Hope for the Hopeless

I made it through!

I made it through federal Taxes, local sales taxes, a wedding, 3 senior sessions, a family session, and EKG for Port, an ENT exam and nasal blood vessel cauterization for Kiddo, image submission for CPP certification and traveling to Houston for a baby shower - all within the last 3 weeks.

I made it.

And now I have a nasty case of bronchitis?? that is trying to make me hack up a lung. But, for the most part, I am still breathing and moving.

This has been the craziest month, and I am so thankful for all the opportunities and the business. But I am also looking forward to slowing things down a bit in May.

Well, after the 2 senior sessions, senior Safari, 2 newborn sessions and 2 weddings...

yeah. So maybe...June?

Life is good. Kiddo's ENT appointment went really well.  He had a full hearing test done, which I think determined that he has some hearing loss, but his ear drums are still healing so they weren't concerned. They collected a "sample" of his nasal secretions and determined that there was no bacteria present. Hopefully this will mean the end of the recurring ear infection. They cauterized his nose (after some bullying and a huge guilt trip, but that is a story for another time) and hopefully it will stop the nosebleeds. He has a followup appointment in a couple of weeks. The dr did NOT recommend tubes (thank goodness!) but does want us to give the boy Allegra every day and do nasal saline washes TWICE A DAY.

uh, yeah. I'll be lucky if I can get him to do it once.  We haven't worked up the courage yet...

After a week of Allegra, I didn't notice any difference in his sniffing or sneezing. I am not sure it's working for him at all. And I hate to keep putting drugs in his still developing body.

Port's EKG was awesome. It seems weird to describe a procedure in that way, but it really was. We made it to the dr's office about 30 minutes early and they got us into a room within 5 minutes. The nurse was really great, Port was calm and collected the whole time and the whole thing was over in about 10 minutes. We left 15 minutes before our scheduled time! The dr called me, when I was still driving on the way home, to tell me the results of the test, and everything looked normal. The whole thing was a great experience.

The garden is taking off, finally. I am harvesting lettuce, sugar snap peas and a few spinach leaves here and there. I have planted green beans for the 3rd or 4th time now (I lost count). The squirrels keep digging up the beans and eating them, so this time I built a contraption to hopefully keep them out.

Hopefully it works. So far so good. I know they can still get in it, but I am hoping that since it's not so easy anymore they will move on to other things.

And now I shall go hack and cough myself to sleep.

Until,
D :)

Sick and Tired

So the second week of school was going fine until Port woke up on Wednesday morning with a bad fever.  He was a puny little guy all day Wednesday and Thursday as his temperature fluctuated up and down.  Thankfully it responded to medicine pretty well so I tried to keep him doped up.  When I let him go without meds, his fever would spike so fast that he'd get glassy eyed and lethargic.  As usual, he didn't want to fall asleep, so he would walk around like a zombie in circles around the house. He knew if he sat down for even a second he would fall asleep, so he refused to be still. His eyes would water so bad he would call out for me to wipe them.  His nose got pretty raw from all the snot he was producing too.

I was hoping he would be the only one to have to deal with it, but as these things go, it spread. Thursday night Kiddo didn't eat his broccoli at dinner. Yes, his BROCCOLI!!! That NEVER happens. He loves broccoli. I knew something was wrong so I checked his temperature and sure enough he was running hot. He had to miss school on Friday, even though he felt fine, because they have to be fever free for 24 hours before returning to class.  Friday was tough because even though he had a temp of around 102, he felt fine. He was totally stir crazy so after the rain clouds cleared out I took him and his brother to the splash park.

Before you all go a gaspin and stuff at me for taking my sick kids to the park... there was no one there.

Not a soul. We had the whole thing to ourselves. And the really sad part is, the baby of course wouldn't get near the water and it was too cold for kiddo to play in for more than a couple of minutes. So we walked over to the playscape and swings (again, totally a ghost town) and played there for about 45 minutes. I thought it was going to be a challenge getting the baby to leave, but when it was time to go he was more than willing. I couldn't figure out why until we stopped at Sonic for drinks. He drank about a 3rd of his beverage and promptly fell asleep.  His temperature had spiked again. By the time we got home he was soaked in sweat. I transferred him out of the car and on to the couch without even waking him up.

If you know anything about Port, he doesn't do the "car nap to home nap transfer". Never. I was totally shocked. He slept on the couch for a few hours.

The boys seemed to be working through the cold just fine over the weekend and I thought the rest of us were in the clear. Then Saturday night it hit me.  My temperature shot up and I was done.  It is amazing to me that the kids could even function because that cold knocked me on my rear.  The fever was awful.  It fluctuated so rapidly that I would be fine one minute and delusional the next. And my throat and neck hurt so bad! It was no wonder neither of them wanted to eat the first couple of days.

Thankfully Monday was a holiday so we all had a chance to rest a little and get stronger.  Kiddo was still running a very slight fever (like 99-100) on Monday, but he has always run hot so I let him go back to school on Tuesday. He seemed fine until Tuesday night when he started complaining that his ear hurt. Sure enough, he had an ear infection.  Poor guy - he gets sooooo whiny when something hurts. Nothing we did made him feel better and he whined and whined and whined.  I was about at the end of my rope. Thankfully Hubby suggested we let him sleep on a heating pad and that seemed to do the trick.

When I tried to take it out of his room last night (now that his ears are all better) he pitched a royal fit.

This week of school was much better. We are getting into a better routine now. Port still cries at drop-off every morning though. Hopefully that will stop soon.

And in other BIG BIG news, because we are totally crazy, we decided to switch Port over to his big boy bed last Saturday.

Yeah...we have fabulous timing!

But he actually has done incredibly well! He was very upset when we took his crib out of the room.  And that first night, at bed time, he refused to even go in the room and instead wondered around the house looking for his bed.  When I finally convinced him to get in the new bed, he settled in and both boys, due to the sickness I presume, were out within minutes.

Haha, maybe we do have good timing after all!

The next morning Port woke us all up by knocking on his bedroom door (loudly).  We put a childproof lock thing on the door knob and showed Kiddo how to use it so that he could get out if he needed to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night.  One night, Kiddo got up and I guess forgot to shut the door all the way when he came back in the room.  Port woke up just before my alarm went off that morning, and when I finally got up and made it to their room he was gone.  Kiddo said he ran out. I went into the living room and found Port sitting cross legged on the floor.  He apparently had run in there (I escaped!) and in the pitch black darkness didn't know what to do so he sat down.  His head was hanging; he was asleep. He was so disoriented when I picked him up.

Then he asked me for some mini wheats. I guess he was ok. ;-)

He seems to like his bed quite a lot, and both boys have played in it on several occasions. So, I guess the transition has been pretty smooth. Thank goodness.  We really needed something to go right!

Until,
D :)

Morning Glory

The baby started screaming at about 3:45am. I pushed our bedroom door closed to block out some of the sound and crawled back into bed. It was too darn early. He screamed off and on for about an hour, until I could take it no more. No one in the house was sleeping, and it just didn't seem like he was going to let up so I went in and got him.

Of course, there was absolutely nothing wrong. He was sweet as pie the minute I picked him up. I changed his diaper and put him back to bed. Oh man, that made him mad! Sadly, it woke everyone else up again, but after about 30 more minutes he finally quieted down. He started back up again just before 7 and I was successfully ignoring him until Kiddo started shaking me.

Every day Kiddo and I go 20 rounds about him getting dressed. He is perfectly content to sit around all day in his pajamas, and usually the only way I can get him dressed is if we plan to go somewhere. So when I tell him to get dressed, his usual response is, "why, are we going somewhere?" My usual response is "no, we're not going anywhere." and then he always asks "then why do I have to get dressed?" and my response is always, "because it is what you are supposed to do."

