November 9, 2009
Usually a fun weekend for our family consists of a trip out on the boat or the beach for a few hours. But this past weekend we flew up to Maine for three days. The only downside was we wished it could be longer. Living in Florida means giving up 4 seasons for 1, so any chance I have to go to a different climate and view well let’s just say I couldn’t wait to get on that plane! I was cold for two of the three days. It was great to bundle up and see Maine again. Because my creativity is at a minimum these days here are some bits from the trip:
- Before we left both kids had to go to the pediatrician to find out Seth had his first ear infection (the day before we flew) and G just had a cold.
- We left very early in the morning but it was great because both kids slept almost the whole way on both flights and no one complained about the pressure change.
- Zia met us at the airport with hat’s and mittens for the kids, so cute. When she was putting G’s mittens on her she told her, “Put your thumb in, put your thumb in.” So G now calls mittens “Dum Dums” (that is how she says thumbs)
- We went straight to Freeport for a little shopping at LL Bean.
- G got to crash through piles of leaves for the first time and hear them crunch under her feet.
- Seth and G got new warm fleece footie PJ’s that are to cute for words.
- Seth is a true Florida boy, he was not digging all the clothing.
- Seth and Daddy went on a LONG walk to look at the water and the boats while the girls did a littl shopping
- We ate at our favorite pub.
- Went out to the cabin on the lake and saw SNOW!
- Nat and Zia finished closing up the cabin.
- We had a yummy lobster dinner.
- Nat fixed a mailbox (who knew he could do that?)
- G and Zia had a great time on the playset, including going down the slide into a pile of leaves.
- We went on a long walk by the water and from someone who really doesn’t like to go on walks it was a great walk.
And most important we got to hang out with Zia (the whole point of the trip). It was great to see her and spend time together. She made up warm comfort food to give us the whole fall experience.
This is the first trip in busy time for us. We are going away again for Thanksgiving and Christmas and Nat will travel again in January to California. I get tired just thinking about the busy season ahead of us. 
October 1, 2009
I love bacon, not as much as some people, but I really enjoy a nice hot crispy piece of bacon with my eggs or on a BLT. I also love breakfast, it is my absolute favorite meal of the day. Then add in cookies, I really like cookies, I don’t have a favorite but I would probably say chocolate chip cookies with milk is pretty high on the list.
Well my Moma has introduced us to something that combines all three of these things. Bacon Breakfast cookies, that’s right bacon in cookies! They are so yummy! Nat has been struggling lately to get up on time to do everything he needs to do before leaving for work. So the one thing that usually gets left off is breakfast. Or there is Genevieve who will usually ask for her breakfast right I get settled in for nursing Seth. Well these cookies are a great answer to that problem so yesterday I made a batch and now we can just grab a couple and breakfast is served. Plus I love any excuse to use my Kitchen Aid mixer.
As I was baking them I thought, “Why should I keep these yummy goodness to myself?” So I decided to venture out and share the recipe. Moma found it on this website (yes a whole website for bacon) but changed it a little and so I will take liberty and rename them while I share:
Moma’s Bacon Cookies
1 bag of Oscar Mayer Bacon Bits
1 Cup Butter
1 1/2 cup Sugar
2 Eggs
2 cups of Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
4 cups of Multi-grain flakes or corn flakes
1 Cup of Raisins (if you really like raisins I would add more)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat together butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Beat in egg. Combine flour and baking soda; stir into butter mixture. Stir in bacon, mult-grain flakes and raisins. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Space 2 inches apart. Bake for 15-18 minutes. Remove to rack to cool–about 2 minutes, then remove from rack.
Enjoy, I know we are!
September 29, 2009
Just call me The Lady with the Yellow Hat because I have a very curious Genevieve on my hands. Last week she had a few moments that weren’t to funny at the time but now that I have had some time I can see that it is a little funny and can share them.
First, there was the time when I thought she was playing in her room. As with all these “moments” and many others it began with being to quiet so I called out for her. I heard her running out of my room, no actually our bathroom. She had taken her little stool into the bathroom and learned how to twist off caps (something I didn’t know she could do) and decided to try to put on some makeup like Mommy. This picture is the result of said beauty moment. I am so glad she didn’t poke her eye with the mascara wand.
The next “moment” occured when I thought she was taking a nap. When I went in to check on her I noticed she was on the floor working very hard on something. She had taken a bath gel crayon (color red) and squeezed all of the gel on the carpet. I later discovered several wipes stuffed back in the wipe box with some red coloring on them, I guess she at least tried to clean it all up.
My favorite though is when she found some lotion (again, I thought she was sleeping) and decided to try to clean her mirrored-closet doors with lotion and wipes. But the lotion mayhem didn’t stop there, she also filled up the barnyard of her little farm with lotion.
