Update

Now that I am off for a few days I have a bit more time in my life so I thought I would post some updates on the kids.

Dimples

• She is proudly displaying two new teeth. She likes to show them off quite regularly.


• Crawles EVERYWHERE, and she is getting fast.


• Today marked the first day she crawled up the stairs. Look out, our world just changed in an instant.


• She is starting to sign. So far signs include milk, mom, dad, and all finished.
• Here she is crawling up the stairs. Isn't she ADORABLE???

The Present and Grandpa's morning conversation

The Present - "Grandpa, can I have some toast?"

Grandpa - "Sure, I'll make you some."

The Present - "Beep it Grandpa, beep it" (toddler speak for put it in the microwave)

Grandpa - "You can't put toast in the microwave."

The Present - "But why?"

Grandpa - "Because a microwave cooks things, and a toaster toast's it. You want your bread toasted, not cooked."

The Present (nodding his head) "OOOOHHHHHH!"

Thankgiving - Tag, I'm it!

Miss Smartie Pants tagged me for 5 things I am thankful for. Very appropriate during this time of Thanksgiving and the beginning of the Christmas season. So here goes, and I tend to be a thankful spirit, so forgive me if it runs long.

• I am thankful that I have a wonderful husband, (who makes me smile and laugh every day), and three beautiful children that are healthy, happy (most of the time) and have the ability to make me realize a rainbow is a beautiful sight, that should be enjoyed immensely.
• Next up, my parents and sister. I am thankful that I have great relationships with them, and that they are some of my best friends in the whole world. I am thankful for the unconditional love that they bestow upon me, my husband and on my children.
• I am also thankful for family that reads this blog, that I e-mail every now and again or talk to on the phone every once in awhile. A once removed cousin that stops by when my children are born, another who comes to visit when we are up north, a cousin that calls to tell me she is having a baby or another that is willing to pick me up at the airport when I am popping into town and need help. Aunts that are my second mother and I can call when I need Mom help raising boys, and Uncles that share their love of wood working with my children.
• Family that came before me. I am blessed to have known all of my grandparents. I remeber them, I have great memories of them, and I miss them. I am thankful for all of the love they shared with me and all of the traditions that I get from them that carry on to my family. Home baked bread waiting for me when I got home, vitamin e carefully rubbed on my owies, summers of timed water races, Camp Grandma, and checking out books at the library. A love of cooking, and knowing, that whatever I make, it perfect, just perfect.
• Last but not least, I am a simple girl, who is thankful for the simple things in life. A good rain in the desert, the smell of fresh basil that I am able to grow in my back yard, the belly laugh of my children, the small treasures The Present brings me randomly, an unexpected card in the mail, and the list goes on.

Thanks Miss Smarty Pants for making me stop, to think of the the things I am thankful for. It has been fun to post.

Blessings

Ever since Miss Smarty Pants has moved to town, we have been helping each other out with chores that we are not looking forward to doing. She calls it "blessing" each other.

I like that term.

Tonight, she blessed me with 15 minutes of cleaning. We both worked together, so our 15 minutes of cleaning produced 30 minutes of results. Tonight, as I write this, I am feeling more at peace about the home I live in because it is much cleaner, thanks to Miss Smarty Pants.

I guess it really is a blessing.

Thank you Miss Smarty Pants - your earned your name once again.

La La La

For the past week I have noticed something different about how The Present has been speaking. I couldn't quite put my finger on it until tonight. He is finally pronouncing his "L's" at the start of a word. Now "wicking" is "licking" and "wittle" is "little". He's not quite fluent with it yet, so it is a bit deliberate and thought out.

I am amazed every day at how the human brain develops.

My little boy is growing up.

I wuv him so much!!!

My eye's have been opened!

This morning, as I was getting ready for work, The Present decided he wanted to sit with me on the counter and get ready too.

(For those of you who have not seen me get ready in the morning, I should tell you that as I get ready, I like to sit on the counter with my feet in the sink. I have done this since high school, and last year, when I was home at my parents house, my mom walked by the bathroom as I was in this exact position, and she came in and commented that she was having flashbacks to when I was a teenager getting ready for school. I have sat this way for as long as I have "gotten ready" in the morning.)

