Weekend Round-Up

Shoes
Remember when Blythe was little and she had a shoe obsession? Luckily she has grown out of her 'eat shoes' obsession, but she is still in love with her shoes. Who doesn't love to squeezed their footed pajamas into a nice pair of boots? I take it as a compliment that Blythe decided to dress up for Mommy's home-made biscuits.



Blythe spends a lot of time working on being able to get her shoes on all by herself. She will literally entertain herself for 45 minutes+ and occasionally she has success and gets one on, but more frequently she will get frustrated and say "help."



And at the end of a hard days work with those shoes, its time to curl up on the couch with her babies and read them a book:



Gardening:

Saturday morning we took a trip to Producers to pick out our seedlings for the garden. Blythe was more interested in the saddles than the seedlings.



Saturday was absolutely GORGEOUS..Sunny, Sunny skies, high of 77, picture perfect if you ask me :). You know its a good day when you can get all your laundry washed and hung on the line in time to get dried by the sun. Yes line drying clothes makes them a bit crisp and can even make jeans feel a bit like sand paper for the first 5 minutes or so, but there's just something so simple and lovely about drying clothes on the line. Not to mention the cost savings and the wonderful sunny, line dried scent. And to have a cuttle little one in retro overalls that you once wore and wide brimmed hat to help you hang the clothes, well that's just icing on the cake. We are enjoying the small things.



And what does baby do once the sun has gone down and all those clothes are crisp and dry? Why try on mommy and daddy's undies of course. No joke, she got these on ALL by herself. Yes, both legs are in the same hole, but hey everyone starts somewhere.



And What does Momo do when said undies just won't say up on their own? She finds a solution of course.



Sunday

The last time I was in the grocery store and came across cinnamon rolls I thought to myself $2.50 for 5 cinnamon rolls, they have got to be cheaper and better to make from scratch. So I purchased yeast and set out to make some oh so delicious home made cinnamon rolls. My quest started on Saturday early evening when I made white bread dough. All was going well until I didn't listen to the "gradually" part. I figured, hey the recipe calls for 6.5 cups of flour so I must need to use all 6.5 cups of flour. I guess that isn't an exact science or maybe it works out better if you 'gradually add it and work it into the dough.' I quickly realized that I was going to need more water and so for the next 45 minutes or so I kneed that bread, adding small amount of water until consistency was 'elastic and bubbly.' Now it was time for the dough to rise and double in size.

After all the work of making the dough the $2.50 wasn't looking so bad anymore, but on Sunday morning after making the frosting and enjoying this tasty home made treat, lets just say that $2.50 from the can cinnamon roll was NOTHING compared to these beauties.




Sunday was another beautiful day so we decided to plant our seedling and enjoy a picnic by the garden after all our hard work.



And to complete our perfect Sunday? PARK TIME


Remember me pushing Maddie up the tunnel and pulling Oslo with the other hand? This was a different tunnel, but similar problem. The incline was just too much for this 18 month old body.

Luckily this time there was 1 baby and 2 adults, instead of 2 babies and 1 adult.

Sweet success!

I turned to Jason and said "Can you believe how big she is? Look at her walk and run and climb up those stairs and slide down the slides all by herself. It's pretty amazing how far she has come in 18 months." He turned to me with a big grin on his face and said "yep, she's pretty amazing."

O.K. so sometimes when we slide by ourselves we go so fast that we get thrown off the end of the slide, but the good news is that she thinks its hilarious and gets up and does it again!

The House Things

Today was a long work day for me, meaning I work till 2pm instead of noon. Our park partners in crime weren't available this afternoon and I had told myself I HAD to make the Quiche I had been planning to make since Monday. The prep time isn't long, but it has to cook for an hour so I needed to have it made and in the oven by 5.

We got back to the house around 2:45, took the diapers off the line, and come inside. I opened the windows and turned on some tunes so we could feel like we were enjoying the weather. After a good snack both girls happily played while I did the dinner prep and then I came up with an excuse for some outdoor time. It has been just sunny and rainy enough for the grass and weeds (o.k. mainly weeds) to start to turn from their winter brown to their summer green, which means that mowing is on the agenda for this weekend, but it also means I wanted to pull those weeds before I mow over them and scatter them further.

I think I made it all of 3 minute before I lost a glove. Luckily I was able to convince Blythe that there was 1 glove for mommy and 1 glove for Blythe. I'm pretty sure she pulled up more grass than weeds, but hey its the thought that counts, right?





