DipTacular

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!

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

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

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

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!

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

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.