Saturday, September 8, 2012

Little Mama

 Last week at the store, I was pushing the cart down the toy aisle on my way to find some Hot Wheels cars (as incentives for Monster's potty training - that's another story, though. Haha!) And as I was pushing the cart, Sweet Pea started squealing... and reaching. I looked at what she was reaching toward - and saw baby dolls. *shock* She's only 9 months old! She's supposed to like rattles and push toys and musical toys... not GIRL toys. She's just a little bitty baby, unable to make decisions about toy preferences!

Ha. Joke's on me, apparently. Little sister wanted those dolls, and bad.

So, I found the smallest soft dolls that they had (the ones for $2.99 - heck yes!) and grabbed one of each colored outfit. Then I held them in front of her... and she actually looked at them for a few moments, as if deciding which one she liked best. Then she grabbed it, and immediately started sucking on it's head. LOL.

And with that, we went to the checkout line and I bought her her very first doll!

 She loves this thing. She'll crawl around the house with it, and just have it near her while she plays with whatever. :)

And if she's crying, she can usually be calmed by handing her doll to her.




Most of the time, she throws the doll around, smacks it against the floor, etc. But it's absolutely heartwarming to watch her cuddle the doll every now and then. I'm amazed by how early the maternal instincts kick in!

When she's sleepy, she wants to hold her doll, and cuddle into me or daddy. So it's us, holding our baby, holding her baby. <3 So adorable.

As shocked as I was that this starts so early, I'm going to love watching her grow into a sweet little girl - doing little girl things. 


~Thanks for visiting! I love comments, so take a minute to let me know you were here! If you don't want to miss any future posts, please find a way to follow - options are over on the right side of the page. I'd love to see you back!~

Saturday, September 1, 2012

Haircuts

 We've had a haircut weekend! On Friday, I had a long-overdue appointment to get my hair cut. I had about 7-8 inches chopped off! It's now a simple bob, just above my shoulders.

And tonight I cut Monster's hair! I never look forward to cutting his, because I know when those curls fall, he looks soooo much older. But he's so handsome!

Here's our before & after pictures!

Me, before. This is from way back in May.... but it's the most recent picture I could find with my hair down! I pretty much kept it in a ponytail or messy bun all summer long, haha. But, as you can see - it was pretty long.

And, here it is now!


So short! But I love it!


And Monster's hair, before:
Look at those beautiful curls!

And, after! (cell phone pic, sorry. Camera battery died!)


~Thanks for visiting! I love comments, so take a minute to let me know you were here! If you don't want to miss any future posts, please find a way to follow - options are over on the right side of the page. I'd love to see you back!~

Monday, August 27, 2012

Sweet Pea is 9 Months Old!

 Oh my word, how did time pass so quickly?

Sweet Pea turned 9 months old today, and her check-up was today as well.


At 9 months old, Sweet Pea...

  • Weighs 22 lbs, 6 oz. That's the 95th percentile!
  • Is 27.75 inches long. 50th percentile.
  • Waves hi & bye.
  • Claps when you say 'Yay'.
  • Loves to get into mischief. Monster never got into stuff he wasn't supposed to. But this girl? Garbage can, check. Purse, check. Cell phone charger, check. Bathroom cupboard, check. Cat food, check. (eeewwwwww!)
  • Adores her daddy. Him talking to her (heck, even looking at her) is a guaranteed smile.
  • Is getting cuter each day. So, I may be a bit biased... that's OK. I'm supposed to be. ;)
  • Says a few consonant sounds - like 'ma' and 'ba' and 'wa'.
  • Loooooves to eat food. Will snatch anything out of our hands or Monster's hand.
  • Enjoys taking toys from Monster. To which he responds "Noooooo baaaabeeeeee!!" in a very worried voice.
  • Took her first steps last night! This girly will be fully walking before 10 months - yikes!
  • Lights up with she looks at Monster. She loves her big brother so much. Although this picture might not do a very good job proving that fact, lol!

