iGriza

Potty Training : We did it!

noreply@blogger.com (Laura Graham) — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 14:56:00 +0000

This whole post is dedicated to Potty Training because it was such a mystery to me before we started and I always wanted to hear stories from others who did it, and I want to be able to remember this in the future for our other children. So skip this if you are gonna be annoyed or offended by potty talk and pictures!

Probably 2 important points to make :

1.) I would have never started if CB had not encouraged me. I didn't think he was "ready".

2.) It was not near as scary and horrible as I had pictured. I don't know if it was just perfect timing or maybe Fenn was giving me a break because he is so difficult in other areas or maybe God was doing me a solid? Anyway, my point is try to be open minded because you might be surprised!

I kept a very detailed diary of all this in Evernote but the highlights are this:

He has been TT in potty every night before bed with his daddy since December 2nd. Lula suggested to me that we start that because" little boys do what their daddy do". One day I will do a vlog and interview her on potty training because her take on it was hilarious. Anyway, she was right , it worked.
I bribed him with chocolate to go #2. Cadburry eggs to be exact which was both brilliant and stupid. Brilliant in that it worked and stupid in that they are a seasonal candy that I didn't stock up on! M&Ms were for successful TT. Eventually praise was enough and he stopped asking for a treat, except every now and then.
One of his therapists suggested to put him on the toilet backwards so that he would not be distracted by falling in and it worked like a charm! I highly recommend this to other mommas.
Tacky Character underwears. Right of passage right? well it would help if he knew who the dang characters were! So think about that ahead of time before starting. Also? Underwears are expensive, and in the beginning you need like a million pair for all the accidents! Costco has the best buy ( 8 pairs for $8) .
Pull-ups are a waste of time. They do not help in PT in my opinion. He has been wearing them for a year because he was too big to wear normal diapers, but when it was PT time, I think you gotta go all in and either be naked or in unders so they can see what it feels like to be wet. Also, I think pull up's kind of send a silent message about your expectations, because when we stopped using them at naptime and night time, he stopped peeing his pants.
I put him in underwear most every day all day except at naptime and night time. Then one day about 3 weeks into it at bedtime he told me " no diaper momma, underwear's" and I told him that means you can't TT unless you get up and go to the potty, and that was that. So he for about 2 weeks now has been in unders at night and naptime, without problems except for 3 accidents that were all back to back. No idea why, and I never made any commentary I just changed him and put him back to bed. He often times wakes up at 1am hollering to me that he needs to TT potty
I made stickers for him to wear when we are out and about or he went to school that said " I AM WEARING UNDERWEAR" because I found it helpful if others knew what to expect as well.
Initially I would ask him every hour to go TT and he would be uninterested unless I said " Wanna go TT potty and get some M&Ms" and he would run off and go. Once that got started, I did not have to ask him much but would just take him in there before we left to go somewhere or something like that, and after that I stopped talking about it at all because he seemed to do much worse when I hounded him, but when I acted like I didn't care, he was very good at taking himself. He can now go much longer than 1 hour at a time.
We only drink liquids with meals and I am sure that helps.
Oh and we never used a plastic potty, just started out on the big potty with a stool. not sure that mattered at all but it was a question I had when we started the process so thought I would notate.

I wrote all of that in April, and now in June he has made great progress. An accident here or there but never at night time, just when busy playing and I never say much about it. He rarely asks for potty treats anymore but if he does you better bet I will give them to him because I am nervous about regression when his sister arrives!

I have noticed that as time went on he can def hold it much longer and its not as " urgent" that we rush right away to the potty. He also rarely wakes up at night requesting to go anymore.

Funny thing about little boys is they can go ANYWHERE, and they will. He has "watered" many a parking lot, and also put on a show in the center of a public playground one day because he was so proud of going ( we poured on the praise) ha... and I am sure I should have been embarrassed but I was actually very proud and also laughing so hard I could barely walk to get to him to address the situation.

and yes, I posted pics of my cute toddler on the potty, and no I don't care if you think it is OK or not. Somebody somewhere always has an opinion about this stuff, but I am not interested in hearing it because this is my blog/child and "I do what I want"! #sorrynotsorry #toopregnanttosugarcoat

Bumpdate: 38 Weeks!

noreply@blogger.com (Laura Graham) — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 17:33:00 +0000

Today I am 38 Weeks and am expecting baby Anna Clarke any minute/time/day now!

I had a exciting little update planned for the blog today about all that and even put on full makeup and fixed my hair for the pictures... but then some lunatic lady rammed her car into mine in a parking lot and I cried/sweated all the effort away and now this is the best I got.

But, let's just take a minute to discuss this situation shall we?

There are 2 things in this picture worth noting. One is her HEINOUS outfit which speaks to her mental state IMO. The other is SHE IS PARKED IN A HANDICAP SPOT and NOT HANDICAPPED.

This has long been a pet peeve of mine because it says so much about the laziness and self centeredness of our society.

So, she backed out of her illegal parking spot ( FAST) without even looking in a parking lot full of children, didn't scratch her car, smashed mine up awesome and her 1st action?

Was to call whomever she was late meeting up with to let them know she would be late?!

She never said sorry or asked if I was OK since I am 9 mos pregnant.

In fact I am not sure she ever got off the phone the whole time. I know she never bothered to look before driving because there was no way to miss the fact that I was directly behind her.

So I asked her if she was handicapped and she was all OFFENDED that I would ask such a thing because " everyone does it, she was just dropping off her child etc" she went on and on about that little tidbit.

What I can't understand is , HOW can someone with no physical problems justify taking a space right next to any building when someone who has a broken leg or a mom with 3 kids to wrangle or me who is 9 months pregnant and can barely walk, leaves those spaces open for people who REALLY need them? and then not even be embarrassed/ashamed at the selfishness when called on it?

I am pretty enraged if you can't tell! But I am super thankful that no children were hit because they are always walking behind parked cars on their way into school.

and... Onto the pregnancy situation:

Monday Doctor appointment was encouraging! He said I was READY! dilated to a 2 , effaced and baby way down. He said he expects me to have a short quick labor to not bother timing contractions, that if I thought I was in labor head to the hospital. I hope he is right!

We had an ultrasound to check the size of the baby and she is 8lbs and 8oz and LONG... she seems super long to me based on the shape of my belly and watching it move when she does. She was measuring about 2 weeks ahead of schedule and has legs so long they are > 95%! All in all she looked pretty juicy to me and I thought it was perfect because she was neither TOO big or too skinny. I love a good fat baby so I hope she has some pudge and I think she can deliver that!

Weight: + about 40lbs give or take a watermelon. I have reached the point where my knees are hurting now.

Waist: + 13 inches. The dropping of my belly kind of thew off my measurements.

Anxiety : Starting to have some anxiety this week over all kinds of things, but mostly the timing. Will it be at night? Will Erik be at work? Where will Fenn Go? Will my momma get here in time .. stuff like that and although I have declined induction several times... I am thinking about re-evaluating things now. The wreck this morning and the timing issues..

also started retaining some water this week.

