Tales of Mana and Pada's Visit

As Carrie noted previously, Mana and Pada C came to visit us last week! We had a wonderful time doing all sorts of fun things and having them around to take care of Alex and harass/help Carrie get her apron quota to adequate levels made yours truly exceedingly joyful.

First off, Alex was extremely surprised when they first showed up last Thursday bearing an awesome Cars(tm) beach chair with speakers. I caught it on film and will upload at a later date so stayed tuned.

Next, we enjoyed some excellent homemade ice cream Monday night.



We spotted the bats at a nearby bridge one early evening on one of what seemed like daily trips to the fabric store.



There also happened to be a red-tailed hawk demonstrating its ability at survival of the fittest by repeatedly swooping in for tasty bat treats from its perch on a nearby light pole. Random post-graduate biologist was monitoring said hawk and provided Pada with greater hawkish insights and binoculars for better hawking views.

We enjoyed a trip to a local splash park on Friday. The artisty part of me caught this shot of Alex.



Pada enjoyed the hole-in-a-bucket method of entertaining Alex.



On the way home we enjoyed some delicious chocolate and vanilla Frosties.



When we arrived home we found an amphibian gift waiting in our lawn. Alex used Pada's flashlight to illuminate our new comrade with a close introduction to artificial lighting.



I'll skip the tearful ending and end on a lighter note. Fist, enjoy this great photo of Pada, Carrie and Mana! Thanks for visiting and we'll see you in September!



For the grand finale I present Alex's fake smile. He really is a chip off the old block.

Blog Housekeeping Notes

Jon here. I know I don't post much as my delectable wife handles much of the bloggerific work around these parts. However, I'd like to highlight a couple blog housekeeping items:

1. We don't support viewing this blog in Internet Explorer. If something doesn't work right or look right its probably because you're using a browser that doesn't conform to any web standard known outside of the overlords in Redmond.

2. We now own joncarrie.net so if you'd like a handy way of reaching our little nook on the interwebs just type that into a superior web browser and enjoy!

Coupon Commotion at Joann's

So, can anyone tell me WHY they give you a whole sheet of 40% off coupons, but you can only use "1 per customer" (read: separate transactions)? Annoying.
(can you tell I'm going fabric shopping today?)

All good things must come to an end

Which is always very sad.

After a particularly "fun" (for him at least) Saturday at the new "beach" at our "lake", a dinner of hamburgers and hotdogs, and LOTS of fun with Grandma and Grandpa, Alex declared in the most pathetically sad voice, "I want more Saturdays".

Don't we all.

Today's sad line came when it was time for Grandma and Grandpa to return to Utah. "I doen wan you go ooo-tah. I wan you stay here".
I even have pictures of the sad event.

not a straight on picture of the sad lip, but it's there! Aww...

Grandma cried almost as much as Alex. :)

Hmm... I just realized that I have a lot of pictures and stories from our recent adventures. Maybe I'll put Jon up to that task seeing as I need to spend more time sewing.



We had a WONDERFUL time with Grandma and Grandpa and LOVED having them here with us for a week and a half. We loved every second of your time here and are already counting down to our next visit. Not only that, but wishing and hoping that someday in the coming few years we'll be able to be closer. Jon, that Colorado job isn't looking so bad...

Just a little reminder

It's just right over there on the left of the page under PRIVACY.

I want to share fun things with people - just not to masses of unknown people.
I enjoy that people like to read my blog, but would appreciate an introduction and a how you found me email or comment if I don't know you. I like to know who my audience is. :)
Also, I do everything I can to keep our last name off of the internet, so please do not include our last name in your blog link list.

Alex Gems

Yesterday Jon was outside mowing the lawn and Alex looked outside and said, "our grass just looks really perfect!"

Jon and Alex were playing with some blocks and making houses for some little froggies. Then Jon made a boat for the froggies out of a half moon shaped block and an arch and triangle on top of it. Jon declared it a boat and Alex got really excited and said, "It's a house boat!"

