My version of life & motherhood
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Resolution Update: July
July was a much better month; I wish I knew what to attribute it to but I don't. Some small things that come to mind is the heat so we've been eating more furit, we bought bulk meat (35 meals worth at once), more snacking, and with Danny's new position at work he can't leave to buy lunch so he has to take it with him (it also saves us money).
Now, if you don't remember last month's update I set a goal of throwing out less than $10 for the month of June; it didn't quite go as I planned so I set a goal of $15 for the month of July. Wait until you see what the end result was.
Food We Tossed:
leftover sweet and sour chicken = $0.42 (this was a Pinteresting Recipe that I didn't review. You're not missing anything)
1 apple = $0.23
1 cuke (it froze in fridge) = $0.99
leftover chicken cresecent roll and rice = $0.84
1 pear = $0.24
1 lime = $0.33 (meant to make coconut lime cookies)
4 plum tomato = $1.02
1 piece of chicken = $0.55
raspberries = $3.33 (we bought a flat of them and I used 2/3 of them and didn't make my second batch of raspberry bars fast enough. I should have froze them)
4 pieces of sandwich meat = $0.93
4 pieces of bacon = $..89
1/4 block of cheese = $2.50
Now, if you don't remember last month's update I set a goal of throwing out less than $10 for the month of June; it didn't quite go as I planned so I set a goal of $15 for the month of July. Wait until you see what the end result was.
Food We Tossed:
leftover sweet and sour chicken = $0.42 (this was a Pinteresting Recipe that I didn't review. You're not missing anything)
1 apple = $0.23
1 cuke (it froze in fridge) = $0.99
leftover chicken cresecent roll and rice = $0.84
1 pear = $0.24
1 lime = $0.33 (meant to make coconut lime cookies)
4 plum tomato = $1.02
1 piece of chicken = $0.55
raspberries = $3.33 (we bought a flat of them and I used 2/3 of them and didn't make my second batch of raspberry bars fast enough. I should have froze them)
4 pieces of sandwich meat = $0.93
4 pieces of bacon = $..89
1/4 block of cheese = $2.50
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Pinteresting Recipes - Part 3
Sorry I took last week off - I seem to take a late week off each month. But, I'm back... sort of...
Starting Thursday I have some wonderful bloggers filling in for me while we enjoy some vacation time - I can't wait for you to "meet" them!
Until then it's time for another batch of reviews of Pinterest recipes.
Spaghetti Pepperoni Pie
I wasn't really sure what to expect from this recipe but it wasn't too bad. I used garlic sausage instead, because I had some left over from perogies earlier in the week, and it was nice. I think next time I'm going to add some veggies to it and make it a true 1 pot dish. I should point out Alyssa loved it! It was nice to have a new way to eat spaghetti.
Apple Fritters
I have been pretty lucky so far, everything I've tried has been edible. It was bound something was not going to succeed and these were them. The recipe makes it sound so easy and they were easy to prepare - the only thing I found (and maybe it should have been my clue) was 1 cup of apple was too much for the amount of dough so I quickly made another batch of dough to reduce the amount of apple. When it came to frying them it was a complete flop! I went through 3/4 of the dough before I decided there was no way to make them without burning them to the point of no return and even still the dough inside would be raw.
I was disappointed, I was looking forward to home made apple fritters. I guess I'll stick to getting them from Tim Hortons.
Starting Thursday I have some wonderful bloggers filling in for me while we enjoy some vacation time - I can't wait for you to "meet" them!
Until then it's time for another batch of reviews of Pinterest recipes.
Spaghetti Pepperoni PieI wasn't really sure what to expect from this recipe but it wasn't too bad. I used garlic sausage instead, because I had some left over from perogies earlier in the week, and it was nice. I think next time I'm going to add some veggies to it and make it a true 1 pot dish. I should point out Alyssa loved it! It was nice to have a new way to eat spaghetti.
Apple Fritters
I have been pretty lucky so far, everything I've tried has been edible. It was bound something was not going to succeed and these were them. The recipe makes it sound so easy and they were easy to prepare - the only thing I found (and maybe it should have been my clue) was 1 cup of apple was too much for the amount of dough so I quickly made another batch of dough to reduce the amount of apple. When it came to frying them it was a complete flop! I went through 3/4 of the dough before I decided there was no way to make them without burning them to the point of no return and even still the dough inside would be raw.
