Then and Now

Last summer.

This morning.

Same shirt, worn roughly 12 months apart.  He's grown so much.

It is time to retire this shirt.  And possibly time for a hair cut.

(And yes, he's still eating at mom's.)

Triumph and Defeat

Our public library is turning 125 this summer, and to celebrate they are hosting a number of events.  This evening was the "Children's Library Birthday Party", it was for ages 5 and up; so we signed the Big Boy up to go.  

We went and grabbed a quick bite for dinner and then dropped him off at the library and went grocery shopping.  Yes, we left him alone at the library.  No, we were not afraid of him getting stolen or the like.  Yes, we left a consent form and our contact information.  Hey, it's small town America.... our library doesn't even have AC.  

So off to grocery shopping we went.  And I hate to admit it that while he can be a super big helper when shopping and keeping me on my list; sometimes it's just easier to shop without him.  Less requests.  Less whining.  Less his legs getting tired.  Now that Monkey is more of a toddler than a baby he loves riding in the car-cart at the store.  This keeps him happy and content for 85% of the trip.  The other 15% he likes to walk and help push the cart.

Anyhow I digress.... after shopping we went and picked Turkey up.  He was SO excited.  Giddy with happiness.  He won the marshmallow stacking contest.  

And he made a crown.

And he had his face painted.

And they read a story about a cupcake.

And they got to decorate cupcakes.

And he decorated his with a gummy worm and a gummy bear

and an explosion of sprinkles.

And he decorated a crown.

And he had got a snake made by the balloon man

And, and, and....

It's amazing all the activities they fit in less than 2 hours.  

He was so happy and had more fun than words could describe.

And then we got home and he walked up the stairs.

And his balloon snake popped.

POP!!!

Tears.  Oh he was so sad.  I felt terrible.  I still feel terrible.  How he loved that balloon snake.  

What had been the perfect evening.  Shattered before his eyes.  

Ouch.  If I could make a balloon snake he would have had it instantly.  

Cookies

I was suppose to make Husband chocolate chip cookies for Father's Day.  But then I had the whole fruit basket incident and ended up making banana bread that day.

This weekend I decided to hold true to my promise and made him some cookies.  Normally I turn to my Betty Crocker Big Red Cookbook for recipes, but I wanted something "better" than that. I had tried the recipe in The Joy of Cooking, but I wasn't a fan of that one.  I knew Husband wanted soft and chewy cookies, and I knew the recipe for "the chewy" from Alton Brown had flopped on me over the holidays; so I turned to the internet.  I Googled "Mrs. Field's Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe" (because after all that Mrs. Field's makes some darn good soft and yummy cookies), and after about half a nano-second Google returned some 60,000 matches.

I read over a few and decided on this recipe.

Wow!!!  Are these cookies good.  Husband has dubbed them "the husband pleaser".  I had made a double batch and sent some to a party with Turkey.  My cookies were a huge hit.  I got so many compliments from the other moms.  (Pleasing your husband is one thing, but having other mom's envy your domestic ability is another.)  I don't think I will ever make another chocolate chip cookie recipe again.

This is my son.

Asperger's is on the spectrum.  And while he's never been diagnosised with SPD you can see him in this poster.

He has trouble concentrating.
He doesn't like having his hair washer or combed, but he's OK with haircuts.  Until it get's too ticklish.
He does not like loud noises.  We travel with ear plugs.
He chews on everything.  EVERYTHING.
He doesn't like getting his teeth brushes and the dentist tickles him.
He is not a picky eater.  Except he won't eat "white" food.
Smells and textures make him gag.  We went through years of him vomiting on everything.  EVERYTHING.
He is completely and totally unaware of how strong he is.
I would rather cut the baby's nails.  Cutting the big boys nails are a challenge.
If it is too crowded he gets overwhelmed and can't think straight.
Oh yeah, he has selective hearing.
He is good on smells.  He LOVED going to Yankee Candle and sniffing away.
Motor skills off????  Have you seen the way he runs?  LOL.  I love his shuffle.

Silent Saturday

Rockin' Out

I love this song.  I could play it over and over and over again.  Louder each time I listen to it.

Project Food Budget (Week 38)

It's been a pretty easy week around here.  Husband and I got the shopping done on Saturday while the Big Boy was at a birthday party.  We spent $23.50 at the grocery and $22.22 at the produce store.  I had been planning for Father's Day to make Husband some chocolate chip cookies, but the fruit basket fell out of the ceiling and all the bananas on the bottom got crushed, so I had to make banana bread instead.

Sunday we were going to do turkey burgers per Husband's request for Father's Day; but Turkey went with his friend to the movies and dinner, so we had a date night of Chinese ($25) after the baby went to bed.

