Counted

We were playing out the in driveway the other day and my little investigator saw a car pull into the cul-de-sac of our street.

He ran to see what or who was here...



and then happily announced that the census counting man was here!

Yep, we're official, our address is now noted for the census.
Exciting stuff!

:)

Ruuuuuunnnnnnnnnnn

Run, Colby, Run!

Seussified

Good news, I think we are close to completion with our Dr. Seuss room!

Sheldon aka Parker's room is this close to being totally done - paint, extras and all. Can you believe it? I think we covered our fair share of Seuss book artwork in his full-room mural, can you remember them all? I don't think I can!

Here are some pictures of the latest additions...

I know you've seen this picture before. BUT, can you see the difference this time?

Look closely! The Truffula trees are 3D - some of them anyways. The big one in the corner is actually a real stick (yes, secured very well to the wall), painted and then topped with a fuzzy Truffula Tuft. The smaller ones have fuzzy tufts added to them.

Can't have a bird falling out of the tree without real feathers!

The Ying now has water in his shower!

Still more to come here... can you figure out yet what might become 3D?

Can't forget to look up...

... at the ceiling fan which is painted red in honor of the Cat in the Hat!

"If I Ran the Zoo" you might run into this guy!

and if you or "I Can Read With My Eyes Shut" then we could read about knees in trees or bees on 3s!

And because it is a classic that has become a typical gift at graduation and a book to remind you about dreaming big dreams, I had to add some of the signature balloons seen in "Oh, the Places You'll Go!"

So the characters are complete, but the room is not... what else could there be?

What's wrong with this picture?

Can you tell that the Colmeister has learned how to use a zipper?!
What a funny boy!

I'd say this DEFINITELY qualifies for "Wordless Wednesday!"

The next generation of fuel!

Did you know that the Cozy Coupe runs on chalk?
This boy could be on to something... the next generation of fuel!

Spring has sprung with the Coop

And again more pictures of the little man in his Cozy Coupe. I did warn you that he LOVES this very free toy rescued from our local dump!




He goes in... and out!

Collects all sorts of "treasures" in the trunk!

Eagerly heads back in for another ride.

And I'd say he looks a little like Cruella de Vil on a mission, pedaling with those feet as fast as he can.


And sometimes tooo fast when going down the incline at the top of our driveway!

I think he might need a sandbox!

I think my idea for his birthday gift might be appropriate.
Our boy LOVES to dig!

With bulldozers...

and shovels...

shovels of all sizes...

digging is fun!

Milk?

Soooo, this question has been burning in my brain for quite a few months now. Guess it's time to just ask it and see if anyone responds!


How much milk does your family drink in a week?!



So now you're really thinking I'm weird or quite curious as to how this came up.



Well, as I said this has been bouncing around and I've been pondering the gallons per week question for many, many months now. Actually it's probably been since September when we switched Colbster from formula to whole milk.




And now for a little background.



I grew up in a family where milk wasn't exactly the latest and greatest beverage drank in the house. I actually think the only reason we had a 1/2 gallon of skim milk in the house each week was for my mom's tea. None of us were ever really big milk drinkers. My sister drank milk, but it wasn't the first thing she would grab for from the top shelf of the fridge when thirsty. Just there as an option. Sure, I had the occassional glass of chocolate milk with breakfast, but for the most part, orange or apple juice accompanied the waffles or English Muffin. I ate and still only eat my cereal dry, so again milk wasn't a bear necessity. And for lunch at school we either bought the 15 cent box of chocolate or white milk or I was lucky and surprised with a juice box. Dinner beverage was always Diet Coke for my mom and either juice or lemonade or iced tea for my sister and I. So again, milk wasn't the top item on the grocery list.





And then I met, dated and married into a family of milk-a-holics!



I sort of didn't know what to do when I would be the only one at dinner with a glass of water (juice, soda, or other beverages weren't even offered as an option. Lunch you could have whatever you wanted, but at dinner milk it was.) instead of whole milk. Yes, an entire family of grown adults still drinking whole milk at dinnertime. I thought this was totally strange knowing the history of my family beverage choices. Or ... was this the norm in the average Joe American family... and again, my family was the strange one? (That wouldn't have surprised me in the least!)



So here we were a young married couple and since Scott was the only milk drinker in our home, I still only really had to buy a gallon or so of milk a week depending on his travel schedule. If he was going to be away and I'd accidentally picked up the gallon, sure, I'd mix myself up a glass of chocolate milk like the old days, but still not for dinner, but only as a grab it on the way out in the morning and only really because I knew I'd be dumping it down the drain otherwise. I hated seeing that $$ wasted just because he wasn't home. And thus my history of buying milk and the number of gallons hadn't really changed since when I was growing up.





AND THEN...



And then we had a baby go off of formula and onto drinking whole milk.

GOOD-NESS.

I thought the grocery bill would be changing (for the better) because the little man was eating "real" food and not guzzling down formula and jars and jars and jars of baby food each day. (If you know our family history from back during this time I was still working full time and commuting nearly 3 hours a day so making my own baby food was totally out of the question.) Here I was thinking my budget was going to get better and whammo. Milk was found in rediculous quantities in our fridge each week. I'd buy a gallon and open the fridge a day later and it was nearly gone. Whahh??? So then I started buying 2 gallons and sure enough, turn around a few days later and it was close to being ready for the recycling pile.

What in the world is happening here?

So I said something to Scott one day in passing... I have NEVER in my life bought so much milk in a week. Where is it all going? He looked pretty stunned at my strange ponderence. What's wrong? We then proceeded with the conversation similar to above where I said how much milk I recall having in the fridge growing up and asking him how much he remembers in his house. Boy was I suprised when "at least 5 gallons a week" was the number that came rolling out of his mouth.

5 gallons? nooooooo?!

Really?

Geesh, that family is not going to end up with osteoporosis that's for sure! :)

So we continued along our conversation and concluded that we're not really sure which house was "the norm" these days. I thought given today's society and hustle, bustle, fast food consumption, it probably wasn't standard for a family to all have milk in their glass at the dinner table. Heck, most American's don't even sit down together for dinner anymore. He thought otherwise. Hmmm... which is it?!

Our little family of 3 (well, 4 or 5 depending on how you count) is growing closer and closer to the milk consumption Scott grew up with and it appears that perhaps it may be the norm. We're up to at least 3 gallons a week with only 1 little growing boy, perhaps 5 isn't out of the question when we have 2 grown boys.


So here's the real question... How about you? How many gallons of milk a week does your family drink? Does everyone have milk in their glass at the dinner table? Do you actually sit down together as a family to eat?


And as for us - The grocery budget is stable now that I've grown accustom to buying this large quantity of a beverage I don't even drink. I guess until our boys are grown and out of the house, I'll have to continue couponing and being frugal enough for 69 cent gallons of milk!

Outfitted

So Parker may be outfitted in hand-me-downs from Colbster, but I'd say he will have quite enough clothing to get by. Because I am an anal retentive planner and organizer, I started the 'unload the Tupperware bins of clothes' project early. Having unloaded 3 HUGE tubs of clothing, and not put but a teeny dent in the stack, I had clearly completely forgotten how much clothing Colby really had.


