All Was Merry!

We had a fantastic Christmas! It was our year to spend Christmas with my side of the family, which is always fun for me! It's like pulling on your favorite sweatshirt...same tradition, cookies, food....ahhhh. Not that I don't love Hubs's fam & their traditions (because I really really do!) but there is just somethin' about going home for Christmas.

Bean made out like a bandit. I had no idea our car could hold so many toys!! Not sure where we will stick baby Bub next Christmas ;-) We had such a wonderful time with my mom, dad & brother. Bean had a chance to really bond with all of them and give each of them nicknames. My mom is now "Gaga", my dad is (and has always been) "Pop Pop" and my brother is "Bah-Boos" (Bubbles). My brother spent Saturday night blowing bubbles for Bean in the bathtub while my mom gave him a scrub down (Hubs & I were out celebrating our 4 year anniversary!). Soo for the rest of the trip he was "Bah-Boos". VERY CUTE!

We are back home now and back to blogging....I will fill you in on more tales as the weekend/week go on!

Good Day & Great Night!

Today Bean and I went to the Children's Discovery Museum in town. We went there to celebrate Bean's first birthday and haven't been back since. What a difference just a few months makes! He was tall enough to play at the water table this time. And he enjoyed all of the stuff so much more now that he is an "experienced" walker. We spent 2 hours there (which in toddler time is equivalent to 5 years!). It was so much fun!! Plus, Bean fell asleep on the way home...

...but woke up as soon as we arrived home and immediately ran to his high chair exclaiming "din-nah?". So I made him lunch and hoped for a nap after that. Ha! Bean's 10 minute power nap on the way home was enough for him. I couldn't get that boy to take a nap for anything! He wouldn't even go down for the amazing Dada (who seems to have "the touch" lately!). So the Bean stayed up and played and played and played. Finally at 3:00 I was falling asleep at the wheel and had to take a nap, and thank the Lord, Bean agreed! We snoozed until 4:30!!!

Then comes the best part...I left at 5:15 to go get a hair cut ALL BY MYSELF! As I was leaving Bean waved and said "Buh-bye Momma!". Music to my ears! Getting my hair cut was such a luxury!! I love the gal that I go to and she always does a phenomenal job! I even got suckered into buying some new product for my super curly, crazy hair. After my hair cut, I went to the grocery store where I met my new favorite drink!! Move over Wild Cherry Pepsi, here comes Cherry Coke Zero!! OH MY GOSH! It is too good to be true! I am loving it!!! Plus, it has a little smidge of caffine in it which doesn't hurt anyone ;-)! AND the can is really cute too...the cherries have little "zeros" cut out of them to look like holes...so cute!

THE Pillow

Bean has made his own decision regarding his personal "lovey". He is 100% attached to a blue, polka-dot pillow. He LOVES this thing! He lays on it to sleep, carries it around during the day, lays on it to watch TV, wants to hold it while I change his diaper....you get the picture. Well today he was giving me fits about taking an afternoon nap (the morning nap was only 1 hour long, which is not enough for the Bean to last an entire day on). So I was in no mood to continue our battle of him standing up in bed, throwing everything out of his bed, then yelling "MOOOOM". To which I took various forms of defense; ignoring him, going in and laying him down, giving him only his pillow and removing all other items....nothing was working. Soooo I gave up. I scooped up the Bean (with pillow in hand) and decided to let him play for a little bit and then try again. During our little play time, Bean waddled down to his bathroom and decided that his pillow might like to go swimming in the potty. Yup, that's right...the pillow was DUNKED in the potty. I didn't witness the grand baptism, but I did hear the splashes. I walk in to find Bean standing there pleased with himself, yet confused by the soggy, dripping pillow in his hands. Well now the pillow must go take dip in a larger body of water, the washing machine. Bean was less than thrilled. He was ticked. He threw his little body on the floor in the laundry room and pitched.a.fit. He stood in front of the washing machine crying for a good 5 minutes. Ugh. After he "moved on" and played for a bit, the sleepies started to take him over. I decided we would try nap time again. I grabbed a small orange pillow from his toy box and put it in bed with him. Now, I said he pitched a fit about THE Pillow being put into the washing machine, but oh my gosh did he pitch a fit about not having his beloved pillow at nap time. It didn't take me long to realize that there would not be another nap time today.

An hour or so later, the pillow emerged from the dryer. Cleaner than ever and super fluffy. Bean was so happy to be reunited with his favorite possession.

She's makin' a list...

Things are going really well with "the growing of Caleb". He is quite a feisty little guy and is kicking far more than Christian ever did! I am starting to feel a little...ummm...anxious...with each passing week, as Christian arrived at 35 1/2 weeks!!! We just hit the 31 week mark....Oh boy! When I start to think about the fact that I might possibly only have 4 weeks left to get ready, I breathe a little quicker and immediately start making a list of stuff I need to do. For some reason I feel much better after I have made a list. Any kind of list will do; grocery, "to-do", Christmas shopping, cleaning, packing...you name it and I have a list for it!

Baby Bub at 30 weeks!

We had our 30 week doc. appointment today!! Baby Bub looked very crunched, but good! He weighs an estimated 3lb 9oz. They kept telling me that he is smaller than Bean was he was the same gestation, but when I came home and checked my old notes, I had written down that Bean weighed an estimated 3lb 7oz at 30 weeks...hmmm....

