So good, I have to share!

This morning I hosted a little mom get together. It was sooo fun. I have been feeling really down in the dumps lately and I just decided to do something about it. A really nice gal stopped in to Scott's office for an insurance quote a couple weeks ago and he thought we would really get a long well so I invited her over along with one of my neighbors. He was right-it was really fun! She lives just up the road from us. It was nice to get together for some mom and baby time and discuss all of the pressing topics in our lives such as baby sleeping, eating, breastfeeding, grocery shopping, husbands, etc!

At any rate, I made this awesome coffee cake and I have to share the recipe with you. Have you ever had coffee cake from Starbucks? This takes just like it. So, so so good.

It is a Barefoot Contessa recipe, and you can find it at foodnetwork.com.

I actually made this recipe two times, the first time I forgot to include one of the major ingredients. I ended up with a brick of a cake...wow, it was terrible. So I was relieved when it turned out fantastic the second time!

I also made some coffee, but it was not as good as I hoped. I think I have lost my coffee making skills ever since I got my new coffee maker. :o(

Now I am off to the store to get everything ready for Michael's big baptism weekend! Stay tuned for the recap!

We are sitting!

Michael has started tri-poding (is that really a word?) and it is so cool!

He can sit like this for a few minutes, but he is not really sure what to be doing once he is up-hence the funny look on his face. He is thinking, "what do I do now?"

Hopefully soon he will be able to sit up without his arms, and then he can really start to play with things!

My little baby is growing up so fast. :o)

Wordy Wednesday

....as opposed to wordless Wednesdays.

I have been feeling pretty blah lately. I think this long winter has finally hit me and I am ready for it to be over with. The inconsistency of snow days and missing school has been hard on me and my students. Adding illness to the mix and missing more days hasn't been great either. It is hard when you are only at school for two days- if you miss one, you've missed half your work week. It is the biggest pain about being part time. Hopefully things will get back on track soon.

This is what my drive normally looks like...I think there has been one day where I've driven to school on clear roads since January. I'm tired of it!! It wasn't snowing, but the wind was blowing all the snow on top of the road and it was freezing with the below zero wind chill. Yay. Hopefully that is cleared up today before I go to work, but I'm not counting it!

(whatever happened to my positive thinking? geeze.)

Scampy knows how I am feeling: he can't even nap in his favorite chair anymore-it's been taken up by other stuff!

Michael has been having a rough go of things lately, which is probably the number one reason for my crankiness. He had a bad day at daycare yesterday and a hard time going to sleep last night. Things had been getting better with the bedtime routine, so maybe this is just a one night relapse.

He has been screaming when he wakes up, not just fussing. It almost makes me think there is something wrong-he also just wants to nurse and nurse. And he seems like he is hungry too, so I really don't know. Don't you think his cheeks look kind of red? I took his temperature, but it was fine. Ideas??

I moved Michael's jump up to the basement so we can both exercise at the same time. It is pretty nice because he will bounce around for a good half hour or so. He thinks watching me do my videos is pretty fun (or funny?).

I have to go to school today for an inservice and I am not very excited about it. My colleague asked me to come early to work on a project with her for a few hours beforehand. She asked me yesterday before I even realized we had an inservice, so that kind of put me in a bind. So...Scott is staying home today to keep Michael but I still need to get on the horn and find someone to do back up daycare for us. I am torn because I hate to send Michael to someone new when being in other people's care is not exactly his forte. I need to check the calendar and see how many days we really have left for professional development-so many have gotten mixed up with all our snow makeup days. Maybe if there aren't too many left, we can swing it without having to take him somewhere else.

Alrighty, I think that is enough from me today! Stay warm out there!

Michael's Funny Face

Michael started making this funny face where he will roll his lips in. He looks like a little old man!
Enjoy!

You.

Have you seen these new Starbucks coffee cups? It's like, "who...me?" when you are drinking out of them!

Michael got some new toys from a seller on craigslist. We got three lights and sounds toys for about $30, which is what only one usually retails for. I seriously had no idea how expensive toys were!!! I am all for the cheapest option possible...speaking of which, have you heard about the netflix-type program for toys?