The child who never, ever wants to get dressed on any day of the week, decided this morning at 7:15 was the perfect time to get dressed, he said, "because that's what I'm supposed to do." GAH! He never listens to me when I need him to get dressed, but after a night of no sleep while I am trying to acquire some precious dozing time, suddenly my words sink in?!? Seriously. So he couldn't find any clean shorts and he needed me to get up and get some. I told him he could run around nekkid for all I cared, just let me sleep!

That lasted all of about 5 minutes.

So I got up, turned off all the fans in the bedrooms, turned up the temp on the thermostat and rescued the baby from the crib. I have been craving a healthy muffin type treat lately, so I sufficiently heated up the house making some Morning Glory muffins. Oh man, they are so good!
I based it off a recipe I found on Allrecipes.com, but changed it up a lot to accommodate our tastes and what I had on hand. So, in case you needed to know, here is the recipe!

Morning Glory Muffins

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup bread flour
~ 1-2 Tbls ground flax seed
~ 1/4 cup wheat germ
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
2 tsp baking soda
2 heaping tsp cinnamon
~ 1/4 tsp nutmeg
~ 1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp salt (maybe a little less)
1 1/2 cups grated carrots (this was 3 medium sized carrots)
1 1/2 cups grated apple (about 6 small granny smiths)
3/4 cup flaked coconut
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup dried cranberries
3 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 tsp vanilla extract (maybe a little more)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Lightly oil muffin tins or spray with cooking spray (I don't recco using papers - these are kind of sticky).

In one large bowl (no mixer needed), combine dry ingredients, including sugars (not the fruits or coconut). Mix thoroughly. In a separate bowl, combine the fruits, coconut, and shredded items with the eggs and vanilla. Mix until combined. Slowly add the dry ingredients and mix all until combined.

Bake for 10-12 minutes for mini muffins, 18 minutes for regular sized muffins. I made 24 minis and 11 regular sized muffins.

These were so good (not overly sweet) and the kids loved them. Next time I may try adding some zucchini as well. Gotta get the veggies in somehow! Enjoy!

~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~

Port ate so badly yesterday, I was determined to do something different with him today. Yesterday I think he went through 3/4 of a package of hot dogs. It was awful. But it was all he would eat! So I made the muffins today and he had a few of those, then for lunch, when I fixed Kiddo's grilled cheese and fruit, I made up a half of a grilled cheese sandwich for Port too. Then in his fruit bowl (because he doesn't like or is not willing to try cherries and strawberries) I put frozen blueberries. He used to eat them, but hasn't had/wanted them lately and today for some reason he gobbled them up. He asked for more and more, and I obliged, and in the process he ate almost all of the grilled cheese too. He totally protested his plate at first, but then just gave in and ate. Hooray for Momma!

It's not perfect health food, but it's much better than hot dogs and nuggets. blech.

It didn't work with the quesadillas at dinner, but I guess you win some and you lose some.

Tonight I have another gig shooting a fancy party; this time it is at a nice restaurant at The Domain in Austin. Hopefully things will go smoothly.

Until,
D :)

Change

Happy Friday Company Girls and Beloved Regulars!

Man, all week long I've been thinking it was Friday, wishing for Friday and dreading Friday. Friday, needless to say, has been on the brain.

And all day today I thought it was Wednesday. Go figure. lol

But, indeed, it is Friday, and I am looking forward to getting some things done this weekend. Hopefully I can make it out and about and get some tasks taken care if before Hubby runs off to do his thing. It seems there are never enough waking hours in the weekend for us to both get our stuff done. And usually I am the one to not do my stuff if time is short because if I really, really have to, usually I can do it during the week. But doing my stuff kid free on the weekends is sooooo much easier! How I long for those few hours to myself. I wish I got them more often.

But I digress.

My parents sent me my birthday present early, a beautiful gift card to Home Depot, and so I hope to be able to do some garden supply shopping and pick up some much desired dirt and fertilizer for my garden. I am so eager to get things planted and now is the time! Yay!!!

Last night we recorded this weeks Musing Mommies podcast. We were a few days late because Kim has been having trouble with her voice. We did a dual podcast with Melody from 2GodChicks. It was so much fun talking with her, and being interviewed as well as interviewing. It is different when the tables are turned! Anyway, I think it was a great conversation and I can't wait until I get to hear it all edited and nice. One little fun fact; Melody and Wendy record their podcast in Melody's closet! lol! Awesome! It was so funny watching her on Skype sitting amongst her clothes and shoe boxes. Hey, you go where the sound is the best, right?

I got little Port to nap today. He protested for a few minutes but finally relented and went to sleep. Thank goodness, because the no-nap day yesterday was not fun. Don't get me wrong, Port was actually pretty good most of the afternoon. But come bed time he was so over tired he fought everything. He didn't want to get his jammies on, he didn't want to tell anyone goodnight, he didn't want to give his "bump-bumps" (fist bumps) to anyone. He screamed his angry CPS calling level scream for a good 20 minutes before finally passing out. It was not fun for anybody. Tonight, he scrunched up his face and huffed and puffed a little, but he willingly went in his room for jammies and he happily said goodnight and bump-bumped everyone (even the cat!!). He willingly went to his room, picked up his toys without asking (my sweet little organized dude) and helped me turn out the light. When I laid him in the crib he scrunched up his face again, but he turned on his little fishy light and only said one "no!" when I closed the door. No crying, no screaming, nothing.

Bliss

I am not ready for him to give up naps yet. I know he can make it through the day without one, but the difference it makes in how well bed time goes is enough for me to put up with the noon time protest so he will take a nap. It may keep us from doing stuff most days, but it is so worth it.

How old were your kids when they gave up naps? I have probably asked this before, but I am really hoping I can get a few more months at least out of him before we have to do something else. (afternoon rest time? stay in your room and read time? I have no clue here.)

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Thanks for stopping by!

Until,
D :)

Come Back to Me

I refuse to let a whole week go by without blogging here. Mercy - I don't know what is wrong with me lately, blogging just seems to be the last thing on my list. The funny thing is, it is almost the most important thing on my list for many reasons. The main reason being that it is my own little therapist couch, where I can tell my stories and vent my frustrations and whoever wants to listen (or read) can and whoever doesn't can just click to something else. Thank goodness for freedom!

I have had 2 culinary triumphs this week. The first, on Fat Tuesday, my first ever attempt at cajun food (except for the occasional grits. lol), crawfish etouffee! I got a great recipe from my friend Shannon over at Rants, Raves and Recipes, and the next thing I knew I was making my first roux! What a trip. It was definitely not something I will try again unless I know I will have uninterrupted time to stir for about 30-45 minutes. The boys kind of made that part difficult.

But, what made the whole thing sooooo nice and easy was my beautiful, stunning, supportive, wonderful....

Lodge Color Porcelain Enamel On Cast Iron dutch oven I received for Christmas! Wheeee!

Can I just tell you how much I love this thing?!??! Wowzers! It was so nice to work with.

Anyway, the recipe was great. I added a couple of table spoons of bacon grease to the roux and some salt overall and the etouffee was perfect. Kiddo liked it pretty well, especially considering how picky he has been lately, but Port wouldn't touch it. I was kind of nervous about giving him shellfish anyway, so his refusal didn't hurt my feelings any.

My second triumph was last night. I made my usual Parmesan crusted salmon and normally I would make rice and some sort of veggie. But since the night before we had rice with our etouffee, I decided to make some pasta instead.

I like to keep things interesting like that.