I have since put things in a more appropriate place for her and gotten into the practice of closing doors (which she can open but it at least slows her down). So now I have to chase Seth around and dig whatever he puts in his mouth I also have to keep a very curious Genevieve very occupied. Oh the joys of life!
(Also for the few of you who know the story of when Will-Bill and Deborah Tilly babysat my sisters and I when we were little and the “accident” I had, well she also got revenge for them last week, for my own sake that is all I will say.)
September 29, 2009
Seth turned 8 months yesterday and it has been a busy month. As you can see he is a tired little boy. I wish I could now insert, “he is so tired he sleeps wherever” but, no he is so tired because he has decided that the afternoon is for screaming not napping! Seth is showing us he is not like his sister when it comes to the sleeping thing, he takes a pretty good morning nap but when it comes to the afternoon he likes to sit in his bed and scream none stop making for a very happy Mommy when Daddy walks in the door and can take a screaming Seth off her hands for a few minutes.
But this month he has mastered some pretty big things:
clapping, shaking his head back and forth (think No) to make us laugh, playing peek-a-boo, holding his arms up when asked, “How big is Seth?” (So BIG!), crawling (especially after things to put in his mouth), two teeth, and dancing (his current favorite is Run DMC’s My Addidas). So as you can see he has been working pretty hard this month so he just had to catch some zzzz’s in his high chair.
September 5, 2009
I can’t believe I have a two year old but I do. Today is G’s 2nd birthday and we celebrated by going to the beach with lots of friends (almost 50 people!). We had ice cream sandwiches and a sand castle/scuplture contest. The water was rougher than usual due to some storms off shore but it was the perfect temperature and still fun for the big kids. We had some shade tents and baby pools for the little ones. It was a blast.
Recently she has started to talk a lot more (one of my favorite phrases being, “Oh Man!”), begin potty training (even though I have been trying to put it off, more on that later), talking more, and is sleeping in a big girl bed. I can’t wait to see what the next year brings.
Her Zia gave her an Elmo TMX (Tickle Me Extreme) for her birthday because G LOVES “Helmo”. This toy laughs, slaps his leg, bends over, throws himself on the floor, stands up, and more. Genevieve is terrified and curious at the same time. She asks us to turn it on and then hides on the couch for safety.
August 27, 2009
This is from the second day of her swim lessons. I would love to say that G loves it but the truth is she doesn’t scream any more but she still shakes like a leaf. But, for her safety she needs to know how to swim.
August 23, 2009
Well, this month is National Breastfeeding Month which is a good thing because it has forced me to keep nursing Seth (I can’t just stop knowing this is a month set aside to celebrate breastfeeding) I have felt like I am on the verge of quitting for a while now. If you know me well you know I do not always enjoy being touched and so as you can imagine breastfeeding is a big feat for me. I wish I was one of those moms who says things when she is pregnant like, “I just can’t wait to breastfeed again and have that close bond with my child.” While of course I love the whole bonding experience (I am not that cynical) but to be honest I am counting down the months until Seth can have cow’s milk. When people ask me how long I intend on nursing I never give a firm answer (I did the same thing with G which was good since we had to stop earlier than I wished), my answer is usually, “I hope to make it until he can drink cow’s milk but you never know what might change.”
My nursing style would probably follow along the lines of a schedule feeder. I do not demand feed because well…that just isn’t how our family works (please do not think I have a problem with demand feeders, to each her own nursing style). Seth is still on a 3 hour schedule and goes from 8pm to 4 am at night. But I feel like a slave to the clock. Three hours doesn’t feel like that long any more. I find myself obsessing about the clock and trying to remember what time it was last time he ate. I am much more comfortable nursing in public than I was with Genevieve because I now have a hooter hider (great idea!). But I am no Michelle Duggar (besides the fact I don’t have 16 other children), I can’t nurse and walk around and carry on with life. So whenever I must nurse life must stop and wait. Sometimes I welcome this time with Seth and sometimes I get very anxious for him to be done (Usually when Genevieve is misbehaving and I can do nothing about it at that moment).
Seth and I are almost at the point when I had to stop nursing Genevieve. With Genevieve my production went down and she was losing weight and then I was prego again (enter Seth). But by now in her life Genevieve was sleeping longer at night and she was my only child so life was much more simple. To say I am tired would be a huge understatement, words can’t even explain how I feel some days. So in hopes of helping Seth to sleep longer I have started to give him 6 ounces of formula before he goes to bed at 8. It took a few weeks for him to even take a bottle, he is a really good eater (can you say 22 pounds at 6 months?) and so I was surprised he wouldn’t take anything that is offered to him. But we now have him taking a bottle and he will even take a bottle from someone else. But giving up that one feeding has made a big change in my attitude and helped a lot. Now I don’t feel so tied down, now I know if I had something that might keep me away from him for longer than three hours it is okay he won’t starve.
