Driving Miss Daisy

G has taken a keen interest in "driving" my car whenever we are out and about.  Depending on if we are in a hurry, I will either let him "drive" for a few minutes before we leave for our destination or after we are done and are headed back home.

He loves to fiddle with the air conditioner, radio, and windshield wipers and always grabs my chapstick that I keep in the middle console and asks to have some on.  Whenever I ask if he is ready to get in his seat, he will always look at me, shake his head, and say very clearly, "No."  Then I will tell him, "Okay, one more minute!," and he will hold up one finger like I do and mimic me in his baby talk.  Funny boy!  He is always good about going back in his seat and doesn't throw a tantrum if I give him that extra minute.  :)

Lately it's given me a chance to cool down the car before I have to put him in his black padded car seat (90º temps in April?!?).  It's comfortable but it gets h.o.t in the Texas sun!  I've started researching different car seat covers, but most reviewers say that a towel or blanket works just as well and is much easier.

Now if we could only make him a true designated driver... ;)

Product of the Week: iPlay swim diaper

With swimming season just around the corner and splash pad season in full blast, I realized that G had outgrown his reusable swim diapers and hastily ordered two more.

Why reusable swim diapers?  They actually work at keeping pee and poop out of the water and all you have to do is throw them in the washer and line dry before you use them again.  Easy on the wallet and easy on the environment, if you ask me!  While we didn't cloth diaper, I'm all for doing my part, however small, at keeping extra diapers out of our landfills.

For G's swim lessons, he had to wear two of these bad boys!  My first thought was, "How the heck is he going to wear two of these?!?"  There are many brands to choose from, but our swim school highly recommended the iPlay brand and I now know why!

They are as slimming as diapers can be and their swim trunks and swim suits actually have a swim diaper built in.  So we would put a basic swim diaper on G first and then pull the board shorts on top of that.  Very easy, especially with the side snaps on the diapers.

They come in different prints and styles, or if you really want to buy that cute suit from Target or Baby GAP, just get the plain white swim diaper to wear underneath.  We go that route as well when we are swimming other places besides swim school, and the one diaper is just as good!

You can find these at many different websites and shopping outlets.  For the actual iPlay website, go here.

**I am not, in any way, being endorsed or reimbursed for promoting this item.  Any opinion I post is strictly my own doing because I love to share fabulous products with other mamas!

Still here

Oy, I'm still here.  I had grand plans of this week running smoothly, but G/we can't seem to kick this persistent cough/whatevertheheckitis in the pants and get it to scram for good.  R took him back to the dr. on Monday morning so I could put in my few hours of time at work (thanks, babe!) but we kept him from school Monday and Wednesday.  The doc said that he is sounding better but if he gets another cold, it will be on repeat all over again.

Then Tuesday night he started running a fever again, which at this point I'm not sure if that's from teething or something else.  Cue more fever Friday night and now it's Sunday morning, and the fever is still holding strong (goes away with fever reducer but comes back by the morning).  Looks like we'll be frequent fliers at the pediatrician again tomorrow - if only they gave discounts for "miles" accrued!

We've been doing nebulizer treatments which he hates with a capital H.  One of us has to hold him down (a straight jacket would come in handy if we had one) and it takes all one's strength to keep him from flailing while he screams bloody murder the whole time.  It is fun.  Side note: We finally discovered that letting him watch iPhoto videos keeps him happy while we do the neb treatments.  Thank you, baby jeebus.

Other than the sickies roller coaster that we are constantly riding, I have been staying busy busy making calls and getting things lined up to put the casa on the market.

I have gone to different Tar*gets all over town more than I care to in the past couple of weeks hunting down specific items.  Even though I love me some trips to Tar*get, I dare say that I am all red cart-ed out for a while.  And yes, I know you can shop online but they were either sold out or back ordered on the things that I needed.

Our stager told us our number one priority was to get the windows cleaned and screens removed to brighten up the house.  Okay, no biggie.  I called up her recommended window guy and he came by yesterday and gave us a quote of $230 for the whole house ... except that many of the windows actually need to be replaced because they are foggy and that can't be fixed by cleaning.  He said that would cost $250 per window!

I know, I know, I truly have rich world problems.  Sorry to vent.

Via

We have been spending much of our downtime watching basketball a la March Madness and Net*flixing episodes of The Wire.  It is honestly the only show that I've ever seen R get excited about.  And I've also become addicted to the latest app craze, Draw Something.  Soooo fun!

I've been failing miserably keeping up with this blog on a regular basis and the March photo-a-day challenge.  Can't say I'm too surprised though. 

03.18.12

A corner of your home...

03.19.12

Funny...