I had some things in the fridge that needed to be used so I made up my own little concoction. I chopped some yellow onion and sauteed it in butter until it began to soften. Then I tossed in a bunch of sliced mushrooms and sauteed them for a couple of minutes as well. I added some kosher salt, let it all get yummy and lovely and then I added in about 1 cup of chicken broth, 1 cup of heavy cream, 1/2 cup grated Parmesan (the green can is fine) and 4 oz (1/2 block) of cream cheese. I seasoned it all with a ton of fresh cracked black pepper, a little garlic salt (because I forgot to add minced garlic) and some dried basil. When the cream cheese melted and everything simmered for a little bit (and thickened) I tossed in about a cup of halved cherry tomatoes and stirred them around until warm (you don't want to cook them too long or they will start to break down).

O
M
G

It was sooooooo GOOOOOD!!!! I poured the cream/veggie mixture over fettuccine noodles and put my salmon fillet on top. I drizzled a little more of the sauce over the whole thing and it was absolutely to. die. for! (if I do say so myself!)

Mmmmm, now I want some more! Too bad I used up all the mushrooms and tomatoes.

It was wonderful to make a couple of great dishes that my family enjoyed. I just love feeding people (and myself, hee hee!).

Things around here are starting to get busy. Next week I am shooting 2 weddings. I am almost fully booked for March with sessions and am now booking some April stuff too. I have to say, I give God all the glory! He is so good! We were in serious financial trouble this month, we prayed and prayed and did what we are supposed to do, and He provided. I just love how that all works!

Little Port man refused a nap today. It should be an interesting evening.

Oh, and just for record sake, some crazy yahoo intentionally flew a jet into one of the office buildings right down the street from Hubby's office today. Before he did this horrible thing, he set his own house on fire, and left some rambling manifesto on his website explaining why he did what he did.

My prayers go out to all involved, from the pilot to the onlookers who will be forever affected by this tragedy. Suicide is such a selfish act. It leaves so much heartache and mental suffering in it's wake.

And with that I leave you with even more poop. The real kind this time - poor little Port had a massive, blow out poopy diaper this evening. He was eating his dinner and it leaked out and he accidentally got it on his hands. Poor little guy came into the kitchen all scrunchy faced and frantically trying to wipe it off. I, having no idea what had happened, fetched a wet napkin and started to clean him up (I thought he just got some pear on his hands or something). When I realized what I was cleaning I took him to the bedroom to change him. I discovered that he was absolutely covered in it, and it was. freaking. him. out. He did not like it one bit!

It was quite traumatic getting him cleaned up, and he still fussed for a few minutes after, as if he was unsure I had done a good job. I told Hubby that, while I hate that he was traumatized by the whole thing, I was so happy he was traumatized! I am just thankful he found it repulsive and not fun. I don't need any more "painters" in my house!

You're welcome. ;-)

Until,
D :)

Follow Through

Wow, I just realized that it is almost the end of January and I have only posted 7 times. That is so sad. I apologize for being so absent this month. There are so many things I have thought about blogging, and in the moment I think of them, they are gone (if that makes any sense) and I sit down to write and I can't remember. Never mind the constant distractions and interruptions that having 2 active and demanding little boys brings. So I think that I can blog at night, but lately by about 10PM my brain just shuts down. I stare at the screen and my eyes glaze over.

Today though, I have to say that I am just so proud of my church family, and so moved by what God is doing through them. Check out this news story from last night.



Seeing all the boxes of supplies stacked in those familiar halls brought tears to my eyes. It is amazing to me how so many people from the church just fall into the perfect place whenever there is a need. Need a plane? I've got 2. Need fuel, we've got the money to donate. God really speaks to the people of my church and I am just blown away.

It's another gorgeous day today and the boys are playing in the back yard. It appears that our playscape is about to crater. We've had it for 3 or 4 years now, and we noticed a couple of months ago that one of the supporting legs is completely rotten and broken at the bottom. Thankfully, it is encased in a thick plastic sleeve and so I am not too worried about it falling on the kids. But, the bars to climb up on one side have rotted and a couple have come off, and I won't let Kiddo do the monkey bars because it looks like they may have rotted at the connection points too. We have already had to replace the cross beams on it that hold the swings; to fix the rest would cost about as much as buying a whole new set would. Thankfully the swings are still relatively safe so I let the boys play on those. Though when they do, the whole structure creaks and moans, pops and rocks.

The boys love to swing; especially little Port. He wants to take a turn on each of the 3 swings, even though only 1 is suited for a toddler. He holds on pretty good with the regular swings so I just stand by close when he uses those. Kiddo always wants the swinging to be a race, and I have had to make a rule that we only "race" once a day because after a while, it gets old being the "announcer". He used to make me do it over and over and I couldn't catch a break, thus the rule. Everyone is a lot happier now.

Yesterday I was supposed to take Kiddo to see my friend's daughter perform in her first musical at the elementary school. Kiddo was a pistol all day though, and by mid afternoon he had lost almost all of his privileges. The last thing left was the night out with mommy, and well, he ended up losing that too. I was so upset with him, but I had to follow through. He had plenty of warning and he blew it. To really drive the point home though, I went to the show without him. Oh the wailing!! He was so upset!

I actually didn't make it to the show. Between Hubby getting home just in time for me to leave, and then me having to come back to the house to pick up some cash for my ticket, I got there right at the official start time. Then, I drove around the school looking for a parking space and the door to enter. Sadly, by the time I got my bearings (even though I never did identify the correct door), the show had already started. I didn't want to go in late, even though I saw lots of other parents circling the parking lot still. I decided to try again for tonight, hopefully with a behaving Kiddo, and make a nice night of it.

We shall see.

I think going without him was pretty effective though, because when I got home, Kiddo had written me a note and left it with a "present" under my pillow. I don't quite understand it, but the note said "I have missed you." and the present was a gun made out of bristle blocks. lol. It was a sweet gesture I guess.

So far today he has been pretty good, and hopefully we can make it to the show tonight without incident.

I hope you have a wonderful Saturday!

Until,
D :)

Perfectly Clear

We get so spoiled by having nice weather for a few days that a day like today really messes things up. After a gorgeous weekend of 70s temps and clear skies, my boys have quickly grown accustom to running around in the back yard for hours. Little Port especially, was none too pleased when he got up this morning and put on his shoes, only to not be allowed outside in the 54 degree rainy day.

My back yard is once again a babbling brook in one area, mud pit in the other.

At least my garden will like it. I hope. I am afraid it may be too cold on days like this.

The Kiddo and I duked it out today in a terrible battle that just came out of nowhere. My usually completely UN-picky boy demanded that I cut his grilled cheese sandwich into the shape of a football.

Seriously. I have never done anything like that beyond "triangle" or "rectangle". Fancy sandwich cutting is just not my thing. I don't even cut the crusts off.

Anyway - after acquiring a more proper request, I cut one half (it had already been cut into triangles) into a football shape, the best way I could. I thought I did a pretty good job, personally. But I guess it wasn't enough for His Highness, because he quite emphatically crossed his arms, declared my carving skills inadequate and refused to eat his sandwich.

And in all my parenting glory I promptly took away his lunch and sent him to his room.

And thus the battle began.

I don't really know where this little attitude has come from. He not only pitches fits now, he screams and tries to think of names to call me, "You're a BIG,... a Big...You ARE A....You are SUCH a...uh....!!!!"

Thankfully, he hasn't thought of anything yet.

But he still gets in trouble for the fit and the screaming. And it sucks that I have to scream over him just to get him to hear me. And of course, my screaming scares the baby who follows us everywhere and knows how to open closed doors. And when I scare the baby it makes me even more angry.

Spiraling down, down, down...

