Baby Talk

Today, as I was getting my almost 3 year old ready for the morning, he was intently trying to explain something to me.  But none of his words made sense.  So I turned to 4 year old sister assuming she could interpret.  "What is he saying?"  I asked.  She replied, "I don't know.  I don't speak baby any more." Lol

Throw Down in Chic A Way Playground

Yep, tonight was not the night for our family to go to "Chic A Way" (that's toddler code for Chic Fil A).  But with our house on the market and literally the 27th agent wanting to parade potential buyers through the place, we had to find somewhere to hang out from 6-7pm on a Saturday night.  So after loading up three worn-out kids and two yappy dogs and one tired husband, we headed to our potential new home to drop the dogs off and then on to <s>doomsday</s> dinner.

It all started off mildly.  After downing the required chicken nuggets to earn a prize and get to play, our boys bolted for the play area.  Sweet daughter stayed at the table to have her book read to her.  At the playground there was running and sliding and jumping; and then came the shoving and pulling and hitting...  which was from our 2 year old going on 3 toward both another giant too-big-to-be-in-the-play-area kid and also toward our oldest son.  The preteen kid gave my youngest a hip check, which knocked him on his tush, and the left the play area.  The the little guy turned to his older brother.  My oldest initially held our little one at bay by grabbing the little boxer's shoulders and keeping them in place by locking his arms.  Then the baby of the family somehow twisted, turned and punched his older brother.  So Daddy jumped up in the middle of the aforementioned and by the time he got to the boxer, the wailing had already happened.  Oldest was unscathed and went on his merry way while the boxer was being lectured by Daddy and was warned not to punch/kick/bite his older brother or anyone else.  Before the playground's door was opened as Daddy had his back turned and walking out, sure enough The Boxer ran up to his brother and socked him.  Sigh.  So Daddy scooped him up so he would be in exile(aka have to sit at the table) while other kids got to play.

Then moments later a lady seated right next to the window into the play area, approached me and said, "Is your son the one with the red shirt?"  "No, he has the striped yellow shirt on."  "OH!" she replied. "The boy in the red has him cornered and is punching and kicking him."  "Whaaat?" So I run in around the blind spot and by this time my kid had gotten away from the psycho, and psycho says to me, "He wouldn't quit making a weird noise and singing."  I said, "EXCUSE ME?  You think that gives you the right to punch him?!"  Psycho said, "It annoyed me and I told him to stop but he wouldn't."  GRRRRRR!  I said in my best gansta voice, "You got a problem with my son; you got a problem with me."  I asked Oldest what happened, and he replied, "The Boxer hit me!"  I have to explain I'm talking about the new incident not the one with his brother.  He deflects and says it's no big deal and he's ok.  OK, so now the Psycho has intimidated him enough that he's afraid to say what happen.  If there wasn't laws on the books, I would have smacked the psycho kid! 

Finally, red shirt Psycho leaves after I move our stuff to a table right outside the door where there wouldn't be any blind spots for us.  Then it happens.  We stupidly and mistakenly let The Boxer get to go back inside and explicitly tell him to not wrestle or fight or hit. 

First thing he does?  Yep, goes up to his oldest brother and tries to get him to wrestle.  Oldest knows that's not ok and tried brushing him off, tries getting away from him, holds him off by extending his arms so The Boxer can't reach him.  Then, you guessed it, The Boxer makes his twist, duck, smack move and slaps his older brother across the face.  SIGH!  I go in and scoop him up and tell him NO!  He cries hysterically while I tell him he has to sit on my lap and watch his brother and (twirling-not-a-care-in-the-world) sweet sister get to play. 

And then IT happens.  He lies.  Oh, I know they have all tried this.  All of us.  At some points and at lots of points in our lives, we lie.  I just hate it.  He tells me, "Mommy! Mommy!  My elbow, brother hit elbow."  Pouty lip out as far as possible with a touch of quivering, pointing to his imaginary injury, and tears streaming down his face.  It wasn't helping his case whatsoever.  He got in BIG trouble over that.  MommyCon threw down.  Crying and wailing ensued.  And we got out of there before CPS showed up.