Monday: French toast, fruit and sausage
Tuesday: Out to eat for Turkey's last day of school ($32)
Wednesday: hot dogs and salad (it was 90+)
Thursday: pasta salad and NATIVE corn on the cob (it was 90+ again)
Friday: Something chicken

Week 38 Participating blogs: 

• Emily Levenson
• Dairy-Free Cooking
• Test Kitchen Tuesday
• Cook Write Heal
• Warm As Pie
• xox, b
• Project Food Budget 2.0
• That's Just Me
• Two Eggs Over Easy
• Eat Whole Be Vital
• Four Happy Violets
• Pgh Dad
• yogabeautylife
• naMAMAste
• Six Dollars a Day
• What da Health?
• French Press
• Veggie Meal Maker
• Eryn Says...

---

The official details: 
http://emilylevenson.com/blog/project-food-budget/details

Dipping

The baby has entered the world of dipping sauces.

Any time he sees one of us using any sort of condiment he needs to get in on the action, it's to the point where he expects something to dip his food into.

Husband prefers to give him ketchup for dipping, because well that's what Husband prefers.

I on the other hand prefer to give him just about anything but ketchup to dip.  I've come to realize I think ketchup is for french fries and french fries alone.

Earlier this week when we went out to celebrate the Big Boy's last day of school, the baby got chicken tenders and orange slices.  So I got him some honey mustard to dip with.  Everything got dipped in honey mustard that evening.  The chicken, the pickles (ehn, but OK I suppose) and the oranges (ewwww in my book).

Husband prefers ketchup on his hot dog, I'm a mustard, onion and relish kinda gal.  So the baby gets all of those to dip and play with.  Just like his big brother, who likes his hot dogs with the works.

Ranch dressing seems to be great with just about everything; and blue cheese is great for dipping celery in.  There's a reason they serve it with your wings you know; the shape is perfect for holding the blue cheese chunks in.  Salsa and hummus are also great on everything, but the blueberry syrup we only pull out of breakfast food.

Some times he does great with dipping, so nice and neat and purposeful.  Other times he dips with his fingers on one hand  and eats the food with the other.  Just like how sometimes he eats with one hand and holds his fork in the other.

I love this age, watching him grow and learn and develop his own little foodie-personality.  With any luck he'll still like experimenting with food flavors at  3, 13 and 33.

He loves food.

YUM!!!  Corn on the cob.

Avacado.

Licking onion dip off the spoon.

Attacked

Things have been pretty quiet lately over here at Two Eggs.  It's not that I don't have anything to blog about, it's just that I don't have the time to write.

So you can imagine my surprise when I checked my e-mail this morning and had notification of a new comment posted on my blog.  I was giddy with excitement.  I love getting comments on my posts; whether they are written here or on Facebook when I provide link-ups.  Comments are wonderful.

Until they are mean.

I know I am not the first person to be attacked on their blog, and I am sure I will not be the last; nor do I expect this is going to be a one time thing (and if it is I am more than OK with that); but it still hurt.

The comment was made on one of my breastfeeding posts.  And there are a lot of those in these pages, that's for sure.

The poster wrote: Wow, funny that ignorant people like you exist. If anyone thought about the thousands of reasons that breast feeding is great for, how the baby could benefit from it, then anything else could wait

Wow.  Is right.  Clearly they didn't read THE ENTIRE post.

Because you know, I am totally ignorant about breastfeeding... like seriously, I've only been breastfeeding this baby for the LAST 16 MONTHS (combine that with the time I breastfeed the older one and that's well over 2 years of experience)... so I couldn't possibly know what I am talking about.  Especially when I talk about MY OWN EXPERIENCES and spend every forth post saying how wonderful breastfeeding is.

So yeah, I deleted the comment.  Because I can.  That's why.  My blog, my ability to censor comments. And compared to other blogs I make it pretty easy to comment.  I don't require you to put in a password or enter a code; nor do I make all posts subject to my approval first.  Although it makes me wonder...

I am sure I should have ridden the high road on this one, and have just deleted the comment and let it go; but for some reason I feel the need to put this out there.

I welcome comments.  I LOVE comments.  And I have no problem with people disagreeing with my opinion, as long as they are respectful.

Silent Saturday

Project Food Budget (Week 37)

What a week.... we've been so busy this week.  So I never did any real food shopping, just two quick trips during lunch breaks at work.  I spent a whopping $9.58 this week, and most of that was on bananas.  Clearly I've done a good job at empty my pantry this week as well.

Meals this week are:
Monday: BBQ turkey patties with baked beans and green beans
Tuesday: pasta salad with egg and chicken and (leftover) baked beans and fruit
Wednesday: egg salad sandwiches
Thursday: (hopefully, if it defrosts in time) chicken, mac and cheese and brussel sprouts
Friday: finger foods while we do a movie at home
Saturday: we have a party to go to

Let's see how the others are doing.

