I Did It!

I managed to post every day in the month of November (except that day I was sick). This was definitely a fun challenge, and it made me realize that it really isn't all that hard to do. I can't say that I'll continue posting every day, but this will probably be enough of a boost to remind me to do it at least a few times each week. I'll update on our trip soon! For now I'm headed to bed to catch up on some much needed sleep.

A Rough Night

Well, thanks to being overtired, teething, and having severe mommy attachment, C refused to sleep in the PnP last night at our hotel. So we ended up bringing him in bed with us. Who knew a 14 month old could take up so much of a king sized bed?

We Made It!

First trip in a car with Caleb over 1.5 hours. Today we traveled 8.5 hours including about 2 hours of stops between 3 separate places. It's only 6:30pm, and we're all pretty much ready to crash. C did great on the trip though. More to come...

Y3W

Happy Thanksgiving!

Why?

Last night as I was driving home I heard the song "Why" by Racal Flatts on the radio. I had heard it once before and realized it was about suicide, but it didn't have the effect on me then that it did this time. This time was different. A few weeks ago, on a Monday, there was a suicide on the campus where I was a student and where I now teach. When I first heard about it I said a prayer for the family and friends of those who had lost and didn't know why. I also said a prayer for people who are in that dark place in their lives that they would find someone to turn to so that it wouldn't come to that for them.

As expected, the campus was in an uproar in the days that followed. I usually spend Tuesday mornings at home with C, and the day following this tragedy was no different. On my way in to my office, just about two hours before I was scheduled to teach, I picked up the campus newspaper to discover that I knew the person involved in the tragedy. It hit me like a ton of bricks, and I was shaken up for a few days. When I heard this song, it took me right back there and it also reminded me of a woman from my childhood. Hillary was a softball coach for one of the other teams in my league when I was about 10 or 12. The girls on her team loved her and thought she was a great role model, but she tragically took her own life before the start of the next season leaving everyone asking, "Why?" I still think of her periodically and wonder if things might have been different if someone had only known the heartache that she secretly felt.

I'm not exactly sure where I'm going with this post except to say that it makes me realize how one person can touch the lives of so many people without ever having a clue. I think if we all took the time to tell people how we feel everyday and how we are touched even by strangers, the world would be a better place to live.


Why by Rascal Flatts

You must have been in a place so dark
You couldn't feel the light
Reaching for you through that stormy cloud
Now here we are gathered in our little home town
This can't be the way you meant to draw a crowd

Oh why, that's what I keep asking
Was there anything I could have said or done
Oh I had no clue you were masking a troubled soul
God only knows what went wrong and why you'd leave the stage in the middle of a song
mmmmm

Now in my mind I'll keep you frozen as a 17 year old
Rounding third to score the winning run
You always played with passion no matter what the game
When you took the stage you shined just like the sun

Oh why that's what I keep asking
Was there anything I could have said or done
Oh I had no clue you were masking a troubled soul
Oh God only knows what went wrong and why you would leave the stage in the middle of a song
Yeahhhhh

Now the oak trees a swaying in the early autumn breeze
The golden sun is shining on my face
Tangled thoughts I hear the mocking bird sing this old world really ain't that bad a place

Oh, there's no comprehending and who am I to try judge or explain
But I do have one burning question
Who told you life wasn't worth the fight
They were wrong
They lied
Now your gone and we cry
It's just not like you to walk away in the middle of a song
Your beautiful song
Your absolutely beautiful song

Little Man

Two More Days

I have a horrible case of holiday-itis right now. I'm so ready for the Thanksgiving break that I can't think of anything else. There is so much to look forward to. Wednesday night we'll have Caleb's usual swim lessons. Then on Thursday we'll have brunch and dinner with Andrew's parents. Andrew has to work on Friday, but I'm sure that Caleb and I will find something fun to to. Then on Saturday we're heading out on our first long car trip with C so that we can go check out the grand opening of one of Andrew's projects for work. I just have to get through the next two days, and then we can enjoy the wonderfulness of family for four straight days! They can't go by fast enough.

Wall Art

A few weeks ago, our playgroup went to The Farm at South Mountain where we all had a very nice (albeit expensive) picnic lunch at The Farm Kitchen. They have a huge area lined with large trees and picnic tables, and they have...wait for it...grass! Sure, there's grass in Arizona, but mostly you see yards lined with stones. I miss seeing those green lawns and tree lined streets everyday. Anyway, after lunch the kiddos had a blast running around. I had forgotten my camera, but fortunately my very talented friend, Cortney of Cortney Talbott Photography, had her camera and was snapping away as I chased Caleb all over the place.




