The Day I Almost Burned Down Our Apartment Building

We've been here almost four weeks now, and ever since the movers arrived with our stuff, our grill has been sitting outside on our balcony just asking to be used. At first I was afraid we weren't allowed to have grills, but then I spotted some other units (on the side of the building hidden away from the parking lot) that had grills out on their deck. Still not sure that it's technically allowed, but if everyone else is doing it...

Then I was afraid that our little grill would set the complex on fire because it would get too hot next to the wood of the balcony flooring. But, my craving for grilled food became too great during my weekly shopping trip this week, and I planned to grill most of our meals. I had to make a special trip to Home Depot to get the small propane tank that fits our grill, and yesterday we had our first grilled meal in our new home...BBQ chicken kabobs with fresh local veggies (tomatoes and zucchini from Andrew's coworker's garden and red peppers and onions from the Farmer's Market). DELICIOUS! The veggies were to-die-for, and for the first time in the history of making this meal, only chicken was leftover.

Fast forward to tonight, when I had a craving for some more of those veggies. We were out of the peppers and the home grown zucchini, but I did have some zucchini from the Farmer's Market, so we used that along with more tomatoes and onions. This was paired along with some steaks! Here they are, fresh off the grill!!

Excuse me, I just had to wipe some drool off my face.

Anyway, we're cleaning up dinner and Andrew brings Caleb out into the living room when he yells to me about the grill...enter smoke pouring out of the grill. Never before have I left the grill on when finished grilling. Our stupid grill has a knob that makes you turn the thing up to full strength (and beyond) in order to turn it off. So I hadn't gotten it quite to off....just all the way to full on propane pouring into the flame.

So now I shut the grill off, FIRE still RAGING! I pull out the grease tray...fire still raging, only now grease is dripping down directly onto our wood balcony! I'm afraid to use water, you know...grease fire! So I sprinkle some flour on it...fire still raging, now with blackened flour stuck to the slats. Finally, I decide to try just a sprinkle of water to see what happens. {By this point, I'm terrified that our house and all of our neighbor's houses are going to burn to the ground or we're going to have a major explosion. Coincidentally, the only neighbor who I've gotten to know pulls into her handicapped parking space right below my balcony, looks up and waves. I wave back as if nothing is wrong. HELLO...raging flames and smoke pouring out of my grill...I think she noticed something was wrong.}

Anyway, the sprinkling of water didn't seem to upset the fire, so I poured a cup of water {from a measuring cup, cuz you know, in these situations using the proper amount of water is key}. WHOOSH! Flames immediately extinguished. THANK THE LORD! After dousing the grill with several more pitchers full of water just to be sure, things were back to normal. Thank goodness the model apartment, which just so happens to be the one RIGHT BELOW US, wasn't occupied our landlord or any potential new tenants as the water poured down right onto the deck below. Gosh I really hope we have a storm soon to wash away any grill debris from down there.

As yummy as that food was, I'm pretty sure it'll be a LONG while before I venture to grill on our balcony again.

Y3W

C and I went for a walk through the neighborhood adjacent to our apartment complex yesterday afternoon. It was GORGEOUS weather! People were outside saying hi as we walked by. Cars drove by a little slower and the people, with windows rolled down, smiled to see and hear this little bundle of energy who was walking with me. There's something special about this place. As I watched him run down the sidewalk on the tree lined street all I could think was how this was exactly how my childhood self imagined life would be when I grew up. This is the kind of place I want Caleb {and our future kid(s)} to grow up.

Don't forget to join in on this week's Y3W:

The Perfect Day

I was beginning to think that it wasn't possible to have a completely, 100% enjoyable day when you're the mother of a toddler. But today I had an almost magical day with Caleb. Tired of going to the park every.single.day, I decided today would be our first zoo trip as just the two of us {we've gone with Daddy twice before}. I was a little worried since I knew that would mean driving around the city about half an hour in the car just shortly after rush hour with a usually cranky toddler in the back seat, but I decided it was worth the try.

When C woke up this morning, I went into his room and didn't immediately turn the light on. He looked tired still {and so was I} so I just layed down on his bed. He did the say laying right next to me laying his hand on my arm. It was the absolute sweetest thing, and the perfect way to start "The Perfect Day."