So.. regardless of all of that I do plan to document the after pregnancy body again a.k.a. my " LEFTOVERS" like I did last time.
You can see those posts here:

http://www.grizaland.com/2010/08/post-pregnancy-body-week-2.html

http://www.grizaland.com/2010/08/post-pregnancy-body-week-3.html

http://www.grizaland.com/2010/09/post-pregnancy-body-week-5.html

I remember how SHOCKED I was after having Fenn that the belly was still there when he came out! ha Whew! So I documented the details for my friends who did not know all that stuff yet either. It was very entertaining and def. got lots of hits on the www. HA

So that is all I got for today!

Tip Tuesday: WWDC 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Laura Graham) — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 01:33:00 +0000

The WWDC was yesterday and you can watch the Keynote here:

http://www.apple.com/apple-events/june-2013/

Lots of things were announced, changes and updates.. but the new operating system ( ios7) for the iPhone/ipads is super fun. For full details and demos watch the key note but the highlights are:

- Beautiful new look! Pretty new Icons. Lots of graphic design changes that are very clean, crisp, and hip. I dig it!

- Control Center ( swipe bottom to top to access common features like brightness control) . This is LONG OVER DUE! Very exciting to me.

- Camera updates.. , swiping , filters, photo organization. Lots of the changes remind me of instagram!

- Siri Updates - She can do more and you can also change the voice to a man's if you prefer.

- ios in the car _ this is pretty rad! Lots of cars will be sporting iOS in the dash in 2014. Full list of companies is on the website but all the usual suspects are there. I love this feature.

- app store updates apps automatically ! Can I get a Hallelujah?

All this will be available sometime in the Fall.

Fenn's Big Boy Room

noreply@blogger.com (Laura Graham) — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 16:42:00 +0000

So my family was here this weekend! My mom has been here for a week ( God BLESS HER SOUL) to save me from being stomped to death by my energetic toddler wildebeast, and then CC and Nonie came up on Friday to dig me out from under the ever growing " To do before baby" list. They did some phenomenal work, and they cooked, and cleaned and in general totally babied me and I can't even begin to talk about how awesome that was ~~I may or may not have hidden in the garage and cried when they left.~~

Anyway, Fenn is now well from this 5ths and Ear Infection PTL, and some major stuff got done around here! First up was finishing Fenn's "Big Boy Room".

This is what his big boy room looked like before we bought the house:

There was an in between phase but I can not find it on camera anywhere. So this is what it looked like when they arrived. We are having some major issues with his bed because it is an antique 3/4 bed and we have double sized mattresses on it so its way too tight and tall. Erik built a custom box spring to alleviate part of that problem.

Then they rearranged the room, painted his night stands red, got new lamps:

and hung his tent. My mom had seen these reclaimed wood art pieces in PBK and made Erik a plan to knock them off and he did an amazing job! Fenn loves ocean creatures and truth be told, I love patriotic colors so that is how he is room came to be sort of nautical. Not pictured are his PBK ocean creature sheets which he loves.
He was also quite enamored with the fact that his daddy made that big whale and still talks about that a lot and reads his initials off the other piece " epps, G!!, S!!"

Next mom had Erik build these little floating shelves like the ones in PBK. I have wanted some of these forever to house all his bajillion books and also to display them because most are ocean themed, and then on holidays I put Holiday Themed books in there.

Next she had Erik make this little step stool so he can get in his bed easier. I plan to put a vinyl name sticker on there. ( this is also a PBK knockoff.)

I really wish I had some special talent for taking beautiful pictures, but alas I DO NOT. I think I may never take a decent picture in my whole life! grrrr

37 Weeks Bumpdate!

noreply@blogger.com (Laura Graham) — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 13:46:00 +0000

YAY! We are in the home stretch now! Actual Due Date is June 27th but the baby is officially full term today. Good to know she is fully baked and ready now. I have officially reached the impatient stage and am ready for her to be here! I am ready to be able to bend over again, and hold my boy , and squish and squeeze a new born, not to mention I am so curious about what she looks like! ha

I had a doctor appointment today and he said nothing that I wanted to hear. :( Basically no dilation, 50% effacement, and head way down but baby not dropped yet. He said he had no idea when the baby would come, and that it " looks like a good size baby in there" to which I began begging him for an ultrasound. He thought that was pointless because it doesn't matter, but I quickly explained to him how it absolutely does matter that I get mentally prepared if this is another 10lb-er !! MEN!!!$%^*^^(*)_(*+

Ultrasound on Monday to determine the size/weight. I do hope she is a little juicy cause I love a good fat baby!

I feel like my belly pics are deceiving sometimes as to the size of this gigantor belly so I took another set showing the actual belly,so you can see how big and heavy it is. Sorry, no way to disguise that nasty belly button!

So.... some general info...

Weight: 38+ lb gain
Belly Measurements : 12+ inches.

I have nothing to wear now. Seriously like 4 things fit at this stage but I refuse to buy anything so late in the game.

Cravings : Cold drinks, especially sweet tea, and watermelon or other cold fruit. Still not wanting anything too terribly sweet like chocolate etc.

Symptoms: Lots of BH and tightening in my belly. Uncomfortable if I am on my feet for much time at all, because the weight of my stomach makes my back hurt. I am HOT all the TIME. Super HOT. Pretty tired a lot too! Taking killer naps every day for about 2 hours and I sleep like a champ then, but at night I sleep terrible/very little. Due to the head on my bladder I have to TT all day/night long!
Sense of smell is super sonic and causes me to be annoyed a lot.

Prep Work: Pretty much done. Nursery is not organized, but I did finally get the car seat, play mat, swing, burp cloths etc. I still need to get all the bottles out and clean and make sure my pump works and stuff like that.

In other news, Peebs got diagnosed with Fifths Disease and an Ear Infection this week. By the time we figured it out ,he was basically well , but this rash is nasty. It really dried out his skin and made in peel in some places. It is hard to see in pictures but it is tiny bumps 3D feeling all over his body. He also had fever, runny nose and nasty cough.

He was a very good boy for the doctor and the nurse and minded all instructions well ( as opposed to the red face screaming and kicking he normally does) so did he just outgrow that phase you ask? No... I wised up and negotiated! I told him we could go to Krispy Kreme after the doctor if he behaved. He can totally be bought with chocolate. WHY did I not think of this sooner?

Turns out that Fifths can be very dangerous for Pregnant women, especially earlier on in the pregnancy. I had no idea but my friends on instagram educated me thank goodness! Turns out I am immune to Fifths since I had it as a child so all is well! I urge all you ladies who are pregnant or plan to be come pregnant to read this girl's journey with 5ths on her blog and be educated.

You can read my 36/37 Week update with Fenn Pregnancy by clicking here. It totally cracks me up to go back and read these but I am thankful I wrote them because I can not remember any of it!

May Projects Completed

noreply@blogger.com (Laura Graham) — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 12:08:00 +0000

Most of our May budget and time was spent toward the Master bedroom makeover. I still have lots of work to do on all bathrooms but that must wait.

I did the pinterest idea of hanging baskets above the toilets to hold linens and I love it.

