friend. He (or she?) doesn't have a name yet. This is probably the 4th time I've seen him on our back fence and I finally snapped a picture of him. Wish it was better quality, but I didn't want to scare him away. I still have no idea what type of hawk (I assume hawk?) he is. To me, there were hundreds of different pictures on Google that looked like him.

An old friend/acquaintance of mine from high school is traveling all the way to Austin, TX next month to run in the Livestrong Half-Marathon in memory of one of her dear friends who passed away from leukemia. She set a personal goal to raise $500 for the Livestrong Foundation, and has offered to carry the name of a person to be honored/remembered for anyone who makes a donation. I made a small donation in Robbie's honor, and she is going to wear his name while she runs. How awesome is that?! :)

I can't believe this summer will mark 5 years being cancer free!

Robbie and I have always said if we were to ever come into an absurd amount of money, the first thing we would do (besides hire a financial advisor) is pay it forward to Siteman Cancer Center at the Center for Advanced Medicine,Washington University where Robbie was treated. At the time, Robbie had no health insurance and was awarded a full "scholarship" that covered care from the top surgeons, physicians, and oncologists in the country; all chemotherapy; all prescription drugs; all bloodwork; all ct scans, etc, etc. It truly was a miracle for us. And I know the Livestrong Foundation and Siteman Cancer Center work together to fundraise money for research and treatment.

Today it was also BEAUTIFUL outside! 66 degrees on January 5th?! Loved opening the roof in the Jeep! I jumped at the opportunity to take Mav out to the park in short sleeves, and to take some fun pictures. I couldn't believe my eyes when I popped my flash drive into the computer and saw that I took 120 pictures. Oops, ha ha! Don't worry I won't upload all of them to this post. :) Also, I had a little fun with our Photoshop software and tweaked the lighting a bit.

Didn't have to be told twice where to go!

Going down the slide!

Mav likes to go down slides like this, ha!

Last summer he loved to climb this big kid playground, and about gave me a heart attack every time.

(even though I was right behind him)

It's fun to see how much he can do by himself just a few months later!

Brave enough to go down the BIG slide?

Sort of...he still wanted to hold mommy's hand, ha!

Mav loves riding these little guys.

Now he can get on and off by himself!

Swings!

What a beautiful day!

I'm sure we'll pay for this nice weather next week with a couple feet of snow.

Party Animals...Sort Of

2012-01-01T11:13:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year!

2012 is here! I don't know why, but I'm really excited about 2012. I think its because 2012 is a nice and even, balanced number. Of course that really doesn't mean anything, ha! It must also be the excitedness of a new year. Although Robbie did bring up a good point...January 1st is just another day. My husband is so inspirational. ;)

For the first time in quite a while, we didn't have any plans for New Years Eve and just chilled at home. Mav is at a weird age as far as trying to get him to sleep in unfamiliar places (it doesn't happen), so we would've thrown a home party. Except we've thrown a couple big parties pretty recently and we're pooped out from them.

So this was our NYE party this year--a cozy and relaxing night. My house is terrible for pictures when the sun goes down. I hate using the flash on my camera, but those silly cfl lightbulbs make for awful lighting no matter what the settings are on my camera. Enough about that, let's get to the party. :)

Lots of tickle fights through the night!

Of course there was much fun to be had in the tent!

We enjoyed a mini marathon of King of the Hill. Appropriately, this episode was about the Y2K apocalypse frenzy, ha ha! Oh Dale. Err, I mean Rusty Shackleford.

By now it was like 7:45...and I didn't know how long I would make it! Pathetic, I know.

Mav enjoyed more playing in his hideout. Don't know how much longer he will fit in there!

Speaking of that, I started a new tradition on a whim. I marked Mav's height on his bedroom door frame. I think people usually do this on birthdays...but New Years Eve could be fun too?

You can sort of see it...up there near the door knob hole thingy. He is getting so big! (apparently bigger = more messy room, ha!) At his 2 yr check up over a month ago, he was 36 1/4 inches tall. So if you go with the statistic of two year olds being about half their adult height...Mav will be 6 ft tall. Just like his daddy!

We played cars. A LOT. Aunt Johanna and Uncle Jon got Mav that nifty car mat.

It folds up into a storage box! :)

And what would New Years Eve be without pizza?

Some yummy cream cheese and crackers, too!

I ended up nodding off with Mav I think around 9:45 or 10pm. We are SO wild. :)

Fortunately I woke up again around 11:30, just in time to celebrate the New Year. And then I went back to sleep. And dreamed of hanging out with Jimmy Fallon, ha! I suppose that's what you get when you fall asleep watching Saturday Night Live.

Whatever 2012 may bring, I love that God already knows and is ready to walk us with us through it.

The awesome, the bad, and everything in between. :)

Hope that your new year is awesome, too!

I should be sleeping!

2011-12-30T08:06:00.001-06:00

I have a surprise vacation day today. I know--how does one have a surprise vacation day? :) Well, this week due to the holidays, we have a LOT less kiddos at work than we were expecting. Yesterday a few people got the day off...and today a few different people (a la me) get the day off. Woo hoo! So with my work being closed on Monday...that's a 4 day weekend. I'll take it!

I was hoping to sleep in until about 8 when Mav usually wakes up...but that wasn't the case. First, he ended up in our room/bed around 5am. Which is actually pretty routine. Mav wakes up when I'm getting ready for work, so for the sake of time--I toss him into my side of the bed. He loves it. And its only for a few hours anyways.

Have you ever tried sleeping next to a 2 yr old (especially one the size of a 3 yr old)? They are quite violent, ha! After being karate punched in the face, and kicked in the throat...I just gave up trying to sleep. Oh well.

Gives me more time to swoon over stuff like this:

And stuff like this:

I held off Christmas shopping for New Baby I because they had an ultrasound scheduled for Dec 28th, with the hope that they would find out the gender.
Jon and Johanna are expecting a sweet baby girl in May.

A girl!!!!

SO excited for them! And excited to finally get to shop in the bigger, more variety filled section! Let's face it--shopping for boys is super easy...and super boring. Sure, you can find funny or cute shirts. But that's IT.

Yawn.

We can't wait to meet you sweet baby girl!

A Wonderful Day!

2011-12-28T17:59:00.001-06:00

...from start to end!

Today is my 28th birthday. (I started writing this on the 27th, ha!) I'm already trying to convince myself I'm old, that way 30 doesn't seem so bad, ha! This has been a wonderfully great birthday. No super crazy presents or big parties, just wonderful time with my family--which is the best gift ever!

First, God gave me a fantastic scene outside my window:

His gift was this beautiful snowfall! Just enough to make everything nicely coated, but not enough to be a hassle. In fact, most of it was gone in a few hours.

Robbie had these beautiful roses and my favorite breakfast (biscuits and gravy) on the table for me. So sweet! :)

Pretty soon I had 2 beggars lingering around my breakfast food...

Oh Belle.

And this little guy. His new thing is making that face when I get my camera out. He turns his head and gives this sly grin, ha!

The rest of the day was filled with having fun in Mav's new tent. His great Aunt Ginny gave him this tent/tunnel combo...and now we can't get him out of it. Ever.

This picture describes his every moment in the tent, ha!

Everything goes in the tent.

Everyone goes in the tent.

Even Belle.

The forts are just going to get bigger as Mav gets bigger. :)

Later on Robbie took me out for one of my most favorite dinners: sushi! It's funny, because I used to hate fish. Wouldn't even think about going near sushi. Eventually Robbie got me to try a veggie roll...and then one day I was brave enough to try a salmon roll and haven't looked back since. I love to try all kinds of sushi now! Last night we were adventurous and ordered white tail and salmon roe--and it was disgusting! It was like eating pure salt. (They are the two rolls all the way to the right)

The lighting was dim, and I didn't want to use a flash...so its sort of a bad picture. We ordered WAY too much! We were starving...and still ended up with about 4 pieces left. Funny how those little things fill you up so quick!

Such a wonderful birthday, I'm so blessed with the best family ever! :)

While the laundry is washing...

2011-12-20T00:29:00.000-06:00

So I don't know if this is a fair moment to mull over my endless thoughts about a second child. I just spent an hour and a half trying to get my son to sleep. And I'm pretty sure with the way things are going, this is how he is going to go sleep until he is 19...so how could I even fathom another kid?! Ha. I'm so tired. But I keep telling myself only 3 more days of getting up at 5:30am, and then I get to sleep in until 8am for five days in a row!!

Gosh. I've typed a sentence (heck, a paragraph) in this slot 3 or 4 times now...and have erased it. I don't know how to start. This isn't really supposed to be a serious post. Just some whimsical thoughts about the craziness that is parenting.

It seems like the "pressure" to have a second child is sort of worst than having the first. At least for us, anyways. And really, it's not outside pressure.  Nobody is harping us, ha! :)

But I guess since our first wasn't really expected to happen...it makes planning (or wishing) for another one tricky. I don't want to say difficult...it's not difficult because we want another one...just tricky in how to make it all work (hopefully).

We've always wanted 2 kids. You know those fun, quirky, long night conversations you have before you get married (but you know you're talking with the person you're going to spend the rest of your life with)? Two kids was always our dream. A Maverick, and a Ruby.

Obviously we believed that God would decide, ultimately. And we didn't know the very unexpected road God would take us on with Robbie's cancer.  Through it all, He blessed (more than blessed!) us with our Maverick. And if he is our only child, we are beyond forever grateful. Beyond.

Until recently (this Sunday as a matter of fact) I've really had this heavy on my heart: I've limited myself and my expectations of God to this "ideal" timeline and plan.  For as many times as I've read in scripture about people who think they've figured it all out...you'd think I would've given myself a huge forehead slap a long time ago, ha!  :)

I'm so glad that God never gives up on me.  I'm a mess. But I am His creation, and I've been put on this earth for Him. I need to re-focus on that first.  It's so hard when everyday life, emotions, and people get in the way! But really...its in everyday life, emotions, and people that God works in us, and through us.

And it's really, really hard to not look around and focus on what others are doing. What kind of jobs they have, if they get to stay home, how many kids they have, what their house looks like, where they went on vacation, etc, etc, etc. Every time I start to think about it I hear, "That's their story. Not yours. Don't be envious. You'll miss what I have for you. What I've designed especially for you."

And I'm so glad that He is outside of my timeline and what I think is best. :)

Wow, ha! Didn't plan on pouring out my heart. :)

Really need to stop my over-use of smiley faces.

                              :)

Neck Strains and Randoms

2011-12-19T13:52:00.000-06:00

The desire to blog this weekend was there, I promise! But life was a little crazier than normal. Let's see, I guess it was late Saturday night when I woke up to Robbie groaning. I thought he was getting throw-upy sick (he is a groaner)...but he kept saying "I can't move, I can't move." So I helped him to the couch and propped him best I could, all during which he was literally agonizing in pain. That was about 2am, and I think I finally nodded back off to sleep around 6am just to wake up again with Mav around 7:45am.

Every little move, even breathing was exceptionally painful for him. He described the pain like being stabbed with a thousand knives while burning in jet fuel, ha! So I played nurse best I could, all while trying to help Mav understand that he couldn't sit on, jump on, or even touch dad. It was a LONG Sunday, ha! We debated back and forth about going to urgent care...but Robbie really didn't want to pay the extra money. So we hunkered in for another night and fortunately his doctor was able to see him 1st thing this morning.

Apparently he severely strained his neck muscle (the doc used some fancy anatomical word for it) while sleeping. He got some good anti-inflammatory, muscle relaxing meds. So hopefully that will do the trick! He might need a trip to the chiropractor too. Which he will LOVE. He used to go once a week...I teased him about being addicted, ha! He hasn't been in forever, so I think he deserves it!

Now...on to some random thoughts. Really random, ha!

1. Even though I've been married 4 1/2 years, I still love watching all those tacky bridal shows. I marathon watched "Say Yes to the Dress" last weekend. Pretty sad. But I love it, and I don't apologize!

2. What is with people not turning right at a red light?!?!?! Completely baffled by it. And it totally frustrates me when I'm driving!!

3. I had a fleeting moment about taking one random picture every single day of 2012, and blogging about it. But with my current record of blogging, that will probably last until January 12th.

4. I really want to blog about all sorts of emotions about a second child. But I have only 15 minutes until I need to be back at work. Maybe I'll get some time tonight? No, we're not pregnant. Just a lot of random thoughts. About as random as this post, ha!

5. Everytime I go to QT and buy a fountain soda, a candy bar, and a bag of Funyuns--I'm totally embarrassed. But not embarrassed enough to not buy them.

Hope you're having a great short work week! (If you are in the 'working world'...if not, then I hope you are having a fabulous working week at home!)

Have you noticed that you are more productive at work knowing you're about to have a mini-vacation? Or at least I am, because I'm in such a good mood! I think that is proof enough that we all need more time off! :)

Keepsakes

2011-12-11T22:54:00.000-06:00

This post most likely will not interest you at all, ha! I'm not even going to upload pictures. I just really keep meaning to write down all the cute things Mav is saying right now...and I have a few minutes at the computer. The hope is to someday publish all of my blogging from the past few years into those cute books you can buy online, so we have a hardcopy to keep. :)

Maverick loves "chicken" or "kickin" trees! (Christmas trees) Also, as we drive around town he says "Chicken lights pretty!"

He is a little obsessed with lights, buttons, and doors. It seems like every 2 minutes he is saying, "Open the door!" or "Turn on the wight! (light)". There isn't a way for me to type it, but he says, "Press the button!" so cute...I'll remember when I read it. :)

When I get home from work, he knows its time to make dinner. So he 'helps' me by standing next to me and narrates everything I'm doing. "Make dinner?! Plug in mikker (mixer)?! Turn on sink?! Stove hot!!"

