magma thoughts

New blog...

2010-02-25T21:44:00.002-06:00

I've started a new blog at http://ourwyolife.wordpress.com. Come check out our new adventures there.

Magma thoughts is moving!

2009-12-16T21:54:00.002-06:00

Literally and figuratively we are moving. My husband has accepted a new job out of state (things have been very crazy here lately, hence the blog fading). Anyway I want to start a new blog so that our family can be up to date on our new adventures. I don't want to do it on this blog as I've done my fair share of complaining here about people that I hope will read my blog. Anyway, I also need a new name for my new blog and am having a mind block about possible names for it. The town we are moving to is Torrington, WY. Any suggestions? Leave them below.

I'll be sure to post a link to my new blog when it is up. Hopefully in time to include the link in our Christmas letter, which I haven't even started.

Oh that funny little boy

2009-11-18T22:43:00.002-06:00

Today's pick up at daycare was a regular laugh fest for me. I went to Bodie's room first. Lately Bodie and I have been working on his manners. He is a shy boy who takes a bit to warm up to people. When we are at school I will ask him to say hi and bye to people that speak to him first. Usually he still won't say anything. I've been reminding him that it is good manners to speak to people when they speak to you. He has really been getting better, but still needs some reminders. So tonight we were at school and as I was putting his coat on he told me that G was his friend today (and G is standing right next to Bodie). I said that was great. And then Bodie told me he was going to say goodbye to G when we left (right in front of him - I was already laughing). So Bodie turned to G and said bye and G said bye to him as well. And then hugged him! And then a kiss! Oh it was so funny. Ok, I don't think Curt thought it was as funny as I did when I told him later. Anyway, Bodie and I left and I ran right into a vacuum that was outside of his door. He told me I needed to look out for the vacuum and that I should watch where I am walking (wonder where he has heard that before). We went to Barrett's room and Bodie said bye to Barrett's teacher. As we walked out of Barrett's room Bodie told me that he'd said bye to her and I asked him if he would say bye to D who sits at the front desk at the school. She says bye to him every night and he refuses to respond. I think part of it is a little bit of a game with Bodie. He turns and looks at her and gave her a very enthusiastic wave and a bye. She was floored and said Bodie had just made her night. As we left he also said hi to G's mom who was on her way in. Hopefully he is gaining more confidence and a little less shyness.

Swimming Lessons part deux

2009-11-09T22:22:00.003-06:00

Bodie just finished up his second swimming lesson experience. (I thought I blogged about our 1st swimming lesson experience, but I can only find a few short updates. I'll just say it was 30 minutes of frustration and crying for a month and a half). We've been to the pool a few times and Bodie usually has fun, so I was hopeful this go round of lessons would be more successful. Well things did start out promising. The first few lessons Bodie would try the tasks the teacher asked. He still wasn't too fond of trying to float, but he would blow bubbles, walk away from me, pick things up off the pool floor, etc. One weekend Curt and I were out of town and my mom took Bodie to his lesson. She said he did pretty well but the following week when I took him back his behavior was horrible. He wouldn't do ANYTHING. He stood there or clung to me the entire lesson. The following week was more of the same. I thought that week was the last lesson but the teacher told me there was one left. As fate would have it we were going out of town again, this time with the boys. I felt relieved that I wouldn't have to take him to anymore lessons. I also felt relieved not to be at the last lesson. You know, the one where the teacher tells you if your child passed or failed (and I'd guess we were in the latter category). Well imagine my surprise later that week when Bodie's report card came in the mail.

He PASSED! WTF! The teacher marked that he could do everything (including calling 911 for help...um doubtful, but ok). Actually I am glad that he passed. Part of me thinks he'd be better off in a class that parent's weren't involved in. The last week we were there a substitute teacher was running the class. She asked if he was in preschool yet. I think because of his behavior he didn't seem like he ever spent time away from me. That is the one thing that would make me nervous to have him in a class without me. He would either be very well behaved, or withdrawn and uninvolved. At least we have another year before we have to cross that bridge.

15 months

2009-11-04T21:10:00.004-06:00

Barrett turned 15 months on Halloween. He has also had quite a growth spurt. I knew he seemed much bigger, but I just pulled out Bodie's 15 month sheet and they are the same size - except Bodie has a 1/4" bigger head.
Barrett is also growing in other ways. He loves calling out the dogs by name. Tells them "kennels" in the morning before school, and says "school" as we pull in the parking lot. He says mama and dada, but doesn't seem to have any word for Bodie. He says more and one morning told me "more nana". He loves backing up. He'll back up into anyone or anything so he can sit on your lap (or the dog's lap). He also likes to stand on his head (think inverted V). I have no idea why he does this but he never stays long enough for me to grab my camera. He loves to run away when he knows he shouldn't. We feel like he'll be a bigger trouble maker than his older brother.

Mission Deconstruction

2009-10-06T20:27:00.007-05:00

I know of been MIA for a looong time. So much stuff going on with us right now that will provide much bloggy material in the future. In the mean time....

A month or so ago I took a week off work to get some things done around the house. Unfortunately I didn't get everything done that I wanted to, but one thing I did get done was Barrett's bedroom. When Barrett was 6 months old we moved him out of our room. We had intended on moving him into Bodie's room, but we've decided Bodie isn't mature enough to share a room just yet. So in a rush to get a good night's sleep we put Barrett into our spare bedroom. And we moved just enough stuff in the room to get the crib in. The room still housed the extra bed and all of our extra stuff. Over the past 6 months since then the room really went down hill. I kept opening rubber.maid containers of clothes to switch in and out as Barrett grew and the seasons changed. Oh it did get ugly...

I couldn't move the crib out of the room so I was pretty limited in how I could move the furniture around to rearrange things. And I really didn't have any idea what I was going to do.

It got pretty messy. But then things started finding their place.

And it got to be as good as it would get:

DipTacular

2009-09-03T19:28:00.004-05:00

I was so excited to see that BooMama is hosting a DipTacular today. I love dips! And I made a new dip last weekend that was a hit with all the male folk at Curt's fantasy football draft. Curt tried it first and then raved to all of his friends who then tried it for themselves. It was actually kind of funny - Curt doesn't usually rave over my cooking to that extent. One guy there told me it didn't taste like he expected it to. I told him I didn't know how to take that, but he just meant that by the looks of the dip, he didn't expect it to be what it was. Anyway, here is the recipe for Buffalo Chicken Dip:

Buffalo Chicken Dip
20 oz chicken, cooked and shredded
2 (8-oz) packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup blue cheese dressing
3/4 cup wing sauce
1 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Heat chicken and wing sauce in skillet over medium heat, until heated through. Add cream cheese and blue cheese dressing. Cook, stirring until well blended and warm. Mix in half of the shredded cheese. Transfer to 8x8 pan, top with remaining cheese, and bake at 350 for 20 minutes, or until heated through and cheese is melted. Serve with chips, crackers, celery, or whatever else you enjoy dipping.

And apparently I'm not smart enought to grab the button, so go here for more dip recipes!

I just want to wear my clothes!

2009-08-27T03:38:00.002-05:00

The one thing I was never prepared for after having kids is the huge change that would happen in my body. I mean, obviously I knew I'd be big when I was pregnant but after the baby comes out and the weight is gone, my body is oh so different. Actually it is really just my abdominal area. I seriously still look pregnant. Pants don't fit me right at all. One size is too big, the next size is snug. I've been running but not as disciplined as I should be with my eating. I'll count calories for a few days and then not for a few days. At the weight I currently am (which is less than when I got pregnant with Barrett) I'd think all of my clothes should fit with no problems. It is so frustrating. I know you can't "spot reduce" to target specific body areas but I keep hoping that if I stick to running and keep my eating in control my belly will simmer down.

I've decided to train for the Governors Cup 15K in October. So far my longest run has been 7 miles, so I'm sure I can do 2 more to complete that race. I have good endurance, just not much speed. Last night my run was to do 6 miles - 1 warm up, 4 tempo, and 1 cool down. It went well except that a train was blocking the road around mile 4.5, which made me turn around and I ended up going 7.16 miles total (of which I walked the last .9). I also had to run along a somewhat busy road where there was no sidewalk. Always makes me a little nervous but thankfully no one ran me over.

Curt starts refereeing tonight and I had hoped we'd have our treadmill fixed by now so that I could switch my runs to the morning. He called yesterday and found out it will cost $300 for a new motor plus $100 for installation. Or we could buy the same treadmill we currently own (very nice model) "slightly used" for $499. I don't know what we are going to do. That is a lot of money to repair but I also don't want to buy a "new" one. We do belong to the gym but honestly I find it a hassle going there to run. I know with the weather turning and Curt being away from home more, I will need an indoor option soon.

Happy Birthday Baby

2009-08-10T20:56:00.002-05:00

Barrett did it - he went and turned one, and grew into a sassy little boy when I wasn't watching. He took his first steps last night. Two short ones from me to my dad. I think my mom was very excited to witness his first steps. He couldn't put on a repeat performance for Curt but I think he'll be walking soon. He is very hesitant to let go of anything he is holding onto though. He is pretty much on 1 afternoon nap a day. Daycare was having a little trouble getting him to stop his morning nap but on Friday he started making visits to the Toddler room and, as I thought might happen, he was fine and on the go until afternoon nap. He is only napping about 1 1/2 hours though, but they told me that is typical when a baby moves into that room. I guess it probably takes a little getting used to go from sleeping in a crib to sleeping on a cot (and I still can't believe they get 12 month old babies to sleep on those cots and sit nicely at the table to eat). He hasn't officially moved up but the past 2 days they've brought him over right after breakfast and he's spent the day with the Toddlers. I'm sure he'll be official by week's end.

He has 2 words he uses a lot: "da da" and "all done". He'll pull out the "ma ma" if it is a completely dire situation. Curt thinks he has said "dog" but I haven't heard that yet. He is very good at crying and gesturing at what he wants (doesn't point yet). This morning I put him in his high chair with milk and cheerios. He was fine until Bodie sat at the table with a granola bar (soft, nutragrain type). He immediately started crying when he saw that and just had to have one of his own. I think it is so funny how someone so little can already have so many opinions. It is nice that he lets us know also.

He just started to wave bye-bye. To me it seems a little late but the doctor didn't seem concerned at his appointment a few weeks ago. I'm not sure when Bodie started waving since I am the world's worst record keeper for things like that. He loves to chase Bodie all over the house and especially up the stairs (not anymore though since we bought a new gate last week).

He definitely has a healthy appetite. He drinks way more milk out of his sippy than Bodie ever did at this age. We are done nursing now, since last Thursday. I'm glad we made it through his 1st year and honestly am not sad it is over. I had mixed feeling about giving it up but a painful cut on my nipple helped me get over any sadness I might have felt.

I hope to move the boys in the same room soon. I'm struggling with it a little because Barrett tends to go down for his naps and to bed a little earlier than Bodie. I think that Curt and I will need to make a decision on this soon and if we aren't moving Barrett then we did to do his room a little nicer (since he was just thrown in the combo spare bedroom/storage/junk everywhere room). I wouldn't hesitate to move him if I knew Bodie could go to bed with out whining every night. Right now, I don't feel like we are at that place yet.

The stats from Barrett's appointment:
Height: 30 1/4" 60%
Weight: 22lb 13.6oz 50%
Head: 18 1/2" 72%

I don't know how he doesn't weigh more with all that he eats. I guess all the crawling must balance that out (and if I remember correctly, I don't think Bodie gained much at all between 9 mos and 1 year due to being so active).

Balloon

2009-08-07T05:36:00.003-05:00

I still need to post about Barrett's first birthday, but since I am currently too lazy to get off the couch to get the camera (whose battery is about dead anyway) I thought I'd first post about how we bribe Bodie to stay in bed at night.

We have a sticker chart and this week there are 2 rewards - a midweek balloon after 3 stickers and this weekend we will watch Lion King if he gets the rest of his stickers. So last night I was going to take Bodie out to buy his balloon, but first we had to go out to my work. As soon as I walked in the door I couldn't remember if I had shut off my space heater. A quick email to the co-workers in my area didn't yield any responses so I thought Bodie and I would drive out there for a quick check. Of course as soon as we got by my office I saw the one co-worker on my team I'd forgotten to include on the email. So I tried to get my very shy little boy to chat with her. He got as far as telling her that he was getting a PINK balloon and that was it, he went off and looked around, not talking to me or her. So we leave and are driving to a near by grocery store to pick out his PINK balloon. We've been talking a lot about having good manners and being nice to people. I explained that when people talk to him it is nice to talk back to them. And now he's not talking back to me. I tell him that if he can't talk to me we won't stop and get his PINK balloon. So then he says "Ok, what are you doing, mom?" very sweetly, as if he has just seen me for the first time today. I reply "I'm driving to the store". Then again, like a parent talking to their small child, he says "yeah, what else is going on". I couldn't help but laugh at him. We went to the store and got his PINK balloon, very exciting.

One other, unrelated funny thing Bodie said to me the other day... For awhile now, Bodie has used a very small toddler pillow on his twin sized bed. The pillow is about the size of his head, no bigger. So the other day I was out shopping and remembered I needed to pick him up a new pillow for his bed. I picked one out and purchased it. When I picked the boys up from school that night, I told Bodie that I had bought him a new pillow. His reply, "was it on sale, mom?"

Birthday Party

2009-07-27T20:57:00.004-05:00

The Saturday after Bodie's birthday we had a joint party for the boys. For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to make Bodie an airplane cake.

It turned out ok. I really hoped that I'd have had more time to prepare and draw out my plans. Instead I just cut into the cakes hoping I could shape them like an airplane. Then came the frosting. For the first time I made homemade frosting (don't think I can ever go back to can frosting again!). I kept getting frustrated because the cake kept sloughing off into the frosting. I've since learned a couple tricks that I'll use next time. Either frost a thin layer, let set, and then frost again. Or stick the cake in the freezer before frosting. Now I know.

Barrett really, really liked his cake. I knew he'd go a little crazier than Bodie did but I couldn't be prepared for just how crazy he went.

Barrett really didn't know what to think about the presents. He mostly just crawled around while I opened them and then he enjoyed crawling on top of all the boxes. His birthday is not until this Friday so we'll celebrate all over again (and all weekend as we have 2 birthday parties to go to).

We finished up the party by letting the kids swim in the backyard pool. The pool was a huge hit and the perfect size for the kids. Barrett received a water table from grandma and grandpa. I wish I'd taken a picture of him playing with it - it had to be his favorite gift. He loved splashing around and getting wet.

He's 3!

2009-07-23T20:45:00.003-05:00

Long time no blog. Of course, life is crazy as always. This mama that doesn't like when she works 40.01 hours a week put in over 60 last week, and will probably approach that again this week. But I really need to get this blog updated (and I'm out of my "I lost my camera cord" excuse because I found it this morning). So, a few weeks ago, Bodie turned 3! It is so hard to believe that he is 3 now. As a special birthday treat we took him to visit the doctor for his well baby visit. He topped the scales at 34 lbs and is a whopping 39 1/4 inches tall. When the nurse was running down the list of questions (does he do this and that) she asked if he could copy a circle. I had really no idea. He'll tell me he draws a circle but it doesn't look like a circle to me. Thankfully when the doctor came in he drew a circle on the exam table paper and asked Bodie to draw one too, and he did! Or at least well enough to satisfy the doctor, I didn't look at it. Also, I was especially proud that when the doctor asked how dry Bodie stayed at night, I could answer "completely dry". He is completely potty trained and has been for awhile now. It is so nice just buying diapers for 1 kid again. I really hope Barrett is just as easy to potty train, but I won't hold my breath. I doubt we could be this lucky with both our kids.

After our doctor visit, we came home and gave Bodie his birthday present - a new bike!He does so good riding his bike and now when we go on walks we actually cross the street! He was always asking to cross the street but I'd never want to go on that long of walks when he rode the tricycle.

