Tuesday, January 31, 2012

afternoon nap




Micah's morning nap used to be my get 'er done time. (that is, until he stopped sleeping - except today, a rare morning nap that i am so thankful for)
most mornings now i get stuff done with him underfoot, not as easy, but possible.

if you have kids i'm sure you know what i mean - if i hadn't gotten in the shower yet, i'd shower
if i had, i'd put some "paint on the barn" as my mom likes to say,
do the dishes, throw in a load of laundry,
reheat my coffee for the 14th time and try to finally finish it while it's still hot
then sit on my bed and do my bible study for the day.

that's why, during his afternoon nap, i feel no guilt doing this.
nothing, nada, zilch, zero.
many days, when i finally feed Micah and lay him down at around 2pm
i usually scarf a little lunch while standing at the kitchen counter (if i haven't eaten already, which i often have not) and then slowly tiptoe up to my room with a book, or my laptop or to watch reruns of What Not to Wear while curled up under the covers of my electric blanket.

or like yesterday, my work day - after laying him down to sleep i brought my work laptop up to bed, turned on my electric blanket and began to work under the covers. little did i know that the warmth would get to me and i found myself waking up exactly 2 minutes before a conference call i had to be on after an unplanned 45 minute nap. i never do that, but i'll admit, i needed it and it felt good.

...just one of the perks of stay-at-home momdom i guess.



Friday, January 27, 2012

climbing stairs

...and so it begins...


last week, under close supervision, Micah made it up two stairs all by himself.
a few nights later, with Curtis right behind him, he climbed up the entire flight all by himself.
this made me both a proud momma and a terrified one.
see, i've fallen down this exact flight of stairs exactly twice - from top to bottom.
both times i laid on the ground at the bottom with thoughts of being a paraplegic flashing through my mind.
the first time i had little bruises up my spine for days
the second time i had a bruise the size of a watermelon (not even kidding) on the outside of my thigh for weeks.
so to say i'm not a little intimidated by a baby who can go up (but not down) stairs by himself would be a lie.
i have a feeling (because my mom told me) i'm going to be spending a lot of time on these stairs in the coming months, teaching him how to scale up and down safely.


Thursday, January 26, 2012

first tooth

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a few weeks ago this teething boy finally popped his first tooth.
for goodness sakes, he's over 11 months old already, it was about darn time
i was starting to wonder if he had teeth under those gums of his.
(although, i won't complain, because a no-teeth baby is easier to nurse!)

then last week, the poor thing woke up in the middle of the night,
let out a low, slow moan, and then went back to sleep a few minutes later.
the next morning we noticed he was cutting 5 more teeth at once.
four on the top, and one more on the bottom
and while it's not as bad as i feared it would be, actually, he's been a trouper
i can't imagine teeth cutting through my gums on a daily basis like that - ouch!






Sunday, January 22, 2012

meal planning

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i know a lot of people do weekly meal planning,
but while i've tried numerous times i've found that it's just not my style.

but here is what i do:

once a month i pack up Micah, my stack of reusable shopping bags (including my huge blue one from Ikea) and a quarter (for the cart) and we head across town to Aldi.

I usually spent at least 3/4 of my month's food budget (which to be honest, compared to most i've talked to, isn't a lot) but you cannot beat the prices there (and we've found that the quality of almost everything has been excellent)

While there i buy almost everything i need for meals for the month (i do make more frequent dairy/produce trips at Trader Joes/Giant Eagle/Target throughout the month) but the majority is purchased at Aldi.

When i get home i unload my loot and then sit down with a pen and piece of paper and list out all the meals i could make with what i just bought, then, as the month goes on, i can just glance at that list and decide on a day-to-day basis what i feel like making that day (usually starting with the most perishable items first)

while i have my go to staples in my pantry at all times - like black beans, canned corn, chick peas, salsa,   etc...there are times that i do make a special trip for a specific product (udon noodles for example, which aren't typically found at Aldi)

it works for me, but i'm curious...


how do you mean plan? grocery shop? cook for your family?





