Nearly Fearless

week two

2012-01-24T14:19:00.007-05:00

Ooh buddy, we are having a rough week. Maybe last week was a tease, or maybe just a slow, easy transition into the new way of life--things went pretty smoothly, I felt fairly confident that we'd at least survive the next year. This week is just not going as well. I think the kids are tired of being cooped up--Bennett has been fussy and not sleeping well, Fletcher isn't eating and is his usual loud, cranky self, and Cameron's flat-out crazy. Short naps, crappy appetites, cold weather...bad combination.

Actually, it wasn't too cold yesterday. It was nice out! We got to go outside to play for a bit and that was wonderful. But the kids were still wound up, they threw lunch around and got in trouble for it (Cam had to vacuum up the mess and Fletch helped carry things to the table), both took kind of short naps, and the baby was pretty fussy and not sleeping well (which is totally unlike him and I think coffee was to blame). He finally settled around 9:30p and slept until 1:45a, which is amazing for him! He did okay the rest of the night, too, but I woke at 4:30 smelling something funny, and after a good search realized the sump pump was overheating in the basement. Yay! Not a good start to our day.

It was cold again today, and windy, and a preschool day. I really hate preschool days now. It is just no fun getting them all there and back...twice. And all for less than 2.5 hours of 'school'! I hate having to take Bennett in and out in the cold, and we walk so slowly because of no-sense-of-urgency Fletcher; sometimes I carry him in under my arm, but that's no easy feat when he's kicking joyously and I only have one hand with which to hold him (as the other is full of baby). Then I get them all back into the car with muddy, wet shoes, go back and forth to get them all buckled, race home before B starts crying...gah. Today I only had Bennett for pick-up, as a friend stayed home with Fletcher for me, which was nice. I think I'm going to arrange for a car buddy, someone to sit with my car (or I'll sit with theirs) while I run in to pick the kids up. I'm very thankful I only have to worry about Tuesdays, since a friend is going to handle drop-off and pick-up for Cam on Thursdays.

So really, things haven't been so bad--just frustrating. We are still figuring things out, how our days will progress now, so things just aren't running as smoothly as before. That gets overwhelming. Energetic kids, cranky baby, tired mama. I'm bound to feel a little frazzled, right? That's a good word for it. I just feel tense and disorganized and like there's just a little too much going on, and not enough time in the day. And at the same time, the day drags on, especially once everyone is up from nap...I feel like 5:45p (when Daddy gets home) can't get here fast enough. There's no 'pause' button for the hyper, sassy four-year-old, the toddler can never get enough snacks or time being carried, and doing everything one-handed (babe-in-arms!) gets exhausting!

Bennett has been napping for the last two hours and he really needed it. He was up a little early this morning (thanks to his hungry brothers bursting into the room asking for blueberries) and didn't settle down to nap until almost lunch time! That is just way too much awake time for him, but he was over-tired, not wanting to close those eyes and sleep. He'd doze off for a few minutes but it never lasted. Now that he's had a nice nap, I'm hoping he'll be a little happier this afternoon. He isn't crying or anything, he is just squirmy and grunty and can't be set down for anything--then he cries, and he works right into the screeches, doesn't bother with fussing.

It was great to see friends yesterday and today--the kids got a bit of distraction, got to play with their little buddies, and I got to talk to my friends and eat a tasty lunch. Very refreshing, and fun. I'm excited about being able to get out more in the coming weeks--not a lot, as I know that would be just as overwhelming as staying home all the time, and I still don't want to drag Bennett out into the cold, to a bunch of germy places where he'll get sick. But once a week if we could get to COSI or Firefly or a friend's house and have some fun, I think we would all benefit from the change in scenery.

I wish we could get out and play somewhere this afternoon, but I don't see that happening. I need to be better about planning activities for the big boys, especially for these long, restless afternoons. They just wind up getting into trouble, loud and picking at each other, egging each other on. They are usually hungry, but feeding them too much at snack means they won't eat dinner. I'm sure they are also just bored. Cam doesn't listen, does stuff he knows he shouldn't do (doesn't share, moves furniture [yes, seriously], talks back and says 'no,' runs around and yells while watching TV [TV goes off!]), and lately, Fletch is the same! Boy, does that child ever have trouble listening and following directions. He is into everything, and is just learning to say 'no' and to ignore me when I call him. And as much as I hate just repeating myself over and over again, I don't move as fast right now, I can't get there and physically remove him from the top of the end table, so I feel like we're all on repeat all day, I'm saying the same thing over and over and they're doing the same things over and over. They need more stimulation, so I've got to work on that.

Crafts are fun, but can be messy, and I don't really have the ability to clean up a big paint mess with a fussy baby to tend to. They like playdough, so that's always an option. Sometimes they'll sit for a TV show, or even a movie. My intention is to 'schedule' our day out to be a little more predictable--we usually eat and nap at the same times every day, but it would be helpful to also have scheduled computer time, TV time, craft time, time to work on Cam's letters (oh, how behind we are in that!), etc.

I try to send them both up to their rooms for 30 minutes every morning for 'alone play,' and that has been working out really well. Cameron gets to play with his toys alone, without Fletcher messing up his games or knocking over his block towers, plus it helps him learn to play alone and use his imagination and not always rely on me to direct the play (he got into this bad habit a while back, would not play alone to save his life!). Fletcher sits in his crib with books, blocks, toy animals, and sometimes a snack, but usually just chooses to sit quietly with his blanket and look out the window. He needs that time alone to wind down a little. I enjoy the quiet...no one whining for a snack, no one needing wiped off, no screaming boys fighting over toys (OH, the noise they make!). Just me and the baby, picking up around the house, throwing laundry in, checking email, and recharging a bit with some snuggles.

I know we'll figure things out. I know we'll have good days, and bad days. Doesn't everyone? I'm trying to be patient--with myself, and with the kids. I'm not the only one affected by this change in routine! I'm not the only one readjusting. We just have to take things day by day. And maybe I'll set my expectations a little lower. ;)

an introduction, and an apology

2012-01-22T19:54:00.005-05:00

First things first: Bennett is here! Actually, he's three weeks old, but I'm a little delayed in posting. He arrived on his due date, December 30th, weighing 9 pounds 8 ounces. Labor was kind of weird, it seemed like things were starting up, they continued but didn't really change or progress for 10 hours or so, and by the end they fizzled out and we weren't sure he'd make it that day after all. Then my water broke and BOOM, he was out in an hour. A friend of mine came to take some beautiful pictures at the birth, which I am SO excited to receive soon, and we also had newborn pictures done for the first time. I wanted to do some extra special things this time, since he is supposed to be our last baby (still having a hard time putting that to words).

He's been a pretty easy-going little guy so far, he still sleeps a ton and nurses a lot, as well. He's generally pretty pleasant, as long as he's being snuggled (which I take full advantage of!), and smiles in his sleep all.the.time. A boy after my own heart. He does nap well in a bed or on the floor, too, which is helpful when I need to set him down. Mike was off work for two weeks so I had lots of help, and this past week I was on my own for four whole days. We did all right--we all survived and we're slowly getting into a groove...a newborn will of course throw a wrench in things, but I'm hoping we can work out some changes to the daily 'routine' that work well for everyone.

So far the older boys are pretty interested in him...Cameron likes to hold him and tell him how cute he is. Fletcher likes to pet his head, point out his nose, and laugh at the sounds he makes. Fletch also asks after him if we go somewhere without him, pointing to his carseat and furrowing his brow, "Baby?" I think they will all be good friends, as B grows and is 'more fun' and more a participant in their play. I remember Cam being bummed that Fletcher didn't come out ready to run and play with him, I'm sure to little kids it seems like babies take forever to get bigger (while we parents are left wondering where in the world the time went!).

Now, the apology. We've been through three different brands of disposable diapers, and several varieties of cloth diapers...cursing them all for being cheap or crappy (no pun intended), as the baby continued to pee through all of them! As it turns out, I think I just haven't been changing Bennett often enough. ::shuffles slacker-mom feet::

I guess it's expected to get out of the habit of changing a new baby 297309253 times a day...I couldn't figure out how he was leaking through disposable diapers (first we blamed off-brand, then it happened in Pampers) AND cloth diapers (again, first a less-absorbent AIO, then a tri-folded prefold!)...finally we realized it's not the diapers, it's the baby! He pees A LOT. Last night before bath, I changed him and he made a big puddle on the bathroom floor. Like, huge. I imagine two of those would fill a diaper pretty well!

Apparently we need to set an alarm and change him every two hours (if not more often)...he sleeps most of the day still, so it's not unusual for him to go 3-4 hours between changes, if he falls asleep and stays that way for a while. And like, overnight? The last thing on my mind (when he's up every 2-3 hours) is changing his diaper. Today he napped on me for an hour and when he woke up we were both soaked! Got what I deserved. But anyway, I'm sorry, Bennett. And diaper companies. We're going to try every two hours and see how that works out--at least for now, while he's eating so often and so much!

deceptively sweet, for the win

2012-01-19T12:27:00.024-05:00

I love the sound of my babies laughing together. Giggling, squealing, shrieking; choking on the hilarity of life at the lunch table. Hearing them reminds me to stop and take a deep breath, close my eyes, and smile. Enjoy the moment. I even contemplate finding the camera, to catch their laughter on video, because isn't there bound to be a day I forget that sound? At the moment, I'm stuck on the couch with a sleepy, nursing baby. The house smells like chicken nuggets and mango (okay, and a dirty toaster oven), and my lap is warm under a squishy babe. A wimpy sort of snow is falling...not the pretty kind, but the sleety kind that makes me extra thankful for my warm house (and affordable heating bill). Life is beautiful (yes, even with the dirty-toaster-oven smell--it could be worse).

Eventually I'm able to get up from the couch, lay the baby down, and sneak into the kitchen to find out what's so funny. That's when I see the shiny slivers of mango on the floor, scattered like...well, food that's been thrown. I watch one fly, slippery and wiggling like a fish, straight from one boy's hand to the other boy's forehead. It feels like things are moving in slow-motion, and not in that sentimental, lovers-running-to-each-other-on-the-beach-at-sunset kind of way. There's a moment of silence, as both children struggle for air and fall to the floor, dangerously close to a giggle-induced coma.

I feel lightheaded myself, thinking of that crick in my back that won't go away, can't go away thanks to how many times I sweep this very floor every week. My shoulders slump and I turn into the Bad Guy, ending the meal and wiping up sticky, slimy hands and faces, siccing the dog on the mess on the floor. The littler boy beats the dog to a piece of mango and I don't try too hard to stop him from shoving it into his mouth, surely covered in dirt or at least cat hair. I try to be happy that I at least remembered to take his cute blue shirt off before lunch, saving it from mango stains. Win?

They spend the next five minutes hanging on me, gnawing on my shoulders and back. I'm not sure what kind of game it is, but at least they are leaving each other alone. I close my eyes and try to imagine I'm getting a massage. They take turns yanking on me, half-climbing me as I crouch over the baby, trying to shush him back to sleep. Suddenly they are throwing themselves around on the couch, screeching and whooping, then the little one's wailing because apparently they knocked heads. I offer a hug, a magic kiss. He's miraculously better, runs off to throw himself onto the couch again. I chase down the big one as he nears the baby on his scooter. It's a close one.

The bigger one runs to the basement, the littler one follows. I'm washing my hands and trying to ignore the clanging I hear, but it's hard when I know there are hundreds of pounds of weights down there. I head down to reign in the beasts (and move the towels to the dryer) and almost trip on the little one, who's playing in the dog's water bowl, sloshing it all over the (carpeted) basement stairs. Sopping it up with a dirty sock I find hanging on the banister, I call down to the big one and tell him to come up for nap. All I hear is "No," and some mumbo jumbo I don't care about, because wth? "No"? I find him on the floor, surrounded by (what looks like) hundreds of tiny screws, cramming them into a toy train. I don't want to know where he found them, which is good, because he doesn't know where they came from, anyway. I head back upstairs, the little one under my arm, his cold, wet little hands pulling at my shirt. I leave the big one with a threat to cleanthemuporelse.

By the time I've got the little one in bed, the big one comes up with a Snack Trap full of screws. Interesting, but I hadn't specified where he should put them, so okay. I get him tucked in and race downstairs. Baby's still sleeping--definite win. I heat up some lunch (only one time today!), seat myself on the couch with a book, and sigh. The house is quiet, and it's just me and the baby for the next two hours. Winwinwin. We've survived half of the day! A few minor mishaps, a lot of mess to clean up, always more laundry to do...the kitchen looks like it exploded and I haven't seen the cat in a while...but oh, how they laughed. And we found a missing Snack Trap. WIN.

a walk in the park

2011-12-28T11:11:00.003-05:00

Mike and I have been arguing for like, Fletcher's entire life, about a trail at a local metro park we walked two days before Cameron was born. We tried to find it again when I was overdue with Fletcher and wound up at the wrong place, and then it started pouring so we ran for the car, completely soaked and frustrated.

I insisted that day, and have since, that we were at the wrong trail, anyway--when we went four years ago, we parked in an open area off a main road, and came to the hill pretty quickly once we started walking. When we went a year and a half ago, things looked completely different. Yes, everything was green and summer-y, but it was also just a different entrance altogether, I was sure of it. We went into the woods and walked a ways and it just looked all wrong. Then the rain started, so we never got to see where that path would ultimately take us.

Mike insisted then, and does now, that we were on the right trail. He says there was a right-angle turn ahead that we never took, that would have led us to a hill. I called the park's office today, and it turns out we were both right--two summers ago, we were at the same trail from four years ago, but at a different entrance...which is why it looked totally wrong to me, but sounded right to him. (I think that really says something about our general observation skills...we both have our strengths and weaknesses! I remember in great detail how everything looks, while he remembers details like directions and trail names [arguably more important...]. For example, I remember that hike 4 years ago as including a hike up a large hill AND a walk along an icy river...he insists we walked two different trails that day. The map agrees with him. Oops.)

Regardless, we are headed there Saturday for a good hike. It will be cold, maybe even a little muddy or icy (rain in the forecast for Friday and Sunday). Perfect for a walk at 40+ weeks pregnant. ;) We'll see if all the activity gets things moving...I've been taking it easy this week, so I'll be nice and rested by the time we go. We hiked on Saturday, January 12th, 2008, and my water broke Sunday night, so we always sort of suspected that the hike had something to do with labor starting. Maybe it will prove to be true this time, too!

cookie day, year two

2011-12-21T15:56:00.011-05:00

This year's Cookie Day was twice as chaotic, twice as disorganized, and twice as messy! Ugh, the mess. Bowls, spoons, both sets of wands for the mixer, food dye, egg whites down the drain, measuring cups and spoons, spilled vanilla (always with the vanilla!!), flour everrrywhere, coconut oil in my hair....

So yes, I finally got around to making the cookies this morning. The dough was as hard to work with as I remember--I used about half of it and gave up, we'll see if I get around to rolling, cutting, and baking the rest. Baking took an hour, six cookies at a time, because the uncooperative dough needed re-chilled after 2 minutes of working with it. For half of that hour, Fletcher played upstairs in his bed to give me some space in the kitchen, and for the rest of it he played with the baking sheets. Whatever works.

Baked! Only a couple broke, but a few more cracked. I don't know why. Some kitchen mysteries weren't meant to be solved.

After nap, I made the icing. I realized we only had green food dye, so I put aside 1/3 to dye red when I get some more. Cameron was super excited, and kept reminding me of my job (icing the cookies) and his job (decorating them with sprinkles). Here he is, showing off his Christmas shirt (which involves covering it up with his hand, lol).

Fletcher was a little unsure of what was going on...

...but he jumped right in!

Notice the crumb on his lip...how suspect.

A seasoned pro.

While Cam showed a lot of self-control with the taste-testing, it didn't take Fletch long to give the icing a try.

He was pretty pleased.

Cam was proud of each and every creation.

He eventually did his fair share of tasting, too. How better to clean up the spilled sprinkles?

They were both horribly sticky, artificially-dyed messes by the end.

In the end, it was a huge pain in the rear, this whole project. Messy, messy, messy. Frustrating! Time-consuming! MESSY! But...more importantly, they had fun. And I had fun with them! Once all the prep work was done, that is. Next year I'll do the prep without the kids underfoot, and then we can all just have fun together when it comes time to decorate, instead of me worrying about the mess and the horribly uncooperative dough and the missing food dye and all that jazz. Besides, with a face like this, how could I refuse to do it all again next year? Or heck, maybe even for Easter. ;)

christmas and baby prep

2011-12-20T13:09:00.007-05:00

Five more days! The countdown is on. We've had a paper chain hanging next to the Christmas tree the past couple of weeks, and Cam gets such a kick out of cutting a link off every day. I still have a LOT to do to prepare for Christmas morning, and I need to get a move on! There is still always the possibility that we could have a new baby before Christmas...I can't leave these projects unfinished!

Today I got the boys' stockings done, so that crossed one big thing off the list. I thought they would take longer, but they were super simple and quick, and I love how they turned out! I still have to sew Bennett's, but I need to make a trip to JoAnn at some point for more lining fabric, more batting, and some fleece for the cuff. Basically, I was not prepared at all for his! I do at least have the main fabric--it is a green version of Cameron's, and I'm hoping to find blue for the cuff. I'm debating making stockings for myself and Mike, too, so all of ours match, but I'll have to see if I can find coordinating fabrics, maybe even just solid colors.

For Cam, I still need to finish painting the aliens--they could use another coat or two of green, but I'm not sure I'll have the time/opportunity. It's rainy and cool this week, so I'll have to work in the garage, but it's hard to get a moment away when I'm home alone with the kids, and the evenings are busy (with a fuller garage!). I also have to paint eyes on the aliens, and spray them and the scuba diver with lacquer. I have to attach the top door to the submarine, and somehow fashion a periscope and attach it, as well. Fletcher's gifts are done, but his animals need wrapped (first I have to get their box out of the backseat of Mike's car!).

Then, of course, cookies. I failed at Cookie Day today! I was too busy with the stockings and a whiny toddler, so we'll have to do them tomorrow. Or maybe I can mix them up and bake them tonight (that way I'll have Mike's help with rolling out the dough, woo!) and then just worry about decorating them with the kids tomorrow. Yes, that sounds like a plan. Cam is mostly excited about putting the sprinkles on, anyway, so I don't think he'll be too upset if I do the rolling and cutting without him.

As far as the baby is concerned, we are pretty ready! The birth tub is set up, the birth supplies are baked (sanitized), there's a little box set up for Bennett with a couple of first outfits, tiny diapers, and his Aunt Jo blanket. I cleared off the top shelf of my armoire for his diapers and clothes, and the video camera is charged (not sure if we will use it, but just in case!). I need to clear some pictures off of the camera's memory card and make sure its battery stays charged, as well. We are excited for the big day, but I'd be okay with things holding off for a bit, too. I'm eager for him to get here, and I've always wanted a tiny baby at Christmastime, but at the same time I feel like we should just enjoy things as they are now, our last few days as a family of four. Our last few days of decent sleep for a while. Our last few days of more freedom and flexibility.

Also, very important to remember, my last few days of pregnancy! I truly love being pregnant, and as hard as I've tried to get used to the idea of this being my last one, it's hard to imagine. So hard! How can I imagine never feeling a butt in my ribs again? How can I imagine never playing with the little feet that are poking out at me? I miss the movements and the hiccups and the wonder of it all as soon as the baby is out...how can I imagine never experiencing that again? Most of the time I try, I wind up not wanting to think about it anymore. I don't want to be tearful in the last few days, sad about what I'm going to lose.

My goal was to really enjoy this pregnancy (as I did the others), and I know I've done that. That has to be good enough. My next big goal is to really enjoy Bennett's infancy. To take things slow and relax more and take advantage of every opportunity to snuggle him, rock him, nurse him, stare at him, and smile at him, and to take lots of pictures. No matter how attentive I am, no matter how much time I spend with a baby, it always feels like the newborn stage and infancy are ripped out from under me! How does time go so fast?! All time, really, not just the baby time...I can't believe my oldest will be four in just a few weeks! I just have to savor every.single.moment, because last pregnancy = last baby, and that is just as hard to imagine.

recipe share--gf pancakes

2011-12-04T18:18:00.003-05:00

Of course I would get rid of my waffle iron in the Great House De-clutter a couple of weeks ago...and then find a cheap GF recipe book at Barnes & Noble last week! Sigh. I really wanted waffles this morning, but I tried out the pancake recipe instead--they were great! I thought I'd share here--I changed things up a bit, because we were seriously lacking in supplies, but they turned out okay. Eventually. (As is illustrated below, in terrible pictures.)

What you need:
-2 TBS plus 2 tsp butter
-1 1/4 cup milk
-2 eggs
-1 3/4 cup flour mix*
-1/4 cup raisins
-3 TBS sugar
-1 TBS baking powder
-1 tsp cinnamon
-1/2 tsp salt

*I used 1 1/2 cups Bob's Red Mill GF All-Purpose, plus 1/2 cup corn starch, plus 1/2 cup almond flour, then measured out 1 3/4 cups from that combination.

What you do:
-Melt the butter in a skillet, then pour into a medium bowl (leaving a film of butter in the pan). Whisk milk and eggs into the bowl of butter.
-Combine flour, raisins, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl. Add the wet mixture, and stir to combine. Mine was somewhat chunky, I think the butter solidified some. The batter will not be thick! It seemed sooo runny. I actually added the last 1/2 cup in desperation to thicken it up a little.
-Pour 1/4 cup of batter into the skillet for each pancake, and cook on medium/low-medium heat (my stove goes from 1-10 and I cooked on 4/4.5). Again, it will seem really runny and thin when you pour it out, like so.

But they thicken up some and cook up nicely. I did not have to add any oil to the pan, after the melted butter was used up--these did not stick and flipped cleanly and everything. When they bubble like this on the top, try flipping them.

The verdict:
I was really expecting these to turn out terribly. First of all, the super-runny batter was just baffling. I kept adding more flour and getting more and more frustrated that it wasn't thickening up much. I decided to just go for it (wasn't going to let all those ingredients go to waste!), and then the raisins all clumped in the middle of each pancake and the batter poured out so thin I was sure they'd be a huge disaster.

To my surprise, they cooked up better than I could have imagined (WAY better than the almond flour pancakes I've tried in the past), thickened up some, and they are GOOD! Really tasty. I'm sure the sugar and cinnamon help. The kids devoured them, and Mike said they'd be great even without the raisins. I just thought they were delicious. I got about 15, so we had enough to save for breakfast tomorrow. Yay!

rotten day

2011-12-02T16:01:00.004-05:00

Despite the long holiday weekend (and a shortened work week for Mike), this week has dragged on. I am tired, and my ears are ringing. The kids have been hyped up, Cameron's been a nut and Fletcher has been so darn crabby. He's perpetually teething, but this week has been worse than usual. He's cranky, whiny, demanding, full of grunts and shrieks and frustrated fits. He clings to my legs, and wants to be carried around all day (sitting down holding him is just not good enough). He's waking a little earlier than usual in the morning, and taking a nap that's about half as long as it should be (on a good day). This leads to a very moody, miserable boy, and a downright unpleasant home environment.

I'd just about had my fill today. He screeched and cranked all morning, and whined and shrieked through lunch. He spent our playdate writhing around on my lap, pulling on my shirt, banging his face into my chest. I put him down for nap and he proceeded to sleep for ONE HOUR. That's, like, 1/3 of his usual nap. Sigh. I got him up eventually, and as soon as he was down here he was throwing little fits over everything...not getting a snack, not being able to play in the pots and pans cabinet, running out of water in his sippy. It was 2:00 and I was losing it...Cam woke from all the noise, Fletch went back to bed, and I hadn't even sat down to have my lunch yet.