Like I had mentioned earlier, it's a reeeeeeeeeeally good thing this baby is another boy!

Doing this reminded me quickly of a conversation I had with a girlfriend of mine back when Colby was 3 or 4 months old. She has begun reminiscing how much laundry I must be doing with a very young baby (her children were 3 and 4 at the time). Confused, I recall asking her why??!!... she said because you have a baby and everyone with a baby does at least 3 loads of baby laundry a week. Ummm, yeah, my laundry habits hadn't really changed. I think I told her at the time I could probably go 2 or 3 WEEKS without doing Colby's laundry and not repeat a single outfit.... this picture reminds me why! I think her jaw hit the floor with my response. Mine hit the floor when I had counted how many hangers I had just gone through hanging these items in Parker's closet. Don't get me wrong, we are absolutely, totally and completely grateful and blessed by how generous our families have been with gifts for our child(ren). Not all of the clothes came to us brand new (although quite a bit of them did) we received many hand-me-downs from my sister, Dawn, since Michael is about 8 months older than the Colbster. Those have since dwindled now that the boys wear the same size! :) Anyways, I think we're good to go in the clothes department where boys in our house are concerned. Thus, you have it... This is a picture of the fully stocked closet waiting for baby #2 to arrive.

Might I add that these are only ---
1. Outfits = pants, tops, rompers, sweatshirts... onsies, PJs, socks and newborn hats are in drawers which are also exploding at the hinges.
2. Clothes from newborn to 6 months!!!!!!!! (Top rack is newborn to 3 months, bottom is 3-6 months)

And yes, as you lift your chin off the floor, the bins in the top also contain items used for the small child's wardrobe.
The red bins have bathing suits and sun hats.
The yellow bins have onsies from 3-6 months and PJs from 3-6 months because I couldn't fit more than newborn to 3 months of those items into the drawers - there are that many!
The blue bin in the top corner has onsies from 6-9 months.
The green bins (there are 2 you can't see the other) have holiday clothing for the year... halloween, thanksgiving, christmas, V-day, etc.
The blue bin on the bottom shelf has hoodie towels.

The closet isn't quite organized yet, but when I started out on this project I don't think I realized how much there really was. Can you believe there are 6 or so more Tupperware tubs of clothes sized 6-18 months still to unpack? Yeah, me neither.

Funny enough... Colbster may have had all these clothes, but in his entire lifetime has only owned 4 pairs of shoes! hahaha That's my clue he's definitely NOT a girl! :o)

You Could Sing with a Ying!

So this scene of the boy and his Ying who can sing isn't complete yet, but I figured I'd show you a little progress since it's been a few days since I last posted pictures of Sheldon's Seuss room.

It's a little tough to see the original outline.

And this is who the Ying who can sing has become. (thus far, more coming soon)

There's a little 3D effect going to be added here... can you guess what it might be?!

Just the final details to go... stay tuned for some photos of a completed room!

Our Happy Traveler

We are travelers!

I would say by now that if you're a reader of our blog or know us at least a little bit, that fact is quite obvious. Guess it's just in our nature. We enjoy working hard and playing hard... something I think we both learned having graduated from Lehigh. Therefore, because we work extremely hard throughout the year, we allow ourselves the opportunity to take vacations (and lots of them), travel, visit exotic places (sorry I'll have to upload some pics from our honeymoon in the South Pacific, but for now you'll just have to know we've been there), and enjoy our time together as a family at home, in our home away from homes and beyond. Our getaways don't always have to be a large chunk of time, maybe just a few days, or even a long weekend, but it's enough to feel refreshed and get energized to work hard all over again. A reward at the end always seems to add a little motivation to get the job done.

Thus, it was inevitable that our children would, too, have to be flexible enough to just go with the flow - be ready to pick up and go. Colbster has certainly fallen right into place here. Heck, he had already been to Annapolis, Disney, Smuggs, Williamsburg and more while in utero, he was destined to be a traveler just like us! From the get go we "trained" him that his car seat was his friend (although because of his reflux he didn't have much choice in this matter), a pack n play and hotel rooms , airplanes and airports are all great places to sleep, heck I think even once he offered to sleep in the suitcase (j/k), and napping anywhere is essential! I think he may wind up like Lily, who was able to sleep sitting up on a boat with fireworks going off! Regardless, I'd say he's a pretty portable kid, happy to be on the go!

And here again, the Colbmeister appears on a plane, in his own seat, cheerfully eating dinner and watching the luggage be loaded below him. Why you ask am I so blatantly pointing out that he once again is in his own seat on an airplane?! Guess it's just another step on my child safety "soap box" that I am so distinctly passionate about, similarly to my post about keeping him rear past a year, I DO NOT believe in the airplane lap child policy. Listen to this chapter of the book "Jet with Kids" available free on jetwithkids.com ...here... and you too will have a clearer understanding for why traveling on an airplane with your child in your lap is soooooooo unsafe. (It's a little long, but worth the listen if you have a few minutes). You wouldn't consider traveling with your little one not in a car seat traveling 6 mph down a dirt road, WHY then would you consider allowing them to go unrestrained in a metal tube traveling 550+mph at 35,000 feet?

And for my added 2 cents. Not only is it not safe, but it's not comfortable, practical or realistic for future planning. What would you rather have... a flight with a squirming child on your lap, who's not really sure whether they are supposed to be playing or sleeping because they've never experienced movement unrestrained. Back and forth from 1 person to the next, up and down not happy they are being contained to a 2 x 2 space with a 100+ other people around them also figiting ... or a calm, relaxed child who knows his familiar place when buckled in. This is MY seat, I sit here everyday in the car, I know what to do! Next time your on a plane with a screaming, fuzzy, unhappy child, peek your head up over the seats, be nosey and check it out - I can almost guarantee it is a lap child!

Sure, I get the idea that it is expensive to fly and that the lap child policy is supposed to encourage parents to travel via airplane without incurring the extra cost of the ticket for the young child. Well, the policy stops at 24 months. Do these parents suddenly come into big heaps of financial success just because their child turned 2 and they now have to purchase a seat for him? NO! So why not plan accordingly, this child is and will be a part of your family expenses until at least age 18, more likely 23! So why not begin planning for the added expense of the extra traveler from the very beginning?! Makes sense to me.

Buy the ticket, bring the seat (might as well, you'll most likely need it at the other end anyways), toss in a lovey or a Mickey and you'll have a good traveler, full belly and ready for a nap!

And then when the little one wakes up. A few crayons and paper will do the trick. Draw a picture for the flight attendant and it's bound to go up on the wall of fame!

Soooo... enjoy life, travel, bring the kids along, if you're happy, they're happy!

31 weeks?

Some people have just recently realized I was pregnant. Guess hibernating in the winter will do that. Although, I suppose based on pictures like this... you might actually not be able to tell.

Is she actually pregnant?!

Yup, confirmed!

30 + week baby bump is growing. But, just like when I was preggers with Colbster, I am pretty much all basketball belly. Good thing, too, don't think it's very enjoyable being HUGE. Here's to hoping it will be as easy to lose the baby prego weight as it was last time!