Either way, Bub looked great and is doing perfectly! His kidneys were still slightly dilated but not to the point that she wanted to mess with referring us to anyone. She said "it's a boy thing", it apparently occurs much more in little boys.

This was our last chance to see Bub before the big arrival...that freaks me out a bit. I have been a little...ummm..."emotional" today about baby stuff so this was the icing on the cake. Definitely freaking out that he will be HERE so soon! Bean arrived when I was 35weeks 3 days....that's 5 weeks from now...oh my...I need to go to bed and sleep on that thought! :-)

**By the way, I was less than thrilled about the 1 and only sono pic she gave us today (we usually get a few "poses"). Even I am struggling to figure out exactly what each part is!

Christmas Card Bloopers!

I have been dying to show y'all these pictures, but I wanted to wait until December when things are a lil more Christmas-ish. One day back in late November, I decided that we needed to take a picture of Bean for our Christmas card. They were on sale and I had to have my order in by some date at the end of November. So I decided to get a lil crafty and set up a make-shift studio in our family room for the big photo shoot. Here are some bloopers that didn't make the card with a glimpse of how "well" the photo shoot went. (We ended up using a completely different picture from a completely different day....oh well!)

To start things off, the garland made Bean's nose itch..
Then Kowe wanted to play tug-o-war with the garland, much to Bean's delight!

It was impossible to get Bean to actually sit down and STAY sitting...

Sooo I tried taking a picture of him laying down...which lasted an even shorter amount of time than trying to get him to sit.

This was almost THE ONE, but Kowe is looking at Bean and Bean is actually screaming...

I then resorted to Plan B: Candy Canes

So Plan B didn't work out so well...Kowe was really "focused" on the candy canes!

Much to her delight, Bean did share

Hope you enjoyed our Christmas Card Bloopers!!!

With a little bit of photo-shopping, this was the picture we ended up using (in black and white, with a fancy background and cropped...of course!)

Big Boy Bed: Night/Day1

The Bean is officially in his "Big Boy Bed"! Hubs & his Dad re-arranged all of the nursery/big-boy furniture last night. Bean spent his first night in his bed. Let me give you the set-up before I give you all of the details.

The Room:
Bean's room now has his big boy bed (twin-size), a dresser, a set of drawers, my glider, and a small toy box. The bed is pushed into a corner with a bed rail attached to the side facing out into the room. On the floor next to his bed is a twin size inflatable mattress and the floor under the foot of his bed is lined in pillows. We purchased a video monitor for the big transition and it is mounted on the wall opposite of his bed so we have a clear view of him.

The First Night:
Last night we did our normal bedtime routine (bath, cup of water, pacie, pj's)...then it was time to put him into his new bed. We talked about it a little bit and had all of his bedtime gear in bed waiting for him (bear, pillow, blankie and extra pacie to hold on to). We laid him down, shut the door and snuck around the corner into our room to watch him on the monitor. He only stood up 1 time and Hubs went in and laid him back down...and that was it. He slept through the night!

1st Nap:
The first night was a success. Then came nap time this morning. I put him in his bed around 9:45 and he definitely had other plans. He stood up-I went in and laid him back down. We did this 4 or 5 times and then he LAUGHED at me! The Bean thought this was a game!!!! Grrrrr....after I firmly informed him that this was serious business he did lay down...then stood back up. Only now he would stand up, I would open the door, then he would immediately lay down, nuzzle into his pillow and say "Nigh-Nigh!". Goofball!!! 2 or 3 times of that and then he was down for the count! Not too bad....

2nd Nap:
Today was a 2-nap day (those are few and far between now). This was by far the easiest yet! We put him down, and he didn't move for 2 hours! YAY!

Waking Up:
He is doing really well about sitting in his bed when he wakes up and waiting for us to come get him. As soon as he stirs we run up to make sure we are there before he decides to plunge off into the piles of pillows. So far, so good!

On the Way...

Part of my birthday present from my folks & my grand-folks was a new diaper bag! Not just any diaper bag, but a custom made/designed diaper bag from Peas & Carrots! It was so fun to go and pick out a bag and fabric. Plus, I got to put the pockets exactly where I wanted them, both on the inside and out! Now I will say that I lightly brushed over the fact that I got to pick out the fabric...this was no small task! She has some cool, and I mean coooool fabrics to choose from. I went there intending on getting something in the light blue/light green/light purple family. There were plenty of options from that pallet-polka dots, stripes, swirls, and any combination thereof. I decided on a stripe pattern that had stripes of different widths in the colors: light blue, bright blue, light green, lime green and purple. I then had the interior done in light blue. Ahhhh that decision was made.

Then as I was leaving I noticed a bag that was black & white swirls on the outside with a gorgeous deep red interior. Hmmm....I could not get that bag out of my mind. It was more sophisticated than my funky stripes and it might work better for an all-seasons bag.

The next day I called her and sheepishly asked if I could change my pregnant mind....and she was so sweet and said "Sure!". So I went with the black & white fabric with a purple interior and pocket on the outside...sophisticated with a little bit of funk! I can't wait to get it in January!!!!!

WFMW: Quick & Easy Dinner!

One of my favorite quick dinners is Gyoza....ha ha! Gotcha! If you know me then you will laugh at that funny, FUNNY joke!