Have a Good Night


P.S. Today Blythe pooped in the potty :)

Park Junkies

Yes, we have officially become park junkies. We just can't get enough of this FANTASTIC weather. The last 2 days we have spent the entire afternoon at the park with Lauren and Oslo. We haven't been home before 6!





We have recently become absolutely fascinated with our belly button, and everyone elses of course!



"Airpin"

Yes, clothes still need to be put away from the past weekend, the house needs to be cleaned, and we should be home making dinner, but the weather might not be this fantastic tomorrow and I am 99.9% sure a cleaning/cooking fairy will not be invading our house anytime soon. There is always weather for house work, there isn't always weather for hours upon hours of fun at the park :). That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

So what does a mom and a baby do when they get home at 6:15pm and have made ZERO dinner preparations??? They quickly throw together some home-made biscuits and eggs, all before daddy walks through the door.


Remember we are ignoring the clutter on the counter and just thinking about the glorious weather :)

And once the biscuits are in the oven we should play a game of course..the game of:


After flouring up the biscuits, and ourselves, it's bath time with daddy.




Remember how I said that we take our babies EVERYWHERE??? I wasn't kidding.



P.S. she tee tee'd in the potty at Lauren and Oslo's today :)

LOVING the Warmth

So a few days ago I was complaining about the cold, cold winter we have had and how I was SO ready to be done with the winter and bring on the sunshine, sweaty days. Well, today my wish was granted. I turned on the news this morning to see that the high was.......75!!!!! WHOO HOO I knew it was going to be a great day. Not only was the high 75, but Blythe, for the first time in several weeks, slept from 8:30-6:30(she has been doing a 'tester' at 5:30am where we have to go into her room, lay her back down, and tell her its still night night time and I rarely actually fell back asleep before my alarm went off at 6:30).

Blythe and I were both feeling refreshed and recovered from the weekend. We did our typical Blythe and mommy routine of breakfast, getting dressed, and walking out the door all with at least 6-7 "Oslo's" in between. Yes sweetheart, today is an Oslo day.

Although the high was 75 it was still chilly in the morning (56), but I was already thinking about the warm, warm weather and what all we could do this afternoon just basking in the sun.

Of course I had to work from 8-2, which certainly wasn't the highlight of the day, and I even jumped the gun around 10am and opened the windows in hopes of feeling a warm breeze, but quickly finding out it was not warm breeze time.

But when I stepped out of the office at 1:55 (yes, I cheated and just had leave early) I was hit by the warm air, oh how much I have missed you. I climbed into the car, cranked up the radio, unrolled all the windows and jammed out on my way to pick-up Maddie. And in the 3 songs it takes to get to Crissy's house I sang along, out loud, with no one to care that I can't carry a tune. I didn't think twice about the fact that my hair was down and blowing every which way and would probably be a tangled mess upon arrival. It was HOT, and SUNNY, and I was going to love every minute of it. I knew that 'my music' would be short lived once I picked up the girls since they would want their music, but let me tell you I am perfectly capable of jamming out to The Itsy Bitsy Spider, ABC's, Sally and the Camel, etc.

While I was at work I decided to do a little park research to see if I could find a hidden treasure for our afternoon adventure and I did. I found Cherry park which looked like a big, fun park to try out. I got google directions and I was ready to test it out. When I arrived and Lauren and Oslo's they were game for trying out the new park with us.

Even though I somehow googled directions to a completely different park, no idea how I did that, and we ended up at a lame, way in the wrong direction park, that was not going to rain on my GREAT day. We simply called Jason, got the correct directions and just told the kids it was 'progressive park day!'

We eventually arrived at Cherry park and it looked just like the pictures! Unfortunately, since we went straight from Lauren's to the park I didn't have my camera, but we will certainly go back and take lots of pictures. There were 5 slides, swings, things to climb on, and of course the most important part...ROCKS. I have to admit that this park is probably geared towards slightly older kiddos, but needing mommy assistance just makes it that much sweeter. You should have seen me in action. There was a tunnel on an incline to get to the "big blue slide," which of course we had to try, and the kiddos couldn't climb up themselves so I had Maddie sitting down in front of me and pushing her up (no room for me to climb in the tunnel and hold her) while giving Oslo a hand, talent I tell you, sheer mommy talent. Once we finally got to the enticing blue slide Oslo decided it was a little too high for his comfort level, but at this point it was either
A) go back down the tunnel
B) Go down a poll (o.k. I don't think I am THAT good, at least not with 2 kids)
C) Climb down an apparatus that even I would want 2 hands to climb down.
So I decided, I got this, I can slide down the slide with 2 kiddos. So I sat Maddie directly in front of me and then Oslo in front of her, one hand for each kid, 2 feet to reduce speed and away we went. All had fun and all had static electricity, hair sticking straight up, by the time we got to the bottom. And the best part "Wee....MORE." And so it went and we all had SO much fun.