I was disappointed, I was looking forward to home made apple fritters. I guess I'll stick to getting them from Tim Hortons.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Isn't That Pinetersting - Christmas In July
Christmas is 6 months away; for those of you cursing me for bringing this up I work in retail and we start planning for it in August.
Here's some cute Christmas stuff I've found on Pinterest lately
Tomorrow I'm suppose to be participating in a blogger reveal, but my parcel hasn't arrived yet. Hopefully it comes today, keep your fingers crossed ok.
And...
Next week we start our vacation time (yay!). Although our initial plans have Completely changed we're going to be out and about lots. I have some guest posts lined up (although I'm still waiting on half the posts to be sent to me, so keep your fingers and toes crossed for that) and I'm super excited to have you "meet" some of the new bloggers I've found.
**If anyone wants to send me a last minute guest post please feel free. You can contact me here
Here's some cute Christmas stuff I've found on Pinterest lately
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| Pop Bottle Penguins |
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| Ice Cream Cone Trees |
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| Snowman Muffin Tin |
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| Snowman Ornament |
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| Snowman Snack |
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| Pinecone Elves |
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| Snowman Juice Boxes |
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| Strawberry Banana Candy Cane |
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| Eggnog Cheesecake Bars |
Tomorrow I'm suppose to be participating in a blogger reveal, but my parcel hasn't arrived yet. Hopefully it comes today, keep your fingers crossed ok.
And...
Next week we start our vacation time (yay!). Although our initial plans have Completely changed we're going to be out and about lots. I have some guest posts lined up (although I'm still waiting on half the posts to be sent to me, so keep your fingers and toes crossed for that) and I'm super excited to have you "meet" some of the new bloggers I've found.
**If anyone wants to send me a last minute guest post please feel free. You can contact me here
Friday, July 20, 2012
Love Love Love
Time for another installment of things I love about my kids.
Lynden:
Lynden:
- He knows his cars. We're sitting at close to 100 hot wheels (thank goodness they're $1 on average) and he knows either who gave it to him or the make of the car. It's really cute.
- He sleeps half off bed when playing with his cars. We only allow him to go to bed with 1 car but by the time he falls asleep he's got 5-8 cars and he's fallen asleep in some funny position because he was playing with them.
- "Ever did see" - he tells us "that's the biggest truck I ever did see" or, my favourite, when he was at the pool with my grandma he saw a large man come out of the pool and said "those are the biggest boobs I ever did see". Grandma was thrilled they were no where within hearing distance.
- He talks in sleep, but it's Very vague. The best is when I move him (from falling asleep half off the bed) or when I get him up to pee before we go to bed. The more common are: "something, something, something", "something big", and "that thing"
- Beyond excited about the "music truck". This week it came by the house while he was having quiet time and he called out "Mommy! It's the music truck. I need to see it" and came tearing out of his room and practically had his nose to the window as it drove by. (I feel a little guilty knowing he's going to figure out it's more than just a "music truck")
- He's growing out of little kid shows. He still wants to watch Max and Ruby but lately he's all about The Magic School Bus, which I love. He's learning and doesn't know it.
- His imagination is growing. He plays out scenarios with his cars and toys.
- He has his own language, thankfully he tells us what some of his words mean. Duka is a boy (Danny and Lynden play Duka every night - they name someone and determine if it's a duka or not a duka) and bayba is Alyssa or baby, I'm not too sure.
- He's becoming less afraid of things. He can play at the park on his own and he's going into water without bribing.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Stranger Danger
Lynden has really come out of his shell in the last few weeks. He's a little more adventurous and social, it's a nice change.
A few weeks ago my grandma took him to a puppet show in the park and afterwards he spotted some other kids running around and he wanted to go and join them. This is huge for him.
Last week my grandma commented on how tentative Lynden is around water and that we need to work on it. The next day while watering the flowers all he wanted to do was run around the hose and get soaked.
The following day he went fishing with Danny and played in the lake, no problems. Again, this is huge. And when we took him to the lake on Saturday he was totally comfortable playing in the water.
A few weeks ago my grandma took him to a puppet show in the park and afterwards he spotted some other kids running around and he wanted to go and join them. This is huge for him.
Last week my grandma commented on how tentative Lynden is around water and that we need to work on it. The next day while watering the flowers all he wanted to do was run around the hose and get soaked.
The following day he went fishing with Danny and played in the lake, no problems. Again, this is huge. And when we took him to the lake on Saturday he was totally comfortable playing in the water.