He is making the transition to the 3's room at school. This week has been spent making daily visits there and next week will be the full move. Bodie does not transition easily at all, so I'm expecting a hard week next week. I've been trying to bribe him all week with earning stickers each day he has a good visit to the 3's with a reward of watching the Bee Movie with me on Saturday night (Curt will be out working the chains at the annual Shrine game). Yesterday was probably his best visit. He had a tough time today and asked the director for his blanket (I thought this was odd because really hasn't ever had anything he needed to carry around for security) but she said after she got it for him he was really fine. I think that next week I will have to start dropping Barrett off first so that I'll have both hands free for the drama that I'm sure will happen with our drop offs in the morning. He does know a lot of the kids in the 3's since half of them were with him at some point in the 2's. That doesn't seem to be much comfort to him now, but hopefully it will be in the future.

Nite-Nite

2009-07-04T04:40:00.003-05:00

Here is Barrett when we went to sleep last night:

Here is Bodie with his doggy friends when we got up this morning:

Now I don't like having the dogs in my room at night but I guess if Bodie doesn't object we'll let the dogs go in there if they want.

Fresh Veggies

2009-06-23T22:48:00.003-05:00

Someday I really want to have my own garden. It really isn't feasible or necessary right now though. We have 2 dogs that, I'm sure, would help themselves to anything we decided to grow. My parents have a nice large garden though (hence it not being necessary for us to have one). Every summer they are generous enough to share a lot of their fresh veggies with us. Over the weekend we got our first crop of green beans and peas. I've wasted my share of fresh veggies over the years and I am going to try my hardest not to do that this year. So tonight I set out to just snap the green beans but ended up doing about half the peas as well. Bodie helped snap the beans and then took the peas out of the pod for me. Hopefully he'll be just as excited to help me finish up the peas tomorrow.

Happy Father's Day

2009-06-22T04:00:00.005-05:00

We had a great Father's day. We spent the morning at a local state park with my parents and my brother and his family.

Here are the boys on the drive to the park. I love how they keep each other entertained, at least until Barrett fell asleep shortly after this shot.

Barrett wasn't very excited when we got to the park. He was still a little tired and I don't think he enjoyed his flowery hat much (it was the only one I could find that fit his head).

Barrett perked up a little on the swings. This is the first time he seemed to enjoy being in the swing.

Bodie on the balance beam.

Hanging from whatever-this-is-called. His cousin climbed up this but Bodie is too cautious to do that. And this mama is ok with that!

Bodie on the paddle boats. By this time the sun had come out and it was starting to get hot but that didn't damper our spirits. After the boats we headed back to the park area to eat a picnic lunch. I honestly can't remember the last time I ate a picnic but I think I need to find the picnic set we received as a wedding gift so we can go on more, it was a lot of fun.

Bodie also got to take his first pony ride but we didn't get a picture of that. I was feeding Barrett at the time but "people" couldn't wait for me to finish before they went. I know my mom got some shots so hopefully they turn out, since she can be a bit camera challenged.

Real words

2009-06-15T05:15:00.004-05:00

I think I'll write a post with real words and everything. I've been meaning to post for awhile but just put it off and off and then off a little more. A little update on us...

Me and Curt - Well not too much with us. How exciting of a life can you have when you don't have time for a life :). One fun thing for me...I hit the driving range with a couple girlfriends yesterday and it was fu-un. We are planning a return trip in 2 weeks. I actually hit the ball up in the air and everything. Usually I go and skim the ball across the ground. It is nice to get a little leverage under it.

Bodie - Potty training and almost 3. Glad we are surviving both of these events. The potty training has actually been a non event. I completely credit his daycare for potty training him. We did tackle nights this weekend (no choice since we ran out of pull ups and I didn't want to buy any more). He had an accident Friday night but woke up dry Sunday morning and got up at 4:30 this morning to go. So hopefully that is as bad as it gets.

Turning 3 seems to be a little more challenging. He definitely seems to be all boy. He likes to ride his trike fast, fascinated with planes and trains, and needs to do things his way! He has bad dreams (he tells us he has a dream in his ear and asks us to take it outside). I'm not sure if he is really having dreams or just says that because I asked him once if he did and then Curt told him once he'd take the dream outside. It has become a nightly ritual to take the dream out of his ear before we leave his room for the night (and if he wakes up during the night as he just did while I was writing this).

Barrett - Our little guy who may or may not have been on the verge of baby physical therapy at 9 months is a crawling and a cruising. He is all over and into everything. Curt thinks he'll be walking by the end of the month, but I would really be surprised. I remember thinking Bodie was going to be walking for the longest time before he ever did. You never know though, he might surprise us. He also loves to eat and really does great feeding himself and drinking out of a sippy. Hopefully this will ease our transition away from the breast and bottle in the not so distant future. He babbles, loves his dogs and watching his big brother. They truly seem to be great friends and I hope that continues as they get older.

Bargain Meal of the Week

2009-06-10T21:01:00.003-05:00

Click on the image to go find your Bargain Meal of the Week

The new Hy-Vee.com is available and I have to say I like it. You can click on items as you sift through the 3 on-line ads to add to your shopping list. Also you can "browse the aisles" and essentially price check any item you need. I wish that other sites had that feature - it would make it easy to get the best deal if you plan on hitting a few different stores.

Easy Chicken Bake

1 pkg Chicken breast ($0.88/lb split breasts)

1 can cream of chicken soup ($0.67)

3 oz sour cream ($0.37)

Broccoli florets ($2.38/bunch organic)

1 package stuffing mix ($1.25)

Boil or steam broccoli until it is slightly tender (don't overcook it as you don't want it to become mushy later). Place chicken breast in pan. Mix sour cream, chicken, and cooked broccoli and pour on top of chicken. Top with stuffing mix. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

For more Bargain Meal ideas, head over to $5 dinners.

Food Stuff

2009-06-05T22:36:00.003-05:00

Tonight I took my weekly trip to the grocery store (yes on a Friday night. I feel like shopping eats too much into my weekend if I go during the day). Anyway, lately I've been thinking a lot about the food we eat and how we really don't eat healthy enough. I grew up as a overweight kid and really don't want that same fate for my boys. Each day I instruct Curt what to make for dinner (he usually cooks since he gets home from work earlier than I do) and every night this week I came home and he hadn't made a vegetable to have with our meal. Now I usually instruct him just on the main dish, figuring that he knows enough to make a veggie to have with it. Every night I found myself pulling a random veggie out of the freezer and tossing it in the microwave. Boring. Also our side dishes are really lacking. Mac & Cheese? French Fries? It just makes me feel bad to keep feeding this stuff to the boys night after night. So this week I took the time to plan a meal and a nice side dish and a veggie for each night. Ok, one night I did plan Mac & Cheese as the side, but we are having fish that night and I need a good back up for Bodie - and me since I don't eat fish :). Fish night is becoming a weekly staple in our house now (for two whole weeks so far). I grew up very picky and hated fish (still do) and, even though I won't eat it, I still want the boys exposed to it. Hopefully all of these little changes and planning ahead will help us form some more healthy habits.

Bargain meal of the week

2009-06-04T04:40:00.002-05:00

Click on the image to go find your Bargain Meal of the Week

According to their website there is a new Hy-vee.com coming on June 8th. It promises meal ideas and coupons so it could be worth checking out.

Parmesan Chicken II

12 chicken drumsticks ($0.99/lb or you might be able to use the chicken leg quarters that are $3.90/10lb bag)
2 cups grated Parmesan cheese ($1.50/5-8oz pkg of Kraft Naturals - $1/1 coupon here)
1 egg
1 teaspoon ground black pepper (on hand)
1 teaspoon salt (on hand)

In a shallow bowl, mix together salt, pepper, and cheese. In a separate bowl, beat egg until lemon colored. Dip chicken in egg, coating well. Roll in cheese.

Bake at 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) for 45 minutes, or until brown.

For more Bargain Meal ideas, head over to $5 dinners.

Happy Feet

2009-05-29T22:38:00.004-05:00

Bargain Meal of the Week

2009-05-27T11:53:00.003-05:00

Click on the image to go find your Bargain Meal of the Week

Sorry I missed posting this last week. I have been so busy at work and we were getting ready to head to my in-laws for a long weekend (I'll write more about in a future post). It looks like there are some good deals to be had at Hy-Vee this week.

One website I like to find meal ideas on is Once a Month Mom, where Cortney and Tricia post monthly meal plans where the idea is to do all of your cooking in one day, stock your freezer, and voila! you are ready to go. I'm not ambitious enough to cook just once a month, but on the weekends I like to make a meal or two that can go in the freezer. One that I've tried from their site is Mexican "Un"Stuffed Shells which was featured on the March menu. The recipe below makes 4 meals but you can adjust accordingly to fit your needs (I halved it and we ate one and froze the other).

Mexican "Un"Stuffed Shells

Servings: 16

Author/Source: Pamela @ Recipezaar.com #57772

DOUBLED

32 ounces seashell pasta, cooked (any pasta type will work $0.99/14.5oz)

2 pounds ground beef ($2.39/lb or substitute chicken $0.59/lb)

6 Tablespoons taco seasoning (make your own to save money)

1 cup water (free!)

2 medium onions, chopped

3 cups salsa ($4.99/66oz - can probably find a smaller/cheaper quantity at the store)

2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded ($1.25)

50.75 ounces tomato sauce ($0.19/8oz)

to taste chili powder

Directions: 1. Add seasoning, water, onion, salsa, 1/2 cup cheese, tomato sauce, and chili powder to 2 pounds cooked ground beef. Mix well.

2. Stir in cooked pasta and portion into 4 8 x 8 baking dishes.

3. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top.

4. Cover with foil and write the following instructions: Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes thawed) or 2 hours (frozen).

Containers Needed: 4 8x8 or 9x9 pans. If you are going to thaw before cooking you can also freeze in Ziploc bags or any Rubbermaid/Tupperware type container and transfer to a baking dish before cooking.

For more Bargain Meal ideas, head over to $5 dinners.

Bargain meal of the week

2009-05-14T04:44:00.002-05:00

Click on the image to go find your Bargain Meal of the Week

Quick Tuna Salad
1 (7 ounce) can solid white tuna packed in water, drained ($0.69/5oz)
1/4 cup creamy salad dressing (such as Miracle Whip™) (Hellmann's $2.68/jar or Kraft Ranch $1.88/bottle - even cheaper with the $1/1 kraft coupons)
1 tablespoon sweet pickle relish, or to taste

Mash tuna together with salad dressing and relish in a small bowl with a fork. Serve.

Now I don't eat tuna or salad that doesn't involve lettuce, but I'm guessing this is served as a sandwich.

Whole grain white ($1.49/20oz package)
Bakery fresh buns ($1.88/8)

For more Bargain Meal ideas, head over to $5 dinners.

Maturing

2009-05-08T12:00:00.000-05:00

Bodie has been such a joy to be with lately. I think it seems odd to say that about your child but it has been great. The highlights:

1. Potty training. Going fantastically! On Sunday I "tricked" Bodie when we went swimming at the Y. I didn't bring a diaper for him to put on afterwards, just underwear. He went 2 times on Sunday and didn't have any accidents. He did go A LOT in his diaper at nap and overnight but I felt we (he) was successful enough to wear underwear to school on Monday. When I picked him up that evening he was still wearing the same shorts as in the morning. I assumed he'd just begged them for a diaper, but no, he didn't have any accidents. So since Sunday he has had 1 poo accident on Tuesday and a pee accident today because they left him in underwear for nap. Evidently he stayed dry yesterday during nap so they took the chance today. He also stayed dry last night but we didn't take that same chance tonight. He has yet to poo in the toilet but hopefully that will come.

2. Haircut. Haircuts have been a torturous even for Bodie since his first one almost 2 years ago. A few weeks ago we gave him one and it was great. He voluntarily got in his chair, we didn't have to restrain him, he didn't cry or scream at all.

3. Shower. Bodie has always been afraid of the shower but lately that is all he wants to do. It is nice but also not nice because he showers with me. I would enjoy my few minutes of alone time in the shower but I guess if it keeps him happy I'll let him join me.

He has also been saying some funny things. Last weekend I was giving Barrett some little bits of hamburger and he told me Barrett cannot eat hamburger, he is too little. Also last weekend I was getting the ladder down to change some outdoor light bulbs and he told me I think that is daddy's ladder, I think. Of course since he is potty training he likes talking about the poopy being in his butt and he might have also said shit the other night (another swear word that I'm completely responsible for).

Finally, last weekend I took him shopping to pick out a new pair of sunglasses and whatever underwear he wanted. Before we went shopping he told me he wanted white underwear. I figured that would change once he saw all the choices but it didn't. He picked out whitey tighties. I'm not sure what his excitement with those are (not what his daddy wears) but I'll take it. He also didn't want any character sunglasses, he picked out plain black ones.

Bargain Meal of the Week

2009-05-07T20:37:00.003-05:00

Click on the image to go find your Bargain Meal of the Week

Sorry for the lateness this week, work has been super busy and I'm battling some sinus issue thing. Anyway, I think the Hy-vee sales are lacking a little this week, but I think you can do Parmesan Chicken at a good price.

Baked Chicken Parmesan

1 cup corn flakes, crushed ($1.58/box)
1/4 cup KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese (Hy-vee brand $2.49/16oz)
1/4 tsp. salt (on hand)
1/8 tsp. pepper (on hand)
1 broiler-fryer chicken (3 lb.), cut up, skinned (use breasts $0.99/lb)
1/4 cup KRAFT Real Mayo Mayonnaise or MIRACLE WHIP Dressing

PREHEAT oven to 350°F. Mix crushed corn flakes, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Brush chicken with mayo; sprinkle with crumb mixture.
PLACE in 13x9-inch baking dish.
BAKE 1 hour or until chicken is cooked through.

For more Bargain Meal ideas, head over to $5 dinners.

9 months

2009-05-02T06:26:00.004-05:00

Barrett had his 9 month doctor visit on Friday, and it really didn't go how I had envisioned. For the most part Barrett looks good, but the doctor is concerned about his lack of movement (he isn't crawling, pulling up, or cruising yet). Now I do seem to remember that Bodie wasn't pulling up or cruising at this point, but he was crawling. Barrett has always been very happy just being where you put him. He has never done the whole roll all over the room thing. I remember at his 6 month appointment asking the doctor if it was ok that he didn't roll over more but at that point the doctor wasn't concerned because Barrett has a certain older brother that helps get him what he wants. But I guess now it is becoming an issue. The doctor suggested we really work with him over the next couple weeks and then if he doesn't make any improvements to call and he'll send us to a pediatric physical therapist. He did say it was a good sign that Barrett pushes himself around backwards, so hopefully with some pushing from us he'll start to go forward as well. Also I should say it isn't like he doesn't try to do these things. He tries so hard to crawl. He is immediately up on all fours (for a few weeks now) he just can't get it together to move. Also he tries to pull up, but I think it has to be difficult to pull up when you are sitting on your butt, as opposed to if you crawled to something, got on your knees, and pulled up. So, hopefully if we can get him crawling, the pulling up will come. And he is getting close. He'll pull himself onto his knees, so I hope he figures it out soon.

Stats:

Length: 28.5" 60%

Weight: 19 lb 14 oz 40%*

Head: 18" 60%

* When the doctor saw he was 40% for weight he said "he is supposedly 40%" as if the nusre had mapped it wrong and then kept saying he was just under the 50%. In any event he isn't worried because Barrett looks "very solid".

Bargain meal of the week

2009-04-29T21:00:00.004-05:00

Click on the image to go find your Bargain Meal of the Week

This week's Hy-vee bargain meal of the week.

I was walking around the hall at work today when I recipe idea came to me today. This is easy and tasty. I apologize I didn't write down the source of this recipe...

Taco Skillet

1lb hamburger, browned ($1.99)

1/2c salsa ($2.50 for entire jar)

1/4c water (free!)

12 tortillas - cut into 1 inch squares ($1.28)

1 can tomato soup

After hamburger is browned, combine all ingredients in skillet. An easy way to cut up the tortillas is to use a pizza cutter. Also I'm pretty certain I just use a package of tortillas, whether that is 8 or 12 (I think the whole wheat ones I usually buy come in packages of 8).

For more Bargain Meal ideas, head over to $5 dinners.

