bubbablog

The Zoo... Again!

2011-01-17T21:22:00.001-07:00

Today Bubba and I met up with an old friend at the zoo. Yup, the zoo for the second time in a week and a half. I've officially gone more often than I did in the last decade, I think. Hooray for awesome aunties who give little boys memberships! Of course, we didn't stop to think that today was a freaking holiday and that perhaps everyone and their mother was going to be there. I knew I was in trouble when I was running a few minutes behind and then saw a giant sign that said ZOO PARKING FULL - NEXT RIGHT FOR PARKING. Um, yeah, I didn't think so. Not only were they charging $5 for that lot (the zoo lot is free) but it was about a 1/2 mile hike from there to the front entrance to the zoo. I took my chances with the zoo lot, and managed to find parking in a far aisle.

Of course, I couldn't call my friend and let her know why I was late because I forgot my cell phone at home. Of course. Luckily the nice guy in the gift shop let me use their phone, which I used to call my husband (the only phone number I have memorized besides my own) who called my friend and told her where I was. I swear I have some serious talent some days.

My friend and I used to work together like a decade ago for GM doing roadside assistance in a call center. She actually is the one who introduced me to my husband. Bubba is five months older than her daughter. Aren't they cute?

I swear that boy has his father's exact facial expressions.

We didn't walk the whole zoo like we did last time. We did see some animals that we missed last time though, like the zebras.

This guy walked right up to the edge of the habitat and just stared at all the people staring at him for several minutes.

We also went to see the little monkeys.

It was crazy! They have this enclosure where they let you in and the monkeys are just in the trees all around you. They're climbing on vines over the walkways and swinging in the trees right over your head. Insane.

You do get strict instructions to not touch the monkeys and also to wash your hands when you leave because, as the worker said, "Monkeys pee on everything."

After the zoo we made a stop at Joann, and then grabbed lunch. Look at our big kids!

After that we stopped in a shop to look at some home decor. That's when Bubba decided that good behavior time was OH-VAH and proceeded to act like the biggest turd ever.

That's right. I called my child a turd. Hey, if the shoe fits, you know?

We had to beat a hasty retreat, which led to a full blown tantrum by the time we made it to the car. Today, my kid was THAT kid. Ugh. So embarrassing. At least he slept all the way home, which was probably the problem in the first place.

Oh! I wanted to share this picture we got at the zoo.

They were doing a milk promotion there and giving away free milk. They also had these milk mustache stickers that you could put on for a photo. Too funny!

It was taken with one of these.

Okay, so I will admit I never have been a fan of Polaroids (except fake ones on my phone, hooray Shake It Photo and Instagram!) but I am so smitten with the tiny pictures this thing spits out. They're like the cutest things EVER!!! I need to find a way to make some extra $$$ so I can buy myself one.

It only took two years

2011-01-11T23:49:00.001-07:00

But the Fehlings have finally gotten around to taking our off spring to the Phoenix Zoo. Of course it wouldn'tt have been possible without the generous gift of a Zoo Membership from my sister in law. My mother in law was in town for a visit this weekend so she came with us to be part of this experience. The first thing we saw were wallabys. There's a giant stone one outside of he enclosure that has a large belly pouch where kids can play and pose for photos.

Then we got to go inside the enclosure with them. A simple rope was hung to show how far you could go, but really, you would be about 2 feet from them. I thought that was pretty dang cool.

The zoo has some Koala bears on loan from the San Diego zoo. They look so very soft, and so ver bored.

Some little monkey showing off his business. Scandal at the zoo!!!

Dirty Beetles. I'm telling you people, it's an epidemic.

We came across some life sized animal sculptures that were fun for photos.

What are they watching that is SO fascinating????

Babboon flea baths/snacktime. Ew.

Over in the kid's area Bubba got to ride a tractor.

He tried on some saddles.

He doesn't seem particularly impressed.

I have a photo of myself with this stone frog.

Big ass parrots are exciting!

The tiger hopped on that rock and started to mug for the camera.

They have a platform you can climb to see the giraffes from their height. Bubba was in love with all the steps.

Uncooperative giraffes, uncooperative Blogger.

Resting finally after a long day of walking!

Sleeping

2010-12-21T10:58:00.000-07:00

When it came to the idea of watching someone while they slept, I always felt that it was a little bit creepy. Then I had this boy.

I just love him so much!

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T23:30:00.001-07:00

Today, we loaded the boy and his Halloween costume into the car and drove over to his Godparent's house.

There, we dressed him up so that he could go out trick or treating for his first time!

I made his costume this year. I have this photo of his father at about the same age that I used for inspiration.

I found the pattern on sale for $2 at Joann. The fabric was surprisingly hard to find. It wasn't until about my 7th or 8th fabric store that I located it, and even there it was on clearance!

I didn't bother making the hat because I knew the boy wouldn't wear it. I left off the rick rack on the sleeves because I forgot to buy some and didn't feel like going out again. I did add the pom poms on the front because I liked them.

The pattern was really hard and made me say a lot of bad words. It was sized for a ten year old child, and then you had to add length to make it for an adult and subtract length for a toddler. I had a hard time figuring out from where I was supposed to subtract, and I'm not very good at taking measurements. The legs ended up a little short because I didn't take his diaper into account properly.

We just went up and down the street where they lived because I really didn't think he needed that much candy. Even though we just did that one block and not every house was handing out stuff, he still got a good amount of loot.

I made him a treat bag from the leftover fabric. I didn't have a pattern for that, but I've done a simple lined bag before so it wasn't hard. He refused to carry the bag though, so I had to do it. He did a good job of saying "trick or treat" when prompted (although sometimes all that came out was "treat!") and also saying "thank you."

I think he liked getting to touch everyone's cars in the driveways better than getting candy. One guy was dressed as a pirate complete with a real live parrot and that was a hit too. He didn't even get scared of the animatronic monsters in one woman's driveway! He did such a good job for it being his first time out.

When we got back to the house he had a sucker while we watched some football and the grownups helped themselves to some of his candy. Not a bad end to the night!

A Day at the "Patch"

2010-10-30T23:42:00.001-07:00

Today, we took the boy to pick out a pumpkin for our jack 'o lantern.

One of the moms in our playgroup posted photos of her two boys in these adorable bow ties last week. She made the observation that while moms of little girls get all sorts of cute things like tutus and oversized hair decorations, moms of boys pretty much get robbed in the cute department. She set out to find some cute thing (besides hats, of course) for her boys and came across this pattern for bow ties. I just loved them and she was nice enough to help me make one for Bubba.

Nothing says "Autumn" like Palm Trees and Pumpkins!

As you can see, around here pumpkin patches are just bunches of pallets full of pumpkins that have been trucked in from somewhere. Most of them are in the parking lots of various stores (and are later converted to Christmas tree lots) but this one was on the front lawn of a nearby church.

They had wagons there for you to load up with your selections. Bubba was a fan.

They had this bean bag toss which he also loved. It looks like we have a future cornhole champ on our hands!

You like my snazzy new houndstooth scarf? Just two dollars at the Goodwill, baby! It wasn't cold enough to actually wear one though. I just put it on for the photo and then carried it in my purse because I'm a cheater. I think it was over 80 degrees today.

We stopped off by his godparent's house to visit them before we headed home. They were nice enough to lend us carving tools when I mentioned we were going to stop and buy some on the way home.

His job was to put the seeds in the bowl.

He tried scraping the pumpkin but decided he did not like the way the guts felt on his hands.

The finished creations! Yeah... the one on the right was supposed to be a cat but ended up looking like a raccoon. Whoops.

I set them out on the steps. I found some fake votives at the Dollar Tree. They even flicker like a real candle. There were two in a package for just a dollar! Gotta love that, and also, gotta love knowing I'm not going to set the building on fire, you know?

Close Encounters of the Feline Kind

2010-10-26T04:20:00.001-07:00

My son is completely enamored of cats.

Seriously, not only is his favorite toy (outside anything with wheels, I mean) a stuffed cat, you should see him go crazy every time he sees a cat. Whether it's on the tv, or in the courtyard, or a photo in a magazine ad, the spotting of a cat always causes an extremely excited eruption of "KEY CAT! KEY CAT! KEY CAT!" from the boy. It's kind of cute.

The thing is, he's never actually seen a real cat up close, unless you count a visit to PetSmart one night when they happened to have a few that were up for adoption. Even then, those cats were behind glass, and not particularly friendly towards our enthusiastic toddler. Judging from his rough handling of the dogs at home, I don't think I'd want him to handle a cat anyway. Those kitty claws - they're sharp!

Obviously, we've been working on him towards being more gentle with the dogs. "NICE!" gets said a lot around here. He no longer grabs handfuls of that abundant Yorkie hair to tug, which is good. He does not try to poke out the dog's eyes, which is better. He knows to gently stroke their fur, instead of trying to pat or smack them. He's made really good progress.

This came in handy tonight, when he got to see his very first real cat, up close and even got to pet it! We dropped him off with his godparents while we went to an appointment. When we came to pick him up, there was a stray cat outside their door. It came up to us and let it pet it and was very friendly. He was very excited to see it when they opened the door for us of course, but we didn't let him out to see it. When it was time to leave the cat was still there. He got very excited again so we decided to let him pet the cat, reminding him first to be nice.

He was so good with that cat! I was very impressed. He stroked it's fur very gently, and in turn, it almost knocked him over when it tried to rub against him. We stood out there and let him talk to the cat and pet it for about five minutes, then decided to leave.

Man, you should have seen the fit he pitched when he was pulled away from that cat! The little indulgent mom voice in my head told me that we should just go ahead and take in that poor stray. My husband confessed that he was thinking the same thing, but we both agreed there was no way we could take in a cat right now.

Maybe after we move. Maybe.

The Next GAP Model?

2010-10-21T01:08:00.001-07:00

I don't usually enter "pretty baby" contests, but I came across this one for a Gap casting call, and I thought, what the heck, right? Bubba is cute, and he looks good in jeans, so why not? I submitted this photo and now I just need to get people to vote for him. That's the hard part.

If you'd like to see Bubba be a Gap model, you can vote for him here. He is contestant ID# 741551 and you can vote once a day. I'm not gonna lie, I will probably forget to vote each day because I'm a spaz like that. But, if you could try to remember a few times between now and November 14th that would be awesome. We came into this really late in the game, and some kids already have like 45,000 votes so I have no hope of winning Fan Favorite, but maybe we can get enough votes to be a finalist?

The only thing that's important to note is that you need to click the Fan Vote button and not just the Facebook "Like" button. I'm noticing he has more likes on Facebook than actual votes! I don't think they set that up very well.

I've always wanted to go to San Francisco...

Baby No More

2010-10-18T00:39:00.002-07:00

Today, my baby turns two. How on earth did he go from this:

to this:

so quickly?

I love this child so much (more than butter and bacon and cake COMBINED, yo) and I'm so blessed to have him in our lives. I asked him the other day who said he could get so big, and he replied, "ME!" while giving me a smug little grin.

We opted to not do the big birthday party this year and instead spent the day with our oldest and closest friends, just hanging out and watching football. The boy showed off by raising his arms in the air and shouting "TOUCHDOWN!!!" every time someone scored and we all had cupcakes and brats and watched him open presents and it was good.

Thank you God, for all of these blessings, of friends, of family, of love, of cupcakes, and everything that is simple and good and even not so simple and good. But, especially, thank you for this little boy, who, even though he cannot technically be called a baby any longer, will always be my baby.

Bubba's Fantasy Birthday Wishlist, 2nd Ed.

2010-10-07T03:54:00.001-07:00

Bubba is going to turn two in a week and a half. How on Earth did THAT happen??? I can't even pretend anymore - my baby is so not a baby anymore. After some thought and discussion, we decided to skip the big party this year. He's two, and I'm sure as long as he still gets cake he'll be okay with it. Actually, since his birthday falls on a Monday, we've decided that we'll just have his cake and singing at his Godparent's house the day before. We gather there every Sunday with our oldest friends to watch football, so it will be nice and simple while still being surrounded by people who love him.