The Cranky One did not go back to sleep, but once Sid was up I brought them both down for a fresh start. I had spent naptime finishing up and storing some bean soup that had been cooking all morning, and making new playdough. I set the dough on the floor and called them over--in true crabby-Fletcher fashion, he was not an eager participant. At first.

I rolled some balls and tried again.

That piqued his interest.

He lifted it.

He squished it.

He tore it apart and yelled, "OHHH!"

By the end, he was loving it!

Not to be forgotten, Cam made cupcakes (which looked like little balls...first time he has attempted balls on his own!).

So, we had about 20 minutes of happy squeals. We all took deep breaths and smiled and laughed and got our hands a little messy squeezing some tension into the playdough. Fletcher is back to being moody and cranky, despite every last effort on my part to improve his attitude (snuggles, reading some books, an orange for snack...), but it's almost dinnertime...hopefully that will give us another few minutes of peace before bed. :)

incredibly close quarters

2011-11-28T16:53:00.003-05:00

"I wish we lived in an antler."

he's a mystery

2011-11-23T08:47:00.005-05:00

Mommy: What kind of ice cream are you going to get?
Cameron: You never know....
---
Cameron: I wonder what books we'll get at the library. You never know....

Apparently he has a new favorite phrase! I wish I could remember the details of the song he made up in the car last night...all I know is the lyrics included: "poop, pee, toot, and Christmas tree." Guaranteed to become a classic.

christmas crafting, take 2

2011-11-22T21:35:00.005-05:00

I've been busy! It feels good. I have been having lots of fun crafting for Christmas--Fletcher's little pile is growing by the day.

I made him some little animals--I still need to make them a 'barn' of some sort, but I've got some time. These will help him learn his animal sounds, and we can work on colors, too.

Today I finally picked up some bottled water for the second craft. I had wanted to find the Aqua Pod brand ones, because they're round and don't have grooves in the sides, but I didn't see them at the few places I looked. I found some mini 8-oz bottles, and the labels peeled off easily without leaving too much residue behind, so they seemed good enough.

I filled six of them with different 'trinkets'...beads, pom-poms, ribbon, buttons, all kinds of things! I tried glitter with the first one and it was kind of a flop--it didn't mix and swirl all that well, but tended to cling to the cap and to the little foam stars. It also made it a little too busy--it just looked kind of sloppy and messy, so I rinsed it out and started fresh.

They look pretty neat in real life. It's hard to photograph them, since the fillings either sink or float at the top. They are fun to shake and turn, though, and I've added even more to them since taking these pictures--I found some ribbon and yarn in the right colors. Soon we'll glue the lids shut so we don't have any nasty spills (though, really, I didn't use the glitter or food coloring, so spills wouldn't be *too* bad).

I think Fletcher will like both gifts...he'll like taking the animals out of their box and putting them back in, and he'll like carrying the bottles around and shaking them (he really just likes carrying things around! and these are arguably safer than forks or heavy cooking pots). I have a couple of other ideas to get started on in the next week or two, and then he'll be as d.o.n.e. for Christmas as Cameron is.

i don't know where he gets this stuff

2011-11-17T11:53:00.004-05:00

Mommy: [holds appropriately-shaped tortilla scrap up to face] Hey look, I have a mustache.
Cameron: [does the same] Me, too! Haha, Daddy, we're playing nose beards!
---
Cameron: Hey, get your bow and arrow...I see a big turkey over there! [shoots, complete with sound effects] Oh, it's a big one. Help me lift it! Now let's sing...the ABC song!
---
Cameron: What are we having for lunch?
Mommy: Probably chicken nuggets.
Cameron: I don't want chicken nuggets. I just want to dance.

what i wouldn't do for a trampoline

2011-11-14T11:16:00.009-05:00

Or some tranquilizers.

I'm stressinggg. Winter is approaching...we have a new baby coming in roughly six weeks, and two very energetic little boys. We've been packing up a lot of excess clutter in preparation to list the house in February or March...mostly the clothes bins in the basement, books we don't read in the bedroom, kitchen appliances we don't use often but don't want to toss...and the toys that are in storage because they've been outgrown or aren't played with frequently. It's nice to declutter and make the house look nice, and I'm not too worried about missing this stuff when it's gone.

As far as toys, I've left out the classic favorites...blocks, cars, dinosaurs, tools, puzzles, and dress-up stuff (knight, explorer, builder). The bin rack has been moved up to Cameron's room so we can turn the downstairs playroom back into a dinette. The play kitchen and dress-up bins are still down here, but we will probably toss the kitchen at some point--we are hoping to make a smaller one for the new house. I've left some craft stuff unpacked...beads to string, construction paper and glue, markers (glitter fell into the 'too messy' category ;)). We have some playdough in the fridge and lots of books. Plus, Christmas is right around the corner, which will add a few new toys to the mix. There should be plenty of things to do, stuff to play with, this winter.

Problem is, sometimes these kids just need to run and climb. :/ Literally, they run laps around the downstairs on rainy days. Obviously that can continue, and I'm hoping this year at least Cameron will be willing to go out and play in the snow by himself for a bit (he is the one who really goes crazy inside/home for too long!), but I am still worried about cabin fever setting in and not going away until spring.

We have a couple of indoor play places we like to visit, but we can't get out too often for several reasons. Soon I will be gargantuan and sore and tired and probably won't really want to traipse across town in bad weather on icy roads to let them play at COSI for an hour. Then the baby will be here, and we are those weird 'keep the baby home for 6 weeks' kind of people...not that we haven't broken the rule once or twice, but it's just not my thing to go to a busy play place during snow-and-flu season with a newborn. I doubt we will make it to 6 weeks like we did with Cameron, but I also don't imagine we'll do much until he is at least a month or so old. I know we went out once with Fletcher around 3-4 weeks (to the Conservatory to see the almost-over butterfly exhibit), but it was summer so we worried a lot less about illness and the elements.

And, mainly, play places are dirty. I personally feel like COSI and Firefly (our two favorites, and pretty much the only ones we visit anymore) are pretty clean...we tend to go right when they open in the morning, and I know that COSI cleans daily and that Firefly cleans throughout the day with bleach. I use hand sanitizer when we leave and occasionally while they play--Cam is a thumb-sucker, and sometimes forgets the rule (which is, "no sucking your thumb at the play place"). I try to subtly steer them away from kids who have particularly grimy-sounding coughs. It also helps that we show up first thing in the morning, before there are a lot of other people around--we even upgraded our COSI membership to let us in at 9am, and we are usually the only people there for a full hour.

This all probably sounds pretty paranoid. I am generally not a germaphobe--my kids eat dirt and pick their noses and most evenings I forget to wash their hands before dinner. BUT, fall and winter really kick our butts in terms of illness, and I've become a lot more picky about where we play and how often we use hand sanitizer (which used to be never!). Cameron's allergies and asthma make him pick up every little respiratory virus that goes around, and he reacts badly to them, coughing and miserable for weeks.

Normally hand-washing would be fine (we never use antibacterial products at home, I do believe that limiting them is a good idea), but we're not always near a bathroom, or he doesn't want to stop playing to go wash up. And so, we use hand sanitizer at play places. (And on grocery carts--which I also never did until the first time I caught Cameron licking one when he was about 10 months old...within 24 hours he was puking and diarrheaing all over the place. YUCK! Only stomach bug he has EVER had...he may have crappy lungs but the rest of him seems healthy! LOL)

Still, even with the precautions, he gets sick. A lot. More than other kids, his doctor has confirmed. "Some kids just have crappy immune systems," he said. He believes we are doing everything we can--supplements, vitamins, a healthy diet, hand-washing. We just have to try our best to prevent illness, and hope that he outgrows these issues soon. This summer and fall he has had bronchitis (to be fair, it started as allergies when ragweed cropped up and turned to bronchitis because, as we've established, his lungs suck); a random virus, during which he exhibited no symptoms other than a ridiculously high (104-106 degree for days) fever; hand, foot and mouth (thankfully only had one blister on his palm and a couple of sore spots in his mouth, which led to a low-grade fever and decreased appetite); and croup (which, as usual, just plain stunk). Thankfully Fletcher only came down with the last ailment, so he does appear to be a little, mmm, hardier than Cam. Thank goodness!!

Really, we are worried that the problem is preschool. It's likely, and the pediatrician certainly believes it, but we don't want to. Cameron LOVES preschool. He goes two mornings per week, for 2.5 hours each session. It doesn't seem like much time--but with 14 kids in one classroom, touching things together and sneezing on each other and breathing the same air for 5 hours a week...well, it's not hard to imagine that germs spread well in that sort of environment. At preschool, I can't control how often he washes his hands or what kids he plays with. Besides, so many viruses are contagious when the child isn't even showing symptoms...like hand, foot and mouth, for example!

For lots of kids, the group environment is fine--they get a cold here and there, a runny nose and feel crappy for a day or two. I don't expect Cam to never get sick, I know it's good for his immune system to be exposed to germs. The reality is, he just gets hit harder. He gets the same virus as everyone else--it just manifests differently in him, and it makes him appear a lot sicker. We usually keep him home if he's coughing a lot, but send him once it calms down--his teachers and the administrators know that he tends to exhibit stronger symptoms than other kids because of his asthma issues, so they understand that he's not usually sicker than the other kids, even if he sounds it.

Still, the pediatrician recommended that we pull him out when the baby is born, even if just for January and February (once spring hits, Cam tends to do much better). It's something we're considering, but we're also considering pulling him out sooner if he gets sick again this fall. He has already missed four days of school; we pay by the month, so it's a lot of money down the drain when we have to pay tuition, and he doesn't attend, AND we have to pay for sick visits to the pediatrician and medicine. We really don't want to have to pull him out, but we also can't have him bringing home illness after illness and passing it on to Fletcher and, soon, to Bennett. One of those nasty colds for Cam could turn into something pretty scary for a newborn, and that's a risk we don't want to take.

So, we wait. And stress. It's barely mid-November and they are already wearing me out with the constant go-go-go. This morning we ran errands for an hour and came home to clean and pack some more...I sent them out back to play for a while, it's windy but 60+ degrees and we don't have many more warm days left! But as usual, they were just sort of wild...Cameron was stomping around smashing up old, broken terracotta pots, and Fletcher was getting soaked in random collections of water from this morning's rain. They made a big mess, came inside dirty, then needed lunch, and I've yet to get anything done. So it goes. :P

Normally I try to keep busy early in the week, since Thursday and Friday we have an extra kiddo in the house, and it's harder to get out and about. We go to the zoo, or to a playground, or maybe to Firefly. But today, it just wasn't meant to be...COSI is closed Mondays, the parks are wet, and it seems that Cam is getting a little big for Firefly (lots of 2-and-unders there lately). We could go out front to ride bikes and do chalk, but Fletcher has taken to running off down the sidewalk, and there's only so many times I am willing to chase him down and carry him back. It doesn't seem like much to ask--that they play out back contentedly for 10 minutes while I clean up the kitchen, but I guess my expectations are just set too high. ;) The house will remain a pigsty until naptime...no rest for me today.

I just hope we survive the winter. Soon we will have no choice but to stay home, or go out back to play. Of course we can go out in the snow, but it's not my favorite thing to do (especially with a new baby, I can't just leave him inside while we go out for 20 minutes!). Still, I know I will just have to suck it up this year and deal with the bundling-up, cold-wind, frozen-snot, wet-slushiness, just to get them out and let them burn off some energy.

I feel like we'll have a lot of fun things to do inside, but I know they will need the gross-motor activity, too...hopefully we can find a balance that allows us to stay home AND keep our sanity. I keep telling Mike we need to put a swing or rope ladder in the house, but he is reluctant to put holes in the ceiling, especially when we are hoping to sell the house in a few months. Can't say that I blame him. I do think we will move Cam's rope swing to the basement, at least...and I hope to find a little slide to put down there, or maybe a little trampoline if I can find one for cheap, or even a rope ladder I can sneak into a corner somewhere. And we will be having lots of lap-running races, I imagine. That will have to do!

wrapping woes

2011-11-13T15:07:00.006-05:00

I have a love/hate relationship with gift-wrapping. I generally like it, because it's fun to see all of my gifts in one place, I'm excited to give them, and I like being organized and turning a big pile of stuff into neatly-wrapped, festive stacks. I love sneaking away to get into the holiday mood by listening to Christmas songs while wrapping. (Any opportunity I get to slip away and sit alone, peaceful and quiet, is always a treat...even if there's 'work' to be done.)

However. There are a lot of things I don't like about wrapping. In the spirit of...being negative, I've compiled a list that illustrates the ways gift-wrapping can suck. In no particular order:

-Cats. Before I had kids, I used to lock myself into hiding, away from the cats. When they are in the wrapping room, they walk on the paper, they flop on the paper, they wrinkle the paper. They attack the scissors while I'm cutting. Their hair gets on the tape. They are a nuisance, and any sneaking I do to get away is mostly to hide from them.

-Children. Now that I have kids, it's pretty much the same story--walk, flop, wrinkle. Steal scissors and walk around, chopping at the air. Pull the tape strands I pre-cut and hang on the end table. ENOUGH! Wrapping is definitely a naptime-or-bedtime activity.

-Speaking of tape, IT IS ALWAYS GONE. If I can even find a roll, it runs out in 1.5 wrappings. There is proof upstairs in my closet at this very moment--I tried to wrap the boys' Christmas Eve pajamas and only managed to get Cameron's halfway done. So.annoying. And it makes it harder to hide, a flap of paper sticking out, asking to be wrinkled or torn. I think rolls of tape should have a warning oh, say a foot from the end. How hard would it be to print a small line to symbolize the approach of end, or even write out "NEARING END OF ROLL"? I wouldn't mind sticking that piece on a gift...who looks that closely at the tape?

-Cheap paper.* I always seem to buy cheap paper. It tears when my cat walks across it, or when I fold the corners up less-than-carefully. It's thin and see-through...there's nothing like wrapping a book or movie, and having the title be clearly readable through the paper. What the heck is the point in wrapping it?! Am I supposed to first put it into a cardboard box and then wrap it? Or use twice as much paper? Lame. And wasteful! Of my money AND trees.

-Odd-shaped packages. This is the WORST part about wrapping. I hate, hate, hate wrapping non-square packages. Things with rounded edges are the worst. AAHHH. Makes my heart rate pick up just thinking about it. A puzzle, a book, a CD, a box of blocks...I can wrap anything with regular, straight lines. It seems like so many kid toys come in funky packages and ARGH. They just wind up looking so sloppy and the paper is all bunched up and folded over and I always cut too little or too much.... I realize it probably shouldn't bother me this much, but it does.

-Lack of fancy. I like when packages are neatly wrapped and adorned with ribbons, bows, or cute little personalized scrapbook-y tags with fancy lettering. However, I am also cheap and don't want to spend a lot on said adornments. I don't know how to tie fancy bows anyway, and I don't like to write on cute little tags with my chicken-scratch handwriting. I usually just write right on the package with a Sharpie--To: Cameron; From: Santa. I usually try to color-coordinate marker- and paper-colors, but this year I can only find the navy and orange markers from my big 12-pack, and the wrapping papers are mostly green and red, so. Needless to say, they won't be impressively snazzy this year.

*Speaking of paper--I had big ideas to make my own cute wrapping paper this year, preferably something more environmentally-friendly than the glossy, thin, non-recyclable stuff you buy in stores. I wanted to use plain white or brown paper and decorate it with sponged-on dots or embossed glitter snowflakes or something. I thought we'd run out of paper last year, so it was perfect timing...but then I found two partially-used rolls when cleaning the house this week, and we ARE really busy lately, trying to declutter the house in preparation to move...so, I've just been using those rolls. I probably won't have enough for all of the gifts I have to wrap, so maybe I will end up making some myself, but if not I guess there's always next year.

one can hope

2011-11-12T18:52:00.003-05:00

Cameron: Daddy, when there's no moon there will be lots of stars.
Daddy: That's right.
Cameron: Maybe when there's no moon and lots of stars, Fletcher will learn to talk!
---
Cameron, on getting to the center of the Earth: We need a rocket drill and sand, and we'll get to the bouncy place, then the slippery place, then the center of the Earth!
Daddy: Well bud, the center of the Earth is actually made up of a giant ball of molten iron. It would burn us up. But we couldn't even get there because the pressure would be way too high.
Cameron: Well...we need a rocket drill, and sand, and we'll get to the bouncy place, then the slippery place, then the pretend center of the Earth. And there will be a dinosaur.
---
Cameron, noticing the to-go bags from Culver's: Hey, there's ah-kweam [ice cream] on those bags! I really hope there's ah-kweam inside.
Mommy: Well, we didn't order ice cream. But remember, we have ice cream at home...pumpkin ice cream.
Cameron: Yeah, and the green kind!
Mommy: Yes, the green kind is called mint. It's my favorite.
Cameron: It's my favorite, too.
Mommy: I thought chocolate was your favorite! [It is the only kind he ever orders!]
Cameron: I like chwocwate...but all ah-kweams are my favorite.

babies, babies, everywhere

2011-10-28T07:37:00.005-04:00

Cameron, to a random mom at preschool: This is Sid, he's my favorite baby. Except for Fwetch [ever the afterthought]. And I'm getting a NEW baby! His name is Bennett.

super shopper--of the scary variety

2011-10-16T19:31:00.001-04:00

"Mommy, my monster shoes are part of my costume. And my cape, and my purse."

moderately-healthy, could-be-gluten-free spaghettios

2011-10-12T10:43:00.018-04:00

Ohhh yeah. I know you're intrigued. SpaghettiOs...some people love 'em, some people would rather eat dirt. I belong in the cool group--ahem, the first group. In the effort to eat better and remove unnecessary chemicals and additives from our kids' diets, we try to avoid a lot of processed foods and canned goods. Sometimes you can find products packaged in BPA-free cans (many Trader Joe's products fit the bill--we buy their beans occasionally, and their tuna), but tomato products are (as far as I understand) always canned in BPA-lined cans. They are just too acidic for the other kind.

Really, we don't miss canned goods. We have used frozen vegetables and TJ's tuna for years now. We have adjusted a couple of favorite recipes, using jarred pasta sauce or fresh tomatoes instead of canned. Two things that are harder to replace: tomato soup and SpaghettiOs. I have bought boxed tomato soups (and to be honest, I don't know how BPA-laden those boxes are), and I've made homemade versions using fresh tomatoes. The SpaghettiOs problem has proven to be more troublesome.

One could argue it seems silly to even think about finding a way to eat SpaghettiOs again--it's not like they're a super healthy food, nor should they be a staple in our diet. They're canned AND super processed, plus they're wheat pasta (which we try to avoid)...seems a no-brainer to just eliminate them forever. But still, I've been hunting around for a SpaghettiOs recipe for a while now, because I love them. That's a good enough reason, right? I like them room-temperature...all the better with weenies. Or hot, spooned onto (heavily) buttered bread. Oh, and I can't neglect to mention the rather-strong-yet-unfilled pregnancy craving. For SpaghettiOs. Two pregnancies in a row. Yeah.

So. Enter: Pinterest. I joined a week or two ago, and (maybe sadly?) one of the first things I looked up was a recipe for homemade SpaghettiOs. I found this one, and it looked pretty easy and didn't use any super strange ingredients, so I figured I'd give it a shot. I changed a few things, as usual--it calls for six (six!) cans of tomato sauce, but I thought I would just hunt around for jarred sauce. Not spaghetti sauce (which has added seasonings and such), but plain tomato sauce in a jar. Easier said than done! Finding nothing at Giant Eagle, Trader Joe's OR Whole Foods, I settled for large (glass) bottles of strained tomatoes at WF. I'm not sure how different strained tomatoes are from tomato sauce, but it seemed to work out fine. They were 24-oz bottles, so in total I was short about 15 ounces, so I used less pasta to make up for it (about 13 oz instead of a full pound).

Speaking of pasta, I did find anellini pasta at Whole Foods. It's like anelletti, but smaller. Bonus: it is gluten-free! I had about given up on finding tiny pasta shapes of the GF variety, and was planning to just use regular wheat pasta, so I was pleasantly surprised. It came in a 12-oz bag, which was perfect for my slightly-reduced recipe. The problem is, the Os are SMALL. Like, too small. You know in real SpaghettiOs, how there are tiny Os and larger rings? These are like the tiny ones. I found bags of cute alphabet pasta, regular wheat pasta but on sale for cheaper than a second bag of GF Os would have been, so I just went ahead and got those, too. I used about 6 oz of Os and 7 oz of ABCs. Anyway, not that this really matters, you can use whatever kind of pasta you want, but it explains why the title of this post reads 'could-be-gluten-free.' :)

Okey doke! Let's move on. Below I'll type out what I used, and what I did--it's similar to the link mentioned above, but not identical.

What you need:
3 24-oz bottles of strained tomatoes
3 cups water
2.5 tsp garlic powder
13 oz small pasta
1.5 cups freshly shredded cheddar cheese (I used medium, will try sharp next time)
1.3 cup milk (I used whole)
2 TBS butter
salt, to taste (Sorry, I hate when recipes say that--what does that mean? How much?! I used 2.5 tsp.)

What you do:
-Combine the tomato puree, water, and garlic powder in a large pot and bring to a boil. I used a huge soup pot. I thought it would be way too big but it totally wasn't. Watch out for splatter! I would not recommend wearing one of the few maternity shirts that fit you (erm, if this happens to apply to you, that is).

-Once boiling, add the pasta. Stir a LOT (don't want it to stick to the bottom of the pot!). The splatter is pretty intense. I had to turn my burner down to medium. It might help to wear an oven mitt while stirring--I thought of this after the fact, but it makes a lot more sense than wrapping a dish towel around your hand (which is what I did...fail).

NOTE: Since I combined GF and regular pastas, I added the regular pasta first and let it cook twice as long as the GF pasta. I added the GF Os when the wheat ABCs were sort of halfway between crunchy and soft. Maybe you could call that chewy? I know, so exact, so helpful.

-When the pasta is cooked to your preference, add the cheese and stir until melted. I reduced the heat here, too, though that step is not indicated in the original recipe. Maybe it's common knowledge?

-When the cheese is melted, add the milk, butter, and salt. Stir until it's all good and creamy and there are no chunks of butter floating around. Mmm...butter.

The verdict:
It's really good! It doesn't taste exactly like SpaghettiOs, but I was really happy with how it turned out. Mine thickened a lot once I took the pot off the heat--if you prefer yours a little runnier, you may want to add more water in the beginning, or maybe more milk. I think it tastes great, and while I might have added a little more salt, I don't think it really needs it.

I put a bowl down in front of Cameron, and he took one look and stuck his nose up in the air. "I'm not eating this. I don't want it." I told him he didn't have to eat it (he was excited for the grilled cheese I'd promised him, and was not expecting something red in a bowl), but that it used to be one of my favorite foods when I was little, so I thought he might like to try it. He took a bite (more like a lick) and said, "I like it!" I've heard that before. I hear it several times a week, when he has to taste a new food. I wasn't looking today, but I know the face he was making during the taste-test...scrunched up nose, forced (and rather unhappy) smile, breathy swallow. He says "I like it," and then refuses to take another bite.

But today...today was different. I did look eventually, and saw he was taking another bite! And another, and another. Three bowls' worth of bites. He LOVED it. "Oh man...this is really good." Winnn. He told me Martha Speaks (he thinks that is her full name...) licks alphabet soup, so that's how he ate it--licking and slurping it off the spoon. I kept telling him, the word is SpaghettiOs. He kept saying "alphabet soups." I think we should call ours TomatOs. Eh? Eh?

So, yay! Success. I'm so pleased! And the recipe made a TON of food. I gave a little to Fletcher (who also liked it, but that's less surprising) and made a bowl for myself, then filled two 6-slot silicone muffin tins and the regular 12-slot tin (with foil liners) to freeze for future lunches. I still had enough left over to fill a couple more slots, too, but I was forced to eat it since I had no more muffin tins. Forced, I tell you.

the four seasons

2011-10-10T17:26:00.003-04:00

"Rainy, sunny, fall, snowy!"