I pulled the Batman Costume out of his room and it is sitting on the counter in the kitchen now. He's been warned that more of this behavior will result in a return of the costume and us rsvp-ing "no" to the party we were planning to attend. I sincerely hope it doesn't come to that, but I really am out of currency here. I've taken away video games for a week, he lost computer time today, and there really isn't much left that will give me immediate improvement.

And now the rainy, cold day makes it all that much harder because there is no where to go and nothing to do. Kiddo has been running from the dining room to the living room and jumping over a baby toy as a hurdle. He's going to break something, either in the house or on himself, but I haven't stopped him because he needs to blow off that energy.

I foresee several around-the-house races in my immediate future. We all need to run a little.

I have chili on the stove bubbling away, pumpkin muffins on the roster for later and hopefully a back rub coming from my better half (thus the pumpkin muffins... ;-) ).

wishing for that sunny day of not too long ago...

Until,
D :)

PS. Hop on over to Musing Mommies if you are interested in our latest giveaway and a blog post challenge! We really appreciate any and all participation!

Chilly Down

Greetings Company Girls and Beloved Regulars!

Thankfully today did not start as early as the last 2 Friday mornings, but after a week of pretty consistent 7:15 wake ups, this morning's 6:15 was kind of a shock. I believe I have a lightning/thunder storm to blame; a couple of the cracks of thunder were loud enough to shake the house.

So *yawn* forgive me if I am dragging a little.

How was your week? Mine was alright. I have been a bit on the emotional side of things this week, what with the hormone surge and whatnot. And the Kiddo and I have been duke-ing it out on a daily basis, so my brain and my sanity are about gone.

I am so looking forward to the weekend though - I have a holiday family session to shoot in the morning and a wedding tomorrow evening. It should be absolutely gorgeous, fall like weather and I am stoked to be out in it all day!

After this morning's rain it has been cold, cold all day here, so I am fighting the urge to bake and cook. Haha! Well, I guess I am not fighting it too hard - I have red beans cooking in the crock pot and fresh pumpkin roasting in the oven to make a pumpkin puree. I am dreaming and drooling over all the pumpkin goodies I will be able to make. mmmmmmm! I have to say it is so very nice though to be able to run the oven for a few hours and still keep the house cool by just cracking a couple of windows. YAY!

Well the baby started off the day by falling into the coffee table and busting either his upper lip or gums (he won't let me get in there to look) so I have his and my bloody jammies to deal with. He is totally fine - only cried for a minute at most; but he looked pretty funny until the swelling went down. And since I have a load of cloth diapers in the wash I better get them finished up so I can get the jammies in there before the stain sets.

Ah the joys of motherhood!

I hope you have a wonderful week! Thanks for stopping by.

Until,
D :)

Early Winter

I am so enjoying the weather here lately. The 100+ temps have vanished and the 80s are back! The mornings have been cooler too - high 60s and low 70s. Ahh, bring on the fall!! The boys have been playing outside, the windows have been open and when Port naps, the back door has been open too. Of course, I don't particularly care for all the flies that like to come in the back door, but I'll put up with them for the breeze blowing through my living and dining room area.

It is less than 100 days until Christmas now...98 I believe. It's not too early to pull out the holiday music, right? I mean 98 days of O' Holy Night is so not overkill. Who doesn't love a rousing version of Go Tell it On the Mountain at any time of year?!?

So yeah, with the cooler weather and the dry breezes and the smell of cinnamon and pumpkin spice coming from Starbucks, I have the holidays on the brain. And my itch to bake is starting to get annoying.

I am trying to hold off though for a few more weeks - trying to get my system back at a healthy level before bombarding it with pastries and chocolate and loads of sugar...

Oh the sugar!

Did you know sugar is in everything?!? EVERYTHING! Did you know trying to eat sugar free (and without all that nasty artificial sweetener junk) is next to impossible without going a bit nutso in the process?

Now try to take out bread, yeast and all starches too. mmmhmmm. Tough! There isn't much left my friends!

I've been doing ok I guess with the sugar part - I have cut waaaaay down. And I am ok without bread. But when I try to take away pasta and rice - oh NO! That so does not work for me. So I am just trying to cut back on it all, eat healthier and more natural, and overload myself with veggies when I can.

Why am I doing this you ask? Well, in all my busy-ness of late I let myself get really run down and really sick. I was eating alright, but my cravings for sweets and sugar were out of control and I was inhibiting my immune system by feeding the yeast in my body.

We all have yeast in our systems. It's a necessary evil I guess. But sometimes it gets out of control and it can make you really really sick.

Thus my situation. When, about a month ago, I broke out in a bad case of oral thrush, I knew something was very wrong. (cuz uh, I am not pregnant nor nursing and that kind of thing is usually reserved for those situations???) And I realized that I had been experiencing lots of dizziness, headaches, weakness and nausea that were out of the norm for me. (go ahead, plug all that into WebMD - you know you want to) The worst part was the foggy head. I just couldn't concentrate on anything.

Anyway, I had to do something about it, so I am taking some herbal remedies including Oregano Oil and trying to eat more appropriately. I am also putting about a teaspoon of coconut oil in my coffee each morning.

I am finally starting to feel better! The thrush is gone, and the unrelenting allergy symptoms I had been suffering have all but vanished (I was taking benadryll every 4 hours around the clock). I have lost about 5 pound this week alone and my appetite has dwindled significantly. And, my skin cleared up a bit too.

But now I am reading that oregano oil may work for a little while, but that the yeast will adapt and come back. Hmm, we shall see.

I need to knock this stuff out - I've got things to bake!

Until,
D ;)

Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head

Happy Friday Company Girls and Beloved Regulars!!

I am so glad this week is coming to a close. I have had more than my fair share of cruddy things happening this week. The boys have been at each other’s throats, and I am tired of reminding, negotiating and flat out yelling. My patience has been worn thin this week and I am done.

Beyond that, things have been good. We are finally, finally getting some desperately needed rain! Yahoo!! This has been one of the driest summers we have seen in a long time - the drought is so severe that our lakes and rivers are at alarmingly low levels. Everything that should be green is dead, communities are under strict watering restrictions and I feel terribly guilty every time I turn on a faucet. However, we are now getting some sweet, wet, wonderful rain and our temps are dropping as well. Say it with me now, Hallelujah!

I haven’t had a chance to mention yet that I did start my fall garden a couple of weeks ago. The only thing left from the spring is my cucumber vines - which, after not producing anything worth mentioning this summer, are now going gang-busters! I pulled everything else over the course of the summer as the heat cooked it all to a crisp. Two weeks ago, the morning of my Kiddo’s birthday party, I ventured out and did my first fall planting. That morning I planted (from seed) fall tomatoes (both small and large varieties), bell peppers, jalapeño peppers, brussel sprouts, peas, green beans, black beans and lima beans. I did have a few black bean and lima bean bushes that I had planted in July and they are just now starting to flower again. Since that late August planting I now have tiny sprouts of the jalapeños, peas, both kinds of tomatoes and all the bean varieties.

On September 2nd I planted two hills of zucchini, and the plants are already a couple of inches tall. In my containers I planted parsley, mint and more basil. My rosemary and basil from the spring is still going strong. In the next couple weeks I will start the greens; broccoli, spinach and lettuce, as well as carrots, onions and garlic. I think that will be enough for my first fall garden as I am still trying to determine what I can and can’t grow. I went out in the rain today to check on things and I saw the most beautiful, big earth worm wiggling around in the garden. It is so neat to see nature working her magic. There is no sign of the brussel sprouts or the bells, but I am still holding out hope.