Alex doesn't like taking naps/going to bed. Grandma and Grandpa are here visiting and he was playing up the not going to bed by crying and saying he needed a snack etc. This is normal.
On Thursday night he sadly stated, "I need more fun!"

We were saying that Alex lives in Texas and Grandpa and Grandma live in Utah and we asked Alex where Grandpa lives and he said, "Grandpa lives in Wal Mart!"

On Saturday morning he woke up and one of the first things he said was, "where we going today? " I guess it was a good thing we were actually planning on going to Hobby Lobby and dinner that night. :)

Life is Good

You try spending all day here (you should see it during the day and run your toes through the super soft sand) and see how you feel about life.

We're sunburned but oh so happy.
What a great vacation.

(photo credit to psanchodog on flickr. He has some amazing images)

Hey! Oh. Yaa.

These days Alex is starting all of his requests with "hey!", so we often hear phrases like, "hey! I need a snack!" and "hey! I need to go pee pee!" etc.
It totally cracks us up. I will try to get it on video.

The other thing that he says that makes us laugh is when we tell him something and he goes.
"Oh. ... Yaaa...". Again, you probably have to hear it to see how funny it is, so I will try to get that on video as well.


Also to note- I am halfway today!
And because you're all just dieing to see my belly- here is a picture that Jon took yesterday.

And just because this one was funny!

I should also note that the jewelry I am wearing is my wedding jewelry. I was wearing it yesterday because it was our 4th Anniversary!
We're actually celebrating this weekend by going down to Corpus Christi. We're going to spend a couple of days on the beach and go see the USS Lexington on the 4th (how patriotic are we?).
I have to say that I love that our anniversary is right before the 4th. It's especially nice that Jon gets 2 paid holidays for the 4th of July! It couldn't have worked out any better.

Hungry!

This morning Alex ate three pieces of french toast. THREE.
PLUS a piece of bread while they were cooking.

I can only eat 2 pieces before I feel stuffed.
My 2 year old can eat more than me.
I'm not sure how I feel about that.

TBD: gender of this baby!

Or maybe not to be determined. I guess that depends on if I want to pay $60 to go somewhere and have ANOTHER ultrasound.
It would have been great to have gotten pictures of proof at that first one, but no. *sigh*

Obviously, today's (okay... yesterday's... It's 2 am and I'm still awake) didn't go as well as planned.

We went to a HUGE radiology place where they do all sorts of radiology/sonography for everything and it was all very business like. The tech got the measurements... they didn't have double screens and I was layed so far back that I couldn't even look over and see the screen... and then after that she turned the screen toward me and I got to see the baby for about 3 minutes.

After that she announced that was it and we were done. Wanting to know the gender I asked her, did you see what the gender was?

Her reply: Well the legs were up there, but I didn't get an actual good look at anything, so I really couldn't say either way.

...long pause... (like really, she wasn't going to say either way)

I piped in with what the tech at the 15 week ultrasound said about being pretty sure it was a girl.

She replies with something along the lines of, "I'd probably go that way if I were leaning one way, but I like to actually see the labia to for sure say it's a girl and I didn't really get a good look there".

GREAT.
2 ultrasounds and no definite gender. That's awesome.


I was a little bit bugged. The tech was nice and all, but it just didn't seem like she put any extra effort beyond getting the needed measurements to figure out the gender. We didn't even get any pictures. It was just a totally different experience than the ultrasounds I had with Alex in my OBs office last time. It was very medical, hospital like, and routine. I wasn't a fan.
So boo to Austin Radiological Association.

How can you resist?

The other night I went in to peek in at Alex before I went to bed (are there parents that don't do that?!) and he was laying there all cute. Jon was in there opening his window and it kind of woke him up a little and he told me (with eyes still closed, so, in his sleep), "You lay by me Mama".

I don't think anyone could resist something so adorable as their sleeping 2 year old in their calm super sweet state asking them to lay by them.

