Random Assortment

1) I finally posted on my other blog... Desperately Seeking Decor
It's nothing major but it is a start. Now that the ball is rolling hopefully the momentum will build because I have a lot to do! Thank you to those of you who have already taken a look and commented :-)

2) Lila's injury...
Yesterday afternoon we took a family trip to the farmer's market. Lila isn't the best shopper these days so when Seth suggested we all go I was THRILLED. We came home with fresh goodies galore and Seth set out to make dinner. He and Lila went on the deck and not five minutes later came back in. Everything looked normal at first. Then Seth got closer and I saw he was holding her hand and there was what looked like a fat piece of skin no longer attached to the tip of her middle finger. Of course, she was just kind of looking at me stunned. She didn't seem to get upset until Seth tried to wash it. It was kind of like when you get a nasty blister and the skin comes off (gross, I know). Apparently she was on the tricycle and fell over it or something and the handlebars smashed her finger. From the washing part on she was a mess. We have dealt with falls and some scrapes and bumps on the head. Nothing has ever necessitated a small, kid-sized bandaid. Therefore, all we had were gigantic ones that were difficult to put on and take off. Seth got it all situated though. I didn't take pictures of the nastiness that is her finger. I just took these instead. Now she just walks around with her hand in the air! Sorry for the lack of clothing as well. She had yogurt (pretty much the only thing she eats these days) and eating yogurt without a hurt finger is a mess.

3) Video catch up...
There are only two, but I think they are super cute. The first one is just good old fashioned running when two little girls realize it's fun to run. If you can't tell, the second one with the car seat has become quite the "hide and seek" of sorts. I guess this would be the toddler version.




Happy Monday!

The Decision 2011

Claire is being cut tonight...Seth has nothing clever to say. I am posting this for him because he can't seem to access the posting portion of the blog these days. Check back tomorrow for some cute videos and pictures of Lila's first injury that isn't a bump on the head...

Allie

Amelia

Charlotte/Charlie

Claire

Evelyn

Kate

Lucy

Mia

Patty Lou

Peyton

Piper

Quinn

Riley

Holla Hump Day

This week's shout outs go to...

...the young Asian mom in our Gymboree class. I'm not sure if it's because she looks so very young. I'm not sure if it's because she is Asian. She thinks it's because she wears glasses. Whatever the reason, my daughter is obsessed with her. At first it was cute. Lila would go up and just stare at her and then run away when she noticed. Then Lila would try to talk to her (I believe there's a bit of a language barrier there). This particular mom always brings her own mother with her...the grandmother doesn't seem to think it's so cute that Lila is enamored by her daughter. At the end of every class the teacher gets out the big parachute thing. We do the whole bit where everyone pulls it into the air, runs under, and sits down under it to keep it like we are in a balloon. The kids are supposed to sit in their parent's lap and we sing a song saying hello to each kid. It's very cute. Soon after the song started Lila escaped my lap, ran across the circle, moved this woman's child out of her lap, and sat in his place! I didn't know what to do. If I got up my area of the parachute would go up. The grandmother was glaring at me as her grandson (thankfully) jumped into her lap instead. Lila stayed there the whole song while I sat there with this stunned look on my face. Afterward I went up to the mom and thanked her/apologized to her profusely. She was so nice and told me she loved it. I'm not sure if she really did, but it made me feel better.

...my neighbor Tres. We (when I say we I mean Seth) have had a recent bout of locking ourselves out of the house a few times. When we got back from playdate this week we decided to "play" in my car. Lila likes that she can get in the car on her own now. She just sits and messes with the steering wheel and pretends to put keys in the ignition. We were doing this for a while. Christy and Tres (right next door) came out to go somewhere and Tres came over and asked if we were locked out. He said we could hang out in their house until a key arrived if so. Had we actually locked ourselves out I probably would have gone over there anyway. But, it was so nice to be checked on!

...Sara (my sister), Vicky (my mom), Lee (my mother-in-law). I only lump them together because I want to thank them for essentially the same thing. Not only do they love to watch Lila, but they are always so good at listening, helping, and supporting us. It can be hard to make time for things like dates and alone time once you have kids. I honestly don't know how people who live far from their families do it. I feel so very lucky on a daily basis because of these ladies.

Changing diapers and cleaning toilets

It's 11:30 pm. I got home not too long ago from my glamorous second job of cleaning toilets, talked to my fantastic sister/babysitter for a bit, and now here I sit ready to divulge the inner workings of my day. Are you so excited? Here's a glimpse...

I'm not sure why the baby doll bed was in the bathroom. I'm also not sure what prompted getting into it together. Carson doesn't typically love her personal space to be invaded by Lila. I'm sure Carson wasn't thrilled with Lila trying to make out with her either. However, even though Carson wasn't making a fuss about it I took her out because I was afraid she was unhappy and not letting me know. She promptly got back in. 