Sigh.  Not the most relaxing time we've had at Chic A Way by any means.  Thankfully, no one got truly injured.  Thankfully, my littlest learned a lesson about not hurting his big brother, my oldest got a lesson about not letting a stranger just pound on you(and karate lessons will soon be happening), my sweet daughter was oblivious to it all and I got to enjoy reading her the book on birds from her kid's meal, and my littlest also learned his first lesson about how we don't lie.  Whew.

Oh, Chic A Way the many games to play.

Things Toddlers Say

Recently, I've noticed how well my two year old's speech has been coming along.  He's picking up more and more words and his pronunciation is improving every day.  I'm so impressed!  But today, today, I realized that he has figured out complex sentences when he laughed hystercially and excitedly exclaimed, "Mommy, I peepee on flooooor!"

Things Toddlers Say

 Lately, our little two year old has joined in with prayer before meals.  Most days, he'll add at the end of the prayer, "And tanetoo airpanes."  Love my sweet babies!

Things Toddlers Say

Today on our car ride, my little girl gleefully reminisced, "Remember building the ig-goo last year at Grandmama's!  Remember when her yard snowed!!!"

Birthday Surprise!

Ok, I've still got a lot of spring in my step but yesterday, on my 38th birthday, I learned a thing or two about getting old and beauty treatments. 

I got a pedicure.  It was bliss as always!  Bless the woman not afraid to touch my feet. (seriously, I hope she wins the lotto)  So afterwards, I think, hmmm how about an eyebrow wax. 

"Yea.  Eyebrow?  ahemm."  That was what was suggested to me the first time I got an eyebrow wax about 12-13 years ago.  Without me asking about it, the lady giving me a manicure suggested in her broken English, "Yea.  Eyebrow?  ahemm."  As for a person being clueless in the art of beauty treatments, I didn't take it as a putddown but more of an educational opportunity for me. 

So yesterday, when I asked about getting my eyebrows waxed and asked about lip waxing, I got the reply, "OH YES, lip wax.  We do lip wax!"  She seemed so emphatic about it that I took it as another "educational" experience and will be getting lip waxes from now on.  I'm thinking I probably should have started this 3 or 4 years ago with the amount of time plucking in the upper lip region increasing exponentially lately!  "OH YES, lip wax!"

"Kiss, Mommy!"

Lately, my little baby boy has been exclaiming, "Keya, Mommy!"  Then as I'm holding him he'll grab my head and plant a kiss on my cheek and then wait for me to kiss him back and giggle.  It's so much fun and melts my heart.  It also helps to remember on days like today when I'm changing a diaper and he pee's on me and mischievous laughter ensues.  ha!

WHAT’S YOUR SECRET TO A HAPPY MARRIAGE? #HappyWivesClub

This post is part of the Happy Wives Club Blog Tour which I am delighted to be a part of along with hundreds of inspiring bloggers. To learn more and join us, CLICK HERE! 

Secret to a happy marriage?  Does this exist???  YEP, and I'm living it!  My husband and I have been married 16 years.  Almost the first decade wasn't so good for a lot of reasons.  And we both were ready to throw in the towel after 9 years.  But thank the Lord, He knew exactly what both my husband and me needed...  HIM! 

Yep, I had been living my life for myself...  I worshipped myself, my husband, and alcohol.  My husband had his own idols to deal with.  We were all mixed up on our priorities.  But God!  He showed up just when each of us was ready to listen and change.  God gave my husband a new wife...  and it was me - except nicer and not as self-centered(ok, I will always have things I struggle with).  I couldn't have changed without God.  Like the Bible says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!"2 Corinthians 5:17

I praise God for saving our marriage from the ashes.  I praise God for making us new creations in Christ!  I praise God for blessing us with 3 kids!!!  I praise God that I feel safe in my husband's arms and that he is mine!