I laid by him for a little while and I kinda leaned up to look at his sweet sleeping face and he told me again "lay by me Mama".
I think I layed down by him for a good 5 minutes and then, he muttered "night night, bye-bye, I love you" (we say this every night when he goes to bed). This was followed by, "no screaming, no crying, stay in bed" (which are the rules that he repeats to Jon every night when Jon goes out).


So I got the sweetness mixed with hilarity that he would actually say that in his sleep. Good training Jon. :)

can anybody resist when their kids are just so darn cute?

"I'm not cute..."

One of the things that Alex says that makes me laugh every time is when I tell him he's cute and he replies with, "I'm not cute. I'm the nice big boy."

My new crafty room!

Now I have no excuse not to sew like mad, right Lyns?


It still needs some cuteness and a bit more organization added to it, but it's on it's way there!


Here is the Wall of Glory. The picture resting up there will be hung above the middle section and I think some of the diplomas are going to be moved to the other side to balance things out. Jon and I are just so educated. :)

This is looking in from the door. We have our little fold out sofa for Alex to watch his shows on every morning and while I'm crafting (the TV is directly across from the sofa on the same wall as the door... it's sitting on our double wide file cabinet). The TV in the crafting room when you have young kids is a MUST.

This is just a picture of the drawers that I have under my desk and you can kind of get on idea of how spacious the desk is. I have room for my laptop and sewing machine on one side (the better to multi-task with) and Alex still has room to color on the other side.
I LOVE the color of my desk. I mixed some white/cream in with some darker aqua that I had and came out with this great cheery shade of aqua!
Alex loves to sit in his chair (no more battling for mine) and color, eat his lunch, and watch shows.

Kati Sue, this is for you

Me and my Kati Sue always got Daiquiri Ice when we went to Baskin Robin's. And now they don't have it anymore!
So I found a copy cat recipe. I can't wait to give it a try!

HOME CLONE VERSION OF BASKIN-ROBBINS DAIQUIRI ICE
(this is NOT Lime Daiquiri Ice)

2 cups water
1 cup sugar
Juice of 1 lime
1 tsp imitation rum extract
1 tsp citric acid powder – you may need to go to a health food store or online for this, but it is a necessary ingredient
1 drop green food coloring

Heat sugar and water just until sugar melts. Remove from heat and add citric acid. Stir until dissolved. Let mixture cool until lukewarm, then add rum extract, lime juice and food coloring. Refrigerate until chilled. Churn in an ice cream machine for 25 minutes. Spoon ice into freezer-safe bowl, and move to the freezer for an hour before serving.

Note: The recipe only makes a little over 2 cups, so you may want to double the ingredients.

A big helper!

Alex at the State Capitol about 2 weeks ago

Alex requested some ice in his cup tonight at dinner (wanting ice in his drink is a constant request around here) and I just brought a couple of cubes over to the table instead of taking his cup to the fridge since there was already liquid in it.
I put the ice on the table and opened the lid and then put one of the ice cubes in. Alex grabbed the other one and joyfully said, "I did it! I'm a big helper!"
Who knew putting ice in a cup was such a big job!

I totally forgot to share our Wal Mart experience!

First, I just have to mention that Jon is a wonderful, wonderful man and goes grocery shopping with me on the big stock up trips.

So on our last trip to Wal Mart about a week ago we got through the check out and were walking toward the doors to get to our car. We walked right by the bathrooms/drinking fountain and right there was a lady pulling down her 3/4ish yr. olds shorts.

She then held out a grocery sack.

He preceeded to *try* to pee in it. Some went in, a lot didn't make it.

And I checked the bathrooms to make sure they were open and YES, they were... they just had the wet floors sign out.
We couldn't quite figure out why this woman was having her son pee in a bag right in front of the restrooms. Very odd.

Since everyone enjoys a good deal

Just thought I would share our latest good find.
Bread outlet/bakery stores.
Specifically, Mrs. Baird's.
We scored something like 12 loaves of bread (extra fiber) and 2 bags of hot dog buns (that were wheat and sugar free) for $12 at the Mrs. Baird's Bakery Store.

The loaves were $1.19 each and if you spent $6, you got a free item (we got a free loaf of bread).