House of Germs

2009-04-25T14:17:00.003-05:00

What a week we had here! Bodie started off last week (a week and a half ago now) running a low temp, prompting us to get calls from school on Wednesday and Thursday about him, and having him sent home on Thursday. He didn't act sick beyond a fever so we let it go and, although he was very well behaved, he kept losing his appetite and sleeping a lot. So on Monday he went to the doctor and was diagnosed with strep throat. Curt mentioned to the pediatrician that he also wasn't feeling well and the doctor had a look at Curt's throat, then suggested that Curt visit his doctor as well. Later that afternoon Curt go the same diagnosis as Bodie. Then Tuesday afternoon I started not to feel well and Wednesday morning I learned my fate was the same - strep. Barrett had been fussy and eating less but we knew he was teething (it has been going on for months now). Wednesday and Thursday his teachers called to tell us that he had thrown up (although they didn't think it was illness related) and on Thursday he was also running a fever of 101.4. So back to the doctor we went, and Barrett had an ear infection. So we were 4 for 4 this week. Thankfully we are all into our courses of antibiotics and everyone is feeling much better. Barrett was so happy today, it is nice to see him getting back to his old self. He did throw up during dinner (after coughing). The pediatrician thought the vomiting was due to a combination of not feeling well and teething. We go back on Friday for his 9 month appointment(!) so we'll talk to him about it then if it isn't better.

On the teething front, Barrett has gone from 0 to....wait for it...3! teeth in one short week. He has one of the middle bottom one and the outer top ones (like a vampire). No wonder the poor guy was so miserable.

Independence Day

2009-04-24T04:48:00.003-05:00

Last night we were outside enjoying a beautiful evening. Bodie was standing at the door whining about something he wanted inside and couldn't get the door open. I kept ignoring him until he started playing with the PediPaws, when I had to go stop that and see what he wanted. I realized he was saying he wanted bread, so I opened the door and let him inside. I followed him into the kitchen, where he promptly turned around and tried pushing me out of the room, declaring "I do it myself". Well, OK then. I stood in the doorway while he got a chair from the dining room, pushed it to the kitchen counter, opened the bread package, grabbed the slice I'd tried giving him at dinner which he decided he didn't want at that time, closed the package, and headed back outside. I guess he just doesn't need his mama like he used to.

Bargain meal of the week

2009-04-23T05:01:00.002-05:00

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I'm glad that an actual recipe came to mind as I flipped through the Hy-vee ads this week. But of course I cannot find the recipe, so here is my improvised version of it.

1 package chicken ($0.88/lb)

1 bottle bbq sauce ($1.28)

Put ingredients in crock pot and cook on low 6-8 hours. You can also add a package of onion soup mix or a can of pineapple (which was the recipe I was looking for). I'm pretty sure with the can of pineapple I add the pineapple and then about half of the juice mixed with a little brown sugar. But plenty of times we have just done chicken topped with barbecue sauce in the crock pot and it is very easy and tasty.

For more Bargain Meal ideas, head over to $5 dinners.

Because I haven't written enough random blogs

2009-04-15T21:25:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I took Barrett to the doctor for his eczema issues. We were prescribed a higher strength of hydrocortizone (which when I got to the pharmacy found out it was actually OTC). He looked a lot better tonight but of course all the ladies at daycare had their opinions of what is wrong with him: He might be lactose intolerant! He could be allergic to wheat! Definitely an allergic reaction! Maybe it is from Bodie's old clothes you took out of storage! I know that everyone means well. I'm not convinced it isn't some sort of allergy. I did stop eating citrus fruits and stopped giving Barrett mango because I thought our mess started when we both were consuming citrus frequently. However, it is been close to a month now that we've refrained and there isn't much change. We go back to the doctor in 2 weeks for Barrett's 9 month appointment (!) and I'll ask the doctor then what the likelihood it is something he is allergic too. Yesterday he only asked if I noticed it flare up after certain foods, but there doesn't seem to be any pattern that we can find (because it really is always flared up).
Last night I was in a bit of a hurry to get Barrett's crib sheet on and get Barrett to bed. When I went upstairs to put the sheet on, Bodie followed me upstairs and started messing with the vacuum (undoing the cord, stringing it around everywhere). After I got the sheet on, I turned around to see the mess and under my breath muttered that I had that all put together and he'd messed it up. I wasn't even sure Bodie heard me since I wasn't really saying it for any one's benefit, just for my frustration. Sure enough after I went down to get Barrett and come back upstairs, Bodie had put the cord on the vacuum perfectly. I can't even say how nicely it was done...probably nicer than I usually do it and much nice than Bodie ever has. Made me feel bad for being frustrated in the first place.
A good friend of Curt's was in a bad motorcycle accident this morning. Sounds like he is going to be ok though. I guess he was "sorting out the cattle" and hit a hole in the pasture. The clutch or handlebar went into his leg, coming about 1/8 inch from his femoral artery. Thankfully his "hired man" was with him and phoned for help. The helicopter came and got him to the hospital just in time. He had surgery today and seems to be recovering. Please keep him and his family in your prayers.
I'm heading for a girl's weekend with some friends over the weekend. I'm having some anxiety over my flying so I'd appreciate any thoughts and prayers that I'm safe. I'm very much looking forward to getting away for a few days and hope Curt survives being a single parent for a few days :).
I feel there is more but it escapes me. I'll write more random thoughts in the future I'm sure.

Bargain Meal of the Week

2009-04-15T21:10:00.005-05:00

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Still not overly impressed with the Hy-Vee, although I haven't been too motivated in the kitchen lately so maybe I'm just not seeing what is there. Hopefully some of the other bloggers have better ideas than mine this week.

This is one of my favorite burger recipes. You can make it with hamburger or it is good with ground turkey as well. Also, it makes a lot (8) burgers so you can cook and freeze them or plan to use them in lunches during the week.

Turkey Spinach Cheese Burgers

2 lb hamburger ($3.18)

1 10oz package frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

1 envelope onion soup mix

1 cup cheese ($0.67)

buns ($0.97)

Mix all ingredients (it is easiest just to use your hands). Form into 8 patties and cook until well done. Serve on bun.

I've found that these really seem to taste better cooked on the Foreman grill, instead of our regular grill. They seem to get a bit crispy cooking on the gas grill.

For more Bargain Meal ideas, head over to $5 dinners.

*sorry for the lack of formatting. Blogger isn't listening to what I'm telling it to do :)

Bargain Meal Recipe Updates

2009-04-11T05:54:00.003-05:00

I want to write a quick post about a couple of the recipes I'd posted for the Bargain Meal of the Week, but had never actually tried myself. Thankfully they both turned out to be pretty yummy. Last week we made Beefaroni and Skillet Pork Chops with Potato and Onion.

I was afraid the Beefaroni would be too plain but it was great. The only changes I made was cooking a chopped onion with the hamburger and I added a lot of Italian Seasoning. It was a hit with Curt and I. Bodie seems to be in some sort of anti-pasta phase so he didn't have much, but I'll definitely make it again.

The Pork Chops were also very good. Curt made this so I know that the recipe was followed exactly...he doesn't deviate unless I instruct him to :). I guess we did deviate slightly because we only used 2 pork chops, 2 potatoes, and 1 onion. Bodie is in a pro-pork chop phase so it probably would have been ok to make a 3rd chop, but I had them frozen in packages of 2.

I can now officially recommend both of these recipes. Happy cooking!!

8 months

2009-04-09T05:06:00.003-05:00

Barrett turned 8 months last week. I feel like I never write about him, but in reality Bodie is the one that just does so much these days. Anyway, Barrett now claps and just yesterday he started trying to wave bye-bye as we left school. It was adorable watching him concentrate on trying to move his hand just right. Then at dinner I told Curt about it and he got Barrett to do it over and over again. He isn't crawling yet, which really is making him mad. He'll push himself around backwards and also get up on all fours for a moment, so I have a feeling his time will come soon. He thinks his older brother is about the most entertaining person around. It is amazing to me to watch the two boys together. Bodie is a wonderful big brother. He knows just what to do to make Barrett laugh and also does the silliest baby talk to Barrett. I've never noticed that Curt and I do a lot of baby talk but Bodie will just take some non-sense phrase and baby talk it to Barrett. A common one while we are in the car is "you have my old car seat...you have my old car seat" which is followed by "you laughin...you laughin" all said in smiley, happy baby talk. I try to get this on camera but whenever I pull out the camera Bodie wants on the other side to see the pictures being taken.

Bargain Meal of the Week

2009-04-09T04:44:00.002-05:00

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I feel like I've been grasping at straws recently. I guess I need to think more outside the box when it comes to this feature...

Simmering Chicken Strawberry Kabobs
1 cup lemon juice
2 (8 ounce) cans pineapple chunks, juice reserved ($0.98)
salt and pepper to taste
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (3 spices for $2)
3 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cubed
1 cup butter, melted (2 8-21oz tubs for $4)
2 tablespoons brown sugar ($1.18/2lbs)
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg (3 spices for $2)
24 large strawberries ($1.18/lb)

In a shallow glass bowl combine lemon juice, juice from pineapple can, salt, pepper and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Mix together. Add cubed chicken and marinate for 1 hour in the refrigerator.

Preheat grill to medium heat. In a small bowl combine the melted butter or margarine, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, brown sugar and nutmeg.

Lightly oil grate. Using metal or soaked wooden skewers arrange chicken, pineapple chunks and strawberries on each stick (approximately 4 to 6 pieces of each item per skewer). Brush kabobs with butter or margarine mixture place on grill and cook, turning on all sides, until chicken is cooked through and strawberries are sizzling. Approximately 8 to 10 minutes.

I sort of feel like I am cheating with this since the kind of chicken breast you would use for this isn't on sale. Maybe you have a pack stored away or you can find a good price on a package in the store.

For more Bargain Meal ideas, head over to $5 dinners.

Bargain Meal of the Week

2009-04-02T05:40:00.003-05:00

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First here is my Bargain meal of the week (then I'll have a surprise snack of the week).

We have a cookbook called 4 Ingredient Recipes that I just love. Everything we've made out of it has been really good, and with only 4 ingredients it is very easy also.

Onion Baked Pork Chops

1 Envelope Onion Soup Mix
1/3 c plain dry bread crumbs
4 pork chops, 1 inch thick*
1 egg, well beaten

1. Preheat oven to 400 F. In a small bowl, combine soup mix and bread crumbs. Dip chops in egg, then bread crumb mixture, until evenly coated.

2. In lightly greased 13x9 inch baking or roasting pan, arrange chops.

3. Bake uncovered 20 minutes or until barely pink in center, turning once.

*I have never used 3lbs of pork chops when making this recipe, and it probably wouldn't qualify as a Bargain Meal if you did (at least with the Hy-vee sale this week). I just use the amount of meat I need, which would be 2 or 3 pork chops (Bodie seems to love pork chops lately).

Bonus Snack Recipe...I love this recipe, and could eat it all day long. I am thinking of making it for Easter Sunday since I gave up pretzels and crackers for Lent (seems like an odd thing to give up but with a 2 year old in the house I was always mindlessly munching on things like that).

Pretzel dip recipe

3 pkg. 8 oz cream cheese (softened)
1 stick butter
1 pkg Hidden Valley Ranch Original
1/4 c. Parmesan cheese (dry)

Empty cream cheese into large bowl. Wash cream cheese containers, dry thoroughly, grease with butter and dust with coarse ground black pepper**.

Beat above ingredient. Press into containers. Serve with pretzels.

For best results: if dip has been refrigerated, let set out for 5-10 minutes before putting it on a plate - it comes out of the container better when it's not really cold.

**Or to make things easier just mix everything into 1 larger container, no need to grease or put pepper down first.

For more Bargain Meal ideas, head over to $5 dinners.

2009-03-26T05:05:00.002-05:00

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Again, I am not overly impressed with the deals this week.

Pasta with Fresh Tomato Sauce

1 (16 ounce) package dry penne pasta ($0.99)
8 roma (plum) tomatoes, diced ($0.99/lb)
1/2 cup Italian dressing ($1.99/package - Ken's brand)
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh basil
1/4 cup diced red onion
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese ($2.99/7-8oz package)

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Place the penne pasta in the pot, cook 10 minutes, until al dente, and drain.

In a large bowl, toss the cooked pasta with the tomatoes, Italian dressing, basil, red onion, and Parmesan cheese.

For more Bargain Meal ideas, head over to $5 dinners.

Bargain Meal of the Week

2009-03-19T04:30:00.003-05:00

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I am pretty unimpressed with they Hy-vee deals this week. Hopefully that means that next week will have some great ones.

Beefaroni
1 pound ground beef ($1.99/lb)
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese ($1.79)
2 (15 ounce) cans tomato sauce (Hunt's tomatoes $0.88 each - I think it would be fine to substitute 1 or both cans of sauce for tomatoes, depending on your preference)
2 tablespoons butter ($0.58/lb)
1 (16 ounce) package uncooked elbow macaroni (use one of the Hy-vee pastas on sale for $1)
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Crumble the ground beef into a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring frequently, until evenly browned. Drain.

While the ground beef is cooking, bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add macaroni, and cook until tender, about 8 minutes. Drain, and stir in butter. Transfer to a large casserole dish, and mix in the ground beef, tomato sauce, and Cheddar cheese. Sprinkle a little salt and pepper over the top.

Bake uncovered for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until heated through and bubbly.

For more Bargain Meal ideas, head over to $5 dinners.

Classy

2009-03-18T12:56:00.002-05:00

Late yesterday afternoon I got a call from daycare saying that Barrett had thrown up twice and needed to go home. So I went to pick him and Bodie up for the day. After Curt got home, about an hour later, I started to make dinner and discovered I'd forgotten the spaghetti part of our spaghetti and meatballs. While I was at the store buying spaghetti, I decided to look to see what kinds of alcohol sales were going on, given it was St. Patrick's day and all. So I found what I thought was a good deal on a 20 pack and bought it. As I was walking out of the store I ran into Barrett's teacher. She said "I know what you're doing tonight". Great. One hour after picking up my sick kid from school I am caught buying a large amount of beer. Real classy.

What is it?

2009-03-13T06:03:00.005-05:00

Unfortunately I think Bodie has inherited mine and Curt's lack of creativity or imagination. Yes, he does crawl around the house meowing like a cat but that is about it.

This was the painting Bodie brought home yesterday. I asked him what it was and he first said "I no know" then told me it was a butterfly...

This is his hand print, which crazily enough looks like his hand... (other kids' looked like a puppy or a birthday). Sorry about the sideways picture...

Here is the best one. The kids did some sort of painting which looks like they put paint on the paper and folded it in half to create a design. Then the teacher asked them what it was and all of the pictures hung with their caption. Bodie's didn't have one. His teacher told me she kept asking him what it was and he wouldn't answer. Something popped in my mind right away, but I'm curious to know what any of you think it is...

Bargain Meal of the Week

2009-03-12T06:14:00.002-05:00

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First of all I have to brag about the awesome whole chicken deal I scored at Hy-vee last week. For the past few weeks I have been trying to use my $0.59/lb whole chicken rain check from early February but they've been out of chickens each time I go in. Thankfully they had 2 in stock last week and I picked the larger one for my purchase (5.04lb @ $1.79/lb). Evidently Hy-vee was having a "Meat Sack Sale" which scored me 20% off my purchase ($2.60 - which is more that 20% but this was the only meat I bought, so I'm not sure how that worked but I'll take it). Then the girl was trying to calculate how much to credit me for using my rain check, and finally settled on $6! So I bought my chicken, originally costing $9.02, for a mere $0.42! Or just over $.08/lb. Can't beat that!

At first look of the Hy-vee ad, I immediately knew I had to use my Mother-in-law's potato soup recipe. It definitely isn't the most frugal to make, but with the deals this week it is definitely a better bargain than any other time this winter (and at 8 degrees this morning it is sounding really good).