Artwork

I think now that we're outside more often and sidewalk chalk has become a daily event, the little man has really begun to enjoy creating "art". He'll sit and "draw", pick a different color and go back to his masterpiece... I actually would love to try out this really fun looking 3D sidewalk chalk!


Hopefully since we're in our own driveway we won't wind up like this poor 6 yr old girl who faced fines for creating her own sidewalk chalk art piece... do you think the fine will be returned with the first rainstorm?!
Are these people serious?!
It's a sidewalk... it's a child... it's CHALK!!!!



Practicing making lines!

Pick a new color!

The first masterpiece.

The artist!

The Work Completed... now it's time for vacationing!

And finally....

The conclusion to our wild Easter weekend adventures of driving, flying, unloading, hauling, rearraning, tiling, vacationing, and prepping for many memories to come!!!!

Of course, after all this blogging, I know you all wanted a "big reveal"!

Here's a few photos so you can see all the hard work paying off. Yes, of course, like any homeowner knows the projects are enless. There is always something to do to maintain any home - vacation or not, so there are a few bare walls that are awaiting pictures, there is a missing coffee table which is on order, there are landscapes that need pruning or planting... but... all in due time. A little here and a little there, the list grows shorter and the investment larger!

Congrats, Nanny and Pal on your new home!

"The Snowbirding Home"



Great Room - eagerly awaiting the new coffee table we found while we were there. Also, waiting for the art (a florida-ish mural was requested) for above the couch.

Turn around while in the Great Room and find the Dining Room.

Fear not, the 2nd valance is on order, just had not arrived yet! :)

Turn around from the Dining Room and find the very large, bright Kitchen - this was Colbster favorite spot to sit and look out the window! He's a people watcher for sure!

The first of the 3 bedrooms became the "Grandkids Room". A perfect spot for growing boys who certainly love Mickey Mouse.

And with furniture from Nanny and Pal's house, furniture we had at our house (not using any more because we had Parker's room to set up)...

... and a crib I found on Craig's List.

Together, we had inexpensively put together a completed room!

Toys, Books and more - perfect vacation home away from home for 2 little boys!

The 2nd bedroom is "ours", or anyone else who happens to visit, I suppose! I moved into a few drawers though so for now it's ours! hehe.

"Our bath" - complete with potty for the boys! (Nanny and Pal certainly thought of everything!!)


A Master Suite for the Snowbirds!

Their room (and the living room as you saw above) both have HUGE sliders that go onto the lanai. (It gets very bright and airy in here, don't be confused, the blinds were closed because we were getting ready to leave!)

A relaxing getaway if I do say so myself!

And what master suite would be complete without the coordinating bathroom and accessories!

Through the door is the shower and 'toity' and off to the left is the walk-in closet!
(Potential upgrade for a vanity with 2 sinks coming to a bathroom near you soon.)

And what Florida home would be complete without a brandy new tiled lanai.

A good book, game of monopoly or cards and a glass of lemonade...

R & R - HERE WE COME!

Egg Hunting

And what Easter would be complete without an egg hunt?

Easter Dinner and a trip to "The Castle"

It was Easter after all, so we decided to have a special dinner out. Special because we decided to go to one of our absolute favorite restaurants on the Disney property. (Luckily they had a perfectly timed last minute reservation available.) Kona Cafe at the Polynesian... so yummy, casual, beautiful feel like your on an island atmosphere... exactly what we needed after all that hauling, unloading and tiling!

Ahhh, 18 minutes later we had arrived - how much more perfect can this place get?

And because we had about an hour to spare before dinner, why not thrill the little man with a ride around the lagoon on the monorail?! Just because we can! How much fun is it that you can drive 1200 + miles (or fly) just to take the monorail for a quick spin.

He loved it (as usual) and 2 stops later we had arrived here...

Some people say that babies and toddlers don't quite have a keen memory. Really how much from before age 4 or 5 of your childhood do you remember? Well, we may all have stuffed our brains so full of things over 20, 30, 50, 80 years that the filing system is too full and perhaps those things aren't in the forefront of "need to remember" anymore. BUT, based on how fast these little feet were carrying this boys body, I'd say he certainly had remembered EXACTLY where we were!

He couldn't get off that monorail, down the ramp and headed towards the gate fast enough. It was very funny, you can probably hear us all in hysterics laughing in the background!

Pointing and babbling about the things he saw, I knew something had clicked. He probably didn't know the name or couldn't pinpoint when we'd been here before, but he knew. Too cute.

And because Pal is always doing his part to keep the Colbster "in the know" on his Disney info, there was some sort of 3 generation discussion going on at this point!


Pal, because of his birthday surprise extravaganza has an Annual Pass to WDW. Thus, he can go into the parks, whenever he wants, as many times a year as he wants, for as long as he wants... punk! And because Colbster is still younger than 3 years old, he too can go into the parks whenever he wants (obviously with an adult), however many times he wants, for as long as he wants. And wouldn'tcha know... those 2 took off and went into Magic Kingdom without the rest of us!!!

Leaving us standing outside Magic Kingdom to people watch, take pictures and just enjoy the sun - guess it wasn't sooo bad! Pal and Colby went through the turnstiles, happily waving and leaving us standing behind so they could go shopping.

Can't go to Magic Kingdom without coming home with something, right?! Pal and Colby sure thought so... Mickey hasn't left his side since!

And back onto the monorail we went to complete the trip around the lagoon to the Polynesian for Easter dinner. Following dinner we strolled the grounds to get our fill of the islands and soak up as much Disney as we could in a few hours time. As you can see standing on the beach overlooking the castle can cause some to gaze, ponder, and dream!

Alas, the time had come for our trip back home. We can officially now say we had gone to see the castle, too short a visit it was, but we'll be back soon!

Sunday Spud

Pirate disguised as a clown?
Or a clown in a pirate costume?
You pick!

For info on our Sunday Spud weekly photo update check out this post.

A little R & R in between

We certainly did our fair share of work over the 3 short days we were at Nanny and Pal's new home away from home, BUT... we did manage to sneak in some R & R too!

The new place has 3 pools and 2 golf courses on site.

SWWWWEEEEEEEEEEEEET!

So after a low-keyed morning with baskets and breakfast, what better way to spend Easter than at the pool! (Unfortunately we hadn't been there long enough to scope out the area and find a church or else we would have been headed there to celebrate, too! It's on the list should this become a holiday tradition.)

Board Shorts, Crocs and a Visor - what more do you need?

Pretty schnazzy "family pool", which I believe the temp guage in the water read 78 or so. There's a "quiet pool" and an olympic size lap pool as well for those who'd rather feel totally secluded from the kiddoes. And don't forget about the spa... might find me there once or twice on future visits! :)

We have a water boy on our hands so getting him out of the pool was almost as easy as going in from playing with "the coupe"!

The fresh air and swimming are a great combination for enjoying a nice looooooong afternoon nap. Can you see those heavy eyes already?!

So far Easter 2009 ranks right up there...

slow morning

pool adventures

loooong afternoon nap

Stay tuned to see what happened after that!

Ahhhhhhhh! I could get used to this.