Happy 9 months, Sweet Pea! Mommy loves you so much!



~Thanks for visiting! I love comments, so take a minute to let me know you were here! If you don't want to miss any future posts, please find a way to follow - options are over on the right side of the page. I'd love to see you back!~

Sunday, August 26, 2012

JuJuBe Love!

 So, I may or may not be a little bit obsessed with JuJuBe bags. And I'm also a sucker for a great deal.

I was browsing craigslist, and saw a post from a consignment store for a Blue Bouquet BeSmart for only $55! These bags retailed for $100 when brand new, and have since been discontinued. Depending on the condition, a used Smart typically sells for between $60-100 dollars (depending on how high in demand that certain print is) So I got a fantastic deal on it!

Front
Back (you can see  part of the memory changing pad sticking out)
 I drove 1 hour to this particular consignment shop just to buy this bag. And while I was there, I saw that they had other JJB bags! They had a Brown/Robin BeAll, and an Citrus Sorbet Packabe. Neither one interested me. But then I saw it... a little Perky Perennials BeMine peeking out at me from behind the All! Oh my goodness. I've never liked the pink prints, and I also never thought I'd wanted a Mine. But it was soooo cute. In was brand new with tags still on! And so of course I had to snatch it up! I paid $19 for it, which is a fantastic deal because somebody in the JuJuBe resale forums is currently selling theirs for $40!

Front






Back - love this print placement!
I went expecting to buy 1 bag, and instead bought 2! Three days ago, I didn't think I liked the Blue Bouquet or Perky prints, and I didn't have a desire to own a Smart of Mine. But both of them were fantastic deals, and in great condition. I don't think I'll have any difficulty falling in love!


~If you enjoyed this, don't miss any future posts! Please find a way to follow - options are over on the right side of the page. Don't forget you can also "like" the Urban Granola Facebook page, too! I'd love to see you back!~

Friday, August 24, 2012

A clean house... almost

 About a year ago, I started to follow the flylady method of keeping my house clean. And I did pretty well at it... until I didn't anymore. :)

Since then I've just been struggling to stay on top of the clutter and dirt - and not doing a great job at it. So after seeing many great cleaning schedules on Pinterest, I finally sat down and put together my very own!!

It's now been working for me for a full month, so I figured I'd share it with you all!

 Daily
Sweep
Dishes
Wipe Counters
1 Load of Laundry

Weekly
Monday - Vacuum
Tuesday - Finances & Take out Trash
Wednesday - Clean Bathroom & Empty Litterbox
Thursday - Mop Floors
Friday - Swing Day *see below*
Saturday - Catch-up Day

 Swing Day (Monthly)
1st - Dust & Wipe Down Cabinets
2nd - Scrub Kitchen Appliances
3rd - Wipe Down Walls, Baseboards & Doors
4th - Change All Bedding
5th - Seasonal or Miscellaneous 

I have a few things that I do daily, just to stay on top of the simple messes. Then I have 1 chore I do each day of the week, and I put Saturday down as a catch-up day in case I miss something during the week. But otherwise, the weekends are free for family/fun days. And ok, so doing the finances aren't really a cleaning chore - but I had to schedule that in, otherwise the receipts would pile up and become overwhelming.

I also made 1 day of each week a "swing day" meaning I do a monthly chore on that day. Since there are some months that have 5 weeks instead of 4, and those come around every 3-4 months, I figure that's a good day to do any seasonal or miscellaneous chore that needs to be done at that time.

Now, maybe you do some of these chores more often than I do on my schedule... but the frequency they are getting done according to this schedule, is more frequently than they were getting done without it. :)

And there you have it! It's been working for us for a full month now, and I can say that my house is now always in a somewhat-decent condition, and ready for company. Never perfect and completely clean... but good enough. Which is what I think any of us want, right?!

 How do you keep on top of your housework? Do you have a schedule of your own?


