Yup, he said it. While changing his diaper yesterday, I couldn’t believe my ears as I lifted Miles’ legs high in the air and he said “my butt is grumpy.” Well, I have to agree. It did smell grumpy. Today we went to see our dear friends Mackenzie and Olivia. Mackenzie is VERY pregnant with baby #2. Olivia is three months older than Miles and they’ve been buds their whole lives. When Miles got up from his nap I told him we were going to Olivia’s house. He said “ooooh, she’ll make me feel better.” You just never know what he might say or what he might mean by it. I love the ever-expanding vocabulary stage we’re in. Tonight when Miles was going to bed, we prayed and then talked about how God made him. He said “my fingers, my foot, my head, my tummy, my zipper.” You just can’t get any better […]
I title this post with the old Thanksgiving standby “Gobble Gobble” simply because that is all we have done since Wednesday. I honestly believe I may have gained five pounds. I’ve got a real problem with self control in this area. People call me skinny. I call me lucky. If not for my father’s metabolism being passed on to me, I would surely be in line for next season’s “Biggest Loser.”We just returned home from Spicer (and yes, it was a bit nicer). It was relaxing and fun to see a lot of people we haven’t seen in quite some time. Ryan was in my parents home from Wednesday afternoon until last night (Sat.) when we went to the new Mexican joint in Spicer. He was pretty proud of that. He did go outside here and there to run the dog. Now when I say “run the dog” you may picture Ryan literally […]
The boys are freshly in bed and Ryan is out to a movie with his brother, Kevin. Moments like these are so weird for me. Just me. And Tia. And the computer. So I get to finish my “weekend update.” I talked about the concert yesterday. It was great. Everyone should go to a Sara Groves concert at least once. She’s so talented and tells great stories. She makes you think about things in brand new ways and is so genuine about it. She talked a lot about IJM (International Justice Mission). They were beautiful stories of lawyers and other law enforcement officials going into the darkest places in many different countries to make change. In short, they go for justice. They do a lot of work in Africa with orphaned families of the AIDS crisis. In Asia they do a lot of work to close down brothels where children are sold into […]
Whew, busy weekend. Good weekend. Lots to say so take a deep breath….Saturday was the Sara Groves CD release concert. Lana and I went to Don Pablo’s for dinner and had our favorite – regular magarita on the rocks, extra salt and fajitas. Then we headed to Northwestern for the concert. (I had to laugh just now at the irony of margaritas and Northwestern being in the same story).Everyone knows I’m a huge Sara fan so I could have sat there for two days listening to her sing and talk (I love when she tells stories). But I wasn’t in the best of moods. I told Lana on the way that I was in a bit of a funk and felt bad that I might ruin her night. We’d both been looking forward to this night for a very long time. In her typical understanding and easy-going Lana style, she replied, “I could […]
I told Ryan today that I can’t stand not having structure. It used to be that I had a very routine life. I got up, went to work, came home, ate dinner, went for a walk, watched some TV and went to bed. Then we got married and we did those things together. Then we had Miles and we worked hard on him having a schedule so he and we both could benefit from a routine together that left us all rested and feeling good. Then we had Asher. The end of structure. He cried and cried and we couldn’t even figure out when to eat or how to give Miles a bath. He’s not crying all the time anymore, but he still has a lot of difficulty sleeping. He catnaps throughout the day and frequently wakes up in the night. Don’t get me wrong, this boy is SO loveable, we couldn’t possibly […]
This sticker came on a pair of socks – “Don’t panic, I’m organic!” We thought it was funny to put it on Asher’s head. Yup, I’m one of “those” moms, I guess. I do my best to buy organic for Miles and when Asher eats more than milk, I’ll do the same for him. As I sit here, eating my Froot Loops, I’m thankful for the realization our country has had about organic foods and products. My generation grew up consuming more processed foods than ever before. Our parents had no idea how truly unhealthy this is and who could blame them? I am still addicted to many of these foods, hence the Froot Loops. It’s sad to admit I’m not as concerned about what I put into my body as I am about my boys. Maybe I’ll “get there” some day but for now I’m holding tight to some of my favorite […]