It is called BabyPlays and you sign up for about $35 a month and can get toys through the mail. You send them back when you are done with them and they send you more from you list. Pretty cool, huh? They have some neat things-even montessori toys!! I might have to consider something like that in the future...even though $35 a month is a little much for my toy budget, it is probably a good investment in my sanity fund. :o)

Did I mention I got an autostitch app for my iphone? Here is a photo I took while waiting for Scott at the dentist...pretty cool! (click to enlarge)

Weekend Wrap- Up

Go Cyclones!

We had a great weekend and Michael went to his first Women's Cyclone bball game. It was awesome...we had great seats thanks to our friends Ryan and Anne and the women beat a higher ranked team than them (Baylor...did not look that great, in my opinion)! Michael had a great time and was very busy watching everything that went on in Hilton Coliseum. Afterwards we went out for burgers at West Towne Pub...yum!

Scott and I celebrated Valentine's Day on Friday with an early movie (Avatar in 3D) and dinner. Our neighbors watched Michael...I hoped it went well! It was a nice treat to get out for an afternoon!

It is another snowy week here...will winter ever end? We have another snow day today, I think this is #12 for my district! I don't think we will know what to do when the sun finally decides to shine and we see green grass again. I had a dream last night about gardening...weird. I have a feeling it is going to be a summer full of pulling all the weeds I was lazy about last summer! Maybe I can teach Michael how to pull weeds....

At any rate, we are looking forward to getting back on our good schedule this week and hopefully I will actually make it to school a day or two! I hope everyone is staying warm out there!

Why hello there!

Why, hello there!

After getting his shots on Wednesday, Michael was a very happy camper (as evidenced by the above photo). He did great! Me on the other hand, did not do so great.

Wednesday night I came down with a terrible stomach bug and it was terrible!! My only saving grace through the whole thing was little Michael was an angel and slept through the whole night. Yesterday we sent him to daycare and I stayed home from school to recover. It was brutal...I am praying I don't get sick again for a very long time!

It is hard being sick when you are a mother because you still have to do everything. You still have a baby to take care of, you still have to feed him and make sure he is happy. :o( I am paying for all the time I spent resting -today I am trying to catch up on all the housework that has been neglected! I guess it is one of those things no one ever tells you about motherhood...

4 Months!

Michael had his four month doctor's appointment today. We were lucky and Scott came with us, which made it a lot easier for me! He even watched Michael during the shots so I didn't have to get all teary-eyed.

Here are the stats:

Weight: 17 lbs 2 oz

Height: 26 1/2 inches

Head: 16 3/4 inches

He is growing so fast and getting so big! Here are some of his milestones

(from babycenter.com):

• Smiles, laughs
• Can bear weight on legs
• Coos when you talk to him

• Can grasp a toy
• Rolls over, from tummy to back

• Plays with his hands and feet

• Recognizes own name

• Mouths objects

• can sit up briefly in "tripod" position (holding himself up with arms)

Little Glo-worm

Our little sleeping routine is getting better and better around here. Every day is still different of course, but for the past two days Michael has gone down for a nap with just his swaddle and his pacifier. Sometimes I turn on his aquarium for him to drift off to, but sometimes he does just fine without it.

I just thought he looked so cute last night that I had to take a picture!

-----

My secret wish came true and Michael and I are home today because of snow. It is really cold out and the wind is blowing the snow around. It has been a nice and relaxing day! I must be really bored because I've done three things I never do:
1. exercise (video on netflix streaming) 2. reading (a non sleep book!) and 3. extra cleaning

I know, what is wrong with me?

Genius!

I am totally getting this for Michael...kidding, kidding.

Still, I thought it was fairly amusing. Look how happy that little baby is!

Adventures of Scampy

This Scampy post brought to you by the letter U.

SuperBowl Sunday

Happy Monday all! We woke up here to another very white day with lots of blowing snow. I checked the news and it looks like school is getting out early today. Smart move-early outs don't count as a snow day! :o) I am secretly keeping my fingers crossed for a snow day tomorrow so I get to stay home too!

Superbowl watching was held in Ames at our friends Ryan and Anne's house. They have a little baby girl who is just a week younger than Michael. She is just a doll!

Evidence of said doll:

The poor girl wasn't feeling well and spent lots of the evening snoozing, unlike my wild child who was wide awake even when it was past his bedtime!!!

Anne had a great spread of soup and appetizers (her famous corn crack dip!) and we left with full stomachs. It was nice to get out of the house...so relaxing that I was having a hard time staying awake! We had a great time...thanks Anne! Hopefully we can get together again soon!