We found the monkey on the right on clearance during one of our many trips to Tar*get.  If you push his right hand marked with a "G" (how fitting, right?!?), he plays G's favorite song, "Club Can't Handle Me."  I felt it was destiny (ha!), so of course, I had to get it.  It simultaneously scared and thrilled him.  

Now he can't get enough of it, and we already had to take it back to get a replacement because it mysteriously stopped working.  Luckily we found another (and priced even lower - bonus!) and I've been listening to that song on repeat for the past week.  Joy.  

But it's so cute to watch him dance like the monkey to indicate that he wants it.  Then he pushes the music to start and busts out his best moves.  

03.20.12

Before/After...

03.21.12

Delicious...

Homemade chicken and dumplings - yummmmm!  I used the Pioneer Woman's recipe that can be found here but did my own dumplings using cheap biscuits from the grocery store.  I made four dumpling balls for every one biscuit.  This was soooo good!

03.22.12

Kitchen sink...

Admittedly not always this clean and empty, but I'm slightly OCD about keeping it this way as best I can.  I hate a sink full of dirty dishes!

03.23.12

Moon...

(Fail)

03.24.12

Animal

(Fail)

03.25.12

Breakfast...

Happy Sunday, friends, and I hope you have a great week!

Catch Up

My grandfather passed away peacefully in his sleep last week.  I am grateful he is no longer in pain but sad I will never get to see his smile again.  I was driving north this afternoon and realized that this was the first time I've gone that way in a while to do anything but see him.

I'm glad we were able to reconnect and have some new memories together.  I only wish we would have done so sooner.

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Before I fill you in on all of the exciting details (ha!) of what's been going on with us, I have to know... did anyone watch TLC's new show, "My Crazy Obsession?"  O.M.G.  If you missed out, I know you'll have regrets, so I lovingly searched for an awesome clip to give you a quick glimpse.  Check it out here.  You're so welcome, honey boo-boo child.

P.S. I promise that I don't watch bad tv all the time.

I decided this morning that I'm not a big fan of this whole "springing forward" deal.  For some reason, I don't even remember last year's DLS (day light savings), but maybe my mind erased that memory on purpose.  At any rate, G decided to wake up at his normal time -- 7:30, aka 6:30 if your my mind is not coping with DLS.

Luckily R takes care of him most weekend mornings, giving me a few more precious minutes of sleep.  I grumbled out of bed, but then he was ready to go down for his nap at 9:00 and slept for three! hours. !!!  His naps have only been so-so lately because of his cough, so I foolishly did not take full advantage of that huge chunk of time to do something truly productive.  I expected him to only sleep for maybe an hour like he has been doing and wasted time here on my laptop, waiting for him to cry at any second and wake up.  Nope ... three hours later = three hours of time mama threw away.  Boo.

I should have spent that time packing things away!  We had the stager come over this week to look at our house and make suggestions before we put the house on the market.  Mama has a whole list of to-do's now, but I really think these changes, most of which involve de-cluttering, will really help to sell our house at the price we are hoping for!  P.S. At the rate she charges (not that she's not worth it), I've decided that I am clearly in the wrong industry.  Does everything else make more than teaching?!?

I took G back to the pediatrician on Friday afternoon because that cough is still there ... over a month and half later and it is affecting his sleep.  Poor buddy.  This time we are fever free but the doctor did find ear infections and prescribed one final antibiotic to take before the last resort - sinus and chest x-rays.  He's never had something for this long, so I am really hoping that this medicine knocks the cough out.

Back to the photo-a-day challenge...

03.06.2012

5PM...

(fail)


03.07.2012

Something you wore...

I don't know what you call them at your house, but I call them jammies.  Please note that this lovely ensemble was put together with crazy hair (this is what happens when I go to sleep with wet hair) and glasses that make me look cross-eyed in pictures.  Only a select few can truly master this look, so please don't be upset if you can't!  ;)

03.08.2012

Window...

Window in the kitchen looking out into the backyard

03.09.2012

Red...

Only one of my favorite places to shop!  I discovered the trick to getting this toddler to actually sit in the cart without trying to be held or get out to walk -- popcorn!  We went on a rainy day just to get out of the house and one other mama complimented G on being so good (as she wrestled with her toddler).  I let her in on my little secret, and thankfully, instead of judging me, she vowed to try that next time.  Hey, you gotta do, whatcha gotta do!

03.10.2012

Loud...

This is a horrible attempt, but it's supposed to show "rain" as my loud for the day.  It has been raining like crazy, but our green grass is grateful for all of the water!  Now I just need to pull out some gardening gloves and tackle all of those new weeds in the back!

03.11.2012

Someone you talked to today...

R was playing cards all weekend so most of my time was spent talking to this guy.  The sun finally came out yesterday, so G and I headed north to check out this new park that just opened up.  Do you think he loves it?!?  :)  I'll talk more about it later this week because it is just that awesome.