This means that the time has come to start thinking about what to get the boy for his birthday. Here are some ideas that we've tossed around:

Phoenix Zoo Membership

Now that the weather is cooling off, I think I'd really like to take the boy to the zoo. A lot of the moms in our playgroup go all the time, and we have yet to go once! Admission isn't cheap, but membership is pretty reasonable. If you go four times, it pays for itself. Bubba's free for the next year anyway. This is my number one thing that we're thinking of doing for him. Best part - no clutter!

Radio Flyer Deluxe Steer and Stroll Trike

The boy is starting to show interest in wanting to ride on things, so I was thinking this could be a lot of fun for him! We could use it to go on walks with me pushing him until he learns to pedal on his own. While I'm not crazy about the plastic on this (this was my original choice) I do like that this one has a metal frame and I know he'll get a lot of use from that little bin in the back. Also, the seat on this one looks more comfortable!

Green Toys Cookware and Dining Set

Bubba got an awesome play kitchen for his birthday last year. As you know, I made him a bunch of play food to go in it and he does pull it out and pretend to eat it. He also got a set of pots and pans that he uses to pretend to cook. What he's missing, however, are dishes. I really really really hate plastic when it comes to toys, so I looked everywhere to find some that were not. Ikea does have some nice ones, but they're ceramic and I don't really think it's a good idea to give a two year old breakable things like that. There were some wooden ones on Etsy, but they were super expensive and therefore not an option.

These play dishes are made from 100% recycled plastic, which is awesome. If they have to be plastic, at least they're a little bit more environmentally friendly by creating a demand for some of that recycled plastic! They're also made in the USA.

Radio Flyer All Terrain Steel and Wood Wagon
How awesome is this wagon??? Okay, I'm guessing by now you're catching on that I really do not like plastic toys. Seriously, is there anything more hideous than the stuff Step 2 makes? No offense if you like it, but I look at it and think "Giant Hunk of Plastic for the Landfill." Ugh. But this? This is classic! I love the wooden slats. I love the big tires. I love that it's metal and sturdy. I'm pretty sure we had one like this when I was a kid, and that makes me happy. You can even get a nifty canopy or a clip on umbrella to go with it.

Ty Pluffies - Pokey the Cheetah (aka K'y Cat)
That's right folks - the boy has finally settled on a comfort object, and it is K'y (pronounced KEY) Cat. He loves that thing but here's the deal - K'y Cat kinda is starting to smell. He needs to be washed. I'm smart enough to know, however, that if anything ever happens to this thing we're going to need a backup and if it's not similar in wear and smell to the original, it's not going to work. The one he has was a gift, and I haven't seen these in stores in ages. Amazon is on crack if they think I'm paying almost thirty bucks for one either.

Too bad he didn't get attached to the Lion. I have a second one of those from my sorority days!

Board Books for a Foodie-in-Training

I am so in love with the idea of these books. We have a lot of books in our house, and even more importantly, we have a lot of children's books in this house. I worked with kids for many years and was an elementary education major, after all. However, what I never really collected was board books. We've gotten some since the boy came along, but I'd really like more. I came across these on Amazon and was instantly smitten. I mean, gee, I wonder why? It's so important to me that the boy not only be exposed to lots of different foods, but foods from other cultures as well. What a great introduction for him to have these in our library.

Obviously, he's not getting ALL of this. We love the boy but we're not crazy and don't want to spoil him! These are just ideas that we've been tossing around for gifts. :)

This is why you join a mom's group...

2010-09-22T03:11:00.001-07:00

...especially when you're new to this whole baby/toddler thing! Not only do you get tips and strategies on parenting along with the company of other women in the same life stage as you are, you also get lots of great ideas of fun things to do with your kids. These can be things that won't necessarily cost you any money and that you can do inside the house when it's stupid hot outside. Behold, the air mattress:

First he ran back and forth on it for a while.

Then he would go into the hallway, run into the living room, and then fling himself on it repeatedly. It was awesome. Luckily our downstairs neighbors are moving out! After he was done with throwing himself around on it he sort of started to dance and twirl in circles until he lost his balance and fell. I swear he kept himself busy on that thing for a solid 45 minutes before he pooped out.

Right now, he's sleeping like... well, like a baby! HA!

Thank you so much Kristy and Sara for this tip! I'm sure my husband thought I was insane or he was in trouble when I asked him to drag it out and inflate it, but it definitely kept us all entertained this evening. I hope the boy will have a repeat performance tomorrow!

More Baby Layouts

2010-08-13T09:13:00.001-07:00

It has become apparent to me that I have two different types of insomnia. The first, which is the one that I usually have, is the one where I am tired all day until about ten at night. For some reason, at that time I get a renewed burst of energy and all traces of sleepiness exit my body. I then am awake and unable to sleep until five or six in the morning. It blows, but since the boy is fond of sleeping in, I usually still get a good six-seven hours of sleep each day. I can make up the extra hour or two I'm missing if needed by joining the boy when he naps.

The other type of insomnia is the one I've been experiencing this past week. For some reason, when ten o'clock hits I stay sleepy and by eleven I could cry because I'm so tired. I drag myself to bed, fall asleep instantly, and then find myself awake at three in the morning. I'm talking about wide eyed, brain already moving, morning person awake.

It pisses me off, frankly.

I end up getting really tired again right about the time Bubba decides to get out of bed. This means that I end up running all day on only 3-4 hours of sleep. I don't like this type of insomnia!!! People keep telling me to ask my doctor for Ambien, but that stuff scares me. Besides, while I'm not above taking medications when necessary, I happen to think that as a society we overmedicate ourselves. I don't want to be running to the doctor and pumping myself full of artificial chemicals if I don't need to do so. Some may argue that I do need to do so, but since I still mostly seem to be functioning, I think I'll hold off.

All that is to say that since I've been up for hours already, I've managed to get some more pages done for the boy's scrapbook. I did two this morning and two yesterday morning.

Journaling straight from this blog post.

Those letters just barely fit on there. I'm so glad they did! I was too lazy to paint them so I just used a mini ink pad to color them. Gotta love those Cat's Eye Chalk Inks!

Journaling from this blog post. My printer is doing something weird with the colors on type. That color gradation in the title was not on purpose, but since I didn't want to waste another sheet of cardstock hoping it would get better I left it.

I love this page, and it's probably the simplest one yet. Journaling from this blog post.

Click on any of these to enlarge.

August 2010 Twelve of Twelve

2010-08-12T23:01:00.000-07:00

Last month, I totally spaced on doing the 12 of Twelve because well, last month sucked. Why not have one more thing go wrong, am I right? But this month, ah, THIS month, I remembered, because this month is August and this month is therefore better. With the exception of the ridiculous heat and resulting high electric bill that will make us cry when it arrives.

If you'd like to learn more about 12 of 12, click here.

If you'd like to see my 12 of 12 photos for other months, click here.

I went to bed at 11:40 last night because I was just EXHAUSTED. Generally, I try to avoid "early" bedtimes like that because they usually result in finding myself wide awake at three a.m. Today was no exception. I did, however, get to sleep until 4:40 which means I got FIVE FULL HOURS of sleep! Since I've been getting blocks of two or three here and there, this was very exciting.

I took advantage of that awake time and posted on my blog. Usually blog posts happen in the wee hours of the morning, but since I was asleep, I hadn't done it yet.

I decided to go ahead and hang my Fall wreath on the front door. The window by my desk looks out onto this area, and I thought maybe I could pretend it was October instead of it being August. Summer got the last laugh though, because it melted the glue enough that pumpkins started to fall off. Boo.

I also took some sandpaper and lightly distressed the little plant stand by the door. It was a dark (almost black) brown when I bought it, but I decided to spray paint it turquoise. You know how I've been loving my turquoise lately! Well, then it looked really flat and spray painted, for lack of a better term. I very lightly sanded where the paint would have worn away eventually, and it brought out a lot of the design and gave it more texture. Definitely an improvement.

The boy decided he needed to get up early as well. 8:45 is not a common time for him to see!

Later in the morning, he was walking around with the Swiffer. It was too tall for him to maneuver comfortably, so I popped out the two middle sections and just attached the handle to the cloth holder. Now it's the perfect size! He sat there and Swiffered the same spot for a while. Weird baby.

I worked on more baby book pages. I got two done, and photos printed for a few more.

Someone was supposed to come by at 4:00 to bring me something, so I decided I should probably comb my hair. I figured out how to curl it with the flat iron I won on Miss Anne's giveaway a few months ago!

We had a late lunch. I made tortillas last night so we had egg burritos. Well, I should say I had egg burritos because some baby only wanted to eat the tortilla.

My husband worked from home.

Bubba's alternate lunch, because I couldn't just let him have a tortilla!

I was trying to take a photo of the forkful of pasta and he swooped in from the side to take a bite right as the self timer went off. Obviously, the kid likes macaroni and cheese way better than eggs.

After dinner we took a quick run to Target to pick up a few things that we needed. My son gnawed his fingernails almost the entire time.

That's all until next month!

This Blog Is Like A Box Of Chocolates

2010-08-11T03:32:00.001-07:00

because you never know what you're going to get! Last week it was felt food and this week, all of a sudden I'm back into scrapbooking. I did maybe two pages all of the past year total, and here in the last two days I've been cranking them out. I guess it just depends on my mood. Either that, or the fact that up until this evening, both of my dogs had more complete scrapbooks than my son did. Feeling mommy guilt much?

Here's the first page I did. Ooh, isn't he CUTE??? My husband said he doesn't look like he's almost two in this photo, he looks more like he's about to start kindergarten. I asked that boy who the heck told him he could get so big, and do you want to know what his reply was? "ME!" I kid you not. Smartypants.

I based the design of this layout on one of the Starting Blox that my friend Susan designs for the Scrapy Land Blog.

She is seriously a treasure trove of great ideas and information. Totally worth stopping by and checking out. I used the Scotch tape trick that she taught me for sticking down die cut letters a LOT in the past couple of days. Her sketch is for a 12" x 12" page but luckily I'm pretty good at converting those in my head to the 8 1/2" x 11" pages that I prefer.

A lot of times people will feel that they have to match their papers to their photos exactly or the layout won't look right. If you notice, I used a paper that features a nice turquoise prominently and there isn't a speck of blue anywhere in my photo. It works because the brown ties it in and I didn't try to use too many other colors. It's pretty much brown, turquoise, and gold.

I was painting that little metal star in the corner when I realized that my acrylic paints are starting to dry up. So sad! My espresso Dabber was a solid mass when I opened the bottle. No wonder it would not squeeze through the applicator cap.

The stamp under the metal star is one of those 7 Gypsies self inking stamps. It says 100% Certified Authentic around the edge of the circle, and in the middle, it used to say It's A Girl. Yeah, I totally took my X-Acto knife to that part of the rubber and I think it has a lot more uses now. I altered some of the other ones like that too. Don't be afraid to alter stuff to make it work better for you!

A page about the boy's rows of little toy cars. (Click to enlarge any of these) You'll notice I'm using a LOT of old product. That would be because I have a lot of old product in my house that needs using! I figure, I'm not submitting these for publication, and it will all be old product by the time he is old enough to appreciate them, so who cares, right?

I ran that piece of Making Memories Noteworthy journaling paper through the printer. I was sure happy to find some repositionable Hermafix in a drawer, because this printer won't take Scotch taped bits of paper like my old one would!

I cut out the titles for the first three layouts using Quickutz dies and an Epic Six. Bubba decided that it was his job to turn the handle on the machine, going as far as shouting "MINE!!!" at me and swatting my hand away. I don't know who taught him "mine" but I'd like to let them know they did a fine job because he has a firm grasp on the concept all of a sudden.

The journaling for this one was also done on the computer. I just make text boxes in the size I need in MS Word, print, cut them out, and paste them on the page. The font here is CK Jot and I underlined it so it would look sort of like I had used one of those cute journaling stamps. I like to computer journal because it gives me the option of getting my spacing just right for whatever it is that I'm doing. I can also pick fonts to go with the mood of my page and colors to coordinate.