How to have a happy marriage?  Make Jesus the center of your life.  Then it's not your husband you will worship but God.  And when God is the center of your life, you can't help but be changed and be joyful with the hope of salvation!



Fawn Weaver, the founder of the Happy Wives Club wrote a book about the best marriage secrets the world has to offer. They say the book is like “Eat, Pray, Love meets The 5 Love Languages.” I say the book is inspiring. You can grab a copy HERE.

Organization Upgrade!

Our home's "Central Command", aka armoire, has been an evolving area in our house.  Well, we were needing a place for charging all our electronics and also needed a place for the kids coats to hang so I didn't have to go up and down the stairs every time we were heading out.  The only problem was the armoire only had so much counter type space...  see...

So the only place I could go was up.  That meant building a shelf somehow.  Unfortunately, I'm not much of a carpenter.  Luckily, Lowe's will cut wood to length.  So after bringing home the pieces, fastening them together, and a bit of staining, here's what I came up with...

 

This "shelf" could almost be used for a bench if I had put a center support in it!  So next was putting this into the armoire.  Sounds easy right?  Well... when measuring the width needed, I forgot to take into consideration that the door hinges were a little bit into the width of the armoire.  Oopsy!

 

Also there were a couple more items that needed to be corralled but didn't have a box for them.  Sooo...  instead of buying pretty storage boxes I decided to make my own.  Being close to the holidays with all the packages we had ordered, we had a bunch of cardboard boxes to choose from and also had pretty wrapping paper to choose from...  Voila!

 

 

In the very center is the file tower that I used for the electronics charging station.  Also hooks were added to the doors for the coats.  It's so great to have everything so much better organized and have one place in the house for all the electronics to charge.  So handy!

 

Things Toddlers Say

My 3 year old has successfully mastered potty training!  There are a couple accidents here and there but nothing that a normal little 3 year old might have.  So many conversations in our home(or car or unfortunately public outings) have centered around potties, or poopoo, or peepee, or farting.  These are just a couple excerpts from conversations lately.

The other day, she exclaimed, “I farted in my panties!”

 

My son told me a joke tonight…

Son :  Knock, knock.
Me:  Who’s there?
Son :  Bannana Peel.

Me:  Bannana Peel who?

Son :  Orange fart a poopoo.  (and then he laughed hysterically so it made me laugh)

Topic - Farting

On the drive back from Old Navy today, the long long drive back.  My son talked about Canyon Farts.  You don’t know either?  Well, he tried to explain these phenomenon’s but between the air conditioning kicking in occasionally and the fact that his seat is at the back of the bus I must have missed some key elements regarding his creative idea of Canyon Farts. 

Then we discussed why we don’t need to speak about farting in public.  Why?  Well, while we were at Old Navy in the dressing room.  He was trying on khaki’s for his new school uniform and keep exclaiming he had to step into his fart and try on a fart.  Then his little brother would try to swing open the wide door while big brother exclaimed something about farting.

 So why we can talk about farting at home but not in public was a confusing topic for my little boy.  “Why?” he asked perplexed several times.  I replied that some people might be offended by the topic.  “But Mommy, you think it’s funny.” 

Ok, I couldn’t deny it, “Yes, I do.”  “Why?” he asked again.  And here is a round about way of how I responded, “Well, it’s just funny that your body can make funny sounds and that it smells.”  Then I discussed why it’s always funnier to be the farter and other people be made to smell it. 

This led me to the discussion of “smelt it, dealt it” and different names and explanations of farts like “silent but deadly” “cut the cheese” “poot”  “make a stinky”.  Well, you smell the picture.  Our conversation wrapped up towards the end of the 20+ minute drive with me explaining that farts can actually be lit they can be lit after my innocent little child asked if farts could burn.  Sigh…  farts and burning something in the same sentence and he’s only 5?  This parenting thing is going to be a fun and wild ride! LOL

The Diet

Ok people I'm into day 8 of the diet...  have completely cut out sodas(except for the secret sips of my husband's coke that I sneak every once and a while...  shhh don't tell!),  carb free at dinner, still need to start up excercising again but all in due time.  I've decided to start writing down my calories for my 3 meals and 2 snacks per day.  It's really made a difference in how much I allow myself to eat.  It has also helped me realize what triggers my emotional eating habits which is mainly when all 3 kids are needing attention at once or when one is crying really bad for whatever reason.

