New Blankie

Saturday while at Wal-Mart, I was in the fabric section.  Noah saw some Thomas fabric and wanted to hold it so I thought why not make him a blanket.  It will be fun and something he will like so I had the lady cut the fabric and found some dark blue to match the printed Thomas fabric we found.   He was way more happy/excited about it then I ever imagined he would.  He loves trains and he loves even more Thomas the Train ( I still have yet to figure out why kids like him so much.  I think the show is so boring and weird).  Throughout Walmart he just sat in the cart and held onto his fabric.  We saw my mom in there and Noah told her "Noah so excited".  I couldn't get over how much he just loved to hold the stuff.  Well then when we got home he told me he wanted to go night night, I'm guessing so he could sleep with it.  I told him we needed to eat lunch first and then he could nap with Thomas.  When it was time for nap, he didn't want his covers of course we had to use Thomas because Thomas "so soft".  Then when he woke up he carried it around and we had to run an errand and Thomas had to go as well.  I was just amazed at how a blanket, or still fabric at this point(something I wouldn't think a 2 1/2 year old would care about) was his favorite thing all day and that was all he wanted.  Since Saturday he has relaxed a bit about his fabric and we actually finally made it into a blanket last night.  He has still been taking naps and going to bed with it but at least it has been staying in his room and hasn't been a permanent piece attached to him anymore.  I never thought I would say this but I actually have been contemplating giving him a character room/ theme someday.   I never thought I would but to see the joy he got from that fabric really makes me not care about having a cutesy room for  them and having something they really like instead.  Love  this boy's smile!  He kills me with it sometimes.  Even worse, earlier today he just looked me in the eye and said "Noah like mommy", and gave me a kiss talk about a melt my heart kind of moment!  I'm going to be in trouble someday, these boys already have me figured out!

Happy Birthday Carson!

My baby turned 1 today!

I still can't get over how fast this last year went by.  My baby is so not a baby anymore.
We aren't really celebrating his birthday until Sunday when we have family over for his big Elmo/ Cookie Monster party.   I can't wait to see him when we sing, and what he does when he sees his Elmo cake!

Since we are waiting for the birthday stuff, we took the boys to Homewood for dessert and then to  the park for a fun evening for the birthday boy.  Carson hadn't been to the park since he could walk so he loved it!  I loved it too, boy is it so much easier now that he can walk around on his own!

 Carson points all the time, he was telling me about the big tree I guess!

 Playing on the Merry go round with brother and Grandpa Bob

 Our boy loves the swings!

Carson at 1 year you 

-are walking everywhere!  You can even get up in the middle of the floor and walk you don't need to pull up onto something first anymore

-doing more and more babbling

-wearing 12 months 

-still have the same 4 teeth

-are a pretty good but messy eater.  You and Noah at your age were opposites in that department.  You are starting to turn down the veggies now that you have tried a lot of other things, bummer! 

You won't hardly sit for anything in your high chair since you are so messy, everything is everywhere,you throw things you don't want.  I think you are permanently going to be moving to Noah's booster soon so I can keep you down and clean up your messes easier. 

-love trash cans, toilets, my kitchen cabinets, turning on our big garden tub water in our bathroom, pretty much everything you shouldn't do!  You keep me moving!  

-have the cutest wave!  

-are pretty much down to 2 bottles a day and have one more day of formula left, then it's milk only!  We have been doing milk at mealtimes and in the morning so I'm hoping you do okay without it.  We will probably just put it in a bottle for you for a little bit longer.  

-still taking 2 naps and your afternoon one is usually a pretty long one.  Mommy thanks you for that!

-has the cutest laugh.  

-Speaking of the cutest laugh, you also throw some not cool tantrums.  You sure do have a temper young man!  

-You love to wrestle with mommy and love being tickled.  

-You love to read books and  to cuddle with mom while she sings you songs.  You aren't too much of a cuddler for me during the day but usually before bed I can get you to cuddle while I sing a few songs.  