So inquiring minds know, there is a Mrs. Baird's on Howard and one up in RR by Big Lots/Academy/Pluckers.

Baby Kicks for Jon

We have reached another pregnancy milestone. Jon can now feel the baby kicking!

I figured that he probably could 2 days ago, but when I had him try the baby stopped moving. So Jon wasn't sure if the little thumps he felt were his heart beat or the baby moving.
Tonight when the baby was definitely active we tried again and Jon felt a nice solid kick.

Oh, and another funny story from today.
When we were at the pool Alex was spraying my belly with the spray bottle we brought and I asked him if he was spraying the baby.
He said (in an excited voice of course), "And I'm getting the baby wet!"

Pretty sure the baby is already pretty wet. :)

Lesson Learned

Alex was outside playing while I was doing some grass watering after dinner tonight. I thought it would be awesome fun to wet the slide down for him.

It should also be noted that he was running around in the buff (after swimming we just put underwear on after our shower and he didn't wake up from his nap until almost 6 {didn't go to sleep until 3:30, the stinker} and then he went in to use the bathroom after running in the water for a bit, so his undies were already wet- thus he came back out without them).

So I got the water going on the slide and Alex was all excited climbing up the ladder to go down the slide with water. He thought it was going to be a LOT of fun!

He got to the top and pushed off..
and went down the slide REALLY FAST!
Like out of control fast.

He landed at the bottom with a hard whack.
Hard enough to cause welts on his bare bum (and some on his back... out of control, remember?) from the grass. A couple of welts involved broken skin. Not really bleeding, but nearly.

I felt horrible! (But the image of him flying down the slide and the look on his face is still making me laugh a little...) He now has neosporin on his little bum and it doesn't seem like it's bugging him, so that's good.

So, lesson learned- don't send a naked 2 year old down a long/steep wet slide without something really soft at the bottom to land on.

I definitely get the bad mom award of the day.

my story about a lady who wants to buy my $5 bookcase from craigs list

All I'm trying to do is get rid of a cheap bookcase that we don't have room/need for any more since we got our new ones!

The first lady that contacted me never gave me a time when she'd be by.
Luckily, someone emailed me today!
I am anxious to get this bookcase out of my front room, so I was excited that someone had contacted me about it.

This is the email I got when we were arranging a pick up.

"I can pick it up tomorrow anytime from 8:30 to 11:00 in the morning or any time from 3:00 on.

Where can I meet you?"

My reply: (and I have to state the my ad clearly stated my location as being my particular suburb or the closest intersection to Jon's work)

"Where are you at?
We're heading to a pool just off of (a street near the freeway in my city) and to the (my city) Libray tomorrow morning. I'd be happy to meet you somewhere around either of those places.

Carrie"


She then replies:

"I will be at the school where I teach

from 8:30 a.m. to 11:00 in the morning.

My school is ________ which is (she gives the general area and address). You could google the address or if you want I can explain to you how to get there if you tell which direction you are coming from."

Umm... said location is at LEAST 20 minutes from my house and no where near where I said I would be in the morning and willing to meet.

This is what I don't get... asking me where she can meet me during the time she is teaching/working after asking me where we could meet? It was just a little bit odd.

Actually, looking at it now, she was probably banking on me being around the area where Jon works as my residence and thought that meeting somewhere near by wouldn't be out of my way. But still... I specifically named the city/area I was in and that I wanted to meet in that area.

Anway, I told her that her location was really out of the way for me to come in the morning, but that I would be happy to send it to work with Jon and she could pick it up from there whenever.
I just thought the whole exchange with her certain meeting times and then telling me to just come to her instead of meeting somewhere was funny.

Curiousity

About a month ago Alex didn't have a shirt on and looked down and noticed his nipples. He was very perplexed by them and asked, "what is that mama?"

I couldn't just let that go without Jon hearing it, so I told him to go and ask Daddy.

We told him it was his nipple and had a good laugh about it.
Alex still will occasionally notice he has nipples and will ask what they are and it still makes me laugh every time.