It's Playtime!

Michael was very busy this morning playing in his little playpen. He is getting closer and closer to sitting on his own so I propped him up in his bobby pillow for a little extra help. He was so focused on playing with his toys he couldn't even smile for me!

Every day his hands get working more and more. He is getting good at grabbing things and putting them in his mouth to test out!

I love how blonde his hair looks in the sunlight; he is such a darling. I put these little overalls on him this morning and I think they are getting a little small. Wasn't it just yesterday they were way too big?

What I've been up to (boring edition)

This week has been weird. A full week of school, seeing students for multiple rehearsals and lessons in a row, Michael going to daycare for multiple days in a row, and our quest for establishing a routine adds up to one tired momma!

At any rate, just so you can see how riveting my life is, here is a recap of what I've been up to this week:

Watching the baby monitor.

(and drinking coffee, and surfing the net...most likely for youtube videos I can use with my class. Youtube is the best teaching tool ever!)








Watching Weeds on Netflix. I've taken a few years off from watching it and it is a fun show to get into.

(on a side note: what is up with Showtime's product placement? Anyone else notice this?)











Drinking DDP.

They probably shouldn't sell this stuff in bulk at places like Costco.

And finally....avoiding laundry!

I should probably get on that!

Again!

Michael did it again...he fell asleep while playing in his playpen, at the same time he did Monday. He must really think Matt and Meredith are really boring to listen to in the morning!

So, I guess we'll go with it. I tried to put him down yesterday for a nap in his crib at about 8:30 a.m. before we went to daycare, but he was having none of it. But today he falls asleep at 8 a.m. on his own? Who knows.

Since establishing this better routine for Michael has pretty much been consuming my life lately and quite frankly I have nothing else to talk about, I will expand on it a bit. Hopefully I won't be jinxing myself in the process!

I read "The Baby Whisperer" book and it encourages parents to keep their babies on a predictable schedule so they are eating and sleeping consistently. The goal is that their needs are totally met during the day and they aren't overtired by bedtime and therefore will sleep through the night. It also has solutions to help babies fall asleep on their own without nursing or rocking to sleep. This helps solve two of our problems: the first, Michael was waking up four or five times a night and the second, we could only get him to sleep by nursing and even that wasn't even working half the time!

We've been trying the routine since Sunday and so far it is going well. Every day is a little different, but we've been trying to keep Michael on a 3-4 hour schedule. He eats, then plays for about an hour and a half, then sleeps (the goal being 1 1/2 hours- 2 hours). He's been going to bed at 7:30 and waking up at 7. Today he woke up a little earlier, yesterday he woke up a little later. So...every day is a bit different and we just go with it.

There is a "goal" schedule in the book and it looks like this:

7:00-eat
7:30- play
9:00- nap
11:00-eat
11:30- play
1:00-nap
3:00-eat
3:30-play
5 or 6: short nap
then eat, nighttime routine, to bed by 7:30
11: dream feed

We are not quite on this schedule yet because I think Michael still needs to eat a bit more often than they recommend. We'll keep working on it and see what happens!

The great news is that he seems to be responding really well and has slept through the night except for one night feeding the past two nights. I on the other hand, am having a hard time adjusting to the schedule. Even when he is sleeping, I am sitting by the monitor constantly listening to see if he is okay or if he is waking up. Even though I am supposed to be using this time to do my own thing, I am too nervous too. Or I'm afraid if I start folding that load of laundry, I'll jinx it and he'll wake up. (what is up with me thinking I'll jinx everything lately??)

Last night I gave the monitor to Scott to listen to while I went down to the TV cave in the basement to relax while watching season four of Weeds and drinking a Sprite Zero. Even then, I had to periodically mute the sound so I could listen to see if I could hear Michael. Usually it was the dishwasher, the basketball game Scott was watching, or just my own imagination.

I imagine my own son crying when I am trying to relax...wow! I am going crazy...I'll keep you posted on how that is going! :o)

He Sleeps!

We've been doing "The Baby Whisperer" suggestions this weekend to try and get Michael to sleep better on his own. It's been going pretty well, but this morning we had an amazing breakthrough...Michael fell asleep on his own while playing in his playpen!! No swaddle, no nursing to sleep. I was so surprised I just had to take a photo!