ANYWAY - I was sitting on the counter, with my feet in the sink, getting ready and The Present was there too. As I was putting on my mascara, The Present looked at me intensely and after a few minutes said, "Look mommy, we have the same eyes!" When I asked him what he meant, he said "Your eyes are black like mine. Daddy has green eyes and we have black ones."

He's right.

What ever will he come up with next?

Pictures!

One of our pugs, I was playing with the camera and thought I would get some pics of her.

And this one just cracks me up. Happy Halloween!

Kids know more than we think...

At night, The Present says prayers with QB and me. QB or I usually say the prayer and after the "God Bless..." we let The Present take over. He typically prays for Aunt Smartie, Mom and Dad, Dimples, The Firecracker, Nana and Grandpa, the pets etc.

A few nights ago here is how it went.

Me - "Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep, Angles watch me over the night and guide me to the morning light. God Bless...."

The Present - "God Bless G.G. - and for tonight, that's it!"

The following night it was a repeat. "God Bless G.G., that's all. AMEN!"

AMEN is right. We love you G.G.!

Happy Halloween!

It has been a busy month - I haven't gotten ready for the holidays like I normally would have. I thought I could share a picture of The Present after he came back from day care today. I guess he is ready for the Holidays!



Enjoy!

I am winning you!

Here are some cute things that The Present says these days...

• I am winning you - meaning I am beating you
• Ham-ger-ber

Funny, I thought I had several of these to put down and now I can't think of any more. I will add as they come to me, or you can add in the comments if you know of any....

My new favorite picture

This was taken in the backyard of my grandma's house this weekend. Aunt Smarty and I had a photo session with her new camera, and The Present. This is what the results were. Good, eh?

Oh, gotta run, GQ is calling....

:)

Football Frenzy

QB loves football. It doesn't matter if it's college or pro, he loves it. For his birthday this year I got him the NFL package from Direct TV. Did you know that there is a channel that shows all 8 games simultaneously? Just what every football lover needs. Needless to say we have been on football overload since pre-season.

The benefit of NFL package is that you have extra channels for college games as well. That means I get to watch my team on Saturdays too.

This weekend my team was actually televised on ESPN2. Miss Smarty Pants and I watched the game from our hotel room. What a game it was! Two 5-0 teams in the big 12 head to head. It was a nail biter. It was close. But in the end, we won. The Pokes pulled it out at the end, leaving us with a 6-0 record, and a spot in the top 10. Way to go team!

Monday night football the QB's favorite team, the Cleveland Browns, played the defending super bowl champs, NY Giants. The Browns won too, so in my family, the weekend was a sweep. We were both happy campers. Let's hope this weekend brings as much success.

Baby Update

In case you haven't seen us in awhile, here are the new and exciting things the kids are doing these days.

Dimples

• Sitting up on her own. Still wobbly, but she can do it.
• Teething - wow, she will gnaw on anything she can get her hands on. No teeth yet, but they will show themselves soon I am positive.
• Rocking - you know what I mean, the rocking that is the precursor to crawling.
• Mamamamama - yes she can say it.
• Dadadadada - she says that too - but she said Mama first, for the record.
• She eats two jars of baby food a day and loves bitter biscuts
• She will follow anything and everything with her eyes/head, she loves to look around and see where we are going or where sounds are coming from.

The Present

• He is going through a growth spurt. He is true to size wearing a 3T.
• PUZZLES - he loves to do them, and he is so good at them!
• He is all boy, has two speeds, stop and go, and boy, can he go!
• He is so inquisitive, still asking "What KIND is it?"

R.I.P.

Last week, my 90 year old grandmother passed away in her home up North. It was unexpected. Last time I saw her, she was talking about her 91st birthday bash she was going to throw for herself. We had been up there twice this year to see her, once for her 90th birthday and once so she could meet Dimples.

We miss her, we love her, and there is a sadness that comes from loosing someone in your life that was truly wonderful. My hope is that some of her loveliness is passed along to myself and my children.

