I think I will, thank you

Tonight I handed Will a kiddie fork for the first time because he was hollering at me about wanting the one on the table.  Yes, I speak baby yell and point...sometimes.  He has gotten very good at pointing at what it is he wants and giving you a very frustrated holler until you do what it is he wants to you to.  So I am getting the hang of it pretty quick.  And tonight it was a fork.  Sure, why not.  He's one.  So I gave him a fork to use on his chicken.  At first he just chewed on the handle.  I showed him how to stab a piece of the chicken on his tray and he was ON it.  Just a few tries later and he had speared his own hunk o' meat.  He was so proud of himself that he cheesed the biggest cheesy grin ever and began to clap.  Sadly, this clapping caused him to knock his prize off his fork.  He didn't mange to do it again, but he sure did try and got very close several times.  Such a smart little dude.  (just had to brag a little)

And a wondrous accomplishment in my life.  I can wear my pre-pregnancy jeans again!!!  I accomplished this probably a week ago, and it's been great.  I could squeeze into them before, but they barely closed and I barely could breathe.  After Landon it was just a few months before I was able to get back into my pants and I was crushed as each month went by.  Baby number two has of course proved to be more difficult when it comes to squeezing back into my pants.  So I continued to wear jeans a little too big, held on with belts, and squeezing into jeans a little too tight at the expense of my waist, bladder, and self-confidence.  So here we are, at the blessed moment when you slide on your "skinny" jeans and they fit comfortably for the first time in just a little over a year.  Why hello old friends, I have missed you.  Welcome back to my life. Welcome, welcome, welcome.  Because we all know that your old jeans are you most comfortable jeans and your favorites, no matter how many other pairs you have.  I have all my "step up" and "step down" jeans from having kids, but I bought them to get through , not because I liked them a lot.  And really, I can't complain about it taking a year to get back into my pants.  I didn't actually do anything to make it happen sooner.  I said I would, and after one P90X workout that caused me to be unable to use the stairs properly for a week, I never did it again.  I wanted to work out, I wanted to get some abs back in my life.  I haven't seen those since college.  But if anyone knows anything about me they would know that I lack motivation when it comes to working out.  And they also know that I have ZERO athletic ability which makes me really not long to do things, oh, and add in the asthma.  I need someone to force me to workout, I need someone to make me accountable, a workout buddy.  So right now I thank my genes for my high metabolism and promise myself that I will work on these things one day.  For now, welcome back old pants.  And I will stop beating myself up over not working out....

Cleaning revolution

So, having a little boy has begun to get even more stinky. And yes, I am aware it will only get worse. At this time it's the bathroom. No matter how often I scrub the toilet it still stinks like pee. Even my husband complains about it. So, time to fix it. Time to eradicate the stink, but what to use? After having friends on Facebook lend their advice I decided what to do.  I wanted to use vinegar, but how about not just straight vinegar?  Pinterest came to my rescue with a different way to use the magic stuff. 

(I will post the link when I get on the computer. The phone isn't working with me.)

Here we go!

I followed her instructions and had a jar of vinegar with orange peels floating in it, slowly disintegrating for the past two weeks.  It looked like a bizarre science project on my kitchen counter.  Surprisingly my husband never asked me about it.  I think he has gotten used to me doing odd projects that I found on Pinterest at this point. Tonight I strained it and mixed it half and half with water in a spray bottle.   I think her instructions call for more water in the ratio, but I wanted it to be a little stronger without being full strength burn-your-nostrils- out-strong.  

I forgot to take any other pictures. So here's my half used jar of orange vinegar. (Kind of looks like a bad urine sample...ewww) It made enough for me to get two big spray bottles worth of use out of it. Nice! 

I mixed it up and headed to the bathroom to tackle the urine stink. So far so good! The orange vinegar/water cleaner mix smells pretty good and after it's first cleaning it seems to have worked great! I put it under the bathroom sink so I can get it out and give it a spray whenever I need it. Hooray for cleaning! And for making it at home with things I had around the house. 

Say it ain't so!

My baby is one!  How did this happen?  Where did the time go?  I want to turn back the clock sometimes, and last Sunday was that day.  My Mother's Day was well spent  remembering the day my little man joined our family.  I wanted to edit my pictures and put the info on it nice and fancy, but since my computer has died so has my editing software.  

