I Am There, But I'm Not

I ripped a pair of my sleepy shorts in half at the seam by bending over.

I don't fit in size small maternity shirts anymore unless you want to see the lower portion of my belly.

I went to Wal Mart and bought that awesome 6 pack of 2 size up cotton undies and I wish I would have done that ages ago.  

Every time I read the word bump I think blimp would be a better choice of words.

The panel in my maternity shorts cuts a line into my belly by the end of the day.

I weigh more than my dad!

The hardest part of my day is getting out of bed. No wait, the hardest part of my day is getting off the floor after playing. Wait, the hardest part of my day is getting into bed and getting comfortable.

One more month to go. I think every prego gets to a point where they wonder how in da world their body is going to accept additional weight gain. I am there. Today.  Mini panic. Oh well, I am going to go make some version of this pumpkin smoothie for breakfast.  What other pumpkin recipes are floating around the blogga-world?  I need to use up some canned pumpkin. 

Partied Too Hard

Hello my loyal (and very few) blog readers.  I have been so busy and lazy that I put blogging below cleaning toilets on my to do list.  Basically, I have been partying too much!  You know, the usual 8 month pregnant girl problems.


Tractor birthday parties for Wyatt and Hunter.   Family birthday parties for the 79% of my family that was born in September. 

Birthday boy #1

Birthday boy #2 with a nephew

Bachelorette and bridal showers for my friend Stephanie.

Me making macarons

Stephanie making macarons

We took a Macarons cooking class, we had a lingerie shower, we had dinner, there was a bridal shower.  Lots of fun fun fun!

I did lots of cooking, crafting, and planning over the past few weeks (never thought I would say those words), and I am enjoying being lazy this week.

A few of my labors over the past few weeks:

Make ahead and freeze Funfetti Pancakes for a birthday celebration.  Tasty and cute!

Some amazing make ahead shrimp cocktail to be paired with homemade cocktail sauce.

Also, did you know you can make macaroni and cheese in the crock pot?  It's not as good, but it is still pretty good and you don't have to do any work?!? My sister found a recipe.  Maybe this is it?

Did you know you could buy tractor nail decals on Etsy here?  Well you can, and I packaged them up a bit cute like for a party favor.  I rocked my John Deere and Farmall decals for 2 weeks (including to the bachelorette party)

A few Cricut banners for a bride to be weekend (our color scheme was silver, gold, and white) ...

Some tasty treats...

Swim Suit cookie cutters from Hobby Lobby, this delicious cookie recipe, and this royal icing recipe.  I add some almond extract to the icing.  I piped with a Wilton round tip 4 and 5 and was able to make a few almost decent looking. You can make all of this a week in advance.

Cupcakes with pearls and glitter.  I used the Wilton 12 star tip on these.  I tried 2 home made vanilla cupcake recipes that were sorta flops so I went with a nice box of French Vanilla that turned out pretty tasty.  I iced with this buttercream recipe. 

White chocolate truffles with sprinkles.  I can't remember the exact recipe I used but truffles are so easy and can be made way in advance.  A few things I learned...use paramount crystals to thin your candy melts.  This works much better than shortening and has a better taste.  Also, people prefer Merkens candy melts over whatever you can find at Hobby Lobby.


So that is all!  Hopefully I didn't gain 10 lbs, but I had to eat a lot of mess ups and taste tests.  

Happy Birthday Hunter

Stats
396 months old
Weight - Less than me
All teeth in
Fully potty trained
Clothes size extra medium

Eating
3 meals a day, 2 coffees a day
Favorite foods are whatever I cooked for dinner
Loves desserts but I am not really a baker
Eats cereal almost every weekday so I can laze around and sleep until Wyatt wakes me up

Sleep
9:30 PM to 5:30 AM and no naps
Occasionally a snorer
Frequently a bed hog

Skillz
Fixing everything...I am so spoiled by growing up with my dad and now living with him.
Partnering with me on everything...entertaining Wyatt, cooking, cleaning, taking pictures, potty training.
Researching...he can find out anything about everything.  This makes it impossible for me to buy him presents because only he knows the best knife, kayak accessory, or tool to buy for the job.
Making me laugh.
Living stress free.  He rarely stresses. About anything. I am so jealous.

Dislikes
Wyatt or me waking him up early on the weekends.
Meal experiment flops.
How I load the dishwasher.
How I rarely clean up my toys before going to bed.
When I make him run errands or go shopping on the weekend.
Being in the house or sitting on the couch on the weekends (except for coffee time).

Likes
Riding bikes.
Trying new beers, coffees, and wines.
Tinkering with fix it projects.
Listening to music while in the kitchen or the garage or the living room.
Grocery shopping with me...one of my faves!
Breakfast desserts (cookies, biscotti, etc)
Dinner desserts (ice cream, cookies, pie, etc)
Academy clearance racks

Happy birthday Hunter!  You are such a hard working and fun best friend and you have the best attitude all the time.  I am so lucky to have you.  I hope you enjoy Wyatt's your tractor party and all the time we will spend with the families on your big day!