After Daddy was finished showering {all of five minutes later}, he came in and "woke" us up. As has become a daily occurrence as of late, Caleb and I hopped in the shower. He loves the shower and using "Daddy soap" {aka body wash}, and he loves it when I pick him up and we sing, "Singing in the Rain" and then we stick our tongues out and catch some "raindrops." I love feeling his super soft skin on mine just like when he was first born and placed on my chest. And everytime we take our morning shower, I remind myself that this time might be the last time he wants to shower with mommy. Even on those days when I want to shower alone, when I really need to shave my legs but can't with him in there, when the hot water is running out and I just want to hop out but he keeps saying, "Cay-yub stay in shower," I remind myself that these days won't last forever.

So after shower, we had some breakfast {waffles}. I put chocolate chips on mine, Caleb thought they were raisins and said, "Cay-yub need waisins too," so he ate blueberry waffles with raisins on top. We sat at the table and colored with crayons on blank sheets of computer paper. Finally it was time to head to the zoo, so we packed up the bag and got in the car. I thought the GPS was taking us in a funny direction, but decided to just go with it. Forty-five minutes later we were arriving at the zoo having driven around the opposite side of the city that we usually do when we head to the zoo. If someone would have told me yesterday that it would take us that long to get there, I probably wouldn't have gone knowing how C usually behaves in the car for any more than 5 minutes. But, today, miracle day, he was an angel in the car even saying at one point, "mommy finding the zoo." What I usually say when we're heading to a park and he complains is, "Mommy's working on finding the park."

Once at the zoo, we checked the animals, some deer:


C was more interested in the telescope thing than the elephants.



Awesome view of a momma elephant nursing her baby.


Again, more interested in the fish and ducks than the giraffes


Today we discovered they have a very nice primate exhibit at the zoo. The gorillas in particular have a very nice habitat. Unfortunately, I couldn't photograph them because Caleb was trying to run off to the next exhibit.


We LOVE the fact that there is an aquarium in our zoo!


Complete with polar bears


Today we got a special treat when the polar bears were actually playing in the water portion of their habitat.


This one looked like he was taking a bath






After about an hour at the zoo we had to head home for lunch and nap. Since it was so late, and I could see that C was fading fast, we had a special lunch on the couch while he watched Word World {daily pre-nap event}. After an almost 4 hour nap, we headed straight to our Wednesday afternoon tradition {for the last three weeks} the farmer's market in the local church parking lot. We picked up corn, peaches and blackberries and then sat on the grassy hill sharing {another tradition} our weekly Mango water ice. Caleb looks forward to "ice cream" whenever I talk about the farmer's market now.


Daddy beat us home from the market and was already starting dinner. Delicious steaks that I had marinating for 3 days {unintentially} were super yummy and soooo tender! The corn was fabulous...just ask Caleb!


After dinner, it was bath time and bed time before hanging out with Andrew, and now heading to bed.

But first, one more thing that made this day "perfect." During that 4 hour nap, I was able to get some sewing done for clients {still feels strange using that word}, and I finally created a label for my clothes. I love it!


So there you have it, the perfect day. No tantrums or getting upset about things, just mommy and Caleb spending the day together and enjoying every.single.second. Today was most certainly a perfect day and an amazing blessing that I'll cherish for years to come {especially tomorrow when I'm sure the tantrums are sure to return}.

Seasons - Summer

Have I mentioned that I LOVE how green it is here? I didn't even realize that I missed the green until I got back. I didn't even realize how un-green Phoenix is until I visited here and saw how VERY green it is.

But, I also missed fall with it's changing leaves and crisp air. And I also missed winter {a tad} with being able to bundle up in heavy {and oh-so-adorable} winter coats, and crunch around the snow in boots and take Caleb sledding for the first time {Yes, I'm completely ignoring the fact that I'm going to freeze my tail off, and have to shovel snow and dig my car out, and drive up huge hills in a non-4 wheel drive car with ice on the roads. Please allow me to keep my fantasy of a winter wonderland here.}. And I also miss spring with the return of birds, and leaves to the trees, and that smell that I can't even describe, but it is just so "spring."