Anytime he hears an airplane fly over he says, "Air-pane up in da sky? Bye bye air-pane!"

He likes to pull on the antenna of Robbie's Jeep when we walk through the garage and say, "Pantanna!" Occasionally he'll say it and point to one on another car while we're out driving.

When we're in my Jeep he begs for us to "Open the woof (roof)? The ky (sky)!!!" Today he kept asking and I told him it was too cold outside...but for fun I gave in and opened it. He loved it! Fussed when I closed it, but I was freezing! :)

Robbie taught him to line up his hotwheels and say, "On your mark, get set, go!" Now whenever we are at a stoplight he yells, "On mark! GOOOO!" He also likes to say "Red mean top (stop)" and "Geen (green) mean GO!"

Ever since the1964 stop-motion "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer" was on tv a couple weeks ago, Mav has been obsessed with watching it. We have it on dvd, so if it were up to him we would just continuously loop it for 24 hrs a day, ha! He always so pitifully asks to watch it by saying, "Woo-doff? Woo-doff?" in a sweet little voice. :)

When we do watch it, he goes on and on through the whole show: "Chicken town! (Christmas town)", "Dare goesh hish nose! (There goes his nose)", "Wight nose! (light nose!)", "Make toys?", "No-man (snowman)", "No-bake (snowflake)", "No-monster (snow monster)", "Geen-gle bells (jingle bells)".

He also does the funniest thing when Yukon Cornelius (the prospector--it's sad that I know his name) licks his ice pick/hammer. Maverick runs to his tool bench and grabs his screwdriver (which he calls 'dewdiver') and licks it with a wry smile on his face.

Mav also likes to refer to lots of things in the third person, especially when its something fun. He'll say, "Mamick's i-keam-cone! (Maverick's ice cream cone)", "Mamick's bank-it! (blanket)", "Mamick's a-poo-ter (computer)", and "Mamick's tool bock! (tool box)".

What's great is when he repeats stuff he hears me say all the time. He'll ask to do something, and before I answer he'll say, "Okay. In a minute." Ha! Or when our dog Belle wants to go outside he'll say impatiently, "In a minute Belle!" ;)

I love watching him when he talks because you can really see him thinking about how to say words, and put a few words together to make a thought. Sometimes he gets a little breathy, and has such a serious look on his face to get it all out. It's so cute.

I guess I could go on and on. I just don't want to forget all these little things.

Before I know it, he's going to be writing a high school English paper.

First Sleepover and Favorite Ornaments

2011-12-04T17:42:00.000-06:00

We're home enjoying a nice evening, after a fun weekend. For the first time ever, Maverick stayed overnight somewhere else besides home. And it was also the first time he stayed overnight without his parents. When my dad first asked us if they could keep him...I have to admit I was a bit apprehensive. More for them--since Mav has been waking up so often at night.

But wouldn't you know it--that little stinker was perfect for them. :)

No fussing at all about changing clothes. At our house we have to either trick Mav and catch him off guard, or just chase him down and endure the screaming. And no fussing at all about going to bed. I quit, ha!

I'm so happy that it went so well!! It is so awesome to know that he can stay with Grandma & Grandpa if he needs to...or if Robbie and I need another break. :)

Don't get us wrong--we love our child more than anything. But I would think most parents agree that you need a break, and some time to spend with your spouse like the "good ole days". This was the first time we were child-free since Mav was born...we couldn't decide how to spend our time, ha!

We ended up walking around West County Mall and landed inside Barnes & Noble. One thing we used to do ALL the time before Maverick was born, was drink coffee and read magazines in Borders...it was so wonderful to do that again! We had also made reservations for our most favorite restaurant--The Elephant Bar. It is fancy without being ridiculously expensive, and the food is SOOOO good. They seated us in a floor to ceiling booth, so it was almost like eating alone. Perfect!

Then we decided to go see a late movie in a real movie theatre. Overpriced tickets, sticky floors, stale popcorn, and all. :) We saw "Moneyball" and as hardcore lovers of the game of baseball, we loved it! We didn't get home until after 1am!! I can't remember the last time I was out (for fun) that late.

And here is the most unbelievable thing of all. Just guess how late we slept in.

It would almost be embarrassing...except I woke up so refreshed I don't care. :)

Ten Thirty. Ten Thirty!

With that said, we couldn't wait to see our little guy again. Although...we were looking forward to a big hug or some sort of sign that he missed us...but he actually fussed about going home! I see where we rank compared to Grandma and Grandpa! :)

In some of my free time today I browsed Pinterest and saw some cute pictures of Christmas ornaments. I thought it would be fun to try some photos of my favorite ornaments, and share them with you.

This is my Baby's 1st Christmas ornament. When I was little I didn't understand why it said 1984. I thought it should have said 1983, the year I was born. But I was born 2 days after Christmas. :)

Growing up we had a lot of these beautiful glittery bells on our tree, and I would just stare at the sparkles. Now I have some for our tree!

I think I made this ornament at either school, or Girl Scouts...and I think that is my 1st grade picture.

Another childhood favorite. I would lay under the tree and twirl this ballerina forever. :)

When we brought Maverick home from the hospital, our parents, and Johanna slipped into our house and cleaned it (since we weren't expecting to have Maverick that day, ha!); stocked our kitchen; and decorated for Christmas. My mom bought this ornament and put it on the tree. :)

This is another one that I grew up with. No idea why I liked it so much as a kid. I think I liked playing with the fake snow. Now I think it's really cute.

Homemade ornaments are the best!

My parents had a ton of vintage glass ornaments, that we now have. They are so beautiful!

Another 1st Christmas ornament for Maverick. :)

This is the same story as the ballerina...I just loved playing with it as a kid. Both are wooden, and I'm not sure where they came from. So cute though!

Alright, now off to chill the rest of the evening before another busy week begins. There is a tiny bit of snow in the forecast, but nothing at all impressive. I secretly hope they are wrong, I'm ready for the big snow!

Our November

2011-12-03T08:31:00.001-06:00

Curse you--sleep routine! Hahaha. It is 7am on a Saturday. Everyone in the house is sleeping except for me. I usually wake up around 5:30a for work everyday and 7am is like the latest my body lets me sleep. I just toss and turn...so I might as well blog, right?! :)

Happy December to you! This month is so fun and exciting! A little scary, too...because I get one more year closer to 30. Eesh. 30 looks so old in print! Ha!

Since I've haven't been able to blog as much, this will be a catch-all November post. I just went through my November 2011 uploaded photos folder, chronologically, and picked some cute ones. :)

Mav thinks the flash on my camera is the most hilarious thing ever, ha! I luuuuuuuuuve his expression in this pic! He looks so much older...like it could be a 7th birthday smile or something. It is beyond amazing to watch Maverick grow. :)

I love so many things about this next picture. This was first thing in the morning, and he ran to his little table to play cars...priorities! I remember buying that little red table at a church garage sale when I was pregnant with him. The cars on the table are mine from when I was little.

The green chair is extra special to me. Starting when I was just a little older than Mav, my Mee Maw (great grandmother) would let me "help" her wind up her cuckoo clock. She bought it in Europe (on one of her many world trips) and I just was completely fascinated by it in every way. She would pull over that little green chair for me to stand on, so that I could pull on the little girl swinging at the bottom to start the clock after she wound it.

When my Grandpa Lee past away (her son), I inherited that little green chair and cuckoo clock. The clock is hanging in our spare room (but we never found the key to wind it up). And the little green chair is perfect size for Mav to use. It is pretty old, since it was my grandpa's childhood chair. But sturdy as ever. My only apprehension is that I might need to strip the paint...I'm afraid it might be lead paint. I wonder if there is a way to tell?

A couple weeks ago on a boring Sunday afternoon, we decided to go on an impromptu frolic in Forest Park. This time of year you never know when it's going to be the last sunny day for a few months, so we didn't want to waste it. (Since then, the weather has turned really cold). Forest Park is the most amazing place ever. I've been to Central Park in New York...and Forest Park is way better. :)

We decided to meander around the World's Fair Pavilion and the Boathouse.

We almost got married at the Pavilion, but there was much more cost in having to set up everything there since its pretty much bare on the inside. The art gallery/train foundry where we got married already had everything, and was awesomely beautiful & historic, too. :)

My handsome little guy.

(I've received a ton of compliments on the shirt...we got it on sale from Children's Place. Such a funny face, ha!)

Taking a break half-way up. There doesn't seem to be a lot of stairs...until you start climbing them.

Belle wears her pack when we take her out, so that she feels like she is "working". When she has it on, she is SO obedient and stays right with us. Otherwise she would've been almost to Illinois, ha!

At the very top!

I love my boys!

This was taken on Thanksgiving day, at Robbie's parents' house. Maverick has at least 2 cars in his hands 24 hours a day. :)

Getting ready to eat Thanksgiving meal! Maverick stopped using highchairs long ago because he is ~~advanced~~ stubborn. He doesn't even like booster seats. Sometimes I wish he would still sit in one, but it's probably a good thing he rocks the big chair by himself.

We had a mini-birthday celebration for Mav on Thanksgiving, and one of his gifts came in this bag. :)

Okay, okay...Noa is one of the best gifts ever...but he was just playing in it. He is such a handsome little guy, and it is so great to watch his personality grow too.

Maverick and his Aunt Robyn (my sister). Mav was pretty worn out by the second Thanksgiving meal that day...but we had lots of fun!

Mav's 2nd Birthday "watch me grow" photo. I can't believe I've kept up with it for 2 years! I am so glad that I did. Even though it has been so challenging to get that child to sit still for a few photos, ha! If we are ever blessed to have another child, I definitely want to do it with them too.

I know I've said it before, but it is truly amazing to watch a little bundle of blankets turn into a little person. Mav's vocabulary has exploded, and it is so great to hear him use 2-3 sentences at once. Plus, the things he says are just hilarious. You always wonder what your baby is thinking, and its so fun to actually hear it now.

When he talks to Robbie on the phone he talks to him about the "vacuum cleaner and washing machine going around and round". The not-so-funny thing he is always saying right now is "mine!". He usually screams it when I'm trying to clean his toys up, ha!

Thanks for sticking around to the end of this post, it was a long one! There is a certain little boy talking in the monitor now...so off we go to start our Saturday!

Happy Second Birthday!

2011-11-26T20:08:00.000-06:00

Today is Mr. Maverick William's Second birthday!

How did we go from this:

To this:

So stinkin' quickly?!

(this was Mav's awesome birthday morning pjs look, ha!)

The first thing he did after he jumped out of bed was run down the hallway yelling for birthday cake, ha! He helped me mix and bake his birthday cake (and cupcakes) the night before...plus with the added coaching from us about his birthday being tomorrow...I think made him excited when he woke up!

A few minutes later he said, "Touch cupcake". I thought he was asking but apparently he was telling me he had already poked his finger through one. So I let him eat it for breakfast. It is his birthday afterall. :)

His birthday was a transportation theme since he LOVES all things vehicle. I had grand ideas for decorating, but as the week wore on with all the craziness of Thanksgiving, I lost my steam. Plus he is only 2 afterall...and won't remember, ha! Thanks to Pinterest I was able to do a couple cute things.

This is the banner I made, which was super easy since I have access to a die cut machine at work. It's great in case I want to use it again, just have to replace the 2 with a 3. :)

I thought my table turned out pretty cute, and it was so easy to make. Just a plastic green table cloth, and the runner was simply black construction paper with yellow construction paper rectangles glued down the middle. Add some cars he already owned (I bought the tractors for 25 cents each), and some traffic light inspired plates & napkins...ta da!

Mav liked it so much he played with his cars on it until the party started!

...and maybe went a little too "godzilla" on the poor street...

Mav also noticed his banner right away, and kept saying, "Mamick letters!"

Mamick is how he says his name. :)

I also didn't do a super awesome cake like I did last year. Man, I'm really slacking! But I figured a simple vanilla sprinkle cake would be fantastic.

Mav has been pretend practicing to blow out a candle for a few weeks now, so he was super excited when it finally came time. He waited so patiently during the song, I love his face!

Mav received so many super fantastic gifts. This was pretty much his face the entire time, ha! When he gets really excited about something, he covers his eyes. It's like its too much to bear. :)

(btw--that Mater truck is actually a bubble blower that you push...and it makes a loud engine noise...and Mav has been pushing it around the house now for about 6 hours nonstop...thanks mom and dad!)

This year's cake eating was much less messy, but still fun! It was a fun day to celebrate our son, and we're so thankful to everyone who came and celebrated with us. We love you!

Lastly, I had to include a picture of our Christmas tree now that it is fully decorated and sort of leaning, ha! I love that the ornaments are half from my childhood, and half from Robbie's childhood...plus a few for Maverick. :)

Alright. Now I'm going to attempt to sleep for a long time. I'm exhausted from all this partying!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

2011-11-13T00:42:00.000-06:00

Halloween is fun and all, but starting November 1st until the end of the year is my most favorite season.

Yes, I've been known to start listening to Christmas music in the middle of October...and maybe sprinkled throughout the year...but for me Christmas isn't just a December 25th thing. And at the risk of sounding super corny I will say that the meaning of Christmas should be celebrated and lived out through the whole year. :)

Thanksgiving is actually my favorite holiday, and to me, everything about Thanksgiving and Christmas are one in the same. Both are wonderful, wonderful times to gather with my awesome family and celebrate thankfulness for each other and for God's provisions.

And I know I've mentioned it before, but I love that Maverick was born in the wee hours of Thanksgiving morning. (Although I thought for sure he was going to arrive before midnight...maybe it was the fact I was in full labor and wanted him out, ha!) Of course any other day would've been wonderful too...but it was such a blessing to have Mav given to us on that day. A day to celebrate our Thanks to God for the miracle of life, especially since we didn't know if we could have children or not.

