Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Enjoy the little things,
for one day you may look back
and realize they were the big things.
--Robert Brault (Thank you Sarah from Clover Lane for this quote today.)
X taking a break on his giraffe chair. ;) He is watching Thomas the Train here. Mesmorized...



X played drums at one of my hubby's gigs. He plays all of the time at home...this was his
public debut. :)


  


We are enjoying every minute of our Little Xman...soon, he will be a big brother! Can't believe it!


Monday, January 23, 2012

Our Growing Garden


A few months ago, Trav and I started a garden with our friend Kenny. This is how it started...

 Now, after a couple months, we have enjoyed yummy cucumbers and radishes in our salads. We've had spinach too! Everything else is still growing. The tomatoes have taken off! They all have fruit, and we are waiting for them to ripen. We have jalapenos and cilantro....Salsa anyone? There are carrots, radishes, eggplants, squash (round 1 of squash didn't work so great), green beans, spinach, romaine lettuce, broccoli, basil, dill,rosemary and cucumbers.

See those tomatoes!?



Spinach, lettuce, more tomatoes...marigolds to keep away the pests. ;)
Elmo loves hanging out in the garden.









X loves smelling the basil. YUM!

Cherry tomatoes ripening!! :)


Little Man -- That's eggplant and lettuce behind him. He loves to deposit mulch in the empty squares. ;)

Two months of sun, water, and tender loving care...
It makes me so proud that we have actually enabled living things to thrive in our backyard. I'm notorious for killing plants...mainly due to neglect. I'm super proud of myself for keeping these guys alive.








Wednesday, January 18, 2012

How much can one day hold?

What a day!

We started today with some yummy pumpkin pancakes. Trav had off today. So, we got to eat in a nonrushed way...sitting at the dining room table, listening to music, and laughing at X's hilarious expressions. He ate as many pancakes as me by the way. 2 big pancakes....plus bananas and blueberries and strawberries! YUM!

Then, Trav was off to his drum lesson and X and I went for our daily neighborhood walk. I talked to my sis on the phone, chatting and laughing...Chloe was trying not to panic since she had just dropped her phone in her smoothie. This is not the first time...I think there was another phone dropped in seltzer water. This one recovered better than the water one though. I could still hear her fine, and I think the "Oh no, I have to buy a new phone" crisis was averted. I can't say anything....I have spent my entire life dropping, spilling, knocking over, and tripping over everything. So...Chloe's two cell phone mishaps are nothing. But...I digress.

X's morning nap was next. We went a bit early today (9:30 instead of 10) so that we could wake up earlier and try a Gymboree class with a great friend and her baby. X obliged, went down early, and was sleeping so well when I had to go wake him after 45 minutes. I was rubbing his back and he was still snoring  away. Poor kid...I lovingly yanked him out of bed, got him dressed, put him in the car, popped a smoothie in his mouth, and we were off to a 10:30 Gymboree class. I'm a newbie at these classes, so I was psyched when we got there, and we were greeted with smiles and even a familiar face (a mom of a little girl I taught a few years ago). X was so sweet and excited, taking it all in. He stayed close to me but was ready to explore. We sat in the circle and the teacher started to sing and clap, which X loved. Then came the bouncing...the kids all sat on their Mommy's lap while we bounced them up and down to the rhythm and beat of the teacher's song.

Uh-oh...waking up, getting dressed, drinking smoothie, and now  bouncing...all in about 15 minutes.

Not a good combination. My sweet child threw up all over himself, the Gymboree matt, and my hands. I caught his throw up...we moms do funny things like that. It must have been the smoothie and bouncing that did it. I felt horrible! Best Mom in the World Award right here everyone! The room went silent...I knew he wasn't sick, but what if he was? Every mom was looking at me with a look of sympathy and also a panicky look..."what does he have and will my kid catch it?" After many paper towels, wipes, and a clothinb change, Xavie was all smiles and ready to play. To be safe and smart though, we left our first Gymboree class 10 minutes after we arrived. Go Mom!
Lesson - don't feed X a smoothie before a gym class...live and learn. We are going to try again next week.

After a quick trip home to regroup, we went to the park and met our friends for lunch. X was totally fine, no fever, no throwing up...just lots of playing in the dirt and collecting treasures (bark, sticks, pinecones.etc).

X went down for his afternoon nap after his midday Thomas the Train sing along video. He dances his tooshy off to Thomas. I went to tutor at school for 3 hours and made it home to a yummy spaghetti dinner made by my awesome husband. Bath, bedtime stories, and sleep for the Little Man came next.

I ended the day by making a powerpoint for my college class lecture on Thursday. Lots of planning...too many ideas...exhausted.

