21 Months

Special treat this month - all pictures courtesy of my friend Elizabeth who took time out of her long weekend to snap some awesome pictures of my cutie. Thanks friend!

It's so hard to believe that this grown up guy, who was once my tiny baby, is going to be two years old in just three short months. He is such a toddler these days and growing more every day. I know my monthly posts are getting slightly redundant...even for me. So this is going to be mostly pictures with a list of what's going on with Grant.

• Weight is around 26 lbs I think. I got Grant to stand on the bathroom scale long enough for it to actually read a weight. As to how accurate it is...well, I know that when I step on it it's usually off by about 20-30 pounds.
• Food favs: mac & cheese is #1 always (for any meal, really); for breakfast it's pancakes and waffles; banana is his favorite fruit but apples are a close second; he loves to snack on graham crackers and cheezits. He seems to think veggies are made of poison because he won't touch them anymore.
• Clothes: he's finally moving more into size 18 month clothes (which means he can wear most of his new summer clothes now!) but can still wear quite a few of his size 12 month shorts (some are too short for his looong legs). Still in 24 month/2T t-shirts.
• Sleeps well at night most of the time. Wakes up some but will go back to sleep after a visit from the pacifier fairy (that situation is getting much better - but we still use it at night).
• Hates the bath now. Specifically, having his hair washed. It's such a rough life.
• Most of the time, doesn't mind having his teeth brushed.
• Talker, talker, talker. Grant is always talking about something these days (whether we understand him or not) and repeating a lot of things he hears us say too - which means we're learning to be careful. His pronunciations are getting better and he's stringing more words together in attempts to make sentences. So super cute :)
• Absolutely loves to play outside. I think he'd live at the playground if he could.
• If there is a dog around, Grant will make you aware of it.
• Can't get enough of his books. He loves our story time before bed. He'll carry his milk cup into the bedroom and pat the rocking chair telling me to "Sit...sit!"
• In addition to his ever present monster truck obsession, he's also become a big fan of buses (which comes out "busth" with his little toddler lisp) and trains (which he calls a "shoo-shoo").
• Much to our dismay, he's become quite the climber. Grant's climbing skills have escalated from the playground slide to climbing our [rather high] bed and now climbing into his highchair when he's hungry. 
• From what we can tell - he enjoys day care. When we ask him in the morning if he wants to go to school, he says "Way-dee?" Which is Grant-speak for "Ready?" and he heads toward the door.

Ok...more pictures!



My little Hurricanes fan!



Love the Raleigh skyline in the background!

I loooove the pictures! I'm so lucky to have such a talented (and patient) friend. Thanks again, Elizabeth!

School Pictures - 20 Months

Grant has been in two day cares (we're very happy with the current one, so we don't foresee any changes - knock on wood!) and they've done "school pictures" at both. We never bought any at the first day care. They did picture day twice that I remember. The first time Grant was very small and floppy...they just didn't get great pictures of him. The second time it was because the props/backgrounds seemed very girl-oriented. They'd have Grant, who looked very cute, sitting underneath a giant pink flower or something like that. Plus, they never looked as great as the ones my friend Elizabeth has taken of him (check out his 3 months, 6 months, and 9 months picture she did).  We've also passed on one picture package with this new day care too. I don't even really remember them, but it was probably one of those days where we had no idea it was picture day and he wore whatever was clean to school that day. Tell me it doesn't happen to you!

But this time we had warning. I picked out a cute outfit. I made sure his hair wasn't his usual, crazy Dennis-the-Menace style that takes time in the morning to tame. I sent him off that morning and forgot 5 minutes after I left that it was picture day. Then the proofs came. I took one look and demanded to know how they made him look so grown up. I couldn't get over it. There is absolutely NO baby left in these pictures! They sent two proofs (I like to imagine the other ones look similar to when Santa came to town). I picked one and told Husband I had to have it. A bit dramatic, yes...but seriously. I had to have it. It's not that it's a spectacular picture - I know that. I can't explain it. I just kinda love it :)


He just looks so grown up!



Mother's Day 2012

*Finally! Sorry I'm super late posting this - I've been pretty busy. And this is a super long post...sorry about that too!*

My Mother's Day began with Husband bringing Grant into the bedroom - because I slept in - to wake me up saying "Mama!" and then giving me a big hug. That's always a nice way to wake up, even if it's not Mother's Day. Then my sister, who came to spend the week with us, cooked us yummy omelets for breakfast! (Except for Grant, his Highness required waffles - or wahfoos - for his morning meal.)