There are a gazillion things I love about this time of year. Peppermint mocha. Crackling fireplaces. Baking goodies. Watching the snow fall gracefully from the heavens. Giving presents. Candlelight. Twinkly lights. Christmas Eve church service. Looking at decorations. Watching Christmas movies. Gingerbread houses and Sugar cube Castles. Just to name a few. :)

I wish my house looked like this! Someday maybe.

It's fun to carry old traditions, and now that we are our own little family, begin new ones. Among many old ones: watching National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Classic. (It's pretty much a documentary of my side of the family, ha!) A new tradition: reading 'Twas the Night Before Christmas to Maverick, and setting out the cookies & milk with the "Santa Key". (since we don't have a fireplace) I can't wait to see what Mav thinks this year since he will actually sort of know what's going on, ha! This picture was last year and he was just over 1 year old, holding the key and sitting next to the book.

I'll end with my most favorite Christmas song ever. I love cello music, love, love, it. So it's my favorite Christmas song played from my favorite instrument.

I couldn't find the exact version I have at home, but this is so gorgeous too. Enjoy!

Still here :)

2011-11-05T14:09:00.000-06:00

Whew, a month since the last post! I think for the time being, posts may happen only on the weekends...but that's okay! :) I used to write in the evenings after Mav went to bed. But evening time is a little wonky right now.

Just when you think you have things down, it changes. Maverick has had the same bedtime routine now for over a year: bath, milk, sing/pray, bed. Piece of cake. Mav would lay down in his bed almost fully awake, and just lay there until he went to sleep, even in a big boy bed. Seriously, not kidding!

Then all of a sudden, a switch flipped or something. His separation anxiety just exploded into a mushroom cloud. The anticipation of being apart from mom or dad (only at bedtime, he's fine during the day) is just so unbearable to him. It takes almost 2 hours longer to put him to bed now, which wouldn't be so awful except he is waking up every 1-3 hrs during the night too. The thought of being alone in his room (despite the nightlights, favorite animals, books, etc) is so awful to him that he screams "Mommy! Daddy!" and looks for us. Last night/early this morning I was up with him every 20 minutes from 3-5am.

We've tried everything we've read, advice from family/friends...crying it out, giving him clothes with our scent, etc, etc. Its just something we're gonna have to grow through. It's a new season in life (hopefully a short one, ha!) And I'm okay with it. I love being his mommy. Although I won't say that I enjoy being up all night! :)

Prayers to help Mav's anxiety would be greatly appreciated, ha!

Okay so to catch up on a few things I just skimmed my photos from the last date I blogged to today. And there was SO much stuff! Too much to blog, so I paired it down to these fun things.

You might know that Mav LOVES firetrucks...a LOT! :) So when the church near us threw a fall festival with a firetruck, police car, and SWAT team (who knew my town had a SWAT team?!) we knew we had to go. Once Mav saw the real firetruck he literally pooped his pants, ha! He just stood in a frozen awe for 10 minutes...his eyes skimming the truck of every detail.

The firefighters were so gracious to answer all our questions, and said we could stop by the station anytime. Which, I know--they say that to everyone--but it was still kind. :)

Let's see what else has happend since the last time I blogged...oh yeah...

The Cardinals won the World Series!!!!

Maverick was one lucky little boy since he got to stay up late for Game 6 and 7. (Mostly because we couldn't be torn away from the tv, ha!)

I was the greatest wife ever and stood in a very long line to buy that hat for my hubby. ;)

For Halloween Mav dressed up as a skeleton. He despises any sort of hat, mask, or sunglasses...so our options were sort of limited. Skeletons are easy, and we like easy!

And I think he makes a pretty handsome skeleton. :)

I couldn't get Mav to look at me for the world...there was a parade of petting zoo animals being unloaded from a trailer. We suprised my mother in law with a petting zoo on her birthday, which happens to also be Halloween.

When we were in the backyard for the zoo, Mav happened to be standing near Johanna and Noa and I thought, "Ooooh! What a great picture!" We didn't know they were going to be skeletons too...so fun! Isn't this the most precious picture?!

We did, however, already know that Johanna was expecting. Her and Jon told us quite a few weeks ago, and to say that we were excited would be an understatement. Even though the new baby was a huge, huge, HUGE surprise...we couldn't be more elated for them and can't wait to meet the new baby. And of course the grandparents are over the moon about having another grandchild. Which is good for us--this takes the pressure off having another one for a while, ha ha!

Johanna is (I think) about 12 weeks now, and it will be so exciting to learn in a few weeks if Noa will have a little brother or sister. New Baby I is scheduled to arrive on Mother's Day. :)

Maps & Invitations

2011-10-15T13:33:00.000-06:00

Isn't it amazing how kids soak up everything like super sponges?! I have to really remember that sometimes...it makes for awkward social situations, lol! (not that my child would ever repeat things like 'crap!')

Let's just take a look at this picture above.

1) Maverick knows how to use the mouse and keyboard.

2) He is pointing to a map of the United States.

I am sort of proud to say that Mav knows almost all 50 states! A couple of the small ones like Vermont and Delaware give him some trouble, but other than that he really has it down. Even more funny is how he pronounces them all. I think my favorites are "Bash-ee-go" (Washington), "Habee-ee" (Hawaii), and "Peepoopana" (Pennsylvania).

I have to ~~blame~~ thank my mother-in-law. She bought this huge map/poster and started teaching him, and the kid is now obsessed. Robbie saved a picture of a map on our computer, saved it to the desktop, and Mav knows where to put the mouse to ask for it. My MIL has a world atlas and is threatening to start on Europe, lol!

Mav is getting pretty good at saying his own name now, too. He pronounces it "Mam-ick" or "May-mick", ha! And we've been working on changing his response to "How old are you?" from "One!" to "Two!".

Speaking of which, I started working on Mav's birthday invitations. I like homemade invitations. Mostly because I love crafty things. :) So of course I hit up Pinterest for some inspiration.

Last year we decided to go with a Thanksgiving theme since I knew it would probably be the only time I could get away with it. From now on it will be, "But mooooooom! I want laser guided robots!". I made cute little turkey invitations that said, "Our little turkey is One!". I still have the huge box of cardstock left over from that project, which is great for this year's invites!

Deciding on his party theme this year was pretty easy. We knew it would most certainly have to be firetrucks, monster trucks, cars, airplanes, buses or tractors. I was thinking just firetrucks, but Robbie thought it would be cool to incorporate a whole transportation theme. And he was right--a lot more cool & fun ideas as a whole.

The 'hardest' part to my invitations was cutting out the little trucks, cars, tractors, and airplanes. When I switched to my hair cutting shears, it was a lot easier, ha! The pic above is my piles of transportation cut-outs.

I can't take credit for the cute poem. I found a transportation themed party pin on Pinterest, and the poem was part of it. All I had to do was cut out the little vehicles, glue on some black paper circles and add a little sharpie detail...and ta-da! The back has another cardstock rectangle with our address and rsvp info.

I'm excited that we get to throw the party on his actual birthday, which falls on a Saturday this year. (Not that Mav cares). Let's see, I think I figured out that every 6 (maybe 7?) years it will fall on Thanksgiving day again like his birth day. So I don't know what we'll do as far as keeping his birthday and Thanksgiving separate. (I know how that feels...my birthday is 2 days after Christmas) Maybe he won't super care as long as there is pizza and cake...I know that worked for me! :)

This year we're making it a lot more low key, too. Last year we had a full dinner and dessert and I think it was a bit much. So this year we'll have snacks with cake & ice cream. (Sorry, ha ha!)

Can't believe my baby is going to be 2!

Bike!

2011-10-12T11:56:00.000-06:00

Most of the time Maverick rides his little tricycle around the family room, but we've been venturing out to the driveway to enjoy these last few days of warm weather. It's hard to believe that he got this for his 1st birthday almost a year ago!

This face cracks me up with those little "chicklet" teeth poking out. :)

Can you tell his father manages a bicycle shop?! Ha ha!

Before he rode, he grabbed an extra tire pump and pushed his front tire up to the hose so he could 'air up his tires'. Oh my.

This face also cracks me up!

What a goofball. :)

Oh that hair.

I swear I wet it down and brush it! It just does what it wants.

Mav loves to get in the back of the Jeep.

He is begging me to close the door, so he can poke his head out of the window.

Love that squishy face!

(and that pesky eczema patch that won't go away)

Hi Mom!

Have a great rest of the week!

GO CARDINALS!

Let's Go Cardinals!

2011-10-10T15:31:00.000-06:00

Is that a great sight or what?!

Cardinal Nation is in a fever pitch right now with our beloved Birdies unexpectedly, and miraculously landing in the playoffs.

Last week my dad won a raffle at his work for some awesome seats to Game 3 of the NLDS here in St. Louis.

Best. Afternoon. Ever.

(mostly because I got to hang with my daddy!)

We went downtown early to avoid traffic from the President being in town, so we took advantage of the pre-game rallies and filled our tummies with classic Lou food. St. Louis style pizza and fried mushrooms. :)

I hadn't done anything that spontaneous in SO long, and it was AH-mazing. A million thanks to my hubby and my coworkers for giving me a full afternoon off at the last minute. Plus--I got to scratch off going to a towel waving game from my bucket list. :)

Even though we ended up losing that game, it was SUCH a fun day. I'm a little late blogging about it (about a week late, but hey, ha!). In case you didn't know, we ended up winning the series...and now we're in the NLCS!

Let's Go Cardinals!

Beat those pesky, arrogant, know-it-all (but not really!) Brewers!!

This One is for Me

2011-10-03T22:57:00.000-06:00

This is sort of a post just for me. Mostly a theraputic rant. :)

When Maverick heard the monthly tornado siren test this morning he said, "BIRETRUCK! BIRETRUCK!" I had to laugh because the kid LOVES his firetrucks. And the fact that just about every other time he has heard those sirens its been in the middle of the night and slept right through it.

I almost took him to my work this morning because its fire safety week, and they had TWO firetrucks there. I'm sorry--one firetruck and one fire engine. (One learns a lot about these things when their toddler is obsessed with them, ha!). He probably would've passed out from excitement!

I am so thankful that my job allows me to work a split shift, and I get to be home with Mav almost all of the day. I work in the early morning when he's sleeping, and in the afternoon when he (for the most part) takes a nap. Plus, it gives his Nana and Grandma a few hours a day to love on him.

I'm trying to work my next thought very carefully. I don't want to diminish or belittle my husband AT ALL.  My goal is to lift him up and honor the incredible, selfless, awesome, amazing, and exhausting things he does to provide for us. Robbie is beyond talented in what he does, and goes WAY past what is expected of him at work. He is one of the hardest workers out there. There is just no way to describe his awesomeness. He is the best. And I'm the luckiest girl to have him. :)

With that said, the industry in which he works doesn't exactly...how do I say it...have a high profit yield? Sort of like being a school teacher: you do it because you love it--and not for the paycheck. So I have to work as well.  Mostly for the incredible insurance I get through my work, that his small company can't offer.

I dream of being a full time stay-at-home mom. But for now, this is what God has called me to do. Sometimes I look upon all my SAHM friends with tons of envy, but then I'm reminded that is their story, where God has them on their journey...just like I'm on my own He has set for me and I don't want to miss the blessings He has in store for me. I am beyond blessed to have a job that I love, and get to do what I love, and still be the #1 mommy to my son as well. It gets pretty rough, but with God's help its making me stronger.

The downside is always being so exhausted. I feel like I'm being pulled in a hundred directions some days. Because I have to get up so early for work, and wait until Mav goes to sleep to get some other stuff done, I hardly get 6 hours of sleep everyday. Or like today, I felt awful because I had a lot of paperwork to get done before returning to work in the afternoon and I had to keep one hand on the keyboard and one hand on a hotwheel...and Mav kept pulling my hand off the keyboard wanting my full attention.

Being the cleaning lady is one of my hats. I feel victorious that I manage to sort of stay on top of laundry, dishes, and keeping the house decent. Decent relative to toys strewn about all day. :) By the way--what is it about kids never wanting to play with something until you're trying to clean it up?! I save cleaning the front room for when Mav goes to sleep, ha!

I love that I get home from my early morning shift in time to greet Mav as he wakes up. Then we get almost a whole day to play trucks, read a million books, color pictures, eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, go to the park, run errands, and have FUN.

I do have to admit it is nice when he, or I, am having a bad day it is nice to leave him in the afternoons with one of the grandmas for a change of scenery. Grandmas are the best! I come back a few hours later recharged and so does he.

But leaving him for a few hours in the afternoon is still hard sometimes. Just the other day I teared up when I drove away and he was waving bye-bye to me in the big window. It's just that he is only this little for such a short time, and I don't want to miss a minute of it.

Okay. Thanks for sticking around and enduring my back-and-forth thoughts. I feel better now. ;)

Red October

2011-10-01T14:28:00.002-06:00

To me, Fall hasn't officially begun until October. So to celebrate I made a seasonal wreath for our front door, which also fulfilled one of my life goals of making our house more homey. I'm not into super decorating, but our house needs a lot of help! :) I skimmed Pinterest for a while to get some ideas...heck, who am I kidding? I just needed an excuse to browse Pinterest.

My awesome sister invited Mav and I down for breakfast, and Mav was having SO much fun that my sis lovingly offered to watch him so I could enjoy some 'me' time at Hobby Lobby. That store is like my dream world! I just walk down each aisle buggy eyed thinking of all the projects I could do if I had unlimited time and an unlimited budget. It's probably a good thing that I have neither.

To begin I had to have some candy corn inspiration. :)

One of those cups may or may not be sitting next to my computer next to a full glass of iced milk right now.

Not too fancy schmancy. No sewing or glue. Just something simple for my first DIY wreath.

