Random Thursday

Here are some thoughts swirling around in my head..just in case you need a little randomness in you're life. :)

...I've been working on a "30 before 30" list for the past few weeks.  I'll be 30 in 4.5 years so I thought it'd be fun to make a little bucket list.  It's been hard coming up with things that I really want to accomplish but keep it realistic.  Can't wait to share!

...Sometimes I get nervous that every time I call the pediatrician the nurse on the other end thinks "Oh, it's Kason's crazy mom again."  I'm quite certain I may be crazy so I'm ok with others thinking that.  Today I called the doctor because I was legitimately concerned that Kason had a noticeably swollen lymph node on his neck.  I knew he was congested and that was probably the cause, but I just needed that peace of mind.  They asked me to bring him in so of course my mind goes to worse case scenario.  Turns out, everything is fine.  Hopefully it goes down soon!

...I wonder what I did before Google.  I can tell you one thing, I diagnosed myself with far fewer diseases.  

...I got a bag of goodies from Bobaloo! today.  I am so excited to be doing a product shoot for their fall/winter catalogue and website and the stuff is SO cute!  Kason officially has his first modeling gig and I'm sure it will only take me 2,234 photos to get him to actually look at the camera.

...I think I have an obsession with school supplies.  For the first time in several years, I haven't bought any and it's kind of sad.  Every time I see a good deal on crayons I get the urge to throw 25 boxes into my cart.  Duane would kill me if I came home with 25 boxes of crayons and no students to give them too.  I may just have to buy some to donate.  I'm weird, I know.

...I've been making a menu board and am loving the way it is turning out!  As soon as I finish it, I will blog about it!

...After about 2 months of no rain it has rained the past two nights!  I have never been so happy to see rain.

...At the doctor today they weird my little peanut and he finally broke 20 pounds!  It took him 16 months, but he made it!

...I officially have "house fever".  You know, kind of like baby fever only with a house.  I love our house, but it is feeling very cramped with only two bedrooms.  I'm ready to be able to host get togethers and have Kason's friends all over for a play date.  I love looking but sometimes it makes me wonder if I want to live in Indiana for the rest of my life.  Maybe I should look for houses out of state?  Who knows!

...We've been to our county's fair twice now.  Kason looooved the animals and was fearlessly sticking him fingers into all of the pins.  Duane usually hates going but I drag him along.  I couldn't believe it when we were leaving the fair last night and he said he actually liked walking around.  I think Kason's excitment makes it all the better.  And the elephant ears.

...I ordered 8 of our vacation photos and they came a week ago.  I still am trying to figure out where to hang them.  Maybe I'll quite being so indecisive and get them hung up just in time to go on our next vacation.

...I can't wait for the olympics to start.  Watching gymnastics during the summer olympics is my favorite thing ever.  I am pretty upset Shawn Johnson decided to retire, but I'll get over it.

...Speaking of TV, we just finished season 3 of Parenthood.  Seriously the best show out there.  If you haven't watched, it's on Netflix and I'd highly recommend it.  Duane even loves it!

...Thanks for all of the responses on my confessions post.  I'm so thankful for other mommas out there that help me along the way. :)

I think that's all I have for tonight!  Thanks for letting me put all of my scattered thoughts to words! :)

confessions of a new mom {tantrums}

I want to start off this post by giving a little disclaimer.  I always hesitate to blog about anything parenting related.  I am a new mom, and with that comes lots of joys.  There are also lots of struggles I face and I often wonder if I am the only one facing these battles.  Luckily, I have 3 great friends that have boys the same age, so I know I'm not alone.  However, I still get this churning in my stomach when I think about publicly displaying my struggles.  I'm worried people will judge me and think less of me.  I'm worried that people will comment or say things that I honestly don't care to hear.  I'm worried that there will be that one mom that says.."I can't believe your child is doing that, my child would never do anything like that."  Trust me, they are out there.  As much as I hesitate to put my thoughts out there, I occasionally decide to do it.  I am an avid blog reader.  I love reading blogs of other moms that often struggle with the same things I do.  I don't want to read blogs of moms who think they have it all figured out.  That's not the kind of mom I am and I just can't relate.  I want to hear the true struggles and triumphs of motherhood.  

Kason has been challenging lately.  Don't get me wrong, I am SO thankful that  I get to spend my days with him.  I cannot imagine starting school again next week and working full time again.  As sad as I get about not getting to have my own classroom this year, I still don't regret my decision even on the worst day.  That being said, I am fairly certain we have entered the terrible twos early.  Call me naive (or dumb) but I had no idea the tantrums started this early.  Holy cow!  I'm talking, hitting-mommy-because-I'm-so-mad-tantrums.  It seems that every time he doesn't get his way he loses it.  The hardest part about this is figuring out how to help him understand what is appropriate behavior and what isn't.  This is where I am at a loss.