-really starting to figure out more and more about your little world

Carson, you are a lover.  You can be so cute, and you definitely love to be with your momma.  I can't even express to you how much we love you and have enjoyed getting to watch you grow this last year.  We of course have had some times that we are glad we are past but you have brought so much joy to our lives!  You have always been a smiley one and just have the cutest little face!  

We are so thankful we are finally sleeping through the night and couldn't imagine what it would be like without you, but blessed are we because we don't have to!  Carson you are such a wild little man, I can't get over how fast you move and how much you are into things and it has been so neat to see how you and Noah are so alike but yet so different.  We have had areas where it has been a whole new experience with you and I love that!  

We love you more than we could ever say bubby!

Happy Birthday Carson!  

Messes!

My boys make messes.  Period.  And plenty of them.  

I have to tell myself that daily, that it's built into their genes.  They are kids, it's just what they do.  And someday when they are gone, I will miss them making messes.  (that may be a stretch but that's what people tell me anyway)

This morning they emptied kitchen cabinets, demolished the playroom (Noah thought everything needed to be emptied out.  Didn't want to play with anything just took everything from it's home to the floor), messed with TP in both bathrooms, emptied drawers in my bathroom, took all the shoes off the shelves in their closet, threw pillows off my bed after it was made more than once, threw food on the floor, spilt milk,  threw toys down the steps, and the list could go on.  No matter what I do, some area of our house is a mess every day.  And every day I'm working on dealing with it. Now that Carson feeds himself I could literally clean my floor every day.  It always needs it but I'm learning to let go a little.  To keep my sanity, I have to.  

Carson is obsessed with the trash can.  He moves it all over, he dumps it over, he takes the lid off.  Yeah it's gross!

 Carson is also obsessed with the toilet and he can lift the lid.  Noah wouldn't ever touch it if the lid was down.  Nope, not Carson, he can lift the lid no problem.  He also loves the bathroom trash, and the toilet bowl cleaning system.  Notice in the picture below, not only is there toilet paper on the floor (pretty much a daily occurence) but the bathroom trash and toilet bowl cleaning stuff is up high.  It no longer gets it old home on the floor because I can't be everywhere, all the time.  Every day I walk into my bathroom and get annoyed.  It never feels clean without everything in it's spot, but hey that's life.  

If I ever get to unroll my own toilet paper for the first time off a roll, it may be a small miracle.  If it's not off the roll, then it's a roll that's been wound back up after an incident like this.  

Even though they make messes, I'm still so blessed to have them in our lives.  What would I do if I didn't have to clean up after them all the time and get the chance to look into these sweet little faces of theirs?

These boys are my life!  Adorable, fun, and messy.  Gotta take it all!   

Workout Update

I recently took a whole month and did the Brazilian Butt Lift every week, 6 days a week ( I missed 1, maybe 2 extra days).  The program seems to do what it's supposed to.  I thought it was just pretty much a booty workout.  I was wrong.  It is hard on the abs, legs, arms .... Pretty much everything.  You use ankle weights, resistance bands, and arm weights in the 6 different videos you alternate with each week.
With the program, I lost 3 lbs (not a lot but I wasn't expecting much)
The awesome thing to me was the inches, in the month I lost 7 inches between my arms, waist, hips and thighs.  That was what I was most excited about.  The inches are what you can tell in your clothes and while I do tend to get obsessed about the number on the scale I try to focus more on the way things fit and the way I feel because we all know muscle weighs more than fat and muscle is leaner.  So the scale isn't the best thing to focus on.  (added that in there to remind myself)

 While I did like Brazilian Butt Lift, I'm a cardio girl and am now moving on to TurboFire which is mostly all cardio.  I was ready to switch it up and started the new program Monday.  I have done it 3 days now and while I feel pretty uncoordinated doing it, it's still fun.  I know it's going to get better once I've done the moves and videos a little more.  This one has a lot more DVD's so I'm hoping I won't get tired of them as fast and once I get through I can always do a combo program of the two.

Side note, but I hate sweating, except for during a workout.  Not many things feel better than being completely soaked after working out and with these workouts a lot of them leave you this way.  I feel such a sense of accomplishment!  Love it!  