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Wordless Wednesday: Beach Days
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| Lynden: 10 months |
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| Lynden: 22 months |
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| Lynden: almost 3 |
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| Lynden: almost 4 |
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| Alyssa: 6 months |
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| Alyssa: 18 months |
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Isn't That Pinteresting
It's been awhile since I've done a Pinterest post; these caught my attention:
What's caught your attention?
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| mini pies How cute! |
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| pancakes made in muffin tin this is a must make |
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| fishing snack |
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| fruit birthday cake |
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| garden markers My most popular pin (it's had almost 600 repins) |
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| name over bed |
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| bookcase bench |
What's caught your attention?
Monday, July 16, 2012
My Baby Girl Is 18 Months
A few weeks ago I wrote about my thoughts about Alyssa nearing the 18 month mark, you can read them here. Now we're here!
Let's address the things I talked about.
Her vocabulary:
I was concerned about how little she was saying. Since writing it she's making "oo" sounds - her favourite is "uh oh". She can say: bye-bye, hi, uh oh, ball, mama, dada, mo (more), bapa (grandpa), bafa (brother), ta-ta, ta-to (thank you), and "talking" more.
Her communication skills:
They just keep getting better. She is fantastic about letting us know what she wants and understands just about everything we say to her. You ask her where her sock is, she gets it. You ask her to put something away and she knows where it goes.
Independence:
I'm lucking out. She's pretty attached to me so she looks to me for approval of something. However, she has decided she would rather walk than ride in her stroller, which is fine. It just takes us longer to get to and from the park now. The really nice thing is she wants to hold hands when she walks. If I let go of her hand she will stop and hold her hand out to me and will not walk until I'm holding her hand. It's going to make the "hold hands or up" problem pretty obsolete... for now. Although she has her moments. We spent Saturday at the lake and there was going to be no hand holding in the lake. Any time you put your hand out she would turn away from you and make a very unhappy noise. Even when she fell into water that was too deep for her to get up on her own she would not hold your hand. That, might be a problem.
Possessive Aggression:
It's escalating. She follows Lynden's every movement. If he's playing with cars she wants to play, if he's reading she wants to read, if he's drinking or eating she needs to. The problem is she wants the book he's reading, the car he's playing with, etc. It doesn't help that the moment she plays with any toy of his he's ripping it out of her hands, so she's learned that's how to get the toy you want. We're stressed with Lynden the importance of sharing, saying ta-ta, and asking instead of taking. This past week we were able to show Lynden how much he influences his sister. At dinner everytime he hit the table she did, he stopped she stopped, he ate she ate. We were able to point that out and it seems to have gotten through to him. As much as we think we show Alyssa the right or wrong thing Lynden seems to have a greater influence.
Other things I've noticed:
She's quite quick at trying to figure things out. Her latest thing is she has found a stash of shoes she's a little too small for. She brings them to me, sits, and tries to put them on herself - so far no real luck but it's super cute to watch.
She has also figured out electronics. She knows how to turn certain things on and off, and with Lynden's V Reader she knows how to turn it on and get to the games Lynden plays (she hasn't figured out how to play them yet). This has made me start looking for games for her on Craigslist so she can play with her own games later.
She's also more adventurous, which isn't news for us. Lynden won't walk on the curb unless he's holding our hand, Alyssa's content to try to balance on her own (I see gymnastics in her future). She's also a lot less gun shy about trying new things; parks, slides, etc. See my above comment about the lake. She has very little fear at trying things out, which is a nice change from Lynden who won't do anything without our help.
She is one determined little girl. If she wants something she will figure out how to get it. If we're too slow opening the car door on her side of the car she will try to crawl in through Lynden's side and get up into her seat. Same with the stroller.
Her personality is shining through; I love it! My favourite is when she knows she's being funny. Her laugh is the best and she makes this great cheesy face.
I'm going to leave you with some pictures of her at the lake.
Let's address the things I talked about.
Her vocabulary:
I was concerned about how little she was saying. Since writing it she's making "oo" sounds - her favourite is "uh oh". She can say: bye-bye, hi, uh oh, ball, mama, dada, mo (more), bapa (grandpa), bafa (brother), ta-ta, ta-to (thank you), and "talking" more.
Her communication skills:
They just keep getting better. She is fantastic about letting us know what she wants and understands just about everything we say to her. You ask her where her sock is, she gets it. You ask her to put something away and she knows where it goes.
