I have been so SO busy this week. What have I been busy with? Entering hundreds of contests, of course. There's a great blog, linked to at the bottom of my blog, called Bloggy Giveaways. Almost every day they give something away and all you have to do to enter is leave a comment. But this week she is hosting a "carnival" where hundreds of other bloggers are doing giveaways too and they are all linked to Bloggy Giveaways. I've been busily clicking away and dreaming about all my booty. I've also been totally inspired (and a little intimidated) by how talented some of these ladies are, since many of the giveaways are homemade things.
Anyway, most of the giveaways are open through at least tomorrow at midnight - so you still have time to waste some time. Go on over there and enter contests to your hearts content. Maybe you'll meet a blog that you'd like to keep an eye on in the future. I know I have.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Comic relief
And now, for a little comic relief...
Isaiah is getting several new teeth right now and his form of pain relief seems to be licking and sucking on his lips and tongue. It's hard to take him seriously when he's intermittently crying and then doing that.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
My big girl
I recently said on this blog "I'm sure Naomi is a genius, too. She just hasn't hit any of the flashy milestones lately. " Well - now she has (hit a flashy milestone, that is)! Naomi has been toilet trained for, I don't know, a couple of years now I guess. But she was still wearing Pull-Ups at night. We tried when we first toilet-trained her to go totally off diapers and such - but she could only make it through the night with clean sheets if she woke up in the middle of the night and went to the bathroom. Which, most of the time she would do. But it just didn't seem like her body was quite ready - so we let her wear Pull-Ups. She didn't really want to - she wanted to be a big girl.
Anyway - TMI I guess... The other day she accidentally forgot her Pull-Up and noticed in the morning. She asked if that meant she never had to wear them again. I said "sure, as long as you don't wet the bed". And she has gone 5 nights now with no Pull-Ups! Hooray, Naomi!
...Now if only I hadn't JUST stocked up on Princess Pull-Ups...
Here's a picture of my big girl. I told her to show me her best, happy, big girl smile. This is what I got.
Monday, January 28, 2008
A restaurant at home
Well, I guess this proves that things are back to normal: I made actual food for dinner tonight. Last week our menu contained things like plain pasta and Jell-o. This week I worked hard on planning my menu with some new and healthy things. Tonight we had Turkey burgers. I got the recipe out of Real Simple (one of my favorite magazines). They were great! Even Naomi ate one (I made a small one and called it "kinda like a chicken nugget"). We made them on our new George Foreman grill - thanks Grandma Worth! They really tasted like they were from a restaurant. A little tip though: use 3/4 TEAspoon of Thyme - not 3/4 TABLEspoon (oops!). Oh, and also, I didn't use zucchini because our grocery store didn't have any. Apparently there was a freeze in Florida that killed most of the crop this year. I bet it would be even yummier with the zucchini. Enjoy your Turkey Burgers!
3/4 lb ground turkey
1 medium zucchini, grated
1 medium carrot, grated
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3/4 t dried thyme
3/4 t kosher salt
1/4 t black pepper
1 large egg
3 T olive oil
4 slices of crusty bread
4 small leaves Boston lettuce
4 T mayo
2 t lemon juice
Heat broiler. Combine, turkey, zucchini, carrot, garlic, thyme, salt, pepper, and egg. Form the mixture into 4 patties. Heat 1 T of the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook the patties, turning once, until no trace of pink remains, 4 to 5 minutes per side (or about 4 minutes total in my G.F. grill). Meanwhile, place the bread on a baking sheet and brush with the remaining oil (or just throw that onto the G.F. grill too). Broil until golden brown and crisp, about 1 1/2 minutes. Combine the mayo and lemon juice in a small bowl and serve with the burgers.
Yum! Yum!
3/4 lb ground turkey
1 medium zucchini, grated
1 medium carrot, grated
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3/4 t dried thyme
3/4 t kosher salt
1/4 t black pepper
1 large egg
3 T olive oil
4 slices of crusty bread
4 small leaves Boston lettuce
4 T mayo
2 t lemon juice
Heat broiler. Combine, turkey, zucchini, carrot, garlic, thyme, salt, pepper, and egg. Form the mixture into 4 patties. Heat 1 T of the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook the patties, turning once, until no trace of pink remains, 4 to 5 minutes per side (or about 4 minutes total in my G.F. grill). Meanwhile, place the bread on a baking sheet and brush with the remaining oil (or just throw that onto the G.F. grill too). Broil until golden brown and crisp, about 1 1/2 minutes. Combine the mayo and lemon juice in a small bowl and serve with the burgers.
Yum! Yum!
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
H - E - double hockey sticks on wheels
Well, we're back in Virginia finally. It feels good to be in our home again. But let me give you a quick run down of the last few days so you understand the title of my post.
warning: yucky details to follow.
Friday - Asher throws up breakfast all over Grandma's carpet.