This photo cracks me up. What should have been a layout about my son's first visit to the pool this year turned into one about him scowling at the camera like he was Clint Eastwood or something. It just goes to show you that you can use pastels on a boy layout.

I would not even bother trying to read this one if I were you - you might go blind. What I did was to go back and take the journaling from this blog post and put it on a page in Photoshop. I based the design around one I saw that Ali Edwards did. I think she used to sell a digital kit for it, but honestly, this is so simple and straightforward it was not hard at all to recreate. It's just lines and plugging in a few photos!

This is a great example of how you can use your blog as a tool. Sure, I could have journaled Bubba's birth story from memory and my perspective today, but I would have lost some of the detail and emotion that I was able to capture when I did it right after it happened. There's no way I would have been able to make this page when he was two days old, which is when I wrote the content. The only thing I had to do here was resist the temptation to edit my words by adding stuff here and there. I did cut out a few sentences here and there for the sake of trying to get it all to fit on one page, but for the most part, it's exactly how I posted it on my blog. It's honest.

The last eight pages are the first four double page layouts in a series:

I wanted to have some sort of continuity with those benchmark photos I took his first year, so what I did was cut the sheet of number paper into one inch strips, painted a bunch of chipboard numbers orange to coordinate then made gave them a coat of Diamond Glaze to make them dimensional/glossy, and finally, made a template in Photoshop to hold six smaller photos. The template has frames in colors that coordinate with the patterned paper strips. I just resize the photos for that month, drop them in the template, and print on photo paper - no trimming required!

Each month will have a 5" x 7" benchmark photo and six photos from that month. Originally my plan was to have six photos from the birthday photo shoot that month, but then I found that some months, I didn't really take very many photos. Especially there in the beginning! Therefore, I had to mix in other pictures from that month. As I get through the first year, you'll see less of the filler photos and they'll all start to be the ones with the dark chocolate background.

When I did these pages, I made the discovery that both of my bottles of Diamond Glaze had thickened. One I just had to toss, but I was able to get enough from the other to finish my numbers. They're not as smooth and bubble-free as they normally would be, but they're okay. I also was out of ones in those Basic Grey chipboard numbers, but then I realized that a lowercase "l" looks a lot like a number "1." I did end up having to trace and cut out two from chipboard, but hey, that's better than five!

So, that's thirteen pages, or nine layouts in two days. That's not too shabby!

Smartypants

2010-08-09T21:43:00.001-07:00

The boy has been able to correctly identify numbers from one to ten for a while now, but we didn't realize that he was actually able to count from one to ten until a couple of days ago. He has a funny little quirk though where he wants you to repeat the numbers after him before he'll go on to the next one. He also gets really excited when he gets to ten because then he can clap and congratulate himself for doing a "Good Job!"

It's ridiculous how cute this kid is. Not that I'm biased or anything. He'll be 22 months in a week.

Chutes and Ladder Trucks

2010-08-04T02:40:00.001-07:00

Last week, our playgroup had an outing to a local firestation. I am a slacker and did not get around to posting these photos at that time. Since I spent a LOVELY (sense my sarcasm?) day getting yelled at by my mother today after paying her rent and really did nothing else of note, I thought I'd post these instead.

Turns out, firemen really DO slide down brass poles!

They also have the option to slide down a big, curving metal slide, which from what we were told, most of them do not enjoy. While this sounded like a lot more fun to me at first, I have to point out the pads on the wall. They're up there because apparently when you hit that curve you also hit the wall...hard. We got to see a demo. Ouch.

This would also be the "chute" to which I oh so cleverly alluded in my post title, in case you missed it. It's late and I'm punchy.

This is the top of the slide. I liked the warning.

This is the ladder truck. You too could have one of these for the reasonable sum of 1.4 million dollars. A pittance, really.

The Jaws of Life. Cool.

This is where the hoses hook up to the basket for the top of the ladder. We learned that the ladder truck can't pump it's own water, which means that an engine always has to accompany it to a call. We also learned that the trucks get washed every day and detailed once a week.

Bubba in the driver's seat.

I swear I'm not taller than my husband! I just have better posture. :) Later on in the day I made some blueberry muffins and we took them back there to thank them for the tour.

Monsoon!

2010-07-30T07:00:00.001-07:00

I live in the desert. I hate this desert. It's dry, and it's hot, and generally miserable six months out of the year. There's not a whole lot that's good about summer time if you ask me, with the exception of my birthday hiding out there in the middle of August. Oh, that, and the monsoons. Glorious, glorious monsoons! Technically, they're just the winds, but the winds bring RAIN. I love me some rain, and I love gray overcast days. Monsoons are a thing of beauty as far as I'm concerned. Generally they start the first week of July and continue out into August.

But not this year. We haven't had any rain since March 23rd, which is absolutely ridiculous. For the past few weeks, as the day gets later the clouds start to roll in and the air gets heavy. There has even been really impressive thunder and lightening. Dust storms made visibility drop. Too bad we didn't get any rain to go with those things. It's like the monsoon has been mocking us.

Today, however, things finally changed. Darkness started to roll in earlier than usual, about 2:30 in the afternoon. Sure enough, by three it was POURING. I sat in my front doorway and let the boy check it out from our patio.

Poor Phoenician baby didn't get what this wet stuff falling from the sky was at first!

Best to check it out from the safety of inside.

Okay, maybe the proverbial toe in to check the waters...

Nope! Back inside!

He seriously would run out, watch the rain for about half a minute, then run back to the safety of that window over and over again. He was cracking me up!

Finally starting to get a little wet.

Standing back to contemplate it all.

Discovering puddles. Just a little one, to be sure, but enough in which to splash and dance.

By this point he was pretty wet but he no longer cared.

He also kept trying to lick the water from his face, which is why his tongue is out in so many of these photos.

Catching raindrops.

Not Tired

2010-07-22T05:05:00.002-07:00

Tonight my husband tucked the boy into bed. I went in and gave my son a kiss and hug goodnight, then I turned off the lamp and closed the door on my way out of the room.

Well, an hour later the dog needed attention (I don't go outside at night, too scary) so I went in to roust my husband. I was surprised to find both him and the baby still awake. He told me that right after I had closed the door he heard Bubba slide out of bed, walk over to the table with the lamp, and then click! It was on again.

Little booger.

I ended up laying down with him while my husband attended to the dogs. He would lay his face right up against mine. I'm talking squashing his features into my face! I'd scoot my head back a bit, and he would just move his face forward some more until he was squished up against me again. This continued until he had scooted me all the way across my pillow and I was in danger of falling off the bed.

It's so strange the little things that he will do to soothe himself. There have been a few nights where he wouldn't settle unless I let him have his finger in my mouth, tapping my teeth. He also will stroke my pillowcase (it's satin so I don't get wrinkly in my sleep!) and sleep horizontally, using a pillow as a blanket.

I hear people ask all the time, WHY are you letting that boy sleep in your bed??? It's funny because I never ever thought I'd be a co-sleeper. In fact, that baby ONLY slept in his crib or on the floor (with an occasional stint at my side on the couch in the Boppy) until he was ten months old. I was so paranoid about SIDS that I was playing every odd I came across. Having a fan in the room decreases the odds? I had two. Crib bumpers increases them? I didn't even consider buying one. Pacifiers decrease them? Bring on the binkies! Bucked teeth be damned! And of course, there was co-sleeping. Since that was in the "increases the odds" category, it was just not going to happen. Not on my watch.

That doesn't mean I didn't think about it. Oh man, there were nights when I would just lay in bed and stare at that crib and want nothing more than to pull my boy out and bring him to bed with me so we could have a good snuggle. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I've always slept with my dogs, so having a little organic space heater next to me was pretty much second nature. Maybe it was that new mother instinct. Whatever it was, it was strong, but I resisted it.

Then when he was about ten or eleven months, I discovered that if I took him out of the crib when he woke up in the morning and immediately put him in bed with me that he would go back to sleep and sleep TWO MORE HOURS. Easily. Sometimes three.

Hallelujah, people. I am so not a morning person. I was always very careful though, taking all the pillows (including mine) off the bed and having him slightly higher than my head so I wouldn't accidentally cover him with the blanket.

Well, somehow he started waking up earlier, so he was spending more hours in the mornings with us in bed. Then he started to not want to go to bed at all, so we would put him to sleep in our bed and then transfer him to the crib. Then sometimes whoever was putting him to sleep *cough*husband*cough* would fall asleep too (the boy is DANGEROUSLY snuggly!) and he would end up being in our bed all night long.

Next thing you know, he's celebrating his first birthday and we've got a family bed. Huh. I wasn't terribly worried about it anymore at this point, because he could roll over and crawl and all that good stuff that drastically reduced any chances of him being smothered in his sleep.

I'm not going to lie to you. I love love love sleeping with this baby. I love rolling over and being inches away from his angelic little sleepy face. I love hearing those whispery baby snores up close. I love when he rolls over and snuggles up against me. I especially love when he lays with his back against me so that our spines are lined up together. And best of all, I love waking up to his smiling face in the morning.

Like I said before, I am not a morning person at all. I hate waking up. I hate that groggy, stupid feeling I have as my brain feebly attempts to adjust to the morning. If there is something that can make this better, I'm all for it. Right now, that would be waking up to a little man who wakes up alert and chattery and happy and demands my phone almost first thing. I hug him, and we have a snuggle, some kisses, maybe a little tickle session or two before starting our morning routine of a visit to the potty before breakfast. He makes what's usually a really hard and crappy transition period for me be a little more joyful and who can't use a little more joy in their lives, am I right?

Yeah, I know it's going to suck when he has to start going to bed at a "normal" hour. And it's going to suck when he has to start sleeping on his own, in a room separate from ours. Here's the thing about that though - that will happen when it happens. I have not been one of those "I can't wait" moms up to this point and I surely don't plan on starting now. I want to enjoy every moment of this boy without lamenting about how much better things will be once he can do X or hits milestone Y.

Yes I know he will have to start going to bed early once he gets to school, but school is still three years out from now, maybe more, so why worry about that now? Let him sleep in and stay up late and get to spend time with his father. Yes I know eventually he will be too big for our bed, and let's be honest, we're going to want our privacy back too. But for right now, neither of us minds him being there so why worry? I've had him sleep on his own a few times since we started co-sleeping, and I think it was harder for me than it was for him. I missed my baby at my side.

Y'all can talk to me about it when he's six and still in my bed! I promise though, he won't be. :)

This Kid is Amazing

2010-07-20T06:12:00.000-07:00

Seriously.

Not only is he ridiculously cute, and getting cuter by the day (see photo evidence below), in my ever so humble opinion, he's also getting to be more FUN by the day.

He was 21 months yesterday and he's hit this stage where he's learning everything super fast. He's like a teeny tiny human sponge. If I thought he was picking things up quickly before, it was only because I didn't know what was to come.

He has this great little sense of humor. He thinks it's the funniest thing ever to take off his diaper, wait until you're about arms length away, then run like crazy, cackling with glee all the while, to avoid getting his business covered up again. He will not only fist bump, but do high and low and blow that sucker up with the biggest grin on his face. He will play along when I sing "If You're Happy and You Know It" and he doesn't even wince at what passes for my singing voice. He makes piles from the pillows and blankets on the bed and tosses himself into them. If you tell him to wake up Daddy he'll totally smack him on the arm until he gets a response, then laugh about it.

He's independent. He thinks it's the most awesome thing that I put a lamp by his bed that he can turn on and off. I'll find him in there with some of his "friends" (what we call his stuffed animals) or the iPhone, just chilling out. He climbs in and out of chairs and on and off our bed. He loves to look at books quietly in the living room. He can undress himself and gets really mad if we don't bend to his will.

He's opinionated. He knows what he likes and what he doesn't like. Of course, it can change from day to day, but once he's decided, you can forget changing that stubborn little man's mind. If you offer him something to eat that he doesn't like he will turn his head away as far as he can with his little nose up in the air. He also closes his eyes and tightens his mouth into a straight line. Where did he learn this??? The Cat In The Hat is his favorite book and the only one of that length that he will sit through. I think this is because I have it on the iPhone, but I can't be entirely sure.