Independence:
I'm lucking out. She's pretty attached to me so she looks to me for approval of something. However, she has decided she would rather walk than ride in her stroller, which is fine. It just takes us longer to get to and from the park now. The really nice thing is she wants to hold hands when she walks. If I let go of her hand she will stop and hold her hand out to me and will not walk until I'm holding her hand. It's going to make the "hold hands or up" problem pretty obsolete... for now. Although she has her moments. We spent Saturday at the lake and there was going to be no hand holding in the lake. Any time you put your hand out she would turn away from you and make a very unhappy noise. Even when she fell into water that was too deep for her to get up on her own she would not hold your hand. That, might be a problem.
Possessive Aggression:
It's escalating. She follows Lynden's every movement. If he's playing with cars she wants to play, if he's reading she wants to read, if he's drinking or eating she needs to. The problem is she wants the book he's reading, the car he's playing with, etc. It doesn't help that the moment she plays with any toy of his he's ripping it out of her hands, so she's learned that's how to get the toy you want. We're stressed with Lynden the importance of sharing, saying ta-ta, and asking instead of taking. This past week we were able to show Lynden how much he influences his sister. At dinner everytime he hit the table she did, he stopped she stopped, he ate she ate. We were able to point that out and it seems to have gotten through to him. As much as we think we show Alyssa the right or wrong thing Lynden seems to have a greater influence.
Other things I've noticed:
She's quite quick at trying to figure things out. Her latest thing is she has found a stash of shoes she's a little too small for. She brings them to me, sits, and tries to put them on herself - so far no real luck but it's super cute to watch.
She has also figured out electronics. She knows how to turn certain things on and off, and with Lynden's V Reader she knows how to turn it on and get to the games Lynden plays (she hasn't figured out how to play them yet). This has made me start looking for games for her on Craigslist so she can play with her own games later.
She's also more adventurous, which isn't news for us. Lynden won't walk on the curb unless he's holding our hand, Alyssa's content to try to balance on her own (I see gymnastics in her future). She's also a lot less gun shy about trying new things; parks, slides, etc. See my above comment about the lake. She has very little fear at trying things out, which is a nice change from Lynden who won't do anything without our help.
She is one determined little girl. If she wants something she will figure out how to get it. If we're too slow opening the car door on her side of the car she will try to crawl in through Lynden's side and get up into her seat. Same with the stroller.
Her personality is shining through; I love it! My favourite is when she knows she's being funny. Her laugh is the best and she makes this great cheesy face.
I'm going to leave you with some pictures of her at the lake.
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Baby #3
No, I'm not pregnant; this is about the topic of baby #3.
The topic of baby #3 has come up a few times since we got pregnant with Alyssa.
Danny is quite happy with having one of each, he feels we have a good balance. He also feels like it's more work for him if we have another. I didn't quite see his reasoning; I figure he has fun the first night and holds my hand and tells me I'm going a good job 9 months later. He reminded me that for the first 3 months he'd be in change of both kids - guess that's more work... I guess. Either way, Danny is done.
Realistically, I know the chance of us having a third are slim to nil. Part of me is okay with that. We do have a "complete set", we're happy, and on track to recovering (financially) from the life changes we're gone through in the last 2 years. It's also nice to have two fairly independent kids; Alyssa's able to be left over night and we're about to start potty training. It's nice to be done with the "baby" stage.
But...
It was no secret I wanted 3 kids.
I'm at the point where the memory of labour and infancy was dissipated and has been replaced with the knowledge of what life was like.
For example:
It's around this time we have this horrible, yet good, idea: "let's have another baby".
At times I think "yea, we can have another and stay afloat" but then I think "why should we just stay afloat when we can get ahead again?". A third baby would require a lot of change. We would need a larger house; where would be put all the toys?? We would also need a bigger car; fitting 3 car seats requires more room.
Then I think about Lynden starting preschool in the fall and how that leads to extra curricular activities; swimming, hockey, scouts, etc. Can we really afford this with another round of diapers?
But...
I had a hard time finding out Alyssa was a girl. Don't get me wrong, I love her with every fiber of my being. I really wanted another boy.
Having said that I cannot imagine my life without my daughter. Every day I fall more and more in love with her.
One big concern I have about another baby is the middle child syndrome. I would hate to have it happen to my beautiful girl. So, if we were to have another child I would really want it to be a boy.
This solves the middle child problem and it gives Lynden a brother. There are a lot of female cousins around Alyssa's age to make up for the missing sister.
If we did have a boy how long until I'd feel like I'm robbing Alyssa of a sister and find myself here again? Ooh, the slippery slope...