Rest in peace sweet grandma.

Red means stop...

The Present recently learned (thanks to his dad QB) that red, at a stop light means stop and green means go. After that we taught him that yellow means SLOOOOW and orange means caution. He is really good at knowing what color means what.

"What does yellow mean?" I say.

"SLOOOOOW" he says.

"What does green mean?" I will ask.

"Go!" answers The Present.

Today, when we were on our way to the morning activites, The Present said,

"Green means go, red means stop and blue means nothing!"

Video Clips

This weekend The Present, Aunt Smartie and I went to the big orange box to make a fire truck. Here are some pictures and video. He was pretty amazing with the hammer. Every single nail he put in was straight as an arrow. The local fire department was there and he got to check out the fire truck too. We had a fun morning!

Postcards

My grandparents loved to travel. Whenever they were on a trip, they would send the grand kids postcards. I always loved getting a postcard from my Mimi. Even as I got older, she would send those postcards when they traveled.

A few weeks ago, Nana and Grandpa (The Present and Dimples grandparents) went on an Alaskan cruise. Guess who got a postcard? The Present! He couldn't have been more pleased. We read them, and then we read them some more. If we were upstairs, the postcards came with us. If we were in the kitchen, the postcards were in the kitchen too. They went with him to his daycare. After picking up the kids one day from daycare, Aunt Smarty almost had to turn around and get the postcards, because she forgot them, and The Present was M-A-D!

I love it.

I can't wait for Nana and Grandpa to go on another vacation so we can check the mail.

Oh, and The Present decided he was like the polar bear on the postcard, because the polar bear looked like he was playing, and The Present likes to play.

Six Unremarkable Things About Me

Got tagged from Miss Smarty Pants - so here goes.

1. I am a southpaw. In college, I did a report for speech class on lefties. Did you know that lefties die earlier deaths on average than righties? Hmmmm.

2. I secretly hope Dimples is a lefty. Not because I want her to die an early death, but because I think she looks so much like her daddy, I want her to have that lefty thing from me.

3. I have naturally curly hair. As a child I hated it, as an adult, I have learned to love and appreciate it. I don't color it, and I can straighten it (here in the desert there is barely any humidity so it looks good straight) without too much fuss. If I want to wear it curly, it only takes me a few minutes to style it. That part, I love.

4. I love the children's book "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day." Whenever I have one of those days, I tease my family and friends that I am going to move to Australia, just like Alexander wants to do in the book. My favorite line from the book is "I fell asleep with gum in my mouth and now there is gum in my hair."

5. I am 5'10" tall. When I was growing up, I could never find pants long enough for me. I always used to say they should make pants for women like they do for men, in waist size and leg lengths. Now that I am older, and they make pants in long lengths for women, I live in the desert where I wear skirts, shorts or Capri's 80% of the time. I was ahead of my time! :)

6. My life motto is "NO REGRETS!" I never want to look back at my life and regret something I did do, or I didn't do. I try and always use this as a measuring stick for what I do in life. Some days I am better than others at it.

All of the people that I know that blog have already done this so I don't have anyone to tag. If I were going to tag someone, I would tag CLOVER LOVER, and tell her it's time to get started on a blog and this would be a great first entry, and JJ's mom, who has another site, but it doesn't seem as user friendly as this one.

love to you all!

Goin' to the chapel....

This weekend, QB's old Administrative Assistant got married. The Present was the Ring Bearer and The Firecracker did a reading. It was at the same resort that we had our STAYCATION at earlier this year. Thought I would share some of the pictures.

Getting ready for the photo shoot.

Good thing the rings weren't really on that pillow. Even Aunt Smarty helped him practice carrying it straight. Oh well!

The Firecracker reading a Prayer - she did a GREAT job!

The ONLY shot from the night of QB and myself.

Cute, cute boy!

Brother and Sister

Dimples made it too, but the party was too much for her.

Love this picture!

This is when the DJ announced the wedding party. The kids ran in. ADORABLE! We stayed at the resort, and they upgraded us to a beautiful room. This was the view from one of our 3 balconies.

