tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-49312649922060611602024-03-13T03:49:34.346-06:00Bean and BugJust a little something to record our days. The ins and outs, ups and downs. While Daddy goes out and makes the money, Momma (Nic), Bean (our daughter) and Bug (our son) stay home, or go out, and search for fun adventures. My idea of what makes an 'adventure' has changed since having Bean and Bug, but it doesn't mean I'm having any less fun!Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03787546924066702065noreply@blogger.comBlogger138125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4931264992206061160.post-40242233318246908422014-07-15T17:48:00.001-06:002014-07-15T17:48:16.409-06:00Vegan/Vegetarian Bean Burgers<div class="h-4 strong" id="zlrecipe-ingredients">
I searched high and low for years to find a Vegan, or vegetarian - since I do eat dairy and eggs, bean burger recipe. I found LOTS that I did not like, at all, and I found a few that I liked well enough. The problem was that I never found one that I LOVED, and I never found one that the hubby liked well enough to eat without complaint, or actually ASK FOR come dinnertime. So, I took the few that I liked and mushed them together, made some changes here and there, tweaked a few things and came up with this recipe. The coloring is great, it's not some weird fluorescent yellowish green with specks of bright red and whole peas in it. (My family would NEVER eat something that looked so... Vegan.) It doesn't have any obscure ingredients that cost and arm and a leg and that you have to go to a specialty store for. The recipe is cheap and makes approx 18-22 patties, and they freeze really really well. My family loves them, and my omnivore friends admit that they taste pretty dang good. Are they greasy, fatty Angus beef burgers? Well, no. But if you want your BBQ burger to be animal free, look no further! </div>
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<b>Ingredients</b></div>
<span id="zlrecipe-ingredients-list"><div class="ingredient" id="zlrecipe-ingredient-0" itemprop="ingredients">
1 can Black Beans (15 oz. can), drained and rinsed
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<div class="ingredient" id="zlrecipe-ingredient-1" itemprop="ingredients">
1 can Kidney Beans (15 oz. can), drained and rinsed
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<div class="ingredient" id="zlrecipe-ingredient-2" itemprop="ingredients">
2-1/2
cup breadcrumbs (I do half breadcrumbs and half crushed Goldfish crackers)</div>
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<div class="ingredient" id="zlrecipe-ingredient-4" itemprop="ingredients">
1 cup finely chopped red onion
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<div class="ingredient" id="zlrecipe-ingredient-5" itemprop="ingredients">
1-1/2 cup roasted sunflower seeds, chopped (I like to add nuts as well; any combination of walnuts, almonds, pecans, pepitas, etc. All of the chopped nuts/seeds needs to equal approx 1.5 cups)</div>
<div class="ingredient" id="zlrecipe-ingredient-6" itemprop="ingredients">
1/2 cup finely pulsed carrot </div>
<div class="ingredient" id="zlrecipe-ingredient-6" itemprop="ingredients">
1-3 cloves of garlic, minced </div>
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2 Egg Replacer (follow directions for your product), or real eggs if you're not Vegan
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<div class="ingredient" id="zlrecipe-ingredient-8" itemprop="ingredients">
2 cups Flour (I prefer almond, but any will do.)
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<div class="ingredient" id="zlrecipe-ingredient-9" itemprop="ingredients">
2 teaspoons chili powder
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<div class="ingredient" id="zlrecipe-ingredient-10" itemprop="ingredients">
1/2 teaspoon paprika
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<div class="ingredient" id="zlrecipe-ingredient-11" itemprop="ingredients">
3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
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<div class="ingredient" id="zlrecipe-ingredient-12" itemprop="ingredients">
1 teaspoon oregano
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<div class="ingredient" id="zlrecipe-ingredient-13" itemprop="ingredients">
1 teaspoon salt
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<div class="ingredient" id="zlrecipe-ingredient-14" itemprop="ingredients">
1/4 teaspoon pepper
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<div class="ingredient" id="zlrecipe-ingredient-15" itemprop="ingredients">
oil for frying burger patties, or for wiping on BBQ grill to prevent sticking.</div>
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<b>Directions</b></div>
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Process the beans quickly (pulse) in a food processor so that they become a thick lumpy paste.</div>
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Process your bread/crackers for the breadcrumbs. Set aside.
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Mix the egg replacer and water. Set aside.
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Put all of the ingredients into a large bowl.
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Mix well. </div>
<div class="instruction" id="zlrecipe-instruction-9" itemprop="recipeInstructions">
Add water as needed. Depending on your geographic location you'll need more or less. I use almost a whole cup. Add water, mix. Add water, mix. Little by little until you've got the consistency of kneaded ground beef. </div>
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Form into baseball sized balls and place on a cookie sheet.
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<div class="instruction" id="zlrecipe-instruction-11" itemprop="recipeInstructions">
Put 6 on each cookie sheet, lined with parchment paper or aluminum foil.
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<div class="instruction" id="zlrecipe-instruction-13" itemprop="recipeInstructions">
Flatten each ball with the palm of your hand, or the bottom of a plate, to make a patty.
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<div class="instruction" id="zlrecipe-instruction-14" itemprop="recipeInstructions">
Freeze at this point or fry/grill the amount of patties that you want. Cook for 5-10 minutes per side until browned to your liking and warm throughout.</div>
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<div class="instruction" id="zlrecipe-instruction-18" itemprop="recipeInstructions">
<b>To Freeze</b>
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<div class="instruction" id="zlrecipe-instruction-19" itemprop="recipeInstructions">
Slide the cookie sheets into the freezer for about 15-30 minutes or until they are no longer sticky to the touch.
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<div class="instruction" id="zlrecipe-instruction-20" itemprop="recipeInstructions">
Transfer patties from the cookie sheet into a Tupperware type container, or a freezer bag, separating each patty with a piece of wax paper for easy removal when the time comes to cook.<br />You can fit 8-12 patties per gallon sized freezer bag depending on how big each patty is.</div>
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</span>Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03787546924066702065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4931264992206061160.post-4567639463650001732014-03-03T23:35:00.000-07:002014-03-03T23:41:07.521-07:00Our teeny tiny laundry room makeoverIn our house our laundry "room" is more like a laundry "closet" right smack dab in our dinning room. I try to keep the doors to the washer and dryer closed because all the cleaning products and extra boxes of Kleenex on the top shelf, along with the fact that our dryer door is glass so you can see our clean laundry sitting right there, waiting to be folded -- it's all a perfect combination for making my kitchen and dining room look cluttered and messy even when they're not. I would often get frustrated while in there because there was zero organization, the dingy yellow overhead light bummed me out, and because I'm in there at least once a day starting a load, or switching over a load, or taking a load out to be folded and that's a LOT of time spent in one room that you hate the way it looks and operates. Solution? Laundry <strike>closet</strike> room makeover!!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk_hGUkQJ8Mr_TikiYJmq8wHZfX5JNypulW7pKLXO9-rbXTqUXvXQqNV5F47DHx6ElUwn_xna1xoDfs4rCr7cVIAneaLFnUVqwvLNTas2ZAqYNXWZoze2GjIPnjEAuDOa_0VuGUUiG8Jo/s1600/LaundryRoomBefore3.3.14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk_hGUkQJ8Mr_TikiYJmq8wHZfX5JNypulW7pKLXO9-rbXTqUXvXQqNV5F47DHx6ElUwn_xna1xoDfs4rCr7cVIAneaLFnUVqwvLNTas2ZAqYNXWZoze2GjIPnjEAuDOa_0VuGUUiG8Jo/s1600/LaundryRoomBefore3.3.14.jpg" height="640" width="480" /></a></div>
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This is what my laundry room looked like before the makeover. This is how it looked every day since the day we moved in and unpacked. It drove me b-a-n-a-n-a-s every time I was in there doing the laundry. I'd just stare up at the detergents and look over at the 345 (give or take) plastic shopping bags, and I'd have to stand all funny, straddling the vinegar bottles, to put clothes into the washing machine. I started day-dreaming about how I could make it prettier and more organized and more compact - everything in it's place, and if it doesn't have a place at least there is somewhere to hide it until I make a place for it.<br />
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I mentioned my desire to makeover the laundry room to Jeff, half expecting him to put the kibosh on it until more pressing home improvements took place, but instead he said okay because we weren't going to have the money for large home improvements this tax return, he thought we might as well do a little something. This project became my little something.<br />
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Truth be told, I did the planning, the designing, the hemming and hawing and the eventual pointing at the things I wanted at Lowe's and IKEA - Jeff did all the actual work. He put it all together and made my vision become a reality. Thankfully he liked my vision, because had he veto'ed it I would have been a sad panda.<br />
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Without further ado, here is my newly finished laundry room!! :)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjERCcA5gYJaAzijpwe7DccTNYyQAM5hclWcq8foXFk8qsFMQSPwbFMVr9zCRVzk6BcCvmd4jy9-gmNw0W2KwKCdXayAq9jRBKlsfrbvkDyj2HdvD9D6BTEAsV-zj294OEpbzG1JNCN6mQ/s1600/LaundryRoom2014+%25283%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjERCcA5gYJaAzijpwe7DccTNYyQAM5hclWcq8foXFk8qsFMQSPwbFMVr9zCRVzk6BcCvmd4jy9-gmNw0W2KwKCdXayAq9jRBKlsfrbvkDyj2HdvD9D6BTEAsV-zj294OEpbzG1JNCN6mQ/s1600/LaundryRoom2014+%25283%2529.JPG" height="640" width="428" /></a></div>
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<i>Seriously? I didn't even take the diapers out of the dryer first. And, whoops! You can't see the flower in that photo...</i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggm6JAr6RGe-Tqpi0lmtLXvXKaTHbRsgwcTQlVK15inNso8fnClEuYe3oYiIqJnifyQWovqd8JmESOqE1t-ixnLzHyhEz3rWqXhEBUSgi2jiRarY02Vkg2yll_54pKLw8sxI92mCPZIOU/s1600/LaundryRoom2014+%25282%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggm6JAr6RGe-Tqpi0lmtLXvXKaTHbRsgwcTQlVK15inNso8fnClEuYe3oYiIqJnifyQWovqd8JmESOqE1t-ixnLzHyhEz3rWqXhEBUSgi2jiRarY02Vkg2yll_54pKLw8sxI92mCPZIOU/s1600/LaundryRoom2014+%25282%2529.JPG" height="428" width="640" /></a></div>
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<i>See the doors? It's seriously a little laundry nook. When they're closed you'd never suspect how pretty it is on the inside.</i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil_XmjKTO4CoLiyMcXL1t3AXkpepeSeXOPOjWtYgbrm8USUhiOAKT_GwIcbr3wLsX2D1NLYhqMQmOC01_eV99lQA2cTNyy-7S5umCDbKgGv2oIBoTH83eR8mOm07zQ2SMIEnG78cV0uIo/s1600/LaundryRoom2014+%25284%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil_XmjKTO4CoLiyMcXL1t3AXkpepeSeXOPOjWtYgbrm8USUhiOAKT_GwIcbr3wLsX2D1NLYhqMQmOC01_eV99lQA2cTNyy-7S5umCDbKgGv2oIBoTH83eR8mOm07zQ2SMIEnG78cV0uIo/s1600/LaundryRoom2014+%25284%2529.JPG" height="640" width="428" /></a></div>
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<i>Over the dryer. I plan to throw mismatched children's socks in that basket.</i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9TtLLWthiIK0iIFqmAO94dVOA_64Pprp9aOG8gKw3R8Z8X_3TtudfJ7ZMR6p16yg8xKjQ95oI2DlmC89q4I7YWMYJXn6QoAaeOAdHqm02UrS6CpKlS8v63PKAe4kUQaaU6tH0Bz9thL0/s1600/LaundryRoom2014+%25285%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9TtLLWthiIK0iIFqmAO94dVOA_64Pprp9aOG8gKw3R8Z8X_3TtudfJ7ZMR6p16yg8xKjQ95oI2DlmC89q4I7YWMYJXn6QoAaeOAdHqm02UrS6CpKlS8v63PKAe4kUQaaU6tH0Bz9thL0/s1600/LaundryRoom2014+%25285%2529.JPG" height="640" width="428" /></a></div>
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<i>My homemade detergent looks SO MUCH BETTER in that canister, than in the busted Tupperware that I used to keep in it. That basket will catch the loose change I find in Jeff's pockets and inevitable toys I'll soon find in the kids' pockets.</i></div>
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<i>We still plan on putting a rolling tower of shelves or drawers in between the machines, but I haven't found one I like enough yet. Maybe we'll just build one this summer. We want to put a drying bar up for the few things we own that can't be dried in the dryer, but it'll be up at the top, in between the cabinets, out of sight when not in use.</i></div>