No, really, one of my favorite dinners to whip up at the last minute is Cheeseburger Chowder. This recipe comes from my Mom-in-law and is so yummy and easy and PERFECT for chilly winter days! I usually have most of the ingredients in the house and the best part is, if I'm missing something...it's no.big.deal!

Cheeseburger Chowder

1 lb ground beef or turkey
½ cup chopped celery
½ cup chopped onion
½ cup green pepper
3 tbsp flour
1 tsp salt
4 cups milk
2 beef bouillon cubes dissolved in 1 cup of water
2 cups sharp cheddar cheese (grated) *I sometimes use more!

Brown together the beef/turkey, celery, onion & green pepper. Add flour and stir for 3 minutes. Add salt, milk & bouillon. Cook until thick. Just before serving, add cheese and stir until it is melted.

For more quick, easy, last-minute dinner ideas head over to Rocks In My Dryer!

Cute Story! (Not about Bean!)

I read this article this morning about Ellen De Generes requesting that Jenna Bush call her folks from her show...it's a really cute story! I am the same age as the Bush Twins (actually they are 4 days older!) and it made me realize that they are just 20-somethings who are much more "typical" than anyone would think. Just a cute story to start your day!

Nigh-Nigh & Owwies...

2 Tales from "The Bean" for you today:

Nigh-Nigh
Bean is a special kiddo. He is not afraid to let you know when he is ready to go to bed or take a nap. He will gladly walk up to you and say "Nigh-Nigh Momma! Nigh-Nigh" and then head over to the stairs and crawl up to his room for a nap. It is amazing and I am so thankful for this new level of communication. Today he was ready to take his morning nap around 9ish (much earlier than usual). So we headed up and curled up in our glider together to read some books before his nap (our daily routine). I was in the middle of our third or fourth book when he took his hand, closed the book, took out his beloved pacie and proclaimed "No Mo! Nigh-Nigh Momma". I couldn't argue with that. I set the book down, smooched my little Bean, tucked him in and said "Nigh-Nigh". A record-breaking 3 hours and 45 minutes later, the Bean woke up ready for the afternoon!

Owwies
It seems that lately poor Bean has had perpetual owwies in his mouth. It started with these annoying molars that are absolutely killing the poor boy. Then a few days ago he fell on our kitchen floor (a regular occurrence that has come with walking/running) and split his lower lip. Today the poor boy fell again and split the already split-lip WIDE open and split open his upper gums as well. The bottom lip is split all the way from front to back and literally is gaping open. It freaked me out more than any other owwie has. Thankfully it occurred late enough in the day that Hubs was able to come home and helped me evaluate the situation (he upper teeth are fine and the bleeding did stop...I was really worried about loose teeth and the giant blood clots that kept coming out of his mouth!). I just feel AWFUL for him....a little Tylenol before bedtime tonight seemed to really help with the pain. :-( We'll see how it is tomorrow and maybe I'll get a picture for y'all!

Ole!

Last week I celebrated the big 2-6. It was a great GREAT day! Part of my present from Hubs was not having to cook all day! Which was AWESOME! He got up and went to Mc D's and brought me home a bacon, egg & cheese bagel (YUM!). Then he brought me Chinese food for lunch and THEN we went to my fave restaurant for dinner. We rarely eat out, so this was a BIG treat for both of us!

Bean and I spent the day bumming around the house. We really didn't do anything super excited. Bean worked on cutting his bottom molars (one came through the next day, and the other one is still being worked on). These bottom molars have been a killer for the poor kid. He wants to chew on everything. Plus, he has been an absolute bear about it! Ugh....

When Hubs came home from work I got to open my present from him.....NEW COMPUTER GUTS!!! My computer has been slowly dying...freezing at random times...making crying noises while it is on...other various noises....and it was sloooooow. So Hubs bought me an entire NEW computer! Now I am zooming!!!! I absolutely love it and I love that he is awesome enough to be able to open up my old one, take everything out and put awesome, new, super-mega fast stuff into the case. He's so wonderful!

Then that night we went to Chevy's for dinner (which is where I have spent the majority of my birthday's over the last 10 years or so). Bean enjoyed watching them make tortillas, but was less than thrilled about sitting through the meal....oh well! Hubs made a new discovery from the Chevy's menu...FLAUTAS! Oh My Goodness! They were deeee-licious! I had my standard chicken quesadillas (which is the same thing I always order...it's my comfort food!). But next time I will definitely go out on a limb and get the flautas....wooo weee! Go try 'em! I willingly submitted myself to public humiliation all for the sake of entertaining The Bean. I let them sing Happy Birthday and bring out the free ice-cream (all for Bean, of course!). The one thing that I did want for Bean was the sombrero...and oh my goodness did he look stinkin' cute in it!

It was an awesome, AWESOME day. It was so fun to relax and take a day off of cleaning and cooking. And, it was great to spend the day with my 2 favorite-est people!

WFMW: Safe Stocking Holders

I absolutley love all of the cute stocking holders that are out right now...EXCEPT for the fact that they all weigh a TON and would absolutely crush my sweet little Bean if he were to toddle over and yank a stocking down. Call me a paranoid Momma, but seriously, is it worth risking? So I have been trying to figure out something to use to hang up our stockings. My mom uses straight pins, but again, I am a paranoid Momma and I worry about him picking one up and eating it if it falls....

