My Mr. Wonderful

So as anyone with a little one knows, quality time with the hubby is few and far between. Especially living in a town where you're number of babysitters (aka family members) is limited, therefore making date nights nearly impossible.  Well as do many couples... Daniel and I have fallen into the same routine night after night of eating dinner and sitting on the couch watching tv next to each other until we retire to the bedroom for the night. Don't get me wrong... I love doing nothing but sitting next to Daniel on the couch... but in all reality doing this every.single.night. is not best way to keep a relationship  exciting and fun. Plus, if we fall into the habit now we're more likely to stick with it when Dax gets older and that is not how we want to spend our family time together. So tonight my Mr. Wonderful surprised me with a change of plans. He makes a wonderful dinner every night (I know... how did I win a hubby that loves to cook?) but tonight he made my favorite. He went to the store and came back with stuff to make this...

Homemade wheat rolls (that's right... homemade), tilapia, and brown rice, all covered with a lemon vinaigrette. Yum-o!

It was his first time to make homemade bread and I'd say it was a success! Also in his little bag of tricks from the store was this...

One of my favorite games ever... Life!

So after a great family trip to Barnes and Noble where I got a new Baby/Toddler cookbook that you'll def. be hearing more about and Dax got a new dump truck book, we got to have this delicious dinner and then finished up the evening playing Life and drinking wine.

A husband that's pretty good lookin', smart, funny, loving, a good chef, and surprises me with things like Life... I think I'll keep him around. And overall I'd say it was a good night... wait... make that a great night!

Mommy Lifesavers

So my BFF had a post on her blog today about trying to get cleaning done with a needy toddler around the house (you can read that post here ). I can completely relate to how she feels. Things are a lot better now but for awhile I couldn't walk out of Dax's sight without him having a melt down and/or he wasn't happy unless I was sitting next to him playing or holding him. I had to get creative in order to possibly get anything done around the house and came up with these little lifesavers.

Ok... so they really aren't much more than random junk but this trash has become my treasure! I leave these things out on the floor in 1. The kitchen, 2. The bathroom, and 3. My closet.  That way whatever room I'm in Dax can follow me in there and has these new, "exciting" things to play with while I get done whatever needs to get done. I tried just having some of his toys in each of those spaces and he simply wasn't interested. But I think the fact that it's something completely different and not a "toy" keeps his attention and excites him!
In the kitchen I leave a pot out with a wire whisk and whatever else I can find out at the time (usually a lid to some Tupperware or something like that). Dish towels also work for him. In the bathroom it's the lid to my makeup box, accessories to my blow dryer, a brush, the case I carry jewelry in when i travel, and a small Stewie toy he found in his Daddy's office and carried into the bathroom with him. We also keep one of his washable books in there as well. This little kit has been the only way I would ever be able to fix my hair or put makeup on.  And in the closet he has a hat, a necklace, and a hanger. He usually ends up adding shoes to his arsenal as well. This again, is the only way I would be able to get dressed or be able to put laundry away.
So that's how I'm able to get things done. Hopefully this will help someone at some point feel a little more productive. What do you do to deal with your clingy toddler??

Sweet Summer Time

One of my favorite things about this time of year is very yummy fresh fruit! And with Dax eating more and more finger foods I've been trying to come up with more things that we all can eat... meaning that it is healthy, generally organic, and contains minimal sugars. Dax absolutely loves fresh fruit and does really good eating it, and loves bread of any kind. I had been wanting to make a fruit pizza for awhile now but really didn't know much about it besides the fact that it looked like a pizza and had fresh fruit on it. I looked up recipes and they all used sugar cookie as the "crust". Well that wasn't going to work for us and pretty much eliminates the word "healthy" from the snack... so I substituted whole grain pita instead. It was delish! Here's a little step by step of my first fruit pizza endeavor..

All of the yummy stuff I used. I diced up blueberries, kiwi, strawberries, peaches, and raspberries. But you can use any fruit that you really enjoy... these just happen to be our favorites.  And as I mentioned above I used whole grain pita as the crust.

For the topping on the "pizza" I used fat free cream cheese with a few drops of vanilla mixed into it! The vanilla completely changed the taste of the cream cheese and it was so yummy! Who would have thought! I spread the topping out over the pita. I made two separate "pizzas" one for me, Daniel, and his sister and her husband to eat that night after dinner, and one for Dax. On the one for the adults I made the cream cheese a little thicker, and on Dax's I spread it out pretty thin. 

The finished product!!!! You don't have to get all fancy laying the fruit out like I did... but I had nothing better to do with my time while little one was napping.  If you let it sit in the refrigerator for a bit before eating the fruit stays on better than eating it immediately after making it.  For the adults I cut it like pizza slices and for Dax I cut it into bite size pieces.

Well that's the very yummy and healthy dessert that we had this week at the house and we will definitely be having more often! You should try it out.... I promise you'll love it.