(one day I will make a solid effort to take better pictures, but that day is not today while 9 mos pregnant and toddler in the tub HA)

I finally found night stands that would work for the bedroom and I love them. They are from Kirklands of all places!

The wooden woven shades came in and add some great texture to the room. I opted not to have them lined as I like all the natural light in the room. They came from Smith + Noble and I can't say enough great things about the quality and ease of installation.

Before & After shot. It is really hard to get decent pictures of this room with the right lighting.

Curtains! Whew! I tried for months to find a coral print to make curtains with, then I got all wishy washy about using coral becaise I could find NOTHING, then I kept going back to my pinterest board and noticing how many of my favorite inspiration pics were very monochromatic rooms so finally I ordered some very basic panels from Ballards with curtain rods from Brentwood Interiors. It immediately changed the look of the room and made it much softer. I am pretty happy with how it all turned out.

Fulfilling Zulily Orders and other wholesale Grizas orders. That is alot of work and I could not have done it without bubs because those boxes are too heavy and hard to transport. (this is only one days worth of orders).

I made some make shift cheapo doggy gates to keep my dog children from roaming all over the house. Works nicely. When I am more energetic I will sew a better piece of fabric that is heavier.

I made 2 printed pillows of outdoor fabric for the new sofa and had 2 of the existing pillows monogrammed. Love the way that all turned out!

I sewed some patriotic dinner napkins for our Memorial Party. The Bummer is I need to go back and make about 10 more. ... That is alot of ironing for this chick.

June is here, and that is baby month! Anna Clarke will be here soon and my wonderful family is all in town to help complete several lingering projects like finishing peebs big boy room , hanging pictures, etc. I love it when they show up and make a whirlwind of progress! It is such a great feeling even though I am not doing it myself.

I am also currently in the works of a beautiful blog makeover and I can not wait for that to be complete! It has been a few years since I did any of that and it will be awesome!

Water Table Sensory Play Ideas

noreply@blogger.com (Laura Graham) — Fri, 31 May 2013 21:09:00 +0000

After seeing all my instagram mommas buy the pirate ship water table for their kids, I joined in and he does absolutely love it, and this tired super pregnant momma really enjoys keeping him entertained! After that, CB sent me a link to some water table ideas with sensory play, and since I still had a very dirty and crappy cheap water table from last year, I got it out, scrubbed it down and then went to Wal-Mart & Dollar Tree with a supply List.
From what we have done so far, I can say that it was totally worth it. Little expense, not near as messy or as complicated as I had anticipated.

Here is the blog where I got all my ideas from. She hosted a link up and all these fantastic creative mommas joined in to say what they do with their water tables.

Our First Day we did a " Swamp Sludge " Theme
Materials :

8 packets of knox gelatin ( in jello aisle about 25 cents a packet)
Food coloring
Plastic swamp creatures $1 a bag from Dollar Tree

Jello takes about 3 hours to set, and since there is no sugar it is not sticky to play with! I made ours in a plastic bin. FYI, this gelatin STINKS ( imo) so if you can use a packet of koolaid to color it , it will smell better too.

Water Table Sensory Play : Foam & Paint

And still in his jammers because it is barely daylight, he is ready to play some more. He spent another hour with his swamp table and then we started over with a new activity.

Foam Shaving Cream, and frozen star shaped finger paints. I think this would have been cooler if it had been hot enough to melt the frozen paints faster. Either way he had a great time with it, made a huge mess and rubbed it all over his body from head to toe! Nothing like smelling like a cleanly shaven old dude when you're 2!

I also did a Marshmellow table. I have never bought marshmallows before ( that I can remember) so just FYI they come in a bazillion shapes and sizes and are about 93 cents a bag. Erik thought I spent a million dollars on marshmallows when he saw all of them but it was more like $4. HA

It was a hit with young kids as well as older ones.

Ocean Table with Purple Jello ( they had no blue koolaid power :(

Total Supply List:

Wal-Mart :

Knox Big Box of Gelatin 32 packets ($7.50)
Food Coloring
Couple bags of Marshmellows ( $1-1.50 each)
couple packets of Kool-Aid
Finger Paint if you don't already have
Couple cans of shaving cream ($1 each)
Baking Soda
Vinegar
Spray Bottles (if you don't have any on hand)

Dollar Tree:

Package of swamp creatures
Package of Ocean Creatures
glass beads, plastic jewels or other sparkly things
Plastic of Foam alphabet letters
Package of Sea Shells
Ice cube tray ( star shapes)

So all in all this a great way to make some cheap summer fun! Hope everyone has a great weekend and gets to try one of these out. That link above has tons of great ideas! ( glitter anyone ?)

Current News & Memorial Day Celebrations..

noreply@blogger.com (Laura Graham) — Tue, 28 May 2013 13:26:00 +0000

The Master Bedroom Makeover is really coming together. I made some changes to my plan along the way but so far we are loving it. I can't wait to post before and after pics because the before was pretty ridiculous.

My little scrompy has become obsessed with this obscure cartoon on Sprout called "Tree Fu Tom" . He asks me 100 times a day to watch it, and he mimics the cartoon dude's magic spell castin' kung fu. I saw him standing on his bed on the monitor last night casting magic spells. It really amuses me!

Another thing he loves is the " Juice Box Rap" Video on You tube. He saw it at the play place and asks me to play it often. The song really cracks me up and they have other witty songs on an album in iTunes.

Now that Spring/Summer is here we are really enjoying our back yard. I had no idea when we bought this house last August how much we would really love living here, but we DO! The backyard is like living in a park and has a creek tons of wildlife ( and lots of snakes if you follow me on instagram you have seen those!) but other stuff too like resident woodpeckers, a rabbit and her babies, baby birds, squirrels, chipmunks, deer, raccoons, and it is a lot of fun to see Fenn experience all of that.

We also have neighborhood swim and tennis club which we just visited for the 1st time this weekend and can already tell it's gonna be an awesome summer. They have pools, slides, baby pools, and a SNACK BAR! Fenn thinks that all swimming is related to the " beachy ocean" and is so into it, and he naps like a CHAMP afterward! *It also might have really excited me to know that sheryl crow is also a member! ha **

We had a fantastic Memorial Day Weekend, even though I didn't know it was Memorial Weekend until like Thursday.. ha. We had a last minute shindig on Sunday, and a fishing/dinner with friends on Monday. Fenn got lots of time with little friends.

My old table only sat 8 and my new one sits about 12 ( tightly) and we had about 20 people so my place settings were all kinds of off. I will have to work on that for future patriotic parties!

I am really proud of my menu because it was actually good. I am still a kitchen newbie so making good food gets me excited.
We had

Come Back Burgers
4th of July Baked Beans
Potato Salad
Cole Slaw ( need a better recipe than this)
Corn Dip & Chips
Triple Berry Cobbler with ice cream
Mini Cheesecakes
Watermelon ( that I forgot to serve!)

and Monday night we had dinner with some cool peeps & Auburn Alums at this awesome house that had beautiful landscaping and a pond for the kiddies to fish. Fenn caught about 100 microscopic frog babies and kept bringing them to me all squished :/ ! Thanks to the Kelton's for a great time!

and lastly...
I am right at 36 Weeks pregnant! It is ALMOST time. I plan to do all my prep this week and hope that I get it done. Soo ready for her to be here and to no longer be pregnant.
This is also the stage of limitless conversations with strangers about my pregnancy! Normally that amuses me , but now I would rather spend that time on my feet being productive.