Makes a whole lot more sense than "spring, summer, autumn, winter," eh?

twenty

2011-10-05T12:13:00.004-04:00

Boys are found everywhere -- on top of, underneath, inside of, climbing on, swinging from, running around or jumping to. Mothers love them, little girls hate them, older sisters and brothers tolerate them, adults ignore them and Heaven protects them. A boy is Truth with dirt on its face, Beauty with a cut on its finger, Wisdom with bubble gum in its hair and the Hope of the future with a frog in its pocket.

-Alan Marshall Beck

No frogs here (yet), but today I found twenty pieces of (very clean) mulch in the bottom of my washer. How on Earth did twenty pieces fit into those little pockets? They must have been too much for the even littler hands. I also found two quarters--always a welcome surprise. I'll be encouraging the stashing of coins, for sure. And I'll take mulch over frogs any day.

something nice

2011-10-04T15:53:00.004-04:00

Cameron: Mommy, come outside for a minute. I need to show you something on the deck.
Mommy: Oh no. Is it something dead?
Cameron: No, it's not. It's something...nice.

It was a stink bug. I think. But not a dead bird/shrew/locust left there by the cat, so I'm okay with that. I love that Cam is so interested in bugs. He likes to touch them and hold them. He's curious about their bodies, their wings, whether or not they bite or fly, what they eat. Today a tiny gnat landed on my hand and I passed it to him; he couldn't resist lifting it in his fingers, and he was gentle enough to keep from squishing it somehow. He acted like it was such a privilege, to have it crawling on his hand. I told him that bugs usually have six legs and spiders have eight. Why hadn't I thought to tell him that before? There's so much to teach him...so much he wants to know.

cils de chat

2011-10-03T15:19:00.002-04:00

Re: his new Halloween pencils--

"I see eggs, stwipes, canny, punkins, cat eyes, and cat eyefwashes! But they're not sharp!"

Eyefwashes, really? Could not be cuter.

predator vs prey

2011-10-03T07:58:00.004-04:00

Cam was building with blocks--towers he called rockets and so on. He showed me the finished product--it was cool! I asked if his animals were going to climb and play on it.

Cameron: No. They're killed.
Mommy: What?!
Cameron: They're killed. [his expression softens and he continues in a gentle tone] The dinosaurs killed them.
Mommy: Well, I don't know that I really like that game.
Cameron: [pauses...gasps] Hey, Mommy! They're not killed anymore!

Here I was wondering when he would get to predator and prey play...but I wasn't expecting his entire fleet of animals to be wiped out by one large T-Rex! Sigh, boys...it's all or none with them!

doomed from the start

2011-10-02T06:50:00.009-04:00

It is 6:53am. So far, there is but one word to describe this day: sigh.

Sundays are my days to get up with both kids, so that Mike can sleep in. My day to sleep-in is Saturday. This little arrangement used to work out quite well, but pregnancy brings out the insomniac with me. It's a fair trade on some level, I'm sure...I mean, I'm not a superhero. I'm growing a human life here...I can't ALSO sleep well in the process. I can't do it all, people. I know if you think too hard about it, it seems I should be able to sleep well during pregnancy, since my body is working extra hard and I'm carrying extra weight and burning extra energy, and I need to get lots of nice, peaceful sleep before a new baby comes into the house and rouses me several times a night to squeak or grunt or poop or nurse as he pleases. But don't think too hard about it. It just doesn't work that way. Everrr.

So anyway, I get to 'sleep-in' (which means I am awake like usual periodically through the night, and up for the day at 5:30am, but then manage fall back to sleep for a bit) about 1/3 of the time. Maybe 1/4, but that seems low...maybe it's like, 28% of the time. I try not to keep track too carefully, because it's depressing. Yesterday was one of the more common days, where I laid there and 'tossed and turned' (it's more like 'flopped around like a beached whale' at this point, nothing graceful about it) for an hour or two and eventually came down for breakfast. I used to attempt to nap on those days, but naturally I would then be up half the night in that case, so I've since stopped that. No afternoon naps, anyway...and it's not usually practical for me to disappear at 9am for a nap--especially if we are out somewhere having fun as a family. It would be nice, though...maybe next weekend I will try that.

Last night was rough. The first time I woke up it was around midnight. I know this because I checked the little light-up watch we keep in the bed. No clocks in our room--too much light. Mike likes it DARK. Which is fine, except the watch is running out of batteries so you can only see the time if you angle it up and squint heavily. It gets worse every night, but it's not something we think about during the day, so we keep forgetting to buy a new battery. It's fun. Kind of like a secret spy watch that nobody can read but you. Plus it wakes you up way more than is really needed to check the time, which is extra fun...squinting and having the mental capacity to realize "oh yay, it's only 12am and I'm already up." Woo, thrills.

Anyway, I thought I heard Cam out in the hallway. Not too unusual--he does get up on his own to pee now, but not usually as early as midnight. I listened for a few minutes and heard nothing more, so I went back to sleep. Woke again some time later with a start, definitely hearing a door close and mine open. It was Cam--he'd wet the bed. First time in a couple of months. Besides my being startled out of sleep, the child cannot whisper or do anything quietly, so I was shushing and hurrying him back to his room to keep him from waking Fletcher. Talk about an adrenaline rush--no chance I was falling back to sleep any time soon.

I changed his sheets in the dark. He had taken off his pants, so he was probably freezing to death. He sat on the bed while I tried to make it up, so at every corner I had to shoo him away so I could tuck in the fitted sheet. Beenie Babies were tossed all over the place...they can hide in the tightest of corners. The activity and leaning over the bed rail was apparently too much for me--I nearly wet my pants. Really, Baby?! Now was the time for a good, swift kick to the bladder, huh? Potty break.

Cam started with the...I don't even know what to call it, the passive complaining? Complete with pouting and near-tears. "I wish I had more soft blankets," (which means, top blankets or comforter). He argued that his hadn't gotten wet. I argued that, in the dark and without feeling around them with my bare hands, that was hard to discern for certain. "I wish this wet spot was gone." Ah, yes, naturally the allergy cover on his mattress was also wet. Seeing as it is a zippered bag that goes around the entire (heavy) mattress, I covered the spot with a towel as a quick fix. Sheets on, I covered him and found two more 'soft blankets' to throw on top. "I wish I had Ted Bundy somewhere." He was just here! There he is...he fell, onto the pile of wet sheets. I gave him a quick pat-down for dampness and tucked him in beside Cam, who was snuggled into a ball, already ready for sleep. Thank GOODNESS. You never know with that boy...he could have just as easily decided 2am was a good time to wake up for the day.

It took me a while to settle back into sleep. I was thinking I should have put more pants on Cam. I was thinking I should have turned his alarm off, in case he needed to sleep later thanks to this wake-up. I woke another time or two to shift and rearrange my pillow. I realized at some point that I was hearing the baby fussing--I checked the time and it was 6:22am...two minutes before the alarm but closer to an hour before Fletcher is usually up. I rushed in to make sure he had his binky (he did) and tuck him back in (he cried). I went back to bed for a minute and looked at the watch again--1:55am. Sigh. Now the watch doesn't work. I just got up.

Stumbled around for my glasses (which were not where I left them) and found some socks, as our bathroom floor was freezing. No pink, fluffy robe in the closet, of course. I sneaked downstairs--6:26am. Whew. Another potty break (OMG cold toilet seat, and how could I possibly have to go so bad after four hours with no fluid intake?). Checked the temperature in the house: 61 degrees. GAH. Too cold. No wonder Fletch was awake, and poor, pantsless Cameron. On came the heat. It is set at 65, so that should help to at least take the chill off of things. Cam came down like usual at 6:36am (when his nightlight turns on), and Fletcher appears to have gone back to sleep. Thank goodness--he is really just a sourpuss if he doesn't sleep until at least 7am. Nothing like me....

Such an eventful morning. And we haven't even gone anywhere! Kids = free entertainment, folks. This always seems to happen, to some degree. Mike's early mornings with the kids go much more smoothly than mine. Maybe it's because Saturdays are fun, busy days for us and the kids are a little off their normal schedule, so they sleep poorer? And of course the fact that it's 39 degrees outside explains the cold house. I don't know. I figure if I asked to sleep-in on Sundays the same thing would happen to me on Saturdays, so I haven't bothered to switch things up. I'll sleep in a few years. ;) I definitely think it is time I invested in some earplugs for my sleep-in nights/mornings, as they explain Mike's absence from the above. May also be time for a conspiratorial chat with the children of the house...next weekend, it's Daddy's turn.

Update: Approximately 3 minutes after I clicked "publish post," I was downstairs holding a newly-woken Fletch, trying to get the eggs out of the refrigerator. I bumped a half-eaten cup of applesauce, held my breath, tried to adjust and rebalance it with my one, egg-carton-holding hand, and watched it promptly tumble to the floor and splatter everywhere. Including all over that grate thing at the bottom of the fridge, AND my warm, fuzzy Pooh socks. Worthless left hand. Okay, Sunday. That's about enough outta you.

the witching hour

2011-09-29T12:14:00.012-04:00

We're in the period between lunch and nap. I am often overzealous with lunch preparation on preschool days--we get home around 11:30, and I am usually beyond ready to put everyone down for nap. The littler ones are typically starving by this point, because we've played somewhere while Cameron was at school and they've missed morning snack. Cam is usually not hungry in the least, because preschool doesn't appear to have a cut-off at snack time and he's had enough crackers and juice to count as three lunches.

After the drive home from wherever we played, and then from preschool (both of which I undoubtedly spent shouting Wheels On the Bus and rubbing heads and stealing binkies to [unsuccessfully] keep the littles from falling asleep), we get home and I immediately throw lunch in the toaster oven while the kids run around, taking full advantage of their respective second winds. Suddenly the babies are wide awake, and ravenously hungry. They alternate between dumping toy bins maniacally and pawing at my legs, howling. When lunch is ready they wolf down their food before I have a chance to sit down with mine; meanwhile, I'm pestering Cam every 30 seconds to PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF SANITY, TAKE A BITE, ITISNAPTIMEIN10MINUTESWHETHERYOUEATORNOT.

But it's really not naptime in 10 minutes. By the time they are finished eating, cleaned up, and set down to run and work up their post-lunch-pre-nap poops, we still have 30 minutes most days. Thirty more minutes of noise and chaos and messss. Cam proudly proclaims: "It's a messy playroom, I dumped all the toys out!" while Sid and Fletcher scoop The Dumped Everything into the shopping cart and fight over who gets to push it.

I sit and bite my tongue and let them play because soon I will sit in peace and quiet for the first time all day, and they're just going to trash it again after nap, so what's the rush to clean it up? We can fight over cleaning up AFTER nap. (And it is always a fight. Every day [sometimes multiple times] I warn Cameron that dumping his toys means he will have to clean them ALL back up by himself, and he chooses to do so anyway--and then complains and delays the clean-up process because no, it is NOT fun to clean up said toys, everything, all at once. But he still makes the same choice the day after day, so it must not be quite as unenjoyable for him as it is for me to hound him for ten minutes and make threats about toys that get left out disappearing.)

Besides, at this point I have lost track of which bins hold which toys, and that just hurts my obsessive, organizational side. Previously, if any room in my house was organized, it was the playroom...but lately I just can't keep track. I don't care which bin the dinosaurs go in, as long as they go in one. Any one. I'll get over the fact that they don't really match the blue one as well as they match the green one (the Bob the Builder trucks better match the blue one...). Eventual-clean-up is not the time for weird color hang-ups. It is the time to remove all superhero-and-play-fork bombs out from under my feet.

And so they run. I clean up from lunch and check my email. They pull the pots and pans out of the pots and pans cabinet. I turn to find Cameron wielding meat shears and a pizza cutter, while Fletcher zombie-moans and hones his new spit-bubble-blowing skills. Sid stumbles around pulling out all of the kitchen drawers, dumping their contents on the floor. It is inevitable that at least one of them will poop. By this point my food is cold but I should know better by now than to make my own lunch before they all go to sleep. Even if I could remember to sit down and eat it I'd have at least 1/3 of them clawing at me and stepping on my toes for a bite.

T-minus 13 minutes until they are quiet and still...I hesitate to say it, but even angelic. And yes, I'm counting.

educating the ignorant

2011-09-26T17:31:00.004-04:00

Mommy: Aren't you cold? Do you want your pants on?
Cameron: No, I'm not cold. And superheroes don't have pants.

christmas crafting

2011-09-26T13:49:00.005-04:00

I have a long list of crafts that I plan to get done before the new baby arrives (he is 'due' December 30th). Some crafts are unrelated to the holidays: I'm making a shirt for a friend's little boy, a birthday gift for another friend's son, and Halloween costumes for both of my boys--Cameron will be a knight, complete with tunic/belt/cap, sheath for his foam sword, and shield on his back, as well as a stick horse with the appropriate costume mask. Fletcher will be a dragon if I can find (or make up?!) a pattern for a spiky hat and tail, and wings (which Cam reminded me are a necessity). I haven't gotten very far on these projects, which is not good...I need to get a move on! The fabric has been prewashed and dried, and I have a few pattern pieces cut out, so I guess that's something.

Rather than working on the projects that need to be finished by the end of October, I've been working on Christmas stuff, instead! Last week, I had a lot of fun working on the space playset I'm putting together for Cameron. So far I've finished the astronauts (except for spraying them with finish, which will be very necessary if they are to hold up to Cam's play!) and the shuttle. I used this pattern for the shuttle, it was super easy and I think it turned out really cute. I added the 'seats' myself; I'm usually not one to adjust a pattern (for fear of it turning out to be a disaster!), but I'm happy with how they look and I think they will work okay. White may not have been the best choice for the shuttle, but I love it.

I still have a few pieces to work on for the space set...I have two small pegs to turn into aliens, but I haven't decided how I want to paint them yet. I have a yard of neat space fabric to make into a play mat, and I'll add some sort of planet to it for the spacemen to land on and explore. I had wanted to make it a 3D planet, a semi-sphere, but I'm having trouble coming up with a good idea of what to use that won't be too big, too expensive, or too messy.

I need a pretty big area if I want the shuttle (which is larger than I initially imagined) to be able to land and the astronauts to have room to walk around, but the ideas I had for the planet's surface (painted wood bowl--expensive; painted styrofoam--potentially crumbly; stuffed fabric dome--soft; etc) don't seem to work out well in my mind. I am thinking I'll just sew down a circle of fabric, so it won't be raised at all, but I'll be able to make a bigger area for the spacemen to explore without getting to be too expensive or bulky (because the mat also needs to be easy to store!). I don't *think* Cam will really care about the planet being a raised surface, so hopefully I can get something neat done. Maybe this way I can even make two or three planets to explore, or one planet with a moon or two.

The other set I want to make for Cam is a knight set, which will (hopefully!) include a simple castle, a knight or two, a princess, and a horse and dragon if I can figure out a way to make them. I found a really cute sewing pattern for a dragon, but it is labeled as "Advanced," and I definitely don't consider myself an advanced sewer. I've been meaning to look around for other patterns or ideas, and maybe to message the seller and ask for more details on the pattern before I buy. It's not an expensive pattern, but I'd still rather not buy it and all the materials only to be frustrated and unable to use it!

I'm also hoping to my some felt cupcakes for Cameron, using a pattern I bought on Etsy. I hope to fancy mine up a bit, and maybe even make removable/swappable tops for them, but the pattern is nice to have just for the general shape of the cupcakes, and the baking tin! I'm not really good at making up my own patterns for things, so it's much easier on me to find a pattern to follow, or at least to start with and adjust as needed. He likes his play kitchen and he loves cupcakes, so I have been wanting to make him some treats for a while now. One of his favorite things to play with at COSI is a little shape-sorting cupcake toy, so I'd love to be able to incorporate that somehow into the cupcakes I make. I've got an idea, just gotta plan out the details.

Another idea for Cam is an I-Spy bag. It's a little pouch filled with rice or other small pellets, and little trinkets. Similar to the I-Spy books, he'd search through a small window in the front of the bag and try to shift things around to reveal some of the trinkets inside. I think he'd really love one, as he loves borrowing the I-Spy books from the library. This would make a good stocking-stuffer, for sure! I also have a new Backyardigans CD for his stocking, and I saw this weekend that The Lion King is out on DVD again! Hopefully that will be in his stocking, too. I am also hoping to get my hands on Mike's old Lincoln Logs, or buying a new set--I think those will round out Cam's gifts quite well.

For Fletcher, I have a couple of ideas but nothing really planned out yet. I've been wanting to try making ABC blocks--we have a set now, but I thought it would be special to have a homemade set. I made him three stacking blocks when he was a baby, using 4-inch unfinished wood blocks and scrapbook paper, and they turned out really cute! I just need to find good papers for the ABC set--so far I've only searched through one store's stock and didn't find anything I really loved. I'll also have to buy the unfinished blocks, probably online--they aren't really cheap, and usually when I find some in a craft store they are smaller than I want (I'd love 2-inch, but usually find 1-inch) and there aren't nearly as many as I need!

Other than that, I am still kind of stuck for Fletch. His interests mainly revolve around food--I want to get him a cute spatula/kitchen tool set and some new spoons and forks. But as far as toys or things I can craft for him, I need to think on it some more. I really wanted to make a lot this year and not buy as much, but it's harder to make for a toddler than a preschooler (who has an imagination and 'knows how' to play certain ways). I joined Pinterest this weekend, so I have a new place to look for inspiration! Maybe a felt board? I had wanted to make one for Cameron and never got around to it--I'm not sure if Fletcher will be old enough by Christmas. He is learning animal sounds, though (we're up to dog/barking, dinosaur/roaring, and cat/meowing!), so maybe a set of felt farm friends will be good for him and encourage his learning.

Other ideas for Fletch...more puppets? Trinket bottles (another thing I've been wanting to make for a while!)? Some kind of small, toddler-friendly manipulatives like these (can't find the original blog post)? At Christmas, Fletcher will be about the age Cameron was when he started learning his colors and shapes, so maybe some little activities that involve those? So many cute things out there! I can only hope to find the time, energy, and money (thought arguably less of that than we'd need to buy the same toys!) to get some things done for him. We did find a stacking-blocks train on clearance at Target, similar to this one but it has animals on it, and he got this toy last year that I kept put away for this year, so at least he'll have something under the tree!

Typing it all out isn't just a good way to keep track of my ideas and remember my plans...it is getting me excited to start on all of the fun new projects! It's not easy to really work at naptime anymore, since Cam takes most naps in my bed so that Fletch can sleep in Cam's quiet bedroom, but I could still move my sewing machine downstairs occasionally to work during that time. And I have a few evenings each week where I could escape upstairs after dinner to get some work done, so I really need to start taking advantage of the time I do have! Christmas will be here before we know it and I've gotta be ready. :)

she works hard for the money

2011-09-25T14:59:00.005-04:00

I cleaned my neighbors' house today. I learned a few things.

1. An hour and a half was NOT enough time. I only got the first floor done (out of three).
2. I could never be a house cleaner. I'm sure I'd get more efficient with practice, and the money would be nice, but it's still hard work! My arms would be really toned, though, which would be nice. Not so nice: the crooked back.
3. I'm a disorganized cleaner. I kept doing things in the wrong order--I'd wipe the counter and then spray and wipe the microwave, sending little mists of cleaner back onto the counter. Annoying.
4. I hope to never own a house with white cabinets or stainless steel appliances. They look nice, but OY, the streaks. The fingerprints. The othermysteriousflecksofgrime. I'm sure my brown cabinets have fingerprints and bits of dripped food stuck on them, but I don't see them. That detail matters.
5. Agreeing to do this when 26 weeks pregnant may not have been my best idea ever. A slightly better idea would be to volunteer to do it again come late December, hoping to induce labor.
6. Spiders like uninhabited houses.
7. Brooms make poor spider killers.
8. Contrary to my prior belief, doing a deep-clean of my neighbors' house does not motivate me to do a deep-clean of my own. Turns out the money is a big motivator.

pumpkin muffins

2011-09-24T14:33:00.009-04:00

I made pumpkin muffins today! I've never made anything with pumpkin before, not even from a can. Two weeks ago I bought a pie pumpkin at the grocery and have been waiting for the chance to cook it up for muffins--at sixty degrees, with a stubborn sun trying to peek through the clouds, today was the day. Perfect fall weather! Kids and cats keep me from putting out my cute fall decorations, so baking with pumpkin helped me get into the spirit of the season today. While the kids were napping I got to work; I thought about using my go-to GF muffin recipe and just adding a cup of pumpkin puree instead of blueberries, but then I wasn't sure about spices (what, how much, etc) and I'm not really to the point of improvising in the kitchen just yet, so I searched around for a new recipe instead.

I started Googling for recipes and most of the ones I found called for canned pumpkin, which was a big bummer considering I had none, and DID have this dang squash sitting on my counter, contemplating going soft and rotty. I figured I'd try one of the canned-pumpkin recipes but just use the pie pumpkin as planned instead of canned, so then I had to Google 'how to make pumpkin puree.' Turns out you cook them the same way you cook butternut squash (which I do quite often!)...most people probably know this, but if you're like me and you didn't, well, you are not (or, were not) alone.

Anyhoo, so this is the recipe I used, and I'll note the changes I made below.

What you need:
Dry stuff:
-2 cups gluten-free flour mix (I used Bob's Red Mill All Purpose)
-2 tsp xanthan gum
-1 tsp baking powder
-1 tsp baking soda
-1 tsp cinnamon
-1/2 tsp allspice
-1/4 tsp ground ginger
-1/4 tsp nutmeg (not called for but I used it instead of cloves, which I don't have)

Wet stuff:
-2 eggs
-1 tsp vanilla
-1/2 cup honey
-1/4 cup olive oil (recipe calls for canola, which I don't have)
-1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
-about 1 cup pumpkin puree (which measured out to about 16 oz, and the recipe calls for a 15-oz can)

Extras (optional):
-3/4 cup raisins
-1/2 cup chopped walnuts (I put ours through a nut chopper and they were pretty small bits! Good for the kids that way.)

What you do:
-First, and definitely the longest part of the process, cook your pumpkin. Cut it in half (I cut across the middle, separating top and bottom, but the other way will work, too--my way avoids the stem, though) and scrape out the seeds and stringy stuff. Place the bowls face down in a glass baking dish and add water, so that there's 1/2-1 inch of water throughout. Cook the pumpking (<--I do that every time, oy) at 350 for roughly 90 minutes. When it's done, you should be able to scrape off the soft 'meat' from the shell. You can run it through a food processor but I didn't find that necessary.

-Keep the oven at 350 and mix together the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk the wet ingredients together in a smaller bowl, then add to the dry. Mix until well blended, then stir in the raisins and walnuts, if using.

-Line your muffin tin with paper cups OR you might try greasing them--I find that GF muffins are especially bad about sticking to muffin liners, but if I oil- or butter-grease my mini pan they pop right out. Fill the spots 2/3 of the way, although I'll warn you that the batter is pretty thick and doesn't quite settle like other batters--I just sort of globbed a couple of spoonfuls in and hoped for the best.

-Bake regular-sized muffins for 12-15 minutes (took about 14 for mine) and minis for less...8ish? I tried 6 and it wasn't long enough so I left them in for a couple more. I read somewhere that butter makes baked goods 'brown' when they are done, but I don't know if that's really true (or if I dreamed about reading it). There's no butter in this recipe, but the toothpick trick still works. ;)

The Verdict:
They're ugly, but good! Ugly because they didn't settle like I thought they would in the pan--these are not your typical round-topped muffins. Cam says, "Whoa, this one's kind of crazy!" Some of them are pretty gnarly. No matter, they are still tasty! Nice blend of spices and they aren't too sweet, so I won't feel bad giving them to my kids at breakfast. GF muffins are less crumbly and messy than regular ones, so they make great on-the-go snacks, too. And I like to think these are pretty healthy, since they're filled with one of those great orange veggies (though technically a fruit) that's packed with vitamin A and even a little fiber.