My Toddler Tech Tip - Lock Your iPhone/iPad in an Application

We survived our doctor appointments yesterday.  Wyatt with one shot and me with one test. He weighs 24 lbs and they are happy with his growth because he is growing at a faster rate.  I weigh a gazillion pounds, but I appreciate how the nurse always starts with the scale at the lower 50 lb block and then acts surprised when she has to move it up to the next one.

So here is my recently discovered tech tip.  I like to share my iPhone with Wyatt when we are desperate....airplane rides, doctor appointments, etc.  He always manages to hit the home button and get out of whatever application we are in (Netflix).  You can turn on some accessibility settings to prevent this.  Brilliant! This can also be done on an iPad.

1. Go to settings
2. Go to General -> Accessibility
3. Under Learning, turn Guided Access On
4. Set up a password
5. Enjoy not having to "fix" the device every 3 minutes

To activate the lock, open the app you want them to stay in and then triple click the home button and click Start.  To deactivate, you do the same but enter your password and then click End.

I can't remember which site I came across that told me how to do this but it is fabulous.  I always feel like a techie fail when I don't know about something that the rest of the world probably already knows!  

Speaking of iPhones, my home button is worn out and chooses to respond only sometimes.  Perhaps time for a new one?

My Baby is 2!

Stats
24 months old
Weight? Will find out at Dr appt today.  Around 25 lbs?
All teeth in except 2 year molars
Undies during the day, 2T pull ups at nap, size 6 diapers at night
Clothes size 18 month / 24 month

Eating
3 meals a day, 2 snacks a day.
Favorite foods are macaroni, ice cream, M&Ms, and avocados.
Still not a fan of sandwiches but will eat almost anything in taco form.
Loves breakfast meats (bacon, sausage, pigs in the blanket) and scrambled eggs.
Prefers his veggies in raw form.
Likes almost all fruits.
Still a yogurt and smoothie fan.
Pasta and pizza are usually a winner.
We finally eat cereal with milk like a big boy

Sleep
8:30 PM to 7:00 AM and a nap between 12:30 PM and 2:30ish PM.
He is starting to get a bit more manipulative at bedtime.  One more book.  I need to go potty. Stand up and ask for "mama".
His head still never stays on one end of the bed so I don't think he will EVER use a blanket or pillow.
He gets to choose "mommy books" or "daddy books" every night.  The lucky winner reads 2 books and puts him down for the night. He might have to get "daddy books" alot more coming soon. 
Funniest thing to me is the fact that he still sleeps better if he goes to bed fully rested versus tired.  Missing a nap or sleep interruption can throw off our good sleeping for several days. 

Skillz
Mostly potty trained before 2 years old.  All credit to him and not me.
Able to request his shows by name and episode. Yup, I have created a Netflix Instant Play monster. 
Independent play...I can cook, work, clean more than I ever would have believed while he plays toys.
Vocabulary. My little boy is a talker and knows more words than I thought, but luckily for his future teachers he is a little shy too.
Wyatt is my milestone man.  If the book says he should be doing this at a certain month, Wyatt will do it 3 months ahead of time.  This includes cutting teeth, walking, potty training etc.  I wish my awesome parenting could take the credit, but I think it is just personality type.  I will get what I am due for with this baby girl I am sure.

Dislikes
"Too many bugs".  There are so many mosquitoes in our town that we can't play outside frequently even with bug spray.  You can stand at the door or window and watch herds of skeeters try to come in your house.
Taking a break from playing toys to go potty.
When his clothes get wet from playing with water or eating something like watermelon.
Only taking vitamins at breakfast. He wants them every meal. Candy gummies baby.
Swimming in a big pool.  He doesn't like that he can't control it or someone has to hold him.

Likes
Preschool (so far), but he does cry for a minute or so at drop off sometimes.
Pushing mowers, airplanes, tricycles down the sidewalk to the mailbox and to see the cows.
Airplanes, tractors, trucks, trains...such a boy.
Riding on the bike with Daddy.
Visiting all of our families.
Playing toys.  The most requested item of me is to "play toys".  He just wants a friend.
Smelling spices and candles.  We have to smell the candle section all the time at the store.
Splashing at the beach, splash pad, or baby pool.

It is official.  I can no longer post monthly update posts because he is too grown up.  I can no longer respond in months when somebody asks me his age.

To celebrate the big day, we are going to his 2 year checkup appointment (with shots) and then he gets to go to my OB appointment (with exam).  What a lucky guy.  What a mean mom.  I am hoping we can get in a good ice cream break somewhere in there and our weekend of fun with families makes up for this.

Happy birthday my baby Wyatt.  You are so much more fun than I ever could have imagined when you were 3 months old.  Even though I count down the minutes until Daddy comes home, I love being home with you and being your best buddy! I also love how cuddly you are as a toddler even though you weren't a snuggle bug baby. 