He's quirky. He talks in his sleep every so often. He does this funny thing when you reprimand him where he will look at you very seriously, shift his eyes off to the side, and then slowly turn his head in that direction. He bites his fingernails AND his toenails, which is odd because neither my husband nor I are nail biters. I seriously have not clipped nails in months! His favorite thing right now is to take a bath. He will try to lure us into the bathroom so that he can demand one several times a day. If he comes across a word he knows on television, in a book or in conversation, and he has a corresponding toy, he will drop everything to run through the house and hunt down that item.

He's endearing. If you crouch down and hold open your arms he'll run across the room and fling his arms around your neck for a big hug. He will line up his friends on the couch and then give them kisses as he names them off. He'll look you square in the eye and say "Please?" so earnestly that you feel like a total poop sandwich if you don't give him what he's asking for. Of course, he then will get mad and scream in frustration so you get over that feeling really quickly. :)

He's a little bit of a tech geek. If we watch a dvd, he has to be the one to put eject whatever is in the Playstation (hooray Blu-Ray!) and put the new disc in. If you haven't realized it yet, he's got a serious mastery of how to use the iPhone. We went to a party for the fourth of July with our friends and he found himself sitting on a chair next to one where there were seven different cell phones, all smart phones. He looked through them all and decided that only the iPhones were worth playing with. After further inspection, he decided that only the one iPhone 4 in the pile (not mine) was acceptable for his use. Even though he had never used that operating system before (I hadn't installed the upgrade yet) he was able to figure out the folders and how to find the apps he wanted.

He's so freaking smart. He's taught himself his shapes with this iPhone app. He not only can identify the entire alphabet (albeit uppercase only), we'll sometimes find him playing by himself, just reciting the letters. He's picking up numbers (1-10) now and some colors too. He can identify his hair, eyes, nose, ears, mouth, teeth, belly button, elbows, hands, knees, feet, toes, and butt. If I ask him who my favorite boy in the whole world is, he will joyfully reply with "Me!" Oh, and then there's this:

Gotta love the boy!

Photo Hunt Challenge - June

2010-07-01T23:28:00.002-07:00

I've been watching my friend Sam do these photo hunt challenges on her blog for a while and I thought they looked like fun. At first I was thinking I couldn't really do them justice because I don't have a "nice" camera. Then I decided, what the heck, if I'm going to be all ghetto about it, I'll just use my iPhone and be ghetto in style, y'all. I even ran my pics through the Shake It Photo app (like the ubiquitous Hipstamatic but only a buck!) to make them more ghetto fabulous!

I actually was going to do the challenge before this one, but I started too late and didn't have time to get all my photos. This time I was more successful.

Hilarious Out-takes

I don't know how hilarious this is, or if it's even the right sort of thing. We were playing around with this bandanna and the baby was wearing it all Tupac/Thug Life style on his head. He took it off and dropped it on his Sleep Sheep's head which was pretty funny to me. Sheep is the Anti-Hardcore Gangsta.

A Creative Crop

Another one that I'm not sure I did right. This was the very last photo I took, and I took it today. You can't win them all!

Sun Flare

I had to Google how to take a photo of sun flare because I have spent my entire life trying to avoid it. How stupid is that?

Sweet Dreams

My boy, passed out asleep on the floor. That black thing by his hand would be my pillowcase. He likes to pull it off my pillow and carry it around.

Work

My work, as you know, is that of a mom and wife. I think having a full jar of freshly baked cookies in my kitchen is a good symbol of what I'm trying to do here.

Play

I took the boy to the splash pad at a local mall. He refused to let go of his toy trucks the entire time.

Cookout/Picnic

This is the chicken from the marinade recipe that I posted the other day. Now you know why I made it!

Transportation

This was the boy's first time getting to ride in one of these carts, and he LOVED it. I don't think he's ever been so entertained at the grocery store before. The fact that the steering wheels had squeaky horns only made it so much better.

Money/Currency

Bubba's College Fund. I got this old glass water cooler bottle from my mother, and this is how we jokingly refer to it. The boy contributed the Starbucks straw. :) If you give him change, he knows to go put it in the jar.

A Fountain

The fountain in the courtyard at church, with a statue of St. Francis in the background. People look at you funny when you start climbing the fountain in a dress to snap pics from above!

A Night Scene

The boy likes to sit on his bed with all of his plush friends and look at books in his jammies. If you look in the lower right hand corner, you can see that Gidget decided to join him this evening, but was going a bit incognito.

Black & White with Selective Coloring

This was the only photo that I did not take with my phone, because I had no way to edit it this way. I did send it to myself to make it into a Polaroid though so it would fit with my theme. I bought these flowers as part of a bouquet for my husband on Father's Day. They're in an antique blue canning jar next to my kitchen sink. That pop of bright red there makes me really happy.

Something Old

My husband dresses like a hobo. What can I say? He wears his clothes and shoes into the ground and doesn't see why this is a problem. Ugh.

Something New

Cotton Training Pants! I picked up a few pair of these to try out. Um, so not successful. You really have to commit to being on top of that ALL DAY!

Something Borrowed

Borrowed time. Get it?

Something Blue

He was mad at me for something or other. Probably because I wouldn't let him have a cookie.

Something Musical

I picked up this mini guitar at a thrift shop last fall when we had grand plans of dressing the boy as a grunge rocker for Halloween. At the last minute I decided that was lame and we went with the super cute bear costume instead. So, now we have this little guitar with no strings. I plan to have it strung and just let him play with it. Maybe he'll be the next John Mayer? Hmm...

Something Purple

He's wearing his dad's University of Washington hat and a purple shirt that his grandma bought him. I seriously think this may be all the purple in my house. It's not one of my favorite colors.

Something Yellow

My weakness - yellow cake from a box with chocolate frosting from a tub. So gross, but so, so good.

Something Scenic

A highway shot somewhere in the middle of nowhere. I love the gradation of color in this and the placement of the clouds. So pretty.

There you go! My Ghetto Fabulous Fake Polaroids From a Camera Phone edition of the photo hunt challenge! :)

Friday Mish Mash

2010-06-25T23:15:00.001-07:00

This week I have been totally slacking off around here on my domestic duties. I mean, sure, I've been busy, but I haven't been doing the things I should be doing, like cooking and cleaning. Heck, I barely wanted to shower this week let alone clean the house! It's the heat; it's been between 110 and 115 degrees all week and knowing that it's just going to get hotter saps my will to do anything.

There may have been some trips for fast food and a couple of nights with Chinese takeout involved.

Today, I resolved - no more! I got off my behind and spent a good portion of my day in the kitchen, with breaks to do puzzles and watch some silly videos online with the boy. Today's post will be an out of order mish mash of what I accomplished today. First up - a Food Revolution recipe. Recipe sixteen, Pan Fried Glazed Pork Chops, was dinner tonight.

This is a really simple recipe requiring very few ingredients. I didn't even end up using the lemon in the photo. I will say, however, that my pork comes from the supermarket SANS skin. Ew, Jamie. I used my kitchen shears to snip the fat on the chops instead of using a knife as instructed. I also left out the sage because I didn't feel like buying a whole bunch for a few leaves, knowing that I will probably never use the rest of it. Also, eating fried sage doesn't appeal to me in the least.

I tossed the pork chops into my 2 quart d5 pan. It was the perfect size for this. It's been a long time since I pan fried anything like this though, and holy hell I forgot how freaking messy it was! Everything in a two foot radius of that burner got covered in a fine shower of olive oil. Yuck. My chops didn't stick though!

I went with the maple syrup option to glaze the chops. My husband and I both worried that this would be too sweet, but after cooking the sugars must have mellowed or something because it was barely sweet at all. We both really liked how this turned out, with the exception of the cloud of smoke from the sugars burning in the pan. Also, my pan has a lovely black spot of burnt sugar on the bottom that is not going to be fun to scrub off!

I also want to add that the cooking time in the recipe is WAY long, and my chops were a little bit dry because of it. Mine weren't too much thinner than the ones in the photo either, so I don't know what's up with that.

I served this with a simple rice pilaf into which I mixed some frozen mixed vegetables that I had in the freezer. I need to use up a bunch of stuff in there because it's pretty full right now. It's not the prettiest side dish in the world, but it tasted good and I was tired by this point!

I'm also trying to use up some stuff that's been in the house in the interest of getting fresher stuff rotated in. I had a bag of shredded coconut in the cupboard, and a half bag each of walnuts and chocolate chips in the fridge, so I Googled recipes with those ingredients and made cookies.

I also juiced three of the sad looking lemons that I had and made a nice pitcher of lemonade for my husband.

I whipped up a dozen tortillas to have with eggs in the mornings. Of course, I had already measured out everything when I realized that I didn't have enough shortening, so I went ahead and used some bacon drippings that I had in the fridge to make up the difference. Surprisingly, the tortillas didn't taste any different to me, but they were a LOT more tender.

I also made a batch of Whole Wheat Waffles (sorry no photo this time!) to put in the freezer for a breakfast alternative. It's so nice sometimes to be able to just pull one out and pop it into the toaster without worrying about feeding my child preservatives and processed junk! They're one of Bubba's very favorite foods, and he ate two of them when he woke up from his nap. This is probably why he didn't want anything to do with his dinner.

I made a batch of cheesy crackers for the baby using a recipe I found here (very bottom of the post). These are ridiculously easy and so very good. I'll never buy Cheese-Its or Goldfish again! I will, however, omit the salt next time because the cheese was plenty salty on it's own. I used 2 cups extra sharp Tillamook cheddar, and 1/4 cup Parmigiano Reggiano in these. I also left out the chili powder. These are SO GOOD. The cookie cutters came from HomeGoods where I only paid about $8 for them. This was their first use. Aren't they adorable? The boy may have also snuck several handfuls of these off the table where they were cooling.

Right now I have a blackberry cobbler in the oven. (Look how cool! My oven has a light now!!!) This is the second one I've made this week. Earlier this week I found organic blackberries on sale for a dollar and stocked up. I want to make sorbet but my freezer is too full to fit the ice cream maker thing in there, boo. I'm working on that! Blackberry Lemon Sorbet is sounding pretty divine in this heat.

This morning, after we got out of bed, had breakfast (chocolate Mini Wheats, because nobody is perfect) and bathed, I took the boy out onto the patio to take his photo. One of the moms in our playgroup, who is also of the crafty persuasion, is making coloring books with photos of all the kids. Isn't that a cute idea? This is the first one I took:

I'm so mad that the stupid flash on the camera was on, because this would have been a great shot. I ended up sending her this one.

Isn't my boy looking so big? I love it. He's talking more and more every day and has become quite the little mimic. He's also very demanding and starting to do that thing where he fake cries if he doesn't get his way. Doesn't he know his mama is wise to all those tricks???

Video Bubs Learning

2010-06-18T03:17:00.001-07:00

I have a few videos of the boy to share. I'm telling you, this kid gets to be more and more fun with each day that passes. He's picking up on everything it seems, and starting to repeat more words back to you. He may have even said his first curse word (whoops) last week!

I've been working on getting him to do more things for himself around the house. I'll ask him to go get me a new diaper, or to throw something in the trash, or to grab his bib before dinner. Empowering your child and helping them to be able to do things for themselves is a big principle of Montessori, so I really want to do this for him. Sometimes it makes more work for me in the end, but I think in the long run it will be worth it.

Today, I decided that I was through with the massive aloe vera plant that I have been growing on my patio now for several years. It started out as this itty bitty thing I got at Ikea for 99 cents and it swelled into this gargantuan eyesore that kept having freaking baby aloe plants every spring, and I was running out of room for them! It sent up a shoot for the first time this year, but overall it was just looking sad and overgrown and it no longer brought me any joy.

I hated hacking up a living plant, but it was time. I'm trying not to feel too guilty about it. I also pulled up the babies that were in the pot. You can see the pile from this one plant in the background of this first video. I'll just have to appease my guilt by caring for the thirteen aloe plants that still remain. Since it's so hot, remembering to water them is really important. I've been working with the boy on scooping water and pouring for a while, but today (the 3rd or 4th attempt at this) was the first time he really got it.