Here's stats for the last several days...  (BR=breakfast, SN=snack, LN=lunch, DN=dinner)

10/19 - 1670cal
BR  240
SN  320
LN  290
SN ? 3 spoon fulls of cookie dough and 3 cookies (probably 600 cal)
DN  220

10/20 - 1240cal
BR  250
SN  110
LN  290
SN  140
DN  320
after exercise protein bar  130

10/21 - 1390cal
BR  140
SN  210
LN  320
cookie  100
SN  210
DN  250
cookie 100
10 grapes - 60 *guessing since 1/2cup has 60cal

10/22 - 1310cal
BR  345
SN  245
LN  290
SN  210
DN  220

10/23 - 1150cal
BR  220
SN  140
LN  300
SN  290
DN  200

Now it's the 24th and so far after lunch I'm up to 820 calories.  This morning when I weighed in I was at 137 (maybe lower but my scales not completely accurate.  So that means I might have lost 2.8 pounds so far.  I'm excited about that but maybe a lot of it is water weight since I'm not consuming so much salt now.  Still I've probably lost a pound at least. My caloric intake has decreased so much and my carbs have also.  Ok...except on cookie making days but this gal has to live a little people!

I'm excited that my belly flap is already deflating even if just a little.  I would like to someday wear jeans again that aren't low low rise just to accommodate that extra belly skin and paunch.  My lofty goals! LOL 

More updates soon.  I'd definitely say that MyFitFoods has been worth it for me just to regain control of my portions and to help me realize how many times a day I was eating etc.  Also keeping a simple food log has helped as well and cutting out carbs after my second snack of the day.  woot woot!  I'm feeling good!

Things Toddlers Say

Tonight at dinner, my  little girl was eating some elbow pasta and said, "Where'd my noodles go?"  I said, "I don't know."  She said, "In my belly having a party!!!"

Been a While...

Can't believe I haven't posted in soooo long!  It's been a busy several weeks around our house and now that things are calming down a bit...  I've started a diet.  Today.  And I'm starving.  Ok, not really starving.  I just am not shoving food every second of the day and am praying for God to help me with self-control every second of the day. 

So I decided to start posting about my weight loss journey.  This morning I weighed 139.8 pounds.  Sometimes I get a little winded walking up stairs but nothing like last year this time when I weighed around 155 pounds.  Slow and steady progress is working.  But now I'm in the home stretch.  I'm wanting to lose between 15 and 20 pounds and be back to my pre-baby factory weight.  My tummy skin and muscles will never be the same (as my ob/gyn remarked after my second baby).  But at least if my belly could not look as preggo as it has since baby #3 I feel a great confidence booster.

So let's see where the MyFitFoods plan gets me.  Lost 3-4 pounds over 2 weeks when I tried out the meal plan this past spring and have kept that off wahooo!  Now I'm going to try for 8-10 weeks and see what happens.  :)

Review: AB Seascape Galveston

The weekend before last, my family met up with my extended family in Galveston for a mini vacation.  It was GREAT!  And we stayed right on the beach at AB Seascape Galveston.  Yep, complete with a pool in the center of the condos and a boardwalk over the sand dune.  PERFECT!  Even better yet it is located next door to the RV campground that my parents were staying at so we could quickly walk next door to get to visit.

Here's the view from our 3rd floor unit...