No Excuses

QB works at a health club. You would think, since I have free access to over 500 pieces of cardio equipment, every sort of weight lifting thingy you could imagine, countless aerobics classes and indoor and out door lap pools, I would be in the best shape of my life. Not so. Now, I am no slacker, mind you. I lost my baby weight quickly, and I fit into my pre-pregnancy clothes within weeks of giving birth. I eat pretty healthy most of the time, and I chase the babies around all of the time. I just haven't been able to make it to the gym as much as I would like, or as much as I used to.

Well that brings me to yesterday when I got back from my business trip. QB got a free piece of cardio equipment from the PRECOR company. Someone from his company, knows someone from the PRECOR company and next thing you know, we are getting the latest and greatest piece of cardio equipment delivered right to our door step. The PRECOR AMT. When I got home, there is was, right next to QB's side of the bed in our bedroom. You can't miss it, and he can't get into bed without walking around it.

So next time you see me, I should be a bit healthier. Even if you can't see it in my appearance, my heart and lungs will know. I think I like it. I think.

Sleep, sweet, sleep

While I was out on maternity leave, I missed a few things at my work. This week I had to come to the East Coast, to learn some of the things I missed while I was out.

It is the first time I have been away from the kids since Dimples was born. I have mixed emotions. On one hand, I thought I would get the BEST night sleep I have had in months. On the other hand, I knew I would miss all sorts of little things about my babies.

I am sitting in my hotel, waiting for the car to come and take me to the airport so that I can head home. Not only did I get the best night sleep I have had in months, I got TWO of them. Not only did I miss my babies, I missed my QB, and Miss Smarty pants. I am headed home with some great info about work, and a new look on life, that only a good night sleep can do.

I can't wait to give those babies a squeeze!

Bedtime Routine

About two weeks ago, The Present and I were getting ready for bed, and I decided to type up a list of things he has to do before bed. We titled the list "Bedtime Routine".

The list includes the following:

• Go Potty


• Put on Jammies


• Brush Teeth


• Read Story


• Say Prayers
  

The Present got to draw on the bottom of the list and then we hung it on my bathroom mirror. Each night we look at the list and attempt to do everything on it. Some nights we get them all done, and some nights we miss one or two things.

The Present gets more and more interested each night. A few nights ago, he wanted to look at the list and make sure we had done everything on the list. We read through the list and sure enough, we had done everything on it.

"Now it's time to go to bed." I said.

"THAT's not on the list." he said.

Guess I need to add one more thing to the list.

Stories to Remember

The Present is always good for a laugh, or cry. Here are a few things that he has done lately that make me smile.

QB taught The Present that a red light means stop, and a green light means go. Aunt Smartie picked up the kids from daycare last week. In her car, his car seat is in the middle so he gets a great look out the front window. At each light, he would say "red light" or "green light" and he knows if you are supposed to stop or go!

That same day he was riding through the small downtown she lives by. It is a cute old historic downtown. As they were driving he said "Aunt Smarty, is this like in the movie Cars?" "Why yes," she said, "it is like in the movie cars."

About a month ago, The Present saw the South Dakota quarter with Mt. Rushmore on it. QB looked Mt. Rushmore up on the Internet with him and showed him all of the presidents on Mt. Rushmore. The Present really liked it. Last week when we were watching the RNC one of the speakers mentioned Teddy Roosevelt and the Present said, "Oh, he's on Mt. Rushmore Daddy!"

Recipes

I like to cook, although I don't always feel like I have the time to cook the way I would like to these days.

Tonight, I came across a teriyaki recipe that I adjusted and loved so I thought I would share. It's really easy, and it's really good. I actually thought I had a bottle of teriyaki sauce in the fridge, and now I am glad I didn't. Who knew it was THIS EASY to make teriyaki sauce? Plus I am sure it is better for you than the stuff in the bottle. Tonight I put it on chicken with a slice of pineapple, but I am going to make it again to do a teriyaki bowl later this week. Yum!