I got 12 regular-sized muffins and 22 minis, and I usually freeze them since they will likely last a couple of weeks at least. They peel from their paper liners MUCH better when frozen or slightly thawed, fyi. Warming them in the microwave takes around 25-30 seconds...I haven't tried the toaster, but should. Thawing muffins is about the only thing we use the microwave for these days. :P

Enjoy!

'new' toys

2011-09-22T09:22:00.007-04:00

Yesterday I pulled out some toys that haven't been played with for a while. While Fletcher was napping, Cam and I built a zoo for the animals. Each enclosure had a water trough, and food square (because they can't eat carpet, of course). Cameron insisted the lion wouldn't eat the giraffe and camel, "because I can't open his mouth." Fair enough.

Eventually the animals broke out (thanks, in part, to the rhino's horn) and went surfing. Seems plausible.

Next we went on a safari (which, I'm sad to say, Cam now pronounces as "'fari," rather than "'bari"...sad day!). So many necessary tools.

We discovered all sorts of dinosaurs. Some were eating.

Some were hunting.

Some were mud-bathing. They did that, right?

All were trapped in the net and carried home to bed.

On a related note, something that's been on my mind. We're not quite to the point of predator-vs-prey play, but I'm sure it's coming. It'll be interesting to see when that transition takes place. Usually when I have a bear roar at or try to eat a fish, for example, Cam corrects me and says they're friends, that bears don't like to eat fish, and so on. I should leave well enough alone, it's just that sometimes "bears and fish go swimming together and have fun" games get boring. ;)

one day at a time

2011-09-21T12:18:00.004-04:00

Days like today, I kind of wish I could go to work. It has just been a rough morning...the kids are crabby and tired, Cameron seems to be coming down with something and Fletcher was up at 6:30 for no discernible reason other than to make the rest of us miserable.

We ran a quick errand this morning just to get out of the house, and when we got home I tried out a new thing I'd like to start with Fletcher--I put him up in bed with a few books and small toys and left him to play for a bit. His window was open so it was plenty light in the room--I didn't want him to sleep, just to play on his own for a few minutes. He really likes his bed, he likes looking out the window and he likes looking at books, so I was hoping to get 15 minutes out of him so that Cam and I could work on his preschool stuff.

It went well! He whined for a minute or two, then played for a bit. I went back upstairs once he got too quiet--when I opened his door he was laying on his blanket resting. I was glad to catch him before he fell asleep. Hopefully we can continue to work some alone-play in for both boys each day (I started setting a timer for Cam a week or two ago, to play alone in his playroom or outside for 20 minutes). I think it's good for them to learn to play without company, especially at Cam's age (he really fell into the bad habit of needing to be by me 24/7--following me in from outside to pee or put dinner on, for example), and it gives me a chance to get lunch ready, set up (or clean up!) a craft, or take a few minutes for myself here and there.

While Fletch played in his room, I set Cameron up at the sink. He used to play this way a lot a while back, when he was around 2...I filled the sink with warm, soapy water and dumped some of his plastic toys into it for a good cleaning. He brushed his dinosaurs and rinsed his little 'men,' so the cleaning was achieved AND Cam kept busy with something fun.

Once Fletcher got up, he had a go, too.

He's got a few inches to grow before he can really have fun. Aside from the toys' bath, the only thing that has kept the boys occupied today has been the ironing board--I brought it up this weekend for some craft ironing and they have played on it every day since. Cam likes to 'surf' and Fletcher just sits on it like it's his own special chair. Whatever works, right?

Now they have both had some lunch and they'll be ready for nap in a few minutes. We are still working out the kinks of a one-nap-a-day Fletcher...mainly, what time to put him down and how long to wait for that poopy diaper before putting him down after lunch. ;)

park review: emerald fields playground

2011-09-18T13:20:00.003-04:00

We visited a new park today! New to us, I mean, but it's fairly new to the city, as well. A friend posted about it on Facebook last week and I was intrigued, so when this morning rolled around sunny and blue-skied, we decided to make the trek up to try Emerald Fields Playground on for size.

It's not in the best area, meaning the way there has a tendency to be pretty high-traffic, but at 9:30 on a Saturday morning we didn't have any issues. It was quite tucked away once we turned off the main road; we actually thought we had turned wrong at one point, as we seemed to be heading toward a dead-end by some baseball diamonds. The playground itself is surrounded by trees and some grassy areas, so even though it isn't fenced in, I didn't worry too much about losing track of a loose kid (it seems so many parks butt right up against busy parking lots/roads or lakes!). The road leading to the parking lot was not busy in the least and there were only a few other families there, so things weren't too rowdy.

Between the parking lot and the playground there's a neat set-up we haven't come across before--a sort of music and light game that Cam loved. I didn't get any pictures, but basically you select a program so music will play and various button lights light up on poles that form a circle under a tent--you push the buttons to turn them off and the game keeps track of your score. We played as two teams and it kept us all moving and laughing.

The playground itself has staircases and ladders, but it also has ramps. Fletcher loved just walking up and down them. There were lots of really neat slides...straight ones lined up next to each other, of varying heights, and really big twisty ones.

Fletch at the top of the tiered slides:

Cam at the top of the big twisty slide:

There was a separate climbing area with a cargo net, ladders, and a weird wall of ovals that was sort of like a rock wall. Cameron is always climbing things he shouldn't, so I was glad there were lots of ways for him to get that kind of energy out.

Of course there were swings, too--only two baby swings, but I think there were six regular swings and two of the ones that are big seats with pull-down harnesses. Off to the side there was a kind of empty (unfinished?) area with just two things in it--a sort of platform on springs that you could stand on and wiggle/bounce a bit, and a cup that turned on its axis and around like an orbit. Cam and Fletch LOVED the cup and spun until they couldn't walk (or, in Fletcher's case, sit up!) anymore.

There was also a neat 4-seater teeter totter, which was extra nice because Cam really wanted to find one there and I feel like they aren't very popular at parks anymore! This one was especially bouncy...so much so that I had to get off. Pregnancy brings on the motion sickness for me! Both boys loved it, though.

Overall it was a really neat park. With the ramps, music/lights game, teeter totter and spinning cup, there were lots of new or different things that most other parks don't have. I felt like it was a little more smaller-toddler friendly in some ways (especially the ramps and several smaller slides), but there were still some high-up entrances off ladders to be wary of. Fletcher loves all slides and goes down on his belly, feet-first, so we didn't worry too much around those.

Cameron had a lot of climbing freedom that I know he appreciated. He has gotten really brave lately, climbing onto the deck railing at home, on top of the small climber in the yard, and up the outside of the banister on our stairs. He's a pretty good climber and I want to allow him some space, but at the same time I'd prefer he climb things that are meant to be climbed, over surfaces that are meant to be fallen on. ;)

I'm sure we'll be back to play again soon!

let's play 'today my kids played with...'

2011-09-17T20:20:00.002-04:00

Fletcher:
-various kitchen items (spatula, wooden spoon, fork and spoon, pot with lid, large glass mixing bowl)
-trowel
-crabapples
-disintegrating Starbucks cup in the backyard

Cameron:
-various cups and small bowls, to and from which he 'poured' rocks and wads of paper
-slug and worm he found in the yard
-same trowel and middle garden bed (transplanting aforementioned invertebrates to existing potato spot)
-bag of marshmallows, Hershey bar and random weeds he pulled from around the firepit (building his own 'fire')
-pile of dog poop (erm, jumping back and forth over it, nothing more)

Every day it seems more and more apparent, how desperately we need a revamping of the playroom. :/

on stuffy noses

2011-09-17T14:52:00.005-04:00

"Mommy, Daddy, I'm keeping boogers in my nose! I just keep oinking, and I can't stop oinking! [He sniffs/snorts here, for good measure.] How can I get these boogers out of my nose?!"

missing the beach

2011-09-13T14:58:00.008-04:00

Summer isn't officially over yet, but beach weather has passed. Even the last few times we went, the water was cold and the clouds and breeze made things just a little too chilly. We went half a dozen times, but it still feels like it wasn't enough. We didn't get to start going until early July, after a super rainy spring and a HOT end of June, so it seemed like a short beach season.

I can't wait for next summer, but the summer after that is even more exciting to think about--all three boys will be big enough to really play, and they'll all be napping once a day (or likely not at all, for Cameron!), so we'll be able to go early and spend the whole morning, without worrying about rushing home for an early nap or cutting a morning nap short. Yay, greater flexibility!

Here are some pictures from the 2011 beach season. :)

First trip...Cameron was a little apprehensive (he usually is around water).

Fletcher liked the sand.

Eventually they both LOVED the water!

Some days were hot, be-in-the-water days.

Some days were chilly, dig-in-the-sand days.

Regardless of the weather, we just about always had a good time. I'll miss the fun, free entertainment, and the chance to enjoy a hot, sunny day without sitting around sweating at the park. Water and a beachy breeze make everything better. :)

And, a fun video of the boys digging a "pool." (password is twoboys)

a dark day on the horizon

2011-09-09T13:57:00.008-04:00

I'm thinking it might be time to do away with Cameron's nap. Some may not realize how much it pains me to say that. Up until a week or two ago, he was napping really well. He'd fall asleep around 12:30p or 1pm and sleep for 2-3 hours. I still think he needs that midday sleep, but lately he has been fighting it.

For the first time, he's telling us he doesn't want to take a nap, and he seems to be realizing that the rest of us are awake and having fun while he is asleep. He has been playing around in bed for up to an hour before falling asleep, and then will still sleep for as long as usual, so he's not waking until 4pm or later. The same thing is happening at bedtime, then--he comes down to ask us important questions ("Is this bedtime or a nap?") or tell us "I'm afraid of the dark." Last night he didn't fall asleep until close to 10pm, and was still up at 6:15a like usual--not cool. I put him down for nap at 1pm and he was up until 2pm. Sigh.

We feel like there are two options here--A. put him down early (say, at noon), expecting he will goof off for an hour before falling asleep; or B. attempt skipping naps altogether (oof, like a knife to the gut) and put him down for bed earlier. Pros and cons to both...for Option A, I'd be running up there constantly to tell him to quiet down, tuck him back in, etc...plus, many days Fletcher is still asleep from his morning nap at noon, in Cam's room. I'd have to either put Fletch down in his own room (which is not nearly as quiet as Cam's) or put Cameron down in mine. BUT he would still be napping--a big pro.

For Option B, no nap is the obvious con. Cam would likely be cranky and whiny during the transition period. He probably won't sleep in any later in the morning. Mike thinks he'll fight an 8pm bedtime now that he's used to staying up later than Fletcher, but I am hoping Cam would be tired enough that he wouldn't notice. It helps that it's getting dark earlier these days. I feel like he will get up at 6am regardless, so hoping for 9pm-7am isn't realistic. A pro here would be that Mike and I have more free, quiet time in the evenings--I have really missed that since Cam started going down at 9pm.

Decisions, decisions. Mike wants to try a No-Nap day tomorrow; he is much more enthusiastic about Option B than I am. I am also the one home with the kid all week long...I think I have a right to be apprehensive. It's going to suck--hopefully this doesn't come across wrong, but I like a 2-hour break from him every day. I think it does us both good! He gets some calm rest, I get some alone time with Fletcher (or, if they are both napping at the same time, some rest for myself!).

I'm also a little worried that attempting No-Nap will make it the permanent way of things...I think once Cam gets a taste of the No-Nap life, he will fight going back to them if need be. It may turn out to be a disaster, so I want to be able to go back to them if that's the case. Cam almost always falls asleep on the way home from the zoo or wherever else we spend the morning--do I still carry him up to bed for a nap when that happens? On No-Nap days, do I send him up to his room for quiet time? Put on a movie for him? I feel like he still really needs the rest at least, but sending him up to his room could very well result in a nap. I do really think he needs them...but they are not working out well, so hopefully if we get rid of them he will sleep a little longer at night to make up for it.

I guess we will have to play it by ear...put him down if he falls asleep in the car, but otherwise try to distract him. It'll be an adventure, for sure. I think we will make one last-ditch effort before trying something drastic--we have discussed in the past putting Cam down a little early for nap AND waking him after 2 hours or by 4pm, whichever comes first. That way he is not napping too late, or too long, but still gets a midday rest. It's sooo hard to wake a sleeping kiddo (especially when it results in a cranky mood), but I would rather try this than Option B...so I'm willing to give it a shot. Fingers crossed we don't have to resort to more drastic changes!

new games

2011-08-29T20:12:00.004-04:00

A couple of months ago, I cleaned through the crawlspace and weeded through some old storage bins. In one, I found a huge pile of Beanie Babies. I brought them in to Cam's preschool so the class could set up a zoo during the last week of school, and once we brought them all home Cam was hooked. He LOVES them! I'd have never imagined he would have so much fun with little stuffed animals, but he took immediately to a couple (he sleeps with them) and made up games to play with the rest.

Sometimes they are all swimming in a pool (ALL of them, even the cats, despite my insistence that cats don't like water).

Sometimes they are seeking out shelter from a storm.

Or from a giant.

Lately, the animals take turns jumping into the fire station (an impromptu game invented by me to avoid yet another rendition of Swim Time).

Other times, he just gets a kick out of stuffing the animals through the trap door in the top of the fire station.

Sometimes it's a tight squeeze.

Rooftop party!

Fletcher played along by tossing animals through the spaces in the deck rail.

We've even measured them to find out which is shortest, which is tallest, and which has the longest tail.

Today's new game: "I'm scooping up the old animals...

...to take them to the dump." ?!?! I wasn't a fan of this game.

He never tires of playing with his "pets," as he calls them. I think it's cute that he tries to learn and remember all of their names, and even though it makes a big mess, I love watching him drag the big green bin around to play with them again. Few toys hold his attention these days, but I can always count on the 'pets' for a good time. :)

what we're up to

2011-08-29T14:16:00.005-04:00

I feel like it has been forever since I posted here. We've just been really busy--the weather has been nicer so we've been getting to the zoo, the beach, and various parks around town. Preschool starts next week, so things will get even busier still. But I'm already thinking about this winter, and all of the changes it will bring--cooler weather (which will keep us inside more), more sickness (again with being home-bound...), and a new baby (even MORE time stuck at home!). I'm trying to start planning now, for ways to have fun and stay sane when we're not able to get out to play every day.

I really want to do a rice bin this winter, instead of the sandbox we had last year. Rice seems a little cleaner and easier to sweep up than sand, and I saw this tutorial and got really excited about the rainbow of colors. Mike pointed out that it may not be a great idea if we end up listing our house, but I hope to put it out anyway. It'll be in a smaller box than the sandbox was, and we'll keep a lid on it when not in use--I don't see it being a huge problem. Cam really liked planting fake flowers at AHA! a few months back, so I bet he'll get a kick out of it...and I'm sure Fletch will love digging and pouring and scooping the rice.

I have some crafty ideas for Christmas, too--I want to make Cameron a couple of playsets (a space one, and a knight one), so he has something quiet to play with on his own when Fletcher is napping or I'm busy with the baby. I'm having trouble coming up with ideas for Fletcher--partly because he doesn't really have any interests yet, and partly because we already have plenty of nice toys for a toddler...we have all the trains, trucks, blocks and puzzles he could possibly want, but I feel bad just wrapping up Cam's old toys for him, so I'm still trying to think of a few things.

Christmas is going to be smaller this year--just a few things for each boy, plus the usual stocking stuffers. I'm actually excited to A. spend less money, and B. work on some really special, heartfelt gifts for them, that they will hopefully enjoy and love. I will probably wrap up a couple of old Little People toys that my grandma saved from when I was little--she's already told me I can take them, I just have to get them here without the kids seeing, clean them up, and find accessories if needed. Those may still be better for Cam than for Fletch, though, as toddler dexterity and small parts don't really mesh well.

I don't anticipate the new baby arriving before Christmas, but I still want to finish some blocks for him, just in case. I made a set for Fletcher, 3-in blocks decorated with scrapbook paper, and they are so cute and perfect for Baby's first stacking. I need to find some time to go to the craft store and browse the paper aisles for something perfect for the little guy. I'll also finish some tiny appliqued onesies for him...maybe I'll make one that feels like the perfect First Outfit. :)

So anyway, that's where we are. I'm really excited to get started on some of these projects and more...Cameron's winter coat, Halloween costumes for both boys, fleece pull-overs for both boys, some cute booties for the baby, and some new pants patterns I got (for the baby and the big boys). I just have to find time, energy, and money! All in good time. :)

thrifty fail and binky woes

2011-08-08T14:09:00.006-04:00

A couple of months ago I boiled all of Fletcher's 'tiny' binkies...the 0-2 and 0-6 month varieties. (<--It just took me three tries to get that word right--not having a good day.) While searching through my sewing area for a binky clip (anyone else constantly losing those?!), I found a sealed baggie of moldy binkies. :/ Apparently there had been some moisture on them when I packaged them up--who knows if I'd noticed it or not at the time, but I'm sure glad I noticed the mold!

I washed them with soap and water and am boiling them again, then I'll set them in the window to dry out completely before bagging them up. Seems like a lot of work to save a little money, but those suckers (heh) cost like $5 a pair! That gets ridiculous after a while, especially considering we had 8 in that size and I've only found 5 to save. That means there are 3 little binkies missing in the house somewhere...and that's not even counting the 6+ month ones that are always disappearing.

It's easier to keep track of them while Baby is immobile...we kept one in the swing, one in the carseat, one in the bed, etc. Now they are constantly vanishing...he spits them out for food, or when he's just crawling around playing. We used to have two binky clips, but I haven't seen them since we got back from vacation in June. I try to keep the MAMs in a little box in his bedroom and two Avents around the house for him to use when he is awake (they have a ring on them so are more likely to get knocked out of his mouth when he sleeps, plus the ring means we have an easier time finding binky clips for them when we're out and about!). However, I usually forget and bring him downstairs after nap with a bedtime binky, and then I'm running around all day, collecting them to take back upstairs.

To my knowledge we have only lost one binky out in the world somewhere--a green fishy one at an indoor playplace, just recently. The kids were already in the car before I noticed it was gone, so I could only run in for a second to glance around for it. I remember Cameron losing one in Target, too--a green and yellow silicone Nuk (it's amazing the silly things we remember). I'm sure there are others 'lost' in the house--recently a friend gave us several 6+ month MAMs that her child had stopped using, and we're already down a few--they wind up under the couch, stuck between the crib and the wall, in the TV cabinet, etc. Now and then I go on a Hunt and collect them from the usual places--once I found FIVE around and under Fletcher's crib. Turd.

Well, that's more than anyone wants to know about our binky situation. I can't curse the things too much, as Fletcher is a bit of an addict and I don't mind in the least, as long as he keeps being the awesome sleeper that he is and sucking on and chewing them helps the teething pain. But I could sure do without the expense! We'll just have to try harder to keep track of them.

funny boy

2011-08-03T15:38:00.002-04:00

Cameron: [arriving at Mike's office, noticing the address] Hey, look! It's fivey-eighty-oh'y-oh'y! [That is hard to type out! But that's how he reads addresses...adds an 'e' sound to the end of every number. :P]

Cam again: ‎Mommy! I think I'm having a baby soon, too! My belly is getting really bigger, there must be a baby in there.

And after nap: I took a good nap! My belly feels better. But there's still a baby in there.

cute tute, illustrated with crummy pictures

2011-08-02T13:06:00.007-04:00

Boy crafts are hard.

When I take a post-bedtime trip to JoAnn for some inspiration (or maybe just some white thread), I get butterflies thinking about all the fun crafting I want to do. And yet, strolling the aisles, my excitement fades...some days it seems 90% of the patterns in the books are for girls. And it definitely seems the majority of the fabrics are for girls. If I wanted a pattern for a little girl's sundress, I'd have to choose from dozens. I had to search 3 books to find a pattern for a simple boy's t-shirt.

Girl clothes are more interesting and varied anyway--they get dresses, skirts, pants, capris, tank tops, shirts, ruffles, bows, every color of the rainbow, sparkles, polka dots, stripes, rainbows, butterflies, flowers, kittens...the list goes on and on. The girls' shoes section is incomparable to the boys'.

Boys have pants and shirts. You can really mix things up and get a polo. They have more color limitations (not a whole lot of purple or pink out there), and the 'themes' are always the same...puppies, sports, trucks. Maybe dinosaurs, if you're lucky. They get stripes, and I love me some stripes, but sometimes I wish for more variety.

It all just means I have to get more creative. I've had a lot of fun making things for Cameron. I have several ideas at the moment, but limited time--Cameron's new 9pm bedtime cuts my crafting time in half. IN HALF! It really cramps my style. Thankfully, I get a fair amount of daytime crafting time, too--like when Fletcher naps and Cam plays on the computer.

Last night I had some time and energy, so I went searching through my stash for scraps. By some miracle I had just what I'd need to make the first on my list of to-crafts: the traffic light shirt!

What you need:
-plain t-shirt
-scraps of red, yellow and green fabric (I used jersey)
-12x6-ish scrap of dark gray fabric (I used felt)
-Wonder Under
-coordinating thread

Also, an iron, scissors, sewing machine, scrap paper...all that good stuff.

What you do:

1. Find a way to draw a circle. I traced the lip of a glass from our kitchen; you may own a compass, or maybe you are just a talented artist. I started out with a 3.5 inch circle, but wound up cutting it down to 2.5 inches later (using a Playtex sippy cup--perfect!). I took the picture before realizing I needed a smaller circle. Trace your circle onto a piece of paper, to use as a pattern.

2. Cut a square from the Wonder Under, one that will accommodate a 2.5-inch circle (or however large you decided to make yours). Iron it to the wrong side of your red fabric. [If you are unfamiliar with Wonder Under: put the rough side against the wrong side of your fabric, and lay the iron on the paper-backed side for 5 seconds or so. Test to be sure it's attached--careful, it's hot!]

3. Trace your circle pattern onto the Wonder Under. Cut out the circle.

4. Repeat with your yellow and green fabrics. It would also be helpful to iron Wonder Under to the gray felt right now, instead of waiting until later like I did.

5. Find a bowl and trace a half-circle onto paper. I wound up cutting mine down a bit--I measured 1/2 inch in, all around, and cut along the dotted line.

6. Pin the arch to the top of your strip of gray felt, and cut around it.

7. Slit the paper on the back of your circles, and tear it off gently. Position the circles onto the gray felt and iron them on. [You will wet a cotton rag/washcloth and wring it out well--lay it over the circles in their places and iron.] I didn't take a picture of this step, sorry, but you can see the spacing I used below.

8. Cut a strip of paper that is 4 inches wide and 10 or 11 inches long. Pin it to your felt, so that the top corners meet along the arch and it is centered over the circles--you're going to cut away the excess gray felt on the sides, so you want the circles to be as centered as possible. You may have excess felt at the bottom, as well--just snip off as needed. I think I cut an inch or two off the bottom of mine. Just cut until it looks right. :)

9. If you haven't already, iron Wonder Under to the backside of the pattern. Center the pattern onto your t-shirt and iron it on [again with the washcloth].

10. Top-stitch around the signal, and each circle, with coordinating thread. This will ensure that the fabric isn't going anywhere, and I think it looks nice. It may not be entirely necessary--my circles were pretty well attached, but the gray fabric didn't stick as well, so I was happy to stitch it down. The Wonder Under helps it from sliding around, if anything.