My sister, brother-in-law, husband, 3 little kids, and I stayed overnight in a one bedroom unit which included a bunk bed built into the hallway and a pull out couch.  The kids were so wound up getting to stay in a bunk bed that they had a blast but a very small amount of sleep! LOL  The condo we were in was decorated nicely and clean except the resort had not done a completely thorough cleaning because my sister found that the bedsheets hadn't been changed(EEEWWW!).  Other than that though, the place seemed clean and well kept and beachy-ish furnishings and décor.  I liked it! :)  Plus, it's hard to beat being about to just walk out to the beach which is hard to find in Galveston.  On the main strip, there's a hike across a busy 4 lane(plus turn lane) highway with people booking it down the road.  No thanks!  I'll go a mile or two down the road and stay ON THE BEACH! :)  I'm hoping next year for us to rent a condo for more nights during the family trip.  It'll be fun!!!

ALDI Score!

I do my major grocery shopping every two weeks.  I have a word file of the items I need to purchase on a regular basis and then add on items for my 2 weeks worth of dinner meal plans.  So this past Thursday I headed to Aldi(my fav) for the big shopping trip and got all this....

And how much did it cost?  $185.  Included a bag of frozen chicken and a bag of family sized frozen tilapia.  And all this stuff...(this is my two week list)

BREAKFAST

(didn't need this time - 2 boxes - Jiffy Mix; 3 boxes of cereal)
2 dozen – Eggs
2 packs – Bacon
3 packs – frozen sausage
2 loaves – bread
24pc – fruit
3 gallons – milk

Lunch
24pc – fruit
Already buying bread
1 pack – fajita wraps
2 packs – lunch meat
5 bags – chips
3 bags – pretzels
1 jar – salsa
1 bag – cheese sticks
2 bag – carrots
1 bag  - celery
1 – cauliflower
1 – broccoli
1 - lettuce
 

SNACKS

3 jars – pickles
1 sm jars – olives
1 can – black olives

1 can – peanuts

1 can – mixed nuts or almonds
3 – packs raisens
8 – yogurts
Cheese(3 blocks of cheese)

(didn't need this time - popcorn)

 

OTHER SUPPLIES

4 packs Papertowels

Napkins
Toilet paper(didn't need to buy this time)
Paper plates (72+ every 2 weeks) this time bought 3 packs
1 box – Ziploc sandwich bags
1 box – Ziploc gallon bags
Garbage bags
(didn't need this time - Clorox wipes, Dishwashing liquid, Cascade, Swiffers, cooking oil)
4 cans premade – Koolaid

Also purchased for dinners etc
box 2 bags chocolate chips, fish, chicken, artichoke salad, bag of potatoes, and more!

So besides going to the store for laundry detergent soon and diapers/milk I think we're set for 2 weeks!  wahooooo!  Feeding 5 for $185 for the basics for 2 weeks.  Not bad. :)

Romanteek

When my husband was courting me many moons ago, he wrote me poetry and sent me roses to the dorm where I was living at least once a week.  I knew I had hit the jackpot.  If I would have been a cartoon, little hearts would have popped out of my eyes and popped making more little hearts to fly up to the heavens.

Around our period of the courtship, I was with my family working on cleaning out cooling towers for the family business.  Everyone had found out about my new man...  my parents, sisters, aunt, uncle, and cousins.  Luckily, the facility we had been working at had showers in the restrooms so after working my mom, my aunt, and I were in the restroom freshening up.  With stars in my eyes, I relayed all the stuff I just typed in the first paragraph - ad nauseam.   They both started to cackle.  Yes, these refined southern women cackled and howled with laughter at me, at my love, at this newly fresh romance in bloom. 

How! Could! They!  Is all that was running through my naïve little mind.

And then they stopped with stifled giggles.  That's when I got some wisdom dropped all over me like the messy cooling tower yuke that I had just washed off.  My aunt as gently as her laughter would let her explained to me that possibly, maybe, my idea of romance might chance as I aged and as my princecharming and my soon-to-be marriage aged.  She even had the indecency to suggest that one day my love would want to get frisky while visiting inlaws AND that I might one day consider it to be over-the-top romantic when he would take out the trash without me even asking.  What planet are these women from?! was my quandary.

And
now
I
know.