So, when we first moved here I decided that I was going to take one picture each season for the first {and only} year that we are here in this apartment. We have a beautiful view off our balcony {if you ignore the parking lot below}, so the plan is to step outside {even in the snow} and take a picture to commemorate the seasons in our first year back in the northeast. So here's the first one:

A Regular Martha Stewart

Sadly, since we moved, Caleb's awesome curtains made by my mother-in-law do not fit the windows here. So I had to improvise. Fortunately, I had an old pair of green curtains that I had gotten at Target, but never really used. We hung them up only to find that Caleb didn't like napping with so much light coming into the room.


An hour nap just wasn't going to cut it for me since I know he's still tired after that amount of time. And with tired comes cranky - never a good combination in a toddler {or anyone for that matter}. Also in the move, Andrew conveniently found a ginormous piece of black fabric that he once used as a backdrop taking photos of his architectural models in school. PERFECT! I made two cuts on the fabric, stitched some straight lines, easy peasy blackout curtains!


I want to do a whole post about Caleb's room once it is clean and we have some toddler friendly bedding in there, but for the moment while we're talking about Caleb's room I just wanted to point out that I finally "completed" the family tree wall including a picture of Caleb for the first time, and adding a frame for cousin Audrey. I also updated the pic of cousin Nick to one from our recent beach trip.

And just in case you're wondering, we have several more of these frames in reserve for when future children come along from us or you know anyone else on this wall (hint, hint Aunt Dani and Uncle Matt). I can't wait to have a house of our own again and to put a giant tree decal behind this.

Y3W (is back)

Today the original creator of the "Y3W the blog version" invited her readers to join in the weekly posting. I realized that it's been quite sometime since I've done one of these, and this was just the boost I needed to get back into it. If you'd like to join in, click the link below.



So without further ado, here's my first Y3W post-move.

If you don't already know, can you guess where we live?

23 Months

Last year at this time I was trying to do everything I could to slow down the next month to keep my baby, well, a baby. This year I'm finding that I'm already telling people he's 2 years old when they ask. Why? Because I feel like he is. I just can't believe all the things this little guy can do, and he's not even 2 yet. I am constantly amazed by how smart, funny, loving, and completely adorable this little person has become.

Vocabulary: I don't know if this belongs under the "vocabulary" heading or not, but I'm not sure where else to put it or what else to put in this category, so here goes...The little man has started negotiating with us. Just this morning he asked for 3 episodes of Word World. When I told him that wouldn't be happening, he said, "2 esipode worworld." As if dropping off one episode was going to make me change my mind. The other funny thing he's started doing is asking for something, then when we repeat it, in question form, back to him he says, OK, as if we just convinced him to do something. For example, he'll say something like, "Cay-yub get some fruit." Then we say, "Would you like to eat some fruit?" And he responds with, "OK" while simultaneously running to the kitchen.

New skills: Jumping (about 1/4 inch off the ground, but nevertheless that is jumping); peed on the potty 2x, but not since. What can I say, my kid is terrified of the potty.

Eating: I can't believe that we're almost at the 2 year mark, and we really haven't had a battle with eating. Caleb's favorite foods are still fruits and veggies, and he's definitely been enjoying all the farmer's market fresh produce we've been able to get since we moved.

Favorites: Trains and Word World. I'm fairly certain that Caleb would be just fine for an entire day if I left him in the living room with an endless loop of Word World on the TV, a creatively designed (by daddy) completed IKEA train track, and a large bowl of fruit...ok, he'd probably need someone to "change you diaper" since he's afraid of the potty and hates having a poopy diaper.

Since we moved C to a full sized bed when we moved, I thought I'd try to take some pictures of him sitting on the big boy bed...


FAIL!!!

Here I got him laughing (he thought it was hilarious when I'd flip him over to try to take a picture), and even though he was laying down and had his eyes closed, these were the best ones I got.


Later that day he was eating pretzels and dancing around the living room. Gah! He's just a little boy now!