The struggle to decode the world of sharing during toddlerhood is still a major part of the day. This morning when Carson got here Lila was wonderful. She wanted Carson to help her do the puzzles and she gave Carson random toys out of the blue. Carson took a nap and woke up to a very different Lila that wanted to take toys from her instead. I know Carson's day will come where sharing is just as hard, but right now she has to deal with little miss Jekyl and Hyde. I can tell Lila wants to do the right thing. She just can't sometimes. While this is all very age appropriate, it's pretty exhausting. I try to physically move Lila when she gets grabby because that along with discussing turn taking and such seems to do the trick. Lord knows this is not something that will get worked out in a matter of days. There's a long road ahead I'm sure. But, hopefully all of this work I'm doing now won't be lost when Carson stops coming to our house two days a week :-)

At any rate, it was so nice outside today. I found myself sitting on the swing on the deck watching Lila "ride" the tricycle like the Flintstones drive cars. Carson was busy moving chairs from one side of the deck to the other. I felt very lucky to be a part of their world. Cleaning toilets may not be what I saw myself doing at thirty one years old. But, if it makes things so that I am able to spend the day watching these little girls figure out life there are no complaints here. 

The Decision 2011

I promise there are posts coming that aren't just about the name decision or holla hump day :-) This week's cut for me is Riley.

Allie

Amelia

Charlotte/Charlie

Claire

Evelyn

Kate

Lucy

Mia

Patty Lou

Peyton

Piper

Quinn

Riley

Holla Hump Day

First things first...

HOLLA

(this would be how we started the day)

This week's shout out goes to...

...SETH. People say Valentine's Day is a Hallmark holiday. People say it's a crock and a waste. Still others say its just a way for boyfriends/husbands to be reminded to be romantic. I say those people, whoever they are, just aren't doing it right. They should take a lesson from my husband. And not just because he's a man, but because he gets it right. To me, Valentine's day means loving everyone and showing it just a little bit more than maybe you have recently been able to do. It wasn't until this Valentine's day that I realized Seth felt the same way. I wasn't sure if I should outline what Seth did. Some things should just remain sweet and private right? Well, I'm not very good at that. I want the world (or I guess just the 50 or so that read this blog) to know that Valentine's day can be just like any other day/holiday....exactly what you make it.

Seth told me Sunday night after Lila went to bed that he had to go to the store. I was pretty solidly perched on the couch as I often am late at night these days. He came home with flowers for me. It was so very sweet and all I really wanted. Then I kept hearing him rustling around in the kitchen. I asked what he was doing and he said he got flowers for my mom and his mom. He began to tell me he thought Lila and I could go delivering them for Valentine's Day. I thought that was such a fantastically wonderful idea. We started talking and discussed taking them to a few other people too. Of course, I would love to bring flowers to everyone, but I knew my time in the car with Lila would be somewhat limited. So I decided on stopping to visit my wonderful friend Kim and my sister. Four stops would be the perfect amount.

I went to bed that night after Seth. I entered the kitchen to let Molly out and saw this set up for Lila for the next morning.... my heart just melted:

Lila felt so special and just kept staring and pointing saying "flowers". We went to see Kim and then Sara. Both just seemed so thrilled with our little delivery. On the way to my mom's work I called her and asked her if she could come outside in ten minutes. She started telling me how wonderful and sweet it was that I sent flowers to my Grandma from Lila. I told her I had no idea what she was talking about and that they weren't from me (even though I secretly wished I had been that on top of things). She then said there was a nurse that my grandparents had met while John T. was in the hospital named Lila too and they must have been from her. We hung up and I called Seth. Something gave me a sneaking suspicion he might have done it. When I asked him he tried to act all oblivious and pretend he didn't know what I was talking about. But then he simply said, "oh yeah! Lila and I sent them to her yesterday". I promptly began to cry.

If you don't read this blog too frequently John T. was my grandfather and he recently passed away. I know it meant so much to my Grandma to get those flowers, but I am almost sure it meant more to me (and maybe my mom) than Seth will ever know. He inadvertently gave me the best Valentine's Day gift he could have ever given.

If Valentine's day is a crock that's fine. I'll take that kind of day any time. Well done honey.

The Decision 2011

Shalom Amelia.

Allie

Amelia

Charlotte/Charlie

Claire

Evelyn

Kate

Lucy

Mia

Patty Lou

Peyton

Piper

Quinn

Riley

SETH

Holla Hump Day

I am using this holla hump day to discuss our recent adventure to Florida.

I want to thank God, the universe, the alignment of the stars, yadda yadda. Whatever you want to call it, I want to thank it. I did not purchase a plane ticket for Lila for this trip simply because I didn't have to. Well, that and they are expensive. She turns two in May. This will almost 100% be the last time she is on an airplane before she turns two and they require her to have a ticket. That being said, on the way to and from West Palm Beach we ended up with a seat for her anyway and she did not have to sit in Sara's lap.

