Living for the Little Things

Breathing new life

2012-02-09T16:43:00.000-08:00

into this poor, sadly neglected blog. How did I let nearly five months go by without even attempting a new post?

Our family is about to experience a major change. I want to capture every bit of it I can, both as we prepare for the change and as we experience it. We are going to do something I never, ever thought I'd do...

We are moving across the country.

In just three short weeks, we will pack up everything we own, load it onto a truck, and drive over 2,500 miles from Oregon to Ohio.

I am an Oregoinan, through and through. I was born and raised here. I have lived here, in the same city (save the 3 years I lived in California for college) all my life. When we moved back here as newlyweds, I jsut knew we'd raise our kids here, too. Well, until now. Up until I was 23, the furthest east I had ever been was Las Vegas. Since then I have visited Ohio once, Indiana for my brother's wedding, and visited family friends in Illinois.

I'm hoping to turn the lights back on in this old blog and set up camp. I want to record this journey our family is taking, especially since we'll soon be embarking on the longest road trip of our lives.

*This is not exactly what the route will look like. This is me using Paint to draw a squiggly line on a map of the United States. But you get the idea.

never a dull moment

2011-09-14T10:46:00.000-07:00

Potty training is going fabulously. We have had nothing but success since yesterday. In fact, this morning while in the bathtub she told me she needed to go. So she got out of the tub, climbed on the toilet and did her business. She's got this thing down.

After their bath, I dried Audrey, wrapped her in a towel and sat her on the floor while I turned to Julia. She crawled off, towel still hooded over head and dragging behind her. I watched her head towards the bedroom, where I was going to get her dressed in a minute anyway, so I thought, What's the harm?

Never again.

As soon as I finished drying Julia, I sent her to her room to get dressed. No sooner had she left did I hear her blood-curdling scream. "Moooommmmyyyyy! Audrey...... she POOPED! And it's EVERYwhere!!"

In less than two minutes, Audrey had managed to poop on the floor, crawl in it, drag two ride-on toys through it, and smash it into the carpet. In her sister's room, of course.

All this before 10 a.m.

I need more coffee.

cold turkey

2011-09-13T22:35:00.000-07:00

I always thought quitting something cold turkey just meant that you gave it up abruptly. And it does mean that, but according to Wikipedia, the phrase was originally coined for drug addicts and alcoholics.

I'm (obviously) not talking about either of those.

Each of my girls, however, gave up something abruptly in the past week. Audrey nursed for the last time on Friday night, and that was that. No warning, no easing into it like I had planned. Nope. She just refused, then refused again, then again, and finally I stopped offering. Honestly, I wasn't terribly sad. My goal had been to nurse exclusively for a year, and we did. (As an aside: because of the trouble I had with Julia, I vowed to never give Audrey a bottle. And I didn't. Girl's only had breastmilk straight from the source or water [and whole milk after her 1st birthday] from a sippy cup. I am super proud of that.)

I was planning on weaning her soon anyway. She just gave up a little sooner than I had hoped. Man, though, quitting cold turkey like that was seriously painful... but I'll spare you gory the details. Let's just say ice packs, a tight-fitting sports bra, and a bottle of Ibuprofen were my friends. Dear, dear friends. It is only Tuesday though, and I can already see the light at the end of the tunnel, so all in all it's not so terrible. (I probably would've had a different opinion yesterday, though).

And today, Julia gave up her Pull-Ups. Cold turkey. When she woke this morning they had "magically" disappeared. Go big or go home, right?

No, seriously, this was the last straw in my arsenal of potty-training. Whoever said girls are supposed to be easy lied. A big, fat, ugly, mocking lie. Because my very smart little girl is three months past her third birthday and still never used the toilet. Ever. Zip. Zilch. Nada.

Because I know you were just dying to see a picture of our toilet.

We changed that today.

She put on big girl panties. We set the oven timer to go off every 15 minutes. And I pretended like sitting on the toilet was the most exciting, riveting thing in the world. (I've been trying that for over a year now. She's still not buying it.) I named every single person (real or imaginary) I could think of that also uses the potty. One time I even bribed her with a few M&M's while she sat, just for climbing up there.

She peed on the floor. Twice. (The first time it happened, there were 26 seconds left on the timer. 26!!) She asked for a Pull-Up on multiple occasions. And I admit, I was a little discouraged. But we pressed on. Every 15 minutes that obnoxious timer would go off and we'd both high-tail it to the bathroom.

Finally, finally, it happened. 6:28 pm. I was washing the dinner dishes in the kitchen, the girls were playing together in the living room. There was ample time left before the next trek to the bathroom. Julia walked past me casually and announced, "I meed to go potty." I didn't expect much, because she'd done that several times already today (today? Who am I kidding? Several times over the past year, too!). But I followed her in.

Wouldn't you know it, that girl walked in, pulled down her panties, sat on the toilet, and peed. Like it was no big deal. As if she'd done it a hundred times before.