Baby Brigham

You may have seen my 'tweet' on Tuesday that Scott's cousin, Tina, and her hubby Kevin became first time parents!

CONGRATS, Tina and Kevin on your new baby boy!

I had the pleasure of visiting them this week and meeting the newby. I do have to say it was a little strange holding a 7 pounder considering the Colbster was NEVER that small. Perhaps I'll get lucky this time around and Parker won't be tipping the scales on his birthday!

Happy Birthday,

Nicklas Wayne Brigham

Big eyes and lots of dark hair, I think he's following daddy's footsteps already :)

Welcome to the world of boys!

Easter 2009

Seeing as we were in Florida unpacking, hauling and helping the "snowbirds", we celebrated Easter on "vacation"!

I can see this may become a trend. It was fun waking up and just mellowing out in 80 degrees and sun, having a nice breakfast, opening some baskets, heading to the pool and having no adgenda for 1 day. Not a typical holiday with the hustle and bustle of getting here or there, putting in the turkey or ham, lots of relatives coming and going - you know the gig. We'll see what happens, every year brings something new.

So sure enough... Easter morning it was!

Colbster got his basket from the bunny and was thrilled! And of course because there were some Legos (to keep in Florida, duhhh), he tore right into the wrapping. Lot different than Christmas since you can see into the package!

ALTHOUGH... it may have been a little like Christmas considering, yes, our son IS wearing his monkey candy cane Christmas pajamas on Easter morning. They didn't fit at the time, so just because it's not December who says you can't wear monkey candy cane PJs?!

I LOVE this picture.... check out the grin.

Isn't that the face of a little boy completely happy with legos and the little things in life.

Building with dad - just good 'ol family time fun!

Oh and yes... another milestone in the Townsend house.

Colbster tasted his first PEEP!

Wasn't quite sure about it as he's certainly NOT a sweets guy - doesn't even like ice cream or cup cakes, who would have thought he'd think marshmellow and solid sugar would have been tasty. And with 1 bite, that was enough for him. I was thoroughly excited for this experience, small a bite as it was, as you may or may not know that I am a PEEPS fanatic! That definitely tops the charts of Easter Candy selections for me. Forget the Cadbury Eggs or giant solid or hollow chocolate bunny, a package of PEEPS and I'm golden. Well, maybe a few Starburst Jelly Beans to go along with the delicious chic and bunny sugary goodness :)

So despite being many states away the Easter Bunny found us!

Happy

Hard Work

Moving is never easy.

It certainly takes a lot of hard work, lots of elbow grease and energy to tackle all the things that are involved in making a house a home.

Nanny (aka Lois) certainly has a knack for the kitchen though!

That's whether cleaning OR cooking!

And Pal (aka Dave) was found ALL OVER... here's another picture of the man in action. I think he was lining 1 of many bottom cabinets. Big Kitchen = lots of cabinets!

But somehow driving down your street and seeing this...

or this...

... makes all the work so much more worth it!

Master Packer

I have mentioned before that I'm happily know in the family as the "Master Packer". Have something that needs to be consolidated, fit into a specific spot or not much room to keep something else... give me a holler, I'll make it fit!

Well, it seems that this past weekends hauling, moving and house set-up adventure was truly the test. A 24 foot boxtruck came FULL to the brim of furniture and BOXES! Thus, all this cardboard and trash had to go somewhere. After day 2 the garage was exploding with the disguarded contents of packaging material, boxes and anything else you can think of that would not have been put into a cabinet or bedroom...

Thus, the garage was looking like this...

Oh dear!

It's safe to say that not only was the clutter, chaos and disshevelment (yes, I made that a word) driving me ABSOLUTELY out of my mind, but I knew there probably wasn't going to be anyone else who could consolidate this mess. MASTER PACKER, here we come.

Of course because I'm a little competitive (NOOOO, not me) by nature, I had to set a goal for myself.

- I was determined to fill less than 10 bags of trash. -

and

- 1/8 of the 2 car garage could still contain boxes. -

So I set to work. Everyone else puttered around the house, coming in and out of "my" workspace. Taking full boxes in and bringing out empty ones... just when I thought I'd tacked the pile, there it was again. I felt a little like one of those cartoons that someone is playing a trick on... there's the pile of stuff, guy moves it over and turns around and there it was again, turns back to put it away and there it was again... it was my little challenge. The guys had their determination to beat us to Florida, Scott had a personal goal to be playing a game of Monopoly out on the lanai Easter Sunday and I was determined to beat the boxes!

Several hours later, I emerged from the cardboard!

Only 8 bags of trash!

I'd guess definitely less than 1/8 of the garage was full of boxes.

Yes, the lanai furniture box was still there (had to be it was still full of furniture and was about 400 pounds), but other than that I'd say... another job - CHECK - off the list!

A bit of sites and sounds

Along with lots of hard work, in our 3-day whirlwind Florida adventure we did get a chance to get out and see some of the area.

And lots to do there is.

Granted it is 20 minutes door to door to "the happiest place on earth" (Walt Disney World), but there was Pick Your Own fruit place a mile down the road, every restaurant you could think of, water parks, pools on site, 2 golf courses on site and so much more. Heck, you can even drive your golf cart to the grocery store AND there are special "cart" parking spaces. So FUN! Kinda nutty when you think that they will be living here, possibly full time, sometime in the near future - NEATO! I can already see school vacations and many trips south... oh and forget Cancun, what a great Spring Break trip this place would make! College kids and FREE housing, Nanny and Pal, better mark your calendar for March 2028!

Of course, you can't go to the Sunshine State without picking up a fresh orange. Cman tried to eat it right through the skin! haha And then when it didn't taste like the oranges he usually eats (out of the skin), he tossed it across the room because to him, not an orange, it's round so that must mean it is a ball! Logical, I suppose!

And what else would you expect to see strolling about in the parking lot of a local Florida ice cream shop - A Crane!

Why not?!

A hearty breakfast... and Progress

Our travels continued...

So after a long day of travel (for some driving, for others flying) and luckily a great nights rest, we were all ready to begin the unloading, unpacking and hauling once again.

This time in shorts and flip flops! YAAAA hooo!!!

BUT....

Not before a good n healthy breakfast! Chic-fil-A is healthy, right?! hehe

Now if you haven't had an "official" Chic-fil-A chicken biscuit, I apologize and feel dreadfully sorry that you have never lived!!! You can, however, now attempt to recreate the taste and yummy goodness of this chicken biscuit by heading over to your nearest McDs (because I know everyone has one of those around) and picking up one off their breakfast menu. It's close, but certainly not a Chic-fil-A!

Colbster prefers the Sausage biscuit as seen here...

Ahhh, satified and tum tums full... the labor (no, not birthing labor, but man power labor) can now begin again. Today's project at hand.

Laying a tile floor!

The lanai on Nanny and Pal's new snowbirding home had just a concrete floor, so with a bit of tile, "glue" and grout the boys began their work to prettify that portion of the house. It actually was the only "major" (which it really wasn't) renovation that they wanted to make. So to make it seem a little more "homey" for their beautiful new lanai set, tile it was!