*easy thai peanut-y noodles:

udon noodles (cooked according to package)
cooked chicken (shredded rotisserie chicken, boiled or grilled)
variety of raw veggies (shredded cabbage, carrot, pea pods, bean sprouts, cucumber)
target's thai peanut sauce (i've also made it homemade before with peanut butter, sesame oil, chili paste, soy sauce, ect)
splash of soy
optional garnish: lime wedges and chopped cilantro



Saturday, January 21, 2012

because sometimes chapstick is enough, but sometimes only a red lip will do

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i have a lot of mac makeup due to my sister's awesome job hookup
so although i rarely go anywhere that requires a red lip
sometimes you just gotta rock it on a Thursday

and other times a nude lip along with neutral tank and sweater is where it's at

Friday, January 20, 2012

mandatory feet shot

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sometimes i take pictures of micah's feet
sometimes i take pictures of my feet
sometimes i forget to put shoes on for a walk around the block
(and i wonder why my slippers always end up smelling)
but some of the best feet shots are of us together

he may scoff at my little tootsie obsession but i think deep down he thinks it's endearing

the only thing that could make this shot better is a little pair of size 3 soft-soled little brown boots standing next to us (supported, of course, because he can't walk yet)

Thursday, January 19, 2012

just because i like him so darn much

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we've had a rough couple weeks of morning naps.
i've jokingly referred to it as our #morningnapshowdown, but the truth is i'm struggling
my usual happy, smiley, giggly kid turns into satan-incarnate when the clock strikes 10am.
and depending how much patience i have on any given morning i can last 30 minutes to an hour and a half.

these shots were taken on the rare morning when he was in his crib happy and not sobbing/crying/tears streaming/drool drooling/snot dripping when i finally broke down and got the little stubborn rascal.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

1 month until 1, or my 11 month old baby

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i kinda just want to cry today.
as of 11:12 am this morning, my kid is exactly a month away from his first birthday.
i can't even stand the thought of measuring his life in years and not months.

this last month was FULL of growth for this big guy.
developmentally, we have seen him grow so much in just the last few weeks
it's incredible
i wonder if we'll have the same awe with the milestones our next bambino reaches
i've heard you do

in the last four weeks micah has finally started getting his first tooth
(although this nursing mom is not complaining that it took so long)
he has begun to pull himself up onto everything and cruising around at a rapid rate
he has learned to clap
he has learned to wave hello and goodbey
he reaches his arms to the sky when we say "how big is Micah?"
he is beginning to understand and mimic (sporadically) a few signs like milk, hungry, all done, eat
he says "momma" and "dadda"(i think) with true understanding of who he is talking about (case in point, when he is upset with me he 100% of the time calls for "dadda"

his babyhood is slowly diminishing in light of his impending birthday and i am both thrilled and saddened.

now i'm off to go figure out how exactly to go about weaning. again, thrilled and saddened.



Tuesday, January 17, 2012

(not so) quiet time

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at church on new year's day our pastor challenged us to really make time reading the bible every day of the first month of this year. so while i missed the first two days, i have really tried hard to make it a priority. my typical time to spend some time with the Lord is during Micah's morning nap time - so although he hasn't been sleeping, i do still enjoy popping him in his bed then plopping myself on mine to spend some time in the word whether or not the background noise is filled with cries and yells for dada (he always calls for his daddy when i'm being "mean momma"!!!)

but last night i had resigned myself to drop his morning nap. i went to bed with thoughts of how a new one nap a day schedule would allow me some morning quiet time. this morning, however, i decided to give him one more shot. and what do you know - within minutes he was sound asleep. i guess he's not ready to give it up quiet yet.



*p.s. as usual, by this time in the morning my coffee had been reheated in the microwave at least 3 times - which explains the gross "skin" on the top of my remaining coffee and on the sides of my mug. i have a problem where i can't drink coffee unless it is scalding hot - and by scalding hot i mean burn my tongue every morning hot.