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That's my big laundry room reveal! I'm still so excited about it, I smile and take it in every time I open the double doors. It took about a quart and a half of paint (Olympic ONE brand, Yucca color), the tulip photo is from Lowe's and I found it by accident. I was bored and flipping through the framed art while Jeff was looking at something else, but it really pulled together all the ideas/colors I wanted to put into the room. The cabinets, knobs, and detergent canister were from IKEA. The shelves and baskets were also from Lowe's, and the silly framed word print I printed myself, on my home computer, using a free font that I found on <a href="http://www.pinterest.com/nicsingleton/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a> (Dynasty is the font's name), I put it in an old frame we had in the garage.</div>
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This little project packs a big punch of happy and I encourage you to do it if you've been feeling like you need to spruce up an area of your home but don't have a lot of time or money to do it. Laundry rooms, man... who knew?!</div>
Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03787546924066702065noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4931264992206061160.post-38033721722914090222014-02-19T12:52:00.000-07:002014-02-19T12:52:17.138-07:00The Princess Phenomenon Bean has been my wild and crazy, free-spirited, smarty pants little sprite since she came into our lives. She marches to the beat of her own drum, she likes what she likes and will not be swayed any other direction, she never ceases to amaze me. Girlfriend has loved Thomas the Tank Engine since before she was 2 (her 2nd birthday party was Thomas themed) and still looooooves him. From what fellow mom-friends tell me, it's pretty impressive for a 3.5 year old to still like something 2 years after she first became interested. She loves nature and science and math (so far, anyway... and I can only hope that she continues to 'get' it, because her momma and math do NOT get along, I don't want the same fate for her), she <i style="font-weight: bold;">loves</i> to read, and will listen to you read stories to her <i>literally</i> all day if you've got the time, and patience, to do it. I've never tried to guide her likes and interests, but rather let her decide what she likes and then try to foster her growth accordingly, in a way that celebrates her interest in <i>whateveritisshelikesinthatmoment</i>. There have been a few people over the years who've tried to suggest to her that she should like Minnie Mouse or Disney princesses or Angelina Ballerina, but she would just say, "no thanks" and continue playing with her trains or schooling me on the name of different dinosaurs.<br />
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Imagine my surprise when, about 6 months ago, she suddenly started asking to roll down the Disney princess aisle in Target. Imagine my surprise when she started asking for ALL THE DOLLS every chance she got. And then, Frozen came out in the movie theaters.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiybakZzep72tkHEhOCJolTPIxrvWfb6Zt5k3sPPIELzh5NvZBTB6uTRYaOPzPGCje1zw3TGxeW2kW-qO6sQ49NMtsWlzerGV7nPlIAzw0t7WqXlTo6E_BdfsF0JxgJIX54hQ0PVFkmo7A/s1600/2.19Disney-Frozen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiybakZzep72tkHEhOCJolTPIxrvWfb6Zt5k3sPPIELzh5NvZBTB6uTRYaOPzPGCje1zw3TGxeW2kW-qO6sQ49NMtsWlzerGV7nPlIAzw0t7WqXlTo6E_BdfsF0JxgJIX54hQ0PVFkmo7A/s1600/2.19Disney-Frozen.jpg" height="400" width="640" /></a></div>
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<i>It really is a great Disney movie. </i></div>
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It was all over before I knew what hit me. I know that she is just one of the hundreds of thousands of kids who have been sucked into the Frozen trance, and I admit I like the movie and soundtrack too. Each time she'd see the trailer for it she'd stop dead in her tracks and watch the screen, completely entranced. My mom and I decided to take her to the theater to see it - she was SO excited at the thought! She bounced up and down, excitedly talking about seeing the movie, and begging Jeff and I to take her to the store to buy Baby Anna so she could take her with to the theater. After asking her about 25 times if she was SURE she wanted to spend her Christmas money on <i>another</i> baby doll, and her assuring us that YES, she NEEDED to buy Baby Anna so she could see herself in her movie, we took her to the store and she bought her newest Disney baby. My mom and I took Bean, and Baby Anna, to see Frozen the next day and her mind was blown.<br />
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Since that day at the theater I don't think there's been a day that Bean hasn't sung, "Let it Go" or "Do You Want To Build a Snowman?" while wearing her Princess Anna costume gown and tiara that she bought - again, with her own money - from Toys R Us. The quality of the costume is terribly cheap and it's falling apart after being worn every day for about a month now, but she HAS TO WEAR IT every day. I think Frozen, and her obsession with it, has also ramped up her love for all things Disney Princess. If she sees anything with a Disney princess on it while we're out running errands she has to stop and look. She likes all the individual princesses, but she LOOOOVES Aurora, from Sleeping Beauty. She is legit obsessed. Why Aurora? I've asked her the same question, finding it strange since she's never seen Sleeping Beauty... She answered me as if I should have known; "Her hair is golden, and her dress is pink." <i>Duh, Mom.</i><br />
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I don't know why little girls suddenly become OMGOBSESSED with Princesses, but the peeps at Disney know what they're doing while marketing to them. I don't think there is a store that we frequent that doesn't have <i>something</i> with a Disney Princess adorning the packaging. Seriously, we were at Sears looking at tools (for Jeff) and shoes (for me and Bean) and as we turned down one aisle of shoes, Bean spotted the one singular open shoe box sitting in a pile of unorganized children's shoes on clearance with not only lights (!!!) but also Disney Princesses, but most importantly - AURORA!!! Omgosh!!! I started to give her the disclaimer, "Babe there is only ONE pair of these shoes, I didn't see them on any of the other shelves. They might not be in your size." She pulled the box off the shelf and whatdoyouknow.... they were her size. Girlfriend couldn't be more excited!<br />
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<i>I have to talk her into taking these off at bedtime. No, you can't sleep in your sneakers. LOL</i></div>
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<i> </i> </div>
Thankfully, for her, she did need another pair of sneakers and thankfully, for us, they were on clearance for $9.99. A few days later the fam went to Lowe's to buy some paint (to makeover our laundry room) and since Lowe's is a hardware store you may not think that you would find Disney Princess stuff. If you thought that, you'd be wrong. We left Lowe's with some really great green paint, and a new Disney Princess projector nightlight. Aurora? Yes. She's included in the group of princesses. And that night at bedtime, Bean couldn't believe her eyes - there were <i>princesses</i> on her <i>ceiling</i>.<br />
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<i>Stock photo, but you get the idea...</i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
Three days later and she's still trying to figure out how the princesses got inside that light, because, "Princesses live in <i>castles</i> not in lights!" <i>Again... Duh!</i><br />
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Don't start to fret, we do not buy her ALL THE PRINCESS THINGS even though it sure felt like we did this past weekend. Rest assured, this is not a case of the body snatchers, Bean-Girl still loves Thomas the Train and never tires of his DVDs, but I fear that it won't be much longer and she'll be gifting her trains to her brother to make room for Princess castles or some such nonsense. ;)<br />
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<i>Sweet Bean, loving her Valentine's Day goodies. </i></div>
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(Disclaimer: I say "fear" and "nonsense" to make a joke. I don't mind that she likes princesses and am not discouraging her from liking them... I just find it funny/amazing/strange that about 6 months ago some switch flipped in her mind and she <i>suddenly</i> became obsessed.)Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03787546924066702065noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4931264992206061160.post-160262207023004062014-02-03T09:51:00.000-07:002014-02-03T09:55:53.994-07:00Let's talk about sleep, baby. Let's talk about you and me...Wait... is that song not about <i>sleep</i>? My mistake. Sleep is 75% of what I think about these days.<br />
<br />
I've mentioned before that Bug is not a great sleeper. He's getting better, thank all the things that are holy, but he's still not sleeping through the night. But, ok. I'm accepting that that is just who he is. It sucks sometimes, but I've had nearly 8 months of it, and he is who he is. I expect it when I lay down at night; I expect him to wake up the minute I fall asleep, and then I expect him to wake up every 3 hours after that. I don't like it, but I EXPECT it.<br />
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What I don't expect is for Bean to be sleeping terribly all of a sudden. Around Christmas she started waking up at 7 instead of 8:30. It was a sudden change that I <i>assumed</i> was due to her excitement about Christmas and Santa, I <i>assumed</i> her wake up schedule would go back to normal after the holidays. I was wrong. It doesn't matter what time she goes to bed, she's up for the day between 6:45-7:15. I know that that isn't <i><b>that</b></i> early, but when you already have one crappy sleeper, you want your other kid to keep getting up at 8:30 because you're tired, and want your sleep. News flash: when you're a mom it doesn't matter what you want, or that you're tired... these sweet love muffins you brought into the world now make all the rules and you just have to rely on coffee to keep you going. But her early wake ups aren't the worst part. The worst part is a new development. One that I'm smart enough to not <i><b>assume</b></i> is just some short lived phase. Whenever I <i>assume</i> the best, reality smacks me in the face and I'm stuck with a new, crappy, normal. So, I'm trying to reverse psychology this new development and hope that it doesn't become the new normal by accepting that it is. Got that? That sentence was confusing to type. But my brain is confusing lately, so... try to keep up with my nonsense. I'm sure by now the suspense is killing you, <i>What is this new terrible sleep development?!</i> you're shouting at your computer... You're on the edge of your seat... Here it comes, get your best mommy-advice ready because I need some magic ju-ju to help... The new development is nightmares. She doesn't call them nightmares, but she says she has bad dreams, ones that make her afraid of the dark (even though there is a nightlight in her room), ones that make her yell out in her sleep - usually just nonsensical words, but sometimes full sentences and sometimes just cries, ones that make her "not want to be left all awone", ones that bring her into our bed at 1am, nestled in between Jeff and I, where she tosses and turns and lays sideways and upside down and folded in half at her waist, and neither she or I are getting enough sleep. (Jeff sleeps fine, because apparently Dads have magic sleeping powers.) I always <i>assumed </i>(I really should stop ASSuming things) that kids slept great despite their wonky sleeping positions/movements, but every time she kicks or jabs me awake at night I open my eyes and her eyes are open too. She isn't getting solid hours of sleep, she's only getting 30-45 min catnaps in between thrashing around and head butting me. Even though it would start a bad habit, <i><b>IF</b></i> she came into our bed and just slept I'd let her do it indefinitely, but she's not. I'm not sure what to do... do I walk her back to her room and have to sit/lay in there for an hour or more until she falls back asleep? Do I invite her into our bed, wait for her to fall asleep and try to carry her back to her room? Do I sleep on the floor next to my bed? I don't know why she's having the bad dreams in the first place, but that's the issue that I really wish I could fix. I wish she'd just have sweet dreams and sleep peacefully in her bed like she's done for the last 3.5 years. When I ask her what she dreams about it's always about a kitty or doggies. She doesn't talk about them being hurt in her dreams, or hurting her, or fighting amongst themselves, so I don't know what it is about the dream that is waking her up but she's visibly upset each time. We have her go potty when she wakes up and she always pees a lot, so perhaps it's the urge to pee that's actually waking her up, but she still insists that it was the bad dream.<br />
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All I know is that if I don't get some sleep soon I'm gonna snap. I'm talking shaved head, umbrella wielding, crazy faced Britney Spears type of "snap"... not some funny anecdote type of "snap". I can't keep getting up with Bug 2-4 times a night but then only getting 20-40 minute spurts of sleep, while I'm being physically assaulted I'm in my own bed by Bean, in between his nighttime feedings.<br />
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Send help. Send positive sleep ju-ju my way. Send coffee. Send the Sandman. Something. Anything.<br />
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<i>napping narcolepsy-style because she's not getting enough sleep at night.</i></div>
Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03787546924066702065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4931264992206061160.post-79612370595473395342014-01-30T10:19:00.000-07:002014-01-30T10:29:06.188-07:00Updates on The Bug... since it's been awhile, again...I can't believe Bug will be 8 months old in just a couple days. I mean, he's HUGE, so I suppose it shouldn't come as a huge surprise that he's getting older fast -- but it honestly doesn't seem like almost 8 months since he was born. I know every mother says that, but it's true.<br />
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Recent(ish) changes in him:<br />
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He army crawls like nobody's business. If he wants to get at something across the room he'll be there in a matter of seconds. He spins, on his tummy, in circles to change direction - if he wants to that is. If he's heading toward something he's not supposed to touch and I try to verbally correct him he <i>completely</i> ignores me. Keeps on keepin' on, refuses to even look in my direction, and keeps army crawling at the speed of light. He still rolls across the room to get around, but not as much. Army crawling has become his preferred mode of transportation. He gets up on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth super fast. He's totally gearing up to crawl - for realsies - and then they'll be no stopping him. We're still able to keep him contained to the living room, but I doubt that'll work for much longer. In the last couple days he'll crawl up to the edge of the living room where the carpet meets the wood floor and he just stops and looks. He reaches out and touches the hard floor, and stares down the hall or into the kitchen, but he doesn't venture out onto the wood floor yet. He is unsure, and for that I'm thankful. Right now I have to pick up the living room floor about 6 times a day to (try to) keep him from eating things he's not supposed to. You know, the teeny tiny toys that Bean leaves laying around. Also backyard debris that the dogs drag in. And just picking up the living room that many times a day is time consuming and kinda stressful. (Especially when he manages to find the one piece of string on the floor that you missed and you don't realize until he's actively choking on it.) But once he figures out that the wood floor isn't something to be scared of, and he is <strike>running</strike> crawling amok through the whole house I'm going to be a crazy person trying to keep the floor picked up/swept/vacuumed/mopped. Now that I'm thinking about it, I suppose we need to put the child proof locks on the cabinets with chemicals inside asap. We never had to worry about these things when Bean was little. Yes, we did child-proof everything back then, but she NEVER got into things that she wasn't supposed to. You'd tell her no once, or "ah-ah!" at her once, and she'd never go near that thing again. Bug already ignores our warnings and returns to the areas/items we remove him from repeatedly. I'm talking 15+ times a day. He knows he's not supposed to be there, or touch that, but he doesn't care. He wants to do it, and he laughs at our attempts to stop him. <br />
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Hmm, what else? Food. Bean <b><i>haaaaaaaaaaaated</i></b> purees. I found this out after I painstakingly made 5 big batches of organic pureed baby food, froze it in ice cube trays, popped out the cubes of food and stored them all in the freezer in gallon freezer bags ready to be used 2-3 cubes at a time. I was so proud of myself and my efforts to feed her the best foods. She completely refused to eat ANY purees. It didn't matter the veggie or fruit. She didn't want them. So, instead she ate small bites of soft "real" food. Peas, steamed veggies chopped up into tiny cubes, fruit galore, Cheerios, scrambled eggs, etc. With Bug if there is ANY texture he gags and spits like he's about to swallow a giant jaw-breaker whole. Relax, Child! That tiny piece of banana/black bean/scrambled eggs/carrot, the one that's about 1/4 the size of a pencil eraser isn't going to choke you!!! Just gnaw it up and swallow it! You'll be fine! I promise. But, no. Instead it's a production of loud gagging, throwing his head back, drool EVERYWHERE, red watery eyes, coughing until he finally gets the offending piece of food out of his mouth. Now, we feed him pureed baby food 2-3 meals a day. I'm still buying store bought baby food until I have a good list of things he actually likes and then I'll go buy the foods to make my own purees. I'm not going to be stuck with gallon freezer bags full of pureed peaches/sweet potatoes/green beans in my freezer for months again. He definitely prefers savory vegetables to sweet fruits. Which is foreign to me. I have SUCH a sweet tooth that I can't imagine snubbing sweets. He likes what he likes, though. Some days he only eats 2oz of purees, and then some days (like yesterday) he eats 3.5oz each time! I couldn't believe he ate 7oz of baby food yesterday. I'm not sure what the "norm" is since I can't compare it to what Bean used to eat, but I guess it's good that he's eating his veggies (and some hidden fruit) without complaint.<br />
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**Side note/rant because UGH. Yesterday was the first day Bug got to try any grains. (We don't do baby cereals since they have no nutritional benefit.) The puree was "Organic Butternut Squash, Harvest Apple, and Mixed Grains." I know he loves butternut squash, so I was excited/hopeful that he'd eat the apples without complaint since they'd be hidden by the squash. He happily ate the entire 3.5oz container. I was shocked. After I cleaned him up and threw away the empty I started to wonder what the "mixed grains" were, so I went to the pantry to read the ingredient list.... "organic oat flour.... brown rice flour.... TUNA OIL (for added DHA)" UH.................WHAT?! As a vegetarian I was/am so squicked out!! Why on Earth would I have thought to check for animal products in a baby food that says Butternut Squash, Apples, and mixed grains?! I don't search out baby food that has "added DHA" since Bug is fed primarily breastmilk, which has plenty of DHA. I don't supplement with formula (which usually has added DHA to compete with breastmilk), I don't give vitamins with DHA in them -- again, because I don't need to! He's a breastmilk baby. It's not something I'm concerned with. I felt like such an idiot for not checking, but like I said WHY WOULD I HAVE THOUGHT TO CHECK FOR ANIMAL OIL IN A VEGGIE/FRUIT BABY PUREE?! First time mom Me, back with Bean, would have read every ingredient list before putting it in the shopping cart, but second time mom Me thought I had it under control. Blech! I'll be reading all the labels from now on... Side note part 2: I know he'll be fine after ingesting some fish oil, it just goes against my ethical code to eat animals/feed them to my children. I'll let them make that choice on their own when they're older. Side note part 3: He gas and poo has never smelled so disgusting. I don't know if the fish oil is to blame or the grains, but SO GROSS!! It's totally like man farts/poo, not baby gas/poo. This is the worst part about starting to feed your breastfed baby solid foods.<br />
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Ok, moving on... Sleep: For now, Bug seems to be sleeping better. He's no longer waking up 5-10 times a night. Now it's 1-3 times a night. I can't figure out any rhyme or reason as to why he wakes up 3 times some nights and only once other nights. I imagine tummy gas or teething or alllllllmost crawling are the culprits, but I wish I could better anticipate the nights. The nights he only wakes up once I feel almost human again the next day. And, because I'm out of practice, the nights that he wakes up 3x I feel like a zombie the next day. I'm not complaining, just making observations. I'll take 3x a night over 5-10 ANY day!!!<br />
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Speaking of teething, Bug has 6 teeth. Four up on top, and two on the bottom. (!!!) At this age Bean had 2 teeth. Bug may be slower at doing some things (like crawling) but he's not messing around when it comes to growing and popping out teeth! You'd think with 6 teeth he'd be better about eating solid food.... ;)<br />
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His preferred form of communication is yelling. Both happy squeal-type of yelling, and angry/sad-type of yell-crying. When he's happy talk-yelling you can't help but smile and laugh. He just sounds SO happy! But when he's upset watch out. He doesn't have any sad baby-cry left in him. His cries are all yell-crying now. Yell-growling, Yell-complaining, Yell-crying. He's such a happy baby 95% of the time, but he knows how to throw a tantrum when he's tired, hungry, hurt - or just pissed that his sister dared to take something away from him.<br />
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Bug is such a joy to have in our lives. He makes me laugh and smile every day. He makes me smack my forehead in disbelief at his antics at least once a day. He's a huge tank-sized baby, but he's healthy and happy and we couldn't ask for any more. But we're totally in for it with him. I imagine my next blog post will be one where I'm hastily typing out an S.O.S. because he will have taken over the house by then. haha!<br />
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Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03787546924066702065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4931264992206061160.post-17953118211102478072013-12-01T09:42:00.000-07:002013-12-01T09:42:03.507-07:00Go big or go homeMan alive, I sure know how to ring in the holiday season: with a raging case of mastitis. I am lucky that I've never had to go through this hell before, and I thought I was in the clear as mastitis is most common in the first 6 months of breastfeeding and Bug will be 6 months old on Friday.<br />
<br />
What started as a fever and aches and chills early Saturday morning (it was still dark, 4am-ish) has turned into pure hell. I thought I had the flu, now I wish it was the flu. This pain in my right breast is unreal. This fever (hovering around 102*-103*, even with meds) is unreal. <br />
<br />
Since I'm an exclusive pumper I have to get up, and stick to my pumping schedule, regardless of these chills, regardless of the pain. If I was able to nurse my babies I would still be writhing around in bed, but at least I wouldn't have to get out into the <i>freezing</i> air to feed him. I'd be able to roll over, nurse him frequently, and then drift back into a fever induced dreamland.<br />
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I can't stand how it feels - <i>FREEZING, </i>skin <i>hurting</i>, joints <i>aching</i> with a fever. And then add in this huge red, warm to the touch, throbbing, heavy feeling breast infection. Put a fork in me, I'm done.<br />
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My midwife said, at 7:45am, that she would call in a prescription to the 24 hour pharmacy so I could get the Keflex into my system asap. But here I am, at 9:38am wishing for death. My mom, bless her, drove across town to the Walgreens to pick up my meds and they <i>HAVEN'T EVEN RECEIVED MY PRESCRIPTION YET!!</i> What the hell?! I've put in another call/message to my midwife, but she hasn't called me back yet. I hate how I get SO sick on the weekend when no one is in the office, but only on-call.<br />
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I'm currently pumping through the pain, I'm forcing myself to eat and drink even though the fever is making me super nauseous, I need to shower in a bad way, but the thought of getting goosebumps when I get out of the shower sounds like torture to me at the moment.<br />
<br />
I'm hoping and praying that I get my meds by lunchtime at the latest, it'll take 24 hours for me to start feeling better and that 24-hour finish line can't start until I take the damn meds!<br />
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Hopefully I'll have some joyful Christmas something-or-other to post about in a day or two. I can only hope.<br />
<br />
Ugh.<br />
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<i>(If this doesn't make sense, don't blame me, blame the fever!)</i>Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03787546924066702065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4931264992206061160.post-6871198477511985562013-11-29T10:13:00.001-07:002013-11-29T10:13:22.697-07:00Bug's first Thanksgiving!Yesterday was our first Thanksgiving with the Buggy-boy! ♥ It is holidays and family get togethers that make me stop and reflect back on the <i>last</i> holiday or the <i>last</i> time the family got together and notice how much things have changed. Once you have babies time literally FLIES by in the blink of an eye.<br />
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Anyway, before I go getting all sappy and sentimental AGAIN let me just briefly touch on how thanksgiving went.<br />
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Bug wore the same "Baby's first Thanksgiving" onesie that Bean wore on <i>her</i> first Thanksgiving back in 2010. It was baggy on her. It was pulling tight on him. Haha!<br />
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I love that having two summer babies means I get to compare them in the same outfits at the same holidays! :)<br />