Carson's First Haircut

I still just can't believe my baby is going to be 1 at the end of this month.  This year has flown by.  Well we are getting pictures this weekend and with his birthday coming up decided it was time for his first haircut.  His mullet back and earmuffs over his ears needed to go!  

Here is a picture from earlier this week after bath.  His hair gets pretty wild!

Here is my baby after his first haircut.  He did so well, I was so proud.  I took both boys to get haircuts at  the same time, on my way I was wondering if I was about to do something really stupid.  But it went as good as it could have.  They did both of them at the same time and I was alone so I didn't get any pictures during. Noah sat on the chair across the room and got his cut while Carson sat on my lap and got his done.  He didn't cry at all, nothing like the first many times we tried to cut Noah's.  My boys seem so grown up sometimes and this was one of those proud mommy moments!  

 That cheesy smile and bunny teeth just kill me!  Such a little boy now!  

Brotherly Love

Tuesday night I was getting the boys dinner ready and was going to try and do a few things while they were eating and since Carson never stays put in his high chair anymore I thought I would try Noah's seat.  To my surprise Noah took it fine but wanted to sit in a big sit right next to him.  Then he proceeded to tell me, Noah wanted to feed Carson so I let him try.  These boys can be so cute sometimes!  Carson loves food, he doesn't really care who it comes from so it didn't bother him either.  

 Love how Noah's mouth is open in this one, I totally catch myself doing that sometimes.  

 After they were done eating, I had them BOTH sitting at the table in their chairs eating Goldfish, and I went back to my room to change (probably gone max 2 minutes)  I came back to Noah sitting on the lazy susan on our table, spinning in circles and Goldfish everywhere.  Noah had poured them all over Carson's tray which most of which made it to the floor.  (The picture was an aftershot, I should of taken one before I cleaned up most of the mess)  

You can't leave these two hardly ever without them getting into something or making some sort of mess!  

Scared

This picture has nothing to do with this post but cute side story.  The other day Noah insisted on watching TV after his bath with all of this on his lap.  He pretty much wanted his whole train set with him.  Silly boy.

Anyways a few weeks ago we had a really good storm with lots of thunder, lightning and finally some rain.  It went on and on thunder and lightning for well over an hour and for some reason the boys were terrified.  Maybe it was because it had been so long since they had heard/seen a storm, I really don't know.  It also didn't help that the power kept going out either.  After bath all Carson wanted to do was cuddle up on my chest and did that without moving until he fell asleep (never had this ever happened before, Carson is almost always on the go) then Noah wanted to do the same and sat on my lap and watched TV until HE decided to go to bed which was before his normal time.  But after a big loud thunder he covered his eyes and asked to go night night.  I took him in there, and to my surprise he went right to sleep.  

However, ever since that night, Noah has been scared of the dark.  We have either had to put a nightlight or leave his bedroom door open so it's not so dark.  Matthew hasn't wanted them to have a nightlight (it could cause problems with kids eyes, some studies show) so we have mostly always had their room dark, but lately that hasn't worked for Noah.  We were leaving the door open, then once Noah went to sleep we would shut it and it would be dark again.  Then the other night, Noah woke up 4  times in the middle of the night crying because his room was dark and he wanted light so I at 4am put in the nightlight and decided we were going to have to try that again for awhile.  I'm not starting this getting up stuff again, it hasn't been that long yet since we started getting to sleep.  It has just been so weird though, because never before did he care and ever since the storm, something happened and now he's scared of the dark.  

Set the Stakes a Little High

So, I was a little ambitious when planning out our menu this weekend.
Monday hit and I remembered how I can't always get done what I have planned.

Monday night I had a bowl of ice cream before bed.  Not good for weight loss and really not good when trying to follow a clean diet.  Fail.

Today, Matthew and I ate out for lunch, I had some chocolate at work and didn't get a chance to make any prep items for the rest of the week besides some taco seasoning and HealthTrim balls.  Then when I was shopping last night I bought Clover Honey,apparently it's not normal honey?  It smells and tastes gross and ruined my Healthballs.  Boy do I have a lot to learn!   Day 2 Fail again!