1 cup pineapple juice/water mix (I used all the juice from a can of pineapple rings, then added water to make 1 cup of liquid)
1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
1 tsp. garlic - minced
2 tsp. honey
2 T. brown sugar

1 T. cornstarch plus 2 T. water

Mix pineapple juice/water mix, soy sauce, garlic, honey and brown sugar in saucepan. Heat on med. heat. Mix the cornstarch and water together, add to sauce pan. Heat until thickened. Fresh grated ginger (or dried ginger) would be a great addition to this, but I don't care for the taste of ginger so I didn't use any.

I hope you like it as much as I do!

Life is a Puzzle

It's late, it's the weekend. The Present ate a great dinner, but decided later he wanted a snack. I had fresh bagles in the house, so I asked him if he wanted one.

He did.

Not toasted, no peanut butter, just plain.

I cut it in half, and cut the halves into pieces. Then I put it into one of his bowls, and let him take it to the table to eat.

Can you guess what happened next?

Even though I tell him not to play with his food, he did it anyway...

When I looked over to the table, the bagle was put back together. Just like a puzzle. The Present was proud of himself, very proud.

Then he took a bite.

Life tastes good.

Video Clips

Here are a few video's of the kiddo's. Hope you enjoy as much as we do!

A Trip to the ER

Last night, QB was at the ballpark for work. The Present, Dimples and I were hanging out getting ready to enjoy a night of mommy and kiddo time. I got The Present all settled in our bed with a movie, and I went downstairs to get some water, get Dimples and head back up.

While I was downstairs I heard the loudest crash with breaking glass. As I was running up the stairs, I was shouting at The Present not to move, just to be still. What I saw when I got to him was lots of broken glass and blood. But where was the blood coming from? After a frantic search, I finally saw a big gash on the back of his leg. At that point the mother instinct kicked in.

For those of you who know me, you know I am bad with blood. I mean really bad. Just the thought of blood can make me light headed. So when I say the mother instinct kicked in, I mean it. Here I was, trying to look at a bloody gash on the back of my sons knee, and I didn't even feel woozy. The adrenaline had kicked in.

I called QB at the game and said "The Present cut his leg pretty bad, I think you are going to need to meet me at the ER." Then I called the neighbor, our good friends, and asked them to come help me survey the damage. The neighbors came over, agreed that an ER trip was in order, and offered to watch Dimples for me while I took The Present to the hospital.

I loaded up The Present, called QB to let him know we were on our way, and off we went. The QB made it to the hospital in record time, just as we were getting checked in actually. When the doctor got a look at the wound, she said stitches were in order. My first thought was "UGH! Stitches! Should I be in the room when they stitch him up or will I pass out?" Luckily that took care of itself when they gave The Present that great big shot they give you before they stick that other needle in you. He started crying, and I knew he needed his mama. I wasn't going anywhere.

Five stitches, and one purple popsicle later, we were ready to head back home.

Thank goodness for cell phones.
Thank goodness for great neighbors.
Thank goodness for super nice nurses from Boston.
Thank goodness my baby is okay.

Pictures!!

And Gowie Smiles

Last night, as I was blogging, a sleepy Present came downstairs. He and Dimples have had runny noses all week - part of that getting back into daycare thing. Anyway, I asked him why he was out of bed and he said "MOOOOOOOM, I need some MENTHOLATUM!"

At that moment in time, I knew his GG and his great, great grandma, Gowie, were both smiling down from heaven.

Growing Girl

Thought I would fill you in on the milestones of Dimples. It is amazing how much she changes and how quickly it happens.

About 2 weeks ago she learned to roll over.

She laughs now too.

Tonight she found her feet, and she got a taste of them.

How sweet it is.

"What KIND is it?"

According to Piaget (thanks Mom and Dad, who funded my degree in education so I could have this bit of knowledge) The Present is in the Preoperational Phase. What does this mean exactly? It means he is trying to classify everything, and in his case I mean EVERYTHING.

"What kind is it?" is a question we hear daily. "What KIND of car is it?" "What KIND of juice is it, mama?" "What KIND of shower?" "What KIND of rain?" "What KIND of Olympics?" and so on and so on.