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Disclaimer: I am a stickler about not giving our babies solid food until they are 6 months old. There is <i>endless</i> research - medical research - about why delaying solids until 6 months <i>or later</i> is best for baby's gut. Bug will be 6 months old in 6 days. He's been extremely interested in watching us eat for almost 2 months now, he mastered his pincher grasp about 3 weeks ago, he doesn't have his tongue thrust reflex anymore... the only thing he doesn't have on his checklist before giving solids is: sitting up unassisted. But, have you seen the size of his head? It's heavy. I don't blame him for not being able to sit up quite yet. All that to say, we made the executive decision yesterday to let Bug try a small taste of plain baked sweet potato. It was Thanksgiving after all, and it was only 1 week "early".<br />
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Good news: He didn't <i>ab-so-lutely</i> hate it like Bean did. He also didn't love it. He probably only ate a total of 1/2 of a teaspoon and it went like this: first small taste - gnaw, mash, sucksucksuck, swallow. second small taste - gag and shake head around. third small taste - gnaw, mash, sucksucksuck, swallow. fourth small taste - gag and shiver shoulders like he got the heebie jeebies. Haha. He was pretty unimpressed, and I wasn't hell bent on making a meal of it, I just wanted him to try it. And he did. Now we'll wait until his half-birthday before trying something else. :)<br />
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My long-time friend crocheted Bug a suuuuuper sweet Turkey beanie for his first Thanksgiving. He's been wearing it every time we've gone outside since it came in the mail, but it looked really perfect with his Baby's First Thanksgiving onesie. Everyone at dinner loved it and it completed his ensemble! <br />
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<i>She makes custom hats and scarves and hats for any holiday you can think of! If you'd like to order one from her let me know and I'll give you her info. :)</i><br />
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Alright... Jeff wants to go out into the crowds to try to snag a few good deals at the Black Friday sales so I've got to get going. I hope everyone who reads my tiny blog had a great Thanksgiving with their loved ones! ♥<br />
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(I didn't get any pictures of Bean yesterday because she was busy outside playing with her cousin non-stop!)Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03787546924066702065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4931264992206061160.post-86648603480011060982013-11-26T17:56:00.000-07:002013-11-26T18:40:56.023-07:00What started out as a "SLEEP, Kid!!!!!" post turned into a walk down memory lane...If having a second child has taught me anything, it's that having ONE child teaches you <i>nothing</i> about raising childREN. Your second baby is guaranteed to be <i>nothing</i> like your first child. Sure, all babies cry, eat, poop, etc but the specifics about how much, when, why they do those things is a complete mystery. Throughout my pregnancy with Bug I felt pretty confident about what to expect once he got here. "I've done this before, and Bean was a <i>difficult</i> newborn, so this HAS to be easier this time around. I know what to expect. I'm prepared."<br />
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Stupid, stupid, <i><b>stupid</b></i> me. <br />
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Everything I thought I knew has turned out to be wrong when it comes to Bug. The only thing I'm better about this time around is how frazzled I get by baby surprises.<br />
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Bean was a colicky baby. She cried a LOT. She was a terrible napper, napping only 15-25 mins at a time. Her saving grace was that she was a fantastic nighttime sleeper. Starting around 7 weeks old, she'd go to sleep around 7:30 and sleep until about 7am. I didn't have to "train" her to do this, she just did. At about 6 months old she started waking up around 1am, drank her bottle without fuss, and then went back to sleep until 7:30am. That wasn't bad, I didn't mind. She was a tiny peanut and I felt she needed the extra calories. Her daytime bottles always went down without a struggle, too. She put herself on an every 3-4 hour schedule during the day and gladly drank her 4oz bottles and then was fine until it was time for her next bottle. Eating and sleeping, she had those two things down pat. She hit all her physical milestones early - rolling over at 4 months, crawling at 5.5 months, standing by 7 months, climbing on EVERYTHING by 8 months, walking unsupported by 10 months. She was (and still is) Miss Independent. I've actually read quite a bit on "difficult babies" (you do that, desperate, at 2am when your baby just won't stop crying in those early months) and it seems like she did everything by the book for <i>difficult</i> babies. Even her pediatrician said that her "colicky" babies were much like Bean, <b>very</b> intelligent, type A, over-achiever types. She always benefited from a schedule, things being done JUST SO, she likes things in order, stacking everything in sight, and God forbid her schedule got off track EVERYONE would pay the price. I love her to bits and pieces, but I'm oh-so-glad that she's out of those baby-stages. She is still very much that personality, but now she can verbalize her needs and we can (try to) help her through her freak outs when things don't go her way, or when things don't go in the order she thinks they need to. She was always, and still is, in the 75% for her height and 20% for her weight. She wore all her clothes when she was "supposed" to: 3 month clothes fit her when she was 3 months old, 6 month clothes fit once she hit 6 months, etc. Because of this she was easy to shop the clearance racks for, I <i>knew</i> that those 18 month pants would fit her when she was 18 months old. I knew that the 2T bathing suit would fit her when she turned 2 years old. And because she's skinny she can wear clothes longer than bigger kids... especially shirts. She has little feet, so I always bought her "good" shoes knowing that she'd wear them for a long time and we'd get our money out of them. Cloth diapering was extra super cost efficient because she wore newborn diapers for 4 months! She wore smalls until she was over a year old! She wore mediums until she was potty-trained! I didn't have to buy very many diapers, she wore them a long time, we got our money's worth!<br />
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<i>Still a peanut at 3 years old.</i></div>
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Bean was almost 3 years old when Bug was born. I thought I knew what I was 'in for'.... I was wrong.<br />
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Bug is a generally happy baby, perhaps not smiley and laughing all the time, but generally content. He typically only cries if he's hungry or has a dirty diaper. We took a roadtrip to Kansas when he was 3 months old and he didn't make a peep on the way there or back unless he was hungry. Bean wouldn't let us drive to the grocery store, let alone 45 mins across town, without a full blown meltdown the ENTIRE time in the car - I <i>hated</i> going <i>anywhere</i> in the car when she was little. He's not colicky, thankfully!! He's not a great napper, but he's better than Bean ever was. Granted, his naps are still only 25-90 mins long, which aren't as good as these 2-4 hour naps I hear about other people's babies taking, but Bean didn't take a nap that was 45-90 min naps till after she was over a year old. But his nighttime sleeping? Fuggetaboutit. He wakes up anywhere from 2-10x a night. He is 5 months, 3 weeks old as I sit here typing this and he's been on a 2-3x a night kick for about a week now. But up until about a week ago a <i>good</i> night was a 4-5x wake up night. And those were few and far between. Part of his wakefulness was due to teething I'm sure, part to growing, but mainly I think it's just his personality. Yes he would drink his milk at night, but not a lot. Where Bean would drink 6oz at night in 1-2 wake ups, Bug would drink 4-6oz spread out over his 2-10 wakeups. Even during the daytime he is a snacker. Looking at him you might think that he overeats; that he drinks huge bottles, chugs them, and then wants more. Nope. Wrong. He drinks 1-3oz at a time, every 1-2 hours. Just enough to not feel hungry anymore, then he's done. He's too interested in what is going on around him to sit still and drink his whole bottle. Because of his eating preferences getting him on a schedule has proven difficult. Leaving bottles with Jeff or my mom when I'm gone is tricky because I'm not sure how much he'll drink - or when. Like I mentioned previously, Bean was easy. She drank x-ounces every x-hours. Planning ahead was easy peasy. Also, just now at almost 6 months old he's kiiiiiiiiinda, sooooooorta, letting me set his nap schedule.<br />
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<i>Bug, during his morning nap 11/26... this one lasted a whopping 37 mins!</i></div>
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But he is SO not that Type-A personality that his sister is. He is NOT a schedule kind of guy. His bedtime is 7:30, his day doesn't start till 7:30-8, but the number of times he wakes up during those 12 hours is anyone's guess. I try to put him down for a nap at 10am, 2pm, and 5pm... but <i>IF</i> he naps, how long he'll sleep for is a mystery as well. As far as physical milestones go, he is in NO hurry. He hasn't rolled over yet, he doesn't sit up unassisted, he's not up on his knees rocking yet, he won't even support his weight on his legs if you're holding him under his arms. It is just SO opposite of his sister that I have a hard time not comparing the two of them and I have to stop myself from putting the pressure on him to hurry up and do the things that she did when she did. He will do them at his own pace. It's ok that he's not in a hurry. He will be our last baby, so the way I see it is: this way, I get to enjoy his babyhood for longer. He will need me for longer. And I'm ok with that. ♥ At almost 6 months old he's in 9 month clothes, but onesies are starting to get too short. 12 month clothes fit, but are slightly too long still. He outgrew his newborn cloth diapers in 3 weeks, the smalls by 3 months, and there is only one larger snap adjustment on his mediums to accomadate his thunder thighs before he'll need to be moved into large cloth diapers. I don't even own any larges!!! Bean never needed them! There is no doubt he is a chunky monkey, but I don't mind - I love to snuggle and nuzzle his cheeks. I like to grab and tickle his fat thunder thighs. And society, it seems, loves a fat baby. Everywhere we go people are cooing at him and telling me how cute my "big boy" is. Bug is much more easy going, easier to make smile and laugh (he laughed much sooner than Bean did), pretty chill baby. He goes with the flow, he sits back and observes what is going on around him. And even when he's sick or teething he is pretty cool, calm, and collected. The times you really notice that he's not feeling good is at nighttime. When his teeth were coming in he slept the worst, but during the day he was still pretty content. That's another thing, he got his first tooth at 5 months, 8 days old. His second tooth came through the next day. Bean didn't get her first tooth until almost 7 months old, her second tooth took almost another month to come in. So, I guess, when I see this stuff written out he doesn't do EVERYTHING later than his sister, I guess it just seems that way.<br />
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<i>happy go-lucky boy!</i></div>
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With Bean I was in such a hurry for her to hit her milestones, so proud to be able to "brag" about them happening so soon. But with Bug I'm happy to let him take his time. Like I said, I do have to remind myself sometimes that they're different people and <i>it's okay</i> for him to do things later than she did. And when I do remind myself of that I can actually feel myself relax and allow myself to enjoy him more. I like that. I wouldn't change either of them or their personalities. I'm excited to see how their similarities and differences change as they grow older. Ok, maybe I would change JD's sleeping pattern if I could. If I had a magic wand I'd make him a better sleeper. But since I don't have a magic wand I guess I'll deal with his sleep <i>challenges</i> and just thank my lucky stars that he's a happy snuggle bug instead of another colicky baby -- his easy, toothy, grins make me forget how utterly exhausted I am, even if just for a few minutes.<br />
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Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03787546924066702065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4931264992206061160.post-57644070260597136372013-11-25T18:01:00.002-07:002013-11-25T18:01:50.747-07:00Grandma Godin's vegetable soup recipeFall is officially here and winter is right around the corner. That means we have space heaters going around the clock, I'm never NOT wearing socks, and I want bowls of soups and homemade bread at <i>least</i> once a week. Growing up my mom would make lots of meals that were her mother's recipes; old-fashioned comfort food types of recipes. I've never been a fan of those types of meals. You know the type - stews, roasts, meatloaf, etc. I'm not a meat-and-potatoes, "sticks to yer ribs", type of gal. However, my Grandma's vegetable soup is one recipe that I always looked forward to. I used to ask my mom to make it, along with a loaf of bread in the bread maker. Let's be real here, I still ask her to make it. Food always tastes better when your mom makes it for you.<br />
