'Tis the Season...

...Wrestling season, that is. My hubby is gone even longer now that it has started. I am not going to complain, but I will say that it leaves very little time to think, plan, and execute a reasonably enjoyable blog post from me. So this shall be a bullet-pointed post of all things discovered, happy, new, and note-worthy.

- Ignatius is a'walkin' and a'babblin'. He went to his 9-month appointment and all is well. He is exceedingly good health and way ahead of the game in regards to gross and fine motor skills.
- Julian loves superheros -- a lot! He is either Spider Man or Ice Man depending on his fancy at any given moment of the day. Daddy is either of those characters, whichever Julian isn't. Also, he knows and uses the word "character" correctly, and of course, adorably, on a frequent basis.
- The pack-and-play is extremely useful these days. With a little one who's very mobile and a toddler that wants alone time this item is getting much use. Whenever I'm doing the dishes or putting something in the oven, in goes Ignatius and tolerates it in short duration. Julian enjoys it at times when he is grown sick and tired of being bombarded by Little Bro.

- We do preschool-homeschool with our neighbors, and it's a blast. Basically it's myself, Julian, my neighbor Gloria and her preschool-aged daughter getting together and doing some age-appropriate project together. We also love to read stories and goof around of course! The babies make it an adventure as well.

Say Cheese, Miss E!

- Our project here was crushing dried leaves and "sprinkling" them onto glue traced in the likeness of a sweet-gum leaf. It turned out nicely, and was a fun fall activity for both mommies and kids.

I heart my goofy neighbor!

Working hard and praying no one knocks over that glass of water.

Final result!

- Reading time. This is definitely a great part of the day.

Babies!

He loves his Spongebob books...

Have a great day!

Let It Snow!

It snowed! It snowed! And we had Daddy home for two extra days this week! Seeing as he wasn't home at all on Saturday because of a wrestling tournament (he's head wrestling coach) it was definitely a blessing in so many ways. We're so fortunate he's a teacher!

Here are some pictures capturing the fun we had out in the white, fluffy, cold stuff.

Showing Julesy how to catch snowflakes on his tongue. He's a quick learner!

He was just happy to be so close to his Mommy.

 Our neighbor's dog is a 146 pound Great Dane. Comparing this dog to our petite 7.5 toy breed was quite a hilarious undertaking. As you can see Sunshine's personality is shining through in this photo -- she'd rather be left alone to shiver in the corner, thankyouverymuch.

Snow Angel-making time! Daddy thought he would prove to his oldest that making snow angels was fun, but he didn't quite win him over. Julian doesn't like the idea of falling onto snow, and still thinks this is a terrible idea. Upon seeing this photo, he says "I don't like dat."

We need more days like these!

I Gave Up: and it's the best decision I've made in 3 days!

We've withdrawn Julian from potty-training for the time being. All is well, and there's no upset feelings or anything. I knew coming into this that this could be a distinct possibility, so I am not sad or disappointed or any of that jazz. I'm actually mostly relieved.

We did the reward system; if he peed he'd get one little treat, if he pooed he'd get two. He wore cloth training pants, which are glorified underwear, and I watched him like a hawk. I took him at least once an hour, and he'd go every time... but he had 4-5 accidents a day the first two days. Also, this boy poops. A lot. And he had only pooped twice (in the potty) for the first two days.

I could just tell he wasn't getting the "idea". You know, when you feel you need to go then you walk over THEN go? It's like one motion for him still: he feels it coming & it comes. There's nothing telling his brain to put a pause button on the procedure. I explained and explained and explained how this works, but to no avail. I know if I were to press it more than I did it would become a power struggle, which I know is the last thing I want him associating with potty training.

This morning (the third day) we had the last factor that pointed to the need to stop. He pooped reeeeally early in the morning -- even before coming to get me like he normally does -- before the crack of 6 AM. He developed a diaper rash from this and so that is another piece of evidence he pooped super duper early. He hasn't done that since before he turned one! I took this as a sign that he's going to keep himself from pooping if we were to keep going.