Richard is supposed to arrive in Texas so he can drive back to Virginia with us, but takes a stand-by ticket instead (he got a free ticket out of the deal).
Saturday - Asher seems to be doing better - maybe his being sickly and mellow will work to our favor, right?.
Richard actually arrives in Texas and we all pile in the van to start our drive (5 hours of driving scheduled for this day). Ahhhhh, nice comfy hotel bed.
Sunday - We're on the road again by 9am. Our DVD player stops working. Asher throws up again in Arby's at lunch. We stop at a Target to buy a new DVD player and some Pedialyte. We don't arrive at the next hotel until 9pm (7 hours of driving scheduled for this day). 10pm Nancy takes 2 Tylenol PM to ensure a good night's rest.
Monday - 12:01am Naomi wakes up throwing up. Nancy and Naomi stay up all night while the boys sleep in the next room. Nancy starts being sick at about 6 am. We finally leave the hotel at noon. Many bathroom stops, a lot of crying, and nine hours later, we arrive at home (7 hours of driving scheduled for this day). Richard is our hero for taking us all the way home even though we all cried and I longingly looked at every hotel we passed, wanting to stop for the night.
Tuesday - 5 am Richard wakes up being sick. The kids are feeling better, but still tired and out of whack, Nancy is going to die of exhaustion. Home Teachers save the day by bringing food and liquids.
Wednesday - 4:30am Naomi finally goes to sleep for the night, 5am Richard wakes up with such intense pain in his stomach that we call 911 and an ambulance takes him to the hospital, 7am Naomi pops out of bed like nothing was wrong the night before, 11am Richard comes home in a taxi feeling a little better with some fluids and oxygen in him. The van finally gets unloaded.
That's all I'm gonna say about that. We're back. We need a couple more days to recoup.
Good night.
(Just so you know, none of this is even in the slightest bit exaggerated. Really. It's really understated, actually. Monday was one of the top 3 worst days of my life.)
warning: yucky details to follow.
Friday - Asher throws up breakfast all over Grandma's carpet.
Richard is supposed to arrive in Texas so he can drive back to Virginia with us, but takes a stand-by ticket instead (he got a free ticket out of the deal).
Saturday - Asher seems to be doing better - maybe his being sickly and mellow will work to our favor, right?.
Richard actually arrives in Texas and we all pile in the van to start our drive (5 hours of driving scheduled for this day). Ahhhhh, nice comfy hotel bed.
Sunday - We're on the road again by 9am. Our DVD player stops working. Asher throws up again in Arby's at lunch. We stop at a Target to buy a new DVD player and some Pedialyte. We don't arrive at the next hotel until 9pm (7 hours of driving scheduled for this day). 10pm Nancy takes 2 Tylenol PM to ensure a good night's rest.
Monday - 12:01am Naomi wakes up throwing up. Nancy and Naomi stay up all night while the boys sleep in the next room. Nancy starts being sick at about 6 am. We finally leave the hotel at noon. Many bathroom stops, a lot of crying, and nine hours later, we arrive at home (7 hours of driving scheduled for this day). Richard is our hero for taking us all the way home even though we all cried and I longingly looked at every hotel we passed, wanting to stop for the night.
Tuesday - 5 am Richard wakes up being sick. The kids are feeling better, but still tired and out of whack, Nancy is going to die of exhaustion. Home Teachers save the day by bringing food and liquids.
Wednesday - 4:30am Naomi finally goes to sleep for the night, 5am Richard wakes up with such intense pain in his stomach that we call 911 and an ambulance takes him to the hospital, 7am Naomi pops out of bed like nothing was wrong the night before, 11am Richard comes home in a taxi feeling a little better with some fluids and oxygen in him. The van finally gets unloaded.
That's all I'm gonna say about that. We're back. We need a couple more days to recoup.
Good night.
(Just so you know, none of this is even in the slightest bit exaggerated. Really. It's really understated, actually. Monday was one of the top 3 worst days of my life.)
Monday, January 14, 2008
bragging
I'm still in Texas, hence the no blogging. Mostly, what is holding me back is that I don't dare put my pictures on my parents computer for fear of loosing them. So, here is a "no pictures" post.
I was reading in "What to Expect the Toddler Years" about the 20th month (that's how old Asher is now). Here are some of the milestones he should have hit by the end of this month:
use a spoon/fork
run
combine words
identify 1 picture by naming
name 6 body parts
throw a ball overhand
speak and be understood half the time
use 50+ single words
build a tower of 6 cubes
So, with that in mind, I started writing down all the words he says to see if he really knows 50 or more. Here is his list of words he says (mind you, these are words that I can understand what he means - but that doesn't mean you would be able to understand them).
yes, doggie, milk, up, ruff, moo, roar, meow, sock, shoe, eat, go, vroom, hair, eye, ear, nose, toes, bath, mom, dad, guy, flower, Jesus, baby, out, cat, seat, more, baa, wow, no, bock bock, Elmo, fishy, yum, ball, shhhh, apple, cheese, on, mine, help, Cheerios, choo choo, book, uh oh, wait, no way, bed, night night, xuxa, three, please, thank you, morning, hi, bye
He is pretty much adding words every day at this point. And he can repeat almost anything we say. He combines words too. And he does all the other things that I listed above, and then some. Face it. My boy is a genius.