03.12.2012

Fork...

(fail)

This, however, is my favorite image of a fork.

Awesome, right?  He's a local photographer and friends with my bestie.  

And, just because, a funny moment from this weekend.  I was scavenging the house looking for G's missing shoe.  I knew he had been playing with it recently so I back tracked to all of the miscellaneous areas of the downstairs he had been exploring.  And lo and behold...

Duh!  Where else would it be hiding?  Oh, I love that little man!

Link Up!

I'm back to do my very first ever link up!  I will feel like a blogger professional if I can manage to do this right.







My fave product of the week, hands down, are the Boogie Wipes.  They may seem gimmicky, but mamas I promise you, they are awesome!  Let's face it - no one likes having their nose wiped, especially little ones, but these come in yummy scents like aloe and grape (our personal favorite) and are saline infused to help get those juices flowing without making those little noses red and chapped.

Via

We have several of these bad boys scattered throughout the house (and in the diaper bag, of course!) and rely on these when G has a stuffy nose.  His teachers even remarked on how great these are when they discovered them in his backpack and used them for the first time.

Another perk?  You can find these at practically every store.  And with a tagline of, "It's snot your average wipe," what's not to love?

**I am not, in any way, being endorsed or reimbursed for promoting this item.  Any opinion I post is strictly my own doing because I love to share fabulous products with other mamas!

Deep thoughts

Apparently February wasn't my best month for blogging.  Let's hope that March is better!

I have been absent lately due to illness on two counts- G is still suffering from some sort of virus (runny nose/hacking cough) that kept me from work and him from school for several days.  Thank goodness I don't have to worry about sub plans these days!  We have taken him to the pediatrician three times over the course of a month because of the lingering sickies and a fever that sprang up out of nowhere and tried two different antibiotics with only so-so effects.  Maybe it's just a bad cold, but it sure has lasted longer than this mama would like!

With the fever gone, he's happily back at school and reunited with his love, Ms. Pam.  Mama is happy to get out of the house once again and return to normalcy as much as possible.  The weather gods must have heard my pleas because the weather has been absolutely gorgeous lately.  The only thing I now worry about is how brutal of a summer it will be since we are already averaging temps in the high 70's/low 80's in February and March.

The other illness that my family is dealing with has been my grandfather's battle with lung cancer.  He outlived the prognosis but the end seems imminent and it kind of leaves me with a lackluster desire to blog anything substantial.

In truth, I am not close to my grandfather by any stretch.  He was absent from our lives for well over a decade and missed out on so many, many things.  When I became pregnant, the conviction to see him ate away at me.  I had thought about him on multiple occasions over the years but always brushed the momentary thoughts away for different reasons.  Pregnancy and parenthood make you see things differently, and it's hard for me to explain that in a better sense unless you've experienced it for yourself.  I went to see him right before G was born and embraced him back into my life, not wanting anymore precious time to slip away.

As his final minutes draw near, it saddens me all the more that he chose to live his life the way he did and makes me acutely aware of the choices that I have made and that I make.

How do you want to be remembered?  And more importantly, how would you want to live your final years/days/minutes?

Please keep my mom in your thoughts - she is a strong woman, but I still worry about her.  I would carry her pain for her if I could.

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Switching gears now...

I have seen this photo-a-day challenge on multiple blogs and decided to go for it, albeit late.

Via

03.05.2012

A smile...

Taken this afternoon at the park.  When I need it the most, he always comes through.  He makes my world go round and round.

Eighteen Months!

I have been so very bad when it comes to blogging G's monthly posts.  I realized when looking back that I never even posted about his birthday - doh!  At least I have pictures to document everything, but it's still nice to write about things that I will otherwise forget.

So, without further ado, here is my very thorough update on my sweet little man.

Eighteen months!  How is it possible that my baby boy is eighteen months already?!?  I completely adore that his half birthday falls on Valentine's Day as it always makes February 14th the best celebration.

G is such a stinker and little ham all rolled into one.  We are definitely in full blown tantrum mode when he doesn't get his way, and he knows how to milk the system to get what he wants.  Like I said, stinker!  He can turn the drama on when he wants to - throwing himself on the ground, big crocodile tears ... the works!  And then, just as quickly, he can turn it off.

Thankfully the tantrums are not the majority.  He is full of giggles, hugs, and mischief!  Always curious and exploring!  He loves to be chased and tickled and will do things on purpose to get a laugh from you.  He is still super snuggly and gives plenty of hugs throughout the day.  He is more selective with his kisses these days, so I especially love it when he grabs both of my cheeks in his hands and plants a big slobbery one right on me.  :)

When it's even remotely warm outside, we will always go to the park.  I have a few that I switch between depending on how far I feel like driving.  Unfortunately we don't have anything super close that we can walk to and the nearby school parks can't be used until after school hours (obviously).