I knew I wanted to monogram it with a C for our last name. I found this on sale for $2:

I originally thought about going with a foam ring, but that seemed like too much work. So this twig wreath was perfect! Plus, it can be so easy to remake into a Christmas wreath. This was also on sale for $2!

Then I found these cute little orange-ish red berries, each twig on sale for $1!

A little glitter pizazz for $2.

With a little twisting...tweaking here and there...ta da!

A little fun for the door! :)

It was pretty hard to get a good outside picture due to the glass door, here's the best shot.

With a $3 door hanger, the whole project was $12.29 after tax. Not too bad. :)

Although if you use the glitter twirly things it does make quite a mess.

I might be finding gold glitter for the next 3 Octobers, ha!

On my way home from Hobby Lobby the song "You Make My Dreams Come True" by Hall & Oates came on the radio. This song always puts a smile on my face because it reminds me of my Uncle Jimmy who we lost way too soon, 5 summers ago. He used to always tell me this super corny joke about Hall & Oates being a farmer's favorite music group. :)

I miss him and I know that he would love his great-nephew Maverick.

He would also be so excited about the Cardinals this year, and love that Mav is already a superfan.

This is how we 'watch' games at home, ha ha!

We watch the Gameday feature on the Cardinals website since we don't have cable. I wish that at least the playoffs would be broadcasted on a major network. Oh well. :)

Go Cardinals! Beat those Phillies!!

Lazy Sunday

2011-09-18T18:36:00.000-06:00

He is growing up WAY too fast. Doesn't he look like he's ready for school or hanging out with his friends on the weekend? I cannot, and refuse to believe Maverick is going to be TWO in a couple months. Where is the pause button?!

A certain someone went pee pee on the potty for the 5th night in a row last night! He is really getting into it, and I think maybe after we have the bedtime potty routine down for a while we'll introduce daytime potty fun. I have no idea how we're going to do it...but like everything else I'm sure we'll figure it out. My goal is to be out of diapers by 3ish, unless he miraculously gets it sooner.

"Heeeeeeeeeeeey!"

Mav and I were lazy this morning and took a Sunday off church. I guess we all had too much fun partying with Aunt Johanna, Uncle Jon, and cousin Noa the night before. :) Actually all 3 of us slept in late, but we decided that Robbie could get out the door in just enough time to sort of get there before it was over, ha!

So The Mav and I did a LOT of laundry (I'm actually still doing laundry as I type), vacuuming, and cleaning while it was yucky outside. When the rain cleared we went out on the front porch where Mav likes to throw all the rocks into the grass. (notice all the bare spots?)

When I took this picture, I remembered that I took one of him about this time last year in the same spot:

WOW! Just as adorable, but golly goodness--what a difference a year makes!

There isn't a day that goes by that I don't thank God for our wonderful son. :)

We ventured out to the mall playground since the parks were still a little too wet.

This is Mav's favorite ride there...shocking, I know. :)

And just as planned, he fell asleep for his nap on the way home.

Yay for Saturdays!

2011-09-17T14:56:00.000-06:00

Ahhh, Saturday! The one day of seven that I get to sleep in!

Maverick usually wakes up about 8:30am, and sometimes is totally content to play in his room for a bit before venturing out in the world. Today he chose to do so until 9:00! Woo hoo! He opened his door and toddled down the hallway saying, "Bilk! Bilk!" everywhere until he realized we were still in bed. "Bilk" is his word for milk. :)

First thing this morning was to pick up right where he left off last night: his blocks. He loves these little blocks that our friend Sean made him. Sean is a super old/close friend of Robbie's who we like to call "Magic Uncle Sean" because ever since he visited Mav in the hospital he could always make Mav stop crying--no matter what. Sean is a wood working apprentice, so he made a bunch of these little blocks from some scrap wood. Most of the time its the most simple things in life that bring us pleasure!

The night before, Robbie and Mav had tons of fun playing with them.

Mav actually did a pretty good job of helping stack them.

But his favorite thing was running around in circles...

...to knock it over! :)

After Mav went to bed, Robbie displayed his block stacking skills.

Bath time was fun last night, because it involved Man the Fish.

Man the Fish came to us from my work. Super long story short, my kiddos at work affectionately named him Man. I have no idea why. Kids are funny. Man the Fish married Kitty. But that's a whole other blog post.

Man now resides with us, and Mav LOVES him. Can you tell?

He likes to call him "Beesh!" which is his word for fish. :)

Okay, so back to Saturday! After blocks, Mav played with his second most favorite thing: trucks. I love how he lays on the floor and you can really tell he is imagining that its a real truck. :)

Our morning consisted of a lot of this, too.

To say that Mav loves milk would be grossly understated.

He begs for it all the time! So I give him small amounts through the day that equivilate to about what is recommended, so he won't fill up on just milk. Seems to work!

(yes, I still need to go grocery shopping today, ha!)

With the cooler weather upon us, I've been transitioning Mav's clothes from summer to winter. He only has 1 pair of pants that fit him now, ha! It's a good thing Maverick has a sweet little boy cousin named Noa that can hopefully wear his hand-me-downs. I needed to go to Target today, so we combed the clearance rack there...but came up empty handed. That's what I get for waiting until it gets chilly outside!

I totally had a mommy brain moment when we left Target. I packed up the kid, and our stuff into the car...pulled out of the parking lot...and realized I didn't have my purse. I left it in the cart, out in the parking lot cart corral. Sheesh. Thankfully it was still there and nothing was missing!

Since it was sort of on the way home, we stopped by Once Upon a Child to see what they had there. I really love this store! The clothes are generally still in great shape for a good price. Although, it is sort of hard to find cute clothes because they get snatched up quickly. Shopping at this store is rather difficult when I have Mav because he (understandably) wants to go play with all the toys on the other side of the building.

It wouldn't have been so bad except being Saturday morning, it was terribly crowded and I couldn't see him from the boys clothes section. I spent more time bribing him to stay with me than browse the racks. Oh well. He had fun! He may or may not have had a lay-down strike when it was time to leave. :)
I did however find a few cute things during the shuffle!

This cute little hoodie ($2.50!!) and some grey corduroy pants ($4.50!!). Right now he wears size 2T perfectly, but I'm buying 3T to grow into. He has sort of slowed down his growth spurt, but he's still a weed!

And these super cute DC skateboarding shoes ($6.50!)! Maverick is wearing a toddler size 8-9 shoe (depending on the style). Can we say bigfoot?!

I guess all the fun he had playing at the store wore him out. :)

I splurged on the way home and stopped by Wendy's. Oh mercy heavens!! I've been so good about watching calories, exercising, and not eating out, that this was a real treat! In about a month I've lost about 8 lbs, woo hoo! But I have a long way to go until I reach my goal.

Maverick is probably going to wake up soon, so I'm gonna go enjoy the rest of my quiet time while I can! Pinterest is calling my name! I'm also watching "The Green Mile" in the background. I don't know why I'm watching this...it makes me sob my eyes out every time!

Happy Saturday!

Victory!

2011-09-15T21:15:00.000-06:00

Maverick went pee pee on the potty for the 3rd night in a row! :)

I ran for the first time in exactly a week this evening. Not to make excuses, but I've been so busy at work this week. I've had to put in some extra hours for trainings. Yuck.

My mother-in-law was the one who made me get out and run tonight. She walks the track at a local high school, and pestered me to go with her. I'm so glad she did! With warm up and cool down, I did 1.5 miles. Tonight was the first time I ran a mile without stopping!

I thought I'd never say this, but it was weird to run only a mile. I definately felt like I could go more, but we were running out of light. It also seemed so much easier on a track versus the street...which is probably why I ran a mile without stopping for the first time, ha!

Okay I promise to take pictures this weekend. I'm sure these posts are getting boring without the Star of my blog. :)

Two nights in a row!

2011-09-14T21:19:00.001-06:00

Going pee-pee on the potty, that is!

After our sort-of fluke celebratory first pee-pee on the potty a couple weeks ago (wait...was it that long ago?!), Maverick went on a rebellion against sitting on the potty. Didn't want to sit on it at all, but still liked to play with it. Which is cool. Don't want to force it and make it a negative thing at this point. :)

Mav's Nana bought him this book a few weeks ago, but hasn't taken a huge interest in it until this week:

It is really cute. The book is about that little hippo (I think it's a hippo?) and his stuffed bear sitting on the potty. Mav gets SO excited when we get to the page: "I look at Bear...Bear looks at me...Here it comes...I go pee pee!" that he covers his face and giggles.

Anyways, so 2 nights in a row--Mav has sat on the potty while we read that book together and when we get to his favorite page, he actually goes pee pee!

Maybe we'll get lucky for a third? Unlikely...but we'll try it! :)

Still Asking

2011-09-13T22:09:00.000-06:00

First~Thank you Dad for the computer monitor!! Seriously what would we do without you?

I just wanted to share something on my heart, even though I really need to be going to bed. But I think I'll sleep much better once I do, ha!

Now that I'm closing in on 30 (okay, don't want to rush things--only 28 in December!) I thought I would be done wondering what the next step in my life would be. I remember all the way back in high school being so concerned about what I was going to do with my life...I thought if I knew where I was going to go to college, or who I was going to marry, or what my career would be--I would be set forever. I prayed over, and over, and over that God would just send me a giant blinking sign with a bullet-point list of how my life would be, and all would be perfect. (Kidding...sort of, ha!)

And then once I was in college for a couple years, I was asking the same question over and over. I kept thinking, "Once I graduate college, I will know exactly what God wants me to do and everything will be great forever and ever."

And then once I graduated college and married Robbie...I was still asking...

And then once I had my first "grown up job"...I was still asking...

And then once I had my first child...I was still asking...

And now...I'm still asking.

And I think I'm finally learning that I will be asking God to direct my steps for the rest of my life--because that is what He wants us to do.

If we knew everything from the start, then we wouldn't need Him or seek Him.

We are His creation and our purpose is to seek His guidance and glorify Him throughout our entire existence on this planet.

It seems so silly and simple, I guess.

But its the simple things that are the hardest to understand sometimes.
Thank you Lord for never giving up on me!

Blogging from iPhone

2011-09-12T21:56:00.000-06:00

Whoa. This is weird...blogging from Robbie's iPhone. It's very tedious so sorry, another short post! :)

My motherly intuition was right. Mav has been in the weirdest funk the past few days. Very cranky. Everything makes him cry (even after he requested it). I thought he might be finally getting his canine teeth...and all four are barely rearing their pearly white heads through his swollen gums. Can't wait for those suckers to come all the way in!

Alright. Typing that took me like 700 times slower than normal from our desktop. I've probably misspelled stuff or have funny autocorrect words going on. Our desktop monitor is kaput...so the tower is hooked up to our tv screen (which Robbie is currently using to shop for a new monitor and/or laptop). Sigh.

Yawn

2011-09-07T21:55:00.000-06:00

Hello all.

Not much to say except that I'm very exhausted.
(Work full time + raise & love on my toddler + housework + laundry + cook meals + daily run + etc + etc)

And very itchy.
(Did you know it takes up to 6 weeks to get rid of the irritating oil in your skin from poison ivy?!)

Can't wait for the weekend.
(Not have to wake up at 5:30am!)

It's depressing that I have to turn on my car lights when I go to work in the morning.
(Boo for days getting shorter.)

Good night.
(Sorry for the downer post. Just pooped out!)

Pee Pee on the Potty!

2011-09-03T14:47:00.000-06:00

So Robbie and I probably over-celebrated this event, but I don't care. A small milestone is still a milestone. :)

Maverick went pee pee on the potty!!

I've mentioned before that Maverick isn't ready for potty training. But I guess we've been sort of very mildly introducing him to the idea. Mostly--whenever we can sort of tell he's going pee pee or poo poo (oh the words you swore you'd never say as a parent!) we try to make Mav aware of it, so he recognizes the feeling.

Also, he usually goes pee pee when he first gets in the bath (warm water has that effect, ha!). We say, "You're going pee pee! Pee pee goes in the potty!" We point to the potty, and Mav will point to the potty. Then he might repeat what we said or something, but he is usually laughing hysterically because this newly discovered muscle control is hilarious to him, ha!

Tonight before bath time, we did the usual routine of naming all the characters on his Sesame Street potty ring, and then lifting Mav up to sit on it. Just as I was telling Robbie that we should probably get a small potty so that he can sit on all by himself, he went pee pee!

Robbie and I initially gasped so loud, that I was afraid we scared Mav...but we quickly cheered SO loud that he smiled too. He even reached for the toilet paper when he was all done, ha ha ha!

I know it wasn't "for real" because he (I don't think) knew what he was doing. But still so fun to celebrate a teachable moment. I am noticing that he is staying dryer for longer periods of time (even overnights), but he still has a long way to go. As a (relatively) new mom, the biggest thing I've learned is that kids will get it when they're ready. :)

Maverick earned some extra bubbles at bath time!

Does anyone else think he looks like Peter Pan?

Itchy, itchy, scratchy, scratchy!

2011-09-02T16:33:00.000-06:00

Aside from the unruly bushes, this looks pretty harmless...right?

Yeah, that's what I thought too!

I spent ALL last weekend (hours, upon hours!) digging up weeds and trying to make the front & back yards look decent after a harsh summer. We've been in our house 4 years this October, and we've always had this ivy growing on our back wall corner. Except its never been this bad, so I decided to take it upon myself to pull it all out. It is now growing underneath the siding, yikes!! This picture doesn't do it justice. It was already starting to cover the other wall & window, but I had pulled it down already.

As I'm pulling it down, I noticed that the stems had sort of a red color. Then it clicked--red in nature means "Don't Touch!" And then I observe the 3 leaves on each stem...uh oh!! Barnacles!! (this is my curse word, ha!)

Yep. It's not regular ivy. That would be poison ivy. Growing inside my siding, and all over my house.