Notice how he does not let go of the cars in his other hand at all. He sure does love his cars. Also, notice what I did with my employee of the month award from the hotel, haha!

This is the latest big thing he's picked up - he's learning his alphabet. I'm not joking and I'm not exaggerating either. He can correctly identify almost every letter of the alphabet. Seriously, if someone had told me this about their almost twenty month old, I would have totally thought they were full of crap. Hence, the video for proof! Now, he can't pronounce every letter correctly yet (my favorite is bubboo for W) but he says the same thing every time and it usually sounds something like the letter.

Gotta love the chocolate milk stain on my light tan sofa. Thanks kiddo.

Lest anyone think we're some sort of mean freaks who are sitting around drilling our kid with flash cards all day, I want to assure you that this totally came about from his own interest. It started with the Peek A Boo books, and the letter B. That led to O, which led to him pointing to other letters. We'll tell him the name of whatever he points to, whether it be an apple, a horse, or a letter of the alphabet. The kid is just a total sponge right now!

Just so you know, I don't believe in flash cards for learning. Maybe for reinforcing stuff you already know, but not as a tool for learning. Also, as you probably figured out by my Montessori references, I'm a big proponent of children learning what they want to learn and being allowed to explore their own interests, at least when they're little. I feel that forcing a little kid to sit still while you drill them on stuff just ends up stealing away their natural love of learning and sets them up to hate school.

If we thought our child loved the end credits on tv shows and movies before, he's especially enthralled with them now! As my husband put it, he's discovered a virtual smörgåsbord of alphabet! We watched a movie tonight and as the credits scrolled up the screen he just stood in front of the television calling out letters that he saw. He gets very excited and will even clap for himself sometimes. So cute, this little smartypants of mine!

June 2010 Twelve of Twelve

2010-06-13T00:20:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was the 12th! Here are my photos for this month. Nothing terribly exciting I'm afraid, as we just hung out at home today.

The day started out with watching a few videos on the iPod in bed.

Then we had some cereal for breakfast. Bubba's aunt sent him this cool bowl that suctions to the table. It has the cutest little pirate drawings on it with captions in French.

I noticed that one of the water valve boxes was leaking last night so I called maintenance about it. This is what I woke up to under my windows today. It was a pretty bad leak.

The boy had an hour today where walking around the apartment hugging his stuffed chicken. Normally he doesn't really play with his plush animals, so this was really cute.

I was working on cleaning and dusting my scrapbook room. I put down my dust cloth for a water break and when I came back, it had become a parking lot.

I took this photo for 12 of 12 and then posted it in my craft room post yesterday like a dummy. Whoops!

My husband brought the Magna Doodle in to show me the new letters that Bubba had learned. I must get this on video soon.

Bubba had his soccer shirt on. They had these at Target a few weeks ago and so we decided to get one that reflected his heritage. I didn't like the colors on the Mexico shirt, so Germany it was!

It's a bit unsettling when you're just trying to enjoy a television show and you realize all eyes are on you...

My husband used his laptop as a coaster and then tried to blame me!

The boy was running around with this throw blanket. He would toss it over his head, and wait for one of us to ask where he was. As soon as he heard his name he would uncover his head and then just cackle. This was after he ran back and forth from the dining room through the kitchen, stopping to raise his hands in the air, scream, and giggle a few dozen times. He was in a very silly mood.

Bubba was playing with my husband's iPod when I made the mistake of pulling out my phone to check Twitter. I don't see how he can tell them apart, when they both have the same apps that he likes, but it never fails: the iPhone is superior to the iPod, even to a toddler.

I guess this was the Whole Lotta Bubba month!

Lessons at the Swimming Pool

2010-06-06T19:47:00.000-07:00

When we were packing for Austin, I realized that the bottoms of my swimsuit had gone missing. I looked everywhere for them but they were no where to be found. This really irritated me, not because I had my heart set on getting in a pool on our trip, but because I seriously only wore that swimsuit once or twice after I bought it last year!

In case you're wondering, yes, I only have one swimsuit. I guess technically I have three, but two are cute little string bikinis from the year that I got married when I weighed, oh, thirty pounds less than I do now. They are definitely not something that I would wear now! I refuse to buy more, or even spend more than $30 on a bathing suit because bathing suits bring me no joy. They are merely reminders of how fat I am and make me feel bad about myself. I hate that I have to have one to get into the pool, and even when I do have one, I still rarely venture out.

If only I could look this cute in my swimsuit, I'd have not a care in the world!

I sure do love that scowly baby. His swimsuit was purchased from the Gap several months ago and is still a bit too big. Luckily summers here are long, so it will probably fit by the end. I need to find him a coordinating rash guard still. His swimsuit cost about what mine did, and I have no problem with that because he looks cute in it and that madras plaid on his skinny little butt brings me much joy. This is how I determine if things are worth the money!

We actually wandered into Walmart after church today where I bought a new tankini that had a solid brown bottom. This way I can switch it with the top I already had and it looks like I have TWO suits.

I swear if I ever get skinny I'm going to have 20 bathing suits.

Anyway, since I had a whole suit now, we went to the pool for the first time this year. It was 110 today, so it was time. The boy enjoyed it a lot more than he did last year. We taught him to stick his face in the water and blow bubbles, which he loved. We also worked on getting him to jump in from the edge.

I had the brilliant idea of modeling this for him, so after my husband put away the camera I got out, stood next to him, and jumped in. Unfortunately, I forgot to take off my makeup after church, so immediately my mascara started to run into my eyes and it BURNED. I went over to the steps and proceeded to try and wipe it off. My husband came over and set the baby on the steps as well. He crawled on the steps behind me, where I couldn't see him (not that I could with my stinging eyes anyway) but since my husband was facing me, he could. Sure enough, as I'm sitting there attempting to wipe my eyes with the skirt of my fat girl suit, I hear my husband shout and lunge toward me. I turned around and the baby was COMPLETELY UNDER WATER, frantically paddling.

Scariest freaking moment of my life.

I grabbed him (I was in arms reach thankfully) and he just sat there for a second, stunned. After a moment he gasped for air and started to cry. He was only under for about half a second, but it just goes to show you how freaking fast it can happen. I'm so thankful he's okay but my husband got a stern talking to about keeping him in arm's reach when it's obvious that I'm not paying attention.

We stayed in the pool after that because I didn't want him to associate it with being scary by getting out right after that. Kind of that whole "get back on the horse" thing. Luckily little boys bounce and he was giggling and splashing in no time. I'll admit that it took me a bit longer to not feel completely shaken up by it.

An Austin Wedding

2010-06-04T15:42:00.001-07:00

We saw this mural on a wall in the morning after breakfast one day, so I had to take a picture. I was sort of bummed that we never came across the Daniel Johnston mural though.

A terrible photo of the state capitol building. This thing is HUGE! It makes the one in Arizona look downright sad and dinky.

Bubba tried out the bed in his grandma's hotel room. She stayed at the Hotel San Jose. They had these really cool, minimal, zen type rooms with fantastic concrete floors and Bertoia chairs tucked into corners. They had the fanciest stuff in the minibar too. I wish I had taken a photo of it. The door to the bathroom was a giant one hanging on a track. So cool.

I loved the curled up fronds on this fern in front of the hotel. I can't remember if it was in front of her hotel or in front of the Austin Hotel down the street.

More plants from out front.

We had dinner here the night before the wedding. It was a great casual way to meet everyone before the big day. I ate a meal comprised of several different types of meat. The only thing I ate besides meat was the slice of bread I shared with the baby. It was kind of strange, but VERY good.

This was also where they passed out the best wedding favors ever, so not to have to deal with it the next day. Pretty clever.

My sister in law preparing to come down the steps for the ceremony.

The wedding was held in the courtyard of a club in downtown Austin. It was really nice. After the ceremony, the party moved upstairs to a private loft above the club. In order to get in and out of the venue, you had to go back down those stairs and cut across the courtyard of the bar to get to the parking lot. The next day when I saw on Twitter that someone I follow who was in Austin as well that weekend saw a baby in a bar, I had to wonder if it was my baby. If so, I had a good excuse! LOL!

Right after the ceremony - the new Mr & Mrs! I made the bouquet. She wanted a bouquet made from succulents, so when they were in town over Christmas we went to the wholesale faux flower shop where she picked out a few different faux hen and chicks and also the leaves that were around the edges. I added some Spanish moss and lots of hot glue to the mix and came up with this. I wrapped the handle with terra cotta satin ribbon and lots of little teal blue pearl head pins down the back. I don't think it came out half bad for my first attempt at something like this!

One of their friends climbed the tree in the courtyard to get a better vantage point for photos.

Close ups of the flowers.

Apparently, I like to photograph flowers!

The Bubs was looking mighty dapper, if I do say so myself.

He had no problem keeping himself occupied before the ceremony started.

There were lots of places to use as racetracks for his little cars.

One of the other guests had a little girl who was two months older than Bubba. She was just the cutest thing!

Bubba followed her all around during the ceremony.

He tortured her by offering her his cars, and then when she would finally reach out to take one, he'd snatch it back. My son is a booger.

Hanging out with dad.

The groom's brother is a set designer for movies and plays, and he did the backdrop for the ceremony. It was really cool! He filled it with all sorts of small succulents that they bought the day before. My sister in law told me that he had actually listed it on Craigslist that morning, and someone bought it before the wedding even happened. Not too shabby!

Photos of the bride and groom. They had the cutest little simple bunting hanging up everywhere that you will probably see reproduced here sometime soon.

I loved the bar inside the loft. This is a terrible photo, but you get the idea.

The wedding was awesome. Simple, but fun, which are the best kinds if you ask me. We had heavy hors d'oeuvres instead of a sit down dinner, and everything was delicious. The loft space had comfy leather couches and matching ottomans which were very handy when some little man decided to take a nap on my shoulder. There were great speeches (including a fantastic one where a friend read an email that my sister in law sent her when she first met the groom over three years ago) and dancing and great conversations.

I'm so happy that we were able to take part in their special day and meet all their friends and relations!

The Road to Austin

2010-06-04T00:47:00.001-07:00

As I mentioned in my last post (over a week ago, yikes!) we headed out to Austin last week to attend my sister in law's wedding. Being the geniuses that we are, we decided to leave at night so that, in theory, the boy would fall asleep in the car and sleep for most of the first half of the 16 hour drive.

Um, yeah. That SO did not happen. He slept until we were right outside of Tucson, maybe two hours and then he was just up for the night. Luckily since we were on the Interstate we had cell reception and internet on my phone most of the way so he was able to keep himself entertained. By the time we rolled into Las Cruces, New Mexico, however, he was pretty much done with the car and wanted out.

We stopped at a rest area for about half an hour so he could run around and stretch his legs. I wanted him to be comfortable for the drive, so I had him dressed in footie pajamas. When we stopped to get out, I just slipped his shoes on over the feet.

My boy - he is stylish! Just so you don't freak out, that wall is only about a foot and a half high. It just looks dangerous in the photo but I assure you it is not.

We watched the sun rise.

There was this gigantic road runner sculpture off to the side of the rest area. It looked like it was made of garbage. I didn't want to get up close because there were signs everywhere that warned you to watch for snakes.

Looking at birds.

There were a bunch of these cute little bunnies everywhere too.

I must admit, I felt guilty when I saw them because the night before, as I drove, I hit one. I've never hit anything with a car before, and it freaked me out so bad. I was driving, and it was pitch dark, and then all of a sudden there was this ginormous rabbit sitting right in the middle of my lane. When you're going 80 miles an hour there isn't a lot of time to swerve without risking running off the road and getting into an accident. Unfortunately for that bunny, my child's safety was more important to me! He did start to run out of my way, but then he panicked and doubled back the way he came, which ultimately was what did him in. It was a horrible, horrible feeling to feel it hit. I hope I never have to feel that again.

We made it into Texas in one piece.

