ATL

Tomorrow, we are flying to Atlanta to see some family for a big reunion and Easter celebration.  Wyatt and I are going to be rocking seat 14B (middle, ugh) next to 2 hopefully kid friendly strangers.  Sarah and my BIL will be sitting next to their own hopefully equally fun strangers.  Gotta love cheap flights with not many seats left.

I can't wait to see all these people I haven't seen in foooorrrreveer and hoping I remember everyone's name.  Maybe we should wear nametags that include a portion of our family tree. ;)

Wyatt and I are rocking the flight home by ourselves while Sarah and BIL go onto Asheville NC for a trip before their baby arrives and prevents them from easy kid-free traveling.  I am nervous about flying with just the two of us.  All you moms of multiples, go ahead and laugh!   It is tough to do stuff like go to the bathroom.  And it is harder to handle the "cant you keep your kid happy" looks when it is just you. I am slightly scarred by this account of traveling solo with kids but figure my chances of having to strip on a plane are slim to none.  Take comfort!

My backpack is stuffed with a new copper (helicopter), a Sesame Street sticker book with 250+ stickers that you can reuse, some new library books, and a Crayola Color Wonder Cars pack. Worst case....the people next to us will get hit in the head with a copper, stickered with their favorite character, and color wandered on.  Let's do this!  I will see you bright and early 4:00 AMish.

P.S. I ALWAYS try to sneak Wyatt out to the car in the wee hours so that he can sleep on the way for trips like this.  This NEVER works.  Wyatt goes from snores to 100% ready to roll in the 2 minutes it takes to get buckled into the car.  

Our Life in Pics

I have been trying to identify this beetle bug thing for days.  I have only found one other picture on the net.  He has a pokey little beak and is taking over my backyard.  I even found one in my shirt.

Hunter fixed our fridge.  Whoo hoo.  We did have to waste a good bit of meat.  Boo hoo. 

The freezer innards

We went to a playground, a free little local museum, and of course the beach this weekend.

Wyatt and I rocked our boots from the Target. We learned from our nephews that every little boy needs some rubber boots to tromp around in.

Book Recommendation - Stephen King 11/22/63

11/22/63 by Stephen King is the best book I have read in a long time.   5 outta 5 stars.   I thought about it all day and tried to sneak in a few paragraphs every free minute I had (sorry Wyatt).  There was a love story.   There was history (JFK assassination).  There were deep thoughts. Made me think about life. Excellent drama and suspense.  You should add this to your list TODAY.   This is not a scary book.  Most of his books aren't.  I really enjoy most of his books although they are crazy and strange.  I would hate to have his imagination and go to sleep at night.

Do you want to read what I think is his scariest?  I read The Boogeyman in a book containing a bunch of his short stories.  It wigged me out.  I also read this when I was in high school.  I think I found the full text at this site if you dare to read.  Summary - the boogeyman is the cause of infant deaths (SIDS).  I might have already talked about this on the blog.  I am too lazy to look.

One of my other favorite books of his is Firestarter which I read ages ago and doesn't seem to get amazing reviews from others so maybe I only liked it way back whens.

3 Strikes

1. I got stung by a bee at the playground today.

2. Our fridge quit working the day after a big trip to the grocery store.  We are living out of two ice chests right now and I am not up for the task of cooking and cleaning enough to use up all of our meat before it goes bad or before the new parts come in. 

3. I went to Chick Fil A for lunch and saw some of the people from my newly joined mom group there.  Instead of inviting myself to join, I hid in the corner.  How lame am I?!

On a more positive note, I went to the local beach 3 times last week.

Lisa and Dylan joined us for some sandcastle building.

Toes in the sand

Beautiful weather in El Tejas right now!

Makeover App (aka time waster)

Instead of working this morning, I downloaded the Makeover App from iTunes.  What a waste of time, but gawsh I enjoyed it. 

You can try on a bunch of celebrity hairstyles. Peep these.  Download it today and ruin your productivity.  I plan to cut off all my hair and go Rachael Taylor as soon as I can. 