My Mama's Day breakfast and my
Mama's Day flowers :)

 After we ate, my Sis took Grant outside to run around and pop bubbles while I relaxed on the couch with my coffee. While outside burning off the breakfast carbs, my sweet guy picked a flower a for me and came running into the house with it as proud as can be. It was so super cute.


Sweet :)

So with all the running in and out of the house with the flower, it took us a minute to realize the dog got out. No biggie, right? Wrong. My dog does not come back willingly when he gets out. My sister managed to catch him fairly easily - compared to other times he's gotten out - but not before Brodie managed to give some attitude. So he was put in doggie time-out.

Later on that day my Mother-in-Law and family came over for a Mother's Day cookout like we did last year. My sister cooked most of the food so that I could stay out of the kitchen on "my" day...that was rather nice. I felt a little spoiled (and lazy)!


Shauna cooking us dinner :)

And while dinner was cooking my Mother-in-Law opened her present!


An ice cream maker! Yum!

While my Sis and I were shopping the day before, I had found the cutest outfit (and it was on sale - bonus!) for Grant that he just had to wear on Mother's Day! So we took him outside for pictures.

Put 'em up! Put 'em up!



Sweet...and handsome too :)

My Mother-in-Law suggested getting Husband outside for a family picture. We tried...


More than once...




It just wasn't happening. But it was pretty hysterical!

 So we decided to play before dessert.

After we watched Grant wear himself out (he was seriously playing so hard that he was sweating) we headed in for some YUMMY dessert!


Honey Bun Cake that my Mother-in-Law made! It
a favorite of mine!

 

I made Chocolate Chip Cookie Mousse Bombs that I've been
wanting to make for months!



Mmm...looky in the middle :) You can find
the recipe HERE if you want to make some too.



Grant decided to try one of those (the cake had pecans
in it and we're not quite there with letting him have nuts yet).



Grant's favorite thing to do was share food
with Auntie Shauna.



Hahaha...I love this one :)

It was a great Mother's Day, well a great day period. And my sister was with us for a whole week, so we had more great days after that too! I'll leave you with one of my favorite pictures from the day. We were standing around outside and Grant was being quizzed. I happened to snap this as someone was asking him "Where's Mama?"

In My Heart

In the last two and half years I've heard a lot of "I don't know how you're dealing with everything so well" and many other variations of that comment. But the truth is, I don't know that I'm dealing with anything that well at all. I just don't really talk about it. I stay strong because I have to. I stay positive because I have to. I will admit there are days when I'd like to lock myself in a dark room and just not deal with life for a day. But thankfully, the desire for those kind of days are fewer than they used to be.


Me & my Mom :)


My Mom was not the kind of person to let much keep her down. She was not a selfish person. So I know she would not have wanted us to be sad forever. But the sadness, it happens. It sneaks up on you. Because losing a parent (or two) - regardless of your age - it's not something you get over. It's just something you live with and it gets a little less painful every day.

 Two years ago today we lost my Mom to cancer. I still miss her every day.

New Recipe: Chocolate Chip Scones

I actually made this recipe a while ago - two weeks ago maybe? - and I'm just incredibly late posting about it. Grant's been sick and, because of my medications, I pick up whatever he gets in about 3.5 seconds. And now it takes me twice as long to get rid of it. But anyway, I finally have a few moments that I actually feel like typing this up so here's a great Chocolate Chip Scone recipe for you!


Mmmmm...

Chocolate Chip Scones

• 2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 stick real butter, cut into chunks
• 1 cup mini chocolate chips
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1) Prep a cookie sheet with parchment paper and preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and brown sugar. Then cut in the butter using a pastry blender (or a couple knives if you don't have a pastry blender) until the mixture is crumbly. Then add the chocolate chips to the mixture. Beat the egg slightly in a separate bowl, then add the egg to your mixture. Add the buttermilk, vanilla, and almond extract and mix until it's all just binding together.

2) Sprinkle flour on your counter top. Place dough on top and knead a few times (5 or 6 times). Pat into a round shape (like a really big thick pancake). Cut into 8 pie shaped pieces. Place on prepared cookie sheet, brush tops lightly with milk and bake at 425 degrees for 13-15 minutes. Cool for a couple minutes on the pan then move them to a wire rack.

Recipe Source: Northern Cottage

I have said before that I do not trust anything cake-like that does not have some kind of frosting. So I added a simple powdered sugar glaze (I added cocoa powder for chocolate flavor) to my scones.



The scones did not go unnoticed by the curious tiny human that
is constantly running through my kitchen.


