Recent happenings

This weekend we took an impromptu family getaway to Orlando.  It was our first true getaway as a family of four & we had a really great time.  Lauren invited us to spend the day with her at the Fort Wilderness campgrounds of Disney so we headed up early Saturday morning.  The weather was not at all looking good with Tropical Storm Debbie on its way, but we got very lucky & had only a sprinkling of rain during the day.  After spending the day at the Wilderness Lodge hotel pool, we spent the evening "glamping" as we called it which is fancy camping!  Yep, we ripped that one off of the Real Housewives of OC.  Cam had an absolute ball roasting marshmallows with Chip & Dale.  We had so much fun that we took only one picture using Mike's cellphone.

Saturday night went great in our hotel room & we had a lot of fun just hanging out as a family in our hotel room on the very rainy Sunday morning.  

We had planned on hitting Downtown Disney on our way home but the monsoon was not letting that happen.

It rained the entire day so when we got home we had pajama/slipper day, laid a big comforter on the ground with pillows & watched movies the rest of the day.  It was so much fun!

I'm off today with Cameron so we're going to see Brave at the theater this afternoon.  There's been a lot of flooding in our area & evacuations near where I work because of the storm.  Luckily we've been fine but I'm hoping everyone else gets by with little damage!  It's been a crazy few days over here! 

In other news, Happy Birthday to my sister-in-law Melanie!  And Happy 16th Anniversary to me & Mike!  We met at age sixteen while working at Bruegger's Bagels & after a few months of being just friends, Mike "asked me out" in the doorway of his bedroom on June 27, 1996!  We've been through high school, college, a move from IL to FL & two kids in those sixteen years.  It isn't often that a high school relationship lasts, so I'm very thankful to have lived nearly half of my life with my very best friend in the whole world!  We work so well together because we are best friends.  We may bicker a lot but we always have each others backs!  Love you, Mike!

Father's Day 2012

Friday after work we were Sarasota bound for a Father's Day weekend with my family.

We had a jam-packed weekend full of swimming, playing with cousins, celebrating Mikayla's fifth birthday & the dads of our family!

Getting away is always great since it makes the weekend feel like more of a vacation.  And this weekend Reese swam for the very first time!  My parent's pool had been too cold before, but I knew Reese would love it & I was right

Saturday night we played a bit of bocci ball ball on the golf course which was a first for me.

We even got to see a family of bobcats in my parent's backyard on Sunday morning!  I have to say, I've never seen a bobcat before so it was pretty cool!  It appears there were a lot of firsts this weekend!

And another first?

The Lifeguard, aka Dempsey, went swimming in my parent's pool! Intentionally?  Nope.  She was patrolling the pool, barking at the splashing kids when she took the plunge.  A good swimmer a dense Pug is not!

But don't worry, we scooped her up & rescued her! 

We had a really great weekend & it was wonderful to celebrate the dads of our family!  I'm so thankful for my dad & of course, I'm beyond thankful for Mike who is the most amazing dad to our kiddos!  I don't think anyone could ever be more entertaining, fun or patient than Mike!  We're so blessed to have him in our lives.

I hope your Father's Day was a great one too!

7 months!

Reese, you are officially 7 months old today!

So, what is my seven month old lovey up to?

Well, you are still sleeping like such a champ, thank goodness!  You drink your last bottle at 7pm & go to sleep shortly after & you continue to fall asleep basically the second we lay you down.  Daycare sure poops you out!  You still sleep 11-12 hours per night.

You're also eating like a champ too!  We just switched you to a new schedule as of Sunday & instead of 5 bottles per day, you're taking 4, 7oz bottles of breast milk.  This schedule makes a lot more sense for you.  You're eating solid food twice per day.

We even tried puffies for the first time on Monday!  You weren't sure what to think of them, but if you're anything like your brother, you'll love them.

 

You hold your bottle well, but we still really can't leave you to feed yourself just yet.  