We got really close to the border - close enough that my phone connected with a Mexican cell tower at one point. I got a text message from AT&T saying that since I had left the country, international data rates of $19.99 per mb would apply. Of course, this was not two minutes after I had checked my email, so naturally I freaked out. I tried to call them, only to get a recorded message IN SPANISH telling me that I had no service. I tried my husband's cell, and of course, that one connected no problem. Never mind that we both have AT&T and are on the same account! I talked to a rep and basically found out that I have no international service, so if I do leave the country my phone will just not work. Since I have no plans to leave the country any time soon, I am okay with that.

We also had to roll through a border patrol checkpoint, that oddly enough, was nowhere near the border. It cracked me up when my very very pale husband panicked and pulled out his driver's license. I was like, Really? Are you serious? I decided to live dangerously and leave mine in my wallet. All the border patrol guy did was peek into the car and ask if we had anyone else riding with us. I told him just the baby, and he was like okay, have a nice day!

Very secure.

I couldn't get over how extremely FLAT it was out there! (Don't you just love the bug guts on my windshield, messing up my picture?)

These guys were riding their bikes in the middle of nowhere. It takes a special kind of crazy to do that.

I don't even remember where Ozona was. All I know was that by two I had been up for 24 hours and I was totally loopy. I managed to doze off and on for about an hour somewhere in the middle of Texas, but it was not good sleep at all.

I took this picture when we stopped for gas in Johnson City. There was a one lane street separating the gas station from this guy's front yard, and he was having a bonfire!

Then, as my husband was pumping gas, this guy rolls in on this. He had a long gray beard, a leather vest, and pajama pants. Check out his little friend on the back of the bike!

We drove through some of the cutest little towns that had flags lining the main street, ready for the holiday, but of course I was a dummy and didn't take any pics. We were so glad when we got to our destination! I passed out immediately. My husband went out to find us some food (thank God for the iPhone, seriously) and then after we ate, we all went right to bed!

Next up - Austin photos!

Young Master Fehling, Who Became Catholic Yesterday

2010-05-24T06:15:00.001-07:00

We finally got around to getting the baby baptized. I know. He's a year and a half old already! I actually attended a baptism seminar last year, but one thing led to another and then I decided to go ahead and do my confirmation first, and well, here we are. But it's done now, and that is good.

Of course, you have to have a party for these sorts of things. It occurred to me that in the five years we've lived here, we've never had a party beyond having a person or two over for dinner. I guess I always just thought it was way to small in here to have a party, which is sort of absurd when you think that a lot of people in New York City live in apartments smaller than mine and I'm sure they have parties all the time. At least, I like to think they do.

So, we had a small party. Just our oldest friends, some food, and the banner I made with his name from his birthday hung above the window. I turned our table around, moved all the chairs into the living room, and cooked. It turned out well. I know that normally you have the party after the actual baptism, but since it was going to be at 6:00 in the evening at a church twenty minutes from home, I thought it would be better to do it before. This way, everyone could come and join us to celebrate, then those who wanted to go to mass could and everyone else could go home since not all our friends are Catholic. By the time mass was over and we said our goodbyes, everyone would be home in time for the finale of Lost!

I apologize for the bad photos. I didn't want to open the shades all the way because it gets warm in there due to that big window.

Roughly from left to right - The dessert tower starring the Best Chocolate Cupcakes EVER with Salted Caramel Frosting and some fresh fruit for those who are more health conscious than I. The frosting was amazing but way too soft. Part of me thinks I could just add more powdered sugar to stiffen it up next time, but the addition of the caramel (which I burned the first time I tried to make it, never made caramel before) makes this frosting ridiculously sweet. The salt helps to offset that a bit, and it is good, but I could only eat one of these.

I printed off a sheet of Bubba's monogram on some white cardstock the night before the party. I used my Epic Six, and a circle die to cut them out. Then I took some colored cardstock cut that I cut with a scalloped die and layered them together with a toothpick sandwiched between. This made simple cupcake toppers. It probably took 15 minutes to throw those together and I thought it was a nice detail.

Bubba's godfather brought over some homemade smoked Polish sausage so he sliced that up and put it out on the table. It was really good. There is also a tray of tiny carrot maki rolls. I think these are so cute, but it's kind of tedious to have to explain over and over again that YES, it's REAL sushi, and NO, sushi does NOT mean raw fish, it just means vinegared rice. Bubba's godmother came over the night before and I showed her how to roll those while I worked on the cupcakes and frosting.

I bought the little maki mold at a festival a few years ago. I make my own sushi vinegar seasoning. The stuff they sell pre-made just isn't as good, if you ask me. I did find that the seasoning lost a bit of flavor after sitting in the refrigerator overnight.

Next up - Shrimp in Sweet Chili Sauce. I think this was one of the more popular things that I made, and of course, it was the thing that was embarrassingly easy to make. You just saute your shrimp in a little olive oil and butter, adding salt, pepper, and garlic powder, then letting it brown a little bit. When it's got a nice bit of color, you pour in a little Mae Ploy sauce stir it around, and let it simmer for a minute. Then you dump it into a pretty dish and serve with a bunch of toothpicks nearby. It has a slight kick, but nothing over the top. I don't even like salsa, if that gives you any clue how mild it is.

The main event - my big ass salad. If I ever make a salad for a party again, I'm so doing it this way. There were so many things in this salad that if I were to have tossed it all in a big bowl, a lot of it would have gotten lost at the bottom. Not only that, but it wouldn't have looked nearly as pretty. I laid out everything on a large platter in neat rows instead, so that you could just scoop across a section and be sure to have a little bit of everything on your plate. Genius!

The salad consisted of mixed baby greens, cubed roast chicken, white shoepeg corn, pepitas (a mix of raw and salted/roasted), dried cranberries, cooked plain pasta in tricolored zoo animal shapes (found at Cost Plus, so cute!), and a six cheese blend that I bought pre-shredded because I didn't want to spend a fortune on six different cheeses AND have to sit and grate them all. I served a raspberry vinaigrette and something called Cowgirl Ranch alongside. Since I don't eat salad dressing (I hate goopy food) I can't tell you what that was all about. You would be correct if you guessed that a few leftovers made their way into this. Can't be wasting food, y'all.

Finally, there was a quiche. I've never made quiche before, which is kind of silly. I guess the notion of an egg pie was not really appealing to me. I totally cheated on the crust because I had a pie crust in the freezer from some other project and it seemed a good way to use that up. I knew that I wanted to serve this on my cake stand, but I didn't want to have a pie plate balancing up there because it seemed a recipe for disaster. I ended up putting the crust in a springform pan and just smooshing it up the sides.

I didn't follow an exact recipe. I just tossed caramelized onions left over from dinner the night before, some spinach I picked out of the salad, some cheese leftover from the salad, and a little gruyere that I found in the fridge. Then, after consulting the internet and my Mark Bittman cookbook for the proper egg to cream ratio for the filling, I beat four eggs (the recipes all say three, but mine were smallish) with a cup of cream and a little salt. After I poured that over the the goodies in the crust, I took my fingers and kind of smooshed the pie crust down a bit until it was just above the level of the filling. This made it nice and even all the way around.

After it baked and cooled, it was just a matter of pulling the sides off the pan and sliding the quiche off the pan and onto the cake stand. It was pretty dang tasty and not too shabby for my first time.

For drinks, we bought a bunch of different Jones sodas as well as some retro sodas at World Market. I didn't want to serve alcohol since we were going to church right afterwards. It seems like it would be wrong to show up to church with a buzz, you know? Since we weren't serving beer it only seemed logical to step up the soft drink selection from cans of Coke and Dr. Pepper to something with a little bit more style.

We opted to just use our regular dishes for serving instead of buying paper plates and making a ton of waste. Along those lines, we also used cloth napkins. I'm sure a lot of people are thinking I'm sort of insane right now, but it's no big deal if you have a dishwasher. As for the napkins, you just toss them in the wash with your other kitchen towels, no biggie. We did have to buy plastic utensils though, because somehow I've gone from having eight place settings of two sizes of forks to just having four. I'm missing a lot of spoons and a butter knife too, so I guess we need to look into getting more sometime soon.

I still love the pattern I picked out ten years ago so I'll just get more of those. It seriously took me almost a year to decide on freaking forks that I liked, but obviously I made a good, timeless choice. It's funny too, because my friend's parents actually have the exact same ones from when he was growing up. It just goes to show you can't beat a classic!

Since I was already on the computer the night before making the cupcake toppers, I thought it might be fun to make personalized water bottle labels as well:

The boy helped, which was actually really cool. I set all the bottles on the table in front of him and let him watch me peel off one of the labels. He took it from there!

I used to make personalized bottles for sales presentations at the hotel all the time. I used to print them on sheets of label paper, but these I just printed on regular printer paper and then used my ATG gun to stick the labels in place. It was another quick, easy project.

After everyone ate and we all hung out for a bit, it was time to head to church. There was one other family having a baptism today with us and they were already there. They had a huge party, filling five or six pews. The baby was about a month old, and he was in a sweet little christening gown and bonnet that were obviously vintage. He didn't make a peep the whole time they were taking pictures before mass with their nice Canon dslr, and he was quiet through the entire mass and ceremony.

Of course, we roll in and we fill all of two pews, because we rock. It's all about quality, not quantity, right? We snapped a couple of photos with my pink point and shoot camera, but then had to give up because unfortunately, mass was going to coincide with naptime. We decided not to get a special outfit for the boy because it seemed a waste of money for something that would never be used again. The only white dress shirt we could find was at Nordstrom and was thirty bucks, but I was not in the mood to bargain hunt at the last minute. I was just happy to have a dang shirt!

Well wouldn't you know it, when we were buying groceries for the party at Target on Saturday afternoon, we found a white button down that came with a red cardigan and bow tie on clearance for six bucks. When we got to the checkout, it actually scanned for $3.12. How's that for kick butt? The Nordstrom one is going BACK!

We put him in light khaki shorts, and because they were the only shoes he had that went with that outfit, khaki flip flops. That's right, I not only took my child to church in flip flops, I had him baptized in them. We're so tacky, I know, but the thought of him in that light colored outfit wearing bright green Chuck Taylors, or worse, black high top ones, just sat poorly with me.

The boy was NOT in the mood to sit through church. We walked in with the priest, the deacon and the altar servers and he did not want to be carried. He was thrashing around in our arms and doing that back arching thing so we would put him down. I even got the back of my own head slammed into a wall in the process! Finally, I just put him down and let him walk down the aisle, which he enjoyed. Of course, once we got up front and had to pick him up he started to get all squirrelly again.

Everyone in the congregation got to watch my child make a complete spectacle of himself. I know that this is normal toddler behavior, especially when said toddler was missing his nap, but dang. I was mortified. We ended up having to send him out to the courtyard and then I just sent a text message to my husband when the homily started so they could come back in for the actual baptism. That's right, I was texting in church too. *sigh*

We ended up having to feed the child a steady stream of jelly beans to keep him calm through the ceremony and communion. Even that barely was working after a while, but it was better than the alternative. By the time mass was over, he was COVERED in multicolored drool spots, all over that white shirt. We were so thankful to have found that three dollar white shirt at Target!

After mass we went out in the courtyard, and the boy was pretty dang jacked up on sugar at that point. He was laughing, making faces, being silly and chattering a mile a minute. He also managed to get his dad's diaper bag to swing around front enough that he could use it as a step and climb a bit higher up.

Check the grubby shirt and the nice oily hair. They don't mess around when they anoint you with that stuff! Bubba smelled like someone's grandma all the way home, and even now, after having had a bath. And that was our baptism day adventure!

Some random stuff

2010-05-19T01:06:00.001-07:00

Sometimes there are these little random bits and pieces that I want to blog about, but either I forget, or I have other more interesting stuff to blog about, or it just doesn't seem like enough to warrant it's own post. I have some tidbits from the past few days like that.

One of our friends graduated from college this past weekend, and his family threw him a party. I woke up on Saturday morning and was all "OH CRAP" because I forgot to get him a gift and make a card. We suck. I made this one really quickly (font is JF Ringmaster) and we gave him cash tucked inside. I'm guessing since he's going to dental school that's what he's going to need more than anything.