You're done!

little brother

2011-07-27T19:22:00.004-04:00

Fletcher is having a hard time lately. He is finally, after 13.5 months of age (and like, 10 months of 'teething'), getting a tooth. He is a bear when he's not feeling well; he was sick a lot this winter and was a cranky, clingy, screamy mess for a good couple of months. We have been revisiting those days the last week or two! All day long he yells and screams and claws at my legs to be picked up. He has also become quite possessive, and is suddenly aware of every injustice that could possibly occur in a baby's life. It is exhausting.

The screaming started when he felt the need to protest someone else's actions--say, when Cameron took a toy from him or he wanted more food. He would just sit there and bounce and shriek and shout until it was given back. Now he just does it all.day.long. All day. Sometimes for an obvious reason, sometimes not. He just sits, mouth wide open, and yells. Like this:

And then he waits for you to fix it.

He does it at mealtimes (normally his favorite time of day). He does it when I dare to leave the room he is in. He does it when I put him down outside, and when we come back in. He does it when I ask if he's done eating, and when I give him more food (he is hardly eating, which is VERY strange for him!). He does it when I wipe his hands, his nose, his butt. Like I said--all the time. The only time he is quiet is when he's sleeping, and this week I'm very thankful that he still sleeps a lot.

Sometimes I feel like Cameron did more neat things at this age (and less screaming). It doesn't help that Fletcher has no words--he signs when he feels like it ('more,' 'eat,' 'all done'), but he doesn't say 'mama' or 'dada' or even make many animal sounds (I do think he barks...it sounds like "mmm mmm" or "uh uh"). And Fletcher just doesn't get as much one-on-one playtime as Cam did--that's just part of being the younger sibling, I guess. So maybe he has hidden talents I don't know about yet.

He did play alone better and earlier than Cam...even as a little baby he liked to just sit and shake a toy and watch us play. Cam hated all baby contraptions and refused to be entertained by anything other than a real, live person. Fletch was insanely clingy and challenging this winter when he was sick, but once he got well this spring (and therefore detached himself from my hip), he was more independent and liked to just crawl around, making messes and watching Cam play. He didn't want to sit and read a book or play with toys. He did like to sing songs, but a mommy can only sing Wheels On the Bus so many times before wanting to throw herself under one.

One of Cam's favorite things to 'play' was stacking blocks, and he could do it from a very young age! 'They' want babies to be able to stack a 3-block tower by age one--Cam was doing 5 or 6. Fletcher, though...he wouldn't even sit long enough to let me stack two. He either knocked them over, or crawled away. He seemed to be happier when I didn't try to play with him. :( I think the reason for this is simply that he's used to the total chaos and busy-ness of playing with Cameron--the games are always changing (and Cam always chooses the game); Cam's taking toys or 'trading' Fletcher for new ones; the noise level is high and the activity level is higher. When Fletch had Cam-less time, he wanted to play and explore on his own.

It's only been recently that Fletcher will get very upset when Cam takes a toy, and only recently that he'll sit in the playroom and play with the wooden food or baby blocks by himself, quiet and serious. He likes to stand out by the water table and dump sand into the water, squishing it in his fingers and taking a taste now and then. I watch him and take pictures from inside the house...the neighbors probably think I'm neglectful. He plays that way when Cam is napping, so there's no distraction and no possessiveness. Here's how he played today:

Three blocks! Just like that, like he's been doing it for ages.

Of course, Cam came in to start "sharing," which did not make Fletcher happy.

Sigh, more screaming. It was nice while it lasted. :)

a bad day

2011-07-18T21:40:00.004-04:00

Today was a rough day. One of those "I really should have stayed in bed" days. Stuff just didn't work out right from the get-go. Here's a sampling of the negatives.

*Fletcher woke up with Cameron, at 6:25am.
*I realized we'd forgotten to drop some diapers off at my friend's house Sunday afternoon, and Mike was unable to take them on his lunch break.
*We ran out to JoAnn to get some fabric for a maternity dress I'm sewing, and it was really expensive.
*I forgot to bring a check I needed to deposit at the bank.
*It was miserably hot all day and the house was humid, the A/C running non-stop.
*I cut out the dress pattern wrong and ran out of fabric. Couldn't scream, since it was naptime. Cried instead.
*I was generally clumsy all day, knocking over loud things during naptime and such. The floor was extra crumby, despite being swept. Fletcher was pretty whiny and fit-throwy.
*Fletch went down late for nap and we were therefore late meeting friends to play.
*I woke both kids from nap to rush to the playplace, only to realize a mile from our destination that I didn't have my wallet (thankfully my friend paid their entry!).
*Also on the drive, I realized I had bought the last of the bolt of fabric at JoAnn, so I wouldn't be able to go back for more. Then I remembered there had been one half yard remaining, and that the salesman had asked if I wanted it for half-price...I'd said no, that I wouldn't need it. Oh, the irony.
*Fletcher pooped at the playplace, and of course I had no wipes. He had already had a post-lunch poop, so I thought I was safe. :/
*I was unable to pick up dinner on the way home because of the aforementioned forgotten wallet.
*I had to go to another JoAnn (across town) for more fabric. I noticed the dark clouds in the distance and figured I had plenty of time....
*Not so much. Enter: torrential downpour. No umbrella. And I had to get home for Fletcher's bedtime.

Whew. A lot of negatives! And the positives?

*Mike made me a tasty breakfast, again. It's just about every day now! He's awesome.
*Fletcher was taking lots of steps this morning, so cute.
*Even though it was expensive, I did find some awesome material for my dress!
*I remembered to bring my coupons to JoAnn, AND was able to use them.
*Fletcher took a good morning nap.
*Cameron napped for almost three hours and I got to wake him up. That doesn't happen often and I think it's sweet. :)
*The kids had fun at the playplace and it was great to visit with generous, loving friends.
*Cam and Fletch played in the car on the way home, I love that Cam is so amazed by all the new things Fletcher does, and that he gets such a kick out of the funny stuff.
*Cam found As, Bs, Cs, and Ds all over the place on the way home.
*We had Chipotle for dinner and it was tasty, as usual.
*I didn't step in the cat puke I found by the door, when putting on my sandals to leave.
*I got to take a kidless trip to the store, and found some super cute fleece fabric for Fletcher's winter coat!
*I came home to find that Mike had moved Cam's bed into his new room--yay!
*I got to relax a bit after Fletcher went to bed--I had a popsicle and watched Antiques Roadshow and Hoarders, which always makes me feel a little better about the clutter in my house.

So, a lot of positives, too. I don't like that the negatives seem to be the bigger influence on my general mood some days...I think it was just all too much today. I guess being stressed and frustrated can be such strong feelings, it can be hard to look past them to enjoy the good stuff, too. That stinks! Even if there are very few good things that happen in a day, those happy feelings should always trump the bad. I need to work on letting the positives be the top influence on my mood, even if they are greatly outnumbered. :)

In the end, I'm jump hoping for (and planning on!) a better tomorrow.

i brush, i swear

2011-07-12T21:50:00.003-04:00

Cameron: "Remember a long time ago we went to that place to get your teeth checked? We saw your dirty teeth on the computer."

rapid aging

2011-07-08T09:54:00.004-04:00

We were driving to the bank, all three kids in the back. I put Fletcher in the middle because he's the lightest, and therefore the easiest to lift out from that position. He has a new habit of putting his feet on Cameron's seat [oh, the horror]. On this particular drive (this entire week, actually), Cam was pretending to be a baby--this mostly involves him copying funny things that Fletcher does (learning to walk/falling; blowing raspberries; shrieking), and insisting we call him "Baby Cam." The following conversation ensued:

Cameron: Fletcher! No! I don't want your feet on my car seat!
Mommy: Remember, he's just a baby, just like you--he doesn't know better. That's just what babies do. [Assuming here that he would laugh and put his feet on Fletcher's seat...crisis averted.]
Cameron: But I'm not a baby. I'm a friend. I'm a big boy, and I don't like feet on my car seat!

tmi

2011-06-29T09:06:00.007-04:00

I want to change the name of this blog. Three Morning Poops. Like Three Blind Mice, but significantly more smelly. And less cute. Catchy, no?

Poop has taken over my life. Every morning, Fletcher and Cameron poop after breakfast. Like clockwork--Fletcher in a fresh, clean diaper, Cameron in the toilet (thank GOODNESS). Lately Cam's come out announcing that he's done, and that he wiped himself, so he doesn't need me. Great. Except now I have to 'check,' scrub your hands, and likely replace the toilet paper roll.

The little boy I watch, Sid, is just as predictable. After lunch (with Fletcher), and if he eats breakfast here he goes then, too. If you haven't been keeping track, that's up to four poopy diapers changed by noon. Lately my Wednesdays and Fridays are very smelly, and messy.

Sometimes I find myself wondering what the new baby's poop schedule will be like. Of course I think about other things...what he or she will look like, if s/he'll be a happy baby, if s/he will have hair. But on mornings like this one, when I have to shut the A/C off to open the windows and air the place out a bit, I have to wonder how much worse things will get come December (when I can't open the windows, mind you, without freezing us all out--then I wonder, would frozen poop separate from the diaper fabric easier/better than warm poop? And so on.).

Will the baby poop once every 10 days like Cameron (from probably 3-7 months)? Or four times a day like Fletcher (from about 7 months on)? Will I finally have a child who has a nice solid patty I can let plop into the toilet, all on its own, without scraping or shaking or cursing?

Aahhh, life's mysteries.

so hard to not laugh

2011-06-24T18:21:00.003-04:00

Cameron, working Fletcher's Winnie the Pooh puzzle (and naming off characters):

"Mousies, Tiger, Bwy-Bwys [fireflies], Winnie the Pooh, Yun-Yun [Run-Run, aka Eeyore], Whobody's There? [it's Christopher Robin], Owl, Balloons, and Piggy-Pig."

the $100 store

2011-06-22T21:48:00.008-04:00

I spent $200 tonight. TWO HUNDRED. In an hour and a half. Half at Target on what Mike would consider to be non-necessities, half at Giant Eagle on food (arguably necessary no matter who you ask). The Giant Eagle trip was a regular old grocery trip, save for a kickass sale on blueberries--buy one, get one (pints, not berries), but I got them home and a bunch are moldy, so, grr.

Also, I discovered they now carry the milk we've been driving to Grandview to buy, so yay! Except it wasn't stocked tonight (I always check when I walk by!), so I didn't know until I got to the check-out and saw the couple behind me put some on the belt. And then I scared them with my alarmed reaction and questions. "Did you get that here?!" [Duh.] "Was that the last one, or what?!" [Actually, he snuck into the back room for it.]

Anyway, so Target. I went in for pajamas for the baby. THAT'S IT. That is always the story at Target--doesn't matter what small thing you go in for, you always wind up spending $100. Except one time, I ran in for ice cream sandwiches. They have the BEST little mint chocolate chip sandwiches, a box of six for like, $2. Cheapest Target trip in recorded history.

So, pajamas. I couldn't even find them. Why don't they have the 2- and 3-packs of footed sleepers bigger than size 6-9 months?! Fletcher finally wears a 9-12 and they didn't have that OR 12-months. Unless I wanted to pay $7 a pair for the Carters stuff, no thank you. I wound up getting random cotton pants--size 9 months in the baby aisle, and size 18-month leggings on clearance in the little girls' section (they run small...hopefully he doesn't mind the ruffles at the bottom :/), because they only have heavy sweatpants and sweatshorts in the boys' section. For tops, I got two 3-packs of short-sleeved onesies in the baby aisle. Because those DO come in size 9-12 months, but the long-sleeved ones don't. WTH?

I also bought a pair of stretchy pants for Cameron (for lounging) and three 4T summer shirts, since his 3Ts are getting too short already and it's barely summer. I got some yoga-type pants for myself so I can stop wearing the one pair I own over and over. And then I bought 11 foam swords from the dollar section. Yes, eleven. I cleaned them out.

I bought two months ago and Cam loves them--even though they were taped back together after an epic battle this spring, he still plays with them. I had meant to buy more but when I went looking they were no longer in the dollar bins. Fail. Tonight, though, two little toddlers were sword fighting with their grandma in the clothing department, and I ran myself up to the front of the store to search. Behold! Swords. Only the red/blue variety this time (they had green/yellow before, as well), but that's exactly what I wanted.

Cam's birthday party will have a knight theme this year, and the colors are red and blue. I've been looking all over for inexpensive play swords, but couldn't find any as cute and cheap as the ones at Target. Now I can really, officially commit to the party theme, because what else am I going to do with 11 foam swords AND color-coordinated dishes? I don't know now how many kids will attend, obviously, so I just bought them all...8 seemed like too few, but I didn't want to just take 10 and leave one behind. I have weird guilt hang-ups.

So anyway, there's a pointless recounting of my shopping trip. It's now WAY past my bedtime. :/ One big problem with post-bedtime, kidless shopping trips, and that's it.

innovative

2011-06-20T13:18:00.002-04:00

Forget the push walker we bought for this specific purpose.

Even the lawn mower doesn't get this much action.

He's been around the house half a dozen times...now he's loading stuff into the basket before taking off on another lap.

Love this kid!

off to work

2011-06-20T08:33:00.001-04:00

Daddy: Bye, Cam.
Cameron: Bye, Daddy. [pause] Daddy!
Daddy: Yeah, bud?
Cameron: Make sure you have fun with your monsters, your dinosaurs, your dragon AND your T-Rex.

circus

2011-06-19T20:54:00.003-04:00

Remember when we made playdough? We played again today. We've played a lot in between, of course, although the colors aren't so nice these days. A few sessions ago Cam mixed them all together, and while today's play started out with a nicely marbled ball of dough, it ended with a rather unattractive blob of muddy brown.

We started out like we always do, with the Bob the Builder team of trucks. I was pretty tired of making bricks after all this time--I think Cam thought that was the only thing we could do with the dough. Instead, while he (and the team) waited rather impatiently for me to form bricks, I made numbers. First a one, then a two..."Twelve!" He exclaimed. "Now make an eleven." I did. "Now a ten." And so on and so on, until he'd requested each number on the clock.

He was pretty impressed, even with the disappointment that I had left off the second hand.

Next I asked what kind of animal I should make, and he picked a polar bear. It looks more like a grizzly I guess. Or an overweight dachshund. He liked it, anyway. He introduced it to a brick.

Next up: giraffe. If you ignore the awkwardly bent legs (hey, it's playdough), this one's pretty cute.

Elephant.

The elephant posed a problem--I was out of dough, and it needed legs. Cam was unwilling to give up his last remaining bricks, so the clock made a sacrifice. I used the four, since the elephant needed four legs.

Despite my logical reasoning, Cam was not happy about the incomplete clock. I suggested positing the four-legged creature in the four's place on the clock.

Still, he was not pleased.

I balled up the rest of the clock, since it was "ruined" anyway. The giraffe played some soccer.

The elephant's tricks were equally as impressive.

It was a nice change of pace after five months of molding bricks.

kind of random **updated--it was a good day for quotes

2011-06-17T15:57:00.006-04:00

Cameron: I love you, Mommy.
Mommy: I love you, too.
Cameron: And I love hugging you. [hugs my leg]
Mommy: You love hugging my leg? I'm glad I shaved.
Cameron: I wish we were dinosaurs so we could have dinosaur legs!

---

C: Sid [baby I watch]! Sid's coming! Sid's the coolest baby I've ever seen.
--
C: Ted Bundy is my goodest friend in the whole world.

[Apparently Fletcher ranks pretty low on the scale.]

---

C: Mommy, what's this?
M: That's my nose ring.
C: I can take it out?
M: Please don't.
C: That's what makes you a Mommy?

boo, hiss

2011-06-17T08:51:00.005-04:00

Tim Hortons changed up their menu a couple of months ago--instead of #2, my breakfast of choice is now #1. The menu lists the options (bread choices, meat choices, egg choices), but the picture they show is of the original sandwich--sausage, egg, and cheese on a biscuit. I usually choose an English muffin instead, and normally I only specify that. I don't say I want sausage, egg, and cheese (as opposed to bacon or Canadian bacon, or egg white).

Today I ordered my usual and got home with an egg white sandwich. WTH? Seriously.

1. This place is SO inconsistent...how is it I have never had to specify that I want the original breakfast sandwich until TODAY?

2. Why would they just assume I wanted the "diet" version of the sandwich? Why would they not ask me, if there was any doubt? This egg white version is new, just in the last couple of months, so it really shouldn't be assumed that I would want it. I want a REAL egg. I'm eating junk food, I get that--but why would I want diet junk food?! If I'm going to splurge and eat a fast food breakfast sandwich, can I just get all the fat and protein and calories, please? And iron, for that matter. They really should not assume that people want the "diet" version. If I were on a diet, I wouldn't go for low-fat, low-cal eggs anyway...I'd eliminate the bun, lol. So yeah, annoying.

Maybe they were out of real eggs--totally acceptable! But TELL ME THAT. Ask if that's okay. Don't just put a fake egg on there and call it good.

3. This place needs a second window, for those of us whose orders are always wrong. I have never had issues like I do at this place...I don't get it! I know it's my own fault because I keep going back. There are two other Tim Hortons in our town but this one's the closest. I hardly eat there anymore so it's a real treat to go and then...an egg white sandwich appears in my bag. Of course I ate it, because I had three half-dressed kids in the car and I didn't want to go in with all of them or sit through the drive-thru again. But take my word for it--just get the real egg.

is that so?

2011-06-16T19:15:00.001-04:00

Cameron: [with the cat brush] I'm brushing my hair like a princess.

future post

2011-06-15T21:14:00.002-04:00

I had an idea for a post tonight, and it's been forgotten. I'm bummed! I feel like it was something interesting, too. I'll try to remember; I know you're all on the edge of your seat. Edges of your seats, rather.

vacation, day seven--last day! fletcher's birthday

2011-06-11T20:02:00.004-04:00

Thursday was a busy, fun day--and also kind of a sad one! My little bitty baby boy turned one at 11:39am. It was so hard to believe...time really moves too fast. We'd already had his birthday dinner the night before, but there was still lots of fun to be had on the big day.

After Fletcher's morning nap, we went to play putt-putt. First, the boys got dressed in their matching pirate shirts, since it was a pirate putt-putt place!

We were excited for Cameron to play, but he was a little too excited and distracted and really just placed his ball an inch or two from the hole and knocked it in, then ran ahead to the next hole. We spent the whole time calling him back over and over, it was really hot and by the time we finished up we were all ready to go home. Those 5:30 wake-ups really killed us in terms of Cam's mood and behavior, and we're kind of at a loss as to how to fix it! He got up at 5:07 today (at home).

He seemed to have fun, anyway.

We have a picture of Cam with this sign, as a baby, but I just snapped a shot as we were leaving this time around--he really needed to get home for nap.

After nap, we went to the beach. It was really calm! There was hardly any wind (for a beach) and we thought it was the best we'd get, so we worked on talking Cam into getting in the water.

It worked! With hardly any effort, he agreed to be carried out into the water. Of course, a big wave came at that moment and almost got them, but Daddy lifted him just in time.

Last time on the beach. :(

Cameron wanted to go home to swim in the pool, so we went back for one last dip. It was super warm, and we stayed in for a while. Even Fletcher wanted to stay, though he didn't last long in his turtle.

Eventually, Fletch took a 3-hour nap and I got his cake baked. I made a chocolate chip banana cake with almond flour, and chocolate icing.

When Fletcher woke from nap, I got him all dressed in his birthday outfit. A shirt made by a very talented friend, and cute (albeit impractical) dolphin sandals.

Here's a close-up of the sandals--we bought them in Cozumel on our honeymoon, when I was 3 months pregnant with Cameron. They never fit him (well, they would have at birth, but he didn't have much use for them then, as it was January and he was a newborn), but I was sure they'd fit Fletcher's tiny feet. Alas, his feet are little, but not skinny enough, apparently.

We took some birthday pictures while dinner was being prepared. Fletch was super smiley and cooperative.

After dinner, it was time for cake! We got it all cut and set up and had to wait a few minutes for everyone to get there--Fletcher was not happy about the wait.

Here he is, being sung to (which we also got on film).

And, having his cake!

Whew! And then he chugged a sippy of water.

I had forgotten his gifts from us (and still haven't remembered to give them to him, since being home!)--two puzzles, one is a classic Pooh peg puzzle, the other is this one from Discovery Toys. He got two very cute shirts from his uncle Keith, Eszter and Zoe--one is a tie-dye onesie that says "Outer Banks," the other is red with a horse on it that says "Wild Thing." From Grandma and Grandpa, he got one of those doctor's office toys...I don't really know what they're called, but I think they're super cute, and the boys both liked it--even Zoe played for a minute.

Fletch liked dragging it around, especially.

And so, we had a long, busy last day. A great one! I think Fletcher had a good birthday, and it was a nice end to our trip. We went to bed early that night and got up at 3:30 in the morning (when Fletcher first woke), and were on the road by 4:30. The trip home was smoother than the way down, but still long and tiring. We are all still recovering from the busy week, but it's nice to be home. That's not to say we don't miss the beach, of course. :)

vacation, day six--more food, more water, more fun

2011-06-11T13:49:00.002-04:00

Wednesday morning I was up with both kids, Cameron at 5:30 and Fletcher at 6. Cam got away from me and burst into the bedroom where Mike was sleeping, so he was up around 6:30. We decided to go out for breakfast, since we were out of eggs. We went to Stack 'Em High, a pancake place we'd visited before when Cam was a baby. The boys were super excited (notice Fletcher's high chair--it was painted with sea life).

It gets harder and harder to take Fletch out to restaurants--he knows we're there to eat and just shrieks and yells until his food arrives. This day, I entertained him with medicine and a binky, yay Mom of the Year.

Cam had his "police badge" shell, which he showed off to everyone.

The food was really good and at 7am there were only a couple of other tables filled. I got a waffle, but Cam got chocolate chip pancakes, so big he couldn't even finish. Just outside the restaurant is a big horse statue. There are several in the area; some are chipped and plain, some are decorated and fancy. We took Cam's picture on this horse when he was a baby, so we did follow-up pics today. Fletcher was not impressed, but Cameron was super excited.

After breakfast, Fletcher napped and the rest of us hit the pool! It was hot. Cameron practiced his jumps (more like a walk-off-the-edge, as opposed to actually leaping) and 'swam' around in the turtle. He got pretty skilled by the end of the week! He loved to kick his way across the pool, escaping from sharks (Grandpa) and snakes (pool noodles). Sometimes I lassoed him with a noodle, or Mike 'towed' him around with one...pool noodles are very versatile!

That evening, we went back to the pier for Fletcher's birthday dinner.

Cameron was happy to show off his new T-Rex shirt; this picture was taken before I opened the ketchup bottle and it squirted ALL over him. I mean, it shot out like I was squeezing it, and I definitely wasn't! It smeared all over his shirt and he cried that it was "ruined," but thankfully the ketchup wiped right off of the T-Rex and the little bit that got on the actual shirt came out in the wash.

Fletcher had fish.

After dinner we walked the pier again. We watched the fishers for a while, and saw one of them reel a crab onto the pier! A pretty big one, too.

Last family pictures with our BABY! He'd turn one in about 17 hours.

vacation, day five--children's museum, hot dogs and ice cream

2011-06-09T20:26:00.004-04:00

Back when we first started planning this trip, I Googled children's museums in the area. We like to visit new ones when we travel...we have been to several in the past couple of years, in Dallas, St. Louis and Chicago, plus one about 45 minutes east of Columbus that we've been to a number of times. I found one just down the road from our beach house, right here in Nags Head--it's called Children @ Play. We went Thursday morning, and it was super cute. Pretty small, but they had lots of fun stuff packed into the space.

Unfortunately, Cam's behavior wasn't the best--he'd gotten up at 5:30 of course, so he was just sort of cranky and not sharing very well. We had to stay on top of him to make sure he was being nice, but in the end he had a good time.