And now I've already pulled most of it down. Wearing short sleeves, shorts, and flip flops.

As soon as I realized it was poison ivy I rushed Mav to the shower. Mav was outside with me in just a diaper, and he walked over by me more than a few times. Thankfully he never developed a rash.

I, on the other hand, look like a leper. I am covered on both arms, legs, feet, chest, shoulders, stomach, and even behind my ear. It is SOOOO itchy. I have to wear long sleeves (in 100+ degree heat) so that I try not to over-scratch. Even then, I've scratched some spots until they bleed. Agh!

How about some cute pictures of Mav now? :)

He is such a big boy!

There is NO way my baby is going to be TWO in a few months!

I love his look right now. Its very middle school-ish.

You know, the awkward & goofy stage? But for toddlers it much more cute. :)

His goofy smile warms my heart!

His poor face/skin has constant irritation from eczema. His drooling doesn't help either, ha!

"Bock! Bock!" is what he says as he's throwing rocks.

"Bye bye ah-plane!"

Sometimes he likes to scream for fun. Just to hear the echo.

(he likes to do this at the store, lovely right?)

The next picture shows what happens when you give your child a bowl of mozzarella cheese, and turn your back to answer the phone:

Right after I vacuumed that up...he dumped out an entire bowl of Cheeze-Its.

And stomped on them.

Sigh.

But...when you walk around the corner and see this:

You think that somewhere in there you might be doing something right. :)

Interesting Day

2011-08-30T21:42:00.000-06:00

Don't want to jinx it, but I'm gonna go ahead and say bedtime the other night was sort of a fluke. Not saying it won't happen again, but the past two nights Mav has gone down perfectly. :)

So, now that I think about it I've had quite an interesting day. I shall sum it up in bullet points because I'm stinky from running and need to get a shower, and then to bed. 5:30am comes WAY too quickly!

*I got a new tooth today. Well, a temporary one until the real one comes in a few weeks. And its actually my second fake tooth, ha! Let's just say thin enamel runs in the family.

*I made Lasagna with eggplant. Robbie and I were watching a cooking segment on tv, about small ways to eat healthier. They showed a lasagna that had eggplant layers substituted for a couple pasta layers--and it turned out SO good! Highly recommend!

*It was picture day at work. Lots of pressure because staff pictures are hung up in the hallway ALL year. I wore a cute flower in my hair. :)

*Maverick tried to bring his potty into the bathtub. He is nowhere near ready for potty training. But just to become familiar with it, we have a potty ring in his bathroom. The routine at bathtime everynight is to point out all the Sesame Street characters on it, and then sit on it. At first he would only sit on it in his clothes, then a diaper, now nakey boy. And just last night he tried to sit on it himself! (which makes me think we might need an actual potty rather than a potty ring--so he can get on it by himself. I thought the potty ring would be nice so that it would only be one potty to get used to, and easier to travel with...but we'll see.)

So tonight during bathtime, he wanted to bring his potty ring into the tub to name all the characters on it. Sigh.

*My dog is a ninja. All day long, this fly has been buzzing around the house. Both Robbie and I tried killing it several times. It was buzzing around Belle's head. She ignored him at first. But then--she chomped on it, opened her mouth--fly escaped--and she ate it AGAIN. Bam! Probably the most amazing thing I've ever seen her do.

*I wanted to up my daily run to 2 miles. I was all set to go out the door, but Mav was wanting to go with me. I knew it would be a lot harder to do with him in tow, and I was right. After about a mile, he was fighting to get out of the stroller. So I only made it 1.5 miles in 17 minutes. But felt good to get out anyways. :)

I post my distance/time on FB (and Blogger) now because I'm using it as motivation. Everyone knows I've committed, so no turning back. I used to hate seeing other peoples' posts about running because it made me feel lazy, ha ha! So I'm not trying to show-off or anything. As IF there was anything to show-off about! Although, I have lost almost 6 lbs in about 2 weeks. Seeing results is also a great motivator too! Just gotta keep up with it. That's the hard part. ;)

Say it Ain't So

2011-08-29T10:38:00.000-06:00

Was I actually naive enough to think that Mav would never want to get out of bed after we put him down?

Apparently so. :)

Last night seemed like an epic battle, but now that's its morning I guess it would be over dramatic to describe it as such. For the first time ever, Mav jumped right out of bed when it was time to go to bed. It may or may not have been triggered by the fact that he wanted to stay and play hide-n-seek with the blanket in the front room. (which he is currently doing as I type)

It killed me to hear him knocking on his door and crying, "Momma, momma, momma!" But I knew that this would be just like training him to go back to sleep by himself when he was an infant...and I survived that!

Robbie went in twice and just stood at the door to say, "Maverick it's time for bed. Get back into bed." And he would run back into bed...crying. I had to send Robbie with the stern face. I wouldn't be able to keep from laughing/crying myself, ha!

This went on for about an hour and a half. But then he finally gave up, whew! Let's hope that tonight goes a little more smooth. :)

To update on my running--I've been running/walking at least 1.5 miles everyday. Everytime I go out I try to run a little more than walk, and it feels great! I know I'm not anywhere near ready for any sort of organized race but you gotta start somewhere, right? I keep telling myself that I need to run somewhere besides our subdivision. My route has a lot of hills!

Today was the first day that I tried running most of the distance with Mav in the stroller. It was not as difficult as I thought...but at the same time it was. The hardest part for me was figuring out how to run with it. Like, it was tricky to keep it going straight and not step on the wheels. It's not a jogging stroller but it is super light weight, so that's nice.

It's pretty fun though to hear him go "weeee!" when we start running. So that is some more incentive. :)

Run, Jenni, Run!

2011-08-24T22:02:00.000-06:00

I tried uploading the cute pictures I took of Mav playing in the leaves the other day...but for whatever reason Blogger isn't wanting to cooperate with Picasa, and I'm tired. I normally use PhotoShop, so I'm sure I probably did something wonky since I'm not too familiar with Picasa.

Anyways. So, I'm very hesitant to type this. Only because once its on the world wide interweb, I might actually have to go through with it.

I have never, ever, ever, ever, ever been a runner. Well, I take that back. I did run track in high school. But I was a sprinter. The 100m and the 200m. Not saying I was good at it. It was more or less a thing to do with my friends in the softball off-season, ha! Although if I do recall, my coach wanted me to run in districts and I turned it down to go on a youth group trip. She was sort of angry at me for that. God understood. :)

I've been needing to get my booty in gear for a while now. Approximately 21 months or so, give or take.

My most favorite thing to do is swim, but its just super hard for me to fit into my schedule since Mav can't do it with me. Next is kayaking. Yes, kayaking. :) However one should probably own a kayak for fitness purposes, and those are pretty expensive. Riding a bicycle (a la what my husband does) on the road terrifies me, so that's not gonna happen.

So running it is. It's relatively cheap. It's something I can do with Mav. It's something I can do easily from home.

Here is my wild idea. If I have something to train for, then in 2 weeks when the excitement of a new thing has worn off--I will still have a goal to work towards. At least that's the idea! :) So I'm thinking about doing something I really can't fathom ever doing...running a half marathon. Thirteen point six grueling miles. Ugh. Double ugh.

The goal would be to run in April for the GO! St. Louis Half Marathon. I didn't say which April (2012, 2013...) ha ha ha! It feels like it might take me 3 years to be ready for one. But at least I could cross it off my bucket list. (who writes competing in half marathons on their bucket list?!) But the idea of attaining something SO difficult is appealing.

I have no idea how far I'm running right now. My guess is about 2 miles from what I've sort of been able to calculate on google maps. My pedometer hasn't come in the mail yet. And I don't run the full 2 miles, I definitely need to walk sometimes. But the more I do it, the less I have to walk which is motivating!

Worst of all is the thought of the looming winter. The bone-chilling, razor-ice, winter.

I have no idea what I'm gonna do. Guess we'll cross that skating rink when we get there! :)

It's been about a week into my new exercise regimen. Prayers that I stick it out, and achieve my lofty goal!

Simply Spaghetti Saturday

2011-08-20T15:51:00.000-06:00

Robbie works in retail, so he usually has to work on Saturdays. I feel bad that he has to work one day of the weekend because that is when all the fun stuff usually happens. He says its nice to have a day off during the week though. Anyways, I like to bring him lunch on Saturdays when I can. It's fun for Mav and I to go visit daddy. Last time I made lunch for him, I made cheesy potato casserole...and the guys he works with begged me to bring the rest of the casserole up too, ha!

Today I decided to make him spaghetti and meatballs!

Meatballs:
1 lb lean ground turkey
2 eggs
breadcrumbs
salt & pepper

Mix turkey, eggs, breadcrumbs, and seasoning in bowl.

Ball small amounts of meat mix in your hands, then roll in flour. The flour prevents the meat from sticking to the pan. I like to put the flour in a foil boat so its easy cleanup, but that's just me.

Brown the meatballs over medium heat. The trick is to keep rolling them so they stay somewhat round.

Thank you "Veggie Tales" and "How It's Made" for entertaining Mav while I could focus on not burning my meatballs, ha! Mav kept wanting to stand right under me while cooking--which isn't normally a big deal--except I didn't want him to accidentally get burned from hot grease.

When they get brown on all sides, they're done!

Meanwhile, your water for the pasta should be about ready to boil. We like to use whole grain pasta because it's very hearty & fulfilling, and tastes better. (and I suppose I have to mention that its healthier too)

Boil the pasta for about 8 minutes, or until it's all floating (as my dad taught me!).

While the pasta is cooking, it's a great time to chop up whatever you're going to stick in it. Today I used fresh spinach leaves and tomatoes.

Drain pasta, then add all the goodies! Besides the veggies, I also added some olive oil and oregano.

Save the best part for last: cheeeeeeeese!

Maverick knows his daddy's work. As soon as we pull in the parking lot, he points to all the bicycles and starts yelling, "Bi-kel! Bi-Kel! Dadda! Dadda!"

We visit for only a short time today since daddy is so busy. Nice weather = lots of customers! Mav does his usual wheel inspection of every.bike.in.the.store. I think I've mentioned that he is obsessed with wheels a couple times. :)

I may or may not have rewarded myself for making such a delicious lunch with a sugar-free vanilla iced coffee...

I ordered and paid for a medium, but was served a mega-large...bonus!! They knew I was gonna need it with all the shopping I need to do today with a toddler who hates to ride in the cart.

Any other moms out there guilty of planning a car ride that happens to coincide with nap time? I confess, I do! The ride home ends up looking like this.

Which makes for a smooth transition to this.

Okay. Now I've wasted all of Mav's nap time and more blogging. Do you like the new design? I was needing something new. Have a fabulous weekend!

Things I'm loving right now (and some I've always Loved)

2011-08-18T21:35:00.000-06:00

First: Sugar Free Vanilla Iced Lattes

I know, I know. Not the real thing. As a former Starbucks barista, I feel rather guilty buying these. But with this economy I just can't afford the designer coffee. And actually, they taste pretty yummy!!

I was on a bad kick for a while and drank mocha frappuccinos instead. Inevitably, that was also the same stretch that I decided not to go on my daily jogs. Sigh.

But good news, back on the jogging routine! Robbie just ordered a snazzy pedometer for me, and an armband for my iPod. He wants to buy some mace for me too...but with a cell phone and sometimes keys, I may need a utility belt for all that stuff!

I've always admired hardcore runners because they are so dedicated. I keep thinking that if I sign up for a half-marathon that I'll have to train for it. Next season maybe?! I'm also thinking about doing Zumba with a friend from work. It looks like so much fun! Plus the place where she goes doesn't require a membership or commitment, only pay-as-you-go $6 per class. That's the cost of a fast food meal!

Second: Our Jeep Liberty

Not that I stopped loving it, but I love that the weather has been SO fantastic that we can have the roof open all the time. Sidenote: how crazy is this picture with Mav's old carseat in it?! It doesn't seem like we've had this Jeep long enough to have had Mav in his old carseat just last October. Holy moly, that was almost a year ago!

Geesh time flies!!!

Third: Pinterest

I'm still sort of figuring out how to pin from websites, but I could literally look at other people's bulletin boards for hours and repin it to mine! My favorite boards to search are furniture/design/home decor.

Fourth (and best of all!): My son

Goofy, but fun picture! It is just SOOOO crazy how grown up he is. His vocabulary is expanding everyday, and growing with that is his personality. He can still be pretty shy with people, but he has come out of his shell a lot too. It's also funny how one day out of nowhere he will be terrified of something he's always loved...but then a week later he's fine with it, ha!

When we go to the park, he runs along with the big kids (not that they even notice) and tries to play tag with them. He can pretty much do anything on the playground without any assistance too! I still tag along just in case, but definitely by next summer he'll be complaining about it, ha!

And the whole big boy bed thing? It is beyond crazy how SMOOTH that transition has been. Only fell off once. And he still waits for us to come get him out of bed when he wakes up. Love it!

Let's hope potty training is as smooth!

A girl can dream, right?!

Hmmm...Pinteresting...

2011-08-14T21:26:00.000-06:00

As if I needed another thing to use up what is left of "free time". (when Mav is in bed...and I should be in bed...but the internet is more alluring)

So my lovely sister-in-law Johanna introduced me to Pinterest. The same sister-in-law who begged me to start a blog. Invited me to Google+ (which I haven't done...yet). Introduced me to Flickr, Amazon, etc, etc. I really need to start ignoring all these new-fangled websites she tells me about, ha!

At least I think I can claim I was on Facebook before her (because that's something to brag about). :)

I remember being in California for my best friend's wedding in October of 2005, and her friend introduced us to Facebook as a way to keep in touch. Back then it was "thefacebook.com" and you had to have a college email account to login. Sigh.