~If you enjoyed this, don't miss any future posts! Please find a way to follow - options are over on the right side of the page. Don't forget you can also "like" the Urban Granola Facebook page, too! I'd love to see you back!~

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Updated!

An update was long over-due, and I finally got around to it!

The first and biggest change I've made, is that I removed the page links from the top. You can now find those links just to the right, below my "About Me" section - under the section called "Our Family".
Please let me know what you think about this change - like it or hate it? Should I keep it, or change it back?

And, I've updated those links! I realized I hadn't added a picture of Sweet Pea since her 1 month photo... but that has been remedied.

Check out the recently updated Meet Me, Meet Monster, and Meet Sweet Pea pages, to see what I've added!



~If you enjoyed this, don't miss any future posts! Please find a way to follow - options are over on the right side of the page. Don't forget you can also "like" the Urban Granola Facebook page, too! I'd love to see you back!~

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Hair!

 Sweet Pea's hair is finally getting long enough that it is showing up in pictures! Woohoo!



~If you enjoyed this, don't miss any future posts! Please find a way to follow - options are over on the right side of the page. Don't forget you can also "like" the Urban Granola Facebook page, too! I'd love to see you back!~

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Road Trip!

My best friend's brother got married last night. I've known him since he was 4 years old; I was 5. So it was pretty crazy to be attending his wedding - but it was beautiful! The location was 3 hours away from our house, so we decided to make a weekend of it, and we booked a motel for Saturday night instead of making a 3 hr drive home at 9pm. :)

The wedding was gorgeous, the weather was fantastic (mid-upper 90's!) and everybody had a great time. The kids were surprisingly well-behaved, too! Monster only slept 30 min out of the 3 hr drive there... so he was TIRED by the time we arrived for the 4pm wedding. Sweet Pea had thankfully slept most of the way. But it was super hot, and Monster could not be convinced to drink his juice or water. He was so hot and tired and miserable. He got about 30 more minutes of sleep in my arms during the reception. When he woke from that nap, he decided to join the dance floor. :)

Ben requested a song from the DJ - "Sweet Child O' Mine", buy Guns & Roses. That is his & Sweet Pea's song. It was the song we played at her birth to announce her gender, and it is the song that he played while he danced with her every day for the first few months of her life (they don't dance every day anymore, but he still loves to dance with her to this song) <3 She was alseep when he played it, but that didn't stop this daddy from dancing with his daughter!

We left the wedding around 8:30 and headed back to the motel. As I was setting Monster down in the room, he vomited! Poor baby boy! This was his first time vomiting (aside from infant spit-up), so it was a bit traumatic, to say the least. We got him cleaned up, contacted management so they could clean up the floor, and then got both kids to bed. All I can say is thank goodness he didn't do that at the wedding or in the truck! He didn't have any fever, and I assumed it was just from the heat.

This morning he was feeling better (after sleeping in an air conditioned room all night long!) and we went out for a yummy breakfast. When we came back to the motel, we took advantage of the outdoor pool! Monster enjoyed it for about 35 minutes, then we headed back in to change clothes and check out.

We met my parents (who were also staying overnight for the wedding) for lunch before leaving town, and then took the scenic route back home. The view was much nicer than the main interstate we took on the way to the wedding. There was 1 spot we couldn't resist stopping. It was sooo pretty!

Sweet Pea was asleep in the truck. Don't worry, it was about 4 feet away. ;)


We were only gone for about 30 hours, but it felt so much longer (which is a good thing), and we had a great time!


~If you enjoyed this, don't miss any future posts! Please find a way to follow - options are over on the right side of the page. Don't forget you can also "like" the Urban Granola Facebook page, too! I'd love to see you back!~

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Birthday Planning Already?

 I can't believe that it's already time to start planning Sweet Pea's first birthday party.... but it is! The first birthday is a big deal, and I need to start the planning process now so that it can all come together in the end. I've decided on a theme at this point, and am in the brainstorming/idea-collecting phase.