Holy Moly! What a day! A great day! One I'm sure I'll remember forever.

 From throw up to powerpoints...the life of a Mama. ;)



***Today, I kept thinking about the time I threw up when I was little. It was my First Communion. I was so excited, and I was nervous! I was going to carry the Bible down the aisle! That morning, I was so nervous, my tummy was hurting. I didn't want to eat, and my mom was worried about me. She said, "At least have some orange juice." That morning, as we were getting ready to start the ceremony, guess who threw up the orange juice all over her beautiful communion dress!? Yes...you got it...ME. We had to run home, clean the dress, clean me, and go back two hours later with a much bigger class and no special job of carrying the Bible. To this day, I still get butterflies in my stomach when I'm nervous on big days. My mom now ALWAYS says, "Don't drink orange juice." Ha ha! ***

Monday, January 16, 2012

Sweetness and a growing belly


 A little Sesame Street Alphabet Jungle before bedtime anyone? ;) Look at our little sweet boy hugging his teddy and watching "MoMo" (Elmo). He is growing up so fast. It is crazy! Every day is different and new, full of new words and expressions. I want to hold onto this moment forever...

And...moving on to BIGGER thingst (pun intended)...Check out my tummy! I now know what people mean when they see me at the grocery store and say, "You're gigantic!" Holy Moly! Seeing this picture was a reality check. How come we don't see reality in the mirror? It takes a picture to really see...


This baby is a big one... ;) I can feel him every minute of the day...every move he makes.  :) Only a few more weeks to go. So crazy to think that in only a few short weeks, I will have deflated ;) and we'll have a little bundle of cuteness to show for it.

Friday, January 13, 2012

Tummy



See that tummy!?


Last night, that tummy had FIVE, yes 5 helpings of dinner. Where does he put it all? Aren't baby's stomach's small? I mean, they weren't adult size helpings, but they probably equaled 2 adult helpings. Trav said, "And...he wakes up with a six pack. I wish I could do that!" :)

I made this yummy dish. Pasta Primavera. Click  on the link for the recipe.



Thank you Sara from Clover Lane for the awesome recipe!  I added extra peas, and he ate them all up! Try it out - delicious!! :)

Tonight, we had meatloaf, homemade oven fries, and broccoli. X only ate a few pieces of meatloaf, no broccoli, and LOTS of fries. He takes them and dips them in ketchup like a big boy. ;)
Oh well - I guess every night can't be a 5 helping night complete with green veggies. He did eat his pears for dessert.



Thursday, January 12, 2012

45 days...

45 days (more or less) until our lives and our hearts are changed forever...

We are preparing while we wait...getting out the bins of 0-3 month clothes, buying baskets and sheets and changing pad covers...drawing murals and cross stitching birth announcements...arranging and rearranging baby furniture...

It is so hard to believe that in such a short time, our little happy normal will become a new bigger happy normal. Our hearts are ready for you baby ...


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While we've been waiting, X has been keeping us very entertained.

X now says lots of new words to add to the list...
baby
keys
cheese
bye bye
Chloe
PopPop
Maw (Mema)
teethies (teeth)
Thomas
Gordon (Thomas the Train character)
sheep
more
water
up
yes

Every day, there seems  to be a new word. It's so cool to watch Xavier grow and learn!

Yummy apples

Over the break, we went to see Santa, but it didn't go quite as planned.



But he came around. Santa was SO sweet and understanding.


Christmas 2011 was a ton of fun with family!

X had fun opening his presents.


We've started a Christmas tradition. We went through  all of X's toys and gave a bunch away to charity and put a bunch away for Baby #2. We just want to make sure that if there is new coming in, we need to make room and give to those who really need. Soon, X will be an integral part of this tradition. I really want him to see that GIVING is what Christmas is about - not GETTING....that he can make another child's Christmas very special by sharing his toys. Have you noticed that when they have so many things, they don't play with anything? When we have only a few favorites out, it seems to work better.

Looking for a nativity set too! X loved playing with Nani's set. He walked around with a cow from the manger all Christmas long. It was so fun to read stories about Baby Jesus, and then watch him point to all of the characters in my mom's nativity with some recognition (ok - probably not that much recognition, but next year, he's going to know everyone in there).


Cousins
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I'm sure the next 45 days will bring many more amazing moments with our Little Man...all leading up to the day when our hearts multiply. Seeing Xavier meet his little brother is something I am SO excited for!

Life is good! Sooo good!

P.S.  My sister has started her own  blog. It's a picture a day to chronicle her life. Super cool! Check it out. She has inspired me to keep up with my blog more.