In other news, Isaiah is crawling and sitting up on his own. He's a genius too, obviously. When we get home it's gonna be time to put up the gates again. I think we went a whopping 4 months between needing them for Asher and putting them back up for Isaiah.
I'm sure Naomi is a genius, too. She just hasn't hit any of the flashy milestones lately.
(OK, in reading back over the list of words that Asher says, I have to share one funny story. You'll notice that "three" is on the list. Here's how he uses that word. He is getting into trouble. So I say something like "Asher, don't do that." But he continues to do it anyway, so I say "Asher, One, Two..." and he says "Three!" and does the naughty thing again. It's cute - but pretty rebellious. I'm not sure how to nip that in the bud. Actually - it may be past "bud" point. Oh well.)
I was reading in "What to Expect the Toddler Years" about the 20th month (that's how old Asher is now). Here are some of the milestones he should have hit by the end of this month:
use a spoon/fork
run
combine words
identify 1 picture by naming
name 6 body parts
throw a ball overhand
speak and be understood half the time
use 50+ single words
build a tower of 6 cubes
So, with that in mind, I started writing down all the words he says to see if he really knows 50 or more. Here is his list of words he says (mind you, these are words that I can understand what he means - but that doesn't mean you would be able to understand them).
yes, doggie, milk, up, ruff, moo, roar, meow, sock, shoe, eat, go, vroom, hair, eye, ear, nose, toes, bath, mom, dad, guy, flower, Jesus, baby, out, cat, seat, more, baa, wow, no, bock bock, Elmo, fishy, yum, ball, shhhh, apple, cheese, on, mine, help, Cheerios, choo choo, book, uh oh, wait, no way, bed, night night, xuxa, three, please, thank you, morning, hi, bye
He is pretty much adding words every day at this point. And he can repeat almost anything we say. He combines words too. And he does all the other things that I listed above, and then some. Face it. My boy is a genius.
In other news, Isaiah is crawling and sitting up on his own. He's a genius too, obviously. When we get home it's gonna be time to put up the gates again. I think we went a whopping 4 months between needing them for Asher and putting them back up for Isaiah.
I'm sure Naomi is a genius, too. She just hasn't hit any of the flashy milestones lately.
(OK, in reading back over the list of words that Asher says, I have to share one funny story. You'll notice that "three" is on the list. Here's how he uses that word. He is getting into trouble. So I say something like "Asher, don't do that." But he continues to do it anyway, so I say "Asher, One, Two..." and he says "Three!" and does the naughty thing again. It's cute - but pretty rebellious. I'm not sure how to nip that in the bud. Actually - it may be past "bud" point. Oh well.)
Saturday, January 5, 2008
a long absence
I apologize for my long absence. I up and drove to Texas last weekend. My Grandmother (who lives with my parents) is going through a rough time and I came to help her. Richard drove down with us, then he flew back home on the 1st. He'll fly back to Texas later and drive home with us. In the meantime, my blogging is probably going to be sporadic at best since I am pretty busy (and exhausted) here.
What brought me back to the blogging world was the cutest pictures of Isaiah ever. Let's back up a little, though. Last year, when Asher was pretty much the age that Isaiah is now, we got pictures taken of him. They are very cute. He is laying on his back, naked except for his diaper, and playing with his toes. Coincidentally, my sister who had a baby the same age as Asher, got pretty much the same pose taken of her son. So my mother loves to display the two babies' pictures side by side in nearly identical poses. When I had Isaiah she told me that I just had to get a picture of Isaiah in the same pose. Since the holidays, then a huge bruise on Asher's head, then taking off for Texas, have all caused me to reschedule a family photo shoot three times now, I asked my fab sister-in-law to take some pictures of Isaiah. Here are the adorable results.
Now go back and pay particular attention to his arms. They are unbelievable.
What brought me back to the blogging world was the cutest pictures of Isaiah ever. Let's back up a little, though. Last year, when Asher was pretty much the age that Isaiah is now, we got pictures taken of him. They are very cute. He is laying on his back, naked except for his diaper, and playing with his toes. Coincidentally, my sister who had a baby the same age as Asher, got pretty much the same pose taken of her son. So my mother loves to display the two babies' pictures side by side in nearly identical poses. When I had Isaiah she told me that I just had to get a picture of Isaiah in the same pose. Since the holidays, then a huge bruise on Asher's head, then taking off for Texas, have all caused me to reschedule a family photo shoot three times now, I asked my fab sister-in-law to take some pictures of Isaiah. Here are the adorable results.
Now go back and pay particular attention to his arms. They are unbelievable.
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