Fletcher had fun, too.

We left after an hour or so and went right across the street to Capt'n Frank's, a hot dog place. They had tons of different kinds of hot dogs, and sandwiches, but we all stuck to dogs. Actually, Cameron got a corn dog and Fletch got a plain hot dog. I had a bacon & cheese dog and Mike had an 'Island Dog,' which had chili, salsa, and sour cream.

We went home for nap and you can probably guess what happened next...beach time! Cam and Mike did lots of building with Cam's "team"...first, a tunnel.

Then, a volcano! Which turned out to be an especially good choice, because it forced Cameron to have to go down to the shore to fill buckets of water to act as "hot waba."

After dinner the kids were wanting something sweet, and we'd been wanting to try out a new ice cream place that's nearby, Bailey's. Cam always gets chocolate when we go for ice cream, but this time he branched out a bit--he got chocolate peanut butter.

I got a Meanie Greenie, which was 3 scoops of mint chocolate chip, hot fudge, whipped cream and a cherry. Mike and Fletcher shared mine...not surprisingly, Fletcher was crazy about it. He's got great taste!

vacation, day four--shell collections, duck and kite flying

2011-06-08T15:26:00.006-04:00

Monday morning (I can't believe I'm only to Monday!) started as early as the others, so after breakfast we went down to the beach to look for seashells. Cameron had already started quite the collection, just in our regular beach visits, but this trip really bumped up his numbers. We'll definitely have to weed through a bit and 'help' him pick his favorites--I want to find him a little memory box at the souvenir shop, and whatever doesn't fit gets tossed back out to sea (even if I'm the one sneaking them to the plank, one by one).

He kept a safe distance from the water.

It was a beautiful morning, and already warm. I did a bad job getting pictures of the pelicans, but they are everywhere here! They fly in groups of 5 or 6 and skim the water, so close you're sure they'll get splashed or knocked by a wave. Then they curl up quickly, staying in form, like synchronized flyers. Now and then one will dive down into the water, but we never saw what they caught.

Their outfits are worth commenting on. Cameron's, I found at a resale shop, and thought it was cute for the beach. It's a little 'young' for him, even at 3, but once we put it on we realized the real problem was its size. It's a 3T but it does not fit, and the crotch snaps (yes, it has those--another clue it was probably made for a younger child!) kept popping open. It's cute, though! Maybe I'll cut it down to fit Fletch.

Fletcher's outfit was made by me, specifically for this vacation. In case you can't tell, crabs are embroidered onto the denim (I didn't do that part). Well at some point on our beach walk Mike got stuck by a straight pin under Fletcher's butt and I figured I'd just missed it after sewing. A few minutes later I found another, and realized the two pins were holding the crotch of the outfit together, because I had forgotten to sew it. Argh, so annoying. It sat unfinished in the sewing room for like, two months, how did I forget that important step?

A nice couple stopped and asked if they could take a family picture for us. Please!

We discovered tracks from the beach patrol's vehicles...scoping for dogs, no doubt. And maybe pirate ships.

Speaking of dogs, Jasper came out. What better time than when he could play on fresh patrol tracks?

Empty beach--just the way I like it.

After Fletcher's nap we drove to Duck. It's a cute little town with shopping and a small pier. We walked along the pier and looked for turtles (no luck, but we did see a school of small fish), then along the main road toward a souvenir shop. Cam got to pick a shirt design and chose one with a T-Rex that says, 'Predator.' I wanted him to pick something beachy, but alas. We decided that since it said 'Outer Banks, NC' on the bottom, it was acceptable as a souvenir shirt, and then the girl at the counter forgot to put that part on. She added it on the back once I asked about it, thankfully.

Next we went for a treat--Duck Donuts! They're really good and made when you order. Cam and I both got chocolate dip, his with rainbow sprinkles and mine with chocolate. They were cake donuts, but not as dense and small as the kind Tim Hortons has...they were fluffier and really moist. We waited until we got home to eat them, which did not please Cam, but they were really hot and melty and it was a hot day so the two didn't really go together.

After lunch, donut, nap, we went out to the beach again. The kids dug a lot, they both love sand! Fletch even appeared to be using his shovel the right way, aww imitation.

The beach was pretty cloudy and the water was rough, so we went back to swim in the pool. Cam had taken to Fletcher's turtle, which was all well because Fletcher hated it. Whatever got Cam to stop clinging to us...thankfully he didn't seem to exceed the unknown weight limit (it says it's made for children ages 9-24 months).

After dinner, we went back to the (now sunny) beach to fly kites.

Unfortunately, Cam's broke as we walked onto the beach, so while Zoe's flew high and graceful, Cam's was a bit of a dud. He tried in vain to get it to soar.

Eventually, Mike, Grandpa and uncle Keith tried in vain to get it to at least catch wind for a moment or two.

(When this happened, the general consensus was that it happened purposefully.)

They tied sticks to the tassels after having to tie something extra on to the top (where the dowel broke). It's apparently a very delicate balance, weight distribution on a kite. There was a little of this.

There was a lot of this.

Fletcher (and his belly) passed the time starting his own shell collection.

Finally, it flew!

And eventually caught up to Zoe's.

Of course, by that time Cam had lost interest.

Wouldn't that be the way it goes?

vacation, day three--the dunes

2011-06-07T20:37:00.007-04:00

Sunday was rainy, a sort of slow and lazy day. We watched some DVDs, did some grocery shopping and came home for lunch and nap. It drizzled all morning and picked up a little during nap, then was gone, making way for sun. We swam in the pool for a bit and, after dinner, went to hike on the sand dunes.

There was some brief concern that the dunes would be wet. I think someone mentioned puddles. Thankfully, it turned out the sand was still pretty dry--I guess it'd probably take a LOT of rain to wet that much sand. I wish I had taken pictures of the path through the woods that leads to the dunes--it seems so...innocuous? A small hill, soft sand.

I had Fletcher tied to me in the fake-Moby. Soon I was very behind the rest of the group, and not just because I kept stopping to take pictures. Fletcher was sort of heavy, the hill was steeper than I remembered, it was warmer out than I'd dressed for and I just huffed and puffed to catch up with everyone. I swear I'm not completely out of shape, but I tend to get more breathless with pregnancy (even this early on, like a weight on my chest), so that's my excuse. A long, steep climb. I'm still sore, three days later.

Cameron followed Zoe up the biggest hill, prepared to roll down--which sounded unappealing and sort of dangerous to me, but then again...it's sand, at least a soft surface? And he needed a bath, anyway. It looked way too steep for me, but I ended up making it up eventually.

He ran.

He rolled. Needs to work on his form--a little too much sideways action.

He just got dirty.

The view is nice, and worth the trek.

After rolling came running. One would think after all this activity, he'd sleep in the next morning. I think every other adult in the party predicted the same at some point during the evening. Not Mike and I...we know better. Rest assured, it didn't happen.

We have similar pictures of Cameron on his first dunes trip--we like abandoned baby themes. Fletcher likes lip-biting teething smiles.

vacation, day two--sun, water and dinner at the pier

2011-06-06T21:21:00.009-04:00

Saturday morning started early. At 5:30 Cam burst into our room and I led him back into his to watch a DVD to keep him quiet for a little bit longer. It worked and we stayed there until 6:15, when Fletcher woke up and I started to get breakfast ready. Mike was up soon after, and we headed for the beach around 8am.

A couple of weekends ago Fletcher and I spent some time in Florida with my family. He was not really a fan of the beach--the wind, the sun, the noise...I'm not sure what it was, but he just fussed and whined and acted miserable. I was afraid we were due for the same this week, but he did all right. Mostly he sat on a blanket and watched Cameron dig in the sand. Mike got right into the water and I got a little bit of morning sun.

We didn't last too long at the beach, because Cam wanted to try out the pool! We had come with blow-up arm floaties, a big donut, a turtle for Fletcher, a ball, goggles and more...and we found other floats and noodles here at the house. However, similar to the beach issue, Cam just wasn't ready to get in and let loose in the water. He clung to us like a spider monkey until we convinced him to lay on the lounge float. Fletcher warmed up to his turtle but nearly dove out of it several times, so we had to really watch him.

Basically, our children are sort of freaks around water that isn't in a bathtub. It's hard to believe that two years ago Cameron would leap from the side of the pool, into my arms...just 18 months old and fearless, wanting me to let go of him so he could swim on his own. Now we can't bribe him to float around on his own, with floaties! Oy.

After lunch (which, it is important to note, consisted of salami/cheese/mustard sandwiches and applesauce, mmm beach food) and naps, it was decided that today we would venture to the pier for dinner. We went to this same restaurant 3 years ago when Cam was just a little 5-month-old--it has the best hush puppies I have ever eaten. I dressed the boys in their coordinating crab polos (bought specifically for this dinner, which I just knew we would have) and we drove down to mile post 11.5 to the Pier House Restaurant.

With his cousin, Zoe.

He's in an awkward smiling phase. Mike blames me, for taking too many pictures...but I'm usually able to get a real smile out of him (even if it means catching him off guard or saying something funny like, "Say poop cakes!"--so I blame Mike's lack of creative encouragement).

Dinner was great and we earned free admission to the pier. Cam ran after his cousin Zoe, copying her every move, grilled cheese sandwich in hand. We walked all the way to the end of the pier, where some men were fishing and one caught a small silver fish. It flopped on the deck and we watched it disappear into a white bucket, the line thrown out to sea again. I was relieved that Cam didn't ask too many questions about the fish's fate...but he also didn't seem in the least bit sad for it, so maybe he thought it was to become a pet? I should hope that my kids don't develop my extreme sympathy for emotionless things...but I felt bad for the fish, anyway. Twenty-eight years in, it's something about me that will probably never change. :P

It was windy and cooler with the sun going down, and Cam kept climbing the rail to look over the edge, because apparently his between-slats view of the ocean was too limited. Sometimes we are frustrated by his seemingly-extreme caution; other times his bravery is alarming. It is a fine line I feel we are always walking...letting him test his boundaries and explore and try new things, without becoming too careless or reckless along the way. I don't imagine this will get much easier as the years pass.

vacation, day one--the journey and arrival

2011-06-06T20:12:00.011-04:00

I took 121 pictures today. We had a busy morning, a fun afternoon and an eventful evening. We're on vacation--visiting the Outer Banks with Mike's family. I've decided to document each day so I can better remember how it all went down. We're exhausted and, as I mentioned, BUSY...but I don't want to forget anything!

I'll start with Friday, June 3rd, the day we drove down. Our goal was to leave at 6am, to beat some traffic along the way, but I woke to a gray bedroom and fumbled around for my watch...5:34. The 5am* alarm hadn't gone off, so we were yanked from bed in a panicked rush, suddenly running behind.

*To be fair, the alarm had been mistakenly set for 5PM. Ahem, and not by me.

We left at 6:25. For the first time in almost two weeks, I'd had to wake Cam at 6am. He has been getting up much earlier most mornings (including on vacation, those complaints to come). Fletcher was up for the first time at 5:45. We had loaded most of our things the night before, but still had to pack up the food and other random things, like the baby monitor and noise machines. We only stopped twice in 10 hours for gas and potty breaks before I had a mini meltdown just outside of Norfolk, an hour from our destination--then we stopped for a real break, to pee and eat and stretch our legs and letthepoorbabyoutofhiscarseat, for pete's sake.

It wound up being a good thing that we stopped, as Fletcher had a poopy diaper AND proceeded to have a runny blow-out all over the Wendy's high chair. Too much fruit in the car. At least it wasn't in his Britax! (Related complaint: said Wendy's did not have a change table, or paper towels--and, therefore, no trash can. Because what would one need to throw away besides a dirty diaper or paper towels?! And who really likes those blow dryers? I'm all for eco-friendly options, but trying to dry a baby's hands in one of those things is like trying to bathe a cat.)

Cameron was really good the whole drive, distracted first by some stories and songs, then by the novelty of the portable DVD player and some new cartoons. Fletcher did not fare so well, and was restless and fussy for most of the trip. He napped for one hour, total, over 3 naps. It was rough, and I don't look forward to doing it again at least 5 more times this summer.

Long story just a little shorter, and despite near-constant construction along the way, we made it alive and relatively unscathed (I feel like long car rides with kids guarantee some amount of mental anguish, at the very least). We unloaded the car, dropped our things in the foyer and marched in single file to the beach.

Hospitably, it was beautiful.

It wasn't long before we realized we were in for another slow transition into developing a love for the beach. Last summer it took a few introductions before Cam would actually get into the water at the lake beach we visit near home--actually, that's sort of inaccurate. It took a few introductions before he stopped running in terror at the mere suggestion of walking NEAR the water. But by the end of the season he was in up to his neck, totally comfortable with the movement and temperature of the water. It is really unfortunate that cooler weather lasts as long as it does in Ohio--our last beach trip was in August, maybe September...that's at least 9 months' worth of time to lose his familiarity with large bodies of water.

The Atlantic is colder than Alum Creek, though--its waves much choppier, able to sweep him off his feet in just a few inches of water. Friday evening he would only play in the sand, never too close to the surf. He'd run from the rush, but more playfully than fearfully, and only let Mike hold him for a minute or two. We could only hope the love would grow.

some questions just don't have answers

2011-05-30T16:04:00.003-04:00

Cameron: Daddy, preschool doesn't have eyes, ears or a nose.
Daddy: That's right, it doesn't have a face at all.
Cameron: But how does it look, hear and pick boogers?

mischievous baby

2011-05-27T07:57:00.005-04:00

We are just loving the stage Fletcher is in. He's fun and funny--he's developed this sneaky, mischievous personality that keeps us on our toes and always has us laughing. I feel like we probably shouldn't laugh as much as we do, that it probably encourages him to continue, but eh...it's cute and pretty harmless behavior, so I'll let it slide.

*The remote. He LOVES the remote. And my cell phone, but he hasn't figured out how to unlock that yet, so nothing really happens when he plays with it. But the remote, he's definitely figured out how to push buttons. At first he pushed random buttons and just liked that it lit up. Now he has some favorite buttons--namely, the up/down channel button, the up/down volume button, and the mute button. Boy, does he cause trouble with those! It seems Cameron is forever yelling out, "FLETCHER! I CHOOSE MICKEY MOUSE!" and he snatches the remote away to enter 3-0-2 to get back to his show.

Yesterday while Cameron was sleeping I let Fletcher play with the remote while I ran to put some laundry in--suddenly I could hear the TV blaring from down in the basement and ran up to find Fletcher staring at it, mesmerized and probably with some hearing damage. He'll peek at me from the corner of his eye while pushing the buttons, just waiting for my response. When I try to take it away he cries and screeches, cruising around the couch to snatch it from behind me. If I scold him first, "Fletcher...no thank you, put that down..." he just squeals and giggles like a fool and squirms away as quickly as possible, cruising and 'stomping' to get away before I grab it from him.

*The stairs. Cam broke the gate at the bottom of the stairs a couple of months ago, and we haven't gotten around to fixing it yet. For now, we prop it in place and it seems to work fine, but I often forget to put it up. And when Fletcher realizes it, he will just bolt over there to shoot up the stairs before we can catch him. Twice last week we came around the corner to find him over halfway up, looking at us through the slats (our stairs are backless), with a goofy grin on his face. When I catch him heading in that direction, again I'll caution him..."Fletch, don't go up those stairs!" And he'll do the giggle-squeal and get so excited his movements are jerky and wobbly, but he still gets up a step or two before I have a chance to grab him. He LOVES the chase!

*The great escape. Speaking of chases, the first hint of mischievous behavior started at diaper change time, a couple of months back. He waits until the diaper is off and I remove my hand from that round belly...then, he's off! He whips around to his belly in no time and starts crawling away, laughing. If I don't grab hold of him immediately he'll stop and look back over his shoulder...if he sees me coming he'll squeal and race off again, giggling uncontrollably, again so excited that he almost loses coordination. He loves when I grab his leg and pull him back, and can't wait to sneak off to escape again. It is SO darn cute, even if it does take 10x longer to dress him. Thankfully he doesn't do it on the change table anymore, just when I change him on the floor or our bed...where there's plenty of room to 'run off'!

*The laundry. I definitely remember Cam entering this phase, but Fletch is still sneakier about it! Basically he can't stand to see a pile of laundry stacked up nice and neat--he crawls over, sits right next to it and just FLINGS laundry over his shoulder. One, two, three pairs of pajamas off the top of the pile. I'll tsk tsk him and refold, stacking them nicely with a little pat, and he'll do it all over again, as soon as I'm 'not looking' (but of course I really AM looking, because it's too darn cute and funny to fully ignore!). Diaper piles, he just crawls right over 'em. The boy does not have an eye for organization.

He'll be one in just over a week, and I can't believe it! He's a sweet, silly boy and we're lucky to have him!

that's...gross

2011-05-16T08:23:00.002-04:00

Cameron: Fletch. Oh Fletch, I love you, Fletch. [to me] I love to hug him and hold him. And I love you, Mommy. [hugs me]
Mommy: Thank you, I love you, too.
Cameron: And I love to eat hair. [sly grin; smacks lips] Mmm.

touché

2011-05-06T11:51:00.001-04:00

Mommy: Hey, I said no. Now stop giving me attitude.
Cameron: Stop giving me maditude!

getting back into prepared-mom mode

2011-04-21T14:06:00.002-04:00

Whew. I am out of shape. I've never been one to keep tissues in my purse, but for a while there I was pretty well-prepared for most other things. It took a while, but I got there. When Cam was a baby I never carried a diaper bag, seldom had a spare diaper, never had wipes or snacks or a sippy cup. The following summer I was babysitting Owen, so I kept a packed bag in the car with diapers and sippies for the boys, but even then we didn't get out much with their conflicting nap schedules. Last summer I was READY for anything--up early, lunches packed the night before, spare clothes and diapers in the car. Even with a newborn, I was prepared. We went to the beach, the zoo, COSI, everywhere.

Then winter came, with lots of sickness and not very many outings. We occasionally went to Firefly or the zoo and I was lucky to remember to stuff a diaper in my purse, or find an old disposable from vacation in the trunk. Mostly we just didn't go out much, so I fell out of habit...when we did go somewhere fun the lunches got packed last-minute, Cam drank out of my water bottle because I often forgot his (oops), and we all hoped for a poop-free morning from Fletcher, 'cause goodness knows there was no counting on wipes.

Now it's spring again! After days of rain we headed for the zoo, and even though I knew last night that we'd do something fun today, I was totally unprepared. I lingered in bed for far too long. We left late because I was running around trying to find jackets for the boys and pants for Cam, plus I couldn't find a water bottle for him, and had to throw together some trail mix for him to snack on. I forgot to put on my walking shoes and completely neglected to pack a lunch. Yikes! Time to get my act together. I did remember the stroller--so I'm not completely hopeless.

We're home now, both boys asleep. I should be putting away laundry and picking up around the house but instead I'm taking a much-needed break. The quiet never lasts long!

lazy blogger = more kiddie quotes

2011-04-18T13:30:00.002-04:00

Cameron: I wish I could be on a [sic] elephant.
Mommy: An elephant? Why?
Cameron: Because they're very noisy.

deep thoughts

2011-04-15T20:41:00.001-04:00

Cameron: Blue is dark, yellow is sun, black is space. I wish I could go to the moon.

they call it awe

2011-04-12T17:30:00.002-04:00

Fletcher really admires Cameron.

I mean, how could he not? The kid is taller, louder, faster, cooler. He knows how all the toys work; he knows where all the food is; he knows how to have a good time.

He says thoughtful things like, "Poop is black, pee is yellow, and toots are white," and he asks important questions like, "Why is it a beautiful day?"

Fletch watches every move, and listens to every word. He laughs and squeals and follows. He looks up to Cam, with big doe eyes and a goofy grin.

I hope he never stops.

daisylion muffins

2011-04-11T12:40:00.004-04:00

Last year I made dandelion cookies with our last few remaining flowers. Cam was too sick to enjoy them (roseola), so this year I talked them up a lot and he was really excited. Cameron calls the flowers daisylions, so we've been calling them that, too. I ended up deciding to do muffins, since I know and trust the recipe already. I adapted this recipe from our favorite GF muffin recipe found here.

Yesterday it was really nice out, and we filled a measuring cup with the first flowers of the season. Cam liked helping me tear out the florets this year, and he was our designated hunter.

Fletcher just ate whatever we dropped.

It was really windy, and somehow we managed to not drop or knock over the cup before it was full.

I stuck them in the fridge overnight to stay fresh for baking this rainy morning. Today, while the boys played outside in the rain, I got to baking!

What you need:
2 cups gluten-free flour mix
1 tsp xanthan gum (if your flour mix doesn't have it)
3 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup brown sugar

2 eggs
1 1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup oil (I've used olive and coconut)

1 cup dandelion florets (yellow parts only)
1/3 cup mini chocolate chips (I used dark and 1/4 cup would have been plenty)

What you do:
*Combine dry ingredients, and mix in wet ingredients. Lumps are normal.
*Stir in dandelion florets and chocolate chips.
*Pour into muffin tin, filling cups 2/3 full. I ended up with a dozen regular-sized muffins and six minis.
*Bake for 20 minutes (13 for mini muffins).

Yum, yum. The dandelions themselves really don't have much of a taste (in the muffins, anyway), and I remember the cookies having a lot of honey in them to add flavor (which I think the chocolate does in this case). All that to say, don't worry about them adding a funky flavor! I think they'd mix into just about any cookie or muffin recipe and you wouldn't even know they were there. I know that other parts of the plant are high in lots of vitamins and minerals, so I'm sure there's some benefit to the flowers, too...and it's neat to find a use for allll of the flowers we have in the back yard. I'd rather bake and eat them than wind up with 243948672 puffs out there, waiting to spread their seeds.

garden update and outside fun

2011-04-10T19:58:00.005-04:00

The lettuces are sprouting.

Peas, too!

We planted potatoes today.

We also planted onions--normally those go in mid-March with the lettuces and peas, but we didn't have our seeds then. The strawberries have spread into the grass and the back beds--hopefully we get another great year out of them.

It was a beautiful day; the temperature got up into the 80s! Sunny, breezy, warm. We went to the park. Fletcher loves the swing--he just kicks his skinny little legs and grins like a fool.

Cameron actually ran and climbed a lot today, rather than camping out in the swings. I hope that continues!

Fletch climbed around and got bounced by the other kids on the bouncy bridge.

Cam went up and over a wiggly ladder.

I love nice-weather weekends with my boys!

cam funnies

2011-04-04T21:26:00.008-04:00

Mommy: [singing a little song] Mr. Cam, Mr. Cam (okay, so it wasn't a very creative song...)
Cameron: No, Mommy! I'm not Mr. Cam, I'm just Daddy's child!
---
Similar to the first...
Mommy: Listen here, kiddo...
Cameron: I'm not kiddo, I'm your child!
---
Daddy: You can play baseball when you're a little bigger.
Cameron: When I'm 5?
Daddy: Yeah, I think that's when it starts.
Cameron: I just want to be 5 outside and 3 at Mommy's house.
---
Naming the Yo Gabba Gabba characters: "Plulo (Pluto), Wobot, Tooyee, Bwobee, Poopa!"
---
Referring to the baseball team practicing in the field behind our court: "The big ones are the people and the little ones are the friends."
---
One of his favorite bedtime 'stories' is going through a 2009 chihuahua calendar, commenting on each picture. "Aww, this one is sitting by a fence. Aww, this one is by a basket. Aww, there's two Peps." Mike is always eager to move on to the next book...a real book, with words. Last night he kind of tossed it aside once Cam had reached December and Cam protested: "Daddy, wait!"
Daddy: No, come on, Cam...that's not a real book, let's read a real story.
Cameron: But...
Daddy: Here, let's read this one.
Cameron: But Daddy...
Daddy: Cam, it's bedtime, we only have time for one more book.
Cameron: But DADDY, we forgot the one with the apples!
Apparently they had mistakenly skipped September.

snacky update

2011-04-03T21:56:00.006-04:00

Well, last night's bars turned out GREAT! I'm really pleased, it may be my favorite granola bar recipe yet. And I've tried a LOT! I let them cool and cut them warm and they stayed together well. They're really good and I can't wait to make more and mix up the ingredients a bit.