A Little Step By Step....

A new baby in the family means time for some serious craft time.  The following is my newest project for my great nephew Kason due the end of July. For his brothers room I made these little jewels to match his bedding

While I must admit I'm not too shabby at painting, I wasn't even going to try to attempt to paint letters to match Kason's bedding.... which happens to be Mossy Oak camo. So instead I took a new twist and it ended up in a process like this...

All of the supplies! I bought 2 packs of 3 small painting canvas' for $1.99, wooden letters for .99 each, I had the glue gun, and Jess picked up 2 yards of fabric and spray paint.  This was a super cheap and easy project!

The first thing I did was wrap each canvas up in a piece of fabric just like a present.You do have to make sure the front stays smooth so pull super tight before glueing.

tahdah!! All 5 covered canvas'! We did every other letter with a different color fabric to make it a little more exciting.

Next I took the letters outside and spray painted them with one really good coat and let them dry over night in our garage.

This time I used twine instead of ribbon to hang the letters to better fit with the hunting/camo theme. I put a TON of hot glue on the twine so it doesn't fall off after hanging for while. Like a huge dot under the rope and then a layer on top.

I tied each end of the twine together at the top with a cute little bow and to secure that the bow wouldn't come undone I put a small dot of hot glue on the back of the knot.

And this is the finished product! I really like how it turned out and it looks great with the rest of his room decor. One major thing I forgot to take a picture of was glueing the letters on. This part was a little tricky b/c I used a razor blade to cut a small portion of the fabric off so that I could hot glue part of the letter directly to the canvas. I was worried that if I didn't do so The letters would pull on the fabric. Cutting just a pea size part of the fabric off though and glueing directly to the canvas really helped a lot and they felt very secure!

And since we're talking about it.... here's a name I hand painted for my bff a year ago (WOW!)

And here's the one hanging in Dax's room...

Next post will be on my VERY yummy and healthy fruit pizza I made this week :)

So I know it's not the normal time for updates on Dax (usually once a month) but he has done so much in the last week that I feel the need to write about it... in particular to keep our family updated on his life. So if you're not ready for a little mommy bragging than I would skip over this post ;)

* He "dances"! WOOHOO!! It's not quite the stand up dancing yet but he holds his arms up in the air and flaps them while he bounces his body. It's pretty cute. It's also his go to anytime he gets really excited.... which lately has been a lot.
* Walks with his new walking toy! He does so good.... when he wants to. He has now figured out that he can push it around while on his knees so when he's feeling lazy that's what he does. He gets really excited while he's doing it and talks/screams the entire time. I highly recommend this toy at target for $17.

* Our little dare devil will now let go while he's standing up and stand all alone for several seconds. It catches me off guard and I get way excited everytime. He also tried to take a step while doing this a couple days ago.... was unsuccessful... but tried. I'm afraid we're going to have a walker before i'm ready! He also was squatting on the ground the other day and stood up without touching anything. Wowzer...
* He's really into cars and makes a car sound now when playing with them! He especially loved this little dump truck we had and would try to put toys into the back of it but it was so small they wouldn't stay. So today we bought a BIG dump truck at Target and he's in loading heaven!
* Naps are sooooo much better! We switched to 2 naps, one at 9:30 and one at 1:30. They last anywhere from 45 minutes to 115 minutes. This is huge improvement from his previous 30 minutes naps. Those were not working for momma or baby.
* He's eating everything! He has done absolutely amazing with table food and I'm so proud of him everytime he eats! I was really worried the first few times b/c it seemed he didn't like any table food but puffs.... but he will now try anything and loves it. As far as finger foods go he has had, pasta, peas, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, cheese, strawberries, peaches, mango, and butternut squash. He has also tried kiwi and bananas but isn't really a fan of those. He'll eat them purreed.... but not at finger foods... it must be a texture thing :)
* He might be a bit OCD... like his mommy :)  He has an obsession with putting toys/food/whatever he can get his hands on into buckets/bowl/dumptrucks. For example, I had layed out 6 pieces of butternut squash on his try. He put them all back into the bowl and then ate them. And like I mentioned earlier... he loves to load up his dump truck with toys.
* He absolutely will not go to sleep if his feet are covered up. This has been going on for awhile but has become even more evident lately while putting him down for nap. He will kick and kick and kick until he gets the blanket off of his feet.
* He has finally got the stage where he puts everything, and I mean everything, in his mouth now. I have taken away plastic, grass, leaves, fuzz, paper, and the skin of garlic and onions. I.Am.Terrified.


Well that's it for the mommy bragging. Lots of exciting post coming soon with all of my arts and crafts activities I've been working on lately! Get excited!

10 on 14?

So on the tenth I was back home visiting my family... and my parents are still in the dark ages so I had no computer to post my 10 on 10 pictures. So today we're have a special 10 on 14 :)  All of these pictures are from the 10th which was a special day for me and Dax spent at my parents house and running around with "Maw Maw". Ready, set, go...
 