Colbster was the inspector on the job insuring that each was spaced exactly the same!

And because it's a heck of a lot nicer laying tile in Florida even though it wasn't exactly a "vacation" ... we had many cheerful workers!

As the progress continued the inspector was sent inside where he could still clearly observe through the living room sliding glass door, but yet not get stuck in the mortar!

And with 1 days work, the tile floor was down, "glue" was drying and we were puttering throughout the rest of the house. There was, after all 1800 square feet of house to fill in less than 3 days! Boxes to empty, curtains to hang, dishes to put away, etc, etc, etc...

But...

By the end of day 1

Project 1 - Set up Cman and Sheldon's room - Check off the list!

Project 2 - Assemble and set up beds in 2 other rooms - Check off the list!

By the end of day 2

Project 3 - Tile lanai - Check off the list!

I'd say, so far we were doing pretty good for not having yet been there much more than 24 hours!

Cool Coupe

Told ya at some point I'd get photos of Colby in his "brand new" Cozy Coupe!

Thus far the Coupe is a HUGE hit. When we're outside playing it's the only thing he wants to play with. In and out, around and around, open the door, close it... rocks in the trunk, cup in the trunk, ball in the trunk... you get the idea! He is basically obsessed! haha Poor guy even cries his eyes out when it's time to go in! I'm doomed if he catches a glimpse of it parked in the garage when we're trying to get in the house from the car. "Cooooop, Cooop, Cooop" he shouts yearning for just 1 more minute to drive.

Speed racer!

"More" Cooop

In and out...

The Cozy Coupe, parked at its new happy home!

The Journey South!

NO, for those of you who have pondered all night long... WE did not move this past weekend.

We did, however, assist in helping 2 others begin their transition as "snowbirds".

For the last several weeks, we've been watching Nanny and Pal (Scott's parents) and their enthusiam grow and grow as they'd purchased a home in Florida. Of course it was a little stressful for them at times as they were finalizing details from afar, making list upon list of what needed to go and what needed to stay, how much furniture or how many dishes, but estatic none the less about a new place for new memories for years to come. It was a bit similar watching them making this decision, weighing the goods and bads, the financials, the specifics and then just diving in head first as when we decided to go out on a limb and buy our own timeshare in January at our "home away from home" - Smuggs. Similarly, they had vacationed time and time again in their "home away from home" - Walt Disney World and thus determined it was the right decision, at the right time, for the right price, what the heck, life is short and this is something we've worked hard for... and now here we are.

It's been quite a few years since they had moved (like since waaaay before Scott was born) so therefore with furniture abound in their own home, accumulations of heirlooms from grandmothers and a few fantastic purchases, they were able to completely furnish a full house! Now that's talent. Knowing in the back of their mind we had 1 shot at this... 1 time only would a HUGE truck be available to haul... 1 chance to get all these things from one end of the country to the other, the list was endless and planning absolutely mandatory. Not exactly bringing an end table as a carry on to stowe in the overhead bin on the next visit :)

On Wednesday night when the Budget truck arrived in our driveway... already completely FULL, I knew it would be a job for the "master packer" (that's yours truly) to fit and finaygle the last of the items going onto the truck from our house. A few pieces came out and moved here and then those went in and piled on there and matress here and crib set there - Wallahhhh! Phew, it all fit with inches to spare.

Now a good nights rest was much needed for "the haulers" as Scott and his dad would be making the 1200 + mile, 12 state journey from 1 end of the eastern seaboard to the other in just over 24 hours.

It's a looooooooooooooooong way!

Thursday morning, bright and early, determined to beat the NYC traffic, the guys were on their way! Race ya to Florida!

We checked in on their progress periodically and with each call the loud rumble of the motor assured me they were cruising right along, different state, different tolls, just a dad, a son, a 24 foot Budget truck and the open road. At one point I recall thinking back to that movie/book series The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants... and began calling them The Fatherhood of the Traveling Furniture! Seemed appropriate.

And with determination to beat us to the final destination, after lots of tolls, meals on the run and fuel fill ups they made it all the way to Hilton Head, SC on the 1st day.

Being 7+ months pregnant, I didn't think it too wise to sit in a Budget truck, or car, or van for that matter for the entire trip. Therefore, Colbster, Nanny and I took the easy route - Airplane!

So by this point your probably wondering why my original post was titled Spontaneity. Well, sure, Nanny and Pal had been pondering this purchase for many years, shopped and house hunted, then ultimately "did it", planned and packed and got ready for the day we could get the stuff there, but it wasn't until about 10 days ago that I realized... heck, we all have off on Good Friday, you guys can take Monday off and why not do it Easter weekend? Might as well, right? Sheldon will be here sooner than we think and so making this trek and having everyone available to help out with the least amount of impact on work schedules was crucial. Sooo with 1 conversation, the truck was ordered and flights booked and a spontaneous decision to make the drive / flight / move south was scheduled and quickly upon us.

Anyways, back to the drive...

A short nights rest at a hotel, and before you knew it Friday morning rolled around. Sure enough, determination and stamina win again... Scott and his dad were pulling into the driveway of the new humble abode before we had even fastened our seatbelts and pulled onto the runway! I was NOT happy that they were getting several extra hours of shorts and sun, 88 degrees with a light breeze!

After a smooth flight with 1 terrific traveling toddler, we grabbed our rental car and were off to meet up with the moving men!

Great spot!

Great weather!

Great house!

JUST A GREAT PLACE FOR CREATING GREAT MEMORIES!

By the time we got to the house, the "moving men" clearly had not stopped for even a glass of water since they had arrived. The garage already looked like this...

Oh boy!!!... being on the clean-up crew, I knew already I had my work cut out for me.

But enough work and travel for 1 day, dinner and bed were a must.

And by the way, our hubbys are absolutely fantastic. We had said when they arrive there was 1 mission, 1 goal, if anything, the only thing that needed to get done on Friday afternoon was for Colbster's crib to be set up so he could go to bed and realize that was going to be his (and Parker's) room. (Yes, I had brought the pack n play just in case there were snags along the way, but we didn't want to use it if we didn't have to. 1 bed. 1 change.) No boxes needed to be unloaded, no toys, just a crib, mattress and sheet to go on it. We could all suck it up for 1 night and sleep on the couch or airmattress or floor, but the little man is still too young to comprehend multiple transitions and their reasons, so that was the goal - keep the little man content and we'll all be much better off. Wouldn'tcha know! They had nearly the entire truck unloaded, the little man's room, bed, dresser, book shelf, and even the toys out ready and waiting! (Pictures coming later)

We put the little man to sleep in what would be his new room (and soon to be Parker's) at Nanny and Pal's south house. We all then stopped for several minutes in awe that we were actually here, there, in the moment... our sponanteous decision to make the move this weekend was here - crazy! I don't remember who said it, but ... moment's over - grab a box! And we continued unpacking, setting up, rearranging and doing the mad dash so we all had a cushy brandy new bed, pillows and sheets to sleep on that night.

Mission accomplished!

Shut eye here we come!