TODAY! On Zulily...

noreply@blogger.com (Laura Graham) — Tue, 14 May 2013 14:12:00 +0000

I am very excited to announce the launch of Grizas Products on Zulily today! They will be on sale from May 14-16.

You can shop from their website OR using the Zulily iPhone App!

Lately.... and some shopping.

noreply@blogger.com (Laura Graham) — Fri, 10 May 2013 11:40:00 +0000

Lots going on around here lately and the blog is suffering, but here are the highlights:

I am ashamed to admit that I let my wild almost 3 year old son bring me to tears recently with his BAD behavior. His wildness is NOT from lack of trying on my part, it is truely a part of his personality, and he is immune apparently to spankings and time outs so I was feeling kind of hopeless on how to get through to him, when a friend RPK suggest I read this book Love & Logic. Can't say enough good things about this book and how well it is working for us. I also cut out as much sugar from his diet as I could without being a wackadoo and put him back on a STRICT schedule. I guess I really am that girl that has to learn over and over that kids need the structure of a good routine, ALL the time.

Other lessons I have learned is that 3 really is worse than 2 !

We also have been having some issues with Fenn waking during the night and crying out, like a bad dream or something but it turned into a daily thing that we were going in there to calm him so we were all waking up several times a night ( YIKES).. after some deep thought and internet research, I decided that it was probably connected to our previous mentioned behavioral problems and lack of routine. So i moved his nap from " whenever we get back from wherever" to 12pm sharp and bedtime is between 7:30-8pm. He has been sleeping MUCH better since that little adjustment although it took a few days for it to take effect. Also it is said to be common in kids his age , especially when they have developmental leaps/changes. ( Which hello, potty training, big boy bed, learning to talk MUCH more, and getting a sister soon). He also talks in his sleep which is pretty entertaining

"Cupcake store momma, right right!" HA or " Oh no momma, I made a mess"

I recently got this portable high chair from my discount store for about $20. It folds up just like a tailgate chair and we have already used it just when we have friends over and it takes no room to store or travel with! Score! It will also be very handy for all those Titans Tailgates. Not sure how Fenn is gonna take to sharing his Flair High Chair with sister because he still really loves it!

I am soooo in love with instagram. I have zero use for facebook, and rarely twitter anymore and the blog is a struggle but I love me some instagram. Partly because I have always kept a tight lid on that one instead of adding anybody and everybody and also because I just love seeing pictures. Reading really wordy blogs is not my jam, but seeing pictures of your new handbag or your kid covered in dirt! Yesssss~

We are still loving the sandbox bubs built last year. He put a roof on it this year and we recovered it with Navy and white cabana fabric to match our new outdoor furniture.

All he wants to do is play outside these days and side walk chalk and the plasma car are his go to toys, BUT we recently bought the pirate ship water table after all my mom friends on instagram were raving about it and boy does he love it! Day 1 bought me 2 hours of complete entertainment, and he did not ask me to get my 8 month pregnant but down on the ground to dig for worms! #winning

Grizas will be featured on Zulily this month! I have not done any business updates on here lately because I feel like it bores people, but things are going well ( Steady) and I am excited about reaching a huge audience on Zulily! Please pray it does well if you are a prayer!

The beautiful and extremely talented Jgro of Grouthaus Design developed a long term plan for our backyard when we bought this house. ( You can hire her here)

We shall do it in phases as the budget allows, and right now I am in phase 1 of saving for the paver patio part. I have been having companies out to bid the job and the MOST OBNOXIOUS tool bag ever showed up this week. He was so unprofessional with his conversation, and came to my back door when he got here which creeped me out! He spent most of his time telling me about how awesome and sexy he is ( while wearing a shirt that was 5 sizes too small so as to accentuate his average muscles) and about how " the wife" sends him naked pictures to his phone... WHATEVER dude. I am 8 months pregnant, meaner than a monster, its 80 degrees and I am in a moo moo with no makeup, do you REALLY think I give 2 hoots about your self proclaimed awesomeness? Needless to say he will NOT be working here. .......

I have moved up a size in maternity wear and had to purchase a few things right here at the end to get me through. I got these at Old Navy online and love them both! Especially the chambray one. I know lots of you are preggars right now so thought I would share. Use Promo code ONLADIES20 for 20% off!

Little Fenn.. 33 Months Old and Not Quite 3 Years!

noreply@blogger.com (Laura Graham) — Wed, 01 May 2013 16:39:00 +0000

Recently thanks to a new app called TimeHop, I can see what I was doing on social media several years back ( on this day) and I really loved reading Fenn's updates. It is crazy how fast you forget. And it was great motivation for writing a new one.

So lets See... He is just shy of turning 3 years old. He is tons of fun, and bad to the bone!

These are our neighborhood friends. He ADORES that little girl " Carowine" and her grandmother lives next door to us and he calls her " KayKay" and loves her too! We caught that big turtle in the creek behind our house.

Interests :

He loves being outside and wants to ride his plasma car 24-7 or look for worms, beetles, and roly pollies. (sp?)
He still likes painting and markers a good bit
He loves to sing and will dance a pretty good bit too in the car to R&B music . He seems to prefer Little Wayne over everyone else. He sings row your boat, ABC's, Twinkle Twinkle and Itsy Bitsy Spider. He is very bossy about whether or not you are allowed to participate in singing and dancing.
He likes the movie Finding Nemo, and still loves the cartoons Dora, Bubble Guppies, Super Why and Umi Zoomi. He also seems to love Barney and gets excited when it randomly comes on.

Talking:

He has really turned a corner in the communication department and I can not tell you what a relief it is. and I still can't say that it will ever get on my nerves. Even when he is telling me " doughnut " over and over and OVER again. Or whatever it may be. He started bringing home phrases he hears from others like " whoopsie" and saying stuff we say like " Hold on, I'll be right back" or calling for someone through out the house and saying " where aaaarrrreeee yooouu" and he almost always will ask you a question or if he just agrees with what you said he follows it with " Right Right" Which i think he has picked up from Dora, and from me and his teachers when he does something right, and we compliment him. HA

" Momma, Heeeeeelp, Beachy Ocean?" that means Momma take me to the beach again

" TT Potty Momma, right right" means he needs to go TT

He has also learned the roads around Brentwood now and when I turn onto the road that leads to our neighborhood, he generally will start telling me to turn around and will also scream and cry when I don't. I am kind of amazed that he knows the way home from places.

In the speech world, that is a biggie because that is an " action phrase". So now we are onto sentences, actions, spacial phrases, emotions.. all kind of stuff!

That is how he speaks and he has lots of things he says but over all i know what he is talking about what he wants.