Cheesy Potato Soup

8 slices bacon, crumbled ($1.99/package Oscar Mayer brand)
1 pkg frozen hash browns ($0.98 Lynden Farms brand)
4 cups water
2T chicken flavored bouillon granules
1/2 c margarine
12 slices American cheese ($0.88 Kraft singles)
1c green onions
2c sour cream ($0.99/16oz)
2c milk ($1.18/half gallon)
1t salt
1/2t white pepper

Prepare bacon in skillet over medium heat. Drain and crumble. In a large stockpan combine hash browns, water and bouillon granules. Cover and place over medium low heat until hash browns are thawed and crumbled. Add bacon and remaining ingredients. Stir until well blended. Cover and cook over low heat about 20 minutes (always seem to take longer than this for me) or until potatoes are tender. Do not allow soup to boil.

For more Bargain Meals of the Week head over to $5 dinners.

More Potty Training

2009-03-03T04:57:00.002-06:00

What isn't more exciting than a post about my son's peeing habits?! Saturday morning I thought we would try an "underwear day" and see where Bodie might be again with potty training. The underwear went on and I put him on the potty chair about every 20 minutes. Well about 2 minutes after "trying" he had an accident. Curt put him back on the potty, gave him some apple juice to maybe propel him to pee (but he didn't) put clean underwear on him and sent him on his way. Bodie came upstairs to help me clean and had another accident. I carried him downstairs and put him back on the toilet. I really talked up the positive reinforcement, telling him how I knew he had tried to make it to the potty (he hadn't), next time he'd do it (really had my doubts), and that it would be ok. He got a skittle for sitting there and then I asked him if he wanted to get up and put his underwear on. He told me that he needed to go potty, and just sat there. And sat there. And sat some more. Finally he wanted some more apple juice and I obliged (he doesn't normally get juice at home so if it works to help get him potty trained he can have it). He drank his juice and started getting very fidgety. Oh, I could tell a big moment was coming. Would he pee in the potty chair? You betcha he did! But it wasn't the great moment I thought it would be. He screamed and cried as he peed. Oh boy! You would think that peeing was the most painful thing he had ever done. Now, normally if this happened I might think he had some sort of infection, but since it didn't happen until he peed on his chair, I think it just scared him, really bad. I tried to find information on "toddler scared of peeing" and google asked if I meant "toddler scared of seeing". Hmm...no thanks. Anyway although I couldn't find any credible information on it, I did see some message boards where parents had the same problem, so I guess Bodie isn't completely abnormal. So, he's peed. He actually sat on various toilets in our house for about a 2 hour span trying to pee in all of them, and screaming each time any pee came out. Even saying to us "you need hold my hand" when he had to go.

On Sunday I wasn't even going to say the word potty, as the events of Saturday seemed pretty trying for him. But he was insistent and asked to go potty 3 times during the day (still screaming but seemed to get better with each try). The biggest accomplishment though came yesterday at school. I told his teacher in the morning what we'd been through over the weekend, just in case Bodie started screaming in the bathroom there. And when I saw the daycare phone number come up on my caller ID at work, minutes after sitting at my desk I was afraid (but it was Barrett's teacher calling for a quick question). When I returned to pick Bodie up after school I asked him if he'd gone potty and he gave me a look that seemed to say "I don't really want to talk about this right now Mom!" But his teacher jumped in and told me that HE DID GO PEE. ALL BY HIMSELF. AND DID NOT SCREAM!!! She said he looked a little scared when he came out of the bathroom, and made a little mess, but did great! I'm not sure when we will really start pushing him with the potty training. I'd like to see him go without screaming a few times and then we can work towards the actually training. At least we are making some progress though.

Bargain Meal of the week

2009-03-03T04:52:00.003-06:00

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Last week Christine asked for links to the Hy-vee online ad. I apologize for not including links in my posts. I wish I had a good excuse but the truth is I'm just lazy. I'll try to work on that.

If you access the Hy-vee ads on line here (I had to type in a location to get this to work so you'll need to refresh with your own location) you can see there are two ads - View Ad and View Online Ad. This clears up a lot of questions for me because I'd often get confused in the store when I'd see a sign advertising an Advertised Price and I didn't remember seeing that price in the ad.

Sale Prices are indicated next to the ingredient.

Skillet Pork Chops with Potato and Onion

2 tablespoons vegetable oil ($2.48/entire bottle - not sure how many Tablespoons that is)
4 pork chops (1/2 inch thick), trimmed ($2.49/lb)
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese ($0.17 Hy-Vee Brand)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
4 Yukon Gold potatoes, thinly sliced ($0.30 for Russets)
2 medium onions, sliced ($0.23)
3 cubes beef bouillon
3/4 cup hot water (FREE!)
1 tablespoon lemon juice

1. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Coat the pork chops with flour, and place in the skillet. Brown about 4 minutes on each side.

2. In a small bowl, mix the Parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper. Sprinkle 1/2 the Parmesan cheese mixture over the pork chops. Layer chops with the potatoes. Sprinkle with remaining Parmesan cheese mixture. Top with onion slices.

3. In a small bowl, dissolve the beef bouillon cubes in hot water. Stir in the lemon juice. Pour over the layered pork chops.

4. Cover skillet, and reduce heat. Simmer 40 minutes, until vegetables are tender and pork chops have reached an internal temperature of 160 degrees F (70 degrees C).

For more Bargain Meals of the Week head over to $5 dinners.

Bargain Meal of the Week

2009-02-26T09:32:00.004-06:00

Click on the image to go find your Bargain Meal of the Week!

I've discovered that Hy-Vee has an "exclusive on-line ad" so I am actually using that one for my deal today. I found this recipe at All Recipes, my go to site for finding new recipes.

Potato, Broccoli and Cheese Soup (I've provided pricing on the sale items)

2 cups chopped onion ($0.34)
2 tablespoons margarine
2 1/2 pounds peeled and cubed potatoes ($0.94)
5 cups boiling water (free!)
4 cubes chicken bouillon
3 cups fresh broccoli, cooked and drained ($1.67 per package, which I'm guessing is more than enough)
salt and pepper to taste
3 cups shredded Cheddar cheese ($3.00)

In a large stock pot saute onion in butter. Add potatoes, water and bouillon cubes. Cover, bring to boil and then reduce heat to medium and cook until potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes.
Remove tough outer skin of broccoli stems and cook broccoli. Once cooked add to soup.
In a blender or food processor puree half of the soup and return to stock pot. Season with salt and pepper.
Add cheese and heat soup through until cheese is melted. Serve warm.

This would make a great (meatless) Lenten meal, if you like options other than Fish (which I certainly do!).

A One Sided Conversation

2009-02-24T11:30:00.004-06:00

Yesterday morning, Bodie to Barrett:

"What the matter Barrett? You tired? You need go back bed?"

Barrett was just sitting in the living room, not making a peep. Not sure why Bodie thought something was wrong with him.

Morning at the Museum

2009-02-23T15:39:00.005-06:00

On Saturday morning Curt, Bodie and my dad took a trip to SAC Museum. We've been trying to find things for Bodie to do on the weekends to get rid of some of his winter energy. He is interested in the airplanes that fly over our house daily so we thought he'd enjoy seeing them up close. He had fun, but Curt thought he was still pretty young to really enjoy it.

This one is kind of dark, but Bodie is "driving" a flight simulator.

Curt said this was Bodie's favorite part. Probably because it was something "hands on" that he could do.

Bargain Meal of the Week

2009-02-19T04:32:00.003-06:00

Click on the image to go find your Bargain Meal of the Week!

I have 2 ideas based on 2 different sales ads I have seen.

I'm not sure if the Thunderous Thursday deals are Hy-vee wide or local (Eastern NE) but if you have these deals available you can make yourself a Mexican comfort meal. Growing up these were called Walking Tacos but my husband calls them Texas Straw Hats.

1 lb hamburger (weekly flyer $2.79/lb - 90% lean roll)
Fritos (Thursday sale $1.68)
Cheese (Thursday sale $1.19)
Lettuce (weekly flyer 3/$5)
Taco seasoning ($0.33)

Simply brown the hamburger and add seasoning according to package directions. Spread Fritos on plate and top with meat, cheese, and lettuce. You could also add corn (Steamfresh is advertised in the Thursday sale as $1 per package or $1.18 in the weekly flyer - cheaper if you have coupons). You could also do this a more healthy way by spreading the lettuce on your plate first (taco salad style). The Thursday flyer also advertised Michelob products for $4.25/6 pack and if you buy 4 you qualify for a $15 rebate, which works out to $0.50/6 pack. I think beer makes a nice edition to a Mexican meal!

From the main flyer this week I have a recipe for Garlic Mushroom Chicken Melt:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves ($0.99/lb)
1 envelope Savory Herb with Garlic Soup mix
1 can diced tomatoes, undrained ($1.00)
1 T olive or vegetable oil
1/2 c shredded mozzarella or Monterrey Jack Cheese ($2.48 or $0.62 for this recipe)

Preheat oven to 375. In 13x9-in baking or roasting pan arrange chicken. Pour soup mix blended with tomatoes and oil over chicken. Bake, uncovered, 25 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink. Sprinkle with cheese and bake an additional 2 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Serve with a side of rice (Minute Rice on sale for $1.88/box) and Steamfresh veggies ($1.18).

For more Bargain meal of the week ideas visit $5 Dinners.

Bargain Meal of the Week

2009-02-11T21:00:00.004-06:00

It looks like Hy-vee is making up for their so-so sales of last week with some great bargains this week. The first thing that jumps out of me is the whole chicken for $0.59/lb! I think we will be trying this over the weekend as the rumor is there is going to be so much snow we will not want to leave the house.

Baked Slow Cooker Chicken - Need 3lb chicken

Oven Roasted New Potatoes - 1.5 lb New Potatoes ($0.88/lb)

Side salad ($0.69 with in ad coupon)

Both the chicken and potatoes call for various spices that you probably already have on hand. If not you'll need to purchase them but their cost per use will only add a few cents onto each recipe.
I should add that I try skimming over the reviews when making recipes from Allrecipes.com. There usually are great tips and ideas from people that have tried the recipes.

A very yummy way to use the left over chicken is Chicken Pesto Paninis (works out well this week too, because Hy-vee also has their cheese on sale). We've made these before and they are great! One warning - if you try to save half of your sandwich to have for your lunch the next day, please don't leave it on the table while you take you children upstairs for baths. Hungry dogs have been known to get on the table and eat these while you are away. They are that good! (Ok, who am I kidding, my dog would eat anything - but he did eat my leftovers, and I was none to pleased about it).

Where'd he learn that

2009-02-10T08:51:00.002-06:00

I admit that we are not the best about letting Bodie do things on his own. A lot of times it is just easier to do things for him. This morning we learned that Bodie is capable of getting himself dressed. In the past, we've seen him fumble around and manage to get his pants off. Sometimes even his shirt. I do have to say that I was pretty impressed with his skills this morning. He had a fit because Curt had picked out a shirt that he didn't want to wear. Curt sent him back upstairs to pick a new shirt out. I had gone up to pick out Barrett's clothes and Bodie quickly picked out a shirt from his drawer. He then tried to put it on but then told me "I need take pajamas off first". So he did. He even took his socks off (not a big deal in itself) and I told him that he could leave his socks off because Daddy had new socks for him downstairs. He of course didn't listen and then put his socks back on. I really didn't think he could put socks on by himself. Then he put his shirt on, and realized it was inside out, took it off and put it back on. I really think he could get himself completely dress if he wanted too. He didn't put his pants on because he still needed to get his diaper changed, but hopefully we'll see him do that soon.

Frugal Meal of the Week

2009-02-08T18:36:00.010-06:00

I'm happy to provide a frugal meal idea using the Hy-vee weekly ad as my guide. I wasn't very impressed with the sales for this week, but after digging I've come up with the following:

Lazlo-like Rainbow Chicken ($3.85)
Mashed Potatoes ($0.72) (need in ad coupon to get the great price on potatoes)
Steamed Baby Carrots (.40)

What is on sale: Chicken breast ($1.79/lb); Roma tomatoes ($0.77/lb); Potatoes ($0.99/5lb - use only 1/4 bag); Cheese ($1.77); Baby Carrots ($0.99/2-1lb bags)

Lazlo's Rainbow Chicken is at the top of my favorite dining out meals. I try to recreate it in my own kitchen and it is pretty good, but will never be as good as what you can get in the restaurant.

Rainbow Chicken
Season chicken breasts to your tastes (I use salt, pepper, and a little lemon juice). Cook on grill until chicken is cooked through (about 15 minutes). Top with about 1/2 cup cheese, diced tomatoes, and chopped green peppers. Cover (or close outdoor grill) and cook until cheese is melted.

We mash our potatoes with the skins still on them for a little nutritional boost (and add butter and milk). The baby carrots are missing from this plate as a certain 2 year old requested broccoli instead.

For other frugal meal ideas visit $5 Dinners.

6 Months!

2009-02-04T05:04:00.005-06:00

Barrett had his 6 month appointment today and was such a ham and show off for the doctor. He can sit up great on his own, loves tummy time, pushes himself backwards, and is loving his solid foods. We have seen him roll over both ways but really seems to lack the motivation to do so often (I'm pretty sure I can count on 2 hands the number of times he's rolled for us). The doctor wasn't concerned, and pointed out that Barrett has a big brother helper that will get him anything he desires (and everything he doesn't desire).

The Stats:

Height: 27 1/2 inches (80%)

Weight: 18 lb 1 oz (65%)

Head: 17 1/4 inches (50%)

We brought Bodie along with us to Barrett's appointment and while we were in the waiting room Bodie stood quietly next to a toy and said "I go poopy". Great! Right then they called us back to the exam room, which quickly began to smell. Unfortunately I had taken the wipes out of the diaper bag and forgot to put them back in, so Curt took Bodie to the bathroom to get him cleaned up. Pretty soon here comes Bodie with no pants on, he had a blow out. I cannot remember the last time Bodie had a blow out and haven't packed him a spare pair of pants in a long time. As we were getting ready to leave the doctor's office Curt tied a blanket around Bodie's waist and Bodie exclaimed "I so cute". It was pretty funny.

(Yes, we sometimes dress our baby boy in pink pajamas.)

Short but Sweet

2009-02-01T05:44:00.003-06:00

I think I mentioned in a recent post how Bodie likes using our words against us. If we are eating something "different" at dinner we will try to relate it to something we know he likes. Last night we were having Stromboli and we told him "try it, you will like it, it is like pizza". We use the same variation of this every night but substitute pizza with chicken, spaghetti, etc. So last night we are eating and Bodie hands Curt a piece of corn and says "try it, you'll like it, it is like corn". It was sooo funny.

He never did eat the Stromboli.

Snow Day

2009-01-26T05:54:00.006-06:00

Bodie finally got to enjoy a snow day this weekend. Last year he was afraid of the snow, but yesterday he was very excited to go out and play. Unfortunately it was very cold out so he didn't get to enjoy it for long but he had a good time while it lasted. He might get another shot at it this weekend if the snow fall predictions for tonight and tomorrow hold up.

Fun + Frustration = 2 year olds

2009-01-15T11:57:00.008-06:00

Bodie has been a ball of fire lately, in good ways and bad.

Fun

He is so sweet with Barrett. I tried getting a video of him singing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star to Barrett one night but as soon as I got out the camera he wanted to be on the other side. Also whenever Barrett is fussy Bodie will get close to him and in a high pitched, baby-talk kind of way, say "It's ok Barrett, it's ok". Also after he gives Barrett a kiss he declares "I so nice".

He is a huge helper. We've found a new job for him around the house, sorting the silverware:

He loves counting and singing his ABCs.

Has a new need to take his (empty) backpack to school.
He really uses his imagination. He brings us pretend ice cream, cookies and M's (M&Ms) every day. The other day he was pressing down a button on one of Barrett's toys and told me he was making coffee (since we grind the beans when we make it).
He uses our words against us, and I'll admit I find it funny. Last night I was sitting at the computer and he pointed to the router and said "leave it alone". He'll also put his feet on the coffee table and then say "I need to put my feet down". At least we know he is hearing what we tell him even if he isn't listening.

Frustration

Sleeping time has become so frustrating. Not only does he come out of his room multiple at bed time, but he comes out during the night. At 2 am he will tell me "I have good nap".