Upon beginning a few projects to get the weekend started Saturday morning (stories coming soon), a trip to Lowe's was needed for a housewarming gift (and more stories here too). Heck, while we're out, might as well take in some of the local flavor. We made a quick stop to get some fresh oranges and grapefruit here...

nope, no time to pick directly off the trees, but the stand was good enough for now.

Not going to find this in the north...

Having had a great nights sleep in his new room and bed... And with another successful stop, the Colbster was still a happy camper!

SO there you have it... the introduction to our wild holiday weekend of adventures. Begins with a journey and will continue with some wonderful memories. I've got lots of stories to tell and pictures to share, we definitely did a lot and saw a lot and made quite the dent in unloading, hauling, updating and unpacking in a few very short days. Even snuck in some R & R along the way - can't forget that in what is a very beautiful vacation spot!

Check back as I update the blog with more scenes from our time away.

Spontaneity at its best!

Townsend is our name...
A spontaneous decision is the game!


This is the beginning of our wild weekend of adventures.
Ready for a looooooooooooong ride?!
Holiday or not... here we come!


On Wednesday,


THIS arrived in our driveway!


By 11:30pm,

the back looked more like this!


And soon enough,

the door was closing with a smile ready for the road ahead!


Stay Tuned, the adventure continued for several days!

The ball...

The other day we were playing with this ball.


The wind was blowing and so the ball kept rolling away....

we'd run and bring it back...

and then it would roll away again.


So we practiced kicking,

and throwing the ball into the wind...

and then watched and waited for it come back to us.

We would chase it all over...



So Simple.

1 ball

1 toddler

and the wind.

Delivery Truck

I told you the Colbmeister LOVES these silly colored plastic eggs... he did last year too, so maybe its a trend!

Last week when we were playing with the eggs - sorting by color, opening and closing, there are all sorts of things you can do with plastic eggs - he finally decided to fill up his dump truck! Then, the fun began... he must have pulled the truck around and around and around the house for 30 minutes. Fill up and pull, faster, then stop and dump it out... fill it up and then dump it out - he made up the little game all by himself!

Early Easter

Knowing we wouldn't be "home" for Easter this year, we celebrated Easter with the Colbster a few days early... Ham, Easter baskets and all!

Where were we? Oh that's coming in another post!

The little man is really into stickers these days so some small trinkets, stickers and coloring books made his Easter basket complete. He was happy just to play with the plastic eggs so this year we had several egg hunts and had 1 happy boy!

Woah, a truck!

Even better, the truck goes on its own.

Peek - a - Boo!

Could there be someone hiding behind the cushion?

Surprise...

Here I am!

Egg Coloring

I'm skipping the Sunday Spud today and instead bringing you pictures of our family Easter Egg coloring tradition! See you next Sunday for another Sunday Spud!



We've always colored Easter eggs just for fun, even when it was just Scott and I. This year, though, we got to really include the Colbmeister in the fun too. I think he liked to just sit and watch, but he did get in on the sticker action. We didn't have too too many eggs to color or decorate this year, 18 count brown eggs were on sale for 97 cents at the grocery store (couldn't pass up a deal like that) so I only bought a small 6 pack of white ones. Pretty tough to color brown eggs without having them look a little odd... Mr. Thinking on his Toes, Scott, did use the brown ones for the shrink wrap thingy that comes with the egg coloring kit so that was fun. It was the family fun time together that matter anyways, next year maybe we'll try out one of the paint kits!

Ready for dunking!

In go the shrink wrapper eggs.

Check out that look of curiosity.

Cman showing off one of the egg shrink wrapper pieces

1, 2, ....

Woah, they're all different colors.

He decided the eggs needed to be dried off because they were all "wehht"

Time to "steeek" on the stickers

Bunglie Bunny

A boy and his bunny!

What could be better just in time for Easter than a little boy who loves his bunny so much he snuggles it closer and closer each night at bedtime? Bunglie hears our bedtime story and gets rocked each night, I'd almost think I was rocking 2 (well 3) little boys at the same time. Of course having fallen asleep Bunglie gets released from the clutches of Colbmeister's loving arms, but he is still close by, just in case a mid-evening snuggle is needed.

Colby got Bunglie Bunny (and yes that is officially his name per the Jellycat company) as a generous gift from one of Scott's salesmen, George, and his wife, Betsy, back when he was born. They sent him with a book titled Dirty Wow Wow and Other Love Stories and what a perfect match it was. Even back then Scott and I said how we could imagine the little guy dragging around this wild bunny with floppy ears and dangly arms until the stuffing was pouring out just like many of the other characters found in this book. And then several months later we received another book called Tom Rabbit. How fitting now that Bunglie Bunny is in the picture, Sammy, the little boy in the book, gets replaced with Colby and Tom Rabbit, the toy bunny, gets replaced with Bunglie when we read that story at night. I can only imagine what Doug thinks since he has yet to get a staring role in 101 Portuguese Water Dogs!

We had followed all the golden rules about stuffed animals in the crib for the first 15 or so months and then one day Colbster found Bunglie Bunny in his toy bin. I caught him reaching and stretching as far as he could through the rails of his crib. When I finally figured out what it was he was reaching for, he grabbed him and with a HUGE hug let out a big sigh... ahhh. I finally got you! The dangly bunny has been irreplaceable as a "lovie" who goes to bed strangled (aka snuggled) ever since. Sometimes Pooh Bear does stand in when Bunglie just isn't cutting it that day, who knows what goes through toddler brains when they are dazed and confused ready for bed! Luckily we've been very good about keeping these types of items contained in the crib so we don't wind up with a Linus, or Colbster wanting to drag his "raggie" and Bunglie to Kindergarten. Cman doesn't seem to mind that Bunglie goes back to bed when we head downstairs for breakfast, just as long as he is still there waiting when we go back for nap and bedtime!

Happy Easter Bunglie!

More Parties...

So Birthday Bash weekend continued with another kiddoe party for our friends Brandon and Cindy's son, Dylan!

HAPPY 4th BIRTHDAY!

We went from firetruck and cars party the day before to nature center and bugs, frogs and turtles on Sunday. FUN! There is a fantastic nature center in our area complete with owls and a pond on the property. They have programs for school children as well as preschoolers to come and learn about nature, animals and their habitats. At the birthday party the instructor took out turtles and frogs and all sorts of other little creatures for the kids to pet. We then took a nature hike around the pond to look for the goose who was sitting on her egg and turtles sunning themselves. Mr. Curious, aka Colbster, almost took a dip in the pond, but mom's cat-like reflexes grabbed his hoodie and strangled saved him from another spill (like the mud the day before). Typically boy, I suppose! :)

Unfortunately I was clearly not on top of my game in the midst of this wild weekend that I forgot my camera. Sorry all. I swear everyone was having a good time, nature, pizza, pinata and all.

Birthday Party #1 - Cousin and Kids

So our whirlwind trip south and the beginning of the double birthday party weekend turned out to also be a cousin fest! A pseudo Lennon (my dad's family) reunion as I didn't realize all the people that would be there. It was quite a fun get together as we definitely don't often get to see this side of my family too much. I think the last time more than 1 or 2 of us were together was at the actual Lennon Family Reunion in Aug 2007! There's been several additions and new up-coming additions even since then so we all had a great afternoon catching up and playing with the cousins.