Anyways. Pinterest is really fun. It's like a virtual bulletin board to save anything you might want to refer to someday. Decorating ideas, crafts, recipes, party ideas, photography, etc. I could spend HOURS pinning decor ideas for my dream house. For when I have gazillions of dollars laying around.

I'm sort of bipolar about the internet and all it offers. Most days I just want to completely delete any trace of myself from the interwebs. Just cause its kinda creepy to think of how accessible you can be to weirdos out there. But then I think about how once you put it out there...its never really gone. I've been watching too many government conspiracy shows, ha!

Complete side note: I remember when I was a little girl, my dad told me that one day all of our money would be on a card and cash would be pretty much obsolete. I thought he was SO crazy. I remember asking him questions like how would your paycheck get on there, and what would you do if it got lost. Funny, huh?!

So how about a subject change? :)

Robbie bought shark meat. To eat. And...I'm not sure how I feel about it.

It was a buy one get one deal. He bought some salmon fillets, and you could get wild shark steak for free. I'm ~~very~~ nervous about it. But then again, I was nervous about sushi and now I love it!!

Maverick is very into hummus. I know, he's weird. He looooooooves dipping pita chips into hummus. At least is a healthy snack!

Last thing. Maverick STILL waits for one of us to come get him when he wakes up in the morning, or naptime. He's so funny. He just sits there and talks to himself. Or he does acrobatics. All on his bed without being contained.

Good night.
Praying for an easy, fast, week to go by!

I think we got this!

2011-08-11T18:16:00.000-06:00

Not to drag the whole "big boy bed" thing out to very boring proportions, but I would like to say now that we are a few days into it...it's going unbelievably smooth!! Maybe since he is a bit younger than when most people make the switch, he doesn't have a super attachment to it...or maybe Mav is just awesome...or maybe God just really blessed us...or all of the above!

The second night he rolled off his bed once (but landed on our nicely improvised cushions) and fussed until Robbie came in to put him back into bed. When I left for work that morning he was sleeping all the way across the room, over the floor vent draped with a blanket...but when I got home a couple hours later he had put himself back into his bed. Hooray!

Boppy pillows make for great improvisational landing cushions, ha!

It's also pretty funny to me that instead of stretching longways on the bed, he likes to sleep with his feet hanging off the unguarded side. With a bazillion blankets.

This morning he slept in pretty late, so we opened his door and gate to see if he would toddle down the hallway when he woke up...but no! He stayed in his bed until we went in there to get him, ha! Still in the crib mentality I guess. We'll take it while it lasts!!!

Just in case his crib mentality decides to leave overnight...

Although he loves closing the gate all the time. If he notices its open he goes out of his way to close it.

So I finally itched a scratch that's been bothering me for a while. I had some fun with fuchsia hair dye! :)

It actually looks a lot more bright pink in real life. I love it!!

Woo-hoo!

2011-08-09T17:36:00.000-06:00

So, Maverick was a rockstar the first night in his big boy bed!!

Never, ever, moved once.

Never, ever, fell off.

Even when he woke up this morning, he was still in bed.
As Robbie walked in, he stood up while holding the back rail...and waited...
...for Robbie to pick him up. :)

I'm hoping that this continues!!

How long do you think it will be until he realizes his new freedom?!

Teachable Spirit

2011-08-08T21:22:00.000-06:00

As I type this....I'm listening intently to the baby monitor...

...and it's a little too quiet...

...is he sleeping?...

...is he reading/playing/not in bed?...

Tonight marks a big milestone: moving to the big boy bed!!

This picture is missing the cushions we put on the floor, ha! We put 2 Boppy pillows (holes stuffed with blankets), and a whole bunch of other blankets along the bedside, just in case he accidentally rolls off the bed. :)

Update: as I'm typing Robbie is going to check on him because he is beat boxing (yes, he really does beat box!) and it sounds like he's out of bed...Nope!! He was laying flat IN bed!!! Aw nuts, shouldn't have checked on him, ha ha! Of course he sat up, but layed back down when Robbie told him too...

The reason why we went ahead and converted his crib into the day bed (it converts into a twin, and full size too!) was because he took a hard fall trying to escape the other night, and has been trying to climb out since. I was SOOOO not ready for this! I was hoping we wouldn't have to worry about it until at least 2 yrs of age, but Mav has always sorta been ahead of the game physically.

Update: still quiet...maybe this won't be so bad??!!!

All day long we've been calling it his "big boy bed" and he's had lots of fun laying and playing on it. At one point today, he kept closing his bedroom door and when I'd go to check on him he would be playing in his bed! :)

Maybe I'm almost having a panic attack for nothing...maybe he's already so used to it being bedtime on that mattress that he won't notice...nah! Ha ha! I'm sure at some point tonight he will notice his new found freedom and meander around the room.

I think I'm self-inducing the panic attack because I'm so sad that he's one more huge step out of babyhood. Robbie is on the couch reminding me of all the baby things left...like baby teeth...and that's all he could come up with, ha ha!

Update: still quiet!!

As we went through our bedtime routine tonight I just kept praying that God would give me and Robbie patience and Maverick a teachable spirit. :) Can toddlers have teachable spirits?! Lol!

Well...we shall see! :)

Germy Rant

2011-07-26T21:43:00.001-06:00

Will you allow me to rant a bit?

Not that it's a huge ordeal or anything. Just something that I thought was rather comical, actually.

Today Maverick and I wanted to hang out with my sister, and being that its still a gajillion degrees outside we went to a McDonald's with a playplace. After a while all the friends that Mav was playing tag with left, so he was finding other ways to entertain himself. So naturally, he picked the most disgusting thing there--the trashcan. Ha!

Not the trashcan per say, but the flap. Which is pretty fun to play with if you're a toddler! I kept trying to entice him with the other stuff but it was a losing battle.

Eventually another little boy came over to play with Mav, and his mom just about had an aneurysm when he joined him by the trashcan.  She screamed, "NOOOOOOO!" and pulled him off to the side and whispered something in his ear. I don't want to assume anything, but I'm pretty sure she told him to stay away from the nasty child by the trash, ha ha! I just smiled and continued to offer other choices for Mav and about 5 minutes later he was off playing tag again. (although I'm pretty sure that playplace equipment might have had more germs on it, ha!)

So here is my rant. Well, maybe not rant...just my point-of-view I suppose.

First, I'm a big fan of whatever works best for your child, you, and your family. (within obvious reason, of course)  Every child is different. Every person is different. That is the glorious way that God made us. :) I know that I don't like getting unsolicited advice or, in this case facial expressions.

With that said, it just works for us to be non-germophobes. Maverick eats off the restaurant table. He lets our dog lick his food before he eats it (which actually super grosses me out, but he sneaks it sometimes, ha!). He has never sat in a grocery cart liner, therefore he touches the unsanitized handle. He is exposed to the germs I bring home everyday from the mega-petri dish known as my work.   I could go on, but you get the point.

Mav has never had an ear infection.  He's only been sick once (besides the teething runny nose). Thankfully God has blessed us with a really healthy child...and I think the nightly prayers for continued blessings of health don't hurt. :)

Germs are good. Just to throw it out there--when I went back to work after my maternity leave, I got SO sick the following week because my immune system had lost its...well...immunity. :)

Okay, I'm done now. Thanks for letting me rant. Here is a cute picture of Maverick for your time:

Oh yeah, one more thing. This sort of falls in the unsolicited advice column.

I'm still deciding on whether or not its worth taking Mav to the store right now...until he turns 6 or something! He is quite adamant about NOT sitting in the cart. Which isn't that big of a deal, except when I'm in a hurry or have a million things to shop for--and trying to keep a toddler from pulling everything off the shelf is counterproductive.

So today was one of those days when I was in a hurry. I was determined to put Mav in the cart right away, so that he would know right from the start that there was no room for discussion. As soon as I lifted him up, he went stiff as a board and screamed. ALL of Target was watching me since I was at the front of the store (you know, where all the check out lanes are...and all the people coming & going are).

I'm trying to bend his legs to poke his little feet through the leg holes. A shoe falls off one foot. I'm sweating from exhaustion and embarrassment. I finally get Mav buckled in. But he is raspy, beet-red, and using a tone of screaming that vibrates your bones. I dropped my to-buy list in the scuffle, and its nowhere to be found...but I continue, determined to get what I can remember.

Mav is still screaming. A lady walks past and says, "They do grow up eventually."

Really?!! Because that wonderful piece of information is so helpful right now. Ugh.

(sorry, I know she was just trying to be nice...and I just smiled at her...but tears were welling up in my eyes because I felt like the worst mom ever)

Eventually the Cheeze-Its and milk that were offered to him from the get-go calmed him down, and I think I got most of what I needed. Just another experience to chalk up in the good 'ol mom handbook I guess.

Thanks for letting me vent. Again. :)

Huge Catch-Up!

2011-07-23T15:12:00.000-06:00

Whew! Barely made it home from my parents' house (which is about 4 streets over) without the awesome Elmo & Curious George cupcakes melting! My dad surprised Mav with some deeeeelicious cupcakes this morning, yum!

Well, from the looks of it they melted a bit...George and Elmo are sliding off, ha!

It seriously needs to start cooling down. I like how the weather guy said, "A cool down is coming Monday." A cool down from 110 to 92 degrees...hey, I'll take it! I guess I shouldn't complain though, and really count my blessings that I have a house with air conditioning...because there are many that don't.

Our beautiful and awesome dog, Belle, only takes about 4 steps outside to go potty. Then its a sprint back inside! Every summer she blows her coat continuously until about October. It is a HUGE pain. But she's worth it. :)

I have to vacuum at least once a day, but the past couple weeks it's been two (or more!) times a day. It's not that I'm a neat freak...take a look for yourself:

I can't believe I'm letting the entire world see my messy carpet, ha ha! But this is what our carpet looks like at the end of EVERY day. That's why we had to invest in a Dyson vacuum. We've gone through 3 vacuums in 4 years, so it was time to invest in something that could handle Belle's fur.

If you have an animal that is genetically engineered to thrive in Siberia's worst winters, and live in a seasonal climate...buy a Dyson Animal! :)

Some new stuff in the land of Mav's coloring to report. First, it is crucial to make sure ALL crayons (even the little bits) are all accounted for and put out of reach when not supervised, ha! Let's see...he's colored a wall, a couple books, a truck, our table top, inside of a cabinet, and a wooden puzzle. Fortunately most of it was able to be removed.

He will also hand me a crayon and want me to draw a shape for him to color in. It's pretty hilarious when I draw a shape that he doesn't like. He'll just hand the crayon back, ha! I also made some coloring sheets for him:

I drew some originals, and then made copies. Don't laugh at my car, ha ha!

Not that its a huge deal at all, but I like to balance coloring sheets with blank paper so he can expand his imagination. But the way I see it: Mav likes to color my shapes in, and he asked for it on his own. :)

I'm also excited about these! Every summer at work, we have a tie-dye day. I remember last summer I made a onesie for Mav. (sniffle sniffle!) This year I made size 2T shirts. :)

One of the most wonderful things about my work (besides all the awesome people) is sometimes scoring free kids stuff. Granted, it's very used kids stuff. But new to Maverick! :)

I walked this little couch in the door yesterday, and Mav covered his mouth with his hands and squealed! Then he ran around in circles, and jumped on it. Christmas should be exciting this year, ha!

Too many excited and cute faces!

My work has furnished quite the playroom for Maverick.

Not the toys, but this cute little shelf.

And this cute little kitchen. (Boys can pretend cook too!)

And this cute little tool bench with working sander and jigsaw.

The Mav has really been into his trucks lately. He likes to drive them around, then rearrange their parking order a bazillion times.

He also loves to spin all the wheels. :)

It's also pretty funny how he says, "Buck! Buck!" when he plays with them or sees them in real life. A firetruck pulled up next to us at a stoplight, and Mav was shouting, "BUCK!" to them. At least he's using a B instead of an F, ha ha!

Oh, and I finally took a picture of the homemade density bottles that are so much fun to play with! Half vegetable oil and half food-colored water...maybe some glitter too. I also recommend glueing the caps on, ha!

Okay, that should be enough updating to last a few days. Going to enjoy some Netflix for the rest of Mav's nap!

Hades Sticks

2011-07-20T17:16:00.000-06:00

I was on a blogging streak!

Oh well.

UMMM, not to sure what to write.

But I felt like I needed to write something since Mav is taking a quick nap.

It is ridiculously hot outside.
In Robbie's words: "Hotter than h-e-double-hades-sticks"

Due to the aforementioned weather conditions I have desperately searched for indoor playgrounds that are cheap and/or free. Sort of successful.

FYI: The McDonald's by our mall has the best. playplace. ever. Mega fish tank. Separate toddler playground (that isn't lame). Oh, and mocha frappes for mommies. :)

I promise more pictures soon!

Testicular Cancer, Schmesticular Schmancer

2011-07-16T16:05:00.001-06:00

If you are one of the handful of people who read my blog on a regular basis...ahem, Dad...don't worry this is just a RE-telling of the old story. Trust me, nothing to report any time soon!

For everyone else who may have clicked on over from Kelly's Korner Blog, welcome! :)

I normally don't participate in SUYL posts (I really just enjoy reading all the other stories!), but every so often I sort of feel led to do so. When I saw today's topic about sharing the exciting news of pregnancy, I kinda felt like maybe there is someone out there in the blogosphere who might be in the middle of what Robbie and I went through a few years ago--and would like some encouragement.

My husband Robbie is an avid snowboarder and outdoor retail salesperson, and used to take trips out to Colorado and Utah to "test" new inventory (in the name of fun, ha!). In January of 2007, he was on a trip much like all the ones he had been on before when he took a super nasty fall down the mountain. It was a really nasty fall; he tumbled several hundred feet head-over-heels type of fall. It wasn't even Noon yet, and he decided to hang up the board for the rest of the day while his buddies stayed on the mountain. During a shower he took later that afternoon, Robbie discovered a lump in his testicle.

