Stop! Hamper Time!

Cameron absolutely adores helping with the laundry. He does an excellent job of spewing clothing all over the living room as try to do my folding. And he gets quite the kick out of unfolding & knocking down piles of clothes I'm attempting to organize (and failing miserably).



But hey, he's happy & that's all that matters, right? I mean, I don't need to get anything done at a fast pace so I can actually relax after the stinker goes to bed, huh? Nah! What my baby wants, my baby gets!



Who knew laundry could be this much fun?!

Hawks Win, Hawks Win, Hawks Win!!!

Moments ago the Chicago Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup finals with a score of 4-3 with a goal from Patrick Kane in overtime!!!! UNBELIEVABLE!! It's been 49 years since their last win in 1961 so this is an AMAZING moment!!! I may have moved from Chicago 5 years ago, but my roots will always be there!!

Way to go, Chicago!!! We are so proud of you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Time to celebrate!!!!!!



Wooooo-hooooooo!

What's For Dinner?

For some reason I have not cooked in what seems like forever. I used to cook so often & enjoy the heck out of it; it's such a stress reliever for me since it's pretty much the only time my mind is quiet & I just focus on the task at hand.

So tonight it was my goal to make a meal without any fuss & without stopping for any groceries. I went into it with no plan, checked the pantry & decided to make a "Mexican lasagna." I sauteed up some cubed chicken we had leftover in the fridge with olive oil, salt, pepper & a quarter bottle of beer to give it some moisture. In the meantime I drained corn, Rotelle spicy tomatoes & spicy chili beans & added it to the chicken. I stirred in a bit of ranch dressing to cool it down a notch & give it some creaminess. Then I layered a couple of flour tortillas in a casserole dish, spread half of the chicken mixture over them, topped that with two more tortillas & topped that with the rest of the chicken mixture. Finally I topped that with cheese & baked it at 350 for a half hour.



This dish took me a grand total of fifteen minutes to make & I had to wash only the pan I used; no chopping or anything. Mike was so excited to come into a house that smelled of a home-cooked meal & raved about the dish, so I'd say it was a successful weeknight meal.



So many things would have worked in this; had I mixed a cream of chicken soup into the mixture, it would have made for some tasty enchiladas. It always feels like an accomplishment to make a meal using just the things you have on hand.

HILARITY!!

Sometime this week Cam picked up some pretty sweet dance moves from, I'm assuming, daycare. Every time he does it, I laugh so hard that my face & stomach hurts! That child of mine is absolutely, positively one of a kind!

To White Noise or Not??

Recently we had an out-of-the-blue rough couple of weeks of Cameron sleeping terribly for some unknown reason. After a night or so of letting him cry it out for about twenty minutes, he's getting back to his normal sleep habits. Praise God because I do not have the patience or tolerance to be getting up in the middle of the night with an almost two year-old who had previously been sleeping twelve hours a night.

Anyway, even with Cam sleeping through the night he's still been getting up earlier than usual; maybe 6:30 vs. 7:15-7:30. But last night, I decided to turn the portable fan on in his room to create white noise since I knew I'd be juggling garbage that needed to go from the garage which borders the wall of his room. I kept the fan on through the night & he slept until 7:20 this morning. It was the first time in what seems like forever that I've actually woken up to my alarm vs. a crying Cameron. It could be a fluke, but I'm thinking the white noise from the fan had a little something to do with it.

Cameron's bedroom is at the front of our house & there are many sources of noise that might interrupt his sleep. And I know that I'm a very light sleeper who wakes up at the slightest sound; hence me wearing earplugs to bed for the past 10 years. So, it's gotten me thinking that maybe Cam is also a light sleeper & a bit of white noise would do him good. Problem? Mike is afraid that he'll come to depend on this & have trouble sleeping for the rest of his life if he doesn't have it.

And I can only imagine what's going on in Mike's brain.... What if Cam's traveling when he's an adult & has no source of white noise & can't sleep?! Then his insomnia will eventually lead to insanity & he'll end up in a mental institute & we'll have scarred him for the rest of his life!!

Okay, well, maybe it's not that extreme (although, you never do know), but either way, he's concerned that putting the fan on in his room each night will lead to issues that affect his sleep in the long run.

Help! What should we do? Put the fan on in his room to help him sleep better or keep it off in hopes that he'll adapt to the noises around him & sleep through it?? Any input would be appreciated!

20 Months vs. 372 Months

On Monday, I turned 372 months old & Cam turned 20 months old! I remember sitting on the couch on September 24, 2008, knowing I was going to be induced the next day & saying to my friend Lisa, I had really hoped Cam would've been born on the 24th of the month like me.

That was at around 1pm & little did I know that less than six hours later the little bugger would come busting out!

Cam tended to be very opinionated, even from the get-go; he definitely let us know when he wasn't happy. My mother-in-law attributed this to the fact that he was born on a Wednesday since apparently Wednesday's child is full of woe. I had never heard this saying before & when she asked what day of the week I was born, I was pretty sure it was a Thursday. My mother-in-law likes to tease me about my similar complaining, opinionated nature so when she found out I had also been born on a Wednesday, she smugly assumed that her theory was certainly correct!

Anyway, happy 20 month birthday to Cam & happy 372nd month birthday to me!

The BIG 3-1!!

Not only was yesterday my 31st birthday, but it was also our 8th wedding anniversary! We started the weekend by having our friends over for a party which included pizza, delish desserts & lots of silliness!



Leah & Cam were able to play for a while before it was time for night, night! Once the kiddos were asleep, it was time to act like kids ourselves!



I'm so incredibly lucky to have such awesome friends to celebrate with!





I was smitten with the presents Lauren & Josh got me! Love my scarf, wine stopper & headband!!



Lauren completely outdid herself with this smores inspired dessert! Look at how beautiful these are!! And the topper is, she came up with them off the top of her head! Thank you so much for taking the time to make something as creative as this for me!



Mike must have said something to annoy me!



Okay, I'm all better now!



And what party would be complete with out French braids?!



Matt pretended to know how to French braid when in reality he had no clue!





And the real goofiness begins!



We always seem to end up having a dance party! Or as I like to call it, dance par-tay!









To celebrate my actual birthday/our anniversary yesterday, we took the day off work which is something we rarely ever do. We dropped Cam off at daycare, had some breakfast at Panera & relaxed at the beach all afternoon until it was time for an early dinner on the water.

What an awesome day!







And as we drove around on my birthday, this song came on the radio! Hilarity!!

Anyway, I have to say it was an absolutely awesome birthday weekend spent with some amazing people! I'm so blessed to have such great friends & such a wonderful hubby!