Here is what I have come up with: plastic outdoor light clips! You know the ones you can hook onto your gutter to hold up your outdoor lights!?!?! They work great to clip onto your mantle and then you even have a plastic hook to use for your stockings! And if Bean does yank it off, the clips are large and plastic and I don't think he could swallow one if he tried! Works for me! Head over to Rocks In My Dryer to find some other helpful hints!

Photo Meme!

Anna over at Sincerely Anna tagged all of her readers for really cool meme. If you want to play, just answer the question in your head, google an image of it, then choose one of the pics from the first page of results. Let me know if you decide to play along and I will come check it out! ENJOY!

1. Age at next birthday (on Thursday!!!)

2. Place I’d like to travel:

3. Favorite place:

4. Favorite objects:

5. Favorite food:

6. Favorite color:

7. Nickname:

8. Place you were born:

Our Thanksgiving Extravagnaza!

I realize that this post is about 3 days late, but I figured that y'all needed to hear how the BIG day went!

7:00am~ "MA MA!" Bean is awake and ready for breakfast...right on time!

7:10-8am~ Bean eats breakfast, I grab a quick shower, Hubs gets up to wipe out the oven from the oven cleaner that was left in overnight.

8am~ Hubs & I realize that "wiping" out the oven is no small task and that the "cleaner" is in fact not helping anything...grrrrr...

8:10~ Hubs is still wiping and I have moved on to making the dough for the rolls (it has to rise for 4 hours!)

8:20~ Dough made! Hubs is still working on cleaning the oven out for me.

8:30~I decide to start making the pie filling for the pumpkin pie.

8:32~ I realize I should probably roll out my pie crust before making the pie filling (which is already half made).

8:45~ I have successfully managed to roll out 1 pie crust (my crust dough is not cooperating)

8:55~ I give up on the dough I made ahead to "save time" and make a new batch for pie #2.

9:05~ Ahhh 2 pie crusts have been made...back to the pie filling.

9:07~ I go to use the microwave to soften up some butter and it.is.not.working!!!!

9:09~ Hubs runs in to rescue me...

9:15~...and fixes the microwave!

9:20-10:00~ The pies are baking!! HOORAY! I missed my goal of having the pies done by an hour...oh well! I decide that we will eat at 2 instead of 1 and we all will live!

10:00~ TURKEY IN THE OVEN!!!!

10:11~ I start working on side dishes....and after peeling a few potatoes I decide to run the garbage disposal (which is a great GREAT disposal)

10:13~ The water in the sink is swirling and bubbling...not draining and NOT disposing of the egg shells, potato peels and other various items like it should be...

10:15~ "HUBS!!!"

10:18~ Hubs messes with the disposal and unclogs it...and sprays potato-peely gross water all over the underneath of the kitchen sink and the kitchen floor....

10:40~ Kitchen is cleaned and I am back to making sides...stuffing, sweet potato casserole, macaroni & cheese, green bean casserole....

11:10~Time to flip the turkey. This task sounded easy enough when my Mom-in-law told me to do it...but now that the time has arrived I was less than confident in my turkey-flipping abilities...."HUBS!"

11:20~Turkey flipped! YAY!

***This is where I make all of the "stuff" and things bake and I run around doing last minute stuff***

1:45~ The turkey comes out! Yippeeee!! Looks great...smells great....and now it is time for the gravy (the one thing I was dreading making the most)

1:52~I have made the roux and it looks pretty darn good....I am trying to figure out how to get the fat off of the top of the turkey drippings and make my 3rd or 4th call to my Mom-in-law in less than 10 minutes...

1:58~ Gravy is done but there doesn't seem to be too much of it...Hubs glances over and thinks it looks too thin...I agree (and since this is his momma's recipe I take his word for it!) Soooo I add more flour-BIG mistake! My gravy is now the consistency of Cream of Wheat.

2:02~We sit down to eat. Bean is in his high chair. All is well...

2:05~Bean gets his first bite of "real" turkey. He puts it in his mouth, makes the sour face, take the turkey out and yells "Yuck!" and throws it on the floor! He proceeds to do this with every single thing I cooked!

2:10~Squirmy Bean (who ate his lunch an hour and half ago) wants out of the high chair.

2:13~ A Baby Einstein video is in....Bean is captivated...and I am enjoying my Thanksgiving meal!

2:45~ Meal is over....

2:50~ Bean is napping....

2:52~ ...and I am napping while me awesome Husband and bro & sis-in-law are doing the dishes!

Gobble Gobble

Well tomorrow is the BIG day! I will be hostess-ing my first Thanksgiving in MY house! It is a huge rite of passage for me and I am excited and slightly nervous about the whole ordeal. The good part is that the only guests we are having are my brother-in-law and his wife...and maybe my brother too. I'm not too worried about the "eaters" being too judgemental...it will mostly be self-imposed! I have spent the last 3 days cleaning my house like crazy. And not just cleaning but cuh-leeeeening...almost like a pregnant woman who is in the beginning stages of psycho nesting :-) . Besides cleaning the house I have tried to plan tomorrows meal down to the minute. I started working on some stuff today but on my refrigerator is a time-table of tomorrows dishes and what I need to be doing when. One thing I am very thankful for is that my neighbors are going out of town so we get to use their oven! That will be a huge help!