The boys and I all got out in the rain this morning to check out a new “farmer’s market” in our area. Sprouts is a market sort of between Whole Foods and maybe Trader Joe’s (oh how I wish we had those here!) and has an amazing selection of local fruits and veggies (organic and otherwise), meat and dry goods, vitamins and health food; all at really low prices. I was very pleased with the selection, despite the small size of the store. The place was PACKED. I wish I had been there during a slower time because I missed a lot of the store just trying to get around people. I totally missed the meat section, and am now kicking myself for forgetting to check out the Pork Sirloin Roast and Chops they advertised at $1.49 a pound. I did score great buys on strawberries, grapes and pears, as well as some Hansen's Natural Soda at only $1.50 a 6 pack! They have a huge selection of vitamins and natural products, and I was able to pick up some Oregano Oil capsules at a very reasonable price. (more on my need for that at a later time)

Anyway, at check out, I was distracted by the boys and the commotion of all the customers around us, and when I got to the car and loaded up the boys and goods (in the rain) I paused only briefly to look at my receipt as we were pulling out of the parking lot. Still visualizing the receipt in my head as I drove, it soon occurred to me that the bottle of Oregano Oil had not rung up. I checked; it was in the bag, but some how the scanner missed it.

Oh the dilemma! I'm not proud to say that I thought for a while about turning around and going back to pay for the bottle. I mean, it was raining, I would have to unload both boys and drag them through the crowded parking lot again and go through the lines again - I couldn't remember seeing a customer service desk anywhere. And honestly, if it had been a small, inexpensive item I may not have bothered. But, the oregano oil was almost the same price as the entire amount of the rest of my purchase, and I just knew I would never feel right about not going back. In reality, expensive or cheap, the guilt would have stayed with me. So back we went, and God smiled upon me as He presented me a relatively close-to-the-entrance parking space. I unloaded the boys and went back inside with the bottle to pay for it. I had to wait in line again, this time without the convenience of being able to set Port in a shopping cart. We paid for the pills and trekked back out in the rain to the car.

And you know, I would love to end this story saying something amazing happened to me after, perhaps as a result of my good deed, but it didn't. And that is ok, because I shouldn't be rewarded for my actions; I did what was only fair and right and I am glad I did. Next time I am faced with this dilemma it will be even easier to make the right decision.

And because today is September 11th, I am thankful for all those little annoyances and dilemmas, because it means that I am here, I am healthy and able, and I am free to go where I want when I want to. I am blessed to live in this messed up yet still lovely country of ours, and I am thankful for those brave enough to defend it for me.

May you all have an equally blessed weekend. Thanks for stopping by!

Until,
D :)

Mess

I am trying to get back in the habit of blogging again so forgive me if the next few posts are rather, uh, boring. I just need to try to get back into doing this on a more regular basis - good, interesting post or not. I really just miss talking to you all.

So today was not entirely great either. After yesterday's all day scream fest, I was hoping today would be a bit more mellow. However, my promising morning quickly turned sour right after my first cup of coffee.

I've been having some trouble with Kiddo lately in matters related to the potty. For one, he has a problem with sitting down to do his business and being in there forever because he easily gets distracted from the task at hand. Add to that a curious 17 month old toddler who is discovering that if he reaches out to try to touch, uh, certain parts that he shares, he get squeals and giggles from his older brother. So of course, potty time is a fun time in my house for the boys, and I find myself either having to supervise the whole event, or wait endlessly for the "business" to get done. This morning, *sigh* the business got done I guess, and the sound of the door closing and the water being turned on didn't strike me as odd.

At first.

See, little Port is also now our Master Door Closer. You've got a door ajar? He's on the case. Left a drawer slightly open? Port is your man. He will close everything you touch as well as do a check on anything else that looks askew. So potty time often ends in a closed door at least once or twice.

When the door closed this morning, I just chalked it up to The Closer doing his duty and the Kiddo was still inside washing his hands.

Sadly, I was mistaken.

After a few minutes of listening as the water ran and then stopped and then ran again and stopped, I decided I better investigate. I certainly didn't like the fact that they were both in there with the door closed.

Now I have to give Kiddo props for at least trying to do something about this, but sadly it was no match for him.

The poopy had won this battle.

Kiddo is not the best wiper in the world yet. (and believe me, I know the possible future therapy this post may cause) He has months where things go well, and then suddenly he loses the ability to take care of himself. So recently we have been trying to once again reteach him proper technique. But I guess today was just to messy (sorry!) and he managed to get it everywhere. He said he got it on his hands so he was washing them, but somewhere in the "clean up" he bombed a towel, the toilet seat cover, the counter, the floor, his jammies and himself.

ugh

I didn't handle it well.

Being one of my more, uh, emotional days, I kind of flew off the handle. I managed to get Port out of there unscathed, but the clean up was more than I was mentally ready to handle.

After I scrubbed everything down (Kiddo included) and I was able to settle down a bit, we had a nice long talk and he is now under strict orders to call me when he does his business. We are starting over from scratch.

double ugh

The rest of the day was ok; my shower got scratched from the to-do when Port woke early from his nap. Then Kiddo had an accident when he couldn't get his Spiderman costume off in time to pee.

So our bathroom got a double cleaning today. Come on over!

Tomorrow is Friday, right?

I think we are going to hit up a new farmer's market tomorrow. I hope to score some super cheap fresh veggies, and maybe some sort of vitamin. Mommy needs an immune system boost.

Until,
D :)

Far Away

Oh my little bloggy blog, how I miss thee! I am so sorry to have neglected you this way over the past few months. I miss having you to unload on, to brain dump on and to sing high praises on! I miss being able to sit down several times a week and unload the good, the bad and the ugly. I miss my commenters and my visitors, and I miss just typing in general. Strange, no? Yes.

Ok, so with all that our of my system...

Last week was but a blur; head injuries and lots of editing and running around with the kids, and then we packed up the entire house, hitched the trailer to the back of the van and headed out to the outskirts of town. We met up with the Fry clan at a quaint little home on the Blanco River in Wimberly, TX for an extended weekend of R&R.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

So I had a whole different kind of post in mind, but this horrid day got away from me so I will leave you with some out-of-the-blue Kiddo speak...

Tonight, as I was cooking dinner:
Kiddo: "I'm gonna have a baby sister and when she is born she is going to have brown hair."
Me: "Oh really? And when is this going to happen?"
Kiddo: "It's gonna happen when Happy dies."
Me: "And when will that be?"
Kiddo: "When he's 61." (FYI, Happy just turned 60 about 3 weeks ago)

We had to have a long talk about Happy living a long long time. He was confused because apparently Happy told him that he was getting older and older and smaller and smaller and I guess in Kiddo's mind, a year is about all he had before he would be too small!

And sometime last week:

Kiddo: "When I am in college, I am going to marry Duchess. She lives in Paris. It is far, far away. It's right past Louisiana. Duchess has dark skin and brown eyes and curly brown hair. And she lives in Paris. But I love her and want to marry her, but she says we have to wait until college. We are going to have a little boy and his name will be Kiddo Jr. And he will have dark skin and dark curly hair just like Duchess. Duchess has a little brother too and his name is Port. And her Dad's name is Tyler (our dog's name). "

For the past week or so we have heard all about Duchess. I am not sure if she is someone he made up (the momma cat in the Aristocats is named Duchess and they live in Paris) or if he actually met a little girl in Sunday school that he likes. It is so cute when he talks about her though - he gets this dreamy eyed look and speaks in a sing-songy voice.

Ahh, young love!

Until,
D ;)

Hero

If you've read my blog for any amount of time at all, you are probably aware of Kiddo's love for superheros. Just about every day he dons some sort of costume, completes the look with a cape and mask, and pretty often adds gloves and boots to the ensemble. He fights criminals, rescues those in trouble and runs around flying and fighting and being "super". Sometimes it's pretty cute, sometimes exhausting, but most of the time now it's so common I don't even really notice it. A couple of times we have been on our way out the door when I realize that he is dressed all in red with surprisingly large muscles! (and no, so far we have not actually made it out the door that way - thank goodness!)

