Zombie Baby...

Zombie baby doesn't need eyes to eat your brains... So that's all.

Fun Times 'Down South'

What a nice 3 day weekend! Especially after such a stressful week. It all started off when our walking buddy IR, Peanut and I went up, sort of around and back down the mountain. The most intense I've been in a really long time, especially with throwing my back out and dealing with leg cramps. Alas, all weekend since I've been hobbling around until they get stretched out, so every time I stop moving for a bit, they start to hurt. But we had some great swimming and sand fun at Pike Lake, then visited with FIL, slept like crap, then the next morning went to Madtown and hit up the farmers market. Loads of fun, didn't get much (we got there late) but still some fresh pasta, some golden beets, oyster mushrooms... and a yummy mango smoothie.

Then we took off for the zoo. Peanut was fascinated with the seals. I recited the seal part in the 'Is Your Mama a Llama' book and he could not get enough of them swimming around. Even the giraffes were nothing. We rode the carousel and the kiddie train, he adored those, fed the goats, squee, fun! And then it was clear he was fading fast. So we decided to head to Blue Mound while the getting was good. He pretty much napped the whole time we were there. We took turns wandering up towers and poking around while the other person kept their eye on him in the car. Life with kids. So we didn't get to see much, and my legs were aching, and apparently I was burning, so we didn't stay too long. We'll have to go back next year to see the Cave of the Mounds.

I suspect he's growing, he had another rough night last night and has been extra clumsy. He's out with Boi getting a few odds and ends at the grocery store and getting a new fuel line for the lawn mower. Maybe it didn't like getting extra cold in our non-insulated garage. Making potato and kohlrabi soup tonight, got something special in mind for dessert. Taking it a bit easy this weekend on the food front, but I'll make sure the boys eat everything up so that tomorrow we're back to clean eating.

He's getting better and better at mimicry (when he wants to of course) like we told him he was eating pasta and he repeated it back, and I asked him to say sandbox to open it up and he did his best again there. It's pretty exciting, it feels like we're on the cusp of some really great talk breakthrough. Though I'm sure we'll just continue on in the normal fashion :)

The lawn mower broke again :( But the boys took a bike ride and I perfected a video, which I will be happy to share with you. It's 'the best' of his videos from August thus far. With some editing, I'm sure you don't really want to see more then like 20 seconds of Peanut spitting into the sunlight ;)

From the road

We're on our way to Madison from Milwaukee today. I've been strong with soda, but exhausted this morning from Peanut crying half the night I caved to half a can. If only I liked coffee! Oh well, work in progress. 

Peanut had fun yesterday, I messed up and took us to a state forest instead of a park.... But oh well.

Here he is as my riding companion yesterday. Rear facing still so I have to climb back, but front seats are so two years ago ;)

And playing at the beach :) I'll get videos up later, but my phone charge is low. I just meant to post yesterday and I didn't. So expect a good one on Sunday!

Wacky Wednesday

Mid Swing

Today is Uncle A's birthday! So we are planning a fun filled evening of video chatting with him. In the meantime, on Wednesdays we try to have a lot of crafty fun. We got going a little slower this morning with Boi home (I like to just let him do what he wants unless I actually have a timeline) but I have things set up for after he wakes up for nap now that he's at work. And I'm sneaking in some cleaning, since we did a ton of cooking yesterday and it only got so clean last night (though props for Boi for helping clean up after work).

Last night we were looking for something fun to do too, and Peanut hasn't been eating well (teeth, I saw a new one broken through this morning actually) so I figured it was an excuse to make the boys some brownies. I considered healthy brownies... but that didn't happen. So Peanut had fun tasting things. I tried to let him help me stir, but I still can't get him to do more then stick the spoon in and try to eat it.  Soooo I went for a different tactic.

As I was making it, I dipped my finger in sugar and let him suck on it. Yum! Then we tried again with cocoa powder, yuck! Then I did sugar and cocoa powder. Yum! And I told him about how we mixed everything together so that things would taste even more amazing together. I didn't quite get to how bitter vegetables add complexity to meals though, as he pooped, and it was messy, so we went upstairs and he took a shower and I finished when Boi came home a bit into bathtime. I don't think he would have cared for that additional lesson though anyways.

He picked out the apple himself!

Ok, it was his birthday. I didn't publish this so now it's MY birthday month. HAHAHAHA! Day one of my birthday month I'm eating ice cream and I have Peanut at Grandma's house for the day. Really that's just because I have work and my back is still in pain. Last week I had 2-3 days of Boi and Grandma's major help in taking care of him and it helped my back loads, but I hurt it again Monday, and it's just been getting worse since. So hopefully I can kick it this time. Well, not kick it. But you know.