Really though, it all boiled down to following my instincts. It just wasn't boding well with me to continue, and I know deep down for him, too (despite getting rewards; he loved that!). And so we tried, and it wasn't a Fail. It was a Lesson. And we are all okay with that.

So needless to say...

...to be continued!

Happy Friday!

Potty Training Starts Today!

Need I say more?

Smiles and hugs to all; have a Happy Wednesday!

5 Things About (each of) My Little Guys

Julian Reuel

1. This boy loves to pretend to cook! Hmmm. I wonder from where he gets his love of making food? ;) Every day he takes practically all of my pots and pans out and cooks up some amazing delights, including but not limited to: quiche, bread, hot dogs, and -- my all-time favorite -- "eggs and wine" !!! Chairs and makeshift ovens will suffice until a certain Santa Claus comes with a real pretend kitchen set.

2. He is constantly singing now. It's absolutely adorable! He has a pretty good voice, too. Favorite songs are -- It's Raining, It's Pouring, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Row the Roses of Success, Waltzing Matilda, I Love You. Now that it's inching towards Christmas he's attempting to remember all the words to Mele Kalikimaka, a song his mother gets stuck in her head like mad this time of year.

3. Julian is a ritual man. Every element of his bedtime routine must be performed from start-to-finish in the order it has been performed since the beginning of bedtime routines in this household. He gets his vitamin, then his vitamin treats (his daily Omega 3 supplements), exactly 3 books read to him, and prayers. Here is just one example of this particular feature of Julian's.

4. He is scared of the funniest things. For instance, in the book Courage there's a picture of a boy with a zipper over his mouth to represent his not telling a secret to anyone. He's scared of that, even though it really isn't scary. There is a picture of Our Lady in my husband's office that scares him. She's as peaceful-looking as one could imagine in it, but he asks for us to put it away whenever we're there. He's scared of his stuffed husky dog that looks exactly like this.

 Again, not scary. I guess if it isn't looking and smiling just so, it's worthy of being scary to him. Ha!

5. Julian will remember your name if you meet him once. Seriously, it's pretty amazing. He remembers all of my mommy friend's names and their kid's names from the oldest sibling to the baby. This mamma is thoroughly impressed with that little brain of his!

Ignatius James

1. He is one super happy baby. Of course the exceptions are when he's hungry or tired, but Ignatius will smile and laugh if given the opportunity to do so almost at any time of the day. He's always grinning, and this is especially fun because of all the attention he gets from doing so. Everywhere we go he gets so much attention from his outward joyfulness.

2. He loves playing, especially throwing balls around. No joke, he stays focused on this activity for like 10-15 minutes. He will toss the ball (he loves it even more when he has 2 balls to throw around), crawl toward the ball, and do it all over again. Pretty soon he's reached every corner of the apartment! He also enjoys tapping two toys together, especially if they make a really cool sound.

3. Ignatius feels the need to exceed. He crawled at 6 months, had a total of 8 teeth by 7 months, stood on his own at 8 months, and now ladies and gentlemen: he has taken his first real steps at 9! Pretty soon I'll have not 1 but 2 official toddlers in the house! Goooooo Ignatius!

4. He loves to wrestle especially with Daddy. He even growls at him and will keep that up if Daddy growls back. What a boy!

5. Nothing is better to this guy than getting into his big brother's stuff. Much to the pain my eldest feels to have someone usurping his things, Ignatius succeeds in this all-important task of little brotherhood. Here is a picture of Julian stealing back his fire truck book. Note the huge smile on little brother's face!

Have a great rest of your weekend, folks!

One of these is...