There have been a couple of occasions where he will not want to chew and swallow his food at dinner. We don't let him leave the table until the food is gone from his mouth, and this led to a one and a half hour stand off one night. Finally at 8, Curt turned out the lights and told Bodie good night. Which led to spitting out the food and much screaming. Aren't we great parents? Here he is during the stand off:

No desire to potty train. This isn't hugely frustrating yet, but I think it is going to be a tough road. One day we let him have all the apple juice he wanted while hanging out sans diaper, with his potty chair in the living room. He kept asking for a diaper and finally peed on the carpeted floor. He always asks to go potty and will sit forever and not actually do his business until he has a diaper back on.

Lights Out

2009-01-11T21:21:00.003-06:00

When Curt and I built our house 6 years ago, we were both first time (soon-to-be) homeowners, and pretty clueless about things related to not only owning a home, but the building of that home. So we didn't ask a lot of questions, such as "where is said light fixture we are picking out exactly going to be placed." Shopping for our light fixtures was not a great, get along, moment for us. I wanted nice fixtures and Curt wanted cheap fixtures. We mostly compromised (some of us, well me, very begrudgedly) and have mostly descent ones, but a few definitely leave something to be desired. Anyway, one set of light fixtures I have never liked are the ones in our stairway (same fixture, same switch, two occurrences). I hated them even more on the walk through of our home where I found one placed in the middle of the stairwell, at the top of our fairly high ceiling. We had thought it would be placed above the landing at the top of the stairs. Shows what we knew. I asked the builder's representative how we'd ever change that light bulb and he basically said he didn't know. Nice. So we waited for the inevitable. And waited. And waited for 6 years, until it finally went out this week. We'd replaced its partner fixture's bulb once or twice, but the big one up high stayed lit. Today Curt went out and bought a new contraption for changing light bulbs (the packaging never indicated it could be used on the fixtures) and got to work. After some frustrations he finally got the fixture down and the bulb changed. We put a CFL bulb in there so hopefully it will have another lengthy life ahead of it. The tough task came to putting the fixture back up. The apparatus thingy suctioned itself to the fixture but not enough to turn it properly. Curt began to lose the grip on the fixture and told me I'd have to catch it as it dropped (given that I hate the fixture I probably wasn't going to try too hard to catch it). I told him it was probably better if I held the changing thingy and he caught the fixture. We had a switch off, the fixture began to drop, and I see Bodie walking up the stairs. I screamed! Curt caught the fixture thankfully...the last thing I needed was for it to drop straight on Bodie, or shatter on the half wall and crumble on Bodie. With his next attempt Curt was able to get the fixture back up. I believe this fixture has shot ahead of our ugly bathroom fixtures on my list of replacements. We are definitely going to get an open, drop down type fixture in the future.

All things Christmas

2008-12-25T20:48:00.005-06:00

So our Christmas festivities went much better than I could have imagined. Way better than the horror I imagined in my previous post. Bodie was very well behaved in Chruch. Although he spent most of his time sitting with Grandpa, which I think would make any kid behave well. I didn't even have to pull any distractions out of the bag until mass was more than half over. And mass was only about an hour and a half. I think I had confused Christmas Eve with Easter Vigil, which is very long. I did try to feed Bodie before we went but he really wouldn't eat. He more than made up for that later, putting away pizza, bread sticks, spaghetti, cookies, and some candy at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Bodie was very much into opening gifts this year. With each package he unwrapped he exclaimed, "what's that." Although the way it came out sounded much more like "Wuz up" so I just cracked up every time he said it. As always, my parents were very generous with the gifts they gave, and we had fun spending time with everyone.

Today we opened the gifts we received from Curt's family and the ones the boys received from us. Curt and I didn't exchange. Instead, he gets to go to 2 golf tournaments next year and I bought myself a new camera and I'll also get a new purse and pajamas, as soon as I can find ones I like.

Grandma bought each grandchild a Santa hat. Unfortunately she couldn't figure out how to get them on so there is no photo of all the kids wearing them, as she'd imagined. Curt came to the rescue and put Bodie's on, and he wasn't taking it off.

We bought Bodie a football outfit (helmet, shoulder pads, pants and jersey). He wore the helmet but didn't want anything to do with the shoulder pads. Thankfully Barrett had no opinions on the situation.

A Christmas-time Vent

2008-12-24T11:08:00.004-06:00

Before there were any grandchildren in our family, we typically would get together for Christmas Eve mass and head to my parent's house for pizza and presents. Since the kids have come along, my brother and his wife have been attending their home Church's service and then coming down afterwards. Last year we went to mass on Christmas day, and I had figured that would be our routine for the next several years, at least until the boys are old enough to sit through a longer mass. Well this year my brother and his family decided to come down for Christmas Eve mass. Since they are not even Catholic, and are coming to mass at a Catholic Church, we are pretty much expected to go as well. I am soooo not looking forward to this. Do they remember how long the service lasts. That it goes right through dinner time (obviously not a big deal to me but I'm just thinking of the kids). Maybe their 1 and 3 year olds are very mature and can sit for 2 hours. I know my 2 year old cannot. I fully expect someone will be spending at least half the time with him in the back. And then my mom decided to order pizza for dinner tonight. Fine. Except the pizza place closes at 7 so she'll be leaving mass early to get it. Really? How does that even make sense? At least I told her she can take Bodie with her if he is misbehaving. I'm about ready to say we will not be going to church and they all can go themselves. We can just go tomorrow. I guess my strategy will be to feed him a meal before we go (still tough given we don't have our fridge yet) so it will be fish sticks and easy mac. Lots of distractions for mass - books, colors. Maybe we'll make it and I can get past my debbie downer attitude. I'd so been looking forward to the holidays this year, I'm hoping this won't ruin it for me.

**Edited to say: I was going to run off my aggressions on the treadmill, which is now apparently broken. So that's just great...

What is this, a blog?

2008-12-22T20:55:00.002-06:00

My blogging has taken a back seat to life over the past few months. Back in October, Curt broke his leg officiating (he had to correct me when I wrote refereeing in our Christmas letter) and I got super busy at work. I won't dwell on all of this, but things were very crazy at our house for a period of time. Thankfully Curt was off his crutches by Thanksgiving and we are slowly returning to normal. Or normal for us anyway. I don't think I've really cleaned our house since before the leg breaking incident. I was able to keep it unembarrassingly tidy until this past weekend. I knew I was off work the next 2 weeks and am focused on organizing and cleaning, so I didn't bother to pick up a thing this weekend. And then my mom came over today. Yikes. I warned her it was messy, but I could still tell she was shocked to walk in. Cleaning is definitely a big focus of my tomorrow. Today was spent finishing the Christmas shopping, wrapping, and assembling a new shelf to hold some toys in the basement. Also we are without a fridge right now because the compressor went out on our old one yesterday. We have a new one that is scheduled to be in on the 24th, but we are unsure when we'll actually get it. We thought we'd borrow my dad's truck and pick it up, but he is working that day. Curt called tonight to see if we could switch to delivery and, after calling several different numbers, someone was supposed to be calling him back. That was several hours ago. We might see about borrowing a friend's truck that day. We really don't want to wait until Friday to pick it up as it is a huge inconvenience to not have a fridge. We've tried keeping some of our goods in the garage and they just end up freezing. Tonight Bodie had what he dubbed "apple juice ice cream" which he was actually very excited about eating. Good thing too, because we could whip that up again tomorrow night for snack.

I guess the point of this post is to say I'll be back blogging with some regularity. Hopefully my posts will be a little bit more focused than this on is :)

Four Months

2008-12-03T01:35:00.003-06:00

Barrett had his four month doctor visit on Monday. He is so good at the doctor, really calm and lets the doctor do his exam without fussing. It is a huge contrast to Bodie. Barrett seems to be doing great. He does have a little eczema but we got a script for some ointment that should clear it right up. I guess both of my boys inherited their daddy's sensitive skin.

At four months Barrett's stats are:

Height: 26 inches - 89th percentile

Weight: 15 lbs 12.6 oz - 74th percentile

Head: 16.5 inches - 45th percentile

We will wait another month or so before we begin Barrett on solids. I know Bodie was over 5 months when he started so that is our plan with Barrett also. Of course Curt thinks maybe we should think about starting sooner if Barrett keeps waking up during the night. He had been doing so well sleeping through the night, until the past few weeks. He did sleep through last night so hopefully the trend is returning on its own.

Potty Training... or Lack There Of

2008-11-29T22:30:00.002-06:00

We thought this nice, four day weekend would be a good time to gauge Bodie's interest in and readiness for potty training. After 2 days I've decided his interest is about a 5 and his readiness is about a 2 (he can sit on the pot with out falling off, usually). Yesterday morning he asked to wear his underwear (I'm guessing because we had talked it up so much all week). He had it on and we took him to the bathroom about every 15-20 minutes. He went willingly and sat on the toilet fine but would never go. Then we were enjoying a snack and I thought I felt something warm against my leg. Of course I didn't think it would have been Bodie peeing in his pants, but right after the snack we went to the bathroom and he was wet. He hadn't even phased him when he did it. I knew that couldn't be a good sign. He insisted on wearing underwear again so we let him until his nap. He managed to stay dry the rest of the morning, but never did go on the toilet.

Then today we decided to try again. Since Bodie and I were going shopping in the morning we waited until after his nap to bring out the underwear. I'm not sure if I would consider what happened today more of a success or failure but he ended up with 2 accidents and no peeing in the toilet. The only success I can make of it is that he was clearly bothered each time he peed in his pants. That has to be better than Friday when he didn't care at all. I think we are going to wait another month before trying with him again. Maybe by then my fantasies of Bodie waking up one day magically potty trained will come true!

A Thursday evening conversation

2008-11-21T20:48:00.003-06:00

Me: Bodie, guess what tomorrow is.

Bodie, excitedly: Tuesday!

Me: Noooo

Bodie: Your Birthday!!

Me: Noooo, it's Friday!!

Bodie, disappointed: Oh, Friday.

Random thought from our trip

2008-11-11T02:27:00.002-06:00

How do you avoid weight gain from your mother-in-laws cooking - vomiting! Not advocating an eating disorder here but Sunday morning was a little rough for me. Thankfully I got it all out of my system before we left for home, but it made the trip home even longer than it was.
Bodie loves garlic german sausage. He gave up his pseudo-vegetarianism to down this stuff like candy Sunday morning. I wasn't at the table to see it but Curt said it was a crazy display. When we got home Sunday evening we went to my parent's house for dinner and Bodie took 2 bites of his hot dog without us asking. Insane!
Curt thought it would be great to leave around Bodie's nap time so he'd sleep in the car for part of the drive home. Unfortunately Bodie stuck to his strict no sleeping in the car rule and stayed awake coloring and watching DVDs. Thankfully he is pretty adaptable on no nap and was well behaved considering his lack of sleep.
Barrett is evidently a chunky baby. We went to visit Curt's aunt on Friday and the first thing out of her mouth was "he's a fatty!". Then when we went back to school yesterday Barrett's teacher commented on how he looked more "filled out". I had to go and buy him size 3 diapers yesterday because he has leaked out with every single poo for the past week. They are labeled to be from 16 pounds and I have a tough time believing that Barrett would weigh that much now, but I don't know why else he'd be leaking out of his diapers so much (we had him in 3 different brands and he leaked out of all of them).
Barrett was a great traveler - sleeping or staring at himself in the mirror toy for most of the trip. It was a refreshing change from Bodie at that age, when he wouldn't sleep much and would scream a lot.

Fooball Game

2008-11-08T22:00:00.002-06:00

Today we headed up to Chadron to watch a football game. We went up a little early to spend some time at Curt's brother Doug's house. We brought Grandma Cheri along to babysit Barrett at Doug's house during the game and we thought Bodie would enjoy going to the game with us. Unfortunately the game started right at nap time and Bodie was horribly whiny. I bought him a balloon, but nothing could get him in a better mood. I'm guessing a lot of it had to do with him waking up at 5:30 this morning and the fact that it was a fairly chilly day. He kept saying "Doug's house, Doug's house" so I took him back there after the first quarter. He must have been so excited to be leaving the game he didn't even notice the balloon fly out of the car as I was buckling him in. I took him back to Doug's and then returned to see part of the 2nd quarter and half-time (not that there was any half-time entertainment at the game). I was kind of torn about whether or not I should leave a bottle for Barrett or just go and feed him. Ultimately I decided I didn't want any more to do with my breast pump than necessary so at the start of the 3rd quarter I went back to feed Barrett. Lucky for me I walked in to 2 babies with dirty diapers. So by the time I got them both changed and Barrett fed, I got back to the game part-way through the 4th quarter (it was a pretty quick moving game).

For a kid who whined about being at the football game, he did great hanging with Grandma and Doug. Especially great for not having any nap at all. Of course he got to snack on cookies, chips and juice all afternoon (yikes!) and wouldn't touch his dinner at all but I guess that is what happens when you hang out with Grandma. On the car ride back to Grandma's Bodie slept for maybe 45 minutes. Needless to say he was ready for bed when we got back tonight.

Titles are over rated

2008-11-07T09:45:00.002-06:00

Yesterday we made the trek out west to visit my in-laws. They had not gotten to meet Barrett yet so we finally decided it would be better for us to visit them than wait for them to visit us. At 6:30 yesterday morning my mother in law called to warn us that it was very windy out here, and by the looks of things, windy along our entire trip. The wind was annoying and we also ran into rain and a little snow. We stopped to eat lunch in Ogalala and at that point decided it would be better to get off the interstate (away from the semis) and instead take the highway the rest of the way. That really helped calm my nerves (and I wasn't even the one driving). Bodie and Barrett did alright on the drive out here. Barrett mostly slept, except when he ate. I tried feeding him at the restaurant while we had lunch but that turned out to be too frustrating for everyone involved so, after I quickly ate, we headed to the van so Barrett could get his lunch too. I think he was too hot under the cover up thing I had tried using and he was just very fussy.

Once we got here Bodie was being a bear and we tried getting him down for a nap. Thankfully Bodie is very well behaved for Curt and Curt was able to talk him into laying quietly in bed. I was a little nervous because he isn't used to being a such a big bed and the room he is in is upstairs, away from everyone. We put a gate in the doorway so he can't come out by himself. He did ok with his nap and when he went to bed last night but he heard Curt get up at 4:45 this morning to use the bathroom and got out of bed. I brought him into our bed, which ended up being a bad move. Curt finally took Bodie back to his room and laid down with him for a couple more hours. Hopefully tonight will go better (and Curt's bladder will cooperate).

My mother in law is already spoiling us with her great cooking. We had Chicken Noodle soup (with mashed potatoes?!) for dinner last night and a really good breakfast pizza this morning. I'm pretty sure I'm going to gain back the 10 pounds I've lost the past few months.

Am I right or Am I right?

2008-10-21T21:39:00.002-05:00

Each day my routine at daycare is the same. In the morning I drop off Barrett and then Bodie and in the evening I pick up Bodie and then Barrett. Today there is a sign on the door of the infant room which I casually glanced at as Bodie and I walked in to get Barrett. I noticed something about wearing booties when you come in the room and wondered if it was a new policy or just because it was raining out (I always slip off my shoes or put booties on when it is wet out). I started getting Barrett ready to go and the teacher told me about the sign on the door. I told her I'd seen it but not completely read it. Then she told me what else it said. They no longer want older siblings to come into the infant room. Are you kidding me??? What am I supposed to do, take Barrett into a room of 2 year olds that cannot keep their hands to themselves? I explained to the teacher the reason for my routine (so Barrett doesn't get mauled everyday). She said I could quickly put Barrett in the room in the morning, take Bodie to his room, and then come back to get things situated with Barrett, and then the opposite in the evenings. The reason, she tells me, is to cut down on the amount of germs in the infant room since RSV season is upon us. So I guess it is better for Barrett to go to the 2 year old room, get exposed to all of their germs, and bring them back to the infant room to share with all his friends. Yeah, that makes complete sense to me. If anyone has a defense of this new policy, I am all ears (eyes). I just cannot see how this makes sense. And you better believe if I see the teacher's daughter in there at the end of the day I will say something. I should also add that Bodie doesn't touch anything in the room, except for Barrett and our car seat (he likes to put it away). Oh and should I also wrap the car seat up in plastic - I'm sure it is carrying just as many germs as the bottoms of my shoes!