Now, the poems and flowers are far and few between.  The longing looks over a cheap cup of coffee have simmered(and now we can afford lattes! lol).  But my aunt was so right...  the other day my man was taking out the trash without asking.  I so appreciate him doing this.  It's those little things that make up the day; that are work; that mean so much to me now.  How he wants to play with the kids after a long day at work.  How he'll give me a big kiss and hug when he gets home.  How he will help me with the dishes after we eat even when he has other house projects he wants to work on.  How last night he even shared the remote while I am so much more stingy with it. 

And what could have been any more romanteek about my sweet husband taking out the trash?...  Oh, yea, if he would have done that shirtless. :)  Now that's romance!

Things Toddlers Say

This morning on the way to school, we passed a couple construction sites.  A couple of townhomes are being built in one area and we talked about the walls being put up.  Then there was an excavator digging a giant hole at another site and mounding up the dirt and sand beside it. 

I asked, "Wow!  What do you think they are doing there?"

My three year old exclaimed, "Building a sandcastle!!!"

Things Toddlers Say

Last week was my oldest's first week of Kindergarten.  It was a little hard on this momma but I got most of my boohoo'ing out the week before.  So when I picked him up after the second day of school, I was so glad to see him and had been missing him during the day.  I exclaimed, "Hi, Baby!!!  I'm so glad to see you!!!" 

My little boy replied, "Mommmmmeeeeee.  Don't call me Baby!  I'm grown up!!!"

(Later, I relayed this story to my husband and he dryly responded, "Second day of Kindergarten?  Oh, it really does go fast!")

Room Makeover!

This week I got a wild hair and decided to work on the "lounge" just outside of the TV room.  It was a bit junky and had lots of odds and ends...

 

 The other side of the room I had emptied out before I took a picture.  It had the crib and a folded chair and a bunch of other stuff.

So I had thought we would put our chess table in this space.  And thought I would use the two extra dining room chairs on either side of it.  This thought came to mind when I was window shopping through World Market this past weekend and saw dining chair slip covers on sale for $15 each (usually $40) and knew there was no way I'd want to or could make them at that price. 

Unfortunately, when I went on Monday, none of the slip covers would match the dragon painting that my husband's Grandma bought for him when he was around 10 years old from the gift shop at the Little Rock Arts Museum.  And this painting matches the orange side table that I already had in the room.  So while I was at World Market and discovered the slip covers weren't going to match we cruised through the rest of the store.  And to my delight, I found a chair with dragons as part of the fabric design. 

What luck!  But no price tag was on it.  A salesman was nearby and I asked him about it.  He went to find someone to ask about it and came back with a price of $139 since it was the last chair of this kind with this fabric(the other chairs like this were priced at $179).  Oh, still more than I was wanting to spend.  Then the salesguy figured out I wasn't paying that and mentioned on the back base of the chair there was a crack that had been repaired and said he would take $79.  I asked, "Can I still use my 10% off coupon?"  And he gave me a little frown and said, "Yes, I just want to get rid of it!" 
Wahoo!  Score! 

Then yesterday the kids and I went to Goodwill to find a frame for the dragon painting.  And I got a great deal on a giant frame (a little over 24" and 30") for only $8 and to go with those, got a bunch of bamboo tall sticks. 

Here's the before of the frame...

We got this home and while my littlest took a nap, my daughter and I took apart the frame(she even helped take a bunch of the staples out with some needle nose pliers).  Then we spread out the tarp and spray painted it black.  Perfect!

Also because I'm trying to be thrifty, I shopped around my house for knickknacks.  I found a red tapered candle and gold candle holder, a wine crate to use for movie snacks and some popcorn bowls to put in it for the TV room, some little dragonfly paintings I had done years ago, and some chopsticks that my husband had picked up when he was in Korea for the Marine Reserves.  How to use the chopsticks?  I had an old frame with a black background and taped these on the board and put it back in the frame.  Here's what I started with for this project...

Lastly, I emptied out the room, sorted what could go into the attic, and had help putting things into the attic space. :) 

I think it turned out great if I do say so myself!  It was a fun project and hard to beat a room makeover for only $95. :)