Chewy bar on the left, chocolate one I made yesterday morning on the right.

Tonight I made the breakfast bars I linked yesterday and they're good, too. Suuuper tasty, nutty (almond flour) and kinda salty and a nice texture. They could use a little more fruit, but other than that I'm really pleased. They aren't staying together as well. They're still warm, though, and they're more of a bready, baked-good snack than a granola bar, so I don't mind the soft, falling-apart-ness too much. I'm fantasizing about trying one warm with some vanilla ice cream...oh man, yum.

It's really hard to share these bars. I gave Cam a chocolate one after breakfast this morning, and he was hungry before bed so Mike gave him a chewy one. I cringed a little. May have to hide some of these puppies...or just make more. :)

saturday night bakefest

2011-04-02T21:22:00.008-04:00

Sadly not that kind of bakefest. Wait, what? Ahem, I'm baking snacks tonight. We've been out of snack bars for weeks now (except for one Mike found tucked away in the freezer last week) and that needed to change! Earlier I made some peanut butter chocolate oat bars (a friend's recipe), and now I'm waiting on some nuttier, fruitier bars. The PB&C bars turned out well, they're tasty and I think Cam will like them (though they didn't entice him to eat his chicken at dinner...), but I really like bars with more...well, nuts and fruit, so Cam and I went to Kroger after dinner to peruse the bulk foods aisle.

Sigh. So much to choose from. My enjoyment of today's visit was slightly hampered by the lack of price stickers, forcing me to write the products' numbers down on my shopping list. I guess I should be happy I had a list...otherwise I'd have had to write it all on my hand. For this sort of thing, buying in bulk is way cheaper than buying big bags of nuts and seeds. I got between a half and full cup of pecans, almonds, cashews, raisins, blueberries, pumpkin and sunflower seeds and a mixed nut variety, and each thing was in the $1-2+ range. I did find it pretty crazy that dried blueberries were $14 per pound, though...one of the most expensive things in the aisle! I also got a bag of mixed dried fruit bits in the regular raisin/craisin section...just to mix things up.

Side note, how can they call sunflower seeds 'all natural' when they've been coated in salt? Not that I really mind the salt, I was actually pleased to realize they were salted when I started baking, as I like sweet-and-salty as much as I like nuts-and-fruit. Even still, 'all natural' implies 'in its natural state,' does it not? And what if I'd really wanted unsalted seeds (as I initially had, in the effort to be a little healthier)?

Speaking of healthy, I couldn't find Sticky Bun Sugar there, but when I got home I realized I may have been looking in the wrong aisle. I used the substitute suggestion, anyway, meaning I had to buy a (rather large) bottle of corn syrup. I feel like...I don't know, a traitor? Or something. And especially ridiculous for buying a huge plastic bottle that was the same price as a small glass bottle...why do they do that? I will never use that much corn syrup, but I hate to lose money buying less for more. I only needed 2 TBS for this recipe, and it's not like time I bought a giant bottle of tomato juice and had to find uses for the rest of the bottle for the next two weeks...I am not looking to find ways to add corn syrup into my life! Gah. Hopefully it will keep for like, years.

Anyway, I really hope this recipe turns out. Most of the reviews were glowing, but a few people thought they were way too sweet, so I left out the optional granulated sugar. Others complained they were crumbly or hard to get out of the pan, which is probably the most frustrating thing about baking granola bars, so I am anxiously awaiting that part. I baked them on parchment paper, since greasing the pan didn't cut it the last time I tried a different granola bar recipe. After this I have one more recipe, but it may have to wait until morning. I'll also bake some muffins tomorrow (some blueberry/banana/carrot for the kids, PB&J for me), and then we should be set for easy, on-the-go snacks for our upcoming park and zoo trips. Yay for a well-snacky-stocked freezer!

**I'm good at these 5-minute-updates: I tried turning the pan to let the soon-to-be-bars fall out onto a sheet of parchment for cutting and they kind of went all over. :( I held back tears and Mike and I encouraged the escapee globs back to their ranks and I'm just going to wait to cut them until they're much cooler. Apparently by "cool for 5 minutes" they either meant "cool for significantly longer than 5 minutes until they are just 'warm'" OR "haha just kidding, they won't be cool at all and they'll fall apart all over the place."

update on the wee one

2011-04-01T22:36:00.009-04:00

He'll be 10 months old next week.

He is still toothless, and looks hairless, but I swear there's some there. Every day we hear, "He has such beautiful blue eyes" or "Oh, have his eyes gotten bluer?!" or "Oh my gosh, look a those eyelashes."

He is usually a happy baby, and loves to explore the house on his own...as long as I'm where he left me when he decides to check in.

He likes to be outside, and doesn't mind the grass.

He loves his big brother, and the feeling is mutual.

He crawls around with things in his mouth...swords, pages of magazines, the letter O.

His mouth is bigger than you'd think.

He eats a lot.

Today, he signed 'more' for the first time.

Over...

...and over. I know the pictures don't look like much, but if your baby's a signer you know what to look for. :)

He's a sweet, snuggly baby. I love his easy-to-come-by smiles, his little squeaks when he wants me to pick him up, and his shrieks when he's playing happily. I love how he (still) laughs the most and the hardest for Cam. I love how he stops nursing and giggles when he sees me smile. I love how he kicks his legs when I hold him out in the air, and I love his cute little skippy-stomp when he's walking along, holding my fingers. I love how he chews yogurt. I love his little paci face (and this from a former binky-hater!). I love how he whispers "Dada" when I encourage him to say "Mama."

I love that he's a good little sleeper, that he loves to snuggle into his blanket and that he naps well and sleeps well at night, but oh how I miss when he would nap on my chest...that time didn't last near long enough--squishy lump in my lap, tiny fist holding my shirt so tightly, never letting go. I love how he stops fussing and lets out little gaspy breaths of anticipation when I pick him up when he wakes in the middle of the night. I could nurse him at 4am forever if he'd stay my little baby that long. I just can't believe he'll be one year old in two short months! It just isn't fair, how fast it goes.

two more months, kid

2011-03-31T12:04:00.001-04:00

Mommy: Oh wow, the snow is melting! Thank goodness.
Cameron: Yay, the snow is melting! That means it will be bright and sunny for the beach! I'm so excited!

firefly play cafe

2011-03-30T20:42:00.007-04:00

We made it to the play place! We went to Firefly...love it there. It's a little coffee shop that doubles as a fun place for the kiddos to run around, climb, slide, jump, and ride.

It's small enough that I can sit and sip my coffee and watch the boys no matter where they go.

Cameron loves the fast slide, the jump house and the little scooters (especially crashing and falling off of them!).

Fletcher is happy to crawl around, exploring on his own.

Today he went into the little climber for the first time.

Some day he'll be chasing Cam up that ladder!

We met friends there--Cam's oldest friend, Owen (who was so busy I got nothing but blurry pictures of the back of his head, so I stole some from his mom)...

...and Owen's new baby sister, Nora! She's dreamily sweet and smells lovely. And check out that hair!

Owen is so sweet and kind. And patient! Here's Cam, hitching a ride on Owen's scooter...other kids might have pushed Cam off, but Owen never seems to mind too much when Cam gets a little too pushy or bossy. Not that I let Cam get away with acting that way, just sayin'...Owen's a good kid and I'm glad they are friends.

Everybody loves a new baby.

Fletch was pretty curious. Or, he might have been a little bit jealous.

Cam took him for a scooter ride before we headed for home.

Little slipper'd feet.

What a fun way to spend a snowy afternoon. Yes, that's right...it snowed on March 30th. Quite a bit, actually! And we thought our OwenandNora spring meet-ups would be at various area parks and playgrounds...Mother Nature needs to get with the program!

nap woes

2011-03-30T13:01:00.004-04:00

Why is it Cam went to sleep fine for nap the last two days, but fights it today? The day we have plans to meet friends for some playtime. Sigh. And he's woken the baby in the meantime, which means they will both be super pleasant later this afternoon. Sigh again. I am seriously considering being done with naps for him--some days it is just not worth the stress! Plus it would free up lunchtime to go out and do things...as things are now, there are days we can't leave the house between 10am and 6pm because someone is always napping!

We've tried to skip nap or shorten it but it usually makes him pretty beastly as the afternoon goes on. Maybe after a few days without them, he'll start sleeping a little later in the morning and won't be as crabby come late afternoon? I feel like he still really needs a nap, especially since he sleeps 2+ hours once he does fall asleep, but when he's delaying it for up to 90 minutes by playing around and not falling asleep until 2:30, it really throws off the afternoon! I wind up having to wake him by 4:30 so he'll go to bed on time, and then he's cranky from being woken. I guess we just can't make afternoon plans ahead of time, since I never know when he will go down easily. Have I said sigh yet?

Thankfully Fletcher is more flexible, and if we want to do something in the morning I can usually shorten or delay his nap without too much trouble. Except today of course, when he slept in until 8 so I delayed his nap until 11:30 because of preschool and he was woken by Cam after an hour of sleeping. He normally sleeps for 2-3 hours, so I know he's not ready to be up yet, poor dude. Hopefully he will stay distracted and happy at the play place later!

pac-man

2011-03-29T09:22:00.005-04:00

Cameron came busting into the bedroom--too fast, too loud, too excited...entirely too early.

"Mommy. I want to go to this playplace today. The one with the yellow things that pinch the monsters. The pink and blue and orange and red monsters. That's the playplace I want to go, okay Mommy?"

daisies and the rest

2011-03-28T18:33:00.007-04:00

Cam found our first dandelion today. "A daisy!" he exclaimed. He doesn't remember when I made dandelion cookies (it was almost a year ago). I'm actually excited for our yellow-topped friends this year.

“Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them.” -A. A. Milne

And so they are.

more kitchen success

2011-03-28T12:11:00.004-04:00

I've been waiting forever to make chicken noodle soup. Not waiting for anything in particular...just, meaning to do it and never getting around to it. Cam used to love strained Progresso chicken noodle soup for lunch, but since we've stopped buying most canned foods we have been lacking in the soup department. Finally I decided it was time--I ran out to the grocery yesterday before dinner for supplies and as soon as dinner was cleaned up I started the soup.

It was super easy and tasted great. It was a *little* low in salt for me, but I mostly made it for a quick, healthy lunch option for the kids, so for them it is perfect. I froze it into the muffin tins like last time, so they're in nice little portions--although I think my guys will end up eating two each, so these won't last long! Thankfully it was cheap to make, too.

I Googled for recipes and found one that sounded easy, but ended up using a variation that someone left in the comment section. It was even easier and used more veggies. The only things I'd change for next time: I might use more chicken, and I will either not simmer the cooked noodles in the soup for an additional 10 minutes, OR I'll just leave the noodles out until I'm ready to serve. I used egg noodles and they were perfectly cooked until I added them to the soup and let them simmer (as instructed in the recipe) and they are a little too mushy now. They were still good, I just prefer a little more bite to my pasta (similar to the canned Progresso soups), and I think the babies will have a hard time picking them up if they're too mushy.

I had enough soup to make 12 round muffins and 6 snowflakes, PLUS two bowls leftover that I had as a snack before bed last night, and for lunch today. :) Next time I might double the recipe so there's even more to save. I hope to use homemade stock next time, too...if we ever end up making it with those zillions of bones chillin' in our freezer.

I know for me, making soup from scratch sounds sort of intimidating. I mean, there's a reason all of those canned varieties exist, right?! They have the perfect combination of spices, the veggie/noodle ratio is spot-on...speaking of noodles, they are perfectly cooked and hold their spiral shape. BUT making it at home can be way healthier, and I was really proud of how it turned out. Every time I try a new recipe it encourages me to try another, and I think that's a great thing! I kind like not being afraid of my kitchen appliances, ya know?

that's a relief

2011-03-27T13:50:00.006-04:00

When your baby appears to be laughing at a violent scene on The Sopranos, don't worry that he has a twisted sense of humor (or that you're raising the next Ted Bundy). Just look around the corner from the TV, 'cause he's more likely giggling at your supposed-to-be-napping 3-year-old who's sneaking around, wide awake and half naked.

three across

2011-03-26T20:46:00.010-04:00

I never thought this day would come!

Especially not without having to buy another $200 seat.

I fit three across in my Ion! Yay.

I'm going to start watching a little boy in a couple of weeks, and we were planning to buy another Radian for him to sit in (the black seat shown in the pictures). They run around $230 but are often on sale for as cheap as $184...we'll still need one in a few months when Fletcher outgrows the infant seat, but for now we are okay with what we have.

Radians are the narrowest carseats on the market, so they're nice because they take up a lot less space than other seats...we love the one we have and figure having a second will be great, since we both drive regular cars and will probably have a third kiddo some day anyway who will need a seat. Plus, they have super high weight/height limits, so we will get yearsss of use out of them. We want to keep the kids in 5-pt harnesses as long as we can. Right now these seats are packed about as tightly as they'll go, but everyone will be buckled up safe and that's all that matters. :)

I *might* still move the seats around to see what works--as it is, Cameron will be in the Radian and Fletcher will be in the Britax when it's just the two of them. When our new friend is with us, Fletch will be in the Graco, since he's the smaller baby. Putting him in there will probably be a pain, but no more so than it would be to put either baby in the Britax were it in the middle, especially since I'd rather Fletcher rode in the Britax on the days the new baby is not with us (I think it's more comfortable). Plus, I think Cam will like riding next to Fletcher occasionally, and just thinking about uninstalling and reinstalling them all again makes me want to cry. So I'll probably leave things as they are.

Ooh wait...I think the infant seat might fit behind my seat. So that's another option, putting Cam in the middle. I can't believe I didn't think of that--I drove with Owen rear-facing in my car for over a year! Although I think he was in the middle spot for a lot of that time. Actually, I think Cam was in the middle and Owen was on the end? How do I not remember this?

Having the infant seat on the end, we could easily take it in and out as needed, since it's the seat we won't use on the days the new baby is not with us. And Cam could sit by both babies and help entertain them, get their binkies, and so on. The middle is the safest spot, and since Cam is in the least safe seat (being forward-facing), the middle is technically the best place for him, anyway. Hmm...may have to try that configuration tomorrow. We have tried the Britax behind my seat before and it didn't fit right (I had to move my seat up too far to be comfortable driving) but the infant seat's farthest point is further down the back of the front seat, so somehow there is more room there. We'll see...tomorrow may be a day of more experimentation!

**Update: Yeah, definitely doesn't work with Cam in the middle. The widest point of the Radian bumped up on the widest part of the Britax and I couldn't fit the Graco in. Oh well! It was a nice thought, and things will work out fine the way they are until we can get another Radian.

camp-in

2011-03-24T12:30:00.003-04:00

Right after that picture he wiped ketchup off his finger, onto the rug, so he's now at the table. Side note: do baby wipes have stain-removal properties? Because I've now managed to clean poop, mud, blood, and ketchup off of that rug with baby wipes and can't see any staining. Amazing product.

He was initially trying to make a house just out of the sandbox lid, but he likes this much better! I've realized we need better tent blankets; I think there are some in the linen closet, but that's awfully close to where Fletcher is napping at the moment (not to mention it has a loud door). He got a kick out of it just the same...he has a little play tent up in his room but it's been months since we've set it up. Maybe he can have lunch in it tomorrow.

bad week for allergies

2011-03-23T13:12:00.005-04:00

Sigh. Poor Cam.

Having been completely ignorant with regard to allergies before having kids, it IS kind of neat to learn new things about them--for instance, I had no idea a day could be freezing cold, with end-of-winter snowy weather, AND still have a high pollen count. I didn't know tree pollens came out this early! Cam's indoor allergies are to dust, dogs and cats, and his outdoor allergies are to tree pollens and weed pollens. In Ohio, tree pollen season is March-June, and ragweed season is August-October. Last year ragweed came early, mid-late July...so, in theory, Cam should be allergy-free for at least two weeks this summer. ::rolls eyes::

I do appreciate the helpful chart (it's from Weather.com if you're interested in checking it out). I'm thinking I will just have to keep an eye on it throughout the spring--hopefully it will help if we stay inside with the windows shut on the 'high' and 'very high' days. And hopefully there aren't too many of those days! Ragweed does seem to be a bigger problem for him than tree pollen, since fall and winter bring the viruses that aggravate his asthma, so it all sort of hits at once and he has trouble recovering as winter continues and more viruses come and go.

Mike and I have talked before about moving somewhere more clean-air friendly. Maybe not totally seriously, but we have certainly joked about moving to the dessert until the boys outgrow their issues. We're going to pay special attention to Cam's symptoms when we go to the beach (NC) in June. We would love to live in the Pacific northwest some day, or in parts of the northeast, and as it turns out both areas might be better for us in terms of ragweed. I'm not sure if there are many places in which we can hide from trees. I found this map that shows where ragweed is most prevalent in North America--and, more importantly, where it is least prevalent.

When Cam was first diagnosed we were so confused as to where he got all of his weird allergy and asthma issues. My brother and sister had allergies as little kids, and my sister had asthma, but both have pretty much outgrown their problems. Mike's dad developed dust and cat allergies in adulthood. Mike and I have never been diagnosed with allergies, but we realize more and more that we probably have some, too. My nose was itching when Cameron started coughing this last week or two, and Mike and I both got stuffed up right along with Cam. Mike often has a 'cold' when Cam does, which always sort of puzzled us, but now we realize they probably just have the same allergies. I had a dry, hacky, 'drainage' cough as a kid that drove my parents insane, just like Cam's that drives us insane. ;)

We're slowly putting the pieces together...not that it really matters whether these are genetic issues or not, but it still helps us feel a little better, if only because we don't feel quite as worried that maybe Cam suffers because of something we did wrong. Really, we just want him to feel better, for good.

bees, flowers, door-to-door salesmen

2011-03-22T14:23:00.005-04:00

Springtime brings many things. One thing I forgot about: solicitors. Neighborhood kids selling candy bars are one thing...grown-ups selling windows or religion are another. Every spring I grumble about finding a No Soliciting sign for my front door, but I never end up doing it. And I always feel obligated to answer the door because my front windows are usually open, so I know the people can see into my living room when they walk up to the door. Last year I wrote out "Please, No Soliciting" in block letters on the back of a shopping list and taped it to our storm door--it was super classy, yes. But it worked, for the most part--after I put it up only one person knocked and I didn't feel bad about staying in my spot on the couch, ignoring them, because hi, read the sign.

I mostly hate answering because I have a hard time saying no--I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings or appear rude, but I really, really don't want what they're selling. I can't afford to put new windows on my house, and even if I could I'm not interested in putting money into a house I'm going to lose money on when I sell. I'm not interested in hearing about their churches, or their magazine sales, or their giant tins of popcorn, or the educational books I can ONLY buy this minute on my front porch (and will never have the opportunity to buy them again, and don't I care about my children's future? Don't I want the best education for them?). One time I said "sorry, I'm not interested" to a man selling energy-efficient windows (we get one of these guys every year!) and he put on a sour face and said, incredulously, "You're not interested in saving money?"

And so I hate to say "not interested" before they've finished their opening sentence, but if I wait then I wind up being sucked in to their politeness and the next thing you know I've scheduled an appointment with the window-measurer next Saturday at 9am. [Can you tell I get worse every year? This year I'll wind up having them install a pane or two before realizing they must.leave.now before Super Frugal Husband gets home and kicks me and my new windows out.] I called after-hours to cancel and briefly considered that my best move for the future--act interested to avoid confrontation, rejection and disappointment, only to cancel over voicemail (which does not argue, nor have feelings [sad or otherwise])--but Mike insisted that was the wimp's way out.

Other times I've told them, "Sorry, I'm the babysitter!" and then they ask when the homeowners will be home and suddenly my lying tongue freezes and I tell them, "Erm, um, sometime after 5" and then they're interrupting our dinner to hear "not interested" from Mike. Crazy Book Seller Guy caught me at my parents' house; I tried telling him I didn't live there and he rationalized with, "But you have kids, right?" and went on to sweet talk me in his Slavic accent. "I just love this area, I'm so thankful to be able to go to school here, I sell books so I can finish school and make repairs on my bicycle." Yes folks, he rode a bike. Then he asked where I lived and proceeded to go through his list of sales and ask if I knew this family or that. Um, no.

The year before CBSG, his Female Counterpart talked her way into my living room after rousing me from nap--half asleep, I'd stumbled down the stairs to keep the dog from waking the kids with his insane barking and I literally have no idea how she wound up sitting on my couch, book catalog open between us, pointing out her wares. Maybe it was the heat and I felt bad for her? But I only felt worse when I came to and realized I was leading her on, and I still had to tell her I couldn't buy any of her books. I felt obligated to offer her some ice water before she left, which helped only mildly with the no-sale guilt.

Really, solicitors bring out the crazy in me. This all comes up because today, only two days into spring, some girls came to the door. They were sweet and smiling and I really wished we had a peephole. I told them the baby was sleeping, I was trying to get some muffins in the oven (both facts) and that I wasn't interested, and they smiled and said thank you, and I still felt like an ass. :-/ I was sweating and sour-stomached for an hour. I just can't take this kind of stress! Time for another sign.

today

2011-03-21T21:51:00.004-04:00

Hello, Sunshine.

Hello, Crocuses.

Bees, we missed you just a little.

We missed you, Dirt, a lot. Dug, thrown, always under fingernails.

Wiggly butt, never still.

Breath of fresh air.

march planting

2011-03-19T14:54:00.004-04:00

And so it begins. :)

The beds were a mess.

We weeded and hoed.

I cleaned up the strawberry bed and Mike trimmed the raspberry bushes. Eventually, we planted lettuces...

...and peas.

Cam was a little bit of a help, and a bigger bit of a hindrance. He tries, it's just that his idea of helping usual means more work and mess for us. Case in point--"building" with the bean stakes.

He was excited to find his garden tools again, but they are looking pretty shabby after a long winter out in the elements. Thankfully the Easter Bunny is bringing him a new set.

Fletcher watched from his little island...he is still getting used to the grass.

An old pineapple tomatillo skin from last year.

Cam loves planting seeds.

We planted two types of peas...I put mine two inches apart, and he put his in between.

Watering...his favorite part.

We used the water that collected in the sandbox lid from last week's rain. Yay, recycling. Reusing?

Cam got dirty. We all did! He went down for nap with little brown feet. That's the way it should be.

It was a beautiful, refreshing morning. I even got some laundry hung. I feel like spring is really here to stay...no more freezing cold days, no more snow. I'm hoping it doesn't get hot too fast like it did last year...I'd like this weather to stick around for a while! Nothing over 65 or 70, please. It's perfect.

a bajillion pictures of how it all went down

2011-03-17T09:49:00.004-04:00

Six little rhymes, six colors of the rainbow (err, they got rid of indigo, right?)...six fun surprises!

Setting the scene...

Finding the first clue...

...which led him to find green leprechaun pee in the toilet! And another clue.

Enjoying his green breakfast.

The rainbow's growing!

Next clue...

...frozen paint cubes!

Doing a little St. Patty's Day crafting...

...as it turns out, the paint was "too cold."

The next clue leads to more fun!

The last stop! A pot of gold candy other than foil-wrapped chocolate coins, because Mommy waited until 9pm on March 16th to run out for candy, oops.

Not surprisingly, he was most excited about the candy.

Completed rainbow!