I went ahead and set the table today. After I had all of our China & Crystal in place I realized the center looked a little empty. I tried candle sticks...better...then I started to get creative with different bowls and such from around the house. I finally decided that the turkey would serve as the perfect centerpiece. I was on the phone with my mom explaining this when the doorbell rang. There was a man there holding this beautiful arrangement for ME! It was from my mom & dad. They are so good to me and know how to make my day!! I am so thankful for both of them and I will miss them dearly tomorrow!

One Nap!?!?!?

Oh boy...here we go! Bean has been hinting that he would really like to only take 1 nap a day. And I have been avoiding his hints like the plague! But today I was faced with the reality that this just might be happening. He would NOT take a morning nap today. He played in his crib and babbled on and on and on...then he started with the Mama's..."Mama? Mama? Mama?". He must know that is my weakness because I can not resist it when he so sweetly calls my name. I go in to rescue him and he is sitting in his crib, hugging his pillow and beams with joy when he sees me....no nap for him! He's pretty crabby about losing the pacie (which is a sleepy-time only thing!) and about getting a new diaper and clothes. So I do what every good Mom does, I get him all ready, take him downstairs and put on a Baby Einstein video while I deal with the shock that I am not going to get my usual morning break/shower/nap. 30 minutes later, Bean is standing and applauding Baby Van Gogh and asking "Moh?". Nope, no "moh" today...1 is plenty. It is now 11ish and poor Bean doesn't know what to do with himself...he's sleepy, but giddy and most of all HUNGRY! So an early lunch it is! I am about half way done with his lunch when the amazing Daddy walks in and is home for his lunch. I have to insert here that the Bean is in LOOOOVE with Daddy right now. He is by far Daddy's biggest fan and wants to be with Daddy all.of.the.time. So after lunch, a yawning and bleary eyed Bean staggers in to play with his Daddy. Meanwhile, I'm looking at the clock and panicking because my baby has been up for 5 hours and I'm afraid we are going to miss the sleepy zone and go straight to the too-tired-to-sleep zone. I did manage to get Hubs some lunch, take care of the dog and pry Bean away from his favorite person AND get Bean down for a nap! That little boy was asleep before his head hit the pillow....and he slept for 2 hours (which is a typical nap for him and he usually does this twice a day!).

There are 2 things about this that sadden me:
1) I got 1/2 of my usual "Mommy" time today.
2) My baby is growing into being a little boy...not a baby

Who knows how many naps he will take tomorrow....

What Am I Doing!?!?!? or not doing...

We have company coming this weekend and then we have company for Thanksgiving next week. I have a list a mile long of things to do before this weekend/next Thursday and you know what I'm doing??? I'm cleaning out the closet in the current guest room/ soon-to-be nursery!! What is wrong with me!?!? That definitely is NOT a priority right now, but for some reason I feel like I HAVE to get it done. Nesting?

My Lizard

So, he knows how to quack like a duck, hiss like a snake and bark like a dog....what's left?? Well let me tell you! My little boy can stick his tongue out like a lizard!! :-) I'm sure we will regret teaching him this (and then laughing uproariously when he does it) but it is oh so funny right now!

WFMW: Tub Paint Recipe

Thanks to my dear friend Brooke (also the master-maker of the diaper cake!) I now have an awesome "recipe" for bathtub paint! It is super simple to make, although a few of the ingredients may not be in your cupboard and require a special trip to the store. Bean (1 year) had a FANTASTIC time painting in the tub. Plus, with Christmas right around the corner, it makes a great gift (ahem, Learning Patience, no need to make this...it's "taken care of"!) Happy Tub Painting!!!

Bathtub Finger Paint

1 envelope unflavored instant gelatin
1/4 cup hot water
1/2 cup cornstarch
3 Tbsp sugar
1 3/4 cups cold water
1/4 mild liquid dishwashing soap (I used clear)
food coloring

Dissolve one envelope of unflavored instant gelatin in 1/4 cup hot water and let it sit for 10 minutes. Combine 1/2 cup cornstarch, 3 tablespoons sugar and 1 3/4 cups cold water in a saucepan, and stir until cloudy and smooth. Cook the cornstarch mixture over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until thick. Reduce heat, add the gelatin mixture and 1/4 cup mild, liquid dishwashing soap, and stir until smooth. Let cool. Divide into smaller, airtight containers and add 1 drop of food coloring to each. Stir and head to the tub!

My Tips:
*The gelatin mixture will get goopy, it's okay, just scrape it out of the bowl
*I used a wire whisk for all of the mixing involved...worked better than a spoon!
*Baby food jars work great for storage
*We used a silicone pastry brush in the tub. It is easy to clean out after the bath is over, plus it doesn't hold moisture-no mildew!
*Bean did a taste test and survived...so I'm guessing it won't really do any damage if consumed in small quantities!
*It washes off tub walls BEAUTIFULLY! I even tested it and left it on overnight....washed right off! I have not tried it on tile...not sure how it will do on grout.

Ooops! I almost forgot...head over to Rocks In My Dryer for some more awesome tips!!

Diaper Cake!

My good friend Brooke made a diaper cake for Bean for his 1/2 birthday last year. It was the cuuuutest thing in the entire world!! Did you catch the part that she made it!?!?! Bean had a terrific time tearing it apart after it served as our centerpiece in the dining room for at least a month. But finally I decided that I needed to actually use the diapers in the cake before he outgrew them.