23 Week Appointment

We all started out this morning pretty exhausted from all the festivities of the weekend. I typically make a meal plan during work on Monday's but didn't have the energy to really think about all that and read through recipes, so instead this week will consist of some of our staples/favorites: Quiche, steak, hamburgers, baked chicken. Luckily Monday is a short work day (ends at noon) and I was very hopefully that Maddie and Blythe would be on the same nap schedule because I needed a few extra Zzz's myself.

By the time I picked up Maddie and Blythe and got them home for lunch we were pushing 1:30pm which is late for Blythe, but it was right on time for Maddie. The house was quiet for all of 30 minutes and then I heard Maddie. I debated in my head, do I go in there and get her so she doesn't wake Blythe up or do I give her a few minutes because 30 minutes is NOT a long enough nap. I decided that I would go in there and at least try to give her a paci so she wouldn't wake Blythe up. When I went in there I realized that she had woken up to poop so I quickly changed her diaper and she was all but falling asleep during her diaper change so I put her back to bed. It took her a few minutes to fall back asleep and sure enough it was just enough to wake Blythe up. I knew that Blythe needed more than a 45 minute nap so I went into her room laid her down and said "it's still night night time." To which she whimpered, but quickly laid back down for me to cover her up. I didn't from anyone else until 3:20 which was great because I think I actually fell asleep for a little bit.

I was planning out when we needed to start loading for what I thought was a 4:20 doctors appointment when I realized that my appointment was actually at 4:00 and we really should be pulling out of the driveway at 3:45. I quickly thew a few snacks together knowing I would need 'entertainment/snacks' during the appointment, got Maddie out of bed and both the girls into the car. Needless to say we did not pull out of the driveway till 3:52. I called Jason to remind him of the appointment and told him to go ahead and check in for me because I would be 5ish minutes late.

I have to admit that I was a little nervous I was going to go above the 4 pounds between the last appointment and this one. I feel like my belly has gotten a lot bigger and we did a lot of eating this weekend at the wedding. BUT I have gained exactly 4 pounds since my last visit bringing my total weight gain to 7 pounds. If I keep on this track I will end up right at a total weight gain of 23 pounds which is how much I gained with Blythe, time will tell.

I am measuring 22.5 centimeters which is 1 centimeter off from the total number of weeks (in general your measurement should equal your # of weeks), but I was consistently 1 centimeter off with Blythe and the doctor says that's just fine because I am petite. So far so good, I will keep on cooking this precious little one :).

A Quaker Wedding

We are exhausted, but it is always worth the missed hours of sleep when you are enjoying family.

Friday
Jason, Blythe, and I headed out of town on Friday afternoon and had a very successful, baby napping the entire time, drive to Austin. We headed straight to the Learlyn house to assist with the set-up. When we arrived the set up was already well on its way with lots of helpers. There were people on ladders and in trees stringing lights, people setting up chairs in a circle for the 250+ guests that were expected, bike racks going up, driveways being swept, piano being carried. It was quite an operation.







When Jason and I asked what we could do we were put on Porta Potty Beautification duty. I thought, WOW, they have thought of everything, right down to decorating the porta potties. We were given bamboo and lights. I really intended to get a picture of our completed Porta Potty Beautification , but I guess we were having so much fun that we forgot :(. We stood the bamboo up and braced it with rods and found a metal lattice for the center. We then intertwined lights in the bamboo to create lighting for the pottying guests. There were no lights in the actually porta potties themselves and the only entrance inside was threw the vent hole which went straight to the toilet so that was a no go. We ended up throwing a bundle of lights on top of each porta potty because the top was translucent. Then, we made a walk way out of old stop lights to light the path to the porta potties and define an entrance/line. After all was said and done you could not see the porta potties until you were around the corner, its just looked like a Tiki Hut, translated "out house."




We left with just enough time to run by the hotel, change clothes, and make it to the fajita dinner. It was close to 8pm by the time we got to the restaurant so Blythe was already getting tired. To my amazement she nestled into Jason's arms and crashed. I guess all the fresh air, playing with her babies in the woods, untangling lights, and beautification project wiped her out. She in not usually the kind of baby that will just fall asleep, she likes and prefers her bed. Not only was she asleep, but she was OUT. Jason was able to pass her off to one of his cousins where she stayed asleep for several hours. I have to admit that I was a teeny tiny bit jealous that someone else was getting to hold my precious sleeping baby, but it is also great to see others loving on your baby and in the end she left before we did so she passed her off to me and I got to enjoy my precious sleeping baby!