...I won't say. I am such a chicken when it comes to writing anything moderately debatable. I'm a sensitive soul that hates to publicly share my opinions -- especially my "mommy" opinions -- in fear that someone reading it might think I'm looking down on their way of doing things. For now, I will just say many of the identifying qualities of attachment parenting have greatly helped my own style of parenting. If you want to know details, ask in a message or email. Public forum opinion pieces are best left to people who like to use them, and it just ain't me... Well, at least the "me" right now.

I apologize, audience! My previous blog post was more of a personal challenge to sit down and write for 10 minutes, unedited. I promise not to leave you hanging again without a good follow up.

To make up for all that is lacking in my blogging missteps, here are a few adorable pictures!

I'm one lucky mamma...

P.S. I walked 2 miles today which I haven't done in months, and it was awesome. Walking is so good for mysoul!

Here's Me Writing

Okay, so I feel like writing but I have no idea what to talk about so we'll see how this goes. It's 11:19AM on a Sunday, and I'll write for 10 minutes. I wonder what will happen in those minutes...

This week was a week like any other. I played with the boys, took care of them, did tons of laundry, and cooked some pretty good meals. The one dinner that sticks out in my memory is the pumpkin soup of which I've blogged recently. I made it as usual, but 1/4 of the milk I used was evaporated milk. We also used homemade plain, full-fat yogurt to add some "zing" as a garnish. My husband could not get over how delicious it was! He said it was one of the best things he's had in a while. The fact that he said this about an almost-vegetarian dish (except for the chicken broth) astounds me.

 The soup of all soups. And some cheddar muffins I'll talk about later.

 The babe enjoyed both immensely.

 Yum yum yum!

 Sweet baby boy!

 He ate one spoonful of the soup & licked it clean. He then said, "I don't like it." This confounded his mother. He stuck with the cheddar muffins.

 "I'm happy at you!"

Sporting his empty bowl of soup. 

Sporting the same, only with the addition of my o.j. & vodka & million year old hoodie.

(It's 11:24AM.) Ignatius has not been the best of sleepers this week. I'm praying it's just a phase. *There he is waking from his nap! I'm now running to get him!* I've weaned him from nighttime nursing and instead of waking up every hour which is what he was doing all last month he's waking up once or twice at night. The problem is -- although he's sleeping for longer at night it is at times very difficult for him to fall back asleep.

I co-sleep and incorporate many of the attachment parenting values within my own parenting methods, but at times some of my own "mommy instincts" don't coincide with AP. One of these is ... DANG IT! It's 11:29AM. I guess I'll leave my post hanging so that you'll be eager to read my blog tomorrow.

Hehehe

Pumpkins, Pumpkins, Pumpkins!

Lately due to the cold weather and Halloween just around the corner I've made several different things with pumpkins. My husband told me the other day, "I didn't know there were so many things you could make with pumpkin other than pie!" Yes, there are indeed many ways to serve the delicious mush, and here is a list of what I've made from the orange stuff:

1. Dinner in a Pumpkin

Image above comes from the blog post linked above

I was very intrigued when I found this recipe on Pinterest. As soon as we picked our pumpkins I was eager to try this recipe. You can't go wrong with ground beef, rice and cream of chicken as ingredients! We had a bit of fun by drawing a face on our pumpkin before he (or she?) went into the oven... Sick!

The artist at work.

 Is it fun pretending to be cannibals? Why, yes it is!

The result? It was pretty tasty!Will I make this again? Yes! I would, however, add some slivered almonds on top for some crunch. It tasted great when we added barbecue sauce to it. Julian did not touch the stuff, which is always a bummer. We're slowly acclimating him to food that isn't pizza, cream cheese on toast, and apple slices.

2. Pumpkin Cake Bars 

This recipe comes from my mom who has been making these ever since I can remember. Eating these bars really brought me back to my childhood. There's something about them that warms your soul. 

PUMPKIN CAKE BARS

2 C. Flour

2 C. sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. cinnamon     

½ tsp. salt

¾ C. oil

2 C. pumpkin

4 eggs

Combine first 6 ingredients.   Add oil, pumpkin and eggs, beat 1 min on medium speed.  Pour into greased 15 x 10 x 1 inch pan Bake 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.  