The flash is weird in this one... but if you look closely you can see big tears right below each eye. Quite the story with those tears. I gave Dax half a piece of toast and then wanted to try to get him to eat some pureed fruit. He had a few bites of the fruit and started turning his head away. Thinking he was full I got up and started walking away with the other half of toast and fruit... and you would have thought the world was coming to an end. Needless to say he was not done... he simply did not want the fruit... he wanted the rest of his toast.

Highlight of my day for sure. We spent about 15 minutes this morning rolling around and "wrestling" on the ground. There were lots and lots of laughs and kisses from both of us.

This is an old family toy that I think started with my brother. It is Dax's absolute favorite toy. He sits and opens and closes the doors forever. I also love this picture because it captures his crossed feet. From the day he was born he has always crossed his feet like this.... he even does it in his sleep and car seat. It's one of my many favorite things about him.

Good morning! With the change of schedule he has started taking better naps... like an hour longer. And because of this he is waking up in such a better mood from those naps! I usually walk into the room and see him playing with his blanket or doing this :)

One of Dax's favorite activities is to pull everything off the coffee/end table. He got distracted though by Papas Field and Stream magazine and decide to pause from the destruction and take a peak.

Dax is into cars now... which just happens to be one of Papas favorite activities too. I.love.this.picture.  It's his first time really "playing" with Papa and I'm glad I caught it on camera.

The one thing I miss the most when we're not at home is our changing table. Changing this little wiggle worm on the floor is quite the event... and he usually wins. This pic is him after he got away before I could pull his pants up... so I let him play like that for a bit :)

New phone!! WOOHOO!! I probably haven't had a new phone in over 2 years so this is a big deal for me. Not anything fancy but I don't require much. It does have a touch screen and a fancy key pad that makes texting easy. haha! So far I really like it.

Jessica's baby shower was Saturday so me, mom, and Dax spent quite awhile at Babies R Us shopping for Jess and little Mr. Kason.  This is what me and Dax got for him :)  I was pretty pumped about all the gifts.

Dax is fascinated with mouths and tongues right now. So needless to say when MawMaw blew bubbles at him it blew his mind! He thought it was simply the coolest thing in the world and he would intently move his tongue around as well. He eventually got brave and would try to pop it so we had to put and end to the bubble blowing.

Well there's my ten on ten... just a few days late! haha!  Look for a post soon on all the new things Dax has started in the last WEEK! It's crazy how much he learns each and every week! Until then... have a happy day :)

A Little New Mommy Love...

At the time it seems like half of my friends on facebook will be having little ones of their own before long... so this post is dedicated to them :)

Dear New Mommy,

Hello you amazing powerhouse you. As we speak you are taking part in the most amazing, miraculous thing that will ever happen to you. By now you have read all the do's and don'ts for taking care of yourself while you have a precious little angel growing inside of you. And you have also read everything on how to make sure you're little one comes out just perfect, two legs, ten fingers, baby fat... all the necessities :) But needless to say you have also heard everyone (and by everyone I mean everyone... including complete strangers) throw in their two sense on what you should wear, what you should eat, what you think and say. I'd love to say it just gets better after your precious bundle of joy arrives... but I'm nice enough not to lie to you :)

I have very firm ideas and beliefs on how I plan on raising Dax. Some people agree, some don't, some think I'm absolutely insane. But I could honestly care less. And that my friend... is my advice to you. 

As a mom you're going to read a million different books and articles and websites that say what you should and shouldn't do to raise you're own little prodigy. And every single one is going to say something different. Also as a mom... you're going to constantly hear opinions from family, friends, coworkers, and once again, complete strangers on what you are or aren't doing. And once again, please take my advice.... care less. The only opinions that truly matter are yours, your significant other, and your main man upstairs. Do what feels right for you and what works for you and your family. Do your own research and thinking and don't depend on what others have said works for them. Also, don't stick to ages and time lines that others tell you, even doctors. Follow your own babies cues and signs, and once again, stick with your gut. With that said, don't go doing some absolute crazy thing like making your 6 month old start drinking skim milk from a sippy cup instead of formula to get rid of that ever growing baby fat. 

Final words for thought:  There's a thing called the mommy instinct for a reason... follow it. You know your little one better than any doctor, world renown philosopher, family member or friend. For goodness sake... you've had this relationship and bond growing for nine months longer than anyone else. You were literally "one" with your sweet baby. You have reasons for the things you do and there is no need to justify what you're doing and why. As far as I'm concerned, as long as that baby is strong, happy, cared for and loved... you're not doing a thing wrong. 

Keep your head up and stand firm on your beliefs supermom.

Love, 

Kandice

 

Have a wonderful weekend and enjoy the simple things in life.... Dax does :)