Is It Friday Yet?

Yesterday was rough!

Stroller Boot Camp Class is next week! Mommy brain!! Luckily I clued in the night before... And it was for the better anyways, as yesterday was busy! 

I had to run into to to get Noah new pacifiers, as he has been chewing holes in them with his recent bout of teething. I think that is what is going on at least! He has been more reliant on his pacifiers lately mainly at bed time, which sucks, as I was trying to ween him off of them, but he is just not ready! We need to get through the teething phase and right now they soothe him.

We also lost a shoe in Walmart which we realized as we got to the car, so we went back and luckily it was in the cart! 

I got Noah an aquarium for his crib (used for $20 - thrifty mom), although so far he either doesn't like it, or will sit and watch it. I know it is just something new and hopefully once he figures it out it will help him with settling himself to sleep. 

Noah was in no nap mode yesterday which means a super long day for Mommy, but we survived with some outside play. 

Excuse the weeds- we just sprayed and will hopefully pull them this weekend! 

It has been super hot this week, so I filled up the water table and let him go nuts! He was soaked within a matter of minutes, so I clean his pool (soo much pollen) and he played in there too! I tried to sit in the sun for a bit, but instead of getting color, my freckles all popped! Maybe tomorrow I will get some color! 

Needless to say Noah hardly made it through dinner, he was a bear and I was beginning to lose my patience. He hardly ate, so I put him straight to the bath, he was asleep by 6:30... 

We finally got a bit of rain last night which should help keep some of this pollen and dust down a bit! It has been a super dry spring around here, which is good for my hubby and the farmers trying to get their crops in. 

Today we just have songs and stories at the library and then maybe we can have some sort of a normal day, because that sure hasn't happened this week. If I make it to Friday, better yet Saturday afternoon when M gets home from work, it may be luck! 

The Importance of Meal Planning

Mike and I are on again off again with meal planning, when in all reality we need be on and stay on. I'm not sure how we get off track, but when we do it is bad!

Right now I am making two seperate dinners, sometimes three - one for Noah, one for Mike and I to eat later when he gets home, but sometimes he will be too late and I end up making something else for myself. 

Spring is crazy around these parts, we often refer to myself as a single mom, because M doesn't get home until almost 7 PM most nights. Last night was no different, add fire practice on top of that (and a power outage), oh and a kid that fell asleep at 8 to wake up at 9 and to stay awake until Daddy got home... He was asleep by 10:45 and then mama followed his lead!! I was beat!! It is long days for us all around here and it shows because the house is a mess, but we are alive and surviving! It's soo hard to get things done with a toddler! 

I keep on saying: 

 About almost every aspect of our life right now. 

So clearly we are working on finding ways to simplify our life, which means meal planning is a necessity, because not having to sit and figure out dinner or go rummaging through the freezer with a screaming toddler who wants to come too is really not an option. 

Typically we prefer to plan it out on the weekend and then if I have to make a run into town for any groceries then I can. Granted I prefer to just go in once a week on Fridays, sometimes a little extra trip in a week is welcomed, but other weeks it just means chaos! 

Remember we made this:

And we still use it, when we remember to meal plan! 

That is pretty much our goal lately is to meal plan, along with simplify our life in every way we can! 

Does anyone have any easy spring recipes they want to share? 

Weekend Rewind

Happy Memorial Day!

We have hit some super nice weather again and there are no complaints here!! Our weekend was busy, but we were able to accomplish a little bit at least! 

Friday night was ball, they were mercied, which was okay because little man decided he would rather not sleep, however he was at least happy until it came time to put him in the truck! Luckily he went to bed okay when we went home! 

Saturday morning M was working, but Noah and I got some housework done. I can't believe the amount of dust coming in my house lately. 

Noah had a nice long morning nap, so when he got up we had lunch and by the time we finished, Daddy was home, so we headed outside! We rearranged the lower patio to try to make more room, but chances are it will be changed again. Noah helped Daddy build a gate to help keep him contained to the yard when we are in the yard, yet then we can move it to to the top of the deck stairs to keep him on the deck while we are on the deck! 

We decided to bbq pork chops, however when it came time to put them on, of course M got a fire call, which left me to get the biscuits in the oven, make a salad and bbq, all while dealing with an overtired little boy who didn't have an afternoon nap! Luckily he had just eaten, otherwise there would have been no way for me to get it all done! 

Let's just say I was looking forward to someone's bed time and it happened a little earlier than planned and luckily Daddy was home intime to do it!