Food :

We still struggle with food quite a bit but it has come a LONG way. He will eat lots of stuff for Mrs Jenny ( his occupational therapist) but not as much at home, although some of it does carry over.

His favorites are currently :

Apple Sauce, Peppered Turkey Slices, Buffalo Pretzel Chips, Greek yogurt with honey, Cheese slices, Nutrigrain bars, any kind of cookie or chocolate, sweet potato mash packs from Earth's Best.

He will eat some other things and has tried a lot of new foods lately that even though they are not healthy, or a "win" they are still positive because he has tried something unfamiliar. Like Lucky Charms, or Cheetos. ( everyone has fallen victim to my pathetic pregnancy cravings)

A big thanks to @mrsmfc for the nibble tray suggestion from Dr. Sears. ( Amazon $8) it is a great bento tray for toddlers with a detachable dipping section as well. I love seeing her pics on instagram of what she fixes for her toddler.

Discipline:

WHEW.. this has been wearing me down lately. Almost bringing me to tears on occasion. I am SO pregnant right now which makes chasing after him hard, and he is fully aware of that. He likes to run off from me in parking lots or run away when I am trying to get him dressed and such. By the time I drag all 40 lbs of him to his room for time out I have had about 6 contractions.
I have to switch up my methods with him in order to get his attention and currently the most effective thing I am doing is making him sit on his bed with lights off and no dogs/toys etc for 10 minutes. Then I make him look me in the eye so we can discuss what he did wrong. He could really care less about a spanking right now but being made to sit still and bored is torture for him.
He is SO strong willed and hard headed like both his parents

We took him to Orange Beach in April and that is really his first time back at the beach since he was 9 months old. He loved it SO MUCH and still asks to go " to the beachy ocean".

This is what happened when it was time to leave, UNLESS he was hungry, then he would pack up all his sand toys no questions asked! ha

POTTY TRAINING

I feel like that subject totally deserves all caps and red font. I was so scared to death of this whole thing, and it really has not been that big of a deal. He has done great and I am so proud. I will do a post on this later with more detail. He is not completely trained yet , as we still wear a pull up at night time and he has accidents about 15% of the time.

Seeing him in those tacky cartoon underwears is about the funniest thing Ever!!

Other Random Info:

Height : 38 inches approx.

Weight : 38 lbs give or take some ounces.

Shoe Size : 10 working on 10.5

Clothes Size: 3T or 4T depending on the brand.

April Projects Completed: Nesting in Full Effect

noreply@blogger.com (Laura Graham) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 12:46:00 +0000

Erik built a raised Garden Bed for me and we planed herbs and veggies!

I recovered all of our dining room chair and they look SO much better. It is a shame how dirty they were! The paint also needs touching up so that is on May's list for bubs.

Before:

After :

Did a huge clean out of the playroom and also cleaned everything in there.

Got my master builder bubs to make this headboard I wanted in Ballards:

Finally finished Peebs curtains. The one on the right is the "Before". I added a red duck fabric top so that they would look cuter, hang better, and be long enough. ( remember the curtains are actually duvet covers from Target). It is hard to get a good picture of them in the day time because of the sun light, and I forget at night.

My super great find of the year probably was this outdoor couch at my discount store. It cost exactly half of what I sold our old patio furniture for on Craigslist! SCORE. so I made some cute throw pillows for it ( outdoor fabrics are 50% off at JoAnne's right now) and I am having the other 2 khaki pillows monogrammed.

Finally painted this powder room off our kitchen. It is " Oyster Bay" from Sherwin Williams. FYI it is like National painting week or something like that so SW paint is 40% off .

So we made some great progress but I still have a ton to do before this baby arrives. I explained to bubs that from my memory with peebs I will be spending lots of time sitting or sleeping with a newborn and breastfeeding for 1 million hours and I don't want to look around and be annoyed by unfinished projects that I will have neither the time or stamina to complete. It makes me anxious.

May Goals:

Touch up paint on dining room chairs
Paint Master bedroom
paint peebs nightstand
recover the sandbox in outdoor fabric that co-ordinates with new couch
have bubs make built ins for nursery closet.
paint master bathroom
sew shower curtain.

Bumpdate 30 Weeks : She finally has a NAME!

noreply@blogger.com (Laura Graham) — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 02:37:00 +0000

Mostly I still can not get over how different this pregnancy is from my 1st. I actually think it deserves it's own blog post so stay tuned for that.

Current cravings : Cheese Puffs & Reese Peanut Butter Eggs

Weight: up 7 lbs so over all I have gained almost 30lbs.

Symptoms : Both sleep and my pregnancy cold have been much better lately! Hoping that sticks around.

Braxton Hicks have been much better and I have been making a strong effort to rest more and drink more water. I have them in back now as well though and that is painful!

I am in major nesting mode now cleaning like crazy and trying to get all the things done I have on my "BB Bucket List " ( Before Baby).

and... I think we have finally settled on a name!

Anna Clarke

and we will call her " Anna Clarke"

Anna is my maternal grandmothers first name and Clark is my paternal grandmother's maiden name, as well as one of my best girlfriends from college middle name!

29 Weeks :

this was 29 Weeks with Peebs:

30 week ultrasound pics:
So far she is juicy, with no hairs, big lips and long limbs! Not sure of estimated weight yet.

Big Brother:

He has been quite the terror lately! I keep having to be reminded that sometimes, as ridiculous as it seems to "bargain" with your child, it totally helps to approach things differently.
Our current trick is to offer him 2 choices both of which are OK with us, instead of just telling him straight up what he needs to do.
For Example " Come over here and put your clothes on" = running from me and screaming) is now " Would you like to put on your shirt or your pants first?" = happily answers with which one and starts getting dressed calmly . It is the craziest trick EVER and totally works so take that little nugget and stick it in your pocket ! you're welcome.

We are working on potty training. He seems interested and has sporadically been using the potty since Dec. 2nd so we are going all in this week and will see what happens. Seeing him wearing cartoon big boy underwears is the funniest thing EVER. I wish I had known that they only come in a handful of characters because apparently that is an important thing to get excited over, but he does not know who "Angry Birds" , Super heroes or "Cars/Toy Story" is so we don't have that bargaining chip.

I have been going back and reading old pregnancy posts from Fenn and they are kind of hilarious. BOY has life changed since then. Here is a link to my 31 Week Bumpdate with him
http://www.grizaland.com/2010/06/pregnancy-update-week-31.html

Master Bedroom Makeover : Ballards Knock Off Upholstered Headboard

noreply@blogger.com (Laura Graham) — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 16:50:00 +0000

Before we started this makeover I planned out what I could do on my budget that I set up for this room. As usual lots of things I wanted to do and not enough money to do it all exactly, so I had to figure out a few ways to cut corners. The Headboard was definitely an easy area to cut costs.

This is the "Kate Upholstered Headboard" that I liked in Ballards in " Linen Spa that was about $953 with tax and shipping for a King Sized Head Board.

