What says January more than everyone we know getting sick, cold weather, and being stuck inside for a week? How about wishbones and carving pumpkins?
For the past few weeks basically everyone we know has been sick at least once and sadly about half of those people had a 2nd round of being sick. Thankfully we escaped all of those germs with only a single day of coughing and clear snot noses. (I do believe our cleanse helped in the health!) However, since cupcake has so very rarely been sick she doesn't really understand what "sick" is and as we've been telling her this person or that person is sick so we can't see them she gets frustrated. Subsequently, I got desperate.
So, we've taken hour long baths, finger painted with glitter glue, made bread from scratch, made a jumping obstacle course from the couch to the floor, added more decorations to cupcake's room, and of course....we carved pumpkins and broke our thanksgiving wishbone.
Let's just say we've got a lucky cupcake on our hands. When she took me head to head....
I've managed a little crafting. One of my New Year's Resolutions was to do more crafting for Cupcake. So, I made her a bow holder. I've made them for lots of friends but cupcake's bows continued to be a big mess in a drawer. Not anymore. C is for Cupcake!
The cleanse is over and the weather is like early spring here so while we're back to eating a more normal diet just in time for someone's birthday (The hubs), we pray our friends are healing so we can also get back to playing!!!
Don't worry, this is not a post about what I find in Cupcake's diaper 2-3 times per day. Though some days it is interesting to see what doesn't get digested. Peas, pumpkin seeds, ok...right...not that stool. A foot stool!!!
For Christmas Cupcake got a foot stool. First she used it as a little table to examine her other presents on. Then it became something to jump from. Don't gasp or judge but honestly jumping from the stool is the least of my worries these days. Next she learned the stool's real purpose was to aid in washing her hands in the bathroom. That was fun and all but it was quickly there after that she learned she could carry that stool anywhere to add about a foot to her height. Her current favorite is to bring it into our bathroom where she opens drawers and explores the wonders of lipgloss, nail files, hair brushes, shaving gel, toothpaste, lotion, and so on. Granted said stool is nice because Mommy and Daddy can both get ready while cupcake explores. BUT it also opens a whole new world of copy cat. I've resisted this one for awhile but today, I caved:
No need to watch it twice, the hot hunk of burning love who is also in the video is not naked. Close...but not. Wipe your drool and remember who this post was about...Cupcake's stool. More stool adventures coming soon.
In fact, dare I say another New Years resolution would be to help others take the family dinner back? I'm not sure what that looks like. I'm pretty sure it doesn't include fast foods, processed foods, or fried foods. I'm also pretty sure most people are scared to take the first step. Soooo, since it feels hopeless and scary, I should go for it, right?
Anyone looking for encouragement towards family dinner times, healthy changes, and local foods?
22 months that is. She's not almost 2. She's 22 months. Someone may be in denial but let's not point fingers. For today, she's simply 22 months.
She didn't have time for a picture. She was busy:
She really will eat that whole thing.
She LOVES to sing. Her favorites are Hello Everybody (a church song), Jingle Bells, Twinkle twinkle, and Happy Birthday. She loves to count and loves The Count (sesame street) though Oscar is her favorite. I'm sure it's because she wants to win over his grouchiness. She is busy, active, and athletic from sun up to sun down yet still naps like a champ. Her favorite foods right now are rice, apples, grilled cheese (she's spoiled to well aged, local, raw milk cheddar), sweet potato hummus (mommy made), and yogurt. She loves to help me with anything and everything. It is so precious and she tries really hard to do it "right." She loves to cook both for real and for pretend though she gets upset when she realizes all her work for the pretend is just pretend. She has an incredible memory. I can place 10 cards face down and flash her a matching one and she correctly can find the 10 with maybe 1 or 2 mistakes. This is adorable when playing memory. It's not so great when I say a curse word or in a moment of stress promise a treat that I didn't intend to really give. She'll keep me honest but whew! She is so very sensitive. She still cries or asks me to pray for other crying babies when we are in the store. She also gets her feelings hurt easily when kids take a toy, push her, etc. It's not that she cares about the toy or the push, she is just unsure of what she did to deserve it. I love her sweet side. She still loves books, puzzles, crafts, and stickers too. Basically she is just busy. Here was how our day went yesterday as an example of a typical day with Cupcake (though Daddy is usually here and with her from 7:30 - 8:00ish so they may do something a little different): 7:30a Wake up 7:45a Watch Elmo 8:00a Eat Breakfast - Organic O's and banana 8:30a Make some bread together (not my best idea since we can't eat it right now, it's in the freezer for later) 8:45a Wash dishes, I wash, she rinses 9:00a Play on the slide, in the princess house, and do a mini-obstacle course that Mommy set up 9:15a Take the bread out of the oven 9:20a Put together and fold diapers (she's a huge help in this) 9:30a Sweep the kitchen floor and vacuum up the pile. She could do this all alone if I didn't mind her missing a few spots. I help for quality control 9:45a Read books in her princess tent 10:15a Play the memory game 10:20a Have a tea party, she's an excellent hostess 10:35a Color 10:45a Fold the first load of laundry (she shakes out wrinkles, I fold) 11:00a Make beds (I pull the sheets and tuck comforters, she fluffs pillows) 11:15a Bible reading (her favorite story right now is David and Goliath) 11:20a Act out Bible reading (I always "get" to be Goliath) 11:30a play a computer game 11:45a start making lunch NOON lunch, grilled cheese and apple 12:30p feed babies and put them down for a nap 1ish - upstairs for nap 4ish - wake up from nap 4:15 - snack, raisins 4:30 - get the mail, babies in a stroller in tow 4:45 - dig through the mail and find a catalog - play I spy (I spy a baby, I spy a lamp, I spy a ridiculous dressed lady...is this porn? oh no, it's just Victoria Secrets, note to self to remove my address from their list, etc.) 5:00 - Hide and seek 5:15 - Read a few more books (Her favorite really is the Bible but she also likes Red Hat, Blue Hat) 5:30 - Start dinner, if Cupcake doesn't want to help, I let her watch a baby signing video to practice her signs. 6:00 - Dinner 7:00 - Bed time
Whew!! She's busy!! But soooo much fun. Happy 22 months BABY girl :). We love you.