I had a emotionally draining day as it was so I did shed a few tears on the way home from work (I know, a silly thing to cry over, but I've got all those mommy hormones overflowing today). Anyway, Bodie was sitting in the back seat, acting a little crazy. I was ignoring him and he finally said "Booty no funny?" Awww...he can always make me laugh!

Amen Barrett

2008-10-17T06:28:00.003-05:00

Probably more than a month ago we were praying before dinner and for some reason Curt said "Amen Brotha" at the end. Of course our little repeater chimed in with an "Amen Baby". That quickly put an end to Curt screwing around with prayer time but Bodie kept at it with an "Amen Baby" at the end of each prayer. Until last week...now each night we say grace and Bodie ends it with an "Amen Barrett".

So far so good...

2008-10-13T21:31:00.002-05:00

Our daycare was closed today so Curt had the privilege of staying home with the boys, since he too had the day off. After Bodie's use of the word dammit all weekend, I was hoping an extra day home would help get it all out of his system. We tried ignoring his use of it for most of Sunday, but by the end of the day I ended up telling him, again, that it is not a word that we say. I don't think it is something I can send him to time out for because I truly don't think he understands that what he is doing is wrong. Anyway, since my last chat with him we have not heard him say it. Curt said Bodie even dropped things today and didn't say anything, so I am hopeful that when he goes back to school tomorrow he won't be "that kid" teaching all the other kids naughty words.

Dammit

2008-10-12T05:56:00.004-05:00

Curt has been warning me for months now that when Bodie uses his first expletive I will have no one to blame but myself. Around Bodie I only use those words when something really bad happens, like I shut my dog's paw in the window (Deuce is OK though). So Friday night Curt was gone refereeing and before 7:30 Barrett started getting really fussy and I knew it was time to feed him and put him to bed. Typically when Curt is gone it works out that I can feed Barrett while reading Bodie his bedtime stories but it was a little early for that on Friday. I talked Bodie into coming upstairs to my room and watching TV while I put Barrett to sleep. Sounds good in theory but Bodie has a short attention span when it comes to TV. He'll watch for somewhat longer periods if it is Blue's Clues or his Tractors DVD but the DVD player in our room quit working, so I had to resort to the (annoying) Wonder Pets on Noggin. Bodie was pretty restless and climbing all over the bed, which was making Deuce a bit nervous. Deuce jumped over my legs and knocked the remote off the bed and I said "Dammit". Which Bodie then repeated, and repeated, and repeated. I couldn't help but laugh. Yesterday he was pulling his wooden train off his shelf when it fell apart and he said "dammit!". Yikes! I explained to him we do not use that word (nice example you set mommy!). But he continued to use it all day yesterday when things didn't go his way. So I continued telling him not to use it. Curt thinks our new method should just be to ignore it and maybe Bodie will quit using it. This has taught me a very valuable lesson though. When Joe Ganz threw that horrible interception during overtime last night, all I could say was "shoot" which Bodie dutifully repeated over and over again...

Our Family

2008-10-12T05:47:00.005-05:00

Over a week ago, daycare asked me to bring in a family picture for Barrett's room. Due to just plain busy-ness (and mommy not being put together enough to look descent in a picture) we couldn't seem to get it done. Late last week Barrett's teacher asked if she could snap a picture of the 3 of us (meaning me, Bodie and Barrett) to use as our family picture. Well, um, at the risk of sounding horrible and judgemental (which I know I can be) I didn't want to look like a single parent family, so I politely declined and promised to bring one on Monday. Finally yesterday our neighbor came over to snap a pic of us.

Funny Things

2008-10-03T16:06:00.003-05:00

Bodie does so many funny things now:

When you stop hard in the car he says whoa.

He says hereyago as if it is all one word. Also likes saying ohhh-kaaaay and allriiiight.

He will say Hi Becky to me. And I'm no longer mama, I am mommy.

Milk has gone from no to nolk. Water is sometimes oh and sometimes tahter.

We were screening our calls one evening when SIL called. Bodie decided to go ahead and answer it himself. Then, while I was (stuck) talking to her, Bodie decided to hang up.

When a song he enjoyed is over on the radio he claps and says yay.

He calls a lot of his friends and teachers by name.

He gives us running commentary from the back seat on whether Barrett go nite nite or Barrett awaaaake.

When I get him up in the morning he will ask if dada go work. When I pick him up from daycare he will ask if dada ruh-reeee (referee).

He searches endlessly for (grass)hoppers.

If he finds them, he will try to smash them.

He has a book called Mommy Hugs that shows how all the different animals hug their babies. He was looking at it one night and then would hug me how that animal hugged their baby (with a squeeze, pat, tickle, etc).

He wants a bowl of cheerios every evening for snack time.

2 Months

2008-10-02T21:16:00.004-05:00

Barrett had his 2 month appointment today and is growing by leaps and bounds. He is now 23.75 inches long, 12 lb 11.6 oz and head circumference of 15.75 inches. His length held steady at the 75th percentile. His weight jumped from 45th to 75th and his petite head is now average, at the 50th percentile. He seems to be on track developmentally which is nice to hear. The poor guy did have to endure 5 shots plus the rotovirus oral vaccine today so he was a bit on the crabby side this evening.

For some reason Curt thought it would be "easier" to bring Bodie along to Barrett's appointment. I can't really say I agree since the doctor is just about Bodie's least favorite place to be. On the way there we really tried to talk up the fact that Barrett was the one seeing the doctor and not Bodie but Bodie still freaked out when the nurse called Barrett's name to take us back to the exam room. Once we had Barrett undressed Bodie began to relax and really was good for the most part. I still think it would have been easier just to stop back at daycare to pick Bodie up after we finished with Barrett's appointment though.

Such a little boy

2008-10-01T06:42:00.002-05:00

Bodie is definitely "all boy". He loves to climb and jump off things. He has to point out every airplane or motorcycle he hears. Last night as we were leaving daycare I opened the door of the van to Barrett's seat. Bodie immediately climbed in. I thought he was just going to go over to his seat and wait for me to put him in and buckle him up. Instead he went to the front (driver's) seat. He sat there and steered the car and messed with the controls (thankfully the keys were in my hands otherwise I wouldn't have let him up there). I couldn't help but laugh at him, which doesn't help matters when trying to get him to his seat so we could go home. Curt warned me now that Bodie will probably try this pretty much every time we are going somewhere. I'm sure after another time or 2 I won't find it quite as amusing and definitely will put a stop to it.

At our 2 year doctor visit back in July, we had to answer "no" when the nurse asked if Bodie referred to himself in the 3rd person. He is finally starting to do that. Last week I told him we needed to go to Bodie's side (of the van) and he repeated Booty's side. Then all weekend I asked him what his name was and he'd say Booty. Now he points and name's himself in pictures and refers to his things as Booty's xxx. The funniest was earlier this week I was getting ready to take Barrett to bed and Bodie said Booty go nite nite too?

Great Weekend!

2008-09-21T21:30:00.004-05:00

What a great weekend we've had! On Saturday we went down to the Farmer's Market, mainly to pick up some honey (a vendor there has very tasty honey and it is cheaper than you can find in the store). We also picked up some sweet corn, which was a huge hit with the younger crowd.Then mommy got out of the house for awhile to get her haircut and grocery shop, all while driving our new (to us) mini van.The mini van was great for hauling around our groceries (not that I bought that much - I actually stayed within budget!). And it is nice and spacious for trips with the whole family. I think we will enjoy having it.

The one down fall of the weekend was Bodie's stereotypical 2-year old behavior. Curt put him down for his nap at 1, and at 1:30 he was still awake. Then at 2:20 we heard banging coming from his room (we figured he was just kicking the wall or head board of his bed). There were strings of "hi mommy" and "hi dada" (I've told him in the past to say something when he wakes up so we know to come and get him). Since he'd already had a time out that day I told Curt I thought Bodie should stay up in his room for 2 hours if he wasn't going to sleep. Sure enough pretty soon we heard deep breathing over the monitor. We had decided to go to 4 pm mass Saturday night but given Bodie's behavior we arranged for him to hang out at Grandma's instead. Curt went to get him up around 3:30 and could only crack the door to Bodie's room open before hitting something. Turns out Bodie must have gotten very tired trying to get out of his room and feel asleep right infront of the door.

After church a father/son combo came to look at Curt's truck (it had to go since it isn't at all family friendly) and they bought it on the spot. Curt had only listed it on Craig's list Friday morning so we were surprised it sold so fast. The son had just had surgery and couldn't drive due to the meds he was taking, but they came this morning to pick the truck up.

We didn't have too much planned for today. Curt wanted to mow the lawn this morning so I took both boys to the park. Bodie was very well behaved and did well playing on his own (I carried Barrett in the Snugli so there wasn't a lot I could do with Bodie). It was a good way to burn off some of his energy so maybe he'd nap today (and he did...woohoo).

Then tonight was the topper. For so long Bodie has been asking to go potty (and now likes to ask Curt and I if we "go poopy" every time we go in the bathroom). He likes to sit on the pot, wipe (someday I will explain to him boys don't need to do that for peeing), and flush. Tonight he went and sat on his little potty chair. Usually one of us goes in with him but since he's never gone I just let him amuse himself while I cleaned up from his snack. I looked in the bathroom and saw him brushing off his legs like he'd gotten something on them. I didn't pay too much attention, finished what I was doing, and then went in there. He'd finally done it!!! Unfortunately since he was unsupervised, only a few drops made it in the potty chair and the rest were all over the floor. I laid the praise on thick and Bodie was very proud of himself. We'd promised him ice cream when he finally went, so it like we'll be headed to the dairy sweet one night this week (thankfully it doesn't close for the season until this weekend).

But does it have a TV?

2008-09-16T21:35:00.003-05:00

I go back to work on Thursday. I have really enjoyed my time off with Barrett, but it will be nice to start finding our routine. The one (well not the only one) part of my return I am not looking forward to is the time I'll have to spend with my pump. After I had Bodie I became well acquainted with my pump, too well. I only pumped, never really breastfed him at all. I think that is why I've been so reluctant to use my pump this time. I pumped enough early on that I probably have a couple days worth of milk stashed in the freezer, and then enough lately so that he's had a bottle each week to practice on (and he does pretty well with it, thankfully). My return from work will mean a return to a little room where I get a couple of breaks from work each day to take care of business. With Bodie that room was in the basement. I really don't think anyone else used it as when I first went down there there were power cords in the doorway so I couldn't even completely latch the door shut. Then there were bugs crawling on the floor. Not exactly a nice, relaxing environment. In the week before my maternity leave I was back in that room - it had been turned into a pretty nice conference room. At least I knew I wouldn't be back in the dungeon when I returned but I didn't know where I'd end up. Thankfully today my boss gave me the scoop. They evidently now have a pretty nice room with a microwave, fridge and bathroom. A little sign on the door that says open or occupied. And a key for that door which completely closes and evidently locks too!

TV Junkie

2008-09-12T16:52:00.002-05:00

Before I met Curt I was a TV addict. I had my VCR set to record all of my favorite shows (maybe that is why I was available when we met). Once we started hanging out more my TV watching consisted of Thursday night NBC (Friends, ER) and ESPN. It was either that or spend less time with him, since he didn't share he same love of TV that I did (well he did but only of sports on TV). A few years ago we got our DVR and slowly my addiction crept back. I've kept things under control until my maternity leave. There has been so much great television on that I really feel I will go through withdrawals when I return to work in less than one week. I was able to catch up on the last 7 or so episodes of Ugly Betty. I watched the entire season of Breaking Bad. One day I watched a marathon of Tori and Dean goes to Hollywood (or whatever it is called. It was like crack - I just couldn't stop watching). I've been trying to catch up on Weeds but since I watch that on-line it has been a bit tougher. I've stayed caught up on the new season of Mad Men. I think I've seen every episode of Babies: Special Delivery. The Olympics were great for 2 weeks of TV watching. The U.S. Open (tennis) was also on. Last weekend we had a free preview of HBO and Cinemax. So far I've watched Hairspray, Dreamgirls, Waitress, and Evan Almighty. This weekend is a Starz and Encore free preview and I've already watched Dan in Real Life. I'll have to immerse myself in TV for 3 days next week before it is yanked out from under me and I am back in my TV-less cubicle.

lil gangsta

2008-09-05T22:37:00.002-05:00

...and his beagle entourage.

Happy, Happy, Happy, Happy, Happy

2008-08-21T21:34:00.002-05:00

Those are the words of a song Bodie learned at daycare that he is always walking around singing and fits Barrett's doctor appointment today. At Barrett's 3 week doctor visit today he has grown 2 inches (now 22 inches, 75th percentile). He weighs 8 lb 15.5 oz (naked - we paid attention this time). The pediatrician wanted him to be 9 ounces above birth weight and Barrett was 11.5, which is great!. His weight is only in the 45th percentile. It is definitely a change from Bodie who was always in the 90s for height and weight during his first year. His head is also only in the 40th percentile. I knew his head was little but I didn't think it was that small. Hopefully he won't look like he has a disproportionately small head as he gets bigger. So I think I'm done worrying about weight gain. Obviously we are doing somethings right in that area. Our next adventure will be to introduce a bottle, hopefully this weekend. I just need to find some time to pump but Barrett is so erratic in his eating I am afraid if I pump he will want to eat again soon after that. He usually sleeps well in the morning so I guess I need to stop being lazy and pump first thing. It is just hard to get out of bed to get that done :)

Oh Bodie

2008-08-15T13:57:00.004-05:00

I don't know if it is because Barrett is such a little guy, but all of a sudden Bodie just seems so much older and grown up to me. He is talking so much and wanting to do so much on his own. He can now open our patio door. I tried putting a stop to it by locking the door but the little smarty pants simply unlocks and opens it himself. It is nice because he will stand there and let the dogs in and out, but I am afraid he is going to open and walk out there with out us knowing. This wouldn't be such a big deal but our deck is fairly high up (we have a walk out lot) and I am still afraid of him going up and down the deck stairs on his own.

Since Curt has been taking him to school the past 2 weeks, Bodie has gotten very excited about being in his new room. When I was taking him, I'd have to carry him in there and hand him off to his teacher. Now Curt tells me Bodie just goes running down the hall and the teacher has to ask Bodie to say good-bye. I'm afraid when Barrett and I start taking him next week he will regress back to his old ways.

Bodie has also become obsessed with ice cream. We had some root beer float bars from the Schwan's man in our garage deep freezer and every time we stepped into the garage, Bodie would open the freezer door and exclaim "i scheam, i scheam". Once those bars were gone we tried giving him some sugar free popsicles instead, which seems to have put the kibosh on his ice cream cries. Last night I was craving some real ice cream though so I told Bodie to be good and he'd get a special treat, which he immediately knew would be "i scheam".

Some random funny things:

When watching the Olympic swimming events, Bodie exclaims "oh oh" and "fish fish" (oh = water and fish = swimmers, who I guess do somewhat resemble fish).

He'll say "bite mama oh" when he wants a drink of my water. I get the bite for drink part but not why he insists on calling water "oh" (and he calls milk "no").

The other morning he found a pacifier in the corner of Barrett's crib. He grabbed it and immediately put it in his mouth. The kid hasn't had a pacifier since he was 6 months old! I explained to him it was for babies only and he didn't need it since he was a big boy. Thankfully he hasn't tried that since.

On Saturday my family was over to have dinner with us. My mom and sister in law took my niece to the bathroom so of course Bodie had to join them. He stood in front of the toilet and "grabbed himself" trying to use the toilet like daddy would (fully clothed, of course). He has such an interest in using the toilet, he just hasn't actually gone yet. His teacher told me this happens a lot and all of a sudden one time he'll just surprise himself and go. Until that happens we are not going to push potty training at home, even though he insists on "no more di di" each morning when he is getting dressed.

Weight Update

2008-08-15T13:45:00.002-05:00

We went back to Milkworks this afternoon and Barrett is up to 8lb 5oz. Since Curt and I don't (over) analyze things at all we've come to the following conclusions...