Elizabeth Banks I

Elizabeth Banks II

Rachael Taylor

Faith Hill

Rachel McAdams

Taylor Swift

After Party

Good news.  I found a mama group to join here.  I have been to a few playground meetups and a few library story times.  At the last playground meetup I even got an invite to the after party at Chick Fil A.  They must have passed out fliers for this party...I had to park at the Wal Mart because the parking lot at the Chick was too full.

We had fun.  We made small talk. I got a #7 with half sweet/unsweet tea.  Wyatt got the grilled chicken nuggets meal.  At this rate, my awkward self will have a friend in no time. :)

The Sonic here has a playground so I stopped there during happy hour yesterday.  I bypassed all of the half price drinks for a banana shake.  This was a totally wonderful impulse purchase that I will impulsively by again.  I am going to see if I can make just a plain banana smoothie taste almost as good (yah right, ice cream is what makes it).

P.S. Blue Bell has a lemon bliss ice cream out right now that I think is really tasty. 

Too Busy

Howdy.  I have been too busy being lazy to write much these days. 

The House:
Most of the boxes are unpacked (thanks Mom). Most of the rooms are organized (thanks Kathleen). Most of the paintings / decor are on the wall (thanks Hunter).   What have I done?  Hmmm..not much comes to mind.

The Kid:
He is sleeping an hour later than usual for right now so we are now 2 hours off schedule thanks to the time change.  This one nap thing is working out a-ok as long as we have an activity in the morning (park, walk, story-time).  Wyatt had his 18 month appointment today, and whadda ya know, he is still tiny.  BUT he is growing at a good rate and he didn't cry once with his new doctor. I think we both liked him.  He is acting so sweet and grown up that I spend a good part of my day watching my sweet boy and feeling *whelmed by his sweetness and grown upness.  He loves to give hugs and kisses right now.  Almost every bo-bo can be fixed by a little kiss from mama.  I am trying not to let that power go to my head.  At bed time he pushes my head down so that it touches his head for a little bit of rocking chair quality time.  Where did this cuddly boy come from? I don't know.  Where did this sentimental mama come from?  I dunno that either. 

The Fitness:
I did 10 push ups yesterday.  Sometimes Wyatt and I go out for a stroller wog.  On to the next topic.

The Food:
As usual, I have been using PW to inspire me. Here are a few PW recents that really hit the spot.
Salad Tacos - Crunchy shells dressed with a mixture of ranch dip and salsa. I felt like a kid again.
Avocado Egg Salad - Wyatt chowed down on a sandwich with this in it
Petite Vanilla Scones - I made these for a baby shower and they were a big hit.  Pretty easy too!

Veggies in my fridge to use this week...swiss chard, spinach, collard greens, and snap peas. 

The Parenting:
The sandbox that Lisa gave us has allowed me to spend the least amount of time parenting this week.  Ha ha.  Lots of alone time in that sandbox. This will pass, but it shore is nice. 

Yah, he is wearing his jammies here.

Save The Daylight

We just got adjusted to our new time zone and new one nap a day schedule. You know what that means? Let's screw it up by changing the time on Sunday....muuuhahahahhaha. 

So I am torn on the whole one nap thing.  I think Wyatt was ready for it, but he almost falls asleep while eating lunch some days....a chewing induced coma.  He does stay happy all morning.  He takes a really good afternoon nap...I am talking 2.5 to 3.5 hours. 

The mornings feel a bit long for me without a nice Wyatt-nap break and it is harder for me to get work done. I made up this "rule" where I work until 9:00 AM for as much as Wyatt will let me, and then I return to being a good mom again until nap time at 12:00.  This means he roams the house, watches Mighty Machines/Elmo, and is forced to play by his lonesome.

In other news, there is a 1.5 mileish paved trail at a small college across the street from us.  The trail goes quite a bit back away from civilization, and I am usually the only one out there during the day.  After work there are quite a few people out there.  While I am out there, all of these warnings play in my head about being by myself in a secluded area.  Please advise! I am in a safe, small nice part of town.  I am on college or city property.  It is a paved trail intended for exercise.  Nobody could hear me if I screamed for help and nobody could see me when I am towards the back.  I am pushing my precious little boy in a stroller.  I am carrying my pink pepper spray and I have my phone usually. 

Should I just enjoy my exercise out in the "country" where its nice and quiet? Or is it unsafe and I need to run around the streets in my neighborhood....boring.