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!