There are too many uncontrollable factors for me and I like control. Shocking, I know.
Like I said, realistically I know we're done and Danny is waiting for me to say "okay, go get a vasectomy".
Even though I know we're (99.99%) done I cannot bring myself to finalize it.
But...
How can you not want to hold another one of these??
How did you finalize your decision to be done having more kids? Have you made the decision?
The topic of baby #3 has come up a few times since we got pregnant with Alyssa.
Danny is quite happy with having one of each, he feels we have a good balance. He also feels like it's more work for him if we have another. I didn't quite see his reasoning; I figure he has fun the first night and holds my hand and tells me I'm going a good job 9 months later. He reminded me that for the first 3 months he'd be in change of both kids - guess that's more work... I guess. Either way, Danny is done.
Realistically, I know the chance of us having a third are slim to nil. Part of me is okay with that. We do have a "complete set", we're happy, and on track to recovering (financially) from the life changes we're gone through in the last 2 years. It's also nice to have two fairly independent kids; Alyssa's able to be left over night and we're about to start potty training. It's nice to be done with the "baby" stage.
But...
It was no secret I wanted 3 kids.
I'm at the point where the memory of labour and infancy was dissipated and has been replaced with the knowledge of what life was like.
For example:
- I know labour hurt but I don't remember the pain.
- I know when Alyssa was 5 weeks old she ate all. night. long. for 5 weeks. I know I was tired but I don't remember how tired I was.
- I know Alyssa went through a phase where she would be awake from 10pm until 1 or 2am. I don't remember the frustration.
It's around this time we have this horrible, yet good, idea: "let's have another baby".
At times I think "yea, we can have another and stay afloat" but then I think "why should we just stay afloat when we can get ahead again?". A third baby would require a lot of change. We would need a larger house; where would be put all the toys?? We would also need a bigger car; fitting 3 car seats requires more room.
Then I think about Lynden starting preschool in the fall and how that leads to extra curricular activities; swimming, hockey, scouts, etc. Can we really afford this with another round of diapers?
But...
I had a hard time finding out Alyssa was a girl. Don't get me wrong, I love her with every fiber of my being. I really wanted another boy.
Having said that I cannot imagine my life without my daughter. Every day I fall more and more in love with her.
One big concern I have about another baby is the middle child syndrome. I would hate to have it happen to my beautiful girl. So, if we were to have another child I would really want it to be a boy.
This solves the middle child problem and it gives Lynden a brother. There are a lot of female cousins around Alyssa's age to make up for the missing sister.
If we did have a boy how long until I'd feel like I'm robbing Alyssa of a sister and find myself here again? Ooh, the slippery slope...
There are too many uncontrollable factors for me and I like control. Shocking, I know.
Like I said, realistically I know we're done and Danny is waiting for me to say "okay, go get a vasectomy".
Even though I know we're (99.99%) done I cannot bring myself to finalize it.
But...
How can you not want to hold another one of these??
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| Lynden 1 day old |
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| Alyssa hours old |
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Wordless Wednesday: Parktime Fun
It's so nice to actually be able to go outside; we've gone to the park almost every day.
Summer Secret Sisters; A Blog Swap
Back in June I signed up for another blog swap (I've really enjoyed my previous swaps; I think I'm hooked. You can see what I got here and here. I'm in the process of getting another parcel to ship out next week for yet another blog swap).
This time I was paired with Kailyn at Wandering Free.
I LOVE the goodies she sent me!
The lip gloss makes me think of watermelon, and who doesn't think of summer when they smell watermelon? The lotion smells so good and I love the nail polish colours. The ring pops take me back to my childhood and the Food magazine... LOVE. It's got some amazing recipes in it I cannot wait to try. I may consider getting a subscription... I wonder if I can get it in Canada??
** I can and I'm getting a 3 year subscription!!**
Thank you so much Kailyn for my wonderful parcel. I hope you enjoy yours!!
This time I was paired with Kailyn at Wandering Free.
I LOVE the goodies she sent me!
The lip gloss makes me think of watermelon, and who doesn't think of summer when they smell watermelon? The lotion smells so good and I love the nail polish colours. The ring pops take me back to my childhood and the Food magazine... LOVE. It's got some amazing recipes in it I cannot wait to try. I may consider getting a subscription... I wonder if I can get it in Canada??
** I can and I'm getting a 3 year subscription!!**
Thank you so much Kailyn for my wonderful parcel. I hope you enjoy yours!!
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