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Now that I'm a <i>grownup</i> with a husband and 2 kids of my own I decided to buck up and ask my mom for my Grandma's recipe. She shared it with me, and I decided to post it here in case anyone else was in the market for a delish, easy, homemade vegetable soup recipe. I will say, that it's easily customizable. The original recipe calls for beef broth, but being a vegetarian I obviously use vegetable broth. The original recipe <i>doesn't</i> include carrots, and I know for a fact that my mom ALWAYS put diced up carrots in our soup. Feel free to change it up using ingredients that you have on hand, but it's nice to have my Grandma's actual recipe to use as a blueprint. ♥<br />
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<br />Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03787546924066702065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4931264992206061160.post-14202205799937886882013-11-16T11:17:00.001-07:002013-11-16T11:17:27.337-07:00The "whoops! I lost my head!" catch-up post!Oh, that's right... I have a blog. One I used to write in semi-regularly... Life gets crazy, or perhaps I let it drive me crazy, either way... I got swept under the current for a few months, I can't believe how much time has past since I last updated - <b>I can't believe 2013 is almost over!!</b>, it seems like a different life entirely when I look back at my old posts. I would like to start writing again. I enjoy writing, and I enjoy having something to look back on because with little chitlins running around I often forget things that we did, I forget how little they were, I forget how I was <i>feeling</i> at that time, and it's nice to be able to go back, read, and reflect.<br />
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So, as you may have noticed I changed the title of this here bloggy to include our favorite little brother. All the new pretties like my header, the background, and the new About Us section (coming soon when I find a spare minute to write it), is thanks to my good friend Ashley over at <a href="http://www.momma-on-a-mission.net/" target="_blank">Momma on a Mission</a> . We're still "Adventuring in the Foothills of the Rockies" but it's no longer just Bean and I... Finally, formally, introducing Bug! ♥<br />
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He was born 6.5.13 at 1:45pm. He weighed 8lbs 15oz and was 21.5" long. He had a long and dramatic entrance into this world, but he is strong and healthy and we got to go home after only 3 days in the nicu. (At 5 months old he's now 19lbs and already has his two bottom teeth!)<br />
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Another update since my last entry, this <strike>little</strike> big girl Bean turned 3 back in August!!!<br />
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My mind has a hard time (still) wrapping around the fact that she is 3 whole years old. I can't believe I've been a Momma for that long now! She's an amazing big sister, and big helper to our whole family. She loves to be helpful and I love that she has that caring heart! (She is still a little peanut weighing in at 27lbs, but is tall and her hair is finally filling in and getting long-ish.)<br />
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Bringing us current, the most recent holiday was Halloween where Bean chose to dress up as Snow White (which I found funny seeing as how she's NEVER seen that movie) and was adorable of course, and we chose to dress Bug in an alligator because we loooooove those Florida Gators! They were both too cute for me to handle! I'm hoping that next year they'll let me coordinate their costumes, but I have a feeling Ms. Bean will have an opinion about that. ;)<br />
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I'm excited for Bug to learn to sit up, roll over, and start crawling. He has such a personality and is SUCH a talker. He gets to try solid foods next month, which I don't think will be an issue like it was with our Bean-Girl. He is opposite of his big sissy in almost every way you can think of, but they love love <i>love</i> each other so much and I can't wait to see them grow up together. I'm excited for Thanksgiving and Christmas as a whole family, together in our home. I look at our little family and feel so blessed, so lucky, so happy. ♥<br />
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I pinky promise, it won't be so long until I update again. Now that I got this big scary "Hi... I'm back..." post out of the way I won't feel so weird posting about current events as they happen.<br />
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Pip-pip-cheerio!! :)Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03787546924066702065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4931264992206061160.post-14255819314421892882013-03-04T16:37:00.001-07:002013-03-04T16:37:12.829-07:00Yay for new stuff!!Jeff and I did our taxes and were relieved, and excited, to learn we could expect a return. With us being fortunate enough to be a one income family so that I can stay home with our babies, money is strictly budgeted throughout the year and we don't buy big-ticket items, opting to put them on a wish list for <i>someday</i> when we have the money. The moment our return got deposited into our checking account we rejoiced; <i>SOMEDAY HAS COME, SOMEDAY IS TODAY!!! </i>We looked at our wishlist and decided what were our top priorities and what we could afford.<br />
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Jeff picked out man things. You know... a lawn mower, hanging shelves that hang from the ceiling of the garage so that he can store stuff up out of the way, peg board for behind his workbench - man stuff. I think he still wants to buy a saw too. I don't know what kind. That gets too complicated for me. But you know.... a saw... to cut wood. <br />
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I picked out grown up fancy <i>homeowner</i> things. You know, stuff that makes you feel grown up, like a responsible homeowner when you go to Lowes and proudly buy them. For your home. That you own.<br />
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Our entrance way/hall was always kind of dark. There is only one window at the front of the house and it's in our bedroom, so all the sunlight filters in through the side, back and bedrooms of the house. The front of the house was like a dark dreary cave. (Ok, not really THAT bad, but it <i>was</i> dark, and I wished it could be bright and cheery like the rest of the house.) We solved that problem by buying a storm door!!!! <br />
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This puppy comes complete with a window to let the beautiful sunshine in, as well as a screen so I can open the window and let the fresh air blow through our house when the weather and breezes are warm. I can't fully put into words how much happiness it brings me to have the entrance way flooded with light and fresh air. <i>(See all that snow? I didn't open the window today since we got a random snow storm. But, the light was still heavenly!)</i><br />
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Next up was a new dining room table set. The one we had was ok, but it wasn't really functional for what our family needed. It was round, and the chairs were round. It was too small, and Bean's booster seat was strapped precariously onto the round chair. The top of the table and chairs were wood, but the legs of both and the backs of the chairs were wrought iron, and it was heavy. Bean has pulled the heavy, metal, chairs over on top of herself a few times in the past and I was just <i>over it</i>. I dreamed of a grown up, family dining table, that would last us through the years that we could <i>comfortably</i> sit at every night and make memories at as our kids got older. We found the perfect table, chairs, and bench at Oak Express. "<i>Bench?" </i>Yes, bench. I'm ssssooooo excited that our dining room table has a <i>bench</i> for the kids to sit on!! So far, Bean says she likes the bench because it's like a "bestaurant" :)<br />
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The washer and dryer we had were the ones that came with the condo Jeff bought back in 2004. They were good machines, but they were the smallest capacity that would fit into our tiny condo laundry <strike>room</strike> pantry. Like I said, they were good reliable machines and we were so thankful to have them, but because they were so small I'd have to wash a week's worth of Jeff's work pants split up into THREE loads of laundry. Washing bedding was a nightmare. And Bean, with all of her toddler laundry, had to be broken up into multiple different loads as well. A few months ago, when we had the money, we replaced the dryer for the largest capacity dryer Lowes carried (that we could afford), but had to wait on the washer. Not anymore!! With our tax return we went back to Lowes and bought a big, fancy, grown up, Jetson's style washing machine!! There isn't an agitator in the middle so I can do LARGE loads of clothes now and not have to worry about them being too crammed to actually get clean. And it has a glass lid, which I think is SO fun!! ha! <i>(The dryer has a glass window door too, and when we first got it I would just watch the clothes tumble, mesmerized. It's the little things in life, people.)</i><br />
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Do you hear angels singing when you look at this washing machine like I do? Because I do. I hear them every time I look at it. As you can see by all the fancy lights, I had just started a load when I took this picture.... what might I be washing? Lets take a peek....<br />
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Eeeeeeppp!!! Baby boy clothes!!!!! ♥ I had bought a couple things already and then my friend sent me a box of baby clothes that her son has outgrown once she learned that she will be having a baby girl this next time around. I love hand me downs! I love wittle baby clothes!! They're so tiny and cute and soft! ♥<br />
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So, that's pretty much it for our tax return purchases... There are a few others, like window blinds and placemats and dinners out for a change. Oh! And we paid my car off!!! Which is a huge relief to not have that $200 payment every month anymore. There will be a few more items before our money is spent till <i>someday</i> or <i>next tax time</i> which ever comes first, but these are the big ticket items that I was excited to talk about. If it weren't for tax return time, it'd take a LONG time to save up the money needed to buy these items on our one-salary-income, so I'm so thankful for the money we got back.<br />
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Today's blog post was brought to you by the letters:<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">I, R, and S</span> </div>
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as well as the number:</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">'12</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><i><span style="font-size: small;">get it... since it was our 2012 IRS tax return? get it? huh? huh?</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: small;">Oh, and for good measure, here is a cute picture of my cute Bean skillfully blowing bubbles. </span></span></div>
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Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03787546924066702065noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4931264992206061160.post-40481615550864800712013-02-13T17:07:00.002-07:002013-02-13T17:07:57.273-07:00Reading About a week and a half ago I decided that I would start reading children's chapter books to Bean and I am so so so glad that I did. We started with <u>Holes</u> by Louis Sachar.<br />
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It was one of my favorite books when I was younger, still is one of my favorite book-to-film adaptations, and was the only children's chapter book I had on hand. lol! Every day before naptime and before bedtime Bean would crawl up into my lap, put her head on my shoulder, and I would read for 20-40 mins - until she started dozing or until I started getting too tongue tied. If you knew Bean in real life you'd know that she is a very active, always moving, talking, <i>doing</i> kind of toddler. I could tell she really enjoyed our time reading because she'd sit on my lap and just listen. (Sure, there are moments of fidgeting, because she's 2.5, but she'd put her head back down as soon as I asked her to. It was never a struggle to get her to listen.) We finished that book in 6 days and on day 7 we took a trip to Barnes and Nobel to pick a new book; we picked <u>Charlotte's Web</u> by E.B. White.<br />
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An awesome plus to <u>Charlotte's Web</u>, that I seem to have forgotten from when I read it as a child, is the fact that every 2-3 pages there is an illustration about what's going on at that point in the story. I decided to spend the extra dollar and buy the full color edition instead of the one with the black and white drawings and am glad I did. She is really loving this story! She loves the silly voices I read the different characters in, she loves seeing the photos, she loves that it's about animals - and I love that while it's a children's book, it uses "grown up" words. And not just the words that Charlotte spins in her web (<i>terrific, radiant!</i>), but Fern's parents talk to their children like adults, the animals use a wide vocabulary when talking to each other, etc. There have been a couple words that she'll pick her head up from my chest and ask, "What's that word mean?" and I try my best to explain it to her in a way she'll understand, but I don't mind - she's truly a little sponge and remembers what we teach her and she uses pretty big words when she's talking to us once she learns what they mean. We've only had the book for 4 days and we're 3/4 done. I'd say we have about 40 pages left, so it looks like we'll be hitting up the bookstore again this weekend. (I'll need to hurry up and start perusing the children's chapter books at thrift stores, or else at this rate we'll go broke buying books! haha I'm kidding... sort of.)<br />