Before/Afters

Master Bath

before

after

Office/Stairs

before

after

Cluttered corners in the master bedroom

before

after

And no befores on these, but this is my pantry (with new spice/wrap racks on the bottom part of the pantry door), and my cupboard that just had a bunch of random stuff in it that now has stuff in it that was taking up space in my pantry and a new mail organizer so I can get the mail off of the counter and hidden away.

And here is the start of my craft room. They were out of the big unit we need for the middle section when we went to Ikea on Saturday, so I can't get this room fully organized yet.

the scrapbooks aren't hanging over the edge of the shelf anymore! I love how deep these bookshelves are!

There are still some little places here and there that need to be cleaned, so more picture will be sure to come!

17 weeks

About time we had some pictures around here!

and last week at 16 weeks

wanna know how big I was at 17 weeks last time?

This photo was taken during memorial day, and I was due a month earlier than I am due this time. This was right around 18 weeks. I felt like I was just starting to show... the picture with my sister kind of exaggerates the belly. I feel like I've been showing for at least 2, if not 3 weeks.

Oh! I forgot something!

I am feeling this baby move!
I started feeling it for sure at the 3D ultrasound (something about seeing the movement on the screen helps you realize that those little flutters really are the baby) on the 27th and possibly for a few days before then, but I wasn't totally sure.

I can't wait for Jon and Alex to be able to feel the baby moving!

Regular Milk and a Big Bed

Alex now drinks regular milk without problems!!! YAY!
He just doesn't drink a lot of it, so I thought he would gulp down the soy milk that I got on Monday (I got 3 packs of Kashi twin packs on clearance and they came with coupons for free soy milk).
Today he'd rather drink my milk from my cup than drink his soy milk.

He still likes the soy milk, he just doesn't drink it like he used to. It's a good thing unopened soy milk stays good for so long!


Alex's other big accomplishment is that he slept in his big bed last night! He was quite insistent on it. He stayed in bed all night and when he woke up this morning yelled for daddy to come and get him out of bed. I guess we should teach him that in the morning he can get out of bed by himself.
This morning when I was talking to him about him sleeping in his big bed he was very excited that the new baby would sleep in his crib, so that's good. The baby just won't be sleeping in his crib for quite a while...

Baby Shopping

I think most people have figured out that I am pretty picky in what kinds of baby gear I buy. Strollers, diaper bags, and carseats are all things that I've spent a lot of time looking at all there is out there and weighing all of the options. So why not blog about my latest baby shopping adventures?!
Sounds like fun, right?
Well I think so.

So today I got Jon to come with me to a store that carried some of the higher end strollers (and diaper bags) I was looking at that you just can't see in regular stores.

Having something compact and lightweight is a big deal for me. I never did a travel system or bulky stroller with Alex. I didn't care if my carseat could hook on... I just needed something to recline to put a young baby in. I ended up with a great slightly upgraded umbrella stroller which we have LOVED having. I recommend going this route to everyone I know.

So how do you get something compact and lightweight for 2 kids?

I was considering a Phil and Ted with double kit like this:

The other obstacle I have is that Alex doesn't like riding in a stroller. I try to deny this, but the second we tried to get him in the Phil and Ted to try out, he just wasn't going for it. He LOVES walking. I can imagine this would only be more so the case when he's 3.

So the Phil and Ted was out.

So side by side?

I was considering a Combi Twin like this:

The thing I love about this is that it's light and would fold up small similar to an umbrella stroller.
The thing I worry about is, again, with Alex actually wanting to get (and stay) in the stroller.

Jon wasn't in love with the wideness of the side by sides, although they really aren't that wide.


Our third option was the Sit and Stand style.

There's the Joovy:

We loved the canopy on this. It's really big. I also loved the orange. Alex did much better on a sit and stand stroller, but still wanted to get on and off. At least he was willing to get on this one though!
It was pretty lightweight and was mostly compact when folded.
However, with an infant seat in the front, there wasn't much room for Alex to sit in the back.