Miles thinks his “big boy bed” is actually called a good boy bed. I don’t know how that happened. I really never did tell him he’s not good until he sleeps in it. He just sometimes gets mixed up and it always makes me smile. So he’s in his “good boy” bed right now as I write this. I have a knot in my stomach. Mostly because it’s one of those undeniable not-a-baby-anymore moments. He’s a kid now. He’ll even tell you so. I can’t believe how time has gone. I realize I say that a lot but that’s because it’s so true. I remember the bassinet and then the pack and play. And then I remember how well he slept the first night in his own room in his own big crib and how I felt sad that we were “so far away” from each other. Then we needed to lower the […]
Yesterday was an interesting day for me. Ryan had told me to do whatever I wanted with the whole day. To say the least I needed to have some alone time to stop being a crazy person at home. I had plans to meet Kim in the morning for coffee to catch up and plans to have dinner at Kelly’s (I’ll get to that later) in the evening. Other than that, I had the whole day open. So I met Kim and it felt so good to see her and her round pregnant belly. We discussed everything baby and had tasty drinks. Borders has a gingerbread latte that I could drink all day long. It even has a cute little gingerbread man on the whipped cream. Yum… Anyway! After meeting with Kim I got in the car and had no idea what to do. It felt so weird to not have to hurry […]
I thought of one more song I used to hear wrong. Couldn’t resist sharing that I thought the song “Voices Carry,” (80’s tune) was “this is scary.” Love that one.I don’t have much to say today. Miles has a stomach bug it seems. Or it’s teeth, I’m not sure. I feel like I’m constantly saying that as a mom. It could be this, or that, or maybe it’s just this. Maybe I should try this, or now I’ll try that and then it won’t be this but it will be that. I find that to be one of the hardest parts. I guess it’s probably because I’m a control freak and there’s no way I can control everything with motherhood or my children. I suppose it’s good for me to learn to stop trying to rely on myself so much. I just don’t like letting go that much. I want to make everything […]
You know that song, “give me the beat boys and free my soul, I wanna get lost in your rock and roll and drift away.” When I was a kid I thought they were saying “give me the Beach Boys…” I love it when people mis-hear lyrics, it’s hilarious. Like when Phoebe on Friends sings that Elton John song, Tony Danza. Is Tiny Dancer right? Anyway…So if you have a moment please share some mis-heard lyrics with me, it’ll make me smile and I could use a smile. I’m about to fall asleep standing up. I love music. I love words put to song. My favorite singer/songwriter is Sara Groves. I guess you could say she’s a “Contemporary Christian artist,” but her stuff is way different than other gospel/Christian stuff that you’d hear on say, KTIS. To be honest, a lot of that music makes me want to crawl out of my skin […]
First of all, before I forget. The pumpkin recipe from yesterday’s post: It makes lots of batter, a little much for a loaf pan. I put it all in a regular larger sized loaf pan and it spilled over. So use your smarts if you make this recipe and don’t put all the batter in one pan – maybe two smaller ones? I don’t know, I’m clueless about that sort of thing.Next, I want to give some props to some wonderful mothers in my life. I’ve learned endless amounts from my friend Kate, mother of Caleb-6 and Ella-5. She is an excellent mother. Mostly she teaches me how to respect my children, because after all, they are little people. My friend Carrie (mother of twin girls, Zoe and Eden-3) reminds me often that these little people are not robots. Sometimes you need to hear that when you’re caught up in trying to get […]
I’ll get around to making pumpkin bread, but in case I don’t, here’s the recipe – it’s SUPER good pumpkin bread. My sister made it recently and I couldn’t stop eating it. It’s a Taste of Home recipe for pumpkin bread with a cream cheese filler: 1 can pumpkin 1 cup and 2 Tbsp. sugar 1/2 cup brown sugar 4 egg whites (divided 3 and 1) 1/2 cup milk 1/4 cup canola oil 2 cups flour 2 1/2 tsp. Baking Powder 2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice 1/4 tsp. salt 1 pkg cream cheese (8 oz) Heat oven to 350. Mix pumpkin, 1 cup sugar, brown sugar, 3 egg whites, milk and oil. Add flour, baking powder, pie spice and salt. Stir just unitl moistened. Filler: Beat cream cheese, 2 Tbsp sugar, and remaining egg white until blended. Put half the pumpkin batter in loaf pan. Spoon cream cheese mixture evenly over the top […]