So I started a Pinterest board to help me! You can check it out here!

I'm having her bow & shoes custom made, and will probably get a shirt made from Esty... just not sure which one yet. Go ahead and take a peek at the board to get a feel for it! It's gonna be amazing! :D



~If you enjoyed this, don't miss any future posts! Please find a way to follow - options are over on the right side of the page. Don't forget you can also "like" the Urban Granola Facebook page, too! I'd love to see you back!~

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Wordless Wednesday ~ Park Play





~If you enjoyed this, don't miss any future posts! Please find a way to follow - options are over on the right side of the page. Don't forget you can also "like" the Urban Granola Facebook page, too! I'd love to see you back!~

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

I'm still alive!

Yikes... if anybody still checks here every now and then, I apologize for falling off the face of the earth these last few months. :)

Life is crazy, but in a good way. Sweet Pea is growing up way too fast - she's 8.5 months old already. Here's a semi-recent picture for you:
She is crawling everywhere, and pulling up on everything. She babbles nonstop, and loves to giggle. She's still bald, except for some cute peach fuzz. She has no teeth yet. Her ears are pierced. :) I think she weighs around 20 pounds - she was 18 at her 6 month checkup and has gotten more rolls since then. LOL. She really likes to eat food, and she's still breastfeeding too. And, she sleeps through the night (because she loves her mommy!).

She ADORES her big brother Monster. She lights up when she sees him, and he loves to give her hugs & kisses. She's also a total Daddy's girl, and he can get a laugh out of her no matter what. Even something as simple as a bedtime kiss is giggle-worthy. But when I kiss her goodnight? She just turns her head the other way. *sigh* I have to remind myself I always wanted a little girl who would love her Daddy like this.... <3

slightly old photo, but you can see how happy she is
And now, moving on to Monster! (Forgive me in advance, I'm about to go all mommy-bragging on you. I just can't help it. I love this kid.) He's almost 2.5, and I might be biased, but he's one amazing 2 year old! There has been no sign of the terrible two's yet... I mean, he has tantrums every now and then when he's tired, but on the most part? He's fantastic and well-behaved. And? This kid is SMART. He knows all of his letters, numbers, colors & shapes. He loves to spell out words he sees written anywhere. He'll walk up and start pointing to each letter and naming them. He also counts things. Usually if it's under 4, he does OK. But when he gets to higher numbers, he'll lose that one-to-one correspondence, and keep counting to something like 8 when there are only 6 objects, etc. But that's OK, he's 2. And he's got 2 down. "1.... 2.... two cars!" He never messes that one up. :) 

He also loves to do puzzles, and watch train videos on YouTube. He's a master of using the computer mouse - navigating around the screen, and clicking on the video he wants to watch next. He plays some games on Daddy's iPad, and is a pro at that as well. And his vocabulary... OMGoodness! At his 2nd birthday, he still wasn't saying very many words. But in these past few months, he's exploded. He will repeat anything you say, and is getting very good at enunciating and pronouncing things correctly. He is using 4 or 5 words in a sentence, and putting them in the right order. 

I suppose you might want to see a picture of him? This one's recent:

Which brings us to.... he is opinionated. And stubborn. See that awesome outfit he's wearing? A heavy sweatshirt, plus swim trunks? I can assure you that wasn't my doing! He has to choose his own clothes, or we would never leave the house in the mornings. He also has to choose what color diaper to wear (at each change) and which shoes, and his pajamas each night.

He loves all things transportation - but trains & airplanes are his favorites. And "hepetoters" (helicopters, in Monster speak)! His favorite food is PB&J, and any type of berry. He loves his lawnmower, and he loves the vacuum. He has this push-toy that he calls his vacuum, and pushes it around when I'm vacuuming the house. He is OCD about putting things where they belong, and not making messes. He says "Oh Nooooo!!!" if something falls or spills, etc. So cute! He loves to help around the house- sweeping, laundry, etc.