Recaps I Owe You

Our Trip to Florida:

Wyatt rocked it.  On the flight there, he took a one hour nap in a strange place on top of his mama's lumpy belly.  When he woke up, we had airplane snacks, made a trip to the potty, walked the isles a few times and then it was time to land.  Our best flight yet.  Jacque and Collin met us in the airport at the baggage claim, and we rolled out to start our trip.  We had a perfect trip.  We didn't try to cram in too much stuff like usual vacations. We hit up all our old spots.  Jacque's hubby cooked us tons of great food. There were toys galore that I didn't have to pack. :)  We really enjoyed hanging out with our buddies.  Collin and Wyatt were quite a pair!  Jacque recapped on her blog so flip over there to see pics since I am lazy. 

Our First Day of School:

No tears at drop off for either of us.  We are stone cold.   We walked into our room and met Ms. Lupe.  He hugged my legs for a few minutes and cautiously observed. I showed him where the super cute one foot off the ground potties are.  He walked over to the play kitchen and started checking it out.  I told him that Mommy is going bye bye.  I had this strange "school's out for summer" feeling as I walked out to the parking lot with almost 3 hours of free time. How did I use my 3 hours?  A trip to hobby lobby to buy paper for a Cricut project and then I logged onto work for a few hours.  When I showed up to pick him up, he was doing laps around the room playing toys.  They said he asked for me the whole time but never cried.  He had zero potty accidents. When I picked him up and gave him a hug, he said "go home" as in let's go home mom....I had enough today.

Our Second Day of School:

He was excited to go see Ms. Lupe and his friends (a good sign).  He hugged my legs for about a minute, then started to play toys.  The screams and cries of other kiddos didn't really phase him.  At pick up, he was having a great time.  I could tell he really liked his 2nd day of school.  There were Elmo cupcakes served that day for one kiddo's bday and they survived a trip to the activity classroom (toddler gym class).  I love trying to figure out what they did that day from the few words you can get out of them when you ask what they did.  I got "Boat", "Dirty Boat" and "birthday".  This leads me to think that their activity was cleaning a boat or Wyatt was playing with a boat he shouldn't have been or they read a book about a boat.   Who knows!  And obviously, they sang happy birthday and had cupcakes.  Oh, and my free time was used for laundry and work on the second day.  I am such a party animal.  I have visions of doing things like getting a pedicure or making cookies or preparing dinner, but I settle for working and sitting on the couch.

My next 2 weeks of free time will be reserved for making treats and decorations for an upcoming bachelorette party and bridal shower I am helping to host. I have to do trial runs of everything to make sure I can handle this level of crafty since I am not the family expert in cricut decor or cupcake decorating.  I am sure Hunter will have to be forced to eat my cupcake flops.  And Wyatt has already asked "what's that" about the cookies I did a test run with.  He didn't seemed concerned about eating a cookie in the shape of undies with pink icing.

First Day of "School"

Today Wyatt starts school....I am so nervous.  And by school I mean 3 days a week for 3 hours.  Ha. He won't even do lunch or nap there.  I am pretty sure he will love it and not cry which should make things easier for me.  And then I go home and have 3ish hours to myself!??! What to do.

I have his backpack packed with 2 changes of clothes. I am going to be brave and assume he will tell his teacher he needs to go potty.  I have no clue if an almost 2 year old understands that you can ask people besides mom and dad for things.  I have his water cup packed and labeled.  I sent a pack of wipes.

We drove to the school yesterday to see it.  He had a melt down in the parking lot because we couldn't play on the slides.  I take that as a good sign.  We talked about Ms. Lupe all day and his new friends he is going to play with. Last night before bed we watched a little Daniel Tiger Goes to School episode. He ran to the front door and said "ready go". I am so glad he was enthusiastic, but then we had to convince him to brush his teeth and go to bed. 

I woke up and fixed my hair.  Nothing else I can do to prepare. School, here we come!

My big boy one year ago! 

August Product Favorites - Mama and Toddler

Mama:

Fruttare Banana and Milk Bars - These are toddler and mama approved. I don't think they are healthy.  I actually haven't looked at the ingredients, but they are delicious.

Expensive and Better Tasting Eggs - I go back and forth on this but when you buy the organic, cage free, non hormone, these chickens ate gold brown eggs, they taste so much better. For the moment, I agree with paying 3 times as much for eggs.  I might change my mind again next month.

Yankee Candle Lemon Lavender - I usually use my Scentsy products, but I always go back to this smell from Yankee Candle.  I lub it and always will.

 Toddler:

Dusty Flies High (Disney Airplanes) Book - Wyatt is obsessed with Disney Planes ever since we bought the undies.  We have been reading this book almost every night before bed.  He likes these step into reading books more than board books for some reason.  Maybe he likes the pictures more?

El Chupacabra Die Cast Disney Plane - Let's stick with the theme here....Disney Planes!  And Wyatt giggles every time we say the name of this one.