I also got to thinking how we still have some items in our house like store bought wheat tortillas and other pizza sauce, therefore  I realized we just need to use what we have first.  I don't want to waste it, that doesn't make sense either.  This will just be a mixed up week and some clean meals and some not.

This is a journey, right?  Most people don't do this overnight so I'm not giving up!

Left in a Hurry

If anyone was in Kohl's this morning, I'm sorry it didn't go well and I'm sure you heard my screaming child!   I love my boys so much but some days they sure do give my patience some testing and usually I fail.  All I wanted to do was return some shoes I bought over the weekend and exchange them.  Well we had just gotten to the shoe department, I had turned my back for a second and Carson stands up, Noah pushed him over and he fell out of the cart,  and onto the ceramic tile floor.  Yeah, ouch!  My poor baby really cried and got some nasty marks and a bump on the side of his face.  Then I decided to just return the shoes and come back another day so I headed straight for customer service, Noah sees the water, gets out of the cart goes over to the fountain and starts flinging water everywhere. I had lost control, and for those of you who have been around Noah,  I love the boy so much but he doesn't really listen to me worth a darn (we are totally struggling in that area right now and what to do about it).  So I put him back in the cart, he screams and tries to get out.  I realized this just wasn't happening so we head for the door, forget my return, forget getting new shoes I bolted with not one but 2 screaming boys!   (just fyi, these weren't fun shoes, they are workout shoes which I do really need, mine are extremely old and I had gotten them from my mom, who gave them to me after she put a lot of miles running on them)

Needless to say today I have felt a little trapped and stressed about not being able to get errands done .  I know we all have these days and I'm looking forward to tonight to getting some of the much needed done things crossed off my list after the boys go to bed!  I just have to keep reminding myself, it's a short stage in the span of life and we will probably just be staying home a little bit more until I can get Carson to sit still and Noah to start listening better!

Takes time

Wow,  I have spent so much time researching and trying to plan out a menu for  this week.  I usually plan on Sundays, grocery shop on Monday morning.  After last week's Wal-Mart trip I decided I maybe should go without the boys for a little bit. Carson sits in the little front seat and Noah stands in the big cart part.  Carson won't stay sitting (buckle doesn't really help) and Noah throws all the food out that I put in. Needless to say it's been a little stressful lately.  I decided to wait until after the kids go to bed tonight and plus it will take me a little longer than normal.

This week we are really going to try for a clean eating week.  I have looked and looked and have finally decided on some starter meals and going to try making a few new things on my own.  Since I will be making some new things I also need some things I've never really bought before so  I figured this week would really be better if I go on my own.  I never realized how much stuff there is to know when it comes to clean eating.  There are so many things  I would consider fine and natural but aren't at all.

Here is what I have so far for  this week

Breakfasts/ Snacks    (I will be doing my Genesis Pure shakes for Breakfast but this will be for Matthew and maybe the boys, and then snacks for myself)
Yogurt/ Fruit
Homemade Granola Cereal
Strawberry Muffins

Lunches
Salad
Quesadillas  (with Homemade Whole Wheat Tortillas)
Leftovers

Dinners
Grilled Chicken, baked potato, green beans
Homemade Pizza with Homemade pizza dough and homemade pizza sauce
Tacos with Homemade Tortillas again and taco seasoning and mexican rice
Chicken Stir fry with brown rice


And a treat to have around the house
No Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Cookie

This is definitely going to take more time in planning and also in preparation but we are going to try.  I know we aren't going to be able to be clean when we aren't at home or when eating out but the times we are at home I want to try!  I don't want to put too much pressure on the idea and then feel like I failed because I know there is always going to be some days when it's just not possible!  

Food

I've wanted to change the way my family eats for quite some time now.
I've wanted to, I have thought about it alot, but there hasn't actually been much action.    Why no action?

It's overwhelming, I don't even know where to start!  Does anyone have this feeling when making food choices for their family?  I feel guilty when buying processed foods but it's what I feel our society today has ever known.  We know how to make food quickly but not necessarily healthy.  Well I'm ready now, ready to make a change.