We're not actively potty training yet. He will go potty on the toilet occasionally, but we're not pushing it. Life is too hectic right now to deal with full-on potty training! We did buy him some big boy underwear, though! Batman & Thomas the Train. :) He wears a pair every now and then, and does pretty good at staying dry for the first hour he wears them, but then he has an accident and we go back to diapers for a while again. It'll happen in time, I'm in no rush!

That's about it for the kids. Nothing much new with me - just working, like always. At the job M-F, and being a wife and mommy the rest of the time. :) But I'm good. Here's Ben & me on my 25th birthday.

Ben is... alright. He's been out of work since the last week of April due to his undiagnosed medical condition that makes him sleepy all the time. He drives forklifts at work - but was falling asleep. Which is not OK. So he's been on short term disability. We've ruled out LOTS of possibilities, and seen LOTS of specialists. He does have sleep apnea, but has been on a CPAP for the last 2 years. But he still can fall asleep right after waking up, and never feels rested. We're currently seen a neurologist who specializes in sleep medicine, and he just had a sleep study re-done to see if maybe his apnea hasn't been properly controlled this whole time. It could be that the answer is really that simple. He's taken so many drugs trying to combat this, and nothing worked. So if it's really as simple as the problem just being his sleep apnea was never properly controlled - he would be getting a new machine (a BiPAP, instead of a CPAP) that is better for some people's condition. His appointment is later this week to see what the results of the sleep study show. Hopefully we are close to an answer. It sucks having him off work, but we still have to have childcare, because he can't be alone with the kids (he'll fall asleep) or drive a vehicle with the kids in the car (he falls asleep driving, too). 

I'll end this post on a good note - cute pics of the kids! Enjoy!

Rawr!
Taken on his 2nd birthday. Cheese!
Add caption


little diva!
Rockstar!

~If you enjoyed this, don't miss any future posts! Please find a way to follow - options are over on the right side of the page. Don't forget you can also "like" the Urban Granola Facebook page, too! I'd love to see you back!~

Monday, April 23, 2012

Ju-Ju-Be Love!

 Last week, Ju-Ju-Be revealed 2 new prints for summer 2012 - and they are sooo pretty! They added one of the new prints to their video - check it out!

http://vimeo.com/33633034

They didn't add footage of my favorite new print - but I'm sure something is in the works. :) Anyway, the bags are pretty, and the music is catchy!



Saturday, March 3, 2012

Beautiful Quote

I just saw this recently on a friend's facebook post, and fell in love. I thought it was beautiful and perfectly quotable.

Letter to my children -
  
Dear ________ I've made mistakes being your mom...sometimes more than I would like to admit. 
However, I will always be there for you - to hear you, cheer for you, to laugh or cry with you, pray with you & for you, protect you with my life, and sometimes tell you things you don't want to hear. I will love you for eternity. No one, except God, will ever love you more than I do, because I am your mom. 

 
~If you enjoyed this, don't miss any future posts! Please find a way to follow - options are over on the right side of the page. Don't forget you can also "like" the Urban Granola Facebook page, too! I'd love to see you back!~

Friday, January 27, 2012

Just wanna cry

Apparently, I have been the victim of mail theft.

FLUFFY mail theft.

I know, awful, right?!

I had a custom cloth diaper made for Sweet Pea. And just tonight I contacted the maker to see when I could expect it - only to find out it shipped last week and was, according to the USPS, delivered on Jan 17th. :( Sadly, no diaper ever arrived. 

This is the photo from her Facebook page, of what should have been my diaper:

I'll bet our mail thief was REALLY excited to rip open that package and find a diaper. *snicker* If only they'd bothered to bring it back! :P

Now the lady has to try to find more of that fabric so she can make me another one... let's hope she's able to track if down!


~If you enjoyed this, don't miss any future posts! Please find a way to follow - options are over on the right side of the page. Don't forget you can also "like" the Urban Granola Facebook page, too! I'd love to see you back!~
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...