Well my neighbor friend is going to have her baby tomorrow (oh the joy of a planned C-section)!!! I can't even imagine knowing the day ahead of time...I must admit that me and my plan-ahead-attitude are a teensy bit jealous. That aside, I decided to try and conquer making a diaper cake for her. After many attempts on the bottom layer (by far the most challenging) here is what I ended up with. If nothing else, it's a free stack o' diapers!

My New Best Friend!

Taaaah Daaaah! Yesterday our new dishwasher was installed! Yippeeeee! I was so thrilled to get the call at 12:30pm that they were "on their way" with our new dishwasher (plus, Bean had just woken up from his nap so the timing was perfect!). They arrived and started working on taking the old one out...Bean was captivated! He sat on my lap in the middle of our kitchen floor the entire time watching their every move. I am confident that he could now install a dishwasher on his own! ;-)

After the new one was all ready to go we put every dirty dish we could find straight in the dishwasher! No pre-washing needed!!!! While I was loading our nasty dishes, Bean decided it was his job to immediately remove the dirty dishes from the dishwasher and put them on the floor. After I convinced him that was not how it worked he wandered off and left me and my new friend alone to get better acquainted. A few minutes later he toddled back over to us with an arm load of his plastic stacking cups. He proceeded to place them one at a time into the dishwasher!!!! I was so proud of him (and so was he!). I did agree with him that those cups needed a good run through the dishwasher so we loaded them in too. And guess what....EVERYTHING CAME OUT CLEAN!! I was and still am amazed!!

UPDATED ON BEAN: The diaper situation is improving...not all better yet, but getting there! I had to go buy more bananas yesterday because that is one of the only foods in the BRAT diet he will really eat! Bananas, applesauce, crackers & bread....that's about it.

Poor Bean

Today has been an un-eventful, yet interesting, day. Poor Bean has had "dirty diapers" ALL DAY today! His little bum is so red and it makes us both cry during a diaper change (which has been necessary at least 10 times today!). My heart breaks for him and I wish I could just make it all better. Ugh. I did find out a "cure" from my Grandma today for such problems. She said that back-in-the-day she had the same problem with her youngest son. Her pediatrician told her to spread blackberry jam on crackers for him and that would take care of the problem. AND IT DID! Grandma did say that she's not sure if it really worked or if the timing was just right.

Today my pediatrician told me to feed Bean the following: bananas, rice, applesauce, bread/crackers and to only let him drink water and Pedialite. So far nothing has changed...I think we might have to try the blackberry jam on crackers ;-)

The Letter "D"

Our day today seems to have revolved around things begining with the letter "D" .....

Dump truck, Ducks & Dogs: The 3 things that Bean is obsessed with right now. We had our first day of Mommy & Me time at the library today (we did this last Feb. when Bean was little). So we arrive and Bean immediately pulls out a touch and feel book about dogs (a book we happen to have at home too!). We spent a good 5 minutes reading and re-reading this book. THEN he finds a book about dump trucks, even better! After story time, the group sings interactive songs with the kiddos. The leader does not have a kiddo so she uses a stuffed-animal duck. Ohhhh my goodness! Bean eyed that duck like you would believe!! After song time the kids get to play with a basket of toys. As soon as I freed Bean from my grip, he made a beeline for that duck. I sat there and watched my little boy wander around the room in a state of bliss clutching the duck in one arm and the dump truck book in the other (all the time making quacking noises and zooming noises)!

Dishwasher: We went to Lowe's tonight and picked out our new dishwasher! YAY!!! Our current "dishwasher" (I use the term loosely) is horrible! We have to wash everything before we put it in and then the so-called "dishwasher" basically sanitizes them. Within 72 hours we will have a newly installed dishwasher in our kitchen!! YIPEEEE!

Daddy: Daddy (aka Hubs) got a last minute offer to head over the Illlini game tonight with some friends. We then rushed home from Lowes and got Daddy out the door and off to go cheer on his team! (Which means Mommy is home alone!! *insert big BIG grin from Mommy*)

Dirty Diapers: Gross I know, but when you have 6+ dirty diapers in one day, it is worth mentioning.

DONE: I am done doing the laundry from our trip. If you read that statement carefully you will notice that there is no mention of the baskets of clean laundry being folded and/or put away, simply done. I am also done cleaning our kitchen and family room (the 2 areas that the Tornado of Bean sweeps through daily leaving me with a disaster area by 7pm). I am also done with this post and done with my day....off to bed I go!

Home!

We are finally back home from a family vacation. We left last Saturday morning and drove down to spend the day and night with my folks. It was great to spend a bit of time with them before we hopped on a plane Sunday morning and flew out to upstate New York with Bean.

How did he do on the plane you ask? He did GREAT! We had a 90 minute flight to Detroit then another 90 minute flight to our final destination. He was completely entertained for the entire first flight. He spent the first 10 minutes "zooming" as we taxied and took off (he says "mmmmmmm" when he zooms his cars around). Then he slept the ENTIRE next flight. It was fantastic!

We spent all of last week with Hubs's entire family. We stayed out in a BEAUTIFUL house on Lake Seneca. It was so gorgeous. We had a great time visiting with Hubs's extended family too! Bean even met his Great Great Grandma for the first time! It was very special.

After a week of fun we flew back to my spend the night with my parents before driving home this afternoon. I have sorted the laundry and threw together a chicken casserole for dinner (not nearly as impressive as it sounds). I am done with unpacking and cleaning...tomorrow will be here soon enough...I'm off to bed for now!