I watched The Boy Next Door movie with J Lo in it, but wasn't a big fan and found the ending very graphic. 

Sunday we were booked to go help Mom move the odds and ends out of her old apartment and get her somewhat organized at the new place. 

Noah ended up with his first taste of road rash when he tripped on he sidewalk and fell down a curb. It was horrible. I wanted to cry right along with him, that and put him in a bubble. This has gotta get easier right? I ended up taking him to Costco with me and if course he fell asleep! Look at this pout :( 

We finished up by 5:30 and headed home. We grabbed take out on our way home. This little guy sure was happy to be home! Overall he didn't have too bad of day. 

Of course Noah had napped on the way home from London, so putting him to bed was a chore. He was asleep by 9:45! So today we are keeping it super low key! 

Tomorrow we are going to try a new stroller boot camp class in town. It should be interesting, granted I'm not sure how Noah will do, but we will try! It's pay as you go, so worst case if he doesn't co-operate we aren't obligated to keep going! 

The Things My Child Teaches Me

Lately I have found myself either in some sort of delirium when it comes to the lessons I am learning on a daily basis lately! Granted my son is on the verge of 15 months, just 15 months, yet I can remember wondering if he would ever roll over, then crawl, then walk and talk... etc. Now that is all happening and add in rough housing, stair climbing, stunt acts, and temper tantrums. Some days I wish for those days back when I wondered if he would ever get there, but this stage is also soo much fun and it is really just a fact of me getting over the fact that my baby isn't a baby anymore, he is a full on toddler!

Lesson 1: when he falls, he will will get back up again and even if the first idea seemed dangerous... You bet he is going to do it again until he gets it right! Children are fearless at this age, they have no concept of distance whatsoever. We have had our first shiners, first scraped knee, headers, nose bleeds, pretty much everything short of needing to make a trip to the hospital, but I'm sure that first is coming sooner than later with Noah's track record. 

I can literally sit on the edge of my seat ready to spring up into action when he falls and granted he is getting soo much better - I am not because the potential for injury is only getting greater as he finds new things to climb. I try my best to only intervene when there is too much danger involved, but I also want him to learn for himself and hopefully not the hard way! Kids are going to be kids and I don't want to hold him back from learning at lesson, as long as the lesson isn't drastically dangerous.

Lesson 2: Noah is not an itty bitty baby anymore! Clearly in my eyes he still is and that is why I am having such a hard time letting him explore... Because let's face it - it can't be my kid testing my limits yet alone his own limits as mentioned above. He is now the king of his own castles and stands on everything off the ground if he can get up on it. Scraped knees didn't even phase him - it phased me more than him! Noah is proud as punch with his new accomplishments and his smiles beam when he accomplishes something new! He is not as breakable as he once was, or as we at least thought he once was! Kids are resilient.

Lesson 3: A simple hug and kiss from Mom can heal most wounds and if that doesn't work, a drink or snack usually can! 

Lesson 4: no one told me just how much I would love this kid. My heart is literally working at a pace it has never known to this extent. Each and everyday I love this kid more and more. The way he looks at me, the way he holds my hand, the snuggles and hugs, blowing kisses, his contagious smiles and laughter, his drunken toddler walk, the funny faces and his own words. He really gets me when he is soo passionate with our pets. I am soo blessed and soo grateful to have such an amazing little boy. 

Lesson 5: each day will have its challenges, whether it be as simple as shorter naps, to full fledged tantrums over the silliest things. You can't reason with a toddler. They don't get it! Heck I'm not even sure Noah has even really figured out the word no. I think it might just be a fluke when he listens. But I will say seeing him follow instruction or understand what I am saying feels like the biggest accomplishment! Time outs are still a fun source of entertainment over here. I know he is too young to get what time out is, but it distracts him from what he shouldn't be doing and at this age it is enough to change his thought direction. 

Lesson 6: "I told you" so is no longer as fun to say because it most of the time ends up in a fall or injury of some sort... I told you not to do that, etc. I used to love being right, but now that phrase is sadly no longer something to brag about. Instead it involves tears, kisses and hugs to make Noah feel better. One day he will get it... Right? 

Lesson 7: just because you are not ready, does not mean your child isn't. Noah has beat me to the punch quite a few times with things I assumed he was too young or too small to learn, as well as a few things I just wasn't ready for him to learn. Kids minds are developing every single day, what they couldn't do yesterday is a whole new ball game tomorrow. 