Saturday
Although Jason and I didn't get to bed till midnight, Blythe had crashed around 8 so she was up and happening at her usually 6:30am. Luckily my momma brain was working when I packed and I packed oatmeal, a bowl, and spoon knowing that she would ask to eat as soon as she woke up. Sure enough that came in handy and she had her first experience of breakfast in bed. After Jason and I got moving we decided to hit up the IHOP across the street (lets just say Jason was in NEED of coffee from the previous evening). To my surprise Blythe ate almost an entire pancake even though she had already eaten an entire pack of instant oatmeal, guess she was hungry (at this point I didn't know that Blythe and I would miss out on lunch, but it was a good thing she stocked up). By the time we wrapped up at IHOP it was time to go back to Leralyn to finish getting ready for the 3:30pm wedding. We put some last finishing touches on the beautification project, Jason hung the signs for parking, and then it was time for Blythe and I to go back to the hotel for her afternoon nap. Again, I guess the fresh air wore her out because she fell asleep in the 4 minute ride from the house to the hotel AND she stayed asleep even after I took her out of the car seat (unheard of!). She took a good nap from 1:45-2:30 when we had to get her up and moving and ready for the wedding. We debated back and forth on what we were going to wear since it was going to be pretty chilly once the sun went down and since it was in a backyard I didn't want Blythe to ruin her Easter dress. In the end we decided to go ahead and wear the dress clothes that we brought and change after the ceremony and before the dancing. I do NOT have any nice flats so I was aerating the yard in my heels.

Silent Ceremony
I have to admit that I was quite intimidated by this 60+ minute silent ceremony, but was pleasantly surprised. I knew that little Blythe would be 'moved by the spirit' to speak on several occasions and that the likelihood of her being silent for any duration of time was slim to none. I came prepared with snacks, books, babies, etc. Because we are immediate family we were in the 'inner circle,' and I have to admit it made me think about the "circle of trust," from Meet the Parents.

The ceremony started with and introduction of the chain of events and then silence. After 10 or so minutes of silence Caitlin and Nathan walked in and sat down. After a couple more minutes of silence Caitlin and Nathan stood up and exchanged their vows. Right as Nathan started to say his vows a jet flew overhead, but luckily Caitlin was saying the same vows so we got to hear the end of Nathan's and all of Caitlin's. In addition to the jets overhead, there were noisy birds, wrestling leaves under people's feet, cars, trucks, trains, and of course a little voice of Blythe saying "baby, no, eat, drink, MAX, peek-a-book, more, please, thank you, etc." After the first couple of people were moved to speak a few friend stood up and sang a song and that seemed to really lighten the mood. After that the moments of silence were pretty short lived and lots of stories of love, friendship, relationships, and pressure for them to have children, were told. By the end of the ceremony, 3 books, peanut butter pretzel crackers, wheat thins, raisin, craisins, water, Nilla and 3 clementines later, I was thinking "hey, this is a pretty cool ceremony," to have all these people who helped make you who you are today stand up and talk about you instead of one priest/preacher who may or may not know you that well lead the wedding ceremony. The ceremony ended with a song sung by Caitlin's dad and a friend and the silence was broken :).



After we all signed the wedding certificate and took a few pictures it was time to do a promenade around the block. It would take far too long to accurately describe/explain all the greatness in the promenade so instead I will let the 'pictures say a thousand words.' The main word being..FUN!









When we returned from the promenade it was time for a pot luck dinner and contra dancing. The pot luck dinner worked out great as there was a great variety, mainly vegetarian dishes, and just enough food for the crowd. Contra dancing is a lot of fun, but little B was worn out and she fell asleep during the second dance with dad. The set-up for eating was an array of table and chairs as well as short chairs with blankets underneath them to sit, so we were able to lay Blythe down on a picnic blanket and she happily slept there from 8-11:30 when it was time to go. We got a lot of compliments about how good she was during the ceremony, so that made me fell better about all the talking Blythe did during the ceremony.





Our overall consensus was that wedding was TONS of fun. Everyone was dancing and having a good time. It wasn't really anything like we imagined and yet everything was perfect. It was perfectly nontraditional which is exactly what the bride and groom wanted, yet there was just enough tradition to have the wedding celebration feeling. Many well wishes to the newly weds!