Here is our DIY version:

** It is just propped up on our bed for show of size. We have not finished the headboard as we are bolting it to a metal bed frame**

Not an exact replica but close enough. I was skerred to get to drama tic with the cut outs. Total Cost was $ 235.01

That number can be tweaked based on fabric choice and if you have coupons for the foam which was the majority of the cost. I included chart cost because I was really curious about this when I was cruising the internet for tutorials.

Other Helpful Info:

Get some coupons before buying that foam at Jo-Anne's. They do not consider the foam or the batting to be "fabric" so any 40% one yard of fabric coupons will not apply. Also you will need one coupon for each yard. I think it is about $32 a yard YIPES
Some tutorials talk about buying foam at Home Depot. They do have foam for about 1/2 the price maybe cheaper, BUT it is more like styrofoam and not soft cushion foam so keep that in mind. I wanted our headboard to be soft but if this was for a guest room I might have cut that corner.
We did lots of piecing with the foam since I did not buy quite enough and it worked and saved some $ but wish I had bought longer pieces.
Design Sponge does a really great video tutorial on you tube. You can watch that HERE
I used some paper off my sons art easel to make the stencil for the design of the headboard. That took lots of thinking and planning to try and get the proportions done properly for a king sized headboard. If you ever see the style you want out somewhere, study it and measure it before copying it.
I wanted our headboard to be big and tall so it would show up well when pillows were in place and make a statement. This one measures 78" Long and 48 " High at its tallest point. We will put legs on it so that it hits the bead just right.

My Fabric Choice is a Linen in Celadon. It is very hard to capture the true color on camera but it is a blue grey shade. LIKE THIS

March Goals : Status

noreply@blogger.com (Laura Graham) — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 02:35:00 +0000

Recording my progress for my NY Resolutions and things are going really well! I decided to do a different format this time and include also some of my BB Bucket List Stuff ( Before Baby ).

$ Budgeting $

March was our best month yet on the new budget. I LOVE this new plan and feel so great about it and the changes that we have made because of it! No debt ( except our house) and no credit cards are being used! Just planning and getting resourceful. I have sold so much stuff on craigslist lately in our big clutter clean out and that has been awesome. In March I sold pretty much all of our outdoor toys and furniture in order to buy new stuff because this house has a different yard layout that our old house. That money is in savings until we decide what to do out there, and may wait till the end of the summer when everything goes on sale.
I am still using the Dave Ramsey software online instead of the envelope system because I just did nor feel that Cash envelopes was practical for us, we are more of a "virtual cash envelopes" type of people. We actually spent BELOW our March budget and that was with having my big Easter party too!

Reading
I finally finished the 7 Experimental Excess book and I really enjoyed it! I realized that when I am reading serious books like that it takes me a much longer time to finish! That was supposed to be my Feb. Book so I am behind here but will catch up in April.

Cooking
March was also a very successful cooking month. I am not sure April will be as good because I am getting tired of standing in the kitchen with this big baby belly. I cooked ALOT and we also planted our garden so that I can hopefully start growing almost all of our own produce and herbs. We shall see! The weather here has been super cold so I am off to a late start. I am forgetting to take pictures lately before I eat. oops.

Church
I have yet to start Sunday School! I must get on this but it feels like it would be somewhat pointless to start before the baby comes since I will be grounded for a few weeks after her arrival. We shall see. We are still in regular attendance which I am considering a total win these days because bubs has had to work a lot of Sundays and I am still managing to get my wild 2 yr old dressed and there ~~5 minutes late~~ on time.

Home Improvement
We added hardware to the laundry room cabinets!

Set up the boy an aquarium in his room!

I FINALLY painted the back wall of the built in shelves. I had been putting this off because the previous owners painted them in place ( grrrr) but Erik beat them out with a rubber mallet and he also drilled a hole in the wall to run cable wires so we dont have wires hanging down the fireplace for our TV anymore!

and the boys built me a raised garden bed and hauled in composted dirt to fill it with. They forgot the chicken wire at the bottom to keep the moles out so I hope the moles don't find me! We put it close to the house and in the fence like that to keep out deer and other critters that frequent our back yard.

Easter !

noreply@blogger.com (Laura Graham) — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 12:31:00 +0000

We had a really great Easter this year, despite the yucky weather. Fenn is finally old enough to get the concept of the Easter Bunny. I made some bunny tracks from flour and stencil and he really enjoyed " tracking the easter Bunny" to find his basket.

When he did find his basket, All he cared about was the Cadburry Eggs in his basket. That is what he had for breakfast. I am sure the nursery workers at church appreciated that.

He was excited to show cousin Stevie his Easter Basket when he woke up! Cousin Stevie spent the weekend with us and Fenn loved having him here! SO did Ralphie since Stevie was his first "little master".

Still really thankful that @marshallcolquett let me buy this buffett from him. I am so in love with it! That is our Easter Spread. This year people ate pretty much all the food which was nice because last year I had tons of left overs. We had about 16 adults and 10 kids.

Adult Table

Kids table

Peebs got lots of goodies from our sweet guest and here he is showing his excitement for the mini Cadburry eggs Katie and Taylor brought him.

Aunt Marti brought over a big Easter puzzle and the kids loved it and dance on it when they were done!

We had to have our Easter Egg Hunt inside which was a bummer but it still went well!

The 3rd Trimester Begins ! Large and in Charge!

noreply@blogger.com (Laura Graham) — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 16:47:00 +0000

Sorry for the belly pics cause I know my Nonie HATES these, but you can not appreciate the huge-ness when it is covered. DUDE! This thing is HEAVY. I am pretty shocked at how uncomfortable I am these days (already ) because I fully expect to gain another 15-20lbs in my last trimester.
It really blows my mind how different this pregnancy is from my last. I feel like I am not as wide as I got last time, which is weird bc I thought girl babies made you get wider than boy babies?
Whatever the case I can tell you that this belly is hurting every inch of my body. I am ill equipped for holding it up. I ordered the Belly Bra from amazon and it was not made for tall chicks so I had to return it.

Hope everyone can appreciate a good re-run because that is the only cute outfit I own that fits right now and I keep holding out and holding out for warm weather. UGH. I should have bought another pair of jeans like 2 months ago.
I have had some great luck dress shopping at ROSS of all places. They are not maternity dresses, just stretchy fabric that I buy a size up ( or in this case two sizes up as my Nonie insisted). Most of their dresses are $15-20 . Cant wait for it to be dress weather every day!

and... even though I have been eating Cadburry's by the boat load, I am only up 1 pound and 1 inch this week from last week. You see that it is a family affair now. Like my Lucky Charms.. I wanted those for my pregnancy snack and now all of a sudden my son and husband are woofing down my cereal!

In Other Bumpdate News:

Major Braxton hicks contractions lately. I will be riding scooter wheel chairs for likely the rest of this pregnancy. Anytime I do much on my feet I start having them.
Decreased appetite, significantly, but still nurturing my sweet tooth.
I have another cold this week :( I think that makes 3 colds I have had during this pregnancy ( which I had none with Fenn) one of the side effects of having a toddler during pregnancy!