And I whooped and hollered and squealed like someone just handed me a million bucks. We called Daddy in and she proudly showed him what she had done. We called Nana. Audrey clapped for Big Sister and gave out high-fives to celebrate.

My big girl. She did it. She finally, finally did it. And this Mama is so very proud.

because i promised

2011-09-12T14:46:00.000-07:00

It is nearly impossible to write a blog post while potty training a toddler and trying to keep a (fast!) crawling baby out of things like computer cords, covered outlets, the trash, and eating every. single. tiny piece of, well, anything she can find. From my what-I-thought-were-very-clean floors. And that was just today.

A while back I asked you what you thought this was a picture of.

Looks weird, huh?

I stumbled across a recipe from Pioneer Woman for THE best tasting iced coffee I have ever had. Seriously. I've always liked iced coffee, and after making it the "Pioneer Woman" way I've fallen in love.

The picture is simply of some coffee grounds mixed with water in a large bowl. (I don't have the nifty containers Ree has. And I didn't make nearly as much as her recipe calls for.) So if you're a fan of iced coffee, I definitely recommend you try this recipe. You'll be glad you did.

And now would you please excuse me while I go run the vacuum. Again.

any guesses?

2011-08-26T06:25:00.000-07:00

...as to what this could possibly be?

amateurs

2011-08-25T15:05:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, the girls and I took a day trip to the beach with my mom and sister.

We stopped in to visit one of those crazy hat shops.

As you can see, it looks like we had a little too much fun.

Of course, we didn't buy anything.

But we did manage to try on nearly every hat in the store.

And laugh a ton while we did it.

And even though she'd only keep a hat on her head for less than 0.5 seconds...

I still think she was the cutest baby ~~in the store~~ in the entire city.

But that's just my opinion.

favorite phrases friday

2011-08-19T15:20:00.000-07:00

My littles will only be little for a short time. Daily, they say and do some of the funniest, heartwarming, and adorable things that I wish I could sear into my memory forever.

Unfortunately, I don't have the super-human powers to remember every little detail (though I must admit, it's not for lack of trying). So I've decided to record here on this ol' blog (what better place?) so that even if my memory should fail, I can probably count on Blogger not to.

Quotes from Julia:
When I asked her to help shuck corn: "No thank you, Mommy, because my hands will get dirty."

"Tater tots are really jus' yittle potatoes."

Bedtime prayer: "Dear Jesus, thank you for our food, and for lunch, and for snacks, and special treats, and worms, and for candy. I love you Jesus. Amen." On the same note, according to Julia, a prayer cannot end unless you say, "I love you Jesus, amen." All of her prayers end this way, and she asks us to do the same.

"Look, a air-a-copter!" (helicopter)

"But, Daddy, I MEED another candy! Jus' for a second!" (meed = need. In case you hadn't already figured that one out.)

"Look, Mommy! Lightening McQueen has blue eyes, just like me have!"

When we tell her it's bedtime, or rest time, or time for anything, really: "Jus' five more minutes?"

She's also begun telling some pretty elaborate stories. Example: "...and then Bob goes, "Bob's Mommy, can I have some more milk?" like that, then Bob goes, "Waaaa, I want my Mama!" and so she jus' picked him up like this and goes, "It's okay Bob," like that, and its okay because Bob is red and he drinked his milk and then goes ni-night and it was so funny!" (Cue adorable, three-year-old laughter. It's highly contagious.)

Audrey's vocabulary:
The past month or so, it seems our little 11-month-old has begun moving from jabbering (bababababababa) to forming word we can understand, and that she repeats over and over about specific things.

She says Mama and Dada to each of us respectively (she's been saying those for months now).

Hi!! She pronounces it Hiiii... with a long "i" almost as if she had a Southern accent. Yeah, we live in Oregon. Not sure where she got it, but it's adorable.

Her Hi is also accompanied by a very cute, excited wave. And when we tell her to say bye-bye, she waves frantically and says, Hi! We're working on that. ;)

Duck, pronounced "duct." Audrey has an obsession with rubber duckies. Anytime she sees one, she gets very excited and starts squealing. And when you ask her, "Which animal says quack quack?" she squeals, Duct, duct! and looks around excitedly for one. (Just an FYI... you'd better have one to give her if you're going to bring them up. I'm just sayin'.)

Quack, quack! She says this very guttural, from the back of her throat, and it's adorable.

I'm sure there are many more note-worthy things from this past week. I think I'll start another blog post, add cute things/sayings as they happen this week, and share again next week for Favorite Phrases Friday.

But don't hold me to it if I don't. Ya know, just in case.

i learned a new trick

2011-08-18T16:00:00.000-07:00

It happened on accident.