I punched hearts from scraps using an old EK Success paper shaper punch and then just cut off the tops to make the flags on the bunting. There is linen twine sewn to the card by hand, so the stitches don't show, to make the connecting string.

I've been working on this bunting off and on for about a month now. I started by making the base flags from two different patterned papers, then punching circles from coordinating card stock to make the scalloped edges. There's a smaller triangle of solid card stock in the center of each flag, and the top has a border made from solid brown card stock that I punched using a Martha Stewart border punch. The pleated circles are pages from an old dictionary that I cut down, stuck together in long strips, and folded by hand. That part was the most tedious! I topped them with a circle of patterned paper and each flag got a Basic Grey chipboard letter (these were my favorites and I'm running out! boo hoo) that had been covered in platinum Stickles. This is the best way to cover chipboard with glitter, if you ask me, because you don't get all the glitter fallout everywhere.

As I was sticking the embellished pleated circles to the flags, I began to panic because I was one flag short. After looking everywhere and counting and recounting, I realized that I only made six flags to begin with.

That's right folks. I apparently have no idea how many letters are in my last name.

It wasn't just a matter of making another flag either, because of course, I was out of the pattern I needed. Even worse, this paper is several years old, (I believe it came out in Fall 07) which means it is no longer available for sale anywhere. After a frantic posting session on Facebook, I managed to find someone who had 2/3 of a sheet of that paper and she said I was welcome to have it. Thank goodness I know people who hoard paper like I do!

I stuck an oversized orange eyelet on each end of the brown strip, and then tied the flags together using green twill tape. There is orange rick rack on the ends. This came out way bigger than I had intended it to be initially, but I think I like it.

One of these days I'm gonna patch that nail hole in the wall above the mirror, I swear.

I have a friend who's daughter is in the ag. program in her high school. She heard me griping about the cost of organic eggs, and told me that she had the hook up to buy good eggs for a really reasonable price, if I was interested.

Yeah, didn't have to tell me twice. Bubba and I headed down to the high school today and got an 18 pack of eggs. We got to meet the chickens who laid these eggs, and he got to feed them carrot tops. They're honest to goodness hand raised, cage free hens, so I'm happy that my eggs are coming from a good place now.

They also have a little garden back there, but since school is almost over, it's pretty much abandoned. She pulled up this bunch of baby carrots (REAL baby carrots, not the fake chlorinated crap they sell at the grocery store) and I got those for free too, along with those teeny tomatoes. I cut most of them up, and sautéed them along with an onion, a whole bunch of garlic, and half of an enormous zucchini that a neighbor gave me. (She knows someone with a garden, so I get little presents like that from her occasionally.) I tossed in some chicken, and when it was done, I combined that mixture with some quinoa and loads of freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano. It was really good, and besides, how fun to think that part of my dinner was in the ground that morning?

I took the other half of that zucchini, along with the second one that she brought me, and made some zucchini bread after dinner. Bubba helped, of course. I used Jaimee Rose's recipe, because it calls for the zucchini to be pureed instead of grated. Not only is this so much easier to do, it doesn't leave the little green flecks in the loaves that will freak out your zucchini-hating husband. I plan on taking a few mini loaves over to my neighbor to thank her for the squash.

You can see my ice cream maker in the background next to the knife block. I had some blackberry sorbet going in there. Blackberries were on sale for 88 cents a pint! I used Chloe's strawberry sorbet recipe, only substituting three pints (or whatever those little containers they come in are) for the big container of strawberries and using fresh squeezed orange juice.

And finally, I've been playing this online. It's so gross and terrible, yet I'm hopelessly addicted. I suppose it doesn't hurt that I have the sense of humor of a twelve year old boy sometimes.

Learning

2010-05-11T02:07:00.001-07:00

When Bubba was first born, one of the gifts he received was a set of three Peek A Boo books. They have a flap on each page that can be lifted to find an animal underneath. Usually there is some part of the page that has a texture. This one is the one he reaches for while ignoring the other two:

One thing that they all have in common are the words PEEK A BOO! under the flap. A few months ago, Bubba started to point to the letter B in the word BOO over and over again. Of course, like anything else he would point to on the page, we would say what it was - bee. It was part of the ritual of reading the book along with turning the page, lifting the flap, and feeling the texture.

Well, imagine my surprise when he not only started to point out the letter B in other locations, but also started to say BEE! It didn't matter if it was handwritten, on a block, or in a fancy font, as long as it was a capital letter he could identify it. It was definitely a source of amusement for his parents.

Well, next thing you know, he starts pointing to the letter O in that Peek A Boo book. Then he moved on to pointing it out in Goodnight Moon. It wasn't long before he was calling out the letter O when he spied it out and about.

It didn't take long for my husband to start to teach him other letters. He now can correctly identify the letters B, G, O, S, T, M, H and E. I didn't realize he had learned so many! It kind of shocked me because I didn't think babies learned that stuff so early. I will admit, I am skeptical of parents who brag on their kids about stuff like this. I remember being on a play date and having a mom boast that her kid spoke 80 words at 18 months. I was thinking to myself, Really? We've been here two hours and I haven't heard her say one. Also, who the heck COUNTS??? Ask me how many words Bubba knows, and I'll be able to tell you what most of them are off the top of my head. I will not, however, remember them all and I certainly will not have a vocabulary count!

I decided to do something to reinforce what the boy's father had taught him. I mean, it was the least I could do to help, seeing as how up to now my contribution to his education has been to teach him the location of his butt. I pulled my chair up to my computer, and Bubba joined me.

Okay, first we goofed off on Facebook, but then I made these:

He has a little shelf with some of his toys in the living room. Above that shelf are some small mirrors, and above that are the letters that he knows, along with the addition of the letter A that was up there previously. I just did them in Microsoft Word using Word Art and flipped them backwards to print. I printed them out on colored cardstock and then cut them out. They're stuck to the wall with Hermafix Vario squares.

And just to make this a more complete post of what he knows, for posterity's sake...

Body parts he can identify when asked - nose, eyes, mouth, hair, ears, belly button, foot, toes, and yes, butt.

Animals he can identify and say by name - cat, dog, bunny and horse. I love how he says horse; it's more like "house." We were chatting with my mother in law on Skype when my husband mentioned something about a horse and Bubba got really excited. He kept saying HORSE HORSE and then ran over to the dresser and pulled out his can of toy horses! Gotta love those connections being made.

Other words he says - uh oh, ball, cheese, binky, pizza (bee duh!), Gidget, Leila, mama, dad, balloon (boon), moon (also boon), bird, baby(bee bee), car, bus, bike, hot, ouch, and jellybean (beed). I think that's all of them, but I'll probably remember something else later. A lot of them aren't pronounced correctly yet, but clear enough that other people can pick up on what he's saying in context. For instance, we were at the grocery store and he was going on about the boon, and the cashier was like, yeah, that's a balloon!

Words he signs - milk, please, more, hungry, thirsty (signs hungry for that too actually because they're sort of similar), all done, I don't know, and help. I tried to teach him the correct sign for help, but instead he just lifts his arms over his head. This is nothing like the sign, but since I know what he's saying when he does this, I let it slide. We really slacked off in teaching him these when he was smaller, but picked them up again when it was obvious that his inability to communicate was frustrating him. I didn't want him to learn that screaming would get him what he wanted. Now I tell him to ask nicely and wait until he calms down and signs please first.

It's so amazing to see him grow and really start to understand what we are saying to him. I can ask him to throw something in the trash, or take something to dad, or bring me a bib, or find his water bottle and he gets it. He mimics us as we do things, and sometimes we'll catch him doing it later by himself. "Talking" on an old cell phone or using PhonyPhone is a favorite pastime, as is combing his hair. He's got the whole iPhone thing down pat. He can unlock it, scroll to the page with his apps, and watch YouTube videos (through Kideo so they're not bad ones!) or "read" The Cat in the Hat.

Some people are baby people and think newborns are just the best, but I'll take a toddler ANY day. He's so much fun now, and he gets better with every day that passes!

Phoenix on Phriday

2010-05-08T02:38:00.001-07:00

We've lived in our apartment five years come the end of this month. That's a long freaking time, yo. As a matter of fact, it is the longest that I've ever lived in one place in my entire life. You can probably guess, most people don't stay in one apartment that long, opting instead to move to a new one or even to move into a house. That means that the stuff that usually gets taken care of every year or two before a problem can arise in most apartments and new tenants move in hasn't really happened in our apartment for a while. As a result, things are starting to have problems and having to be replaced. I've already blogged about the nasty almond vinyl that got replaced a few years ago with much nicer faux tile vinyl. I also talked about the carpet that sorely needed to be replaced, well, being replaced. I've scored us a schnazzy stainless steel dishwasher, and just last week, an awesome new stove that not only is level and has TWO full sized burners (the old one only had one), it's freaking self cleaning too. This is one of the perks of being a renter - something breaks, hey, it's not our problem.

Today, we were scheduled for the latest upgrade to our apartment. A couple of months ago, I noticed something funny near the kitchen sink. It seemed that the counter top was flaking away. As I inspected it closer, I noticed that what was underneath exactly matched our bathroom countertops. That's right - the kitchen and bathrooms had different counters, which is usually a no-no in apartments. This also means that our kitchen countertops had been PAINTED.

I talked to the property manager, and she said that I was partially right. The countertops never get replaced by our property management company. Instead, they hire a company to resurface them. The finish is pretty durable, but it only lasts about five years before it starts to chip away. Which, to me, means that my counters are overdue for a refinishing.

This morning, when the woman showed up to redo our counters, we packed up the diaper bag and hit the town. It smelled atrocious in our apartment before she even got started working, just from her equipment being in there! We had been told ahead of time that we would want to clear out. (This is something that usually happens in vacant apartments, so it's usually not a concern to have the tenants there.) We opened all the windows so it could ventilate and headed out to Phoenix.

My husband had asked me what I wanted for Mother's Day, so I told him that I would really like to check out some of the antique and thrift shops downtown. I am pretty cheap due to being used to Goodwill prices, so I rarely spend a lot in those places. We hit several stores, from a fancy one with real honest to goodness thousands of dollars antiques, to junky thrift shops. It was awesome. I found an old pretty teal blue Italian typewriter that doesn't work (decoration!) for $5, another milk glass citrus reamer (the heavy Sunkist one) for $12, the cutest little pillar candle holder (to take photos of cupcakes) for fifty cents, and a vintage pastry blender for $5. Best find of the day - a stainless steel toast rack for 99 cents at a Salvation Army thrift store that was holding a 40% off sale! I about peed my pants in excitement when I saw it because I've been looking for one for so long!

Since we knew we were going to have to be out of the house all day, we planned to stay in Phoenix all day. We had dinner at my favorite hole in the wall Chinese restaurant. I've been going there since 1995! It's awesome, because even though I hardly get to eat there anymore, the owner still knows my order. She loved the boy too, and he was all smiles and waving hello to her. If you've met Bubba, you know this is not something he usually does with strangers, so we were impressed.

After dinner, we headed over to the Phoenix Children's Museum because it was First Friday, and that means FREE admission from six to ten pm. Of course, we got there at 6:30 and there was no parking. After trying to find a spot, any spot, for half an hour, we decided to drive up to the art museum and take the shuttles they provide for this event. It was kind of inconvenient, but otherwise we would not have been able to go.

When we got there, it was pretty packed. People love free stuff I guess! They were at capacity in the building so we had to wait outside until some folks left and they could let more in. The museum staff provided loads of sidewalk chalk for the kids to keep them occupied. This was Bubba's first time using it.

At first, he just wanted to collect it. I was pretty proud of him for not trying to eat it! After a while, he noticed the other kids were drawing, so he sat down to draw too. Can I tell you that this child was freaking FILTHY? Oh my goodness, I was trying so hard to not freak out about how dirty he was. He had dirt and chalk dust just covering him all over and it was taking every bit of strength in my being to not whip out a baby wipe and clean him off every five minutes.