Sometimes you can get a little lazy & then one of us have to assist our little princess!

You've had an underlying virus for nearly four months with a cough & congestion, but the doctor says it's just your body building immunity from all the germs that run rampant at daycare.  Sometimes Mommy thinks that daycare bites!  

A couple of weeks ago your virus came to a head & you spiked a nearly 103 degree fever.  You were not a happy camper & neither were we.  It makes us so sad to see you sick.  But after one rough day, you were back to your happy self!

All in all you don't have separation anxiety yet.  Although you do get very upset when we're talking to you & then abruptly walk away to do something.  You definitely make your dissatisfaction known, that's for sure!

You're more & more confident about sitting up but still a tad unsteady.  It's amazing how quickly you master new tricks though!  

 

You're still rolling all over the place & boost your butt way up high so it looks like you're wanting to figure out crawling too.

You have no teeth yet but are drooling up a storm & chewing on everything you can get your chubby little mitts on!  

You think your brother is the most hilarious person in the world & laugh the hardest at him & his silliness.  Cameron is so good to you & loves you so much!

You adore our pets & even love it when Dempsey licks your face.  Mommy does not like it though, especially when she's licking your wide open trap. Yuck!

Reese, thank you for blessing our lives the past seven months!  You're still our little joy baby & we love you more than you'll ever know!

Random happenings

We had a great weekend & this week seems to be flying by so far, thank goodness!  I'll include some pictures I took of the kids tonight in this post... 

I kicked the weekend off by getting a much needed manicure! 

I probably haven't had a manicure in a few years & boy could you tell!  As much as I love painting my nails & changing up colors, I just don't take care of my cuticles by cutting them.  The lady doing my nails did not try to hide her disgust either.  Nice confidence booster, lady, thanks!

Since Mike wants to be a good role model for the kids, he's trying to get healthy & shed some pounds.  He's been doing a great job of cutting back on his portions & hitting the gym.  Overall we eat very healthfully & really don't keep junk food in the house.  You'll rarely ever find cookies or crummy, processed crackers in our pantry.  Trust me though, we're far, far, far from perfect.  Cam would literally survive off of processed carbs if we let him.

See, I told you!

 

Every dinner we serve Cam an array of healthy food but he rarely eats never eats the veggies we put on his plate.  Like, never.  Last week I think he had a single bite of a green bean & that was it.  Trust me when I say I do try & try & try.   

We do not make him separate meals either; we offer him what's served & if he refuses, he refuses.  Granted, if I'm making something that just isn't kid friendly, like a really spicy dish, I will prepare an alternate for him.

So, I'm not sure if one day he'll just be more open about food, but either way, I'm praying that he'll eventually eat a greater array of food for a more well balanced diet.

So, I'm making a much bigger effort to prepare all natural foods & stay away from processed, pre-made foods.  Most days I do this anyway, but not always.  Sunday we made an awesome fish taco recipe by Alton Brown & it was insanely tasty!  Click here to try it.  If you like cilantro, you'll love this.  We just did the marinade part & didn't make our own tortillas & we served it with a broccoli slaw.  

I also made a batch of quinoa on Sunday which I've never done before.  I made it so that I could heat it up with some milk & eat it as a hot cereal for a quick, healthy weekday breakfast.

I topped it with toasted almonds & fresh blueberries & a touch of brown sugar.  Today for dinner I knew I needed to do something with the chicken we picked up, but I wasn't sure what.  I decided to make oven-baked chicken tenders.  At the last minute, I decided to coat them with chopped nuts instead of breadcrumbs.  I dredged them in seasoned flour, eggs & the nut mixture & baked at 375 degrees for 20 minutes.  I served it along with some steam in the bag green beans.  Easy & healthy!

I absolutely love cooking, but some days I just do not have it in me to make a complicated dinner.  Planning meals & grocery shopping on the weekend helps out so much!

So, that's what's going on over here.. Hope you're all having a great week too!