Sometimes, convincing my three-year-old to take her nap can be a challenge. Sometimes, it is impossible. In fact, I've stopped calling it "nap time" and instead refer to that 2-hour stretch as "rest time." The rules are simple: she doesn't actually have to lay down and go to sleep, but she does have to stay in her room (usually on her bed) and read books or find some other quiet activity. Sometimes she falls asleep, sometimes not, but if successful, rest time is good for all of us. Without it, my sweet, adorable three-year-old becomes a whiny, cranky, I-don't-know-how-you-could-possibly-be-related-to-me child by dinnertime. Trust me, folks; it ain't pretty.

Back in April, while in Indiana for my brother's wedding, my parents bought Julia one of these:

Ain't he cute? Audrey has a pink one just like it...

Anyway, she loves it. Blue, she calls him. (Original, I know. I tell ya, she gets her creativity from me.)

Yesterday, after lunch, I announced to Julia that it was time to clean up and get ready for rest time. She looked up from attempting to swaddle Blue and replied, "He needs to take a nap, too!"

Then I got an idea.

"Yes," I told her. "Monkey is verrrrryyy tired. He wants to go to sleep." "Shhh!" She chidded me. "We need to be quiet." "Okay," I told her, in my best quiet voice. "Let's climb into bed nice and careful so Monkey can take a nap."

I tell you what. It worked. That girl laid down right next to ol' Blue, covered them both with her blanket, and was sawing logs within minutes.

I didn't hear a peep for a solid 2 hours.

And lest you think this new "trick" was a one-time fluke... it worked again today.

I love learning new things.

dinner at sweet tomatoes

2011-08-12T19:07:00.000-07:00

While there, we managed to...

...knock over not one, not two, but three full glasses, spilling copious amounts of water across the table each time. How does that even happen? Oh yes, we have two small children, one of which acts as a tornado and has the ability to reach much further than is humanly possible.

...eat enormous portions of delicious salad, each crafted specifically for the intended eater. Okay, so Audrey ate mostly peas and cooked pasta, and Julia nibbled on corn, olives, and one lone carrot from the salad bar. Justin and I, however, took full advantage of all Sweet Tomatoes has to offer.

...discover that Julia loves Jell-O. Audrey does not.

...eat just enough carbs to almost cancel out the fact that we began our meal very healthily. I said almost!

...leave more food on the floor than we actually consumed. Thank-you-very-much, Auders!

...spend more time getting up to get someone more food, wipe a dirty face, clean up a spill, or take someone to the bathroom than sitting down and, you know, eating.

...decide that yes, after the mess we made, it is important to tip the guy who walks by every 10 minutes to clear away dirty dishes. Thank you, sir, for not giving us a dirty look every time you approached our table. Must've been hard.

...agree that, even though it can get a little crazy (and messy), its still very worth taking the time to go out to dinner with our family. Occasionally.

Hey, as long as I don't have to do the dishes!

nap time

2011-08-06T22:16:00.000-07:00

1:41 pm: Both girls go down for naps. Audrey nurses, gets put in her crib, and I don't hear a peep.

1:53 pm: Julia pokes her head out of her room, empty sippy cup in hand. "I need some more water." I refill her cup and tuck her back in.

1:55 pm: "I need to go potty." She sits on the toilet. Nothing happens. Climbs into bed.

2:01 pm: "I'm poopy." Change her pull-up. She gets in bed.

2:16 pm: "Look Mommy, I'm waking up!!" Back to bed she goes.

2:21 pm: I hear her door open and see her standing in the hallway. "What are you doing up?" I ask. She says nothing, and quietly goes back into her room.

2:23 pm: Finally, silence.

wipe the slate clean

2011-08-04T23:51:00.000-07:00

Do you ever wish you could press the reset button? Or, at the very least, the pause button? Just to give yourself a little bit more time. Or even a brand new beginning.

I like making a fresh start. Having a clean slate. Like a chalkboard that's been wiped down carefully with soapy water until it sparkles, not just swiped at quickly with a brush, leaving behind chalk dust and a faint reminder of what was written before.

It's refreshing. It's exciting. And, honestly, it's not always attainable. Sometimes a chalk board is just so worn, that it simply cannot be restored to it's original state, no matter how hard you scrub or what you use to clean it. But the fact does remain: you tried.

So this is my clean slate. My "do over."

No, I did not delete my old blog posts. Far from it. They are simply hidden for the time being. So that I can focus, re-center my mind, and delve back in to the process of sharing my heart through this venue. Because the truth is, I need to write. I have missed it, but struggled with how to jump back in. So many times I tried. And failed.

By nature, I am an organized person. When a room is disorganized, consequently my thoughts tend to be disorganized also. Often times, I have found that the best (and easiest!) way for me to clear my head is to organize my surroundings. So I did the thing that makes most sense to me: I cleaned. And organized. And now that this "room" is clean, I feel I can heave a sigh of relief and continue on this journey.

I hope you'll continue to stick around with me!