Cam smiling nicely, while saying "leprechaun pee!"

Yay for a fun morning! It's a beautiful day, so now we're headed to the park with friends. Spring is right around the corner, folks!

st. patty's day is fun, even if you're not irish

2011-03-16T12:35:00.006-04:00

For most of my life, I thought I was Irish. Or part Irish. My dad calls it "Scotch-Irish," which I thought meant we were a mix of the two. Like how Mike's mom's side is Polish and Slovakian. Except what he really meant was that our family came from Scotland, and was relocated by the king (James VI, who succeeded England's Elizabeth 1 and unified Scotland and England), along with thousands of others, to Ireland in the early 1600s.

Anyway, when I realized the truth, I was slightly miffed. All my life I was sure I was Irish--like, "forget all those fakers who celebrate St. Patrick's Day, I'm REALLY Irish!" I wore my "Kiss Me" shirts with pride. I got offended at the stereotyping of Irish folks...the drinking problems, "Irish twins," arriving poor and starving to be lazy and overproduce in America (of course those are all still offensive!). And where the heck did all of my freckles come from if it wasn't from my (fake) Irish heritage?! I felt like my family's whole history had been changed. I was sure I hadn't been mistaken all that time...that at some point I had been told our family was from Ireland. My dad just shook his head and sighed, assuring me that he had always known our family was really Scottish, thank you very much.

So. The last few years I've struggled to find Cam an appropriate shirt to wear on St. Patrick's Day. One year I made him a shirt that said, "Kiss Me, I'm Scotch-Irish." Another year I made one that said, "Kiss me, I'm Italian, Polish, Slovakian and Scotch-Irish." I'm just kidding, I could never fit all of that on a two-year-old's shirt. Last year he just wore a green shirt to a St. Patty's Day party we attended with playgroup friends. This year, though, I'm going all out.

It's a fun holiday! I've heard of parents setting up little pranks and treats that a leprechaun has left behind for the kids to wake up to on the morning of March 17th. Green milk, gold-wrapped chocolate coins, a special shirt to wear. This summer we went to the Irish Fest here in town and bought matching shirts for the boys, so I've been waiting a long time for them to wear those! Today I made green pancakes for Mike to heat up in the morning for Cam (after he has his green eggs), and I'll try to get to Kroger for some of those gold coins tonight--Cam loves those things. I have a little black cauldron somewhere in my Halloween decorations in the basement, which would be perfect to hold the candy "treasure"!

I'm wanting to set up a little game where Cam has to work with us to read clues and find different surprises the leprechaun has left for him...things like tossing his clothes all around his room, hiding his toys in funny places, and a friend suggested dropping green food coloring into the toilet bowl...genius! Maybe he can even find green popcorn for snack. At each trick, I'll leave a piece of a rainbow...red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple. At the last one I'll hide the pot of "gold"! I think Cam will get a kick out of the little tricks and he'll definitely love the candy.

First things first: when he wakes up from nap today I'll tell him about leprechauns so he knows to expect mischief tomorrow--hopefully he enjoys the stories and looks forward to tomorrow's fun! :)

stove-top popcorn = heaven in a bowl

2011-03-15T11:04:00.008-04:00

Last weekend I had a hankering for popcorn. Really good kettle corn, maybe. We looked at the grocery and every single box, every brand--even the "natural" ones--used palm oil or soybean oil. Where's the real butter, people?! Mike really didn't want to buy those kinds, so we left without any. Determined to find some of the good stuff, I Googled a bit, but didn't come up with much. Boo, hiss. I'm sure there are options out there, but I wasn't really looking to spend a fortune at Whole Foods for popcorn, so I just stopped looking.

Today we woke to clouds in the sky and rain in the forecast. Fletcher would need nap too early to go to the mall for a Cinnabon (I woke up craving one...) so with nothing on the agenda I declared today a Movie Day. There are only three things you need for Movie Days (err, besides the obvious): a rainy day, pajamas and popcorn.

We headed to Kroger at 8:30am (kids in their pajamas and slippers, mama in fake pajamas [aka wind pants and a sweatshirt]) in search of the perfect box, and (maybe not) surprisingly, did not find it. I did find bottles of kernels...what is it about those things that are so intimidating? I have never cooked popcorn on the stove. My roommate in college used to, and she'd season it in all sorts of yummy ways. But other than that, my only experience with non-bagged popcorn was that opening scene in Scream, where Drew Barrymore's character gets murdered while her Jiffy Popper is burning on the stove. Yeah.

So anyway, after hearing from a friend that stove-top popping isn't as scary as it sounds, I decided we'd give it a go. I got a bottle of Orville Redenbacher's Gourmet Popping Corn. It was less expensive than the boxed kind and I bet it will make us more popcorn! We're out of olive oil, so I measured out 3 TBS of coconut oil and 1/2 cup of kernels, and into the pan they went. It took for.e.ver for the pan to heat up (it is heavy-bottomed, after all), but once it did the little guys were popping all over the place. It was so fun to watch! Cam thought it was hilarious and cheered and marched around, chanting a popcorn ditty.

Somehow I managed to take the pan off the stove before it all burnt (a feat I am usually unable to accomplish when microwaving the bags) and transferred the popcorn to a mixing bowl. It kept popping for a few seconds and popcorn was flying all over the place. Cam was scooping it up off the floor alongside the cats (they love popcorn!)--such a goof.

I sent him back to his movie (Toy Story! Pretty much the only one he will sit for.) and spooned some butter and brown sugar into a coffee mug. I microwaved it so it was nice and melty, and stirred in some cinnamon. Poured it over the popcorn, put a plate over the top of the bowl and shook the bowl up to evenly coat everything.

O.M.G. Best popcorn ever. It was sooo good. It was greasy, sweet and crunchy; even the flavor of the popcorn alone was fresh and full. Next time I might add a little salt, I love sweet and salty together. I'm pretty sure if I hadn't intervened (meaning, eaten a lot of it myself), that Cam would have finished the whole bowl on his own. He loved it, and now that it's gone he's bored with the movie and wants to make more. :) Which, no, I think we've both had enough corn for today, but I'm glad he liked it! Now he is playing with the uncooked kernels, putting them in his toy dump truck and letting them tumble out when he tips the bed. Cheap, tasty AND fun...who knew?

I'm excited to make more another day! I'm so glad it worked out well--just another step in the right direction re: not being afraid of kitchen appliances and cooking new things. The microwavable bags are easier and faster, but this way wasn't bad at all, and I think it's healthier and tastier, too. Now we just need another excuse to make more...maybe Mike and I can rent a movie and have Fake Date Night? I think I'll do something with garlic salt and herbs...or Parmesan...or all three together...mmm....

it's cape day

2011-03-14T12:13:00.003-04:00

Cam has developed a love for capes. We frequent a local coffee shop/play place that has dress-up clothes for their smallest of patrons, tutus and wings and capes. At home he asked to have a bandanna play silk tied around his neck, but it didn't "blow" enough for him. It was pretty much imperative that I make him a real "duperhero" cape.

We took a trip, just us, to JoAnn. The costume satin aisle is something impressive...every color you can think of, a rainbow of shiny, silky, sparkly fabric. Every color we passed was Cam's "favorite," and he chose purple, then green, then blue. When I asked him to look at them all and pick one, he chose orange. I asked him to pick a second and he picked blue. We got a yard of each and found matching bias tape.

Once I started, he decided that he wanted blue to be the main color, so that's how he wears it.

Checking himself out.

He strutted around the yard a bit, testing its "blow" factor.

Inside, he modeled his wingspan.

Next project: superhero mask. Because the "dobbles" just aren't cutting it.

Looking back, I should have dewrinkled the fabric somehow--I feel like Superman's mom would never let him leave the house looking so disheveled. Alas, costume satin doesn't iron well, and hanging it in the bathroom to get steamy didn't seem to help too much, either. I had also wanted to put some sort of applique on it, a star or a "C," but again, that's difficult with this type of fabric--especially difficult when you don't remember the applique idea until you've already sewn the two sides of the cape together. Planning is good, folks.

brothers

2011-03-12T20:57:00.003-05:00

When Cameron was a baby, he loved windows. He would stand against the sill of our front window and stare. Once he learned how, he would crawl past his toys every morning to sit in the open window and watch the day go by. We live on a quiet street, so he didn't even have many cars to look at--he just seemed to love the sunlight and the breeze, the trees and birds and sky. He has always loved to be outside, or at least looking out when he's in.

Fletcher loves to be outside when it's nice out, too, but his mobile days came in the dead of winter, when our windows were locked up tight. I usually open the blinds (just opening the slats, not raising them) but we have large chairs in front of both living room windows right now, so Fletcher hasn't had the chance to play where Cam loved to play.

Yesterday afternoon was nice...sunny and windy, but not freezing cold. Cam went out back to play for a little while but I kept Fletcher inside so I could sew for a bit. I opened the curtains and stood Fletcher up against one of the sliding doors so he could watch Cam play.

He loved it.

I went back to my sewing and at some point heard a knock at the window. I figured it was Cam coming back in for more bubbles or a hat or a drink of water. I turned to see this:

Giggles ensued.

Cameron ran off and Fletcher turned to me. I joined him at the window as Cam ran back for more fun. We played peekaboo; there was lots of laughter on both sides of the glass.

Cameron's a sweet, fun big brother and Fletcher loves him. I hope they are great friends, forever.

eight reasons bob evans is awesome

2011-03-11T20:27:00.014-05:00

We went for a late breakfast this morning, and I had lots on my mind by the time we left! Here's a list of reasons we think Bob Evans can't be beat.

1. The kids' menu pretty much rocks. This is really 3 reasons in one.
A. Variety. There are 13 different kids' meals (6 breakfasts, 7 dinners), and 14 different side options. Just tons of variety--Junior can get a plate of pancakes or eggs with bacon and fruit; spaghetti with meat sauce or macaroni and cheese...grilled chicken strips or turkey with gravy. Cam always gets the same thing--Little Farmer's breakfast...scrambled egg, bacon, fruit cup instead of home fries, pancakes. Today I added a second egg for Fletcher, no problem.
B. Healthy options. Sure, they have grilled cheese with fries (and I'm sure they're tasty!). But if you want healthier options, they have those, too. They offer fried chicken fingers AND grilled, and I don't know where else a kid can get a turkey dinner and mashed potatoes. Various vegetable sides (steamed broccoli, steamed carrots, salad, corn if you pretend that's a vegetable...), as well as applesauce and a fruit cup (usually cantaloupe, pineapple and grapes). Cam doesn't have to order a super healthy meal when we eat at a restaurant (the kid has a corn dog at almost every other restaurant), but I like that we can go here with him expecting to get pancakes and be able to insist that he eat some eggs first, you know? Best of both worlds.
C. Price. I honestly can't think of another restaurant that offers 13 meals for under $3 (and some are under $2!). If I had paid attention in math I could maybe calculate the total number of possible combinations between 13 meals and 14 sides, but alas, I didn't. I did just try to Google it, though, and wound up more confused than I started out. Rest assured, it's a LOT.

2. (OMG can you believe I'm only to two?) Family atmosphere.
This is important to me--I don't want to go out to eat and worry the whole time that my baby is too messy or my toddler's crazy head shaking thing is going to get someone's panties in a bunch. Of course I expect my kids to be polite and well-behaved when we go out to eat, but I also realize that they will have their moments, and I appreciate feeling welcome and unjudged by those around me.

Bob Evans and Red Robin top my Family Friendly list because it's always kind of noisy and busy at both restaurants (but not unenjoyably so) and that makes our kids' happy chatter seem not quite so disruptive. Screaming, crying, miserable baby? We'll walk him outside, feed him, try to quiet him...or just go home (although, to be honest, this has never been an issue for either of our boys--yet!). Squealing, happy-shrieky baby? Well, *I* don't mind when other babies are playful that way, so I like when other people think my baby's cute when doing it, too (as opposed to annoying).

3. A plethora of kids' seats.
Related to #2, but important enough to be noted all on its own, is the hefty supply of high chairs at many Bob Evans. I will never understand how some restaurants--even those geared at families (ahem, McDonalds)--can get away with having one or two high chairs total. TOTAL. I use one or two high chairs at my one table (depending on Cam's mood, heh).

Today at Bob Evans we used two high chairs and I saw a stack of them in a nook near our table. AND I saw several regular booster seats and a few high chair/booster hybrids...those things are great, and I haven't seen them anywhere else. They're like the traditional wooden restaurant high chairs, but just the top half--they're meant to sit on a booth like a regular brown booster, except they are more suited for babies/younger kids because they have buckles like high chairs! Yep, it's something to get excited about...they're awesome.

4. "Foggy" table separators.
Cam has recently become very interested in the people who sit around us at restaurants. He turns and cranes his neck around to watch people, point out other children and other people's food, etc. We think it is rude, and continually discourage him from staring and pointing at people. At some restaurants, glass or partial walls separate tables or sections, but Cam just cranes to look around the barriers or puts his hands all over the glass.

At Bob Evans, larger tables are separated by a wall down the middle, and there's a removable plate of "foggy" glass (Cam's description, and I can't come up with anything better at the moment) that is left up when the families on both sides of the table aren't together. They.are.awesome. Cam could stare all he wanted and couldn't possibly bother the other family--they couldn't see him any better than he could see them. Score! Yes, kid, stare all you want and marvel at the "fogginess"...it IS fascinating.

5. Cheap.
Cheap.cheap.cheap. Not much more to say about that! Lots of really yummy breakfasts (eggs, meat, bread, fruit, sweets) for less than what you'd pay at most other breakfast places. They have a lot of variety on the lunch/dinner menu, too, and we never feel like we're breaking the bank by eating out when we go there. I've already mentioned that the kids' meals are super inexpensive (like half of what you'd pay at other restaurants!), but the grown-up meals are just as impressively priced.

6. ALL DAY BREAKFAST.
Really, this could be the only thing on my Why Bob Evans Is Awesome list and it should be enough for anyone. Seriously--all day breakfast. All day...ALL.DAY. breakfast. That's breakfast, for any meal of the day, every day of the week. Yeah.

7. Good coffee.
We have three breakfast places in our town and one of them has naaasty coffee. I can't remember which of the non-Bob-Evans places it is, but blech. I try it every time thinking, "Well maybe last time they just made it wrong...," but no. I've tried coffee at McDonalds (my mom's favorite) and Tim Hortons (love their flavored drinks!), and both were just kind of bleh. Bob Evans? Goood coffee. And the waitress topped it off when I got low and I asked her next time to use decaf and we laughed, har har, she knows how that goes. Yum-o.

8. Based in Ohio!
Ooh, somehow I knew there'd be eight. Bob Evans is great because it started in Ohio, and the headquarters is still here! Even though the restaurants are individually owned and operated, it still feels like we're supporting the Buckeye State by eating there. :) We went all the time when I was growing up, and even now we meet up a few times a year with my grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, parents, siblings, etc...whoever's in town, hungry for breakfast. When I was a kid we went to the actual Bob Evans farm, I think I even met Bob Evans himself. I don't really remember much of the day, but I think there was a tree house we played in. I know there are pictures at my grandma's house somewhere...I'll have to find them and post here.

I'm not sure this is worthy of a 9th spot, but I like their little candy/toy display in the front of the store. It's slightly annoying when we're waiting for a table, because Cam wants to play with everything and tell me how much he neeeds candy. But when we were leaving I let him pick out a 39 cent sucker as reward for being so good. Yay, cheap thrills. It's a bunny.

So there you have it--I have an unhealthy obsession with a restaurant other than Tim Hortons. And I have way too much time on my hands on this Friday night. Who knew? But Mike's at a hockey game and the kids are in bed and I've just been thinking about my love of Bob Evans all day, so, yeah.

the secret's out

2011-03-11T13:50:00.004-05:00

[After thumping around in his room for 45 minutes, Cam comes thumping down the stairs on his butt, wearing his hard hat, totally surprised at being sent back to bed.]

Mommy: Cameron, get back in bed! It's naptime, it is time to rest your body and sleep.
Cameron: But it's light outside!
Mommy: It's always light at naptime.
Cameron: No, it's not!
Mommy: It is; naptime is daytime sleep, bedtime is nighttime sleep. It was light outside when Fletcher was napping, right?
Cameron: [through tears] I don't know!

And that, dear boy, is why you're in bed.

a way to spend a rainy day

2011-03-10T21:46:00.005-05:00

This morning we were up and out of the house by 9:30, which is early for these days. Before Fletcher was born, Cameron and I would make it to the zoo when it opened at 9:00, but mornings are slower to start nowadays. We managed to pull things together and got dressed and packed for a morning at Beemie and Papa's house.

Just what every boy needs on a rainy day...robot water bottle; suitcase full of tools and toys; rain boots.

I can remember the first time I realized Cam could remember events months after experiencing them. It was on a trip to Beemie and Papa's, having been a long while since we had last visited--he mentioned, out of no where, the "box" on their back deck that holds a dozen or so balls (and other outdoor toys). When we arrived at their house that day, he ran right through to the back door and out, straight to the ball box. This visit was no different.

The balls are flat but Cam loves to toss them all out of the box anyway.

Beemie didn't want him getting too wet, so he stayed on the path...hop, hop, hopping along.

Inside, Beemie got out some old puzzles. I'm not sure how old they were, but in one Mickey and Goofy were carrying hunting rifles--pretty sure I haven't seen one like that in the stores like, ever.

Cam loves puzzles, and his great-grandparents were impressed by his skillz.

Cam was proud, too. He was even willing to look directly at the camera and "smile." Which is only slightly preferred over the real-smile-without-eye-contact option (he did some of that, too**).

**Like so.

Fletcher was there too, of course, but he slept through most of the visit. Here's one picture I got of him before nap. He bonked his head on the sandbox this morning...or so Cam tells me--I may have left them alone downstairs while I got clothes from Cam's room. ::shuffles::

It was a nice morning. Cameron always enjoys these visits, and soon Fletcher can be excited for them right along with him. In the spring I hope we can visit more and get to Blacklick Woods to walk the paths; I want to show the boys the little pond and Nature Center I loved as a kid.

mmm...pizza

2011-03-08T20:57:00.005-05:00

We made a pizza this weekend! We used to do this weekly before we stopped eating a lot of grains. We tried out a gluten-free pizza dough recipe (Mike is convinced we will never get rid of all of our GF flour by just baking muffins for Cameron...) and it turned out well. We doubled the recipe and the dough covered a whole cookie sheet. Check out my perfectly-spaced pepperonis...nice, eh?

The end result...Mike wanted his side to be "mostly meat." Eep.

It was good! A nice change in pace from our usual meat-heavy meals. Next time I want to add some spices and garlic/onions to the sauce, and maybe some more veggies on top. Even though he refuses to eat bell peppers and mushrooms in stir fries, Cam will eat them (plus onions and sausage) on a supreme pizza, so I don't think he will mind if the next pizza isn't "just pep-pep-oni."

when bored children get desperate

2011-03-07T21:40:00.005-05:00

Or: How To Have Fun Indoors Without Playing [Correctly] With Toys

After a cold, rainy weekend and a homebound previous week (due to sickness), we may have lost Cameron to cabin fever. We know it's bad when he bores of climbing furniture and running laps around the house.

Earlier today he wanted to play hopscotch, so I helped him lay out the mat on the linoleum in the kitchen. Every now and then I heard Cam say, "No, baby...get off, Fletcher," and I'd look to see Cam gently guiding (ahem, pushing) Fletcher off of the numbers. "The baby's in my way on the six," then picking Fletch up to move him. [Several reminders here, about the importance of lifting Fletcher from under his arms, not around his neck.]

A few minutes later, they were gone! The room was quiet and I got up to look for them.

This went on for ages! When Daddy got home he raced around the house pulling just Cam, and even when he whacked into cabinets and things, Cam giggled like crazy. They moved too fast for a picture, but here's one of both boys.

Next incorrectly used toy to save the day: the Slinky. I have been looking for an excuse to get rid of this thing since Cam got it for his first Christmas. (Seriously, who gets a one-year-old a Slinky? Oh wait, that was me.) It has stayed in pretty decent shape somehow, but lately Cam has taken to swinging it around, bouncing it up and down, singing: "Yo-yo, yo-yo." And then I say, "It's not a yo-yo, bud." And then he says, "It's a Slinky?" It's fun.

No, no...that's not the fun part! The fun part is linking it up to random furniture and jumping over it!

Or you can play limbo and go under it.

Very full laundry baskets make good attachment points. Much better than when he randomly swung it and it happened to get caught up on the TV somehow.

Aaand now the Slinky is a goner. Fletcher is easy--open the dishwasher and he comes running. Erm, crawling. Then climbing!

Speaking of Fletcher, his second favorite past-time (after dirty-fork-stealing) is sword swallowing.

I know, I know...they need to get out more! Tomorrow we are headed to Firefly to play and I'm as excited as they are. Being home all the time is hard on me, too! I'm excited to get some tasty coffee and let Cameron run and climb and slide and jump and just go crazy. Fletcher will crawl around and cruise on furniture and impress people with his fearlessness. ;)

I'll definitely bring Cam's inhaler, though--last time we were there he started coughing after jumping in the bounce house and we were getting dirty looks, sigh. Tree pollens are high here right now and he was already coughing more today...exercise and the cold weather make it worse. Inhaler (or just reminding Cam to take it easy or we'll have to get it out) = I don't have to tell everyone whose eye I catch, "He's not sick, it's asthma!" Yay for something fun to do this week!

why children should be nudists, and more saturday blather

2011-03-05T15:53:00.013-05:00

Today I had the pleasure of running errands by myself. I feel like most moms get a thrill from any minute amount of alone time, even if that time is spent shopping for groceries or having her teeth cleaned. This morning I went to the meat market and the post office all by myself, and later I went to Giant Eagle (I wasn't alone for that trip, but Fletcher was quiet and content in the sling).

Now Mike and Cameron are gone to the library and Fletcher is napping. Before I sat down to a snack, I thought it wise to transfer Friday morning's wash to the dryer. By some miracle, it had not yet gone sour. I filled a tall basket with dry, wrinkled clothes and brought them upstairs to be folded (easily the second worst part about doing laundry, the 'putting away' being the first). The diapers are in the wash now, a day late...I need to just change the chore chart, as Friday's diaper load has been washed on Saturday for at least the past month.

Anyway, back to nudism. I am sick to death of the stained clothes. I'm not one to immediately spray or soak clothing, but I wash the boys' stuff once a week and always leave sprayed clothes to sit for hours or overnight. I occasionally think to throw Monday's painty preschool shirt in with our clothes on Tuesday, but usually not, and I really need to get better at it! I do *some* laundry just about every day of the week, so there's no excuse. I'll do the same with Fletcher's food-stained shirts, too.

Speaking of, what is the point of bibs, really? Because most of them hang below the neckline anyway, and those that don't still leave the sleeves exposed. Cam always ate naked as a baby (even in restaurants he went topless half the time...), but our house is cold in the winter so I feel sorry for Fletcher and let him stay dressed. No more! Or, well, I guess he can just wear all of his stained-up shirts at mealtimes, since they make up about half of his wardrobe now.

So many cute things, ruined by paint and food stains. UGH! And I feel sooo wasteful throwing things out, like maaaybe eventually I will find a product that works? Maybe if I just keep spraying and soaking and washing for ages it will come out? One super cute shirt Fletcher wore TWICE before it was ruined...so sad.

Cam's shirts are always getting grease spot type stains on them, though those usually come out with a second wash. My biggest problem with his stuff is the paint, so no more light colored shirts at preschool. And he's been given strict instructions to never sit on blueberries in khaki pants again. I need at least some of his clothes to pass down to Fletcher! At least in the spring and summer I can hang everything out in the sun--that always helps. Just another reason we are ready for sunshine and warmer weather over here.