Sunday
Jason made a water pedal as his wedding gift to Nathan. Basically you control the flow of water in your kitchen sink with your foot in order to reduce waste and to have hands free water control. I think we have all stood at the sink at one time or another with raw meat/eggs, etc. on our hands and thought "how am I going to turn on the water with my hands without contaminating the faucet," and then we proceed with an elbow or maybe even a foot, for those really flexible people, to turn on the water. Let's just say this pedal SOLVES that problem!

Nathan and Caitlin were planning to host a brunch at 11am so we arrived at 10am in hopes of getting the pedal installed before the sink was needed for the brunch. Unfortunately, when we arrived and started to set it up, by "we" I mean Jason, he realized that he was missing one part, ugh. So off to Home Depot we went in search of something he could use to substitute the part he was missing. By the time we got to Home Depot and back it was 10:50 and while no brunch preparations were taking place yet we knew that they would be shortly and we couldn't be holding up the water lines. This meant our plans to leave at nap time had just changed. The brunch was going from 11-3 and by 1:15 Blythe crashed on Papa. YES, she crashed yet again, in arms, and we were able to lay her down on a bed where she slept till 3:15. Apparently wedding preparations and weddings are a great way to wear a toddler OUT! Jason was able to get the foot pedal installed and it worked just as planned! I think Nathan and Caitlin will actually have more water waste until the newness of the pedal wears off because all of their friends were lining up to try it out. I think Jason certainly won the 'best present' award. I wonder what the likelihood is that I will get one of those in my house anytime in the near future?? I guess I shouldn't ask if I want him to graduate soon because that was no small project, but well worth the couples enjoyment.



We decided to wait to head home until bedtime since a group of Jason's immediate family was going to his uncle's house for dinner. We decided to crash the dinner party and we even enjoyed a little soaking in the hot tub. Blythe was having so much fun playing with Lolli and Great Aunt Lori that we didn't end up leaving until 10pm so we got home at midnight. WHEW it was an exhausting weekend, but certainly worth all the fun we had!

Can I get some Summer Weather?

We have had an unseasonably cold, cold Texas winter. I am NOT a winter person and I am SO ready for tank tops, shorts, and pitting out 2 seconds after you walk outside (yes, I said pitting out). I feel like the days when we see the sun are so few and far between. I have had to use my dryer for diapers/clothes a lot more lately than I like to admit. I want to take the girls on a picnic, to the park, and in the water. I am so desperate for any sign of summer/warmer weather that I get a little crazy when it is just slightly warmer (65) and I see the sun. Yesterday was a beautiful day, compared the what we have had, and even at 65 degrees it was still chilly if you weren't standing in the sunshine, but I was determined to make it warmer than it was. While Blythe and I waited for Maddie to wake-up from her nap we made Country Time Lemonade, it made it feel just a little warmer outside. Then we packed up and headed to the park (sadly I forgot the camera).

Public child/adult etiquette?
On Tuesday we went to the children's museum and we were interrupted by a 6 or so year old in our 2 and only under please room. She was clearly not being supervised and was rather aggressive towards the other youngers in the room. That got me thinking, where is the line between minding your own business and sticking up for your kid? After seeing her push one of the 'legit' kids (2 and under) I decided that if she pushed/scratched, etc. Ian, Maddie, or Blythe, I was going to politely remind her care giver that this was the 2 and under section. Luckily she got bored and moved on so no confrontation needed.

Yesterday while we were at the park we were sitting down and having a snack when another little girl came up and wanted some too, naturally. I have no problem sharing our snack, I just prefer to hand it to the little girl instead of letting her put her hands into our snack container. I looked around for her mom because I would want a stranger to make some sort of gesture to me before giving my child something to eat. I didn't readily see her mom and it was either 'give me some Cheerios or I will take them for myself,' so I handed over some cheerios. She kept coming back and I was thinking "where is this girls mom/caregiver, we need some regulation over here." That's when I spotted her sitting over on a bench on her blackberry. I don't have a blackberry and I don't even text on my phone, but if I ever chose to hang out on my phone instead of interacting with my child at the park, please call me out on it, that's not the parent I want to be.

Jason cleaned, cleaned my car for me yesterday. We are talking inside and out, even conditioned the leather. It looks nice and sharp. Of course I know he really cleaned it because we will be traveling to Austin this weekend for his brothers wedding and he wanted it to look sharp, but I will pretend it was for me.