Monday, January 16, 2012

on fashion

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i like fashion
i like getting dressed in the morning
i like to browse fashion blogs for inspiration

i think creativity can manifest itself through many different facets of life

through writing (even if it's 'just a blog')
through the meals you cook for your family
through keeping your home a place where you love to be

and also through your own personal sense of style

now, i'll be the first to admit, while i don't shlump around most days in sweats (i prefer to save them for the after dinner hours!), i am far from a fashionista.
but i do think i have my own sense of style, what i usually gravitate towards and what generally works for me.
and i like to find inspiration in a variety of places - on blogs, browsing{pinterest}, even while doing errands.

the above photos do not showcase my typical style - at least not now that i'm a stay-at-home mom
these pictures were taken a couple months ago when i decided to dress up for church
i usually wear jeans or something equally as casual.
it was a day i felt cute.
it was an outfit that reminded me that really the only, and i mean only, thing i missed about heading into an office every day was the chance to throw on a pair of heels, or a skirt, or a cute little blazer (or all at once) and feel put together.

most days i can be spotted wearing skinny jeans tucked into boots, a tank top or t, some sort of colored cardigan and scarf - usually one of these items is striped, another leopard print...
throw in a big ring, a stack of bracelets to go with my favorite gold watch and maybe my faux fur vest and that's about it

my style is simple but maybe just a bit quirky, layered, but textured, and i am starting to really like the mixing of prints - stripes with animal print, or plaid with floral

before Micah was born i made a conscious decision to wake up every day, whether we had somewhere to go or not, and get up and ready like we had places to be. i take a shower, do my hair, put on some makeup and usually get dressed up 'decently' even though on some of those early days i didn't leave the couch. it think it has (in part) helped me keep my sense of self/style in this new world called motherhood that so quickly can become the eye of a tornado centered around a baby.

i'm not sure what i'm trying to say here really, and i guess that's okay.
maybe i'm trying to justify my purchase of a pair of yellow jeans on sale at anthropologie when i already have a stack of jeans in my closet. or the striped jcrew blazer i got off of ebay with some christmas cash. maybe it's just one of my ways to express myself and be creative. not the only way, but one of the many ways.

...and maybe every once in a while i'll pop on here and show you what i've been wearing.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

on feeling daunted and a change in perspective

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Sometimes I think I put too much pressure on myself when it comes to this here blog
Thinking I have to be serious, or deep or thought-provoking, when the truth is, I am rarely any of those things
I just don't want you to have this impression of me that my every day life is all poetic and prose
Because it's not
I guess I've just felt like in order to make good use of this little space I had to wait until I had something 'important' to say and in the meantime i'm missing out on all the little unpolished gems of our daily, typical, usual, normal life.
I've found that pictures help
And with them you often need less words
So as you might have noticed in my last couple posts I've tried write a little about a few brief moments in time simply because I want to remember them
Less pressure and then hopefully this little corner of the web won't feel so daunting to me in the spaces between my more serious rambles.

Saturday, January 14, 2012

sled riding

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my aunt & uncle loaned us their wooden sled from when their kids were little.
so when the snow finally came the first week of January we were eager to see how Micah liked it.
and like most things, he took to it like he was born in the snow.
he kept reaching his mittened hand down to scoop up the snow and stuff it in his mouth.
he didn't even mind the forced snow angel we made him make before we brought him back into the warmth of our little home.


Friday, January 13, 2012

winter wagoning

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for Christmas my parents bought Micah this red wagon.
it was the same one we had when we were kids

this weekend it was nice enough outside to take if for the first ride around our neighborhood.
it was a little bumpy but he seemed to enjoy it - even as he slowly slid down because his mittened hands couldn't grip the sides.



Thursday, January 12, 2012

nap time showdown

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if you're friends with me on facebook or instagram you've probably already seen this photo.
this was yesterday at morning nap time.

a nap time showdown if i've ever seen one.

it started a week ago.
he realized that during his morning nap, he could pull himself up and cruise around his crib instead of sleeping.
since then he's actually fallen asleep once - yesterday - after this screenshot was taken.

i was in the kitchen keeping an eye on him as i was prepping the night's dinner when i glanced over and saw this.
it was like he knew i was watching him through the webcam we have looking down on his crib,
mocking me.

so i went up there, laid him down (again) and said, "Micah, you need to take a rest now," and walked out of the room to the sound of sobs

Minutes later this is what i saw:



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i might've won the nap time showdown yesterday, but today was another story.



 
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