A brief moment of calm


And now the reason for this post in the first place. The picture below is now blown up and hanging above the couch in our living room. I think this picture would look great in anyone's house, but it is particularly special because that's Caleb in the middle running away from the group. As he was running, I yelled, "Bye, Caleb" and he just started waving his hand and said, "Bah-bye." Too cute! Definitely a great memory. Blog readers from Arizona should, definitely check out Cortney's website!

Could Have Fooled Me

Teething (v): the process by which children aquire teeth. Although there are only 20 "baby teeth" that need to come in, this process will last from the time a child is 4 months old until puberty. Even when there are no concrete signs of teeting (i.e. a tooth popping through the gums) you will believe that your child is getting a tooth. It can take 6 months or more for any one tooth to come in once your child starts showing "signs of teething" (excessive drool, fussiness, low grade fever, difficulty sleeping).

I'm wondering why the above definition of teething isn't what one finds when "Googling" the topic. We've been waiting and waiting and waiting for Caleb to get more teeth. His first two came around 8 months, and 1 month later he aquired four more teeth at one time. I kept thinking that he'd get the other two bottom front teeth anytime. We've been through numerous periods of crazy drooling, spurts of with middle of the night wakeups, biting on and off, and even times when I could swear that I felt a tooth popping through the gum in the front. Andrew and I had given up on it, and refused to use "teething" as an excuse for anything anymore. Yesterday I stuck my hand in C's mouth toward the back and I to my surprise I felt two teeth definitely poking through the gum. That's right, he's getting molars before the rest of his front teeth. So it official, Caleb now has 8 teeth: four on top in the front, two bottom front, one top left molar and one bottom left molar. After all of that trying to guess when he was teething, these seem to have come in with relatively little disturbance to his schedule and activities. We can only hope that the remaining teeth will come in without issue as well!

Y3W

Sorry for the awful quality of this photo. It was taken on my cell phone in a dark restaurant. The moment was just too cute to pass up!

Much Better

So yeah, I missed posting yesterday. But I have a good excuse. I woke up yesterday morning feeling a little sick in my stomach. As the day went on, it only got worse. By the time I left school, I was feeling achy and weak. I ate nothing all day until dinner. When we got home after dinner, I made myself comfy on the couch under 3 blankets while Andrew played with Caleb on the floor next to me. After Caleb's bath (which I made Andrew do) we got him in bed, and I put on several more layers of clothes and crawled under three more blankets. I was still freezing! I had checked my temperature before going out to dinner, and it was normal, but I'm fairly certain that I was running a fever last night. It took until half way through the night for me to feel comfortable. Then a little later I woke up sweating to death and had to remove a few layers. I'm feeling a lot better this morning, but still not 100%. I really hope that is the end of whatever illness took over my body.

Sexy Boots

14 Months

I used to stress about how C would look in his "monthly" pictures. Now I get a kick out of seeing all the silly things he does. Andrew and I keep reminding ourselves that these shots are really great because we've really and truly captured Caleb's personality at 14 months! He very rarely sits still these days unless it is to pick up a book. I think I've mentioned this before, but we often find him sitting with a book on his lap flipping through the pages. Another one of his favorites is making animal and object noises. His favorites right now are "Baa," "Woof," and "Grooowl." Just tonight he started saying, "Neigh" as he played with his toy horses. And he also loves to make car/truck (ruck as he says) noises. There isn't one single thing that I don't enjoy about this age. It is truly a joy and a blessing to watch Caleb grow and change.

Thanks, Cort!

We had our good friend, Cortney, take some pictures of us this weekend to be used on our holiday cards. Here's one that we won't be using (only because it is of just me and Caleb), but it is my new favorite pictures of the two of us.

Two posts yesterday

I should have saved one for today!

C's First Haircut - The Video

We finally caved and decided to get C a haircut. Now, if you're not around to see him in person, it probably wouldn't appear from pictures that the kid had any hair at all. However, he was really starting to develop quite the mullet. Andrew decided to go for a haircut this morning, so we just took C along and had his cut after Daddy was finished. We didn't think he had much hair on top until we cut the excess hair off the back. Now he looks like a cutie little boy!

The video is only of the first minute of the cut when C started to get fussy. The guy doing the clipping did a great job, but it did end up taking about 5-10 minutes. As you can imagine, C was no to please with him. However, you can see the worst of the fussing the video. Overall, I think he did great!

Y3W

Could it be?

Caleb said his first sentence tonight. Only two words, but two words strung together back-to-back. As we were eating dinner tonight C pointed to his cup of milk on the table and said, "More ba." Ba means any liquid that is in a cup (milk, water, juice). He never really developed a new word after "bottle." Nevertheless...he knew what it meant and so did we. We've been working on getting him to say, "Please," which he has done a few times, but never with another word. I'm hoping that his next sentence is "More ba please." I'm loving every minute with him right now. This is such an awesome age!