He is above his birth weight
He has gained 12 oz since we left the hospital (12 days ago)
He has gained 3 oz in 4 days since he was last weighed, which Curt says is average of what "they" say (1/2 to 1 oz per day)
We really believe the weight at the doctor's office was crap
His color is looking really good, still peeing and pooping plenty, and eating every 2-3 hours

We go to the doctor on Thursday for his well baby visit. Hopefully we won't have to defend his weight gain (if they measure based on the 7lb 15oz mark) but I feel prepared if we do. Our pediatrician is fairly relaxed about things so hopefully he won't try to say there is an issue.

We celebrated the good news with lunch at Lazlo's...Mmmm... We had planned to go there as my "last meal" before Barrett was born but wasn't able to make it with the birth getting moved up like it was. Definitely a nice way to spend the afternoon with Curt before he goes back to work on Monday.

Independent Baby

2008-08-14T06:13:00.002-05:00

Bodie has become very independent lately. We can no longer completely peel his bananas, just get it started for him. He has to scoop the cottage cheese into a bowl all on his own. And yesterday our fear of fears came through...he figured out he can get out of bed without mom or dad there with him. I was awaken from a dream at 7:30 to hear a banging at Bodie's door. Sure enough he was standing at the door trying to get it open (thankfully our door knobs are a bit high and he can't quite get them turned yet). I hope this isn't a new habit for him, but something tells me it probably is.

Bodie is still getting along great with Barrett. We do need to keep an eye on him though because sometimes his hugs borderline on tackles.

Scale Obsession

2008-08-11T15:42:00.002-05:00

When Barrett was discharged from the hospital he weighed 7lb 9.6oz, down from his 8lb 4oz birth weight. Since he was a little jaundiced we had a follow up appointment at our pediatricians office the following day, where Barrett weighed in at a hefty 7lb 15.5oz. Curt and I were so surprised and excited, thinking how great breastfeeding was going. Although we did think that was a pretty steep gain in around 33 hours. Today we decided to stop by MilkWorks to check on Barrett's weight. Much to my disappointment he only weighed 8lb 2oz, not even back to his birth weight. We came home and checked the reading materials the hospital gave us, which indicated the baby should be back to his birth weight by 2 weeks of age, which for Barrett won't be until Thursday. And I also read the breastfed baby gains about 6oz a week, and Barrett has gained around 9oz in 8 days (going from the discharge weight), which seems good. He is also wet and/or dirty every time we change him. Curt also pointed out he thinks the doctor office may have weighed him with his diaper on, which could affect the weight by a few ounces (he'd gone with the nurse to weigh Barrett at the doctor office but couldn't remember for sure if the diaper was on or off), and today we weighed him in the nude. Plus different scales can weigh a little different. I'm trying not to worry too much (pretty much trying to forget the doctor's office weight). I think we are going to go back and weigh Barrett again on Friday and if I'm still worried I can put in a call to one of the lactation consultants at our doctor's office. We're keeping our fingers crossed that he is doing fine though - he certainly seems bigger to me than he was just a week and a half ago.

Medical Drama

2008-08-09T14:48:00.002-05:00

Sunday morning my mom called me at the hospital to let me know that during the night one of our dogs had gotten sick. Since the dogs had been at Grandma's I figured they'd probably just had too much to eat or helped themselves to something they shouldn't have. I told Curt about it but really didn't worry too much. Monday morning Curt woke up to find a big mess in our house. It was pretty apparent that both dogs were sick, Deuce with vomiting and Tahj appeared to be a bit backed up and was possible having some related bleeding. So I called the vet and Curt took them in. The vet ended up keeping Deuce all day for tests and observation, as well as giving him IV fluids. In the end the only thing they found on Deuce was an elevated white blood count. We took in a stool sample of Tahj's where an elevated bacteria count was found. Both dogs are on antibiotics and seemingly cured. Curt has joked that was the beginning of Tahj's weight loss regimen (he weighed 45lbs at our vet visit last Wednesday!).

Our other drama happened on Wednesday (I think - all my days are running together). Curt and I were going to run to Super Target so he had to bring in Deuce's dog kennel so he could be crated while we were gone. As he was walking across the living room he stepped on Bodie's John Deere loader and sliced the side of his toe open. I had a look at it and it was pretty deep so he put a call in to his doctor's office and got an appointment a few hours later. He ended up needing 3 stitches in it, but thankfully it doesn't hurt him and he really can't tell anything is wrong with it.

Our new arrival

2008-08-06T16:56:00.005-05:00

Wednesday afternoon I went to my last scheduled prenatal appointment before my Monday, August 4th c-section. I commented to the doctor that I'd been having contractions that day and some of them had been a little painful. She examined me and I was still only dilated 1 cm, but I was 90% effaced, losing my mucus plug, and definitely "had some things happening". She didn't think I would make it to Monday so she thought it would be best to do the surgery at 7:45 Thursday morning - yikes! Thankfully we'd spent Wednesday tying up some loose ends (getting new tags for my car, getting the dogs to the vet for their vaccinations) so we were pretty much ready. We got Bodie's things packed up that evening, and delivered him and our dogs to my parents, who graciously took them all in during our hospital stay. Curt and I finished packing our bag and tried to get some sleep before the big day. I woke up around midnight having some pretty intense and frequent contractions. Since I never experienced contractions with Bodie, I really didn't know at what point I needed to think about going to the hospital. I waited about an hour and a half and at 1:30 asked Curt if we could just go in early (which of course he said it was up to me since he had no idea either). I figured that at least if we went in they could give me my epidural early and let me sleep until our scheduled time. We got to the hospital, checked in, and I was completely thinned and 2.5 cm dilated. Thankfully my doctor was on call that night and she decided to just come in and do my c-section then. It was actually kind of funny when she came in my room and commented that she was afraid this might happen. At any rate, we welcomed Barrett Joseph at 3:30am on July 31st. He was 8 lb 4 oz and 20 in long (just a little guy compared to Bodie who was 9 lb 15.5 oz and 21.5 inches long). He did get a bit jaundiced in the hospital, but never enough to require any therapy (just a little sunbathing when we got home). All in all things are going very well. We feel very blessed to have our new addition here with us.

So far Bodie is getting along very well with Barrett. He loves giving him hug, kisses, and tickles. The other morning Bodie came into my room while I was still in bed. He climbed in the bed and started looking under the pillows for "baby". I found it a bit humorous and then explained that the baby was in his crib. Bodie gets very excited every time he sees Barrett, but I'm sure that novelty will wear off soon enough.

2 year doctor appointment

2008-07-25T16:39:00.004-05:00

Bodie had his 2 year doctor appointment yesterday. He was so well behaved at the doctor. Usually when we go he will start fussing as soon as we pull in the parking lot. Yesterday he held it together until we were in the door! Then Curt walked in just a few minutes behind us and Bodie stopped his fussing until they called his name (props to the doctor office here - we didn't even get a chance to sit before we were called back). Bodie did his normal fussing for the nurses as they tried to take all of his measurements. His stats:

Height: 37" - 96th %
Weight: 28lb 8oz - 65th %
Head Circumference: 19 5/8 - 80th %

He's growing well. His weight percentile keeps dropping at each visit but the doctor isn't concerned since his height and head measurements have held steady. He claims Bodie will just be tall and skinny.

Bodie wouldn't really talk to the doctor but he did talk to us while the doctor was in the room, which is another improvement. The doctor gave us some tips on things to do when we bring the baby home to keep Bodie from feeling left out. Bodie did have to get one shot, which he was not at all happy about, but after a few tears he was fine. All in all it was a good visit.

What a great night

2008-07-23T20:53:00.003-05:00

Lately Bodie has been a very challenging toddler. I am not sure if it is the whole "terrible twos" or he is still recuperating from a couple of sick days last week, but he has been very very whiny. He keeps whining about all of his "ouies" (that looks completely spelled wrong but sound it out and it'll make sense). Morning and night he has ouies. I'll ask him where his ouies are and he'll just give me a blank stare (except for 2 instances - once his toes had an ouie and another time it was his teeth). It has been making Curt and I very nervous that Bodie is hitting this stage right as the baby is coming, since we figure his behavior probably will not be the best when we bring a new baby into the home. Anyway, tonight was a really good night. Bodie got home from school and wanted to eat applesauce. We are usually eating dinner within about 15-20 minutes of getting home thanks to Curt getting things started when he gets off work, so I told Bodie I would let him have applesauce with his dinner. I arranged on Bodie's plate, broccoli, potatoes, pork chop, and a side bowl of applesauce. Dinner time has been another struggle at our house so I didn't know what Bodie would do with this food (we've learned asking for a food is no guarantee he will eat said food). Bodie ate the bowl of applesauce and declared himself all done with dinner. We asked him to try his other foods and he responded with no bite. I put broccoli on the fork and fed it to him and then he could not get enough. He ate every piece of broccoli I had cooked. Then he topped it off with trying a bite of potato, and getting seconds on his applesauce. He never tried his pork chop but this is probably the most he's had at dinner time in awhile, so we were very excited.

Then we went outside to enjoy what turned into a descent night, not as hot as it has been. Bodie played very well, only crying about an ouie once (which was justified since he fell down and told me his ouie was on his knee). Then we decided to head to our local ma and pa ice cream stop for a special treat. This kid can put down ice cream like no one I know. We came home, went for a short walk, took a bath, played and laughed. Definitely one of the more enjoyable nights we have had lately. It also made me a little sad, thinking of how happy Bodie was, and how good of a time we were all having, and wondering how all of this will change soon when the baby comes. Hopefully we will still be able to find a good happy balance for our family.

I did have another doctor appointment today. Somehow over the past week I've lost 3lbs (which is why Curt decided we should go out for ice cream tonight). Even with that loss the baby is now measuring a week ahead (he'd been measuring ahead by ultrasound but my belly measurement was always right track for the number of weeks I was). One funny moment came when the doctor was trying to find the heartbeat. She'd found his butt at the upper left side so she checked for the heartbeat at the lower left side. She couldn't find it there so she moved to the lower right side where she was able to pick it up. She commented about how he must be a pretty big baby to have his heart so far from his butt. She guessed he'd be around 9 lbs or so when we delivered, which made Curt pretty happy since that is his guess for the baby's size. Otherwise no real news from the appointment. I've dilated to 1 cm and my cervix has thinned a bit more than last week.

My Sister-in-Law

2008-07-22T22:08:00.002-05:00

I have 2 sisters-in-law, Curt's sister and my brother's wife. They are both pieces of work in their own ways. Curt's sister lives in Boise, so thankfully I don't have to deal with her too often (caller ID is a wonderful thing). My brother's wife lives just an hour away so I end up seeing and talking with her fairly often. She is very nice but really says some crazy things. There is usually something from those encounters that leave Curt and I shaking our heads. A few gems:

When we registered for gifts while pregnant with Bodie she checked out our registry and wanted to offer some advice (she was a mom for 6 whole months before we were so I'm sure her knowledge was at a level I could only hope to achieve someday). When we registered I did a lot of research (I highly recommend the book Baby Bargains when it comes to picking out baby goods) about which products and brands I wanted to register for. We ended up registering for the Jeep stroller. Her advice - "are you sure that is safe for infants?" As if I am dumb enough to register for a stroller that will be useless to me the first 6 months of my son's life (it is safe for infants and Bodie really enjoyed his walks in it).

Shortly before my niece was born, my SIL quit her job to take on her new job as a stay at home mom. Once she remarked to me that she would like to work outside of the home but just didn't have anyone to watch her kids. I'm not even sure what to say about this. I'm pretty sure I didn't say anything to her face when she made this comment to me. Of course I have come to learn she really doesn't "get" quality daycare...

When Bodie was just over a year old we went to visit SIL and to see our new nephew. When we walked in their (new) house Bodie had a bit of a melt down. He is definitely a shy boy and back at that time he did have a tough time when we would go to new places. She remarked that it was odd he acted like that since he went to daycare - you would think he'd be used to lots of people and different things. Well...at our daycare Bodie is in the same room, with his same friends, and same teachers everyday. It isn't like they are all thrown in a room with random people coming in and out all the time.

Finally we got our last gem at Bodie's birthday party. She asked if Bodie had learned any naughty words at daycare. Um...at the time he had been in a room with 18-24 month olds. None of their vocabularies really expanded much past the things they needed to meet their basic needs, let alone saying anything of the naughty variety.

This weekend is my nephew's birthday party. Hopefully I will get some great material from her at the party to share.

Baby Update

2008-07-21T20:44:00.002-05:00

I can't believe that 2 short weeks from today our new arrival will be here. Of course last week I was getting so frustrated with work I told a co-worker I may cut the baby out myself just to get me out of there (joking, of course). Anyway, slowly but surely we are getting ready. We've washed all of Bodie's 0-3 month clothes and put them away in his room. We moved the crib into our room - which is making me a little nervous. Once the baby is sleeping through the night the boys will share a room, but until then the baby will stay with us. I just hope that having the little guy in our room doesn't somehow backfire on us, or cause the baby not to be a good sleeper. Bodie was sleeping through the night around 8 weeks, about the same time he started at daycare. Of course we aren't expecting this baby to follow suit, although it would be really nice if he did. I also bought and have started painting the letters to his name, that we will hang up in the room he is not sleeping in. We still need to get out a few baby gear items - car seat, bath tub, bouncy chair - and get them cleaned up and ready to go. Ideally (because I am totally nesting) I want to shampoo the bedroom carpets and also the stairs. I am thinking of taking a "work-at-home" day on Friday if all goes well, which should let me get somethings done here.

I had a doctor appointment last week with an ultrasound to check my placenta. It finally has moved up and shouldn't be an issue for delivery! Also at almost 37 weeks the baby was estimated to weigh 7lb 3oz. At this same point in my pregnancy with Bodie, he was estimated to weigh 10lb 1oz, so I am pretty confident this guy isn't going to come out as big as his older brother. Bodie came 10 days after that estimate, weighing 9lb 15.5oz. I told Curt I think the new guy will be a good 8.5 lbs, but Curt really thinks he'll be over 9lbs. We'll have to see who is right on that guess (but as they say - mom's know best!).

Happy Birthday

2008-07-15T22:25:00.008-05:00

My little guy turned 2 last week. Curt and I took the day off from work and took Bodie up to the Henry Doorly Zoo. Bodie had a great time, and was very well behaved for getting so far off of his schedule. I can't believe he actually petted the animals. At the Lincoln Zoo the petting animals are behind a fence and Bodie won't get near them. I think he must have wanted to do it because Curt was and encouraging Bodie to do the same.

Bodie was not at all fond of this peacock though. We sat down to give Bodie a snack and Curt purposely fed the peacock a cracker and then the thing wouldn't leave. Bodie was not impressed at all and was sure to keep the rest of his crackers close at hand so the bird might leave him alone.

We had a small birthday party for Bodie this past weekend and Bodie received a new tricycle from his Grandma and Grandpa. It was definitely the hit of the party.

Bodie loves riding his new bike, although I had to declare it and "outside toy" because Bodie already has a riding toy in the house and, well, trikes are more suited for outdoors, in my opinion. He also kept riding over Deuce's paws and legs, which Deuce would never move and never seemed bothered by (although I was bothered watching it happen).

With his turning 2, he has moved into the 2s room at daycare. This has not gone well at all. Monday was the first day I dropped him off in the new room, or I should say attempted to drop him off. I had let him walk down the hall to his room and when we got to his old room he was set on going in there, eventually melting down and crying on the floor. His new teacher told me to go ahead and drop him off in the old room and they would move him after breakfast. This morning we tried again, but this time I carried Bodie down the hall and into his new room, when he immediately started crying. The teacher from the 3s room kept peaking over the half door at Bodie, which finally got a smile out of him. I handed him off to his teacher and he started crying again. As I was walking out of the door I heard him cry "maaa maaaa" and it just melted my heart. They assured me that when they bring him to the 2s room he is completely fine after a few minutes and seems to enjoy being in there. I've know with our past room moves it takes a few days for Bodie to adjust, but hopefully he will love it as much as he loved his old room.