I have narrowed it down to three things that keep me going (besides the obvious that breast is best). 1) It is free 2) It has helped me lose a lot of weight and 3) Did I mention free? I am not a crafty person and when I see something that someone is selling that looks simple to make I am always annoyed when I fork over my money. So why would I pay for formula when I am obviously doing fine making my own?
I understand that nursing doesn’t work for everyone for various reasons. I would never hassle a woman about her choice to not nurse. Nursing is hard and from my own experience and others who I have talked to this was a surprise. It doesn’t always just happen, you have to work at it (nipple shield, anyone?) and you can’t always have a break. Choosing to nurse means choosing to be the only one to wake up for the 4 am feeding. Choosing to nurse means figuring out how to nurse on the beach (not always that simple) or sitting in the fitting room in Target for 20 minutes. But choosing to try to nurse and continue nursing totally overrides all the other stuff. As with most things in parenting the good out weighs the bad, it is just easy to lose sight of those good things. But with other women who have been through this or are going through this as a support system it is easy to be reminded of the good (and the grocery bill, of course). Plus seeing my sweet boy’s fat cheeks and chubby legs reminds me of how healthy he is so why would I rock the boat now.
So, National Breastfeeding Month came right at the right moment for me. I needed that push to keep going. Now I just need something to get me through September, October, November, December, and most of January (that is 5 months if you are counting, I certainly am.)
August 16, 2009
This is an outfit G’s Grandfather brought back from Cambodia for her. We taught her to bow and and say, “Ni-hao” it was pretty cute. If you look closely you can see she is wearing her ballerina leotard underneath. She loves playing dress up.
August 16, 2009
In three weeks Genevieve will be 2 years old. I know it is cliche to say this but it really is true, I can’t believe it has already been two years. This time two years ago I was very uncomfortable and very ready to hold my baby in my arms. Now I can barely catch her to put on her diaper.
On Friday a new toy store opened up in town and it just happened to be next door to Home Goods which I needed to go in and look for a few things. So of course we went in the new toy store. Well who should be there but Genevieve’s all time most favorite furry monster, Elmo.
When we say that she loves Elmo that is an understatement. She will often (at random times, mind you) start singing the theme song to Elmo’s world. When the song for Sesame Street begins she runs to the TV to wait for Elmo to appear on the screen and when he does she must point and yell, “‘Mo!”, as if it is a surprise to her that he is there.
So anyways, Elmo was there at the store opening (along with Dora but she doesn’t know who Dora is) and I had no clue how she would react. If you remember how she behaved when she met Santa you would understand my nervousness about the situation. She was equally terrified and in awe at the same time, I think if she had not been wearing a diaper there would have been a puddle under her stroller seat. She did not scream, BUT she would not let Elmo touch her and she would barely look at him. She did say in a very small voice, “Hi ‘Mo, I wuv woo ” and we tried to get her to look and give him a high five but no such luck. (On a side note, Seth could NOT take his eyes off of this huge red creature.)
So I decided it was time to leave Elmo and go explore the store. However, the whole time we were walking around and could no see Elmo she kept asking, as in a broken record, “Where ‘Mo? Where ‘Mo?” So finally I gave in a took her back to see him. This time she would not even look at Elmo. She gave him a sideways glance to know where his hands were and scooted as far over as she could in the stroller to get away from him.
At least I didn’t have to flee the store in embarrassment with my screaming child.
August 13, 2009
In my family we have a way of extending people’s birthdays (in other words, we usually send a card after the fact). In keeping with that tradition I am writing to wish my Mom a happy 60th birthday a day late.
This picture shows my mom, me, and Genevieve. My mom (with the help of my father) raised, or is still at times raising, three girls. She taught us a lot, whether we wanted to or not. She passed on to us her love of books, music appreciation, a love for travel, sarcastic wit, good food, and much more. She held my hand through panic attacks, kidney stones,and child birth.
As my sisters and I each embark on our own journey through motherhood we each find ourselves at times saying or doing something just like Moma, for example none of us want to buy our children clothes that have the brand name plastered across the front because like Moma says, “They should be paying you to wear that not you paying to wear it.” We are still at the point where we might get the shivers when we do something just like our mother but there are some things that I can’t wait to pass on to Genevieve that my mother taught me. One being a question Moma often asked us, “Who’s Princess are you?” The correct response, “God’s Princess” is one of the greater lessons she taught us and it is one I cannot wait to pass on to Genevieve.
So from one of God’s Princesses to another, Happy Birthday Moma, your baby girl loves you.