Notes/Suggestions:

• I have little to no tolerance for the flavor of almond extract so I used a full teaspoon of vanilla in place of the 1/2 vanilla 1/2 almond. Having tasted it this way I will continue to make them without the almond extract.
• Husband LOVED these. I've made other kinds of scones before and after tasting them Husband had declared that scones are so dry that they must have been invented by coffee shops so you keep buying their coffee to keep from choking on the scones. But he tasted these and said they're "way better than all those other kinds you've made". I think he liked all the chocolate chips :)
• Watch your baking time because mine got a little burned on the bottom. However, that didn't stop me from enjoying them for a couple days as my 3:00 snack.
• If you're a scone lover, check out the recipe for Brown Sugar Pecan Scones that I made last year. I really enjoyed those...yum!

Anybody out there try some new recipes lately? Any favorite scone recipes you want to share?

What I'm Loving Now



Poke-a-Dot: Old MacDonald's Farm (link to Amazon)

 I first saw this book a while back when Grant and I made our first trip to Barnes & Noble. I made a mental note to buy it for Grant's Easter basket and I'm so glad that I did! He absolutely loves it. He's a big button pusher and this is a lot like pushing buttons for him (and I think he loves the popping sound the bubbles make). Since this a learning to count tool and he can't actually count yet, I count off the animals while he pushes the buttons. When we have "found" all the animals he gets very excited and claps for himself. It's too stinking cute. He enjoys when we read it together, but also likes to "read" it by himself too (plus it's really sturdy so I'm not worried about Grant tearing it up like he could some other books). I'm always looking for fun new books (and old classics) to add to our collection and this one was definitely a good buy.

What books are your kids/nieces/nephews/grandkids loving right now?

Day 17 - Top Five Favorite Things To Do Where You Live

1. Hurricanes Games! We don't get to go too often so it's always a treat when we get to go to one. We're really hoping that at least once this upcoming season we'll be able to take Grant to his first game.




Me and Husband at a Hurricanes game this season.


2. Go to parks. We're so lucky to have so many great parks near our house but also around the city. It seems like everywhere I've lived since moving here has had at least one easily accessible park where you can go for a nice walk. But now with Grant I seem to be taking advantage of them more. It's so nice to have a place nearby to go when you need to get out on a nice day. Great locations for picnics too! I'm looking forward to weekend picnics.
3. Museums and historical sites. There are so many places to visit! And you don't even have to drive that far. I love knowing that on a rainy day I could just pack up Grant and take him to a museum if we need to get out of the house. So many great places to take a curious child.




Me and Grant at the Science Museum


4. Go out to eat. Or for coffee. There are SO many great places to eat here!
5. Shop. Generic, I know...sorry. I don't even know if I'd classify it as a "favorite" of mine because I seem to be losing my excitement for shopping. But, regardless of how much I love or hate it on any given day, there is lots of great shopping here.

For the Mama's

Last year I did this post about what Grant could get me for Mother's Day. Now, I'm not saying that I'm expecting anything this year (which is what my Hubby probably thinks I'm doing)...because not too long ago I was surprised with a snazzy new camera as an early Mother's Day present. But I've seen some other bloggers do posts about Mother's Day gift ideas so these are just some things that I think might be good gifts for the Mama's in your life :)

Husband rips on me every year when I tell him things I'd like for Christmas. I'd say 85% of my list is stuff from Etsy. Or as he calls it "all that homemade crap". I looove Etsy and am not the least bit ashamed to say I have a bit of an addiction to it.

For the coffee drinkin' Mama:


How adorable is this mug? I love the shape and color and the best part
is that they'll personalize that for you (like if you wanted it to say Mama
or Mommy instead). Super cute! Link HERE.



So fun for the iced beverage drinker. And I love the chalkboard
paint on it. Makes it very unique! Link HERE.



Coffee cup cozy - one of my favorites! And this seller
has so many fun color options to choose from. Link HERE.

For the jewelery lovin' Mama:

A mommy necklace. There are lots of Etsy sellers doing necklaces
like this, but this one is one of my favorites. Link HERE.

 

I love this acorn necklace! And you can personalize it with an
initial. Nothing really "mom-ish" about it, I just think it's
a really pretty necklace. Link HERE.

 How about a pretty ring personalized with your baby's name
and birthdate. And the seller can do the heart in a pink gold
if you're like me and not a fan of yellow gold. Link HERE.

 For the camera totin' Mama:

A really fun camera strap! Link HERE.

Another fun camera strap. Link HERE.

A camera bg! But this one is a splurge...it ain't cheap.
Link HERE.

For the readin' Mama:


A handstamped bookmark. I think she can do custom
orders too. Link to her bookmarks HERE.



An awesome e-reader cover! This was the one Etsy purchase that
Husband made for Christmas, he bought me that exact cover (from my list).
I love it so much! HERE is the link to the seller - she has lots of great patterns.