Successful nap

2008-06-28T13:37:00.003-05:00

Bodie and I had a great morning together while Curt was at his golf tournament. We went to the park and then to the zoo, where we got to ride the "choo choo". Must be a special day at the zoo since the train went around 3 times instead of the normal 2 (mommy could have done without the 3rd trip but Bodie loves it so it was fine). We stopped at the store, made lunch and then it was the dreaded nap time. Bodie seemed pretty worn out from our morning so I had high hopes he'd go down easily. First he wanted to brush his teeth, which ended up in him just messing around in the bathroom so off to bed he went (without brushing), where he was still having a fit about not getting to brush his teeth. So we went back to the bathroom, he brushed, he went right back in his room, but he did not want to get in the bed. So I left him in there for several minutes, went back in and he was sitting on the bed holding his blankets for me to cover him up. He handed me his blankets, laid right down and I covered him up and left. Ahhh success!! Unfortunately I had hoped he would be starting his nap around noon since he, Curt and my dad are going to look at tractors this afternoon around 3 and he actually didn't get down until 1:15. Hopefully today will be an hour and a half kind of nap day as opposed to the almost 3 hour one he took at school yesterday - we'll have to wait and see.

Thing I love about my toddler

2008-06-27T16:00:00.002-05:00

So I feel my past few posts have been kind of negative regarding Bodie, so to show it isn't all bad I thought a post about what I love about my toddler would help me focus on the positive...

I love when I walk into his room in the morning, he is sitting in bed and greets me with a "hi mama". He then crawls off the bed and gives me a big hug and kisses.
Speaking of hugs, I love that he will hug you on one shoulder, then he turns his head and hugs you on the other shoulder.
When I pick him up from school I usually try to peak in on him through the window to see what he is doing. When I catch his eye, he tosses down his toy and runs over to the door.
I love when he gives my belly kisses (ok, he only does then when I tell him we kiss the baby not hit it, but it is still very sweet).
I love that he loves making us laugh. He does a silly walk/run/dance thing that just cracks us up, and he keeps on doing it so that we will keep laughing at him.
I love that he is such a great sleeper at night. He goes to bed wide awake and doesn't make a peep (there have been times we've checked on him an hour later and he is still awake, but we would have never known since he's so quiet).

Doctor time

2008-06-24T21:11:00.002-05:00

I decided to take Bodie in to the doctor today and we found out he had a sinus infection. I feel bad saying that I'm glad something was wrong, but we've had a rough few days around here, and if this is what I was in store for as he turned 2, I just don't know what I'd do. I'm really hoping MY irritability and foul moods are just do to being at the end of my pregnancy and things will improve after the baby comes. Anyway, Bodie was very well behaved (for him) at the doc's office and later when we were getting his script filled. He had some fussy moments but all in all I was pleased with how he acted. He even sat on the scale without a melt down so we could get an accurate weight for once (28lbs 7oz). After just one dose today his mood improved markedly and we spent a very pleasant evening together. Just in time too since I happened to forget that Curt has yet another golf outing this weekend. I really did know about this one for a long time but I have huge memory issues these days (and I also blamed my lack of remembering on the fact our calendar still said May). In any event I'm hoping for a nice mommy-son Saturday and that Bodie will - for the first time in his new bed - go down easily for me at nap time.

Me have crazy times in 70s and 80s

2008-06-23T21:19:00.007-05:00

I was cruising televisionwithoutpity.com today and came across this post, which includes the following very funny clip from the Colbert Report. It cracks me up everytime I watch it.

A Hard Day's Night

2008-06-22T20:59:00.002-05:00

I'm not sure if we are in the terrible twos, Bodie is sick, or Bodie is just teething, but we have had a rough weekend. Yesterday was the better of the two, we went to the Farmer's Market in the morning and then Curt took Bodie to the Tractor Museum on UNL's East campus (this kid has a huge tractor obsession) followed by the park. Bodie took a nice nap, was whiny but not terrible during the evening. Today was a whole other story.

Curt was going golfing today, so it was me and Bodie. Last weekend I dreaded Curt being gone all day to a referee clinic but Bodie behaved so well, I hoped today would be more of the same. I learned quickly it wouldn't be. After Curt left Bodie and I went outside. He was alright but it was so hot out already I seriously was feeling light headed, so we had to come in. Then Bodie whined until I put on his tractor DVD, we watched that for a bit and then Grandma came over and we went shopping. Thankfully Bodie is (usually) well behaved when we go out and about. After shopping we went on a picnic lunch, and drove through Pioneers Park to look at the animals, most of which must have been taking shelter from the heat. Then we came home, had a pineapple snack, changed diaper and it was nap time. Or so I thought. As soon as I changed Bodie's diaper he started crying for a diaper (a sign of impending poo). I waited another 10 minutes, nothing happened and I took him up to bed. He kept getting out of bed wanting a diaper, nothing was happening, I left for 5 minutes, went back to his room, and this cycle repeated itself for a good 30 minutes. Finally he "went", I changed him, and then the struggles continued - minus the cries for a diaper but plus the cries from mama. I ended up calling Curt, praying he was on his way home and he was. Bodie ended up falling asleep by 2:30, just after Curt got home. We let him sleep until 4:30, when Curt got him up and he was in a fog for a while after. The rest of the evening never seemed to get much better. We had to give him a haircut, which ranks on his list of least favorite activities. I did manage to feel that he finally has a 2-year molar coming in which could explain a lot of our issues. He is pretty snotty (literally from the nose not just behavior-wise) so I am contemplating calling the doctor. We've been giving him benadryl before bed but it makes him very sleepy so I can't see giving it to him during the day time. It has helped though, before we gave it to him last week he woke up a few mornings with snot all over his face but has been clean ever since we started him on it. I guess I'll see what his mood in the morning is like.

Saturday Scattegories!

2008-06-21T10:30:00.003-05:00

I think this is the 3rd Scattegories related post I've seen on Beth's blog, and I'm finally giving into my urge to play.

SCATTERGORIES - it’s harder than it looks! Play here or play on your blog. Saturday is game day! Use the first letter of your Mother’s name (first or middle) to answer each of the following.

1. What is your Mother’s name? Barb
2. Something you would find in the freezer section? Bread
3. A beverage enjoyed in the summer? Bacardi
4. A word to describe your butt? Big
5. Something you would find in your garden? Bell peppers
6. Something a cat would drag in? Bird
7. A favorite book title? Big Russ and Me
8. A fancy entree at your favorite restaurant? Burger
9. Something that is on your amazon wish list? Billard table
10. Something you have hidden under your bed? Books

Rain, Rain, Go Away...

2008-06-12T12:01:00.006-05:00

Another night, another tornado warning (or several warnings in a row). Last night the radio mentioned a wall cloud about 10 miles southwest of Lincoln heading northeast, right towards us, so we decided it would be best to hang out in the basement.
Bodie became pretty restless as the clock crept past his bedtime. We pulled out the hide-away bed, hoping he'd lay down with us and go to sleep. He was more interested in talking about the lights, pillows (lillows), eyes and shirts than to sleep. Finally about 8:20 the weather seemed to be letting up so Curt took Bodie upstairs to bed. We received a total of 4.10 inches of rain last night, with about 3.5 of that coming in just a couple hours. Here are a few pictures of the lovely "commons area" behind our house (which is typically a grass filled ditch with no water).

My thoughts and prayers go out the the families affected by the tragedy at the Little Sioux Boy Scout camp in Iowa. This really hit close to home and I am saddened by what took place there. I don't know if I feel especially struck by this because I am a mom, soon to be of 2 boys that very well could be boy scouts some day. Today I definitely feel blessed and thankful for all that I have.

A successful night in bed (G-rated)

2008-06-10T20:37:00.004-05:00

On Saturday we got Bodie his new twin bed. We were excited to try out the bed on Saturday night but it just didn't happen. It was Curt and mine's anniversary, and we planned an early date so that we would be home in time to put Bodie down in his new bed. Bodie spent the afternoon with Grandma and Grandpa and went to Papillion for Uncle Jason's 30th birthday party. Due to some bad weather Bodie did not get home until almost 10 pm, waaaaay past his bed time. When he walked in our house with a totally glazed over look on his face we knew there was not even going to be an attempt on the bed that night. Due to going to bed so late, Bodie slept in until close to 10 Sunday morning and skipped his nap that afternoon (he rested in the crib but never went to sleep). Sunday night we tried the bed again. I took Bodie up to bed, laid down with him, and tried to get him used to the bed and want to sleep in it. Every time I got up or tried to leave he would stand up on the bed and scream and cry. I was pretty tired that night, as was Bodie from having missed a nap that afternoon. So after 20 minutes I put him in his crib for the night. Last night was daddy's turn to put him to bed and after about 15 minutes with Bodie, Curt left the room and left Bodie to sleep. He wailed for about a minute and then was quiet. I checked on him about 30 minutes later and he lifted his head and said hi to me. I darted out of his room pretty quickly, and Bodie didn't seem disturbed at all. I woke around 1 am and checked on him again - he was laying across the top of the bed, sans blankets. And at 6 am Curt checked and found him laying backwards, with his feet at the head of the bed. When I went to get Bodie ready for school at 7:45 this morning I found this:

Tea Party

2008-06-09T14:18:00.005-05:00

It is nice to see Bodie can hang with the ladies, when he usually seems to be "all boy' to us...

Bad weather, late nights, very cranky mama

2008-06-05T08:51:00.002-05:00

We had a lot of severe weather in our area last night. I was up until after 11 (late for me) watching the news and listening to the radio, until I was certain we were in the clear and I could safely go to bed. Although we were in a tornado warning, we didn't take shelter. Curt and Bodie were already in bed so I kept my eyes and ears open so I could go get them if need be. Thankfully the worse of it went north of us and, even though the sirens were sounding, we didn't even get enough rain at that time to wet the ground. My dad's hometown of Ulysses was hit by a tornado but thankfully my aunt and uncle that have a farm there did not suffer damage (although the pivots on either side of them were destroyed).

So I hit the bed shortly after 11, only to get awoken at 3 by the loudest rain I'd heard in a long time. This morning on my way to work I saw a lot of flooding. The "commons area" (drainage ditch) behind our house is flooded, a local creek is very high and appeared to have flooded a bike path that runs along it in one area. We are forecast to get more rain and severe weather tonight, hopefully we will be lucky to not have the damage they are having in some parts of the area.

My lack of sleep last night has put me in a horrible mood today. First Curt was being a little loud outside of Bodie's room and he woke up shortly after 7. So, of course, I am the one that has to deal with him. He was being very whiny and I didn't know what on earth he wanted (silly me to think when you ask for crackers you want crackers). And then I went in search of my favorite Kashi cereal and it was gone. I only opened it 2 days ago, taking a small baggie of it to work with me each day. So I don't think I was lying when I called Curt (on his way to work) and pretty much bitched him out for having eaten 3/4 a bag of cereal in 2 days. He claimed there wasn't even enough for a bowl this morning when he ate it. Whatever. I checked the box today and there are 12 servings in a bag and I ate 2 (I'm confident I had 2 actual servings because I used to measure out my servings when I counted calories in my pre prego days). Seriously ridiculous! He also wasn't very happy that I called to complain to him about it, but I didn't really care today. We might have a little demonstration tonight to show him what I ate and what he ate, in 2 days!

The last thing irritating me is my crazy mother. My brother is having a party for his 30th birthday this weekend and Curt and I were invited. Well it is our anniversary (5 years) and silly me wants to spend the evening with my husband and not my entire family. I finally got my mom to understand this but now she is hounding me to at least get him a card. Ok, I am 31 years old and pretty sure I don't need my mom telling me when it is necessary to send a card or not. How could I have possibly survived out of her house for the past 13 years with out her telling me exactly how to live my life. It is a miracle I've turned out as well as I think I have.

A Conversation

2008-05-31T07:59:00.002-05:00

Curt: Are you in a good mood?
Me: Yes
Curt: I love you
Me: What do you want to do...What fun do you want to go have while I'm stuck at home?

He wants to go to a golf tournament about 2.5 hours from here - fine - about 2 weeks before the baby is due - not so fine! I thought I had him talked out of it a few weeks ago when he brought it up, but after seeing some old college friends last weekend he learned a lot of guys he hasn't seen in a long time are going to be there. Now I'm all for seeing old friends and having fun, and I try not to be "that wife" that doesn't let him go do anything, but there are times I will put my foot down. Even though we are having a scheduled c-section that is no guarantee the baby will wait until then to come (we learned that lesson with Bodie). There is a chance I'll pull out my beyotch-card and say things like "well if I am in labor, don't expect a call" or "I hope you miss the birth of your child". It is so frustrating that he isn't respecting my wishes on this one.

On a completely unrelated note Bodie is in his crib singing a little song. It goes something like this:

A guy...dada a guy...one two...shoe...puppy (various whispering I can't understand) papa...dada...

I better go get the little guy up.

Oh Trasher

2008-05-30T13:13:00.003-05:00

Bodie came back from his trip to the farm with a tractor obsession. Grandma and Grandpa had 3 tractors that Bodie loved looking at and driving!

Ignore the fact that daddy is wearing a jacket from his football days.

He has a tractor book at home that he wants to read all the time. He opens it up and says "oh trasher" over and over. I'm thinking a tractor themed birthday party might be in store this year. I'm not sure how far to take this obsession but Curt suggested we get him tractor bedding for his new twin bed that he'll hopefully move to next weekend. We'll see what I can find when I shop for bedding this weekend.

Dreams and Reality

2008-05-27T14:28:00.002-05:00

Saturday night I woke up around 2:30 am to my mother-in-law yelling for her dogs to come back in the house. The yelling lasted for probably about 10 minutes then they all came inside and I drifted back to sleep. I started having a crazy dream that I was staying at my in-laws house and there were people with guns there. I begged them not to shoot Bodie and I as we were climbing up a ladder. Then my mother-in-law yelled "oh God no" and I was awake. Now I didn't know if she was yelling in my dream or yelling in real life, and I was very freaked out. I sat up in bed and listened, trying to hear if there was any sort of commotion happening downstairs. I figured if someone had broken into the house, the dogs would be barking - and they weren't. Then I thought maybe something happened to my father-in-law, who isn't in the best of health. Or I thought maybe there was a phone call that something happened to Curt or his brother, with whom Curt was staying. After about 15 or so minutes I convinced myself I heard sirens and looked out the window - it was completely dark outside. I thought if there was an ambulance coming the porch lights would at least be on. Finally I decided to go downstairs and check things out (well I really needed to use the bathroom, so I had no choice). I went down, used the bathroom (conveniently the 2nd story was a later addition to the house and the stairs are in the bathroom, seriously). Then I stepped out, looked around, and nothing was going on. I went back up to bed, still freaked out, and I think I was up for at least another hour and a half before dozing off.

The next morning I told my mother-in-law about my dream, and we had a nice laugh about it. She figured it was because she had been out yelling at the dogs earlier, which makes sense.

Sunday night Curt and his brother (and his brother's dog) showed up at the in-laws. Monday morning we sat around the table for breakfast, while all the dogs played outside. All of a sudden the dogs spotted a car at the end of the road, and started running towards it. My in-laws dogs are country dogs, they chase and come back, but my brother-in-law's dog is a city dog, although he spends some time at the farm also. Anyway, BIL stepped outside to call his dog back and the car got closer and closer to the IL's house and ended up hitting BIL's dog. And then my MIL yelled "oh God, oh God," eerily similar to what she yelled in my dream. Very odd. Anyway, the dog seems to be fine. Curt and MIL watched the whole thing unfold (I couldn't bear to watch) and then they both ran outside to check on Hunter, along with BIL. The dog had been knocked unconscious, but all of a sudden sprang up in a bit of a daze. Then the dumb thing tried to chase the car that hit him as the driver left the scene a few minutes later. My MIL called a 24-hour vet and told them what had happened and how the dog was acting, and the vet said all seemed fine (now if it were my dog I would have taken them straight to a vet to get checked over, but whatever). When we talked to MIL last night she said the dog was sore but acting good, so hopefully he will be ok.