Changing gears a little bit, this post is going to involve some of my ramblings about motherhood as well. Shocker, I know. Anyway, it's not necessary to say this, but I love my child with everything that I am. However, on this trip she tested me beyond what I am usually capable of letting go of.  If you have children older than two I'm guessing you know what I'm talking about. If you have a child (or children) under the age of two I want you to know that when the day comes where you experience this you can call me. And you can cry to me. And you can scream too if you want.

You see, everyone has a breaking point. The problem is, the breaking point that you feel when your sweet, perfect, adorable angel has put you there is completely different. I realize I am pregnant and that may have factored in. I kind of don't think so though. I have been overwhelmed before. I have been stressed and scared and feeling guilty all due to this job of being a parent. But there is usually a clear line for me where I can work my way through it without becoming a mess of tears and frustration. The past couple of weeks that seems to be getting harder to do. I have tried to come up with ways to handle myself and handle my soon to be two year old. Nothing major happened in Florida that hasn't happened at home...other than the clear line becoming blurry for me and the collapse into swirling emotions took over.

The weather was perfect. My dad and his wife Liz did so much to make sure we had a good time. I'm not sure if Lila just got restless or if she was simply acting her age. It doesn't matter really. The fact of the matter is, she had a few massive meltdowns that sent me over the edge. Yesterday she woke up very early, didn't nap for very long, and when she woke up from the nap she was inconsolable. Then I started crying and I just kind of froze up. I didn't want to be anywhere near her and I'm sure that was making it worse. I wanted to lay down and ignore the whole thing. Thank you dad and Sara for whisking her away for a walk so that I could lay down and get myself together. Thank you for not judging me and for loving me (and Lila) as much as you do. Most of all, thank you for understanding.

Again, if you find yourself not sure of how to come back to life in an episode that may be similar give me a shout. I will whisk away your child or sit on the phone with you and I won't judge you.

Lastly, the biggest shout out goes to Sara. The day after we got there she got sick and generally felt crappy. She still found ways to make me feel better and help me out. One day I hope I can repay her for everything she does for us and for all the love she gives. It is simply immeasurable.

Sorry for the heaviness of this post. We did have such a great time lounging in the sun and eating constantly! I'm just not the type to avoid being candid. What good does it do anyone to pretend that these things don't happen right? Pictures are coming soon in the new header...have a good rest of the week ;-)

The Decision 2011

Seth told me last week that he thinks he has fallen in love with one of the names on this list. I am telling you this because I am holding true to the plan and not asking him to tell me which name it is so that I am not swayed. I know it sounds silly, but I know myself enough to know I won't follow my gut on my choices otherwise! 

Anyway, we will see how it pans out. Here's my strike for this week...sorry honey ;-)

Allie

Amelia

Charlotte/Charlie

Claire

Evelyn

Kate

Lucy

Mia

Patty Lou

Peyton

Piper

Quinn

Riley

Holla Hump Day

This week's shout outs go to...

...Sara. This one is a little premature, but I feel like it may be one of those things where I need to thank her now and later. Sara, Lila, and I leave Saturday to fly to West Palm Beach to visit my dad. I did not get a ticket for Lila so she will probably be sitting in Sara's lap since mine is quickly disappearing. This little adventure could go completely fine or Lila could be a mess. Thank you Sara, in advance, for taking on the possible challenge!

...my neighbors and the Beans for going with us to the rally at Livsey on Saturday. While Seth and I are skeptical about how this will all go down, it is so very nice to know the sense of community cannot be closed with the school (more on the possible closing of Livsey Elementary at a later date).

...Verizon Wireless for making my purchase of a new phone a piece of cake. AND, for getting it here overnight, for free. AND for telling me that I was paying overage fees I had no idea about and clearly stating in an email how I could change that. For a long time I have been of the belief that customer service is dead. Verizon may just change my mind.

Happy hump day!

Easy Granola

For those who asked :-)

Easy Granola

4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (not quick cooking)
1 cup sliced almonds
1/2 cup shredded coconut (preferably unsweetened)
1/4 cup unsalted pepitas (hulled pumpkin seeds) OR shelled sunflower seeds
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
2 tablespoons canola oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup dried fruit (such as cranberries, cherries, raisins)

*Heat oven to 350 degrees. On a rimmed baking sheet, toss the oats, almonds, coconut, and seeds with the maple syrup, oil, and salt.

*Bake, tossing once, until golden and crisp, 25 to 30 minutes.

*Add the dried fruit and toss to combine. Let cool.

TIP: The granola will keep in an airtight container in a cool, dry place for up to 3 weeks.