• Emily Levenson
• Dairy-Free Cooking
• Test Kitchen Tuesday
• Fit Flexitarian
• Warm As Pie
• xox, b
• Project Food Budget 2.0
• That's Just Me
• Two Eggs Over Easy
• Eat Whole Be Vital
• Four Happy Violets
• Pgh Dad
• yogabeautylife
• naMAMAste
• Six Dollars a Day
• What da Health?
• French Press
• Veggie Meal Maker
• Eryn Says...

A Big Month

The baby has had a big month... so much to the fact that he's more a toddler than a baby now.

The day before he turned 13 months he got his first tooth.
The day before he turned 15 months he got his second tooth.
He's now a few days shy of 16 months and he has 6 or so teeth poking through in one stage or another.

At the beginning of his 15th month he wasn't walking.  Then one weekend a couple steps.  Then the few more weeks after that a couple more, getting fairly confident while we were at Uncle's house.  Then he stopped... then one day he woke up from a nap and decided he liked walking.  He is certainly not a pro at it, but he is a walker none the less.

The walking has led to climbing.  At the start of this month he wouldn't really climb over things, now he loves to.  And he's into trying to climb on everything and anyone.  AND he's also learned how to climb the stairs.

It's been a big month for the baby boy... no wonder he's not sleeping so well at night.

Sorting

Turkey gets this little moments of OCD every now and then.  Don't we all?

Tonight he's decided he needs to sort his Legos.

He must have eighty billion, ten million and twenty-two Legos.  I do not think this is a gross exaggeration.  OK, maybe a slight exaggeration, but he has a LOT of Legos.  Easily 10,000.

He is sorting his Legos into the following categories (based on the number of small totes and storage baggies on hand)  -
red and green bricks
black and dark grey bricks
white, light grey and blonde (known as tan to the rest of us) bricks
special pieces (regardless of colors)
wheels
wings (regardless of colors)
fabric pieces (sails and tents, etc)
big pieces (grass, water, etc)
and guys - aka minifigures

He's also taking all the non-Lego stuff out - Kinex pieces, Lincoln logs, and all the like.

He says he's sorting to make building easier.  Let's see how far he gets.

Project Food Budget (Week 36)

Here's to another week of Project Food Budget and here's to another week of me posting this late.  Sorry fellow PFBers.

(Also for some reason my PFB icon isn't coming up either... what a week, right? Anyhow...)


Budget: $100
Spent: $73 shopping and $22 on pizza, so right on.

Meals:
M: Left over Chinese food from Nana's house
T: Turkey loaf with roasted 'taters and broccoli
W: Egg and sausage sandwiches with peaches
TH: bbq chicken salad
F: Pizza (after the ice cream social at Turkey's school... love desert before dinner :-) )
Sat: DH and I went out to Longhorns' with a gift card we had, the boys had mac and cheese and peas with the sitter.  My steak was AWESOME!!!!
Sun: Soup and Salad

• Emily Levenson
• Dairy-Free Cooking
• Test Kitchen Tuesday
• Fit Flexitarian
• Warm As Pie
• xox, b
• Project Food Budget 2.0
• That's Just Me
• Two Eggs Over Easy
• Eat Whole Be Vital
• Four Happy Violets
• Pgh Dad
• yogabeautylife
• naMAMAste
• Six Dollars a Day
• What da Health?
• French Press
• Veggie Meal Maker
• Eryn Says...

Chocolate Happiness

When I was growing up my parents had this old cookbook in the house.  It wasn't a cookbook in the sense of Joy of Cooking, but more like a magazine.  It was called The Chuck Wagon Cookbook.  It was an 8.5 x 11 size, with thick glossy, dark pictures of cowboys cooking over campfires along side their wagons.  It had the best chili recipe, ever, in it.

Actual photo from the book I found on-line.

Aside from the chili it had recipes for various other yummies, include this one called Stir Crazy Cake.  This cake is the first thing I ever cooked on my own, and one I still get a craving for from time to time.

This recipe is ridiculously easy, doesn't require a lot of bowls, and greasing, frosting, and so on.  In fact it only requires a handful of ingredients, all of which are pantry staples and requires no eggs or butter.  Everything is mixed in the pan you bake it in.

In an 13 x 9 inch METAL baking pan combine the dry goods:
2-1/2 cups flour
1-1/2cups sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
2 tsp baking soda
0.5 tsp salt

Stir and make three wells and add one each of the following to each well
1 tbs vanilla
2 tbs vinegar
2/3 cup oil

(This is the neat part if your making it with your kids, watching the chemical reaction of the baking soda and vinegar.)