Hello God, It's Becki

We've moved. There, I finally said it. I've been meaning to post about it for, oh, at least a month and a half, but well, I just haven't been able to formulate all the things I wanted to say, and I was without internet access for a good two weeks (OK, fine, I had my iTouch, but that doesn't count. You can't blog from there), and I was supposed to be applying for jobs, but who am I kidding I was just procrastinating!

Which brings me to the whole point here. We've moved almost the entire way across the country and are starting a completely new life in a completely new place where we know exactly 4 people who happen to be my husband's new boss, his boss's wife and their two sons. Needless to say, even a completely sane person could/would feel overwhelmed by all the change. And let's face it, since graduate school, I'm not the most sane person I know (not the most insane person I know either, so there's a plus)! So like I said, I'm supposed to be applying for jobs, but then I start thinking about all that entails and I just completely start spiraling downward until I can't even bring myself to sit at the computer and look for jobs let alone apply for one.

Yesterday was our first day here alone (me and Caleb). Andrew had gone back to work after nearly 6 months home with us, and here I was alone with Caleb. I had to find a way to fill our day so that I wouldn't go insane home alone with him all day. So by the time nap rolled around, I tried to think about applying for jobs and once again I started spiraling downward...how are we going to handle both of us working 100% full time?, who will cook dinner?, how will we eat before Caleb goes to bed at 7:30 if we only both get home at 6?, who's going to clean the house? I'm going to get so annoyed if I have to do all the cleaning while Andrew watches TV or something, then I'll end up having a giant meltdown...

So to avoid that near meltdown in that exact moment I ended up searching the interwebz and reading blogs instead of looking for jobs. And then it happened...

I came across the blog of a friend of a friend who is starting a Marriage Monday segment, and it was just the thing I needed to read in that moment to help me realize that everything would be ok WHEN I go back to work because Andrew and I are strong and we make an amazing team especially when times are rough.

Then today it happened again. Naptime, just like yesterday, I started looking at blogs, and I came across this entry posted TODAY by a mommy who is going back to work full time now that her little guy is a year old. She's not too much unlike me in a lot of ways (from what I can tell reading a blog on the internet!), and again it was just what I needed to read today to add a little bit of confidence and a reminder that I need to live life for me and for our family and realize that what works for us might not work for others.

So two blogs in two days that make me feel like they were written just for my eyes to see in the exact moment that I needed to see them. All I can say is, "Hello God, It's Becki and I hear you LOUD and CLEAR!"

Caleb has been napping for almost 2 hours, and I applied for 3 jobs (in addition to writing this)!

Potty Training

Has unofficially begun. For several months now Caleb has been waking up from nap (most of the time) with a dry diaper. We tried a few times to put him on the potty to see if he would use it, but I don't think that I was patient enough. He always wanted to just hop up right away. Yesterday when he woke up dry, I decided to take his potty seat in the bathroom and close the door. He literally danced around the bathroom naked for a good 5 minutes before he finally sat down and PEED IN THE POTTY! I think he was a little freaked out because he kept trying to get up off the potty as he was going, but we just kept talking and he did great. Today after nap was more of the same. This time I sat him right on the adult toilet with his little seat attached and he did it again (after he requested I put his diaper back on about 3 times. At least I know he was able to hold it during that time instead of just peeing right in the middle of the bathroom floor)! I think it is clear from his reaction to the whole thing that it'll be a while before he's potty trained, but this is certainly a step in the right direction...getting him over his fear of the potty!

Cleaning

I'm clearing my desktop of cell phone pics that I've emailed to myself over the last several months, but never posted!

You can never have enough pictures like this...


Visiting our favorite place in Arizona, the McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park.



Still at the railroad park, Caleb's other favorite thing to do is ride the "up down horseys"



A few from our trip to San Diego. Here he's helping Memaw feed cousin Audrey.


A beach bum at heart.


Gorgeous sunset off the coast in San Diego. This amazing view was from the living room of our house.


Lounging with Daddy


Hard at work. Lots of people wish they could go to work in just their underwear.



Reading at GranB and Pop Pop's house on the big chair.


Hanging out in the creek with Memaw.


Cheers! After nap snack of milk and cookies with Mommy.