The hubs and I started the 28 day challenge last Tuesday. I had read about it in one of my favorite magazines, Whole Living. It's by Martha Stewart Productions. Who's surprised I like it?
Anyway, from about October 31st-ish until the end of December we consumed more sugar than we like, let our good habits take a vacation, and even, gasp, ate fast food more than our targeted once per month. So, rather than jumping on the resolution bandwagon or telling ourselves we'd hit "moderation" again, we're starting with a cleanse. Out with the bad, in with the good, and hellooooo 2011.
In the first week we could not eat eggs, wheat, soy, dairy, added sugar, processed foods, peanut products, alcohol, juice beverages, or caffeine. Are you wondering what we ate? Lots of people are.
We ate this:
And this:
Lots of this:
Isn't healthy food pretty? It's yummy too, I promise. We also ate lots of other recipes from the magazine website and from my new favorite cook book, Power Foods. I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a chocolate meltdown or two where I felt like I needed one little bite. BUT I'd also be lying if I didn't say we felt great. So in addition to the food aspect we also did not watch t.v., severely limited our internet time, cleaned out some clutter, did yoga or back stretches, and read. It's been a great week. Nothing is ground breaking, it's not a diet, we aren't doing it for any promise of a better us or whatever, it's not even a forever thing. It's just a kick start to our new year....and we're liking it. If you want to take the challenge or read more about it, go here.
I'm packing away the last of the Christmas decorations, finally admitting that the hubs does have to work and can't permanently be on vacation, and doing a final Christmas dump on the ol' blog. After this, it's time to move on. If I don't the retail shops will have Easter out before I've even entered January.
Here's a few more shots from Christmas in Houston:
Cupcake had no problem opening gifts this year:
She also likes to be in charge. See her finger? She is saying "No, no doggy" Just like her Gigi, she runs a tight ship with the pets.
Luckily even with presents, relatives, trees, and more she still loves to "nuggle mommy" which means snuggle with mommy. :)
Pac-man went Santa Baby style
So did cupcake: When we came home we did our own family (meaning the three of us) Christmas. Even though cupcake had no problem opening gifts it was overwhelming everything beyond the first 2. We were thankful we had the foresight to stretch it out. Her surprise from Mommy and Daddy was a slide. I'm still not sure who the present was really for because said slide has also bought Mommy and Daddy time to cuddle on the couch, drink hot chocolate, and talk while cupcake fully exhausts herself going up and down, round and round, taking dolls and friends down too. It's a win-win.
On that note, Happy New Year to all!
We're a few days into our 28 Day Challenge which is NOT a New Year's resolution and is NOT a diet. It is a whole body cleanse. Chris keeps saying we are eating "garden-y" food but honestly we're all loving it. I sure miss cheese and chocolate but in 28 days I am guessing there will still be plenty of opportunities to eat either if I do so still desire. Bear with me in the coming days as I post a little on the challenge. I'm sure most of you don't care to see pictures of our "garden-y" food. But there are some that do and for those...I have something better coming down the pipe for you :)
I know most of you prefer cupcake driven posts but some of you have been anxious to see my Christmas "projects" which dominated my home rendering it unable to host friends for almost a week. Let's just say craft room is officially on my dream list....though highly unlikely given the layout of our home and our unwillingness to move anytime in the foreseeable future. This is why I said dream list and not wish list.
I got this beauty at a garage sale. For free. Because of a generous friend. It was in our garage for months though I knew the minute it was "mine" what I was going to do with it. It had pac-mans name all over it. Of course it is pink and princess-ey but that's what made it so *fUn* was telling people who saw it that I was giving it to my nephew :). Anyway, 4 short months later, about 10 yards of felt, 4 different colored spools of thread, some puffy paint (yep I went there), rick rack, fabric glue, 2 yards of doggy fabric, and lots of "workshop" time the finished product was indeed Pac-man appropriate:
Cupcake loved it too. Great for test market purposes. Heartbreaking for a mom to realize she has to tell her angel that the countless hours in making something she totally loves is not for her. This brings me to New Years resolution #1- Make more for cupcake. It seems she gets the left over ideas so for 2011 I'm starting on somethings special for her. I already have an idea for one. But like the princess castle, you'll have to wait. It won't be made of felt and I hope it doesn't take 4 months. Ultimately Pac-man loved it and that made my heart SOOOOOO happy. Check out his precious-ness. Then I just had to include my sissy in the fun! I figured she wouldn't have much time for a felt house of her own in 2011 since she is about to pop with baby girl but who doesn't love some fun decorations for their house that can interchange with the seasons. I started with these:
I ended with these. Click the picture for a better view.
I was jealous. Then I remembered I made them. New Years resolution #2: Make a set for me. Yay! A fun resolution that benefits me. Can that even count? Don't answer that.
I like being Santa's elf. I just think I should start earlier. New Years resolution #3: Start Christmas "projects" in October this year. Or earlier....but not likely. More on resolutions later if I'm feeling bold or have had a drink. Surely one of those will happen soon, right?!