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I love that Bean has my love of reading - it's truly an escape for me, and I've loved reading for as long as I can remember - which I attribute to my mom being an avid reader and reading to me a lot when I was young. I love that I've started this new tradition with her and she's enjoying it so much. If she didn't, I wouldn't push it on her but it'd break my heart a little bit. I love that it's something easy and inexpensive that we can - and will - continue to do together once her little brother is born. I love getting that slow-down and snuggle time with her twice a day, and I look forward to being able to reconnect with her on a daily basis with our reading once the baby comes. For a while it may only happen once a day, at bedtime, when I have Jeff home to help with the baby while she and I snuggle in the chair... but once our little man gets bigger and more self sufficient I'll be able to pick back up with it at naptime as well. Then, when the blessed day comes that they're both on the same nap/quite-time schedule I'll bring him in during our story time ritual. Or maybe I won't, maybe I'll read him his own stories in his room. I guess I'll have to decide that when the time comes, but I have no intention of stopping this new, favorite, routine with my sweet girl once her brother comes.<br />
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For good measure, here is a picture taken from her 30 month (aka 2.5 year) bday shoot. I can't believe my baby is 2.5!! I swear, I <i>just</i> had her a few months ago. Double the amount of time she's been in our lives and she'll be 5 years old and in Kindergarten.... that's too wild for me to wrap my mind around. *sigh*<br />
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<br />Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03787546924066702065noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4931264992206061160.post-18949736489375113472013-01-25T17:17:00.002-07:002013-01-25T17:17:44.286-07:00We're having a....<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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We're very excited to be having a boy! I'll admit that I feel, a bit, like we're jumping into the unknown seeing as how I know what to expect with girl parts, but I know that we'll be just fine and we'll figure out our sweet boy's ins and outs as they come. I've always wanted a boy, but I think once we had Bean I just assumed we'd be a house of daughters. That's what I get for <i>ass</i>uming, right?<br />
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♥Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03787546924066702065noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4931264992206061160.post-89189282609806982492013-01-05T18:51:00.001-07:002013-01-05T18:51:31.525-07:00Oh hai.... <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It's been 3 months since I last posted. Whoops! Life got crazy, really crazy, really fast and I just couldn't keep up. But, here we are in a new year and things have settled down so I'm going to try really hard to be better about posting regularly again. This is what you've missed in the last three months:<br />
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We went to Las Vegas for Jeff's grandparent's 60th anniversary celebration the first week in October, but sadly, his Gramps passed away the morning after we arrived. While we were there we also got word that we officially bought a house, and that the closing date was set for 3 weeks later. And, as if those weren't enough to deal with, I found out I was pregnant with baby #2 a few days after we arrived, and after his Gramps passed. Needless to say, that week long "vacation" was far from a vacation, instead it was full of mixed emotions and overwhelming stress. Jeff's grandpa was a veteran and the family wanted him laid to rest at the Veteran's Memorial cemetery. There was a bit of a traffic jam there, and they were unable to set a funeral date before we had to get back to Colorado for Jeff to get back to work.<br />
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We got back home and began packing the apartment as fast as we could. The funeral date was set fairly quickly, quicker than we expected, so we were home less than a week before we headed back to Las Vegas for the funeral. This trip we drove, instead of flying, to save money. The funeral service was beautiful. We wished that we had more time to spend in Vegas with his mom and Grandma, but we had to be back on a Thursday in order to close on the house early on a Friday morning.<br />
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Unexpectedly, and unfortunately, my "morning" sickness hit as soon as we got back home. With Bean I felt great until 9.5weeks along. This time it hit at 6 weeks, like a Mack truck. And I put "morning" in quotes because it doesn't last only through the morning, I felt like garbage all day every day. Thankfully I wasn't vomiting, but I was incredibly nauseous. Nothing helped to relieve it. I just felt like I had a stomach flu day in and day out. I did my best to get us moved over into the new house (with my family's help) and out of the apartment before I totally succumbed to the yuck and just laid down. <br />
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Moving is stressful and exhausting enough without feeling like total crap. It was a good day if I unpacked one box all day long. Bean was SUCH a trooper, she happily played puppets, coloring, reading books, practicing her flashcards, etc while laying with me in bed or on the couch or on the living room floor. The less time I spent vertical, the better. Jeff was also really helpful and understanding that I just <i>couldn't</i> unpack as fast as he'd/I'd like. We got it (mostly) done relatively quickly, and were able to sit down and enjoy our new house before Thanksgiving.<br />
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Thankfully my "morning" sickness started to let up just before Christmas. I was still nauseous every day, but not ALL DAY every day anymore. Which was a real blessing so that I could enjoy my family over my favorite holiday. Thanks to an <i>amazing</i> group of friends who all chipped in we had our very first <i>real</i> Christmas tree, in our very first house. Christmas was fantastic, Bean got spoiled of course, my mom came and spent the day with us which was really nice, all in all it was a really wonderful holiday.<br />
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Jeff had a four day weekend for Christmas and another one for New Years, but now he's getting back into the swing of things so I figure I should too. It's a new year, in our new house, I'm working hard at growing a new member of our family, and I'm doing my best to enjoy our life and our family as it is right now. We have about 5 more months as a family of 3, and as panicked as it makes me sometimes to think about <i>how much</i> our lives are going to change SOON when the new baby comes, I'm just trying to soak in my sweet Bean girl while she's still my one and only, and I know that she'll be an amazing big sister when the time comes.<br />
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Phew. That was a big update... I'm sure I forgot things, but it is what it is. Like I said, I'm going to try to get back into my normal routine... which sure will make updating my blog a lot easier if I don't have to do a 3 month update every time I log in. LOL!<br />
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Pip-Pip-Cheerio!!<br />
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Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03787546924066702065noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4931264992206061160.post-58125527358592608262012-10-04T09:07:00.000-06:002012-10-04T09:07:00.122-06:00Busy beeI've been busy busy busy bustling around trying to get ready for our roadtrip back to Vegas for Jeff's grandparent's 60th wedding anniversary (it's a big deal!) and - as a bonus - a chance for me to see and hug all my friends that I miss so much. Many of my friends have new babies or are pregnant ready to pop and I'm sort of notorious for making handmade gifts so I've been very busy finishing those up. Of course, in true <i>me</i> fashion, I wait until the last minute to get it all done and then have heaps to do at once. Rest assured, all the gift making has been completed thanks to an extremely cooperative Bean who has been content to sit next to me while I sew and play picnics with her baby dolls. I busted out two new sock monsters in a day and a half, and I love how they turned out!<br />
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They're so cute, and I had so much fun posing them and taking pictures. <i>(Picture me, in my pajamas, hair a mess - since crafting takes precedence over how I look - squatting down low in the grass, laughing to myself, while cars drive by the apartment, drivers no doubt wondering what the crazy lady was doing with the toys in the grass. hahaha!)</i> Perhaps I'm partial, but I totally think my monsters have tons of personality. Just look at them! They have quirky attitude and are unapologetic about it. Love them!<br />
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When I haven't been crafting I've been baking - because it's fall. That means my house needs to smell nice and I have to have carby sweets on hand at all times. Duh. Or cleaning, like spring-cleaning style cleaning... but I guess I'll call this fall-cleaning, even though no one else does it. I play by my own rules, ok? If you walked into my house right now you'd call me liar. Tell me that I <i>haven't</i> been cleaning like a mad man because it's still cluttered as fuh, but I assure you. I've been dusting (my most loathed chore), I've been wiping toilet <b>bases</b> (they get incredibly dusty... who woulda thunk?!), and cleaning out window tracks. My house is ALWAYS cluttered. Always. We have way too much stuff for this little apartment and a 23lb <strike>tornado</strike> toddler who doesn't like anything to be put away for more than about 4.68 seconds. But, I like to think that I keep a clean house. It's usually not all clean at once, but I make sure to clean the bathroom, vacuum, mop, do laundry, clean the kitchen weekly - even if they're all done on different days of the week, they still get done <i>weekly</i>. But, I'm a bit grossed out at my findings with the deep cleaning.<br />
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The glass sliding door, for example. Since we moved into the apartment the track of the glass sliding door has always been dirty. The seal on that window is so ridic, it's not even CLOSE to being air tight. In the winter if you're sitting at the computer (which is next to the sliding door) it's a good 10*-15* colder than the rest of the living room. It'd make sense, then, that dust and dirt would blow in from the outside on the many drafts a day. Every time I vacuum I run the hose over the track and it sucks up some of the dirt, but never all of it. And I was always too <strike>lazy</strike> scatter brained to remember to do get down on my hands and knees and scrub it. But, I did just that on Monday. I didn't take a before picture, but I took a half way through the process picture, and then an after picture. In the first one, just pretend that both halves are equally dirty, k? Also... don't judge me by my filthy sliding glass door track. I had JUST vacuumed it before busting out the vinegar, paper towels, and took this picture. It was vacuumed 4 mins before this picture was taken! :-/<br />
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Ahhhh! I'm so embarrassed that I put that out into the internets!! That dirt and grime was <b>stuck</b> on there! On <a href="https://pinterest.com/nicsingleton/">Pinterest </a>I found a <a href="http://askannamoseley.com/2012/04/spring-cleaning-washing-windows-more/">link</a> that had tips on deep cleaning your windows and their tracks, and it prompted me to look down at the sliding door track to see if mine needed a deep cleaning. I was (obviously) appalled and wrote "clean window tracks!!!" on my to-do list for stuff I wanted to tackle before going on vacation. In the blog with the window cleaning tips she suggests cleaning them out with q-tips, but I just didn't have the patience for all that. So, instead, I carefully and slowly poured a small amount of vinegar along the entire length of both sides of the track and then used about a jillion paper towels to sop it up while wiping and swiping up all the gross dirt and gunk. I did the track when the door was closed, and then I opened it all the way and did the opposite side. It's amazing how much easier the door glides open and closed now! I had always assumed that those stains were there for good since they held on even after vacuuming, but they were definitely just stuck on dirt and with a ton of vinegar and little bit of elbow grease my window tracks are no longer embarrassing. I'll be sure to add that on my twice-yearly deep-cleaning list.<br />
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Ok, now that I bared my soul - and dirty tracks - I've got to get off the computer and get back to packing. Everything is done except for the suitcases being packed. Thankfully, it shouldn't take long since Vegas is still having hot summer temperatures and we're not wearing summer clothes here anymore so what I need to pack should be readily available. :)<br />
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I don't think I'll be posting while we're out of town, but I might surprise you! Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03787546924066702065noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4931264992206061160.post-30022562912182932372012-10-02T08:40:00.000-06:002012-10-02T08:40:00.264-06:00Tune in TuesdaysThe Backson!!!<br />