The turning point was a few weekends ago, we watched (well I watched part and fell asleep during both) Food Inc and Knives over Forks.  They both have different spins to them and to what areas of food they focus on.  Now after watching  them I have Matthew on board too!  We were watching one which basically kind of pushes a vegan diet, (which wouldn't bother me, I've never been a big meat person)  and  I turned to Matthew and said "so are we going to become vegans after this?" His response, "um no not completely"  in a voice that knew he couldn't give up all meat.

I know it's not going to happen overnight, it's hard changing a lifestyle but I do know some places we are going to start.

-Eat less meat  (especially red meat) and more fruits and veggies

-Cut down on white rice and pasta, I bought brown rice and whole wheat pasta this week.   I saw on pinterest how to make a bunch of brown rice and freeze it so you have it ready and it just needs heated up instead of taking so long each time you make it.  Super excited about that find!

-No more cream soups.   I have so many recipes that I have always used that use cream of something or another and  I know this winter will be challenging but I really want to ban those from our house

-Make more homemade healthy snacks, thanks to pinterest this shouldn't be too hard.  Instead of store bought I want to make more of my own cookies, granola bars and similar snacks with healthier, more natural ingredients.  Matthew is a snacker especially at night so I'm still going to have to have something for him to munch on and of course I'm going to need some on occasion as well.

-Buy organic when possible, living in Effingham we don't have as many options as other places and also the budget may not always allow for it !  Want to have a mega garden next year if we can figure out a place to put one.

I would truly love to live a completely clean diet, but  I know it takes time, money, and big steps.  I'm hoping over the next few months we can make some big strides to be a healthier eating family.   I want to do it for my kids, for us, our health, and our futures!  Wish us luck!

If anyone has meal ideas or suggestions we would love to know what other families are doing to eat healthy!

Thankful

Today I have just been feeling so blessed.

I am soooo thankful for .....
health
all the blessings we don't deserve but have been blessed with. We have a beautiful home, 2 vehicles that get us to and from where we need to be, the ability to purchase all the food/clothing we need, air conditioning, water, and the list could go on and on
My boys, thankful for the timing of Noah's birth, thankful for our unplanned blessing that I totally wasn't prepared for but now can't imagine my life without.  God really knew what he was doing when he blessed us with Carson!
My husband who is a great friend, father, and has a wonderful job where he is able to provide for our family.
Our family, and the huge amount of family that we have and that they are all so supportive in everything we do!
The fact that  we know Jesus!

What are you thankful for today?

Carson at 11 Months

Can it really be possible that my little baby will be turning a year in a month! Craziness!

This afternoon I have been working on birthday invites for his Elmo themed  party!  I can't wait, I'm hoping he goes crazy with the cake.  Noah had such texture issues he wouldn't touch it and Carson usually attacks food, so hopefully he won't  let momma down!

At 11 Months Carson
-weighs a little over 22 pounds
-still has 4 teeth, we have been here forever I feel like.  The top two are still so far apart, it's cute and really funny looking at the same time
-getting such long hair, your first haircut is in the very, very near future!
-starting to stand for a little bit on your own, you are still pretty nervous about letting go.  It won't be too much longer though until you walk.  You have always got somewhere to go!
-Are obsessed with toilets and trash cans,  you get in one or the other pretty much every day.
-Have let us sleep in a little this last week, really hope this continues.  5 to 5:30 is not my preferred wake up time!
-Loves food!  You have been eating lots of  table food this week and have been doing awesome, such a blessing that is!
-Love it when we sing songs to you!
-Loves all your brothers toys, not big on baby toys.
-really quick on going up stairs, we haven't let you go down too much yet.
-still wearing 12 months clothes, even though some are getting a little too short length wise.
-Is ticklish and loves when you blow zerberts on his belly
-Loves wrestling and rolling around with mom, like Noah loves to do!
-is such a playful little boy, he has such a sweet and cute personality.
-says mama, dada, baba and lots of other sounds.  You are so much more vocal than Noah was

Baby boy, we love you soo much and we are looking forward to your first birthday, still can't get over the fact that its in less  than a month!