Happy first birthday to my tiny man.  He's weighing in at 18lbs 4oz and measuring 29.5 inches.  My little peanut!  He started walking exactly one week before his birthday and is doing pretty well already.  He loves dogs and has learned to say, "dog dog".  He's a silly kid and I just love him!  

Now humor me and look at a few pictures from his birthday.  We keep birthday's simple, just family.  This year it was just the Grandma's.  He enjoyed a car themed cake and opening presents.

Hooray!  Presents!

 I kept the cake simple this time around and I don't think he minded one bit.

 Another contrast to his brother, he wanted to touch the fire.  His brother, on his first birthday on the other hand, cried until we blew it out.  This is my adventurous child.

 Mmmmm...cake

Way to grow big boy!  I love being your Mom!

Another one joins the ranks

My husband likes to pick on me for being six months older than he is.  So when I turned 30 first I had to wait patiently for him to join me and our other friends who had crossed over into our glorious 30's.  To celebrate his birthday we had a party in his honor.  We cooked up burgers and hot dogs and friends brought sides and John's Mom brought crabs (mmmmm).  We sat around chatting, played cornhole, and let the hoard of little boys run amok and dig in the dirt and be superheros.  

A motley crew if I do say so myself 

 They were delicious!

Some of the guests

Colin, the adorable Hulk

Turning 30 in style, with a cake decorated by Landon

Howie, the best Captain America out there

We have an amazing group of friends who were willing to come out and party with us.  I think we should do this every month!  Most people had to get moving, but a few were able to hang around and we played more games inside (it got cold) and enjoyed ourselves late into the night.  

So welcome to your 30's my dear!  It's a wonderful place to be so far.  

Walkin' Will

Who wants to see my little guy ambulating?  He's getting more and more confident in his abilities.  I love it when he claps as he goes like he is so proud of himself.  And he should be!

Well, I can't get it turned, but  I am just thankful that I got it on the computer!  My computer is currently not working so I had to upload things to my husband's computer and work from there.  I like to think that if I was on my laptop I would have gotten it turned at least.  But I wanted to get it up either way.  I want to get a post up about the two birthday's we just celebrated, but that will wait until I get my computer back.  Unless it will be a long time then I will cave in and load all the software for the camera on to the hubster's computer.  

For now....Hooray for Will!!!  I took this tonight and this is the farthest he has walked so far.  Woot woot!

Park play

Today was John's birthday, the big 30!  So I thought what could be better than to take the outdoor lover into the outdoors.  The sun was shining and the weather was perfect.  So we took our first trip to Nixon Park.  How did we not do this before now?  Landon loved the taxidermied animals, running from animal to animal yelling, "come look!" and touching all the exhibits he was allowed to.  He was thrilled.  After checking out the nature center we went outside to take a nature hike.  Last summer we attempted a mini hike and it didn't go so well...Landon was drug out of the trail screaming.  Not this year!  He LOVED it.  He was busy looking at all the animals using his "noculars".  

John caught a baby snapping turtle, several frogs, a small fish, and a newt.  A happy birthday boy indeed.  

After a little hike we sat in the grass and had a little lunch that we had packed.  Then Landon accompanied Daddy to the creek to play.  Mommy and Will went down a little later, but only Will joined in the fun.  He would have sat right down in it and not gotten out I think.  He was fascinated by the rocks, and spent time picking up the shiny ones.  He would find a shiny rock and almost immediately Landon would steal it and yell, "TREASURE!"  So poor Will would have to search for another rock.  And if having his finds stolen by his brother wasn't enough Mommy wouldn't let him eat them either.  Being a baby is so tough!

Will enjoyed the hikes from the Moby.  I love this thing!  Nearly one and he can still be packed on and carried about easily.  Although I now know why people hike with a baby backpack instead of a front carrier.  I couldn't see my feet...a flashback to pregnancy I guess!  This was only a problem when going down a hill and having to use stairs that they had made out of railroad ties.  We are alive to tell about it though!

Like father, like son

I got a turtle!

Passed out after a hard day of play

Nothing beats a day in nature with my family!