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Bean loves Winnie the Pooh, and since it was her very first movie in the theater (and only movie in the theater) it definitely holds a soft spot in my heart. I was surprised at how many little jokes were sprinkled throughout the movie for the adults who were watching to chuckle at. One of my favorite lines is delivered by Kanga when Owl asks the others to give examples what bad things a Backson does:<br />
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"They wake up babies at 1:00 and 3:00!"<br />
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Ooooohhh!!! So all those sleepless nights from when Bean was a newbie can be blamed on the Backson?! Good to know!! lol! <br />
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Here is the song-clip from the movie where it is explained what a Backson is and what he does. (If you haven't seen the movie, it's really just a funny misunderstanding, but I don't want to spoil it. If your kids want to watch this movie, let them and sit with them and enjoy- it really is a super cute movie!)<br />
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Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03787546924066702065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4931264992206061160.post-7250208199001295442012-09-27T12:39:00.000-06:002012-09-27T12:39:00.429-06:00Cloud DoughBack in July my friend <a href="http://www.momma-on-a-mission.com/2012/07/cloud-dough-7-10-12.html">Ashley</a> posted about making Cloud Dough for her boys to play with and I filed it in the back of mind for something I wanted to do... One day. In July I had no reason to make cloud dough since Bean has a sandbox of her very own at her Mimi's house, and we go to the park in the summer as much as possible. But it's not July anymore and it's definitely feeling like fall outside.<br />
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Yesterday was the perfect day to make Cloud Dough. It rained all night and was chilly and overcast all day. Bean was getting antsy being couped up inside and when I asked her if she wanted to get dressed and go for a walk she informed me that it was cold outside... which I took as a 'no'.<br />
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<u>Cloud Dough</u><br />
8 cups of flour<br />
1 cup of baby oil<br />
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Mix both ingredients with your hands in a storage bin until it's well incorporated and the 'sand' is moldable.<br />
It took about 5 mins of mixing to be rid of the clumps of oil.<br />
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Be sure to let your kiddo(s) loose either outside or on sweepable flooring - like bathroom linoleum which is where Bean got to play. <br />
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This Cloud Dough is amazing, so silky soft, super moldable, it smells nice, it cleans up easy - and it held my girl's attention for OVER an HOUR!!! In toddler-ville an hour of quite play is almost unheard of. The fact that it's a legit sensory activity - read: good for her motor skills development- makes it an even better rainy day activity.<br />
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When she finally decided she was done playing I scooped up the Cloud Dough and put it into a gallon ziplock freezer bag. It filled it up about half way, and will be able to be stored in the craft closet until she wants to play with it again.<br />
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Picture proof that she loved it:<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>This was the perfect amount for my one Bean. </i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>I'd make this recipe x the number of kids you have. 2 kids? Double it. 3 kids? Triple it. etc.</i></div>
Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03787546924066702065noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4931264992206061160.post-38901735821619462142012-09-26T12:54:00.000-06:002012-09-26T12:55:44.878-06:00Tune in Tuesdays!!Ok so it's Wednesday. Sorry about it, this morning I thought it was Friday... once I realized it wasn't Friday I thought it was Tuesday. I sat down to post my Tune in Tuesday post and then looked at my phone where I discovered it was Wednesday already. Sheesh. I'm a mess.<br />
<br />
Sorry it's late. I don't even know if anyone cares about my Tune in Tuesdays posts since they get the lowest view count of any of my posts, and rarely get a comment, but I enjoy searching through and finding fun songs on YouTube and posting them.<br />
<br />
This weeks is by Todrick Hall. He's a YouTube sensation who is internet-famous for doing suuuuuuuuuuper awesome flashmobs. He is a great singer and performer. When my friend "Sissa" introduced me to him I spent 2 hours clicking through all his videos.<br />
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This one is called CinderFella. lol. Bean and I watched Cinderella for the first time yesterday so I thought it was appropriate - and hilarious. (Disclaimer: it is a bit of a PSA for legalizing gay marriage, which I unapologeticly support. If you don't, you may not enjoy the message at the end of the video.)<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/F9ZA7bn5ujk?rel=0" width="853"></iframe><br />
<br />
If this was a bit much for you - it IS quite the production full of celebrity cameos - here, I'll give you a link to my favorite flashmob that he has done too. See? I forgot the day of the week, so you get a double feature today! :) You're welcome!<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/9q7R9qFcrbI?rel=0" width="853"></iframe><br />
<br />
If you didn't enjoy that you're dead inside. ;)<br />
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Happy hump day, ya'll!!<br />
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div align="center" style="padding: 5px;">
<img alt="Nic + Bean" src="http://i623.photobucket.com/albums/tt315/nicsingleton411/TuneInTuesdays-1.jpg" title="Nic + Bean" /></div>
<textarea style="background: #ffffff; border: solid 1px #999999; color: black; display: block; font-size: 100%; height: 50px; margin: auto; padding: 2px 0 2px 5px; text-align: left; width: 90%;"><div align="center">
<a
href="http://jeffnicolefamily.blogspot.com/" title="Nic
+ Bean"><img
src="http://i623.photobucket.com/albums/tt315/nicsingleton411/TuneInTuesdays.jpg"
alt="Nic + Bean" style="border:none;"
/></a></div>
</textarea></div>
Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03787546924066702065noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4931264992206061160.post-23011739080836747642012-09-18T23:42:00.000-06:002012-09-18T23:42:35.910-06:00Tune in Tuesdays!!Whoops! It's 11:35 on Tuesday night and I allllllllllllllllmost forgot to post a song for Tune in Tuesdays!<br />
<br />
Things have been a'movin and a'shakin around here lately and I don't know up from down let alone the day of the week. Sorry about this lapse, if all goes well I'll be able to talk about what's been going on.... soon-ish.<br />
<br />
Without further adieu, here is this week's song:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Gwx4iTRLXG8?rel=0" width="853"></iframe><br />
<br />
P!nk just came out with her newest album The Truth About Love, and I've been listening to it all day on Spotify. I don't know that I have a favorite song off this album, but this one is pretty catchy and the guy that you hear singing on the track is the lead singer from the band Fun. I'm a pretty big fan of Fun.'s songs, so I think this one will be pretty popular.<br />
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It's a fun album, and I love love love P!nk, so check it out if you've got a Spotify account, the whole thing is there for free!<br />
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Pip-pip-cheerio!!<br />
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div align="center" style="padding: 5px;">
<img alt="Nic + Bean" src="http://i623.photobucket.com/albums/tt315/nicsingleton411/TuneInTuesdays-1.jpg" title="Nic + Bean" /></div>
<textarea style="background: #ffffff; border: solid 1px #999999; color: black; display: block; font-size: 100%; height: 50px; margin: auto; padding: 2px 0 2px 5px; text-align: left; width: 90%;"><div align="center">
<a
href="http://jeffnicolefamily.blogspot.com/" title="Nic
+ Bean"><img
src="http://i623.photobucket.com/albums/tt315/nicsingleton411/TuneInTuesdays.jpg"
alt="Nic + Bean" style="border:none;"
/></a></div>
</textarea></div>
Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03787546924066702065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4931264992206061160.post-4889400758164719472012-09-16T19:43:00.000-06:002012-09-16T19:45:17.986-06:00Super easy, super delicious Pumpkin Drop Cookies<u><b>Super Easy, Super Delicious Pumpkin Drop Cookies</b></u><br />
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1 15oz can of Libby's pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie mix)<br />
1 box of cake mix. (Spice Cake or Carrot Cake are my faves)<br />
1/2 bag of chocolate chips<br />
1/4 bag of cinnamon chips (optional)<br />
unsweetened shredded coconut (optional)<br />
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Preheat oven to 275*F <br />
Place all ingredients into bowl (Bean is great at pouring ingredients into the bowl) and mix until well incorporated.<br />
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Drop tablespoon sized balls of dough onto sprayed cookie sheet.<br />
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Bake for 18-25 mins.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>they don't spread much, but they have a light cakey consistency </i></div>
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Let sit on cookie sheet for 5 mins before transferring to cooling rack.<br />
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Cool completely before storing in cookie jar or air tight container.<br />
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Makes approx 45-60 cookies depending on size.<br />
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I've found with the lower baking temperature and longer baking time the outside 'crust' says crispy and the inside stays cakey - without being too wet on the inside. These are DELISH!!!<br />
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Enjoy! Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03787546924066702065noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4931264992206061160.post-73503356711866000722012-09-14T09:05:00.000-06:002012-09-14T00:07:54.299-06:00Day Out With Thomas<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It is no secret that my girl LOVES Thomas the Tank Engine. (Which, by the way, I thought he was Thomas the Train before she became obsessed, but now I know better... he's a <i>tank engine</i>. Now you know.) As part of her birthday present Jeff and I bought tickets to the Day Out with Thomas event at the Colorado Railroad Museum. When I bought the tickets I was pumped, convinced she would freak the freak with excitement. As the day grew closer I started to worry that she'd be afraid when her favorite TV character was <i>there</i> in her real life world. I was sort of right on both counts.<br />
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When we were there she was a little unsure about riding Thomas.<br />
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She didn't like when they blew the train whistle, she didn't want to get too close to <i>real</i> Thomas, and when we were riding the loop around the museum (we went around 3 times) it took her 1.5 loops before she was brave enough to get off my lap and look over the edge of the train car and look where we were going.<br />
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<br />
Once she did you could see her excitement on her face and she waved "bye-bye" to all the people we passed. <br />
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Once we got off the train ride we walked the event. We stood in line to get our picture taken <b><i>with</i></b> Thomas, but it really wasn't THAT great of a picture and it was WAY too expensive to buy, so this one my mom took will have to work as our souvenir picture. It's not too bad, considering we were looking at the over-priced-professional-photographer and not at her.<br />
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She got a temporary tattoo of Gordon on her shin, she watched the model mini trains go around and around on the tracks, Mimi bought her a scoop of ice cream, and she got to play with Thomas legos (while snacking on kettle corn).<br />
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It was a really nice event and a beautiful day. It was a bit warm, and she had her <a href="http://jeffnicolefamily.blogspot.com/2012/09/beans-1st-gymnastics-class.html">first gymnastics class</a> earlier that morning, so by the time we left she was exhausted. I'm so glad we were able to take her to this Day Out with Thomas event, even though she seemed a bit reserved while we were there she talked about Thomas and the choo-choo tracks for days afterward. I know she had a blast, and Jeff, Mimi and myself all had a blast watching her explore and get excited about something she loves.<br />
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<i>(there were other super awesome trains at the museum, but we were too hot and tired to see them all) </i></div>
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If you have a Thomas lover in your life I highly recommend bringing them to see Thomas in person at the Day Out with Thomas event when they come to a city near you. And if your Thomas lover happens to be a girl, rest assured that there were quite a few little girls running around. :)</div>