Autumn

I have a friend that does photography work on the side, she is a full time teacher. She & I actually taught first grade together for a brief time. She is a wonderful teacher and an AWESOME photographer! She took a ton of pic's of Bean yesterday for me. He is wearing my grandpa's overalls from when he was a little boy! It melts my heart to see him in these! I am so excited that these overalls have been saved over the years...so special! Just wanted to share our autumn pic's!

WFMW: $20 Photo Book!

For $19.99 you can get an AWESOME photo book from winkflash.com. Right now they are running a sale on hard (leather cover) bound photo books with UNLIMITED pages! Yes, that is right, UNLIMITED PAGES! Both of the books I have made have 100+ pages. I have done this deal twice with them and both times I have been really pleased with the outcome. It is a perfect (and cheap!) Christmas gift too! I highly recommend heading over there to check it out. The deal ends on Nov. 4th!

For other awesome ideas, head over to Rocks in my Dryer!

Website: http://www.winkflash.com/
Coupon Code: 93D8E74

*I have absolutely NO affiliation with winkflash.com, I am just a happy customer!

Choco-LOT

The chocolate "issue" is in the process of being fixed. Brownies are in the oven as I type. Not just plain old brownies, mind you. They have chocolate chips in them and I made chocolate frosting...so it will be just like a cake, only better! YUM! I can not wait for the oven timer to beep!

I do need to clarify a little bit about this chocolate craving stuff. I have Gestational Diabetes so I am supposed to really watch what I eat and watch my blood sugar. With Bean it was really rough...my sugar levels would spike if I even looked at something sugary, but with Bub they really haven't been too bad. Not nearly as finicky as they were with Bean. Soo I am little more lenient about giving in to my cravings this time around.

*BEEEP* Oooooh! They are ready!! Wish I could share!

**UPDATE: Hubs just finished his "brownie" and said, "That was more like chocolate cake than a brownie" :-) Yes, dear it was.

All I Want...

All I want is a huge piece of chocolate cake with yummy frosting...is that too much for a girl to ask for? I don't think Hubs is up for a late-night run to a bakery to find me a little *errr...BIG* slice of heaven. I think I'll have to settle for a glass of chocolate milk....but when my birthday comes around next month WATCH OUT!

This was our Groom's cake at our wedding...oh my it was fantastic! Chocolate & blackberry filling OH MY!

*sigh*

YAY! I finally had the time and energy to redecorate this blog. I decided against the fall-ish stuff...I will definitely put up Christmas "decorations" though! Hope you like the purple-ness!!

Fluffy Bunny

If you have ever played the game Fluffy Bunny then you know what is coming! I found Bean in the kitchen today eating marshmallows! Okay, so I didn't really "find" him. I was sitting on the couch watching him tote around a bag of marshmallows and curiously watching to see what he would do when discovered "what" was in the bag. It was absolutely hilarious! He started by dumping about 5 of them on the kitchen floor (which I had just swept thankfully!). He then picked one apart and analyzed it for a few minutes before attempting to eat it. After he tried one, there was no stopping him! He immediately tried to put an ENTIRE marshmallow into his mouth at once! It was like the Blue Man Group stunt...he stuck a whole one in his mouth, closed his mouth and then pulled the entire thing back out! GROSS! :-) If we continue along the path of him being able to put as many marshmallows in his mouth in correspondence to his age, we might have a Fluffy Bunny champ among us!

No More...

I have made the executive decision that today was my last day of going to the gym. I'm only 23 weeks, but it is taking it's toll on me. I love working out, but lately (past 4 weeks) I come home so sore in my tummy-supporting muscles that it knocks me out for a few days! Today I feel like someone kicked me between the legs...I can barely walk! It's just not worth it to me, or to Bean! Plus, despite my best efforts, I have gained more weight with Bub so far than I did at the same time as Bean! Grrrr.... I'm sure exercising is and was helping, but I have had enough. I'm ready for a break. I'm hoping we can "suspend" our membership for a few months (very doubtful), as I will really REALLY want to go again after Bub's arrival and after I have healed. I'm fairly certain that if you relinquish your membership then you have to pay a fee if you rejoin within 1 year...BOO! We will see if they have a soft spot for pregnant ladies!

Baby Bub

We had another sono today! It was fabulous! The purpose of this sono was to check on Bub's kidneys and to measure the chambers of his heart. All looked great! His kidneys were both in the normal range for size (which is awesome!). He had his hands up over his head and was wiggling away! We got to see an awesome view of his piggies. Both feet held perfectly still for a brief time and we could see all 10 toes and even see all of the bones in each tiny toe! It was sooo cool!

It is such a relief to see that little boy and to know he is doing just fine. It makes my heart ache to hold him and to see him. I was excited about Bean's arrival, but nothing like this. I know how amazing it all is now and I can not wait! I'm so anxious to meet Bub. We are now in our last 4 week wait until our next appointment. After that one we will go every 2 weeks (then every week once I hit 36 weeks-I didn't make it that far with Bean!). It is flyyyyying by!