That's enough time on my butt, time to keep the old back limber and get up and do some cleaning. Then we can just have lots of fun tonight when he comes home! I like having fun.

White and Black Socks on Tasty Tuesday

Peanut's sitting on the floor, playing with his Elmo doll. Previously he was spinning him on my chair. Kid loves him some Sesame Street! This morning, shortly after breakfast, he wanted to go outside. I had a basket of clothes waiting to be sorted through so I quickly found him a sweater in there and mismatching socks. How odd that mismatching socks can be so cute :) It was drizzling though, so we didn't stay out there for long.

I didn't get a picture, however this is him talking up a storm a few mornings ago out on the deck. Which is where we usually hang out before we're attired and ready for the world to see us (in pjs and mismatched socks!)

In August, we are going to try to make a few pacts. For him, we are going to try to stop resorting to television to help us get through parts of the day. Some Sesame Street to help wake up, sure, and I still get to watch Jeopardy if I remember, but we're going to try to limit it to that. Also, I'm going to say bye-bye to soda. Like for real. Permanently. That's my goal. I'll try to replace it with juice and carbonated water, and tea. So I'm drinking my last second to last one right now.

With any luck my back will be better and I'll start making it to Yoga on Mondays. And going to the gym without being prompted by mom.

And Peanut and I will try to start focusing on big boy stuff. I know he can do more, but I still treat him like he can't. And even if he can't sit all the way through an activity, it doesn't mean it's not worth doing for the 2-8 minutes that he will.

Blurry, but who cares? CHEEEESE!

Ahhh, he's down for a nap now. Peaceful thinking time and cleaning time. I've got the lower room/playroom at like 98% clean. I just want to get to where it's 100%, but it's just the little annoying stuff. Like where do I put the little toy cars that he can't play with yet? Should I leave them on the bookcase? What if they taunt him there and he tries to climb it? I've seriously been debating this car thing for 2 days now, I just need to do something about them. But I'm really enjoy decorating the wall down here, the one next to my computer. Maybe I'll get a picture when I'm done, but like... everything is getting taped onto the wall. Who needs paint when you keep uncovering treasures, right?!

Yesterday I made up my Beet and Carrot burger mix, it takes foooorever, but it's yummy and so worth it. Plus it's dual purpose, Boi eats it as burgers, and I do too sometimes, but I like to just use it like a hash and put a runny egg on top of it. Sooo good, that's what I'm doing for lunch today! Recipe:

1 cup sunflower seeds
2 cups peeled and grated beets
2 cups grated carrots
1/2 cup minced onion (I usually end up doing more as I like onion)
2 eggs
1 cup cooked brown rice or quinoa
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1/2 cup oil
1/2 fresh parsley or other yummy herb
3 Tbsp any kind of flour
2 Tbsp soy sauce and/or tamari
1+ gloves minced garlic
1/8-1 tsp cayenne pepper (we like it hot, so sometimes we go even crazier!)

For burgers, bake at 375 for 25-30 minutes or for whatever works for your oven. Yum! Plus I'm going to go out and buy some potatoes today (shoot, I could have gone to the farmer's market earlier!). Peanut will eat tiny bites, but I'm hoping if it's a lot of potatoes, he'll show more interest in eating it. But he historically has issues with eating the color red, so maybe it's just a lost cause. Doesn't mean I won't keep trying though ;)

Better go clean before he wakes up!

Hello, goodbye

I love it when he jabbers real words. He loves saying hello and goodbye together. Over and over. And going for walks and showing me where the birds and trees are.

I found him some good finds, a play stove and a slide at garage sale. Last night he tossed some snacks into his play food... Heh oh well. And all this rain has led to fun splashy times. We've had a lot of fun this spring, a lot of molar teething too though, biting, throwing, hitting, crying.... Yeah, I looooove teething. But last night he slept thru the night huzzah!

We have to get his 20month pic taken!

18 months, oh yeah!

Peanut is growing up! In the last few weeks he's started using more words (like banana, dogeeee, cheese and teeth) and being more sociable in general - coming up to me to give me hugs and kisses. Alas he's actively cutting one tooth and he has two molars threatening, so he's a bit cranky and not sleeping well.

He's really great at buckling, doing other fine motor tasks and pretend play. He yells for 'mama' more instead of just crying. We've got Aunt K's wedding coming up and he's going to be the ring bearer. Busy month of April!