Sometimes I am really good about answering his "What kind is it?" question. "That's a Honda babe." or "Why, that's apple juice." but sometimes I don't know the answer. "I think it is a cumulus nimbus cloud, but we may have to ask Grandpa next time he is around." I never thought a toddler could make me want to look so much stuff up on the internet.

At least I know he has been listening to me and soaking it all in. How do I know? Because tonight, when we sat down for dinner, he said, "Is this 2% milk mama? I like 2% milk!"

08-08-08

I just had to post on 08-08-08. Couldn't help myself.

We are watching the start of the Summer Olympics tonight as a family. It's about time we were all together.

Oh, and I started work again today. Not sure how I feel about that, but when I know, I will post.

Phone Fun

Last night the Present and I were playing and he found his old toy phone. He proceeded to hand the phone to me and he told me to call his Aunt. I pretended to call her, and of course, she wanted to talk to him so I handed the phone back to him. He was so cute pretending to talking to her, I asked him if he wanted to use the real phone to call her.

He said yes.

This is what I heard on my end of the conversation.

"Hiiii Aunt Smarty! What are you doing?"

"JJ and I are going swimming tomorrow, do you wanna come?"

"That's a good idea."

"I want to watch Snoopy wif you."

"Oh, okay when you come over you can read me a book, oh and we can play."

"Wuv you Aunt Smarty."

The Present loves his Aunt Smarty.

STAYCATION

This weekend our family decided to take a much needed "staycation." It's easy to do in our neck of the woods, lots of resorts to choose from with lots of amenities. What I realized is that at this point in our lives, vacation means something different to each one of us.

For example, QB would have loved to spend time at the Black Jack tables, and I would have too, but I didn't want to be left alone with the kids while he went off and won money. I wanted to sit by the pool, order frozen drinks from the cabana boys, and work on my tan, but Dimples, the baby, didn't like the heat. The Present wanted to hit the water slide, which required help from one of his parental units.

So what did we do? Oh you know, a little of this and a little of that. We cruised around the resort, took a boat ride to nowhere, ate some good food, ran up and down the long halls of the hotel rooms, spent some time at the pool (in the shade), watched TV, played with toy cars, and relaxed. Good time spent together as a family, and the best staycation any of us could have asked for!

The Last Lecture

My husband, QB, and I like inspirational & motivational books, video's, etc. Several months ago we watched an Oprah show with Dr. Randy Pausch who became famous for his "Last Lecture" at Carnegie Mellon University. Dr. Pausch died last week, at the young age of 47. If you haven't heard of him, you can watch it here or google him, it's worth the 10 minutes it takes to watch.

Wink, Wink ;)

My toddler, The Present, never ceases to amaze me. One of the reasons I wanted to start this blog was to put down some of the funny things that he says and some of the funny things that he does while he is growing up.

Here is an example from the weekend.

I had a girlfriend in town that I have known for ages. We were at lunch with my sister and The Present was climbing over the back of the booth. I had told him several times to stop, and the last time, I looked him in the eye and told him not to do it again. He looked at me, gave me a slow nod, and then winked.

I couldn't help but laugh.

The Sneaky Mom

The Present, my toddler, is what I would consider a good eater. He will snack on edamame with me, he loves all sorts of fruit and will even leave sweets on his plate. But just like any kid, he loves to eat the likes of mac 'n cheese and other packaged foods that have little to no nutritional value.

That brings me to today, where I have been mixing, processing and pureeing foods to "slip" into his lunches and dinners. I got the idea from an Oprah show based on the book "Deceptively Delicious" by Jessica Seinfeld, but what I read on the Internet led me to the book, "The Sneaky Chef" by Missy Chase Lapine (her book was out before Seinfeld's).

Now I have all these little baggies in my freezer full of pureed white beans, broccoli and zucchini, carrots and yams, and my flour and bread crumbs are fortified with whole wheat flour and wheat germ. I hope I am as sneaky as Missy Chase Lapine!

I guess I will find out tomorrow when we have mac 'n cheese 'n carrots 'n yams for lunch...