The birthday boy, Steven, and his dad, Ben, on the firetruck!

Oh and can't forget the most important part - who's birthday was it? My cousin Liz's son Steven turned 2! HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEVEN! We always thought it was fun our little boys were so close in age... well, guess what... our 2nd little boys will also be close in age. Liz and Ben are expecting their 2nd in July! Look out girls (ALL of my cousins on this side of the family are girls) the boys are invading! Between the 8 cousins we now have 12 kids of our own... only 2 of which have been girls! The winds of change are a comin'!

2 moms of 2 yr olds expecting 2 more boys!

Now that's a tongue twister :)

We were so glad we were able to make it down and spend time together. And especially since my cousin Tara had a little boy last year, Jimmy, and we hadn't met him yet. Another 1st birthday coming up.

Jimmy and Tara, me and Colby, Steven and Liz, Janet

... and of course a few cousins missing!

Can you see the Lennon resemblance in the eyes or what?

Colbster and Aunt Nancy were having a blast playing with all the balloons. The balloon Alien was a big hit!

This was after he fell face first in the mud, but we won't discuss that part of the afternoon :)

A firefighter in the making!

Charlie showing off his skeleton face painting!

Despite the family festivities and even getting to ride on a fire truck, I think Colbster like the magician and the balloon Alien he got the best! He had that thing held so tight the whole 3 hours home, ummm so tight that he popped the legs. Guess it's another excuse to get together with the family again :)

Birthday Party #1 down, a turnaround trip later and we made it home... safe to say that Colberoo had already sacked out and was snoozing in the backseat, good thing mom remembered to pack the PJs - partying is hard work!

Great Grandma visit

It was quite a busy weekend around here. We were double booked with birthday parties in 2 different states on 2 different days. Turnaround trips and being on the road is just a part of us. Colbster is a great traveler (luckily) and just hops in and goes with the flow. 2, 3, 6 hours later whatever the situation may be, he's still happy as a clam in his car seat as long as we keep the toddler tunes jammin', tummy fed and don't forget the naps! (Our tactic will certainly changing now that the potty is a big part of our life! Stay tuned there.)

En route to visit some other family for birthday party #1 we stopped to see my grandmother. Yep, the same g-ma who has past down the famous green cake recipe! Last time we visited "Great Grandma", you may recall that Colbster enjoyed a sweet ride on her walker seat. Unfortunately since then she has fallen and broken her hip. Not the first time this has happened, and clearly she bounced back from that to again be running down the halls with the little man in tow... but obviously she's a bit more fragile these days so in a bit more pain this time round. A little prayer for a speedy recovery and for her to keep up her good spirits would be appreciated.

We do our best to get there as often as we can to visit since it seems she's always extra cheery and chatty when the Colbmeister is around. Somehow he can always make her laugh until she cries just by being his silly self. I can't imagine how happy to see us she'll be when Parker arrives and she'll have been a great grandma 2 times over! Not too many people have that in their ranks of accomplishments.

Colby was showing her his impression of how he can "be a bat"!

Smooches until next time.

It was a short visit this weekend, a nap was overdue and party #1 was already starting, but we'll be back again soon for some more family events coming up.
Besides, don't think it was the amount of time we are there that matters, just that she gets that big great grandma smile to last for days and months to come.

Normal?!

So if you've ever been pregnant or know anyone who has, you already know that between 27 and 29 weeks the doc hands over the standard lab slip to head off for your blood glucose tolerance test for Gestational Diabetes. It's not a big deal, just the standard lab bloodwork for a high blood sugar condition some women develop during pregnancy, but ughh it's more annoying just because it lasts 1 hour and that's IF there's no one else in the lab waiting before you. The initial test involves showing up, drinking some orange soda type drink, sitting around, twiddling your thumbs, waiting and waiting some more for an hour and then having 1 vial of blood drawn before you head off on your merry way! No big deal... don't even have to fast for it! Bonus.

So here I am 29 week along and have had the slip in hand to do my blood glucose test for the last 3 weeks. It's been a little busy here and I'm not exactly going to drag a pint size little boy to sit around at a lab with me for an hour so finding the time to go has been interesting. I knew I had to do it 1. before the 29 week mark and 2. before my next Dr. appt soooo with 2 days to spare I went Monday night after dinner, Scott was home, Cman was snoozing and I was free and clear to sneak out and sit around twiddling my thumbs for over an hour at the lab.

I arrive, check in, yadda yadda, and drink down my 50 grams of glucose orange soda like solution, which, funny enough is actually not too bad. I sit and wait, read some magazines, Twitter a bit, check email and just wait some more. The idea is to see how efficiently your body processes sugar and in 1 hour my blood was drawn and I was on my way home. Luckily I happened to be the only person in the lab at 7:30 at night! Phew.

Sure enough the following day I get the call from my doctors office... oh boy, whenever you get a call after tests you always know it's something. Soooooo I suppose it wasn't such a great idea to have a pasta dinner before I went for a diabetes test! ha.

Different practitioners use different standards for determining whether your level is abnormal or too high. My doc uses 130... 130 what? Some will say that if your one-hour blood sugar level is 140 milligrams of glucose per deciliter of blood plasma (mg/dL) or more, you need to have the looooooooong glucose tolerance test. Others put the cut-off at 130 mg/dL to catch more women who may have gestational diabetes, even though there are likely to be more false positives this way. And here I was on the receiving end of the lab results ... and the nurse says I failed! Failed is such a harsh word don't ya think?! Yeah, failed by 1 silly point. I had a 131. Yep, definitely was the dinner... hmmmm, or could it have been the handful of Starburst jelly beans I'd grabbed after lunch. Yum Yum. Safe to say there aren't any left for me to go get some more as I write this!

1 silly point... 1 point?! I pleaded with the nurse to not, please not, please pretty please with more jelly beans on top go make me take the 3 hour test.

OYE!

None the less, my pleads did not convince her, hot fudge, jelly bean or whipped cream and cherry on top, that I could skip the test. And sure enough, because I was now 1 day away from 29 weeks I had to go right away.

TOTAL PAIN IN THE Tooosh. I had to figure out over the last 3 weeks when the heck I was going to go take the silly 1 hour test where I didn't have to fast and NOW she wants me to go within the next 24 hours to get the 3 hour one done where I DID have to fast. GREEEEEEEEAT!

Again, what a pain... I didn't have to do this when I was preggers with Cman and I knew my health was just as good if not better this time around so arggg. But, I suppose precautions are better than not.

Anyways, luckily the Colbster goes to "nursery school" the following morning so I was covered in the 'toddler sitting around for 3 hours in a lab' department and could actually go get the blood work done the following morning.

So Tuesday night I had dinner with the fam and then followed the usual protocol not eating or drinking anything for at least 8 hours. Mine turned out to be 15 by the time I went for the test, but oh well I was asleep and didn't notice.