I'm terrible.

Once we were finally inside, a friendly volunteer told us that there was a room that was especially set up for children under three, if we were interested. Since we were there for the boy, we headed off in that direction. He LOVED it. He got his hair blown by a vent in the ground...
he pushed lots of buttons...

he played house for a bit...

he worked on his balance and coordination...

he did a few puzzles...

he played peekaboo with his daddy...

and he pushed around a wagon (and crashed into several people - the boy is FAST). He also got to play with big exercise balls, faux flowers, books, and this thing that was reminiscent of Plinko but used plastic balls. He ran around, climbed stairs, played on a slide, went across a little bridge, got shoved over by some other kids, snatched toys from other kids (and then got reprimanded by his mother) and generally had a good time.

We left the museum at 9:30 because we wanted to be sure to get on that last shuttle back to the art museum where we parked. While we were waiting for it, they started setting off fireworks at the ballpark. The ballpark isn't even a mile from the museum so they were really loud. I'm talking they were setting off car alarms and scared the crap out of me! Bubba took it all in stride though, and had a good time watching the light show. Then we went back to waiting for the shuttle. A half hour went by, and the museum closed. We saw the last cars leave the lot and the volunteers all go home. We had asked the security guard if the shuttles stopped before the museum closed, and he said no, there was definitely supposed to be one more coming. Another thirty minutes went by, and I was totally freaking out.

No way was I walking three miles, through downtown, at night, over a bridge (that goes over a park, but STILL, bridges scare me bad) in flat sandals no less. Especially not with a baby! We had no cash so we couldn't just take a city bus or call a cab. There were no atms or banks nearby. The nearest one was over a mile away. I know that doesn't seem far, and had it been daylight and I had been wearing better shoes, it wouldn't have been an issue. As it was, I was not happy. The only thing that was helping me keep it together was the fact that the security guard was still there and he said he had to keep the gates open for that shuttle, so he knew it would be by.

Then, when an hour and ten minutes had gone by and we were ready to give up hope, we saw the shuttle come around the corner! We were saved! We watched it drive toward the entrance to the lot, we watched the security guard flag it down, and then, we watched it DRIVE RIGHT BY.

Cue panic attack.

Full blown, crying, hyperventilating, feeling like someone was sitting on my chest and that something was crawling through my hair, top of my mouth tingling, dizzying panic attack. It. Was. AWFUL. I haven't had one in years, and you know what? I didn't miss that crap AT ALL. Luckily the security guard took pity on us (since we were the only ones who got stuck) and he drove us back to our car. I felt like I was going to bad mom hell holding my baby on my lap in the backseat of that car, but I was so thankful to that awesome security guard. Talk about going above and beyond the call of duty!

Lesson learned - do NOT take the shuttle. Visit the museum in who's lot you parked. If you know the lot will be full, get there EARLY. It's worth waiting an extra half hour in the early part of the day to not have to go through that stress at the end. I had to self medicate with a giant Sweet Tea and fries from McDonald's afterwards. I know. I'm terrible.

For the folks who are reading this and thinking to themselves that we deserved that for taking our child out that late, remember - we're on an offset schedule. The boy and I don't get up until noon most days, and we have bedtime generally between midnight and one am. It's what works for our family because if we did the 7 am - 8 pm schedule that most people do, my husband would never get to see his son. That would be sad. Anyway, being out at 10 pm for us would be like being out at 6 pm is for most folks. Totally okay. :)

Lovely ending to the day - we got to come home to new countertops.

The old ones, if you've seen past photos on my blog, were a speckled off white. Not very pretty. These are a nice dark gray with black and tan speckles. It looks SO much nicer! We got surprised with matching ones in our bathrooms too. We didn't know those were going to get done, since they didn't match before and no one, not even the installer, mentioned it. I'm so embarrassed because not only did we not clear them off for her, we put the dogs in my bathroom so they'd be out of her way. Quelle horreur!

I have to wait until tomorrow to put everything back on the counters. Next, let's see if I can finagle us a new fridge. :)

First Sentence

2010-04-25T23:59:00.000-07:00

I've been suspecting that the boy spends way too much time surrounded by little dogs. Yesterday, this is where he chose to take his nap:

That's right, he grabbed his Boppy, dragged it into the freaking doorway, and curled up for a nap. Completely in the way and completely underfoot, just like certain other little dogs that I know. The next clue came this morning, in the form of his official first sentence: "BAD DOG!!!"

Um, yeah.

I guess I yell at my dogs a lot. He's been going around the past couple weeks yelling "BAD!!!" at them and if he could get close enough, smacking them on their behinds. It's pretty funny. I of course have to try not to laugh and remember to tell him to be nice to the dogs. Gotta be setting the good example, right? I just about died laughing though when I heard his cute little voice admonishing them this morning.

Today was all about the groceries. I went three days without eating anything processed, with the exception of some organic cheese tortellini that I fixed for lunch yesterday. I'm not about to make tortellini from scratch anytime soon. I tossed the pasta with some of my leftover tomato sauce and peas. It was the best meal the boy ate all week! He's been really picky lately, boo toddler eating habits.

Anyway, last night I heard that it was the last night for Dairy Queen's buy one get one for 25 cents Blizzard deal. I haven't had a Blizzard in AGES, probably since I was pregnant, so we decided to go. Let's just say that your body must get used to clean eating really fast, because I paid for that Blizzard and all of it's processed, artificially flavored goodness with a killer stomachache. Lesson learned - hopefully.

Because I have a terrible sense of humor...

2010-04-16T15:10:00.001-07:00

These are the stupid things I do to keep myself entertained. Hopefully he won't hate me too much when he's bigger!

Tiny (table) Dancer

2010-04-16T02:01:00.000-07:00

While we were watching the series finale of Ugly Betty tonight, Bubba decided to push his table around the living room as entertainment. Understandably, it eventually got boring and he had to find a new way with which to entertain himself. Fortunately for him (and sometimes, unfortunately for his parents) the boy is resourceful. A basket of laundry that was waiting to be folded and put away lent the perfect assistance for his newest trick:

This kid's going to give me a heart attack one day. At least I'll go laughing!

April 2010 Twelve of Twelve

2010-04-13T01:01:00.001-07:00

It's that time of the month again!

Wait... that sounded wrong. Well, it's the twelfth, and thanks to the lovely Susan I was able to stay on this roll on which I've been.

One french toast cupcake with maple buttercream leftover from the party our friends held to celebrate our confirmation yesterday. I garnished them with little pieces of maple bacon. It kind of weirded people out a little bit at first, but I didn't come home with any cupcakes so I consider them to have been a success. It's always nice to break out of the chocolate/vanilla/red velvet rut every now and then.

My husband telecommuted today and did a load of laundry. Bubba helped. He loves to put clothes in the dryer.

I cleaned out this cupboard. It was getting a bit junky and unorganized.

I wore my new (to me) apron. It was in that load of clothes my husband did, hence the wrinkles.

The boy is a big fan of his father.

I "redecorranged" the stuff on the hutch a little bit. I got rid of the taupe flower pot and replaced it with a ceramic canister painted with cherries. I also added some faux pink flowers to my milk bottle and moved it to the other side. I'm working on doing the top of the hutch now.

I used the last of the lemons that Susan gave me a few weeks ago to make a pitcher of lemonade. I asked my husband if he would prefer lemonade or iced tea, and he said "But we don't HAVE any lemonade!" I reminded him we had lemons, and sugar, and water and he was like, oh yeah huh. I got to try out my new citrus reamer. I love it!

I went for my run. I started week three of Couch to 5k. Last week I had to run for 90 seconds at a time, but this week it got doubled. Three minutes feels like an eternity! But I did it - go me!

I also figured out how to plug in my weight so the treadmill could give me an approximation of my calories burned. That can't be right, can it? Weak.

I did some more "redecorranging," in which you redecorate by rearranging the stuff you already have. I scored a major victory by convincing my husband that the TV speakers didn't need to be up on that shelf/mantel over the tv. They were so ugly and made it hard to put anything up there because you can't block them. Now they're in front of the tv, only unplugged, as a trial to see if some baby can leave them alone. So far, so good!

I got rid of the orange stick things that were in the big vase - they were major dust catchers and nearly impossible to clean. They will be going to Goodwill. I pulled some books from my bookshelves and took off the dust jackets. This is a big deal for me, because I've always been super careful to keep my dust jackets in good condition. These books are on my "Keep Forever" list though because I really liked them, so I figured what the heck. The birdcage I got on clearance for $6 at Target a few years ago but it never really had a good home before now. There's a tart warmer from Yankee Candle on top of the books and a tiny cement frog. I also have an orchid in a short vase of water that was on a corsage that was given to be before church yesterday by a friend. I was hoping it would float but it sank to the bottom. It's holding up surprisingly well though, so maybe that's not a bad thing.

I made Pioneer Woman's Perfect Pot Roast for dinner. Our russet potatoes were all funky so we just boiled these small yellow ones and didn't bother mashing them.

I let Bubba have about an inch worth of lemonade in this tiny plastic tumbler I picked up at the restaurant supply store. I want him to be able to practice drinking out of a regular cup on his own - he can't have a sippy cup forever! (He does fine if I'm holding the cup) It was funny because he'd pick it up okay, and get it to his mouth okay, and start to tip it up slowly... then all of a sudden attempt to throw it back like he was taking a shot! He was very sticky and wet by the end of this, and had to go straight into the bathtub after dinner. Silly baby!

Happy Easter!

2010-04-04T13:50:00.000-07:00

Herod couldn't kill him,

Death couldn't handle him

and the grave couldn't hold him -

Thats MY King!

I had grand plans of getting dressed up, going to church, and then coming home to have the baby look for eggs in the courtyard. This is one of those days that people traditionally spend with family, but seeing as we have no family locally (or none with whom I care to spend the day, anyway) there were no plans for a big meal. Two people can only eat so much ham, as we learned last Christmas! It didn't matter though - we were going to do our own little family thing, and that was good.

Unfortunately, yesterday my husband woke up, and for lack of a more accurate term, he sounded like ass. Seriously. The man could barely speak, he was coughing, he was blowing his nose every five minutes (which, we discovered, some baby thinks is hysterically funny)... it was pretty bad. Luckily he's not one of those guys who gets all whiny when he's sick. He leaves those theatrics to me. :)

Then, to make matters worse, the baby started to cough last night. Just a little here and there, so I really didn't think anything of it. I thought he felt a little bit warm, but the windows were open and I was cold, so I wasn't sure. My husband took his temperature and the verdict was in: 100.9. He was officially sick.

With two sick boys in the house, it's pretty much just a matter of time before I start showing symptoms. Since 90% of the congregation at our church is retired and elderly (at least it seems that way) there is no way I'm going to risk infecting anyone if I am indeed carrying the bug already. So, we stay home. Boo.

I refused to let last week's purchase of Easter clothes go unenjoyed though.

The pants he had already, but we got him the shirt and the bow tie. He was wearing his green Chuck Taylors. He's so cute it kills me!

We let him run around in the courtyard for a little while I tried to snap some pictures.

His Easter Basket/Bucket. We went with the plain metal pail so that he could reuse it all year long. Most of the junk in there I'm planning on eating, because that's just what good mothers DO for their children, right?

Here he is digging in. I'm not going to lie - I was proud of the boy for pulling out the little book first!

The shredded paper grass held more attraction for him than anything else in the bucket. That is until...

the discovery was made of a new toy car in there! I picked out a Chevy Impala, because it's FUNNY. Mi gente be loving that ride, you know?

We scattered plastic eggs around in the grass. I was too lazy to fill them, and to be honest, he didn't really need any more candy.

After he picked up all the eggs, my husband scattered them around again for round two.

Halfway through round two he came to me, handed me an egg, and started to cry. My husband had to pick up the rest of them, which was kind of funny. Poor kid only lasted out there for about fifteen minutes! We came inside and I changed him back into play clothes. I was uploading photos to Facebook (click here to see the rest of them) and realized that they were being awfully quiet so I went to check on them.

Poor sickies!