And as far as I know Port has no interest or understanding of this kind of play; big brother is just being his silly, normal self. Occasionally Port will bring me a pair of sunglasses (I guess they remind him of Kiddo's mask) and have me put them on his head (a million times) so he can run off grinning and rip them off his face seconds later.

But for some reason the other day, when Kiddo raided the receiving blanket drawer for a fresh polka dotted cape, Port eyed me curiously as I tied the blanket around Kiddo's neck. The next thing I knew, he had vanished somewhere in the back of the house. I called him, and he came down the hallway with not only a huge grin on his face, but a little receiving blanket from the drawer. He handed it to me and then turned his back to me, in the same way Kiddo had just minutes before. Taking his cue, I tied the blanket around his neck and gave him a cape.



Obviously, he liked it! :-)

Until,
D :)

Simple As That

gonna blog today gonna blog today gonna blog today...

I've had a pretty productive little day today if I do say so myself. I ordered some new vinyl lettering for the back of my car (business stuff), did a couple loads of laundry, did a massive overhaul of the kitchen (it was a total disaster!), came up with another brilliant business idea and made a purchase toward achieving that goal, developed another business idea; building it from merely a concept to a plan of action and fleshed out the details. I finished and posted my last session's gallery on my website (blog entry soon to come), started my very own Google calendar so I can get a little more organized, ran to the grocery store for some much needed items, worked in the garden for a good while, harvesting a couple of zucchini and a bowl full of green beans. I mulched the grape vine and watered everything as well.

I still have a lot on my to do list, but as usual, the more I do, the more motivated I feel so I guess it is all good. Oh yes, and on my small thing list for the house today I filled all of the soap dispensers. I am trying to do at least one small thing each day. Yesterday it was wipe down the bathroom mirrors and medicine cabinets. I figure, unless I figure out a way to make things like that less of a bother, they will never get done. right?

Kiddo has had a little goal of his own for about a week now. I'm not sure where he got this (though I suspect it has something to do with his Happy), but about 5 days ago he got out of bed, came to me and said "Mommy today I am going to be an adult. I am to brush the teeth, and wash the face and comb the hair and change the clothes." And that is exactly what he does now every morning as soon as he gets up.

It is super cute, really. But it's not so cute when I am trying to sleep and he is in my room asking me to turn on the water in the bathroom so he can "brush the teeth". ugh. He can only turn on the faucet in the kitchen by himself and one morning I actually caught him brushing 'the' teeth in there. I had to stop him when he started rinsing his tooth brush in a dirty bowl full of water...

So yeah, super cute, except for when I'm SLEEPING. *sigh* Thanks Happy. ;-)

In Walmart the other day he asked me to buy him a razor because he needed to shave too. When he brushes the teeth and washes the face and combs the hair and changes the clothes - yes, he says it just like that, every time!

In the car last week Kiddo says "My hair is a masterpiece."
Me: It is?
Him: "Yes, but some times I have to get a hair cut."


Port surprised me the other day. We had stopped at Sonic while we were out and I got Kiddo and I a drink. I decided to get another small cup of water as well, in case Port had cup envy. Sure enough, when we got home he started screaming for Kiddo's cup, so I gave him the water. He happily drank it while sitting on the floor and soon enough he pulled the straw out of the top. Once it was out he decided he wanted to drink some more so he got up and brought the cup to me. I told him, "you have to have the straw, Baby, go get it and I will put it back in the cup." And wouldn't you know it, he turned around, walked back over to the rug, picked up the straw and brought it to me?!? I was shocked!

He has also made the connection with wearing shoes and going out side. Now when he wants to go outside he will find his shoes and bring them to me. And if I sit on the floor he will turn his back to me and back up until he can sit in my lap. Then he will stick out his feet for the shoes! Soooooo cute!!! He loves to go outside and swing. I can't wait until he figures out how to get off the porch by himself!

I have been on a roll with cooking lately. I made two amazing dishes this week; a lasagna and a seared salmon with a dill cream sauce. YUM! I am soooo loving this garden!! I swear in my next life I will be a chef. I will share the method/recipe next time. :)

Until,
D :)

Hello It's Me

Gosh, I can't believe it's been a week since I last blogged! I am so sorry! I have been so busy with all my projects - there just hasn't been a moment for me to sit and reflect on the day. Of course, I should be doing about a million things right now too, but I just couldn't let another day go by without putting something out here.

Of course, our podcast, Musing Mommies is going so well!! We have so many listeners - it is fantastic! Thanks to all of you who listen and comment on our site; we really, really love our fans!

Then there is the way cool Company Girl project! We are getting tons of submissions for the images! I just love looking through them every day and posting them to the site. And this week, Rachel Anne is giving a fantastic prize to a random submitter - a $30.00 gift card to Sam Moon Trading Company!! She has extended this week's contest till Sunday, so get your submissions in! There is still one more week for submissions for the book, and I know we are going to get some great images!

As for the fam, we are doing just fine. The boys are growing so fast - I just can't keep up. Port has been on a 2 day nap strike and I am praying that today we will be back to our old routine. I can't handle no nap days, it is just too much.

Kiddo has been with me this week in allergy hell. We have both been sneezing and itching - poor Kiddo may eventually rub the nose off his face. Two nights this week he has been plagued with terrible nose bleeds - gushers. Hubby is now an expert at getting blood out of the carpet. ick! We have installed a humidifier in his room and each night now I have to swab his nose with a saline gel. Kiddo has been pretty good about the whole thing, though he does get a tad freaked out when it happens in the middle of the night and he isn't quite awake. I had to spend some time with him late Tuesday night talking about things that make us happy, just to get him to calm down and go back to sleep. He doesn't remember the conversation at all. He also got a nose bleed the other day while swinging on the swing set. That one concerned me because he hadn't been rubbing his nose at all; he was just having fun and his heart rate was really up. I wonder if he has a blood vessel pretty close to the surface in his nose. Most of the bleeds are only on one side. I read online that sometimes Dr.s will go in and cauterize the blood vessel to stop the frequent bleeds. That may be something we have to look in to.

Wednesday I took the kids with our mom's group on a tour of our local HEB (grocery store). The kids had an absolute blast, and for a free event it was a cool thing to do. Kim and I wrote more about it over at the Musing Mommies blog if you want to check out the details.

Yesterday I was supposed to take the kids to tour a dairy farm (shhh, don't tell Kiddo), but it didn't happen due to another late night nose bleed. Instead, I took the kids to Garden Ridge. I know, how does that make up for a missed farm trip?? lol! It probably doesn't, but we hadn't been for a while so I really wanted to go check things out.

That store changes every time I go. From the outside it looks like it could go out of business any minute, but on the inside, they recently put in a whole new check out area with new registers and almost all of the merchandise is price marked with new fancy stickers with bar codes (before it was just the old fashioned stamp and slap price stickers and the amounts had to manually keyed into the register). They had tons of patio furniture this time - chair after chair after set after table after rocker, chaise, etc. It went on for ever. Their kitchen/dining department has dwindled to make way for the patio furniture and the millions of pots and outdoor decor.

What really struck me though was this time they had an absolute ton of weird, irregular merchandise - things like suitcases and purses to totes and even socks and underwear. They even had a couple of tables of medical scrubs. But what caught my attention was an entire section of BOOKS!