More Than I Think

This afternoon Bean woke up from a wonderfully LONG nap! I went upstairs and scooped him up, then; immediately brought him down to Da Da so that I could go grab a shower. Why didn't I shower while he was napping you ask? The answer is this, our bathroom shares an UN-insulated wall with Bean's room. If we do anything in our bathroom that involves water (sink, shower, toilet) Bean will wake up. During nap time and after 7pm our bathroom is out of order. I digress...back to the story. Bean is broken up about leaving his Momom to hang out with Da Da. But I do manage to dash upstairs and shower. When I return to the basement I can hear Bean and Da Da playing and giggling. I realize that they are playing with light dimming remote (it dims part of the lights in our basement) and so I flip on the big lights using the switch at the top of the stairs. Da Da then says "Oh, I can't control those lights. Who do think did that?". To which Bean screams excitedly "MOM-MOM-MOM-MOM!!!!!". I think he understands FAR more than I think he does!

GO ILLINI!

We (especially Hubs) are die hard Illinois fans. Hubs was in Orange Krush (the student section for basketball) all through college. We even did Bean's room in an Illini theme!

We have been TRYING to get season basketball tickets for the last few years without much luck. The waiting list is hundreds of people long...they do a lottery-type drawing for so many season tickets a year and we always put our name in. This year, Hubs's name was drawn!!! WOO HOO! We are now the proud holders of season basketball tickets! YAY! And the best part is that the majority of the games are before Baby Bub is due! Now to find a babysitter....

*Bean is about 3 months old in this pic! Soooo sweet!

WFMW: Baby Bouncing

When we had Bean, he was a snuggler. He wanted to be held, rocked, cuddled...all of the time! We discovered a great and comfortable way to keep him happy, bouncing! We purchased an inexpensive large exercise ball and bounced away! He loved it when he was itty bitty. Now the ball still roams our house and is used as an extra chair and Bean LOVES pushing it around (it's as big as he is!). You could also use it for...ummm...exercising?!?! :-) This is what worked for me! For other awesome ideas go check out Rocks In My Dryer!

Punkin Patch

It has been sooo HOT here lately! We had planned on going to the pumpkin patch/apple orchard this weekend for quite some time. When this past weekend finally rolled around, it was 92 degrees outside!! We decided to tough it out and go anyway. It was a good decision. Bean had a GREAT time and absolutely loved the goats & chickens. (Which made me realize that we have got to get this kid to a zoo!). We melted our way out to the pumpkin patch, only to find ourselves surrounded with rotten, stinky pumpkins (they don't care for the hot weather either!). It was really unpleasant, but I did get some cute pic's of Bean in the pumpkin patch.

The best part of the entire day there was the apple cider slushes...oh my! They were absolutely amazing and worth every single penny! A great alternative to hot apple cider :-)

Faaancy!

Last night we ate our dinner on our china. We hardly EVER use our beautiful china (anniversary, fancy dinners...) but last night was a rare night. We were out of dishes! Yup all of them were dirty (even the tiny desert plates!). I debated serving dinner in bowls, but I figured I might as well use 2 of the 12 extra plates sitting in our china cabinet! Did we dine on steak? or fancy Italian food? Nope. We had leftover pizza and quesadillas. AND water in our awesome Illini cups...now that is fiiiiine dining!

Fried Ice Cream

I did it!!! Tonight I successfully made fried ice cream!! I never EVER thought I could master this at home, (it is soooo good in restaurants) but tonight I did it! And guess what...it.was.easy!! I am still amazed at how stinkin' easy it was! This recipe is NOT mine, I definitely found it online (and if I could remember where I found it, I would give them props). However, for the record: this is NOT my creation!

Fried Ice Cream

Make ice cream balls (fist size or smaller)
Freeze 'em for an hour

Meanwhile...
Beat 3 egg whites until frothy (next time I am going to add honey to this)
In a separate bowl: crunch up corn flakes and cinnamon (use common sense on how much you need...I don't have the recipe in front of me...you guys are smart)

Take frozen ice cream balls out of the freezer. Roll them in the egg whites, then completely cover them in corn flakes! Put them back in the freezer for 3 hours. *I just put them on a plate and didn't even cover them.

Heat up a pot of oil until it is 375. (I did not check the temp. I let it heat up for about 8 minutes and it was fine).

Drop your ice cream balls into the hot oil for 10-15 seconds, remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. SERVE IMMEDIATELY!

*I drizzled chocolate syrup over ours tonight! Caramel would be good too!!!

YUM YUM YUM!

It's a....

BOY! I am so excited and I was soooo surprised! I had convinced myself we were having a girl!! It was so fun finding out that he is a HE! I will now be referring to him as Baby Bub, or just Bub. We are going back for another sono in 2 weeks because they could not get him in a position to check out the chambers of his heart and one of his kidneys is slightly dilated so they are going to check on that (anybody with experience or know anything about this???). They told us that it's no big deal and that it will probably clear up on its own.

It has been an awesome day! I'm going to go throw Big Brother Bean into the tub and then sit down with Hubs and eat pizza and watch TV!

WFMW: Big Boy Bed!

This week Shannon over at Rocks In My Dryer has decided that this week instead of posting a tip we are all asking for advice! Here is what I'm seeking advice on: How do I transfer my 15 month old into a twin bed? How did you do it? What worked? What did NOT work?

The fact that he is going into a twin bed right now is not negotiable so please do not suggest purchasing another crib, this is not an option for us.

I can't wait to hear all of the sweet little tid bits of wisdom! Bring it on!