Big Brother:

Has been enjoying this Easter Season with Egg Dying, Visiting the Mall Easter Bunny, and practicing his egg hunting skills. He is still talking, singing and dancing up a storm.

He still is clueless about the impending arrival and loss of his "only child" throne. I may try to chat with him about that a little soon.

Here Comes Peter Cotton Tail!

noreply@blogger.com (Laura Graham) — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 18:36:00 +0000

We took our annual trip to the Easter Bunny today! I am so sad that no one has a cute ( white) Easter bunny that is not wearing some tacky garb. I am sincerely thinking that I will order and own an Easter Bunny costume for Erik to wear every year at our Easter Brunch that way everyone can get some cute , low stress Easter pics. Not to mention, save some $! I could have 2 Easter Bunny costumes by now for how much these little mall pictures cost! HA

This year I tried to talk up the Easter Bunny a lot and I told him that the EB would give out " chocolate eggs" aka Cadburry Eggs( his cryptonite). He did smile long enough to grab that egg from the Bunny's hand and then he wanted out of there! But not far far away. He was perfectly happy to blow kisses and wave and smile at the Easter Bunny from the checkout table!... just not within touching distance. He especially loves tap dancing around in those Sunday shoes on the mall floor.

I learned the hard way last year that finding an Easter themed photo frame is impossible, so I snatched one up at the Mall Easter Bunny stand and I think it is so cute!

Frames of years past!

Attention all Boy Mommas...

noreply@blogger.com (Laura Graham) — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 15:46:00 +0000

For the LOVE, can some of you guys explain to me how to get the stains from every day life out of your boys clothes?
Lately I have been trying to wash clothes like normal but do a soak cycle if stained stuff is in there, and add oxiclean oh and also pre-treat stain with Resolve spray. STILL it does not work.
What am I doing wrong? Or is Peebs just like the messiest kid ever?

Also I joined the train of bloggers moving from Google Reader to Blog Lovin. Link below AND they have a sweet iPhone/ipad app!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Bumpdate: 25 Weeks

noreply@blogger.com (Laura Graham) — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 16:56:00 +0000

YAY ! Almost closing in on the end of the 2nd Trimester!

Symptoms: I am for realz pregnant now. Everything was pretty easy up until this point. My body HURTS and I sleep like crap. Those are my biggest complaints. I still have " pregnancy cold" so also get really stuffed up at night. I can take some killer naps during the day though!
Occasional Sciatic nerve tweaks.

Weight Gain: 22.5 lbs. This is generally the stage of pregnancy when I start to really gain weight. My doctor said he is not worried with my weight gain due to big baby history and the fact that ALOT of it is fluid, so that is good news for losing it post birth.

Belly Growth: 39" so about 7" added since week 5
My belly is getting bigger by the day, but it is SO MUCH LOWER with this pregnancy than it was with Fenn, that it is very uncomfortable. Did any of you have that experience? The heaviness of it pulling on my body is awful. I tried to buy a support garment called " A belly Bra" and I think it would have been awesome if I was not so tall. I have a long torso which makes this belly bra not long enough to fit me properly :( so disappointed. Can anyone else recommend something of this nature?

Baby News: I need a name for this baby. I can not come up with anything, and I am NOT an indecisive person! This is killing me. Erik has already picked his name and now I need to pick one that will go with it and I just can't decide. Every name I like he hates! For the love of monogramming, I need a NAME!
This girl kicks all day long, and jams out in there. She enjoys everything I eat and loves Cadburry eggs like her momma and big bro.

Food
Yes please! I have to eat like 8 meals a day to keep from starving. My current obsession ( other than Cadburry eggs) is Lucky Charms. How disgusting! But I am mowing through box after box. I remember panicking with my 1st pregnancy about how crappy my eating habits were and I was worried they would stay that way, but everything went back to normal after the baby so here is hoping that is the case this time as well.

Big Bro:

This little scrompy could not be cuter! I just love all these new phases he is into right now where he can talk, sing, and show interest in things he likes, or communicate that interest.
He is full of spunk and attitude too which has been spending lots of time in the time out chair when his ears are not working.

- He is really into singing and imitating still. I love watching him copy EVERYTHING his daddy does, and stuff he sees on TV too like dance moves etc.
- He has ( for unknown reasons) started racing all through the house chasing Ralphie and saying " RARRRRRRWWWRRR" while he does it. He will crawl over and under anything in the process. Poor ralphie is a good sport but I do have to intervene often and give the poor dog a break.
- He asks me often to watch " ipppooo momma" which means the Baby Einstein with the Hippo on the front that is about musical instruments. Then he goes to his playroom and brings out his piano, guitar and a table that he pretends is a drum and he copies what the characters on the screen do to play each one. He hums the classical music REAL loud too and will often dance to it.
- He basically NEVER stops moving!
- Still doing well with sleeping in his big boy bed. He really loves that bed and just even playing in it. The other night Ralphie kept trying to get me up, barking and so forth because Fenn was laying close to the edge of his bed, and sure enough he fell out of it! Erik put him back in and he pretty much never woke up during the process, although he cried out when he fell. Gotta give ole Ralphie props for watching after his little master so diligently and having good intuition.

and here is my little rockstar singing Rhianna " Diamonds" He also really loves some Taylor swift! You can see how serious he is about it! HA

Menu Monday: March Week 2

noreply@blogger.com (Laura Graham) — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 21:49:00 +0000

Monday: Sweet Potato & Caramelized Onion Shells
Sauteed Spinach & kale

Tuesday : Chicken N Rice Casserole
Jim -n- Nicks Cheddar Biscuits
http://pinterest.com/pin/71494712806916849/

Wednesday : Skinny Chicken Florentine
Texas Toast, Salad
* I will omit the chicken*
http://pinterest.com/pin/71494712806947811/

Thursday: Sweet & Sour Chicken
Fried Rice, Broccoli
http://pinterest.com/pin/71494712806913131/
http://thebitesizedblog.com/blog/2013/03/06/fried-rice/#.UTz-oqWEzdk

Friday: Spanish Chicken & Potato Roast
Fried Okra, Salad
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/spanish-chicken-and-potato-roast-recipe/index.html

Extra Item : Chicken Salad for Lunch Sandwiches.
http://blog.naturebox.com/post/35207819367/harvest-chicken-salad

MENU MONDAY REMINDERS

I have the week planned out but rarely cook the assigned item for that day and go more with what we are in the mood for.
If any of the recipe links don't work properly you can refer to my pinterest boards. I have one for recipes to try, one for tried and true recipes, and one for failed recipes. Self explanatory. I usually comment on the pin on each board as well.
I try, try being the key word, to find a good balance of health, thrift, and only a few days with meat for both health and financial reasons.
COSTCO really , really is a good idea. trust me.
You can follow me on instagram to see pictures of what I cook every day
I plan for 5 meals a week because we eat leftovers for lunch and the other 2 days. Meals that make a ton or enough to freeze half I will notate. Gonna be doing that soon with baby coming this summer!

Request, Prayer & Kindness..

noreply@blogger.com (Laura Graham) — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 14:00:00 +0000

Hey guys, just wanted to have a space to explain to you my tweets etc about this little boy Caelon.