I think that this age is hard because when Kason does something I know is wrong (i.e. throws food, hits me or someone else, throws a toy at another child's head, etc.) it's hard to figure out how to let him know that his actions aren't right for the situation.  Developmentally, he is too young to understand time-out.  If he throws food on the floor I've tried tapping his hand and saying "no" but he them just taps (slaps) me back.  It used to be that I could firmly tell him "no" and remove him from the situation.  He would then move on to something else and forget all about his previous activity.  Nowadays if I remove him, it seems he often goes right back and does the same thing I just asked him not to do.  I don't want him to think that inappropriate behavior is ok, but at the same time, I'm having a hard time figuring out how to communicate that to him.  I know he knows what "no" means, he is just being a little defiant and ignoring me.  I don't know where he gets that. :)

I feel like I'm just rambling, but I hope you get the picture.  I just want to find a way to communicate to him that when he does something inappropriate, he needs to not do it again.  It seems that each day this struggle becomes greater and the amount of "no-nos" he does grows. I hope that each day he begins to understand why I am saying no and that it is only out of love. I'm hoping by asking for help, you can let me know what worked well for your little ones at this age.  I know that everything I'm doing is shaping and molding Kason, so I think that is why this stresses me out so much.  Do I just ignore tantrums?  Do I just tell him "no" over and over again when he is doing something wrong?  What do I do when he throws a fit and hits me?  Ugh, I'm a parenting disaster.  The only thing I know to do is pray.  I pray a lot for guidance.  A lot.  My doctor also assured me that this behavior is completely normal.  Yep, I'm "that mom" that asks the doctor every question under the sun. 

One last thing before I end - I wrote this post in hopes of advice, or in hopes of letting someone else that's going through it be assured they are not alone.  I did not write it to hear "Oh just wait until....".  I am well aware that these behaviors are minor compared to what the future holds.  This is the season of life I'm in right now and that last thing I want to hear is "Oh just wait....".  I know that Kason is going to give me a run for my money.  He has a spit fire personality and I absolutely love that about him.  It will make him grow to be a strong willed person who will be able to stand firmly for what he believes in.  There will be many more tantrums and struggles in the future, but I'm glad God chose me to be the one that to help him through them, to teach him, if you will.  God is teaching me so much through this little person and I am so thankful for that.

san diego {part 1}

We had such a great trip to San Diego.  Between the flight and being away from home for 8 days, I was a bit nervous about how it would all go down.  Turns out, I had nothing to be worried about!  Kason did fabulously especially considering the late bed times and shortened naps.  Duane made the comment several times about how happy Kason was even with very little sleep.  I will say it was a lot easier having my parents and sister with us.  My sister was a life saver on the plane and my parents entertained Kason multiple times throughout the trip so that Duane and I could have a break.  I loved spending time with them and I know Kason did too.  So many fun memories!

So that this post doesnt' have 75 photos in it, I thought I'd break our trip down into a couple of posts.  I know a lot of you aren't interested in what we did, but the main point of this (and all) of my posts are for memory sake. There are still a lot of photos in this post.  You have been warned!

We flew out on Saturday and Kason did pretty well.  The first flight from Indy to Phoenix he only slept an hour (out of 4 hours) so that was a bit rough.  The airpot in Phoenix had lots of moving sidewalks and Kason loved them!  He entertained himself for about an hour of our layover.  We got to San Diego at 10:30 (7:30 CA time).  By the time we got our bags, rental car, and got to the hotel, it was 12:30 am. Kason didn't fall asleep ONCE!  Needless to say, his sleep schedule was a bit off and he slept with mom and dad the first night in the hotel. :)

Our first day was spent at La Jolla also known as the most beautiful beach EVER!  Kason loved the sand and surprisingly the freezing cold Pacific Ocean.  He played for hours and was a tired baby by the end of the day!

On Monday we headed to Sea World.  I just love this place.  I think the Shamu show is so cool and puts any dolphin show to shame.  Kason got to touch the sting rays and starfish and thought that was pretty cool.  He ended up falling asleep for last hour of our visit, but still had fun!  That night we went to my parent's friends' home for an awesome Mexican meal.  I didn't take in photos but it was so fun and so yummy!

Tuesday we went to breakfast in Pacific Beach at a restaurant called Kona's.  There was a long line but the food was SO worth it!  Kason inhaled about 3 pancakes and loves throwing food to the birds.  After breakfast, Duane, my sister and dad put on their wet suits and headed for the ocean.  My dad was quite the surfer when he lived in San Diego, so he offered to teach Duane.  I think Duane enjoyed it, but will stick to golf. :)  Jill has surfed before and is pretty much a pro...:).  Kason and I walked the boardwalk with my mom and watched the surfing action.  That evening we went to downtown San Diego to a little shopping area called Sea Port Village.  We had dinner, shopped, and road the carousel.  So much fun!