Table after table after table - classics to modern, fiction to non fiction, children's to tweens to self help to cooking and gardening; there was so much to look at! They even had coloring books and children's workbooks, audio books and some dvds as well. The dvds included a bunch of lesser known movies, but also children's titles including The Wiggles, Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends, Big Comfy Couch, Rollie Pollie Ollie and the like. And the dvd's were $5.99 and LESS. I could have spent hours just looking through all the books. I picked up a couple of organic gardening books for less than $4 each.

Speaking of the garden, it is doing well. We are still getting a couple of zucchini and a hand full of green beans a day. The cucumbers are starting to appear and we have a couple ear of corn growing as well. The tomatoes are blooming like crazy, but I haven't seen any fruit yet. The transplant tomatoes are perking back up finally and should be ok. I can't say the same for the sprouts I planted in the new garden - most everything appears to have died, except for 2 jalapeno pepper plants and maybe one lima bean. I think I will stick to "from seed" growing, since I seem to have better luck with that. So, I poked a few more lima beans in the ground and sowed some black beans as well. Hopefully I'll see some sprouts in a couple of weeks.

I was cleaning off the little snap shot camera the other day and came across a bunch of pictures from Kiddo. I also found a bunch of pictures of drawings he's done recently. I thought I would share. Kiddo came to me with this one and said, "Mommy, I drew a car with a spoiler and a super charger." I had no idea he even knew what those things were, but here is the proof!

And of course, more of the Wall-E cast of characters. I spy Wall-E, Eve, M-O and PR-T!I have more drawings to show, but I haven't had a chance to edit them yet. Meanwhile, here are some of the pics Kiddo took. Of course there are a ton of self portraits; up the nose mostly, but I thought this one was interesting. He appears to be standing belly to the wall shooting down into his mouth?!?I thought this was a cool shot of the fan.And of course there are a lot of images of the cutie patootie!Here he figured out how to take 16 images in a matter of a second and this was the result.I thought this was a way cool self portrait with sun flare!So there are tons more, but that is all I have for now. It's time for me to go to bed.

Until,
D :)

Superman

my poor dog! she puts up with so much!

Happy Friday Company Girls!! (and other beloved regulars)

Wow, what a week it has been! Have you all seen the entries for the Company Girl Photo Contest?!? Amazing! It is going to be soooo tough to narrow it down. There are so many great moments captured. If you haven't checked it out, stop on by and scroll through. And please submit something if you have a great image to share as well. We are loving seeing all of your memories!

Miss Rachel Anne blessed me this week with not only allowing me to help her in the Book Project and Photo Contest, but she also granted myself and my podcast co-host Kim an interview for our Musing Mommies Podcast!! It was so fun talking to her via Skype, seeing her face and expressions - it felt like she was right there with us! Her interview will be featured in next week's show, which will air sometime mid week.

Things have been pretty hectic here this week. I managed to take the boys to 2 play dates (a record for Miss Homebody me! Lol!) Wednesday we went to a really nice park to play with some friends. Kiddo had a rough go of it. One of his little buddies was not in the mood to play with him and the rejection was a bit too much for Kiddo to take. It broke my heart to see him crying on the playground. For the past couple of weeks, I have really been questioning our decision to not send him to Kindergarten this year, but after seeing him unable to emotionally handle the social aspect of a play date, I now think we have made the right decision. While he is academically more than ready to go, and while he has a very very strong desire to start school, I just don't feel that he is ready emotionally . He just couldn't grasp why anyone wouldn't want to play with him. To him, everyone is still a friend. He doesn't really understand when someone is being unfriendly to him. Just today we were at the sprinkler park and another boy his age was chasing him around and beating him upside the head with a bucket. He just kept running and running away and telling the kid to stop and even though I could tell it wasn't pleasant, he still wanted to play with the kid (even after a big fall, sliding on the concrete, serious road rash on his chest and his own bucket getting broken because of it). When I asked him why he didn't tell the kid to stop or why he didn't come get me he said "Mommy I was handling it all by myself." Such a big kid.

And speaking of big - he is right in the midst of another huge growth spurt. I had to pull out half of his pants and put them away because they were all suddenly too small. He put on his Mr. Incredible costume today, and even though just a few weeks ago it fit him perfectly, it now looks like I shrank it in the wash! (I didn't) I don't know what we are going to do about clothes for him. I guess I need to start hitting garage sales or something. Shoes are a whole other issue. *sigh*

{random photo: jammies, superhero mask, one black glove. the dinosaur was attacking me.}rawr!

Little Port is getting to be such a big boy too. He is growing like a weed. When it is time for naps or bed time, he practically dives into the crib. The boy likes his bed and he likes to sleep. Though, he's been waking me up around 6 AM pretty much every day for the past 2 weeks now. I am not too happy about that. I have about determined that the 8-10 hours of broken sleep I was getting when he was waking me up 20 times a night was way more manageable than the 6 hours of solid sleep I am now getting. I think I probably need to start going to bed earlier. Hubby and I are really enjoying our time alone in the evenings though. We've never had that before (well I guess we had it before kids, but not since).

But back to Port, he finally has learned how to clap (he's 13 months old). Sort of. hee hee! I never really tried to teach him before because, well, I just kinda forgot. I am not a "clapper" so it never really occurred to me. But about a month ago I was watching a little boy in church that was probably about 6-8 months old and he was clapping away! So I tried to see if Port could do it - nope! For about a week after I started trying to teach him, he would slap my hand or pat his legs, but he just couldn't figure out how to put his hands together. Then a few days ago, he got up off the floor, walked over to me and looked right at me and clapped! It was so funny, like it had just clicked in his head! Now he will only do it once or twice, but at least I know he can.

This week he also started climbing up on the couch all by himself. Thankfully he could already get down unassisted, but the climbing up is totally new. Now he tries to climb everything. And counter tops are also no longer out of reach. Back we go to putting everything on the back of the counter top. ugh.

So last night at about 9:30 Hubby and I were sitting in the office working when we heard 3 gunshots very close to our house. Apparently some individuals in a pick up truck fired out the window as they were driving past our street! I was seriously freaked out. Thankfully no one was hurt. Our neighborhood has been very quiet the past few years so I was kinda shocked. The theory is that some kids were goofing off, but I'm not sure. It sure did wake up our street though - everyone was outside for a long time talking to the cops. I think every house on the street called them!

In more gardening news, we are harvesting 2-3 zucchini a day now. It seems the more we pick, the faster the others grow! I did discover another plant that had been bored by that beastly squash bug. UGH! I am so tired of those things! I can't find the larva on that plant either, but I cut into it pretty good so hopefully I skewered it in the process. Hopefully the plant survives too because it has several large zucchs on it already. A few days ago we transplanted the tomatoes to the new bed and today I planted the jalapeno peppers, the lima beans, the peas, carrots and transplanted the bell peppers as well. Everything in the original garden is blooming and exploding - the corn looks so cool and the cucumbers are about to produce too. Even the poor little onions that have been smothered by the zucchini plants are doing ok. Tomorrow I will plant the black beans, more onions, the broccoli (though I don't think they will make it) and some parsley.

I am excited about the garden and look forward to tending it every evening. After Port goes down for the night Kiddo and I go out and "work" in the garden (well, I work and he smells flowers! Lol!). It is really relaxing and I find I want to keep working it long after the light is gone. I wish I had more time to tend it during the day, but I have to pretty much stick to nap times for that.

Anyway, this weekend we will no doubt be finding new ways to cook zucchini - I am thinking about maybe grilling some on Monday! I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday weekend! Thanks for stopping by!

Until,
D :)

Picture This

Random photo assortment: Item 1 - Cutie Patootie
Item 2 - Garden Gone WildItem 3 - Garden MultipliedItem 4 - His Daddy Ran Track in High School, so Now He Must Wear a Headband??!?Item 5 - .......yeah, I have no clue about the headband. But he is still a gorgeous boy. :)Happy Thursday!