Veteran's Day

WAS WONDERFUL! This was my first day off since school started back in August. I hadn't realized just how stressed out I had been until I gave myself the entire day away from work. It seems like I've been spending every spare moment lately doing work, something that I had hoped I would never have to do again after grad school. So anyway, I made sure that yesterday was a free day for just me and C to spend together. In the morning we did a bit of Christmas shopping, then we had lunch with Daddy, GranB and Pop Pop, and in the evening we went to swimming lessons. C is doing great with swim lessons, but more on that later!

Another Delicious Meal

We've been really into making soups lately. It's great because I can make a large batch on the weekend and then we'll have leftovers for lunches (here I go again) for a few days during the week. Earlier this week I made a this recipe for Italian Chicken and Vegetable Soup. I started it out on the stove to brown up the chicken and cook the veggies a bit, and then I transferred it to the crock pot since I was headed to work. We had to doctor it up a bit just before serving as it was a little light on seasoning, but ultimately it tasted great! We added salt, black pepper, and Italian seasonings (basil, oregano, red pepper flake). Next time I think I'd season the chicken and veggies at the start and then I'd add garlic before adding the tomatoes and stock. This is definitely a recipe that we'll be adding to our soup rotation.

Rocking the Shades

Good News! C's babysitter sent some recent pictures, so you don't have to read about my lunch today.

Only 9 Days

Here we are only 9 days in to my NaBloPoMo challenge, and already I'm having to blog about what I ate for lunch. The So today my lunch consisted of leftovers. I know what you're thinking, "Oh my gosh, not only is she going to talk about her lunch, but that lunch was leftovers?!" Have no fear. I promise it will be worth your while! So my leftovers lunch was wonderful. More on that later.

A few days ago I noticed that Eye Roasts were on sale at the grocery store. Since I know how great these are for making my all time favorite crock pot meal, I picked one up. Crock pot meals are the working mom's best friend. You can throw a few things in the pot before heading to work, and when you come home it's like you have your own personal chef who cooked for you all day. The house smells wonderful and you have a fully cooked meal ready to be put on the table! Could there be anything better?

So exactly what is my favorite crock pot meal, you ask? Roast beef with potatoes, carrots, tomatoes and onions. Why do I love it so much? Let me count the reasons:

1. It is sooooo yummy and makes my house smell awesome!

2. It is possibly one of the easiest recipes ever! Simply brown up the roast on all sides in a skillet with a little oil (you can skip this step but it won't be as tasty!). Peel the carrots and potatoes (lots of them...as much as your crock pot can hold in addition to the roast and other ingredients) and cut them into pieces about 1" square(ish). Throw these into a single layer on the bottom of the crock pot. Put roast on top of that and fill in the area around the roast with remaining carrots. Sprinkle the top of the roast with grill seasoning (a la Rachel Ray). Then chop up one onion in large chunks and sprinkle over the top. Finally dump one 28oz can of diced tomatoes over the whole thing. Cook on high all day (6 hours). When I come home I usually turn it off and then it cools a bit before we eat it. Easy Peasy...anyone can do it!

3. The leftovers are just as yummy as the meal itself! Which brings me back to my lunch today...

One of my favorite sandwiches was a kid was always my mom's homemade roast beef sandwiches which consisted of leftoever roast beef on bread with a touch of mayo (Hellmanns or Best Foods only!...same mayo, different name...there's a story for another time). So today's lunch was just that, a leftover roast beef sandwich with a bit of those leftover yummy carrots and potatoes I was telling you about! Mmmmmmm...delicious!

See...that wasn't too bad, now was it? Let's hope that some more interesting blog ideas come to me for the remaining days this week!

Dear Caleb,

It used to be so darn cute when you would drop something and say "uh-oh." Now I am starting to regret having ever taught you that word. "Uh-oh" is a word that is only to be used when something happens accidentally. It does not mean "I just threw something to the floor intentially," or "I don't want this sippy cup on my high chair tray anymore, so I'm going to toss it over the edge."  Let's work on this!

Love,
Mommy

New Blog Background and Header

I decided that we'd had the baseball themed background up way too long.  I'd been wanting to change it for a while now since, and I figured since baseball season officially ended (with the sad loss of the Phillies in the World Series) that it was time to go ahead and make the change.  I've gotten really into making my own blog headers, so I also needed to wait until I had sufficient time to put that together as well.  Anyway, here's the latest setup that will be hanging around for a few weeks.  I'll be unveiling a new background and header after Thanksgiving in preparation for Christmas!  In the mean time...whaddya think of this one?

Y3W

"Throwing"

Obviously we are a family obsessed with baseball. So obviously we've been trying to work with Caleb on throwing balls. He loves balls, just not throwing them. So the other night I was trying to explain throwing again by throwing one of his ball pit balls against the closet doors in our house (bad example that I'm sure I'll regret later, I know). I gave C the ball to throw, and here is what happened...