I can't even pretend like I know what I am doing as a mom. I don't know what works and doesn't until I try it. It's all trial and error around these parts. I can see what others around me have done and see what works for us. I know how I want my children to end up and I just have to figure out the best way to get there! Being a Mom is no joke, I second guess a lot of my decisions wandering if it's best for Noah or our family. I remind myself constantly not to sweat the small stuff. I am just loving all these lessons.

May 2-4 Weekend Rewind

Wow, what a nice long weekend that was! I'm sad to see it over!

Friday night M had ball - they won by one run in the last inning! It was intense, but great nonetheless! However, we had our first issue at ball as far as Noah went. I got him to sleep just like last time, but then some kids were around his stroller and woke him up... He was up pretty much the whole game. Luckily grandma was there to help me out! I'm pretty sure he whined or cried the last 3 innings! It was very frustrating, so lesson learned - isolate myself from loud situations. We ended up having to take him for a half hour drive to get him to sleep. 

I figured Saturday would be rough, but he slept in until 8:20 and then it was time to pack him up after his bottle to head to the farm to spend the morning and afternoon with Grandma while I went to London to help my Mom move some stuff to her new apartment. 

Noah didn't have too bad of a day when you think of how late he was up Friday night. He did refuse to nap for Grandma yet again, but Daddy managed to get him down when he got home. 

I managed to get most of Moms kitchen moved over to the new place, as well as hitting up the beauty supply store to get some blue shampoo and good hydrating shampoo and conditioner. I also bought a new product to me called Its A 10 - it is a miracle hair treatment that helps prevent fly always and allows a smooth sleek healthy look! Pretty much a necessity with this new hair growth that is still happening! 

On my way home from my moms I managed to get the few things I forgot at the grocery store and got home just intime for dinner. 

We enjoyed a nice long family walk before turning the little man down for bed! 

The weather this weekend has been hot, kind of gloomy, but the sun was coming off and on and that was alright for a long weekend when it usually rains. 

Sunday was our family day. Sunday morning I slept in and we tidied up the house a bit and when Noah went down for his nap, M started opening the pool! He managed to get the cover pumped off and we started filling it back up. 

C and S came over for a nice visit, granted Noah is in a super make strange mode right now, but he eventually warmed up to his Aunt Carrie, but not so much with Uncle Steve. But we did have a nice visit as usual! 

We had ribs and baked potatoes for dinner and they were excellent!! 

I watched a few movies this weekend, both of which were really good, especially the movie You're Not You. It is about a lady with ALS, it was a tearjerker, but soo good! I reccomend it! 

The other movie I watched was People Like Us and it was pretty good too!!

On Sunday night we found out that my uncle/godfather had a heart attack. So we awaited news to hear that he was doing well and was in recovery.

We enjoyed another long family walk of the village and then relaxed the evening away. I ended up sleeping like crap that night. 

Monday Noah got up at 8, M was working, so we did our usual vacuum and play in the morning. 

M's Mom came over to do my patio cushions and boy did they turn out soo nice!! I am soo happy with them!! The colours really pop and work well together!! She also watched Noah for me so I could head up to the hospital to visit my uncle with my Dad. 

Mike was home by the time I got home, so we had dinner, some family time and then our little monkey didn't want to settle for bed and ended up putting himself to bed for the first time in a few months! This was welcomed, as we have been talking about trying to get him to self soothe again. We had it down pat before we moved out for our reno, so we know he can do it, but then teething ensued, etc. So that is something we are going to work on this week with naps and what not! I also just bought a used crib aquarium to help, but I don't get it until next week. So hopefully we will have made strides by then. I think it will be hard for Daddy t not rock him to sleep every night, as that is time with Noah that particularly loves!

Today we will hopefully have a nice low key day! 

Friday Things...

This morning I thought we were ahead of the game by leaving the house just before 10 AM - a miracle on its own... This meant breakfast on the go for Noah because he slept in again - no complaints there!

So I first we hit Lens Mills to buy fabric and oh boy did we buy fabric... Granted I forgot the papers with the exact amounts I needed, but luckily I could remember vaguely enough! I ended up buy a bit extra, but that was because I ended up getting it all on sale! You know me, I love a sale or anyway to save money!! I got 30% off the chevron patterns and 20% off when I luckily finished a bolt! Glad I went today!! Here is what we went with:

That is for all my patio sets. I have a total of 3 sets to recover! Remember when I said I had a pallet project in the works? Well that is on hold for now because I may not need it! We tend to entertain a lot, so lots of seating is a must. But I ended up with an extra free set I found someone getting rid of on Facebook, so I jumped on it. It needs some work, but I'm excited about it! Therefore building a pallet couch may not be needed! We will see! The pallets aren't going anywhere.