I frost with cream cheese frosting. A great cream cheese frosting recipe can be found in your Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook. You *know* you have that one. If you don't, buy it! It will be the best investment in a staple cookbook you can make.

Speaking of which...

3. Cream of Pumpkin Soup

This recipe is featured in my edition of Better Homes and Gardens, but as I discovered looking at my friend's newer version it is NOT featured in the later editions. Fear not -- I will let you in on this beauty!

Ingredients:

1 C. Canned Pumpkin

1 and 1/2 C. chicken broth

1 T. butter

1 T. all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp. ginger, nutmeg, or a combination of both

1/8 tsp. salt (I always end up using more than this)

Dash pepper

1 C. milk, half and half, or light cream

Directions:

Whisk together pumpkin and 3/4 c. of the chicken broth until well combined. Set aside. In a medium saucepan melt butter. Stir in flour, ginger/nutmeg, salt and pepper. Add milk all at once. Cook and stir until slightly thickened and bubbly. Cook 1 minute more. Stir pumpkin/broth mixture and remaining broth. Cook and stir until heated through. If necessary, add more milk to get it to the right consistency. Season to taste.

*Added note -- my husband and I LOVE this with a dash of cayenne pepper. We don't add it to the pot, however, because of the kids' delicate taste buds.

All I can say is: DELICIOUS!

4. Pumpkin Bread

Image above comes from the blog post linked above

This recipe is great! It has a very moist texture, reminiscent of good quality bread pudding. I used powdered Stevia instead of regular sugar and brown sugar to accommodate my guests, and it turned out great regardless. I used regular milk instead of almond milk as well. 

5. Roasted Pumpkin Seeds 

I've found the trick to making great roasted pumpkin seeds is letting them dry out for 24 hours after rinsing them. Coat them well in unsalted melted butter and kosher salt. Bake at 300 degrees for 45 minutes, checking every 15 minutes to turn them. When they turn that lovely golden color, you're good-to-go. You'll have yourself a crunchy, delicious and nutritious snack. My almost three-year-old couldn't get enough of them.

There you have it, folks. I hope you can try some of these recipes out while pumpkins are in season and the canned stuff's on sale. Bon appetit!

Fun at the Pumpkin Patch

My husband had the day off this past Monday, so we decided to take advantage of the extra time we had together and go to the local pumpkin patch. We had a ton of fun together, and my eldest can't stop talking about it. Since then he says to me randomly, "Mom, I had lots of fun with you at the pumpkin patch!" He's adorable!

We happened to have picked out four pumpkins -- one for daddy to carve, one for mom to bake with, and two for ... well, fun I guess! Since we ended up with four I couldn't help myself and make it a photo-op moment. Here's the four of us with our "finds"!

I love being a goof, and I love helping our kids be goofy sometimes, too. Since they're little it's easy to take advantage of moments like this. I know someday getting away with goofy moments won't be as easy once embarrassment of this nature sets in. I must say, however, my dad's goofiness inevitably rubbed off on me. Here's hoping it will do the same with my kids.

All-in-all there was nothing super exciting about our excursion, but as I've said before it's little moments like this that make life spectacular. Happy Fall, y'all!

 

My Boys :: A Poem

Wind sweeps your curly locks
and dusts your long eyelashes,
While dirt and dead crumpled leaves fly
between fingers so eager to crush.
Only after a moment beg to be washed.

With fingers all ready to dirty once more,
These brothers come knock-knocking at my heart's door.
I open
and with their arms they open too.
One begs for a kiss.
Another a chance to stand tall.
I give, give, and they give to me even more.

My heart floods with meaning,
With purpose and joy,
When I keep close to this spectacular task:
Motherhood, Boys, is great and becomes greater,
When I remember to serve myself last.