One that we really love is at a school about ten minutes away, so we will head there once the after school chaos has winded down.  They have a box turtle in one of their gated garden areas that G loves to look at and they have swings for kids with disabilities that are perfect for little ones too!  I love that it has a mulch/bark covering instead of the dusty pebbles you find at some playgrounds.

He is also a big fan of going outside and walking up and down the street.  He doesn't want to ride in the wagon or the jogging stroller as much since he is all about going everywhere on his own!  We are definitely in the full blown independent stage.  I recently put some bubbles in his wagon on the front porch and bought a kid sized broom to keep outside and these will keep him entertained for a long time ... and it keeps me from having to chase him!

His favorite indoor activity is definitely reading!  Boy loves to read!  He has a bin of books in almost every room of the house, and he certainly has his favorite ones depending on what room we are playing in and his favorite pages or objects in each of those.  It is not uncommon for me or R to read the same book or page multiple times a day, but we don't mind since we won't him to always love reading.  His favorite books right now are any ones that show labeled pictures or any of the Dr. Seuss and Karen Katz lift-the-flap books.

He is still not good about laying still to have his stinky diapers changed, so he routinely gets his "poop baths" and does not lack cleanliness.  :)  He loves to take showers or bathe in our big tub.  Since he knows how to turn the faucets off and on in our bathroom and is obsessed with turning them on and making a huge mess, he usually bathes in the smaller bath.

His clogged tear duct has its good days and its bad.  The pediatric ophthalmologist does not want to do another probe or surgery unless it is absolutely necessary, so in the meantime we are doing warm compress, eye drops and saline mist (in his nose, obviously).  The saline mist helps clears any congestion that is usually the reason for his eye being goopy.  Instead of draining like normal, his tear duct is really narrow so all of the drainage comes out of his eye instead.  Hence the goop.  Poor buddy rubs at his eye, so we know it bothers him.

He is still a wonderful eater and it seems like he is always wandering into the pantry looking for something to snack on.  He knows where his food is kept (even though it's up high and out of reach), and he will bring us one of his play kitchen saucepans and do the sign for "please" to indicate that he wants something.  Ha!  He does this every day without fail.  :)  Some of his favorite foods include: watermelon, cheese pizza, salmon sticks, berries, cooked carrots, pb&j, peanut butter crackers, bananas, apples, avocados, sammy jammies, grilled chicken, and fruit pouches.  He is quite the independent eater and is doing pretty well using a spoon and fork.

He is very good at signing "please" (probably since he knows he will usually get what he wants when he does this) but has a long list of words that he is capable of saying.  His speech is still mostly baby garble at this point, but he will say words when he wants to.  Tonight I sat in his little leather chair and he told me, "No, Mama!"  And so it begins...

His favorite word that he uses repeatedly is "no."  This must be karma since "no" was my first word.  Some of the words he can also say include: mama, dada, baba, ball, car, truck, garage, flower, shhhh (the sound effect to tell someone to be quiet - not sure if this counts as a word), nose, please, more, done, dog... and others but I'm too lazy to think hard enough and remember them all.  He can correctly point to the following body parts if you ask him to: nose, eyes, ears, teeth, head, hands, toes, and my favorite, belly!

He still loves going to "school" and seeing his favorite teacher, Ms. Pam!  He always runs right in and gives her the biggest hug.

We have been down to just one nap since October and on the rare occasion he will take two smaller naps.  Bedtime is anytime between 6:30 and 7:30 depending on how long his nap was (always sleeps longer at home than at school), and he consistently wakes up between 7:00 and 8:30.  He can definitely sleep later than 8:30 if he is tired enough though!

He can still fit into most of his 12-18 month shirts though I have started phasing these out since they are getting a little snug.  He wears a size 4 diaper during the day and at night although our next shipment of overnights will be a size 5 after a few nighttime leaks recently!

Current obsession: dragging my hair dryer out of the bathroom and insisting that someone turn it on.
Current fear: the mixer (hates even the sight of it!)

I realized when I started uploading pictures to create his next memory book on shutterfly that I have substantially less pictures of him this year than from months 0-12!  I'm trying to be better at that, but I have to chalk it up to the fact that he is always on the move and it is hard to take a picture when he doesn't sit still!

I don't want to forget any of these precious little moments, though, so I do need to get better about taking pictures and video to forever document this time.  I should know - it goes by so fast.

Dear Sweet Lovey,

You are quite the little character these days and I love you so much!  I love watching you explore the world through your little eyes.  You charm everyone you meet with your handsome looks and sweet disposition.  I hope you always know just how wonderful I think you are.  There will never be another little boy quite like you, and for that, I am forever thankful.  I love you to the moon and back ... forever and ever and ever ...

Love,
Mama