Pour 2 cups cold water (or cold coffee - surprisingly I have never done it this way) over the top and combine.  But don't over mix.

Combine 1/4 cup sugar and 1 tsp cinnamon and sprinkle over the top.  (This makes the yummiest crust, so don't skip this step.)

Bake in a 350F (preheated) oven for 35 to 40 minutes.

Yum, yum and oh yeah.... yum!!!  You know you want to go run and try this NOW.  Like right, right now.

That Time Again

I've done one or two of these before... it's a blog hop from The Slacker Mom.  This week's hop is about how often you nursed.  

The old rule of thumb for breastfeeding a newborn is some where around the 20 minutes per side mark, with feeding every 2 to 3 hours.  It's been so long I can't recall Turkey's nursing schedule; but I can tell you when Monkey was small he would nurse for 45 minutes or better per side; every one to three hours.  He was a marathon nurser.  I remember when he was admitted to the hospital for jaundice, at 3 days old, the floor nurse told me there was no way he was nursing that much; that he must just be "snacking".  The nerve.  These are the same people that tried to get us to nurse on a schedule while he was there; that didn't work.

I've always followed his lead, and have nursed on demand.  When he went through growth spurts he would nurse every hour.  Then he went through the "cluster" feeding phase and would nurse a lot in the later afternoon; actually he still does that.

By the time he was 3 months old I had an oversupply; and had to regulate it with block nursing.  This has nothing to do with how often I fed him; but rather which side I nursed on.  I would nurse him only on one side for time blocks of 4 to 6 hours.

These days, at 15.5 months, we're still nursing on demand; with a dream feed (that I demand, LOL... ); but on days I am in the office we do nurse on more of a schedule.  6:30am, 5:30pm, 7pm, and 10pm.  When we are together we nurse more often; but usually at those times as well.

Water Bed

The other night I wasn't feeling so well, so I filled my water bottle and took it to bed with me.

No, not that kind of water bottle.

The hot water bottle kind; like your grandmother would have had.

I tossed and I turned and I eventually fell asleep with my water bottle close against me.

Fast forward to around 1am.  I wake up soaking wet.  Like I had taken a bath in my PJs.  The sheets were wet, the mattress with wet.  Everything was wet.  Apparently my hot water bottle strung a leak.  All over me and the bed.

Thankfully we have a king size bed, so Husband was spared the mess.

Un-thankfully, Husband was sleeping with his friend Ambien, so he was of little help cleaning up the mess. (But in his defense he did clean up the mess of my mess then next day.)

So I stumble around, get changed, move the flat sheet and put a towel on top of the fitted sheet, and try to get comfy.  Only to realize the mattress is so wet I can feel it through the towel... four bath towels piled up later I finally drift off to sleep... who knew a hot water bottle held so much liquid?  Who knew I was ushc a deep sleeper at time?

Parlor Tricks

At this age, I swear every day with Monkey brings about a new parlor trick.  He's just full of silly and somewhat crazy, and very goofy little things to do.

While we were at my brother's he realized he could sit down, and turn in a circle using his heels.  He did this over.  And over.  And over. Again.  And again.

He has realized that when he drinks something he doesn't need to swallow it.  He can, if he likes, spit it out at you.  However, it seems that he prefers the "open mouth slightly and dribble all over myself" approach better.  This method he's realized gets him the wettest, and this he enjoys.

He likes to look at you and then shake his head as fast as possible.  Kind of like baby head banging.  I blame his father for this, he thinks this move is great and encourages it.

Crawling around with his eyes closed as tight as possible seems to be good fun as well.  Until, inevitably, he bumps his head into something.  

Ah the joys of toddler-hood.... these are the memories that last.

Saving Money

I love saving money.  Don't we all?

Husband takes several medications a month, ad our prescription co-pay is $15 for each generic.  I am sure you can do the math.  While renewing our insurance plan a few weeks ago I noticed that we could mail order for prescription for a 90 day supply at the price of a sixty day supply, or $30.  These seemed like a good plan to me.  So Husband asked his doctor to rewrite a few of his scripts for 90 day supplies.

Just as I was getting ready to mail them off I noticed you could get certain generics medications (some 300 different ones) at the grocery store for $9.99 for a 90 day supply.  Husband checked the list, and sure enough the two we were about to send out to get filled for $60 total, we could get at the grocery.

Nice!!!  So what would have cost us $90 for two, three month supplies ended up costing $19.98.  Which is even far less than the mail order plan.

Now my only concern is that I put too much money into my flexible spending account for the year... but I suppose if it comes down to it we'll just have to have some extra massages and new eyes glasses.

Silent Saturday