For once, I am so thankful that he did not listen to me! :) He called to tell me about it that night, and I told him that it probably wasn't anything to worry about--and that he most likely herniated something during the nasty fall. Once he was back in town, he listened to his intuition to see a doctor, and a couple weeks later was diagnosed with Stage 4 Testicular Cancer that had spread to the kidney lymph nodes.

Exactly 3 months from our wedding day, Robbie had radical orchiectomy surgery to remove the entire left testicle and the casing around it. From the beginning I emphasized that if he wanted to postpone the wedding, it would be more than okay. But he really wanted a goal and something to focus on during the upcoming chemotherapy cycles.

Robbie had to endure 12 hour sessions, 5 days a week, for 9 weeks straight.

I can't even begin to describe those 9 weeks. They were awful and exhausting.
But they were also full of hope and strength, and SO much love.

Fast forward 2 years. :)

We received a letter in the mail from the lab where Robbie had to freeze a pre-chemo sample, of well, you know. It was going to be a substantial amount of money to continue storing that sample. So we talked and prayed about it, and felt that if God wanted us to have children He would make it happen.

Needless to say, we were very surprised and overjoyed to find out that I was pregnant in April of 2009. It was a lazy Sunday afternoon--the kind when you stay in your jammies and watch movies all day. I had no inclination whatsoever to take a test. To this day, I still have no idea why I grabbed one from under the sink at the last moment.

After about 10 minutes of pacing the bathroom and being frozen of emotion and sound, Robbie tapped on the door to see if I was okay. (Sort of funny to think about now, ha ha!) Somehow I got my feet to walk my body down the hallway, holding this little stick in my hands. And then--boom! Crying, lots of crying. :)

Robbie and I hugged and cried for like 15 minutes, and were too shocked to think of a creative way to tell our parents, ha! So we drove over to both houses and shared the news in person. One of the best days of my life!

Our son Maverick decided to arrive about a week before he was due.

He arrived in the wee early hours of Thanksgiving Day.

Could God have picked a better day? I don't think so. :)

And, to this day Robbie is free and clear of cancer. In fact, his oncologist said that it looked like he never even had cancer since all the "dead" cells were gone too. Praise God!

A Good Reminder

2011-07-12T21:37:00.000-06:00

For days like today when:
--Mav was being crazy and screaming at Chick-fil-A
--I had to drive him around for 15 minutes to get him to take a nap. I was not going to suffer 4 days in a row of no nap! :)
--Mav was throwing puzzle pieces just to see my reaction (you know, because the first 10 times it wasn't clear that we don't throw things in the house)
--Mav just plain 'ol wears me out

I like to read this book excerpt and really stop to cherish this season of life that goes by way too quickly.

"If I had my child to raise all over again...

I'd finger paint more, and point the finger less;

I'd do less correcting, and more connecting;

I'd take my eyes off my watch, and watch more with my eyes;

I would care to know less, and know to care more,

I'd take more hikes, and fly more kites;

I'd stop playing serious, and seriously play;

I'd run through more fields, and gaze at more stars;

I'd do more hugging, and a lot less tugging;

I would be firm less often, and affirm much more often;

I'd build self esteem first and financial estate later;

I'd teach less about the love of power,

and more about the power of love."

--Different Children, Different Needs: The Art of Adjustable Parenting

I am so beyond blessed to have been given this amazing little boy. He really is so wonderful and I love every minute with him...sometimes I keep him up longer at night because I don't want to interrupt the snuggling on the couch...even if it's been a rough day! :)

Too Hot!

2011-07-11T21:27:00.000-06:00

Oh my goodness. It is hotter than -h-e-doublehockeysticks- outside!!! This was the thermometer in my Jeep about noon today:

Which wouldn't be so bad if I lived in Arizona or something. But I live in the midwest. Where you chew the humidity in the air. So even sitting in the shade is pointless because your sweat cannot evaporate. Ugh.

So I decided to take Mav to the indoor playground at the mall today, and we had a special visitor: Nana! It was the first time she has gone with us, and it was a lot of fun. She even splurged a dollar so that Mav could experience the rides on the other side of the escalator. (until now Mav didn't know those moved, ha ha!)

I do have to say that I am very proud of how my son interacts with other kiddos at the park/playground. He is very polite, never shoves or yells. In fact, he tends to avoid confrontation altogether. He likes to find a buddy or two to play with, its very cute! I hope that it never changes...but we'll see. :)

We also had a lot of fun playing with some homemade density tubes that I brought home from work. By the way, these are a super cheap and super fun science lesson! All you have to do is fill a bottle (with cap) halfway full of water colored with food dye, and the other half with vegetable oil. Add some pieces of alka-seltzer tablets--and you get a lava lamp effect! When its all done bubbling, screw on the cap and enjoy watching the oil & water separate. (I glued my caps on since Mav likes to unscrew them...and I added glitter!!!)

Robbie STILL has my camera at work.
This is not my photo. Courtesy: Blue Fruit Design Blog

Late afternoon was spent with a pretty fantastic dance party in the living room. I pulled up iTunes on the computer and Mav went to town running in circles, jumping, and clapping for almost an hour straight, ha ha! We enjoyed some Johnny Cash and Dixie Chicks (pre-political turmoil). I guess this hot weather called for some boot-scootin' music.

Courtesy: http://www.bludshot.com/

Courtesy: uulyrics.com

Playing and dancing to music in the living room reminds me of great memories I had when I was younger. My dad would dust off his 8-tracks and play ABBA and Queen for me, and I would bop around the room all day. So much fun! :)

By the way--is my toddler the only toddler in the universe to stop taking naps at 19 months?!! Oh my goodness. The past few days have been awful around here because Mr. so-and-so refuses to take a nap. I've even tried the special car trick, and the nap with mom on the couch trick. Nada.

Please tell me he is not done with naps?! Agh!

It's actually not so bad at all...until about 8pm. Then the child gets SO cranky. Eeek.

Anyways, so Mr. Crabby-pants and I ended the evening at my parents house enjoying yummy dinner, yummy ice cream, and the Home Run Derby. (Robbie had to work late...benefit #428 of parents living in your subdivision)

I'm ready for bed!

Cardinals Game!

2011-07-10T21:52:00.001-06:00

Okay, so I might not ever get around to the Explodapalooza photos...or the zoo photos...ha ha!

That's what I get for slacking off.

Well...I wouldn't say slacking off. We've been too busy for slacking off!

This weekend my cousin-in-law (I suppose that title exists, right?) visited from Florida and we had a lot of family fun! I had to steal her pictures from FB since Robbie had to take our camera to work again. Thanks Sarah for the photos!

Friday night we went to the Cardinals game!

I was SO excited to take Mav to his first game this season--he's already been to 5 or 6 games but those were all last season when he was too little to really care. Actually, Robbie and I could've taken him a couple times this year but it was either the weather or something that would've made it sort of miserable for him.

(Papa, Sarah, Nana, Mav, Me, Jon & Noa, Johanna)

This is a fantastic photo...except Robbie is missing. :(

He had to work late, and I felt so awful that he couldn't go.

(side note: Isn't this a great shot? I suppose the Busch stadium folks get good at taking pictures, ha!)

This game was also exciting because it was my nephew Noa's first game ever!!

He is 5 months old--perfect age for his introduction to our family heritage.

I got a pretty good workout carrying a 30 lb toddler all over the city, ha ha!

Isn't it funny how your kids always prove you wrong?

I totally thought Mav would be terrified of Fredbird.

Wrong!

(He must have been familiarized from his Cardinals ABC book)

He L-O-V-E-D Fredbird!

We couldn't get him to look at the camera because he was so enamored.

Even after we walked away, he kept running up to him for a high-five.

It was awesome!

For the most part, Maverick loved everything about the ballpark. He would often just be so glazed over from all the sights and sounds. It was precious. I can't wait until we can sit there and talk strategy and Cardinals history. We love our Redbirds!

About the 4th inning he was getting pretty antsy, so Mav and I walked all over the place. He kept saying "bah-eh-ball" and pointing to the field. Also, he kept getting compliments on his jersey (thank you Rachel!).

I think his favorite thing (besides Fredbird) was the giant scoreboard screen. We tried getting him to eat cotton candy (yep, you read that right!) but he was too weirded out by it I guess. But he enjoyed peanuts by the hand full!

I'm pretty sure Nana and Papa were in heaven being at the game with their two grandsons! As you can tell by the flushed faces though, it was HOT. And HUMID. And SWEATY.

Both Mav and Noa did SO good considering it was pretty miserable outside. But I think they were both too concerned about the awesomeness of the game to care. ;)

The Cards ended up losing a come-back-from-behind-nail-biter.

But if you ask me, I'd say it was a winner!

The Bombs Bursting In-Air

2011-07-05T21:22:00.000-06:00

Oh my, I have WAY too many photos that I want to post.

Still deciding on whether to choose Blogger or Facebook.

Facebook is easier...but Blogger is more fun (which requires more energy).

Our annual Explodapalooza was fantastic.

Maverick LOVED the fireworks!!

For tonight, I will just post some fun pics I took of the fireworks.

Because I'm so stinking tired.

Excitedly, I had an unexpected day off today. So we went to the zoo.

And I have a gazillion cute pictures to post from that as well.

However, this was the first time Mav has been to the zoo since he was itty bitty.

And we more or less chased him through the entire zoo, which was fun--but exhausting!

Enjoy! :)

I was experimenting with my shutter speed, so this is what turned out...

Just hum your favorite patriotic song as you scroll:

(it wasn't quite fully dark outside, so that is the sky in the background)

Just hair, right?

2011-07-03T22:00:00.000-06:00

I suppose most moms only get emotional when it's their kids first haircut, or the first time their little girl gets her hair majorly cut off. Well, it's sort of embarrassing to say that I got teary eyed when I cut Mav's hair yesterday! I don't know why...he's already had like 8 haircuts since his hair grows so fast. But this was the first time we let it grow really long, and he had adorable curls!

BUT it was getting pretty long.

Ever since he was born he's had a pretty thick mane. Which is funny, because they say the more heartburn you have while you're pregnant--the more hair your baby will have when its born. I had awful heartburn one night early on, but that was it the entire pregnancy. I was sure that Mav wasn't going to have anything on his little head. :)

OH my goodness. I wish I could go back in time to that moment!

I can't believe he was ever that small!! Oh man, did I really look that pitiful? Ha ha! Give me a little slack, I had just given birth. :)

His poor little head!! I was afraid it would stay like that forever, ha! As you can tell, he got stuck.

I also remember liking that little pimple skin tag thingy, but it went away after a bit.

Sooooo, fast forward about 19 months:

I love his hair this way. Very left-coast surfer kid.

Which I would love if he turned out that way...hee hee!

Have you seen those hilarious baby toupee skits? I could totally donate Mav's hair! :)

So this is the new 'do:

I think he still looks pretty handsome.

And now that I've washed it too, it looks more relaxed.

Is it me, or does he look like SUCH a big boy here?!

His hair is still wanting to curl, and has a texture to it....I wonder if it's going to stay that way?

Or turn flat and straight. We'll see!

It's funny how Mav really looks like me most of the time (or so almost everyone says), but then pictures like this one show SO much of Robbie in him too. Love it!

Have a safe and fun Independence Day tomorrow!

We're going to our annual "Explodapalooza" with our friends that we usually only see once a year on this holiday. Robbie is dragging our Weber charcoal grill all the way there so he can "properly" grill the meat.

No propane meat allowed. :)

I'm hoping that Mav will like the fireworks, but my feeling is that he will be scared of them.

Which is perfectly fine with me! He can watch with me from a far distance.

(I've had a pretty bad burn from one landing on me...NOT fun!)

My day in 7

2011-07-01T22:03:00.000-06:00

Sorry, no pictures today! Robbie had to take the camera to work. So I'll keep it short.

1) Today was hell-fire HOT.

2) Mav discovered the 2 tiny holes in our floor (where the wall was, so there is no carpet) and how fun it is to drop crayons down into the basement.

3) Mav and I over-indulged nap time today. He slept on me/next to me on the couch. For 3 hours. Glorious!

4) Sonic Happy Hour = fabulous cherry limeade (and maybe a couple mozzarella cheese sticks)

5) Belle is normally not a chewer, but the past few days has been displaying chewing tantrums while we leave. Today it was the first aid kit in my backpack for work. :\

6) Watched an awesome Cardinals game at my parents' house, while enjoying some ice cream. Mav found an old suitcase that entertained him for quite a while.

7) Looking forward to having dinner with one of my bestest friends Rachel tomorrow! (and actually enjoying eating out without having to entertain a certain toddler)

Good night! :)

New drawing skill! :)

2011-06-30T20:33:00.000-06:00

It's almost Friday of a 3 day weekend, woo hoo!

Maverick's Auntie Jo dropped by with a super fun surprise today at Nana's house:

"Cars" theme maracas, harmonica (with snazzy carrying case) and a tambourine (it's still at Nana's house).

He had so much fun standing there and shaking the maracas as hard as he could. He hasn't quite figured out the harmonica, as he tries to eat it like a candy bar, ha! But he likes it when I play it. He wrinkles up his nose, and squeals at the same pitch. :)

He also loves it when I yell "Lightning McQueen!!" and he points to him on one of the instruments.

Which brings me to the newest conundrum. I most definitely don't buy everything Mav wants at the store. Not even close, actually.

But he is really starting to notice all the Cars merchandise at the store, ha!

So I broke down. I bought him 2 new sippy cups with Lightning McQueen on them.

Actually, he needed some new ones anyways...the old ones were pretty worn!

This was our gourmet dinner tonight, ha!