Whoo!  It feels good to get those photos blogged!  Now, on to editing the rest and blogging about the last few days of our trip. :)

a recipe and a mohawk

We're back from vacation and trying to get back into the swing of things!  I want to blog about our fabulous time in San Diego, but need to finish editing my photos first.  Kason has adjusted back to Indiana time and has been catching up on all of the sleep he missed last week.  Those 3-4 hour naps are a nice break for this mama!

One of my goals once we returned was to get back to cooking.  Remember..I used to cook and have aspirations of becoming a gourmet chef.  Ok, maybe that's an exaggeration but I did want to cook more.  I did cook a lot after Kason was born but then I went back to work.  I rarely cooked anything that deserved to be blogged.  Now that I'm staying home, I'm trying to get better at planning new meals.  I'm getting together with friends next week to make a meal planning board and I'm really excited about that.  I'll be sure to share! :)

I did try a new crock pot recipe last night and it was so good.  I thought I'd share it with you!  I made this:

Slow cooker salso chicken.  It is oh so good and oh so easy!  All you need are the following ingredients:

 

You can make them into tacos but I just put the chicken on chips.  It took about 4 hours to cook and made my house smell so good!  To find the specific directions, go here!

On another note, after dinner last night Kason was a mess.  I started wiping him off and realized he had animal cracker icing all in his hair. I started to wipe it out and put his sweet blond hair into a mohawk.  I used to do it all the time when he was littler, but I haven't done it in a while.  I actually gelled it this time and can I just say...he looked so cute!  Obviously this isn't a new do by any means but I still had to share some pics!  Please ignore the giant scab on his nose.  He fell down the concrete steps on our back porch and I didn't feel the need to photoshop it out! :)

Happy Wednesday! :)

Vacation: old vs. new

Everyone with kids knows it happens.  When you first hold that sweet baby in your arms you suddenly have a "new" life.  Your old life and old selfish ways fly out the window.  You suddenly have a new task at hand and that task trumps all of the other tasks in your life.  That task is being a mom (or dad) to this tiny being that you grew inside of you for 9 months.  To care and love him with all of your soul.  Your old life is transformed into a newer, better, and sometimes harder life.  It's different, but it is oh so much sweeter.    

Vacation is the same way.  Quite plane rides are a thing of the past replaced with trying to hold down a busy 15 month old for 4 hours.  Gone are the days where I could go to the beach and soak up the sun for hours on end.  I could lay there, ipod in hand, and take long naps without a care in the world.  After long hours in the sun I'd head to dinner with Duane where we could sit and talk for hours.  We'd walk on the beach without even thinking about anyone else.  Those "old" vacations were fabulous.  They were much needed and I wouldn't trade those memories for the world. 

 But these "new" vacations, though much less relaxing, are so much better.   Sure, they are much harder.  Plane rides are almost impossible with the age Kason is at.  I was a ball of stress the whole way even though he didn't even do that poorly.  Our days are full of chasing a busy 1 year old and scooping him up because he touches something he's not supposed to.  We realize that a very tired, off schedule Kason can equal lots of melt downs and tantrums.  There's no more laying on the beach because it's not very safe to let your 15 month old run wild around La Jolla.  Meal times are a race to see who can finish before Kason needs to get down and move onto the next thing.  And you know what, that's ok.  It's better than ok.

It's ok because nothing can trump seeing that look of wonder in your child's eye when he stares out at the huge blue ocean. 

 There's nothing that is better than watching him happily pick up handfuls of sand and throw them all over the beach.

  It's such a sweet sight to see him play in a huge hole that grandpa dug on the beach.  

I can't help but smile as he happily walks down the street in Coronado holding on to his ball like there's no place in the world he'd rather be.

I can see the excitement in his eyes as he watches dolphins swim through the water at sea world.

And when he watches Shamu jump out of the water, his hands clap because he's never seen anything like that before.

So we endure the hard parts of vacation.  We do it because there is so much to see in the world and so much we want to show our boy.  We want to take him to the beach, mountains, and dessert and teach him that we have a very big God that created all we see.  We want him to have the same great experiences we had as kids.  We remember our "old" vacations and tuck those memories in our back pockets.

We do it because there is nothing better than watching your child discover a new thing.  Kason reminds us to slow down, and find the joy in everything, even the moving sidewalk at the airport.  I love these "new" vacations.  I am so thankful for vacations with my family and especially my sweet boy.  Here's to many, many more.