After trying out the sit and stand style, we knew that would be the only thing that would fly with Alex.

So we headed over to Target to check out the Baby Trend Sit 'n Stand.

Ideally, I want this exact one because it matches out Baby Trend carseat.

We really liked the Baby Trend because with the infant seat in there was still a lot of space for Alex to sit. And it's a great price (and I actually saw one on CL for $60)
So even though the canopy wasn't as great and it was slightly heavier, having the space for Alex sold us on it.

So there you have our search for the perfect stroller for a family with a newborn and a 3 year old. It was awesome to be able to go to a store that actually had the higher end models to see and try out. For those in the Austin/Round Rock area, Babyearth is a wonderful store!


On to diaper bags.

My pickiness on this one comes in with the fact that I want a diaper bag that looks like a purse, or at least not like something that greatly resembles a diaper bag.
This meant that messenger bags with the flap over the top were out. So were a LOT of prints/patterns.

So why not just get a purse and use it as a diaper bag? Several reasons.

• Interior Pockets. Have you seen the pockets in good diaper bags? There are usually at least 4 lining the interior of the bag. I don't know why they don't put more pockets in purses. I actually told my sister that SHE should buy a cute purse looking diaper bag to use as a purse mostly for this reason.
• Wipeable lining. Between spills, crumbs, and lingering smells, I want something that I can wipe out with soap and water without fear.
  
• Also, exterior pockets. There are usually end pockets or something to hold a sippy cup or water bottle (which, as a friend discovered, having a drink in a separate pocket is a good idea to keep your cell phone working). Did I mention that most of the time these are insulated? Even better!
• Grippy shoulder pad. Ever tried to carry something somewhat awkward or heavy (read: infant carseat/toddler/grocery bags) and keep a bag on your shoulder on the same time? Grippy solves the problem. All purses should have them. Seriously. I'm in LOVE.
  

Anyway, I went in to Babyearth to look at this bag (Fleurville Lexi):

I liked the bag, but didn't end up loving the print as much in real life.

BUT I did like this print!

I'm sorely tempted by all the cool features of this JuJuBe (the "between"):

BUT it looks more like a diaper bag than a purse. I do think the print is really cute though.


The lady at Babyearth showed me a couple from Skip Hop that were cute and looked like purses, but I wasn't in love with either of them. Here's the one I liked best of the 2. (the Studio)

I also really liked this one. (Fleurville ReRun Hana)

The price was quite a bit lower on this than the other ones... and a lot lower than the 1st one. I love that the exterior insulated pocket is zippered in, so if I have a bottle or sippy in there it won't scream diaper bag. Overall, it doesn't really look like a diaper bag, but it wasn't exactly the traditional purse look like what I was thinking I wanted. It also doesn't have a grippy shoulder.

Check out this great review of it:



My final option is this bag (Babymel Amanda):

Here is a link to a website that has a video of the interior and a few more pictures so you can see the size.


I love the zip in insulated pocket in the side and that the straps have velcro to make it easy to hook onto the stroller (you can see this feature in the video). Pleanty of interior pockets, but once again, no grippy shoulder.
I think this one looks enough like a purse to pass and it would fit my style.


So now I just have to narrow it down over the next few months and figure out which one I would like the best. Easier said than done!


Sorry if this wasn't the most interesting post. It's just that strollers and diaper bags have been consuming my mind for the past few weeks and I've spent a lot of time searching through SO many different things, so of course I want to share my findings! Hopefully this will helpful to at least one person out there!

Is Your Mama a Llama?

I randomly asked Alex this one day a couple of weeks ago because, let's face it, it's fun to say.
It has since turned into one of Alex's favorite things to say.
We hear it at random times and it usually goes back and forth between Alex and I with lots of laughter.
Yes, we will have to soon own the Is Your Mama a Llama book (we did recently check out Llama Llama Red Pajamas, but it's just not the same).

I'll have to do a video of the Mama Llama exchange cause it's funny. Which reminds me, I have a few other great videos I need to share too! Hmm... I'll work on getting those up sometime soon.