The frozen pizza is actually very tasty, and hearty. It is Shop'n'Save brand, but their fancy brand called Culinary Circle. I highly recommend them!! Only 5 bucks, too!

And what is pizza without our beloved toasted ravioli?!

Confession: Robbie and I can't seem to cut our addiction to these.

They are healthier leaning on bananas...right?! :)

Before bath time, we had some more coloring.

I don't know what is "developmentally appropriate" for a 19 month old's drawing ability...

...but Maverick displayed a new skill tonight out of the blue!

He can draw circles!!

It was so awesome to literally watch him do something he's never done before. :)

This one is on the fridge.

The bottom left red (looks pink) circles are actually pretty good! :)

(okay, I'm gonna stop now)

Big Boy Stuff

2011-06-29T20:22:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I would've posted, but I was too busy getting destroyed by our lawn. We finally had time to mow (when it wasn't raining), and boy was it awful!!! I would've posted before and after pictures, but seriously--our backyard was violating some sort of city ordinance I'm sure! I kid you not when I say the grass was halfway up my shin. It's a good thing we have a 7ft privacy fence, ha!

The front yard wasn't nearly as bad. For whatever reason, the grass in the front doesn't grow in as thick and fast as the grass in the back. However, we do live on a corner lot so mowing the front is like mowing 2 yards. My hands are still sore today!

As I type, this is the scene in the living/family room. (As you can sort of see, we knocked down a wall to combine the rooms...hence the exposed particle wood flooring between the hideous pink and red carpets, ha!)

Robbie thought it would be fun to set Mav up in the big chair, with a big blanket, watching a big boy movie. Of course its the movie "Cars". Have I mentioned that this kid likes fast cars? :)

Now I'm wondering how 15 minutes into the movie...we'll get him into the bath tub and into bed!

Oh well. :)

Monday, Monday

2011-06-27T21:29:00.000-06:00

It was sort-of easier waking up at 5:30 this morning knowing that a 3 day weekend is on the horizon. A really fun 3 day weekend too. We plan on attending our 4th annual Explodapalooza with our friends (lots of exploding from homemade fireworks). Robbie is getting serious about the BBQ-ing this year. He wants to haul our Weber grill all the way to our friend's house so that he can "grill properly" on a charcoal pit, instead of the propane one they have. :)

This morning started out like the past few days around here: very stormy! But then it just melted into a soggy morning all around. Fortunately the clouds finally passed and the day turned out steamy humid, but pretty overall.

When I picked up Mav from Nana's house after work, I was starting to fret that there wouldn't be much to blog about today. Which is fine. We're pretty boring people, ha! But just kinda like the book If you Give a Pig a Pancake one thing leads to another...and voila! A little something to write about.

This was right after he woke up from a 2 hour nap (bonus points that he waited until I was off work!).

Eating the cheerios out of the bowl is overrated.

Belle is not impressed. :)

Mav has really been into coloring lately, which is pretty fun!

He can sit for (relatively) a while and keep himself occupied. (nice for trying to cook dinner!)

He is still figuring out which hand is dominant; he'll color a few strokes with his right...

...and then switch to his left. And so on, back and forth.

We have quite a few lefties in the family, so we'll see!

(Yes, I have the ugliest carpet in my house. Maybe someday we will be able to afford a makeover, ha!)

Today we actually had a "first"! Those are fewer and farther between these days.

This was the first time that he pointed at something he drew, and then said what it was. :)

He specifically pointed to the blue shark fin looking thing (left center of page) and said, "Meow Meow Bye Bye!"

Um...okay?! :)

It's fun to keep a few pages here and there and see how much his coloring has changed.

This was the end of April, so about 2 months ago. He was only making light, single strokes.

Inspired by his "Meow Meow Bye Bye" picture, I drew him a cat. (Okay, it looks more like a Liger)

Isn't it funny how things come natural? He began coloring it in, the best he could anyways. :)

It was about that time I realized I needed to get dinner fixed, mostly so we could have something to take for lunch this week.

And I decided that the bloggy world might want to know about the meal famously known around here as "The Pasta".

You know how everyone has that one meal. The go-to. Always sounds good, always have the ingredients in the pantry.

There is a handful of variations of The Pasta depending on what is in the fridge. But generally its some veggies and a meat. Today I used the rest of this giant red onion.

And I threw in one of our favorite veggies: red bell peppers!

(Our favorite snack is red peppers oven roasted with some olive oil and pepper)

Overall, this is everything for The Pasta.

Parmesan cheese, pesto seasoning, olive oil (Eat your heart out Rachael Ray! Can you see her peering in the corner from my cookbook?), 100% whole wheat pasta, and a pan full of veggies and meat.

Originally I used to only use prosciutto as my meat, but its pretty expensive and not the healthiest option.

So we've switched to turkey bacon, it's so yummy!

After the noodles have cooked, add the olive oil and pesto seasoning.

The directions say to cook it separately as a paste, then add. But this is easier. :)

(Sorry that all the pictures are sort of yellowy. Its the type of CFL bulbs we have in the kitchen. It's either yellowy or super harsh flash photography)

Add the veggies and turkey bacon that were simmering in the saucepan.

Last touch is a sprinkle of parmesan cheese.

Yum Yum!

Turned out to be a fun day!

2011-06-26T21:58:00.000-06:00

Not that we were expecting a not-fun day, just more exciting than our usual Sunday!

First, thank you for all the compliments about my quest to blog daily. Still not promising daily updates after my week commitment...but maybe I'll be inspired to update more than a couple times a month. :) Again, I'm still not sure why I write this silly little blog. I guess it's just fun to share a little bit of us with the world.

The original plan was: Church. Nap. Maybe grill some dinner. Bedtime.

Thankfully, we ended up having a lot more fun than that today!

This was at church today. Mav loves to walk along and tap all the chairs when service is over.

Today was the first time ever, that he did NOT want to leave nursery!

Normally all I have to do is call his name, and he sprints over to the door to leave.

Today I had to carry him out, and he was not happy about it! :)

Okay, so I know I write about his love of wheels and cars a bazillion times. But seriously, this kid is hooked! Robbie turned on a Formula 1 car race on tv, and Mav got so excited that he ran around the room, twirling in circles until the race was over...30 minutes later.

Not kidding.

So then we were inspired to watch the movie "Cars" and I was pretty surprised that Mav paid attention to a good part of it. Of course, while we were watching he was running laps and crashing into Robbie's lap on purpose.

It was about this time that we started to talk with some friends about hanging out tonight, so we cleaned the house just in case. Mav decided that vacuuming the couch was really an excuse to jump on it like a trampoline.

I remember when I was a kid, I looooooved getting squished into the couch cushions. Weird, I know.

Must be a genetic trait.

So, our evening turned out pretty fantastic! Our friend Sean came over with his friend from New York, plus Robbie's sister Johanna, her husband Jon, and their son Noa, and their dog Ray, came over too!!

Impromptu BBQs are the best!

We grilled turkey burgers (I tried a new recipe, and it was yummy!), and veggie skewers.

We also enjoyed some pasta salad (which was already eaten from my plate), garlic hummus with crackers, and some delicious desserts. (see below, ha!)

Mav begging for food. :)

Here is the sweetest sugar baby in the world!! This is my nephew Noa, who will be 5 months old on July 4th.

I love, love, love hanging out with this little guy. And Maverick LOVES him so much! He gives him kisses, snuggles, shares his toys with him, and even offers his sippy cup to him. It's so sweet!

Mav decided to poke holes in Robbie's burger while he wasn't looking. :)

Okay so this totally looks gross, but it was hard to get a decent picture.

First--the banana. Grill it while it is still in the peel, and add some cinnamon. So good!

Second--the most genius dessert ever: raspberries plugged with chocolate chips.

It is the divine taste of chocolate covered raspberries without the hassle of melting chocolate.

You HAVE to try it. Seriously.

First trip to the Library!

2011-06-25T14:44:00.000-06:00

Saturday mornings are the best! Cartoons and a bowl of cereal...and then just let the day happen. :)

I can't believe I haven't taken Maverick to the public library until today! I guess I've just always been afraid that he would be too rowdy. Until now, we've always had Borders to visit and a TON of books at home. Seriously, I could open my own library! Besides all the books that have been bought for us, I get a ton of children's books for free from my work. Pretty great, I think! Mav really likes the gigantic-size books I bring home from work. They come from classroom sets, and the giant one is so the class can read it together.

After looking at the forecast, I decided to go to the park first before the storms came. Plus, maybe he wouldn't be so crazy for the library. :)

As we were leaving, I saw my dad drive up behind me. We live in the same subdivision so this happens sort of often. (By the way--living in the same subdivision as your parents is a GREAT idea when you have kids!) It turned out that he was just running an errand, so he tagged along with us to the park. Hoooooraaaaay!

Playing peek-a-boo with Grandpa!

Mav had to show off his expertise of spinning wheels.

Playing peek-a-boo with Grandpa again...can you sort of see him through the crack? :)

Jumping off the mountain! (It's a good thing Grandpa was there!)

We had so much fun at the park, Mav actually didn't fuss about leaving like he normally does. He's totally going to be the kid who says, "Aw man! Five more minutes?!" when I call him in for dinner.

Then we headed over to the library! I think the quietness was sort of intimidating because Mav clung to me very, very, tightly when we first walked in. It took a few minutes for him to release the claws from my shirt, ha! But as soon as we turned the corner to the kid's section he wiggled free and ran straight to this shelf.

He picked a book about baby animals. He then promptly began removing all the books from the shelf, ha!

I started to feel bad about all the books on the floor because I didn't want a huge mess for the librarians to re-organize. But then I noticed the label on the binding: B. No Dewey Decimal system on these shelves, ha! Only the first letter of the title of the book, so that it would be easy for parents to re-shelve. Nice!

The only time Mav got to be a little loud was when he started making all the noises from the animals he saw in the books. :)

He was so excited to see one of these again! Every time we went to Borders, we HAD to stop and play with the one in the children's section. Now this one can fill the void.

Orca whale lounger. :)

Okay, I totally didn't pose him, I promise!! He seriously stood in the middle of the room...glanced over all the shelves...and plopped down just like this. I think he was a little overwhelmed with the decision of what book to pick next. Too funny!

I think we'll be making the library a regular stop from now on. :)

Friiiii-day!

2011-06-24T21:13:00.001-06:00

Ahhhh, it's amazing what a good night's sleep (and some Children's Tylenol) does! I think Mav might have some sort of earache because he kept hitting the one side of his head, and there is the slightest amount of drainage. Believe it or not, he's never had an ear infection so this is uncharted territory.

I was excited to bring home a few treasures for Mav when I got off work. At work today, we had a 'mini carnival' complete with prizes and a clown who made balloon animals. I'm pretty sure that he would've taken the balloon dog to sleep if he could! It is patiently sitting on the table waiting for Mav to wake up. :)

I also brought home this tiny beach ball, which he calls "bah-et-ball!".

Every type of ball is a basketball to him, ha!

The smallest treasure was this plastic star ring. He wasn't quite too sure about this.

We spent our afternoon playing with his sushi set.

It's really fun because the pieces Velcro together, and you can 'cut' it with the meat cleaver.

My mom bought this when I was only a few months along in my pregnancy because she knew how much Robbie would love to teach Mav how to eat sushi. :)

Very politely offering to share his meal. :)

Mav is so funny about cups and bowls. This is the soy sauce bowl to the sushi set, that he pretended to drink.

I don't know where he picked it up, but whenever he drinks from a cup or bowl he finishes it with a wispy "Ahhhh!" sound (like you'd hear in a Coke commercial).

Could this picture be anymore truthful?! :)

This is a money set that I picked up for free from work. Part of the money is magnetic (and all over our fridge), and part is paper.

We started our evening walk about 7pm, and I guess it was about 7:30 when I noticed Mav's head starting to nod forward. And then it dawned on me....he hasn't taken a nap yet today!

He woke up just enough to get his jammies on and have some milk.

And then he was toast again.

By 8pm.

Woo hoo for early bedtime!

Thursday!

2011-06-24T20:42:00.000-06:00

It's a good thing I only officially committed to daily updates for a week...I'm already a day behind, ha ha!

Thursday was overall a pretty blah day actually.

The picture above is Mav enjoying the ride to Nana's house. I took him on my 'lunch break' so that Robbie could get to work without risk of a speeding ticket. :) He loves going to both his Nana and Grandma's houses. Whenever we pull up to either house, he points and squeals with delight.

(I think it might be the "secret" bites of ice cream going on)

Mav usually gets such a super report card when I pick him up, but Nana said that he was uncharacteristically fussy. Not good! As it would turn out...fussy would be the word of the evening.

The only task on the agenda for after work: grocery shopping. If you're a loyal blog reader, you know that my typical grocery shopping strategy is writing out the needed items in order of the store layout to make the trip as quick and painless as possible. Of course, the day that I don't have time to do it, Mav is in a funk.

So I literally packed a bag of out-of-the-ordinary tricks to keep him content. Thankfully though, he wasn't bad. :)

Yes, I'm that mom. I swore I'd never push my kid around in one of these carts.

(And, actually they are quite light and maneuverable!)

But really, if I was a kid...I'd want to drive one!

Of course you know Mav's OBSESSION with driving cars, so he LOVES it! :)

Can you feel his smile?

Because that is how stinkin' happy he is when we let him sit in the driver's seat.

(Don't worry, no chance of the car turning on!)

It is pretty scary though that he knows he should change the gear....

Oh Maverick!

We have aspirations that you are going to be a rock star, left-handed pitcher for the Cardinals, or X-games athlete. It's looking more and more like the latter...and I don't know how my nerves will hold up!

Once it was time to go inside, the screaming and whining commenced.

Until bedtime.

About every. little. thing.

And I ended up having to go to the grocery store...again...at 11:00 that night.

I was pretty glad to have Thursday over with!