He is in the hospital for having strokes and his doctors have yet to find a diagnosis for him. He is 4 years old and enjoys cruising facebook and seeing people talk to him on here and post pictures to his timeline. One of his people reached out to me and asked me to share with my social media channels because of my strong network of Mommas! and Christian mommas at that.
I am scared that quick tweet blurbs might not get anyone's attention as it looks so much like the spam that is all over the net. So I wanted to clarify this is a real deal, and that 30 seconds of your time really does make a difference.
I also want to ask all you prayer warriors to add him to your prayer list. When I hear about stuff like this, it is really hard not to imagine myself in their shoes, I am hoping y'all will do the same and

"Like" his facebook page http://www.facebook.com/CaringForCaelon
Leave him a comment on his page with a picture if you are feeling especially kind
SHARE this link with your social network.
Pray for him

It is a beautiful thing the way the blogosphere comes together in situations like this and works hard to support and lift up our fellow parents.

and @melanyburtonrogers I know you are good at recruiting prayer so hook me up girl!

http://www.facebook.com/CaringForCaelon

Tip Tuesday : iPhone & iPad Mini Cases

noreply@blogger.com (Laura Graham) — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 12:00:00 +0000

Being the new owner of an ipad mini ( yes I love it even though at first I thought it a ridiculous notion), I have been scouring the internet for a good case because it feels so fragile. Cases are hard to find!

I have been using an iphone 5 case from a company called "iOttie" that I bought off groupon and I love it. Partly because it is easy to get on and off and provides great protection against the toddler, and partly because it comes in beautiful colors ( I am obsessed with mint green right now)

and as it turns out they are making matching cases for the iPad mini that will be out in March!

Just wanted to pass that along if any of you are looking for new cases. I am not affiliated with them in any way I just love their products and wanted to share with my readers.

and.. until that case is available, I am currently using an $11 " Poetic" Brand case off Amazon .....

March Week 1 : Menu Monday

noreply@blogger.com (Laura Graham) — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 00:38:00 +0000

Monday: Mushrooms & artichoke Tortellini , Salad, Texas Toast
( I omit the chicken from this recipe)

http://pinterest.com/pin/71494712804749496/

Tuesday : Taco Stuffed Shells & Spanish Rice
( that spanish rice recipe is really good and worth the effort. Make sure not to leave out the lime juice)
I also add jalapenos to our stuffed shells.

http://blogchef.net/taco-stuffed-shells-recipe/
http://pinterest.com/pin/71494712806890249/

Wednesday : Lemon Chicken Picatta, Mashed Potatoes, Roasted Asparagus
This is something I cook regularly, it is really good and not too difficult. There are tons of variations and I actually got my recipe from @matthill but basically you are pan frying floured chicken breast filets in chicken stock, capers, lemon juice, & butter.

http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/chicken_piccata/

Thursday: Parm. Crusted Oven Baked Chicken Fingers, Cream Corn Casserole, Green Beans.

I omit the bisquick and just use butter, Ritz, Garlic salt and park cheese)

http://pinterest.com/pin/554787247816632875/
http://pinterest.com/pin/71494712806620889/

Friday: Pesto Pasta , Salad, Texas Toast
I omit the olives since we don't like.
http://ponderedprimedperfected.blogspot.com/2012/12/pesto-pasta-salad-easy-and-tastes.html?m=1

MENU MONDAY REMINDERS

I have the week planned out but rarely cook the assigned item for that day and go more with what we are in the mood for.
If any of the recipe links don't work properly you can refer to my pinterest boards. I have one for recipes to try, one for tried and true recipes, and one for failed recipes. Self explanatory. I usually comment on the pin on each board as well.
I try, try being the key word, to find a good balance of health, thrift, and only a few days with meat for both health and financial reasons.
COSTCO really , really is a good idea. trust me.
You can follow me on instagram to see pictures of what I cook every day
I plan for 5 meals a week because we eat leftovers for lunch and the other 2 days. Meals that make a ton or enough to freeze half I will notate. Gonna be doing that soon with baby coming this summer!

February Resolutions Status & Other Updates..

noreply@blogger.com (Laura Graham) — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 18:45:00 +0000

Just wrapping up month 2 of our new budget and still really loving it. I have answered lots of emails about that subject and just want to clarify on here that the Gazelle software and book are really necessary IMO for success. My friend compares it to the weight watchers app and says, if you are not daily tracking your progress, its pointless because you don't follow the rules. The book teaches and motivates, while the software keeps you in check. I love always knowing our status.
Again this month , we went over what I budgeted for food. I can not even fathom how that is possible but I know it happens month after month. For March I am doing some STRATEGIC meal planning and Costco trip to try and resolve this.
Consignment sales started this month and I made a list and planned Fenn's entire summer wardrobe and followed the plan when I went to the sales. It was marvelous!

I am about 45% through my February Book " 7; An experimental mutiny against Excess" and it is very interesting, and eye opening. I have started the great clean out of this house and it is now messier than EVER! I have sold a few things on craigslist and ebay too so that feels great!
I even traded an old computer on Craigslist for an ipad mini and that is super exciting and fun. I am holding out my complete opinion for a month or so, but as of now, I think the mini is better than the original, which is ironic considering how stupid I thought the mini was when it came out! Something about it being so much lighter weight and small enough to easily go in my purse is FUN.

but the whole less is more thing is challenging for me ( in a good way) and I am excited to work on myself and my love of material things, which of course goes hand in hand with the budget.

I finally broke down and got some new maternity pants last week. I have been wanting some mint green pants for the spring and Motherhood Maternity had a BOGO 50% on Denim so I pulled the trigger and am loving them. They are much more comfortable than my other jeans cause they have some stretch in them. ( that top is not maternity but from GAP on clearance for $4.88).

We transitioned Peebs to his big boy bed recently, quite randomly really, one day we had a great morning and so when nap time came I said, do you wanna nap in your big boy bed? ( he loves to hang out in there and play in that bed) so I put him down in there with his fluffies and such and he stayed there until he fell asleep. After that we did it for all sleeping both night and naps.
He never tries to escape or anything, but sometimes he does cry a little when we leave the room, or try and get us to lie down with him. ( totally my fault as I have taken a nap in there with him a few times) He also wakes during the night sometimes and calls out for me, so I just get in the bed with him and he goes back to sleep. Not sure what to think about that, if he is having a bad dream or if it is scary to be in his new room ( we changed bedrooms , beds.. everything in one shabang) Maybe I should just pat him and leave rather than lie down with him but I am so tired these days, I just kind of take the easy road and lay down. When he wakes up, he will sit up in the bed and call for me to come get him, which I intend to ALWAYS teach him to do so I don't worry about him wandering around the house. I shall post pics when i get done with his big boy room... still have a ways to go since I am following my budget so strictly!

I did so/so on my February cooking. I cant get a picture from my 365 app, but I cooked a good bit. We were also out of town or entertaining a good bit so that prevented some cookings. I am about to start Menu Monday's since peeps on instagram want my recipes!