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<i>(I was not compensated in any way for this review of our Day Out with Thomas. I genuinely enjoyed the event and honestly do recommend taking your kid(s) to see him. The opinions are 100% my own.)</i></div>
Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03787546924066702065noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4931264992206061160.post-33294103369890599952012-09-11T09:48:00.000-06:002012-09-11T09:48:21.715-06:00Tune in Tuesdays : 9/11 editionNo happy go lucky irrelevant songs seemed appropriate given the day. None of the 9/11 tribute songs seemed good enough, and I couldn't bring myself to watch - let alone post - a video with the actual news footage of that day, so.... <br />
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Jon Stewart's monologue on his first show back post September 11, is humbling to say the least. Through his tears he is profound and inspiring, and occasionally funny to break the tension.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/SXcmc2AZ6ZE?rel=0" width="640"></iframe><br />
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I will never forget the things I saw on my tiny tv in my bedroom or the feelings I felt that morning. I will never forget the deep sadness I felt when I visited ground zero a year later.<br />
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I am forever grateful to the heroes that came together that Tuesday morning, and to those who still put their lives on the line every day, not knowing what they'll encounter as the day progresses. My heart goes out to all those who lost their lives or their loved ones 11 years ago.<br />
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I can't believe it's been 11 years.<br />
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I'll post a fun song next week. Promise. </div>
Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03787546924066702065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4931264992206061160.post-26019722342229628382012-09-10T16:23:00.000-06:002012-09-10T16:25:38.508-06:00Bean's 1st Gymnastics classSaturday was a big day for our sweet Bean Girl. It was her first ever gymnastics class. If it weren't for the fact we were running late and came running through the rec center like bats out of h-e-ll, not sure where we were going - but we were running <i>wherever</i> it was we went, Jeff carried her, I carried the camera bag and purse, if it weren't for all THAT I think I would have gotten a little too emotional about my girl's first class. Instead, we burst through the doors, quickly greeted my mom, not-so-politely asked her to take pictures (<i>sorry mom</i>), and jumped in line behind the other tots and their parents.<br />
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We were to go from station to station where the littles were supposed to do that specific skill before moving on to the next station. For the most part Bean loved it, and did really well at grasping the skill. Some things, like the barrel roll down the foam wedge, are going to take some practice.<br />
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She jumped up and skooched across the bail thingie:<br />
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Then she crawled under the tunnel thingie:<br />
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Then she did a somersault down the wedge thingie:<br />
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Then she bear-crawled up these beams:<br />
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Then she jumped up and down like a maniac on the trampoline, but none of those pictures turned out. After that she'd hop from one spot to another, then in and out of a hoola-hoop that was on the floor, then she'd bear-crawl across a yoga mat, then she'd look at me like I was nuts when I tried to get her to do a barrel roll down another foam wedge, then she'd jump from a spring board up onto a bouncy mat thingie and hop like a froggy across it... none of these pictures turned out, but I assure you, she was a pro and so so cute while doing the moves.<br />
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Then he'd hang from a high bar and kick over a foam cylinder thingie:<br />
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Then she'd hang from another high bar and walk up the wedge that was leaning against the wall, she surprised me with her ability to walk all the way to the top of the wedge!<br />
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After that, she'd go to a taller high bar and just hang from it. So, she'd grab it, pull her legs up and swing:<br />
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Then she'd climb up a ladder and get to the tall balance beam and walk across it, holding our hands of course!<br />
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After she'd hop off this beam there'd be one more balance beam that was MUCH closer to the ground, she seemed to like this one better than the tall one:<br />
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And then the course would start over again. She did the whole circuit 3 or 4 times before class was over. She really loved all the gymnastic skills!<br />
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At the end of the class we played with the parachute. She's played parachute games before at the Library's storytime, so it wasn't anything new to her, but she still liked it. She didn't like going underneath the parachute, though, so when the other kids were doing that she played with Mimi on the high bars.<br />
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I can't wait until next Saturday's class. Bean loved it, and so did Jeff and I. I'm not sure if my mom will come next week or not (that's up to her), but I am so thankful she was able and willing to be there for her first class and take pictures. I may not have gotten emotional at the class due to our tardiness, but I did while looking through and editing the photos at home.Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03787546924066702065noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4931264992206061160.post-18551518620451955982012-09-08T23:17:00.000-06:002012-09-09T00:00:09.717-06:00Promises, PromisesSince my last substantial blog post I feel like so much has happened, and I haven't taken the time to post about any of it while it was happening, and now I feel like there's too much to talk about and it's too far in the past that I can't write about it now. But all that seems silly, so here goes... the Cliffs Notes version of all our stuff.<br />
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-/+ Bean lost Hoppy (her bunny lovey) and after a tearful 24 hours and a wannabe replacement was purchased she found her again. Thank goodness!<br />
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- Thanks to her ear infection at the beginning of August (where she needed antibiotics, her first time on meds, <b>ever</b>, to cure it) she came down with the most painful looking yeast diaper rash I could have imagined. I'd seen pictures of yeast diaper rashes before, but had never seen one in person, and OMG I felt so bad for her!!! After trying all the homeopathic treatments I could find online I finally had to bring her BACK to the Dr to get prescription Nystatin cream - which <i>helped</i>, but didn't cure it. Now that the cream is gone (yes, <b>now</b> because we're STILL battling it) we're alternating Lotramin A/F spray and 1% hydrocortisone ointment - as well as a neosporin/diaper cream mixture at night because the Lotramin dries her out so bad that her skin is cracking and bleeding. Oh, and high doses of probiotics mixed into her milk. It's been an uphill battle for over two weeks now. My poor girl.<br />
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+ Jeff and I got to go to the Incubus concert in Denver and had an amazing time!!! They never disappoint in concert and it was great to have a night out with my hubby.<br />
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- I'm 95% sure we got a red light ticket when we left the concert. We didn't <i>run </i>the red light, but we turned right while it was red. In Vegas that's allowed, apparently it's not always allowed in Colorado? But we're not used to looking for red-light-rules posted on the light poles, and we weren't sure of where we were going so we were paying more attention to our GPS and traffic, and didn't notice any signs that said we couldn't do it. But as we turned right onto the street a traffic camera flashed really bright into our car, so we're waiting to see if we get a ticket in the mail. I'm not sure how much those cost, but I'm not looking forward to paying for it. <br />
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- She is really settling in to her 'Twos' and by that I mean; she's realllllllly into saying NO to <b><i>everything</i></b>, dramatic crying, as well as mastering the fake cry, and has hit me twice in the last two weeks when I made her sit down to eat lunch. Oy! <br />
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+ Her vocabulary and personality are blossoming more every day. It's so nice to be able to talk to her so much more. We have actual (short) conversations now about how her day is going, or what the dogs did, or what she saw at the store, etc - instead of her saying a word and me trying to guess what it is she <i>means</i> to say. She also hilariously reprimands the dogs. I don't think the dogs understand her, but I do and it's hilarious that she tries to be the boss of them. <br />
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+ She's being really great about doing her 'chores' and using her manners. I say chores loosely since she loves doing them, and she uses her manners on her own usually. Please/Thank You/You're Welcome have been big points of mine to push on her. We really want her to be an appreciative and polite child, and I think we're doing a great job so far. We do have to prompt her every so often, but she usually uses them on her own. Her chores include: 1.)Letting the dogs out of their crates in the morning 2.)Putting her jammies in her clothes hamper after we get her dressed in the morning, and then putting that day's clothes in the hamper when we change her out of them at night before bed. 3.)Feeding the dogs 4.)Taking her plate to the trash/sink - emptying the leftover food into the trash, with our help if it was something messy 5.)Putting her toys/books away before bedtime 6.)Helping with laundry - she helps me sort the clothes into piles by color/type, and helps me put the wet clothes into the drier. She loves to help, loves when we congratulate and thank her when she's done, and loves to clap and Yaaaaay! for herself.<br />
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+ Since Emily has started Kindergarten, meaning I'm not watching her anymore, Bean has adjusted her schedule back to waking up around 8:30-9:00 in the morning again and I couldn't be happier! I know it's not <i>normal</i> for a toddler to sleep in, but I'm not going to complain about it. I am NOT a morning person and waking up at 7am every day just about killed me! hahaha Needless to say, I've enjoyed sleeping in! <br />
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Hmm... I think that's all we have to update on for now. We had a really super busy, amazing, day today and I took about a zillion pictures so I have a lot of photo editing to do before I can post about it. Stay tuned! :o)<br />
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<i>took this today at CSU's flower garden</i> </div>
Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03787546924066702065noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4931264992206061160.post-56324590690570010282012-09-04T08:46:00.000-06:002012-09-04T09:46:06.349-06:00Tune in TuesdaysToday is my first weekday back in the lazy-stay-at-home-mom schedule. That means Emily has officially started Kindergarten (her first day is today), and it's just me and Bean again. I know she'll miss Emily in a few days, but I'm excited to get back to spending one on one time with my girl. Snuggling while watching Word World in the morning and eating afternoon snack in my bed after her nap. Things that she didn't want to do when Em was here. Also, the house will be SO much quieter with only Bean here - two kids ratchet up the volume by about 5x!<br />
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To break the one-kid-silence I think we'll have a dance party. Just me and her. And our dog, Roxanne - she loves to dance on her back legs with us. My fave song to dance to, when Jeff <b><i>isn't</i></b> here, is "Send Me On My Way" by Rusted Root. Jeff makes fun of me SO HARD for loving this song, but I love this song so so so much. How can you <i>not</i> dance to this song? How can you <i>not</i> smile when this song comes on? Not that it comes on the radio anymore - it's an old hippie song - but I love it and since it's on my Spotify playlist I get to hear it quite often. :-D<br />
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Crank up the volume on your speakers and dance. It's a short week thanks to Labor Day, if nothing else THAT is reason enough to be smile, get up and dance!<br />
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If you listened to it, and cranked it like I told you to, you're totally happier now. That song boosts my mood every time I hear it! <br />
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If you want to link up with my blog-hop do it <a href="http://jeffnicolefamily.blogspot.com/2012/08/tune-in-tuesdays.html">here</a> :)Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03787546924066702065noreply@blogger.com1