Until,
D :)

Million Dollar Question

I know, I know; it's been almost a week!

I have been - well, recovering.

It was a long week last week and an exhausting weekend. Fun, but exhausting.

Monday, Port had his one year well check. The first thing the doctor said was.

"man, he's fat!"

I had to laugh, because Port is not nearly as big as his brother was at that age. But yes, he is a chubster. And I love every squishy inch of him.

I'm sure he will slim down some now that he is walking everywhere.

His official weight is 26.65 pounds and his length is 30 inches. He was not having the head measurement - but whatever it was she recorded was "right on track". He got 2 vaccinations, passed out in the car on the way home and took a 3 hour nap. Then we had the vaccine poop diapers, and all was well.

Ick

So over the weekend he cut all 4 teeth and now appears to be working on a couple more. He is biting everything - poor guy, sometimes you can tell it is purely instinctual. His whole head will shake and he'll get this wide eyed look - it's a bit disturbing. Thankfully he hasn't bit me in a few days, and my shoulder is healing nicely. ;)

On Tuesday I spent the entire day dealing with Kiddo. We have never, ever had such a horrible day. He whined and fussed and back-talked and was rude to me and mean to Port; it was a nightmare. I swear something evil took over his body. We made a horrid attempt at a grocery store trip, and after thoroughly embarrassing me several times he lost video game privileges for the next 3 days. He spent most of his afternoon and evening in time out and even got the dreaded "you are getting a spanking when Daddy get's home" punishment. I have never used that one before - it most definitely was a last resort and I hated every minute of it.

I was >< this close to selling him on Ebay.

And it totally sucked because the entire time all I really wanted to do was throw myself at his feet and beg him to stop acting that way. I didn't want to be angry. I didn't want to be mean and yell and scream and I certainly didn't want to punish him - but what else am I supposed to do?? Talking to him did nothing. Reasoning with him did nothing. Asking respectfully and bargaining and explaining did nothing. He responded to NOTHING.

I am convinced he was possessed.

Wednesday was much better. We played most of the day at a couple of parks. He got to see his best buddy in the world and we spent a lot of time in the car.

- which was great for his behavior but not so great for my sanity.

Kiddo is in a phase now where he asks 40 gazillion questions a day. I am required to be a dictionary, a thesaurus and an encyclopedia and frankly my brain hurts. Being in the car is the worst - I don't think the kid ever stops asking questions. After months of fielding the same set of questions about the days of the week and the months of the year, Kiddo has moved on to animals. His primary inquiry is what particular animals eat and drink. On the way home yesterday, after question #89,347,892,834,789, he asked me what some animal eats.

"well... actually, they eat little boys that ask too many questions."

"Oh Mommy, you're just kiddin'!"

As serious as I could: "no, they really do. They eat little boys, and they love the ones that ask a lot of questions."

That bought me 2 glorious minutes of silence.

Until,
D :)

Will It Grow

After the hail storm we had last week, I have been wracking my brain about what to do about the garden. I thought for sure it was toast - it was pelted hard and covered in ice for several hours, then chilled to nearly freezing 2 nights in a row. I just knew it was all gone; all the seeds, all that time spent. And now that "planting" time for seeds has pretty much passed, I was scouring the recesses of my mind (and bank account) to figure out how we could possibly afford to go buy plants for our garden. I thought about visiting the Coinstar machine again, and this time selecting a Lowe's gift card, but unfortunately the $15-20 we have lying around in change now won't get us very far in the garden center there.

*sigh*

We are preparing our house for an onslaught of visitors this week. The whole fam is coming in to celebrate little Port turning 1 (sob!). I don't have a party planned, just all of us getting together and hanging out. I am sure I will go overboard as usual making lots and lots of food and sweets - I haven't even *thought* about what to do for Port's cake yet. Gracious.

Hubby was out working on the back deck yesterday and while Port was napping I decided to take a walk through the back yard and inspect what was left of my garden. I hadn't been out there since last Wednesday; too afraid to look.

But look what I found...
These are either peppers, zucchini or cucumber....not sure which. lol! Below is what I *think* is brussel sprouts!
Those are BEANS!!

And this next one; I think it might be spinach??
The one below is, I believe, the first of the corn.
These are chives. Can you see them??
And this is another herb...not sure which one. Maybe basil??
I am so EXCITED!!!!

In other news, replacement of our skylight would cost at least $150, so for now we are going to go ghetto and put a nasty looking fiberglass patch on what is left of the old one. At least it is on the back of the house so it's not visible from the street, and only people actually in my home will see it, should they happen to look up while in the kitchen. Oh well. While Hubby was working on the yard our leaf blower/sucker/mulcher finally gave up the ghost. The lawn mower is being held together with 2 parts duct tape, 1 part zip ties and 1 part rubberbands (you think I am kidding?) and Hubby's lap top is trying to die a slow death.

So any day now I expect to come home and find nothing but a pile of dust in my driveway...

Lala lala lala lala laaaaaah!

Yes, I might be a bit nutso this week. Maybe >< this much.

But I'll soon have veggies!!! So it's all good, right?

Until,
D :)

Walk On

Each day in the life brings a series of roller coaster moments. Sometimes the ride is tame, and other times it leaves me breathless. But each morning, I get up and strap myself in the ride, say a quick prayer and hope for the best.

Lately life in general has been extreme; up, down, up, down. And just when things start to even out and the ride comes to that flat straight-a-way, someone pulls a lever and off we go, and I am holding on to the safety rail and holding my breath.

I find myself almost daily now staring off into space, avoiding things I should do and people I should see, and I wonder if my depression is coming back again. We just can't get a leg up. Hubby's work did round 3 of layoffs last week. Things are tense to say the least. I am worried constantly, and in that worry I find myself sinking deeper and deeper...


Kiddo can be so sweet, and so frustrating. Some days he is in time-out all day. Like today, he's been awful. Mouthy, defiant, rude and just plain old mean to his brother. He is the evil version of himself, the black Spiderman to his usual good humored superhero persona. Today I haven't the energy to get ruffled. I am ignoring the behavior and punishing only when absolutely necessary. It's probably not the right thing to do, but it's all I can do today.

Port is a special kind of ornery today. This kid is headstrong I tell you. As my friend Mollie told me yesterday, I have created a monster. She is right. He screams, I jump. I can't handle the screaming. I am too tired and it just hurts my head when he gets upset.

But I try to savor the little moments of life, the glimpses of hope and joy and peace I find in my day to day. My kids, oh how I love them. They bring me so much joy...and so much headache. But I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

This morning started early; way too early for both Hubby and I, as Port flipped and flopped and moaned and groaned in the bed between us. The night itself really wasn't too bad (no good either, but I take what I can get these days) but he started waking sometime in the 5 o'clock hour and fussed and fidgeted until I finally got up at 7.

Our early rising woke up Kiddo, who is a total bear when his beauty sleep is interrupted. I guess that explains his attitude today.

But just an hour or so later, we had some excitement. Port took his first steps!!! I set him down in front of me as I do many times a day and I let go. The first time he took one kind of half step and lunged for me, falling into my arms. I stood him up again and he took 5 clean, big steps toward me. Just like his big brother did almost 4 years ago, Port squealed the entire time. He was so excited; I was so excited. I cried and laughed and squealed right along with him!

10 1/2 months and he walks!

It may still take some time, but now that I know for sure he can do it I am going to encourage him even more.

Which, leads us to a low in this ride. Port is mad. He is mad that I am not helping him walk like I normally do. He is mad that I am making him try to walk by himself. He is screaming and crying and pitching fits (full blown tantrums) over it. Nothing is making him happy.

Up, down, up down.

Until,
D :)