I get to the lab, check in and same yadda yadde. This time they draw a sample before you drink the cola type soda like drink which has 100 grams of glucose instead of just 50. (Not as tasty as the orange I must say, but doable.) And sure enough 1 hour, 2 hour and 3 hours later they draw another blood sample to check your levels at each hour. So, safe to say I've been poked at least 5 times in the last 2 days, both arms, many veins, good blood flow... well that 5 pokes is not counting the 1 time the nurse missed at hour #2 when we were gabbing about the weirdo old lady in the waiting room!

Anyways, I twiddled my thumbs and read a magazine, returned some phone calls, Twittered and people watched the first hour. The second hour I snuck out to go check out the fabric store down the street and see if I could find any "Seussy" looking fabric for Sheldon's room (I was, after all, there at this silly lab test because of him so I might as well involve him), no such luck. The third hour I tried to make our POA (plan of action) for September's annual Disney trip... we have to make our meal reservations soon so figured I might as well start plotting that info out and make use of these glorious 60 minutes I rarely ever get to myself. FINALLY, 3 hours later I was released from labratory captivity. Luckily, the nurse and receptionist were quite pleasant so it wasn't totally horrible being there that long. Nice to go though. Nice to be able to eat something after 20 hours.


Soooooooooo, standard lab work has ended and now I wait.


Yes, wait for them to tell me I am once again a normal 'ol regular healthy pregnant woman OR a statistic, a gestational diabetic.


My friends, again, no need to fret, I am still as normal as I was 1, 2, 3 days, weeks, months and years ago with no diabetes outlook in my future. Alas, the silly pasta dinner did it for sure. (Or was it those yummy jelly beans).

I seemed to have past the test with flying colors - hmmm, can't imagine why?! Scott only has labeled me as the "happiest pregnant woman he knows". I believe I've overheard him talking to a friend at some point in the last 6 months worried we would wind up like The Duggers with 18 kids because pregnancy is so nonchalant for me. No, don't get any ideas, I can assure you and am going on the record at this time - I will NOT be giving birth to 18 children or 12 or even 7 for that matter. Not happening! But sure enough if you know me personally you know I'm not phased by much and pregnancy is just that in my case... not much. Sometimes I actually forget because I carry on my normal regular life, hahahah, and then I bump into the table! Oh yeah, there's that whole growing child inside of me thing happening and I now have a small beach ball protruding from my shirt. Knock on wood, I'm lucky. And knock on wood, I am still a regular ol prego.


And for those biology types out there...You get the "label" as a gestational diabetic if you have higher than normal results on 2 of the 4 blood draws from the loooooooong test.
Fasting if you are 95 or higher
At 1 hour 180 or higher
At 2 hours 155 or higher
At 3 hours 140 or higher

I had a 65, a 115, a 91 and a 101. Yep, waaaaaaaay normal! I could've told ya that with 3 hours and 6 less pokes from a nurse.

Oh well, I did what the doctor ordered. Better safe than sorry.

And alas, now I can continue on with the last 10 weeks and 5 days of my 40 week gestation. So, still no news to report although this was pretty exciting when it comes to news about me and pregnancy.


Still here, plugging away, happiest prego on the block!

Have I Ever Told You About "Tweedle Beetles"?

Remember this photo from this post?

Did you take a guess?

Figure out what it was to become after the magic of paint was applied?

If you guessed Fox in Socks then you were right?

Anything else... ehhhhdddtttt... try again! :)

Yes, Fox in Socks has come alive as have the "Tweedle Beetles", one of Scott's personal favorites! I have a feeling this is his absolute #1 Dr. Seuss book to read to Colbster. He uses all different voices and they just get so silly together when they read about Mr. Knox and Fox in Socks - Sir!

"When a fox is in the bottle where the tweetle beetles battle with their paddles in a puddle on a noodle-eating poodle, THIS is what they call... ...a tweetle beetle noodle poodle bottled paddled muddled duddled fuddled wuddled fox in socks, sir!"

Of course the Truffula trees are coming along, still more to do there, but I'll leave you hanging as to what will be added next.

Think 3D!

And who could forget about the "THNEEDS"!

"A Thneed is something that everyone needs."

Last wall coming up!

Sunday Spud

A drunken sailor maybe?!


For info on our Sunday Spud weekly photo update check out this post.

Teef

Our little man is quite the creature of habit. Everything has it's place, a time and order - hmmm, wonder where he got that from?!

He knows in the morning while I'm blow drying my hair what time it is... and runs over, pulls open the drawer and grabs his toothbrush all the while saying "teef, teef, teef!" He brushes and brushes and runs the water, I pretend he's doing the greatest job ever and when the blowdryer goes off the toothbrush gets rinsed and he hops down, puts it away and off we go.

At night, a similar routine... he knows right after his medicine that the "teef" get brushed.

Scrub a dub dub, off the counter and into the PJs we go!

Good Deal... Free Schtuff

So I now officially love Target Tarjay as much as I love CVS!

I've heard they had some pretty good deals on certain items, but I've never actually been a big Tarjay shopper. Not sure why, maybe because it's quite a bit further than CVS. But, since it is by a Babies R Us I figured I might as well swing through and check out the deals or steals they have.

Lucky for me, I did feel like I was stealing.

Did YOU know good deals await at Tarjay!

So what did I wind up with?

Well, I've actually been twice in the last week because I felt like I was stealing and had to go make to make sure it was actually true and not a fluke.

The first trip, I wound up with:

- 4 tubs of wipes

- 3 Johnsons Buddies Soaps

- A new Nursing wrap for when Sheldon arrives

- A box of diapers

- A coloring book, stickers, and some other trinkets for Colbster's Easter Basket

All for under $6!!!!

WOAHHHH, this cannot be true.

So the other day, I swung through again... It must be true!

This time I got:

- 1 jar of Salsa

- 4 Gerber Graduate items (which I typically have never buy because I feel like items like this are a waste of money, but when they are free plus overage you just have to take them! Good for traveling I guess.)

- 1 bottle of Pledge Multisurface

- A drawer organizer for Sheldon's sock drawer

- Travel size Contact Solution

Ummm, yeah, with all the coupons and deals the cashier was going to have to pay me and started laughing. So I had to pick up another random item at the cash register in order to be over the zero dollar mark.

Tarjay has made it on the deals and steals shopping trip list!

Where the ONCE-LER lives!

We've been painting away and "Sheldon's" room is looking quite "Seussy" now that more characters have been added from even more Dr. Seuss books. Thought you might like to see the progress.

Can you guess what will appear here in a few days, the outline is basic, but you might be able to figure it out if you know Seuss and his Silly Sox Sir!

Yes, if you were wondering, that is a bathroom off to the right of the picture and then yes, it is Colbster's room beyond that. When we built the house we purposefully came up with a design similar to that of the Brady Bunch - a Jack n Jill bath connects the 2 bedrooms. Well, I suppose it is now a Jack n Jack bathroom!

A corner of the room complete with Truffula Trees.

The Lorax speaks for the trees, for the trees have no tongues!

The ONCE-LER isn't going to chop down these trees to make THNEEDS!

Here's a cute movie of "The Lorax"

And the baby bird has fallen out of it's nest. Hopefully he will find his mother!

Now that this side of the room was complete, we decided to put the crib up!

We're getting there... 12 weeks and counting!