This fabric is for my loungers. The blue fabric is old - I bought it almost 2 years ago to recover the hammock, but I decided to get rid of the hammock (to my Dad) but was just a bit short on fabric, so the grey is going on the bottom - which you won't see. 

Then I came across this gem! I am seriously in love with this fabric. It was love at first sight and every sight after! I have been looking for a fabric to recover my bench seat in the great room with, as grey and white just doesn't match anymore, but struggled to find the perfect fabric until today! So we bought 4 yards because it was on sale and I will make couch cushions with it as well! 

Noah was starting to get antsy, so I let him walk the isles, which he was a big fan of, but we were both ready to go and I knew I had a few more stops with him. 

Of course we went to the grocery store and I forgot a few of the things I wanted to get that were on sale - the main purpose for picking that store. But Noah was done, he had clued in that he wasn't getting a morning nap and the restlessness was starting to set in! So we hit up the bank and headed home where we played operation keep Noah awake! He was fading fast and of course we got the longest train on the way home, so we resorted to taking selfies for entertainment! 

I really just wanted to get him home, give him lunch and then he could have a proper nap in his bed! We just barely made it, he eyes were starting to roll back when we pulled in the driveway! 

So that is why you are getting an afternoon post instead today! 

Last night we had chicken wings from the pub for dinner and man were they ever good! We haven't ordered or eaten there in months, so it was a really good change! 

It's a rainy gloomy day today, just as the May 24 weekend usually is, although it is supposed to hot, with only chances of storms.

My mom gets her new apartment today, so I am dropping Noah off at the farm (Mike is working) and I am heading to London to help her move for a few hours. She has a moving company coming to move her furniture next week, so we will move what we can.

Hope everyone has a safe and fun long weekend!! 

Cheeky Cheeky Baby Review

Today I am going to share an amazing little shop called Cheeky Cheeky Baby!!

Etsy

Facebook

Instagram - @Cheekycheekybaby

Nicole is the shop owner from New York! She makes the cutest shirts and shorts, along with bibs and now mocs! Not to mention she has one cute little boy too!!

A few things I want from her shop:

Nicole sent me the cutest little outfit to have Noah review!

Seriously, how cute is it?

The shirt is our absolute favorite!! You will have to excuse Noah's bites by his armpit! Poor kid reacts like mama to mosquitos!

View from behind:

We got size 18 months figuring it would fit best come nice weather!

the shorts were a bit snug in the crotch area, but fit with room in the waste! 

I know I could have narrowed the pics down, but I couldn't pick just a few! But luckily this shoot went soo well I took less than 20 pics!

Thank you soo much Nicole! It was a pleasure working with you and I look forward to working with you again!!

Wednesday's Loves

I am loving the sleep ins I have got this week so far! Yesterday and today Noah slept in past 8 AM! I am pretty much in shock when I look over at the alarm clock! He's been waking around 7 AM but I leave him up in his crib and sure enough the past two days he has fallen back asleep! It throws our day off a bit, but it is well worth it!

I finally bought new spatulas and tongs yesterday. I have been telling Mike how bad ours are and obviously he sees it too, but I never remember to grab them, but yesterday while at Walmart, I remembered. I also remembered mini muffin cup liners, and lucked out and found ball pit balls in stock!  Of course after I just arranged picking up some used ones, but we now have more than enough balls and Noah loves it! 

Yesterday I got my nails done finally and sure enough I went with coral tips for a change! I tend to go 6 weeks between getting fills, which is a bit nicer on the bank, but therefore I don't want full colored nails, just tips or light colored full nail color. 

I dropped off the latest Aqua necklace that was longer than my son yesterday and welcomed a new color of bright yellow to work with! My sister also ended up with an extra dlink monitor, so we offered to       buy it off her to try. We love our angel care video monitor, however the battery doesn't last on the parents monitor - we get like 2 hours tops, so if we aren't in bed by 10, which is rare, then we have to switch to our audio only monitor. So I set up the monitor last night and love the features! We can use it later for home monitoring too and I love being able to access it remotely. 

So I am just about finished this post and sure enough I have only posted one pic! 

So... Mike had a little ride along on the plow yesterday...

Isn't it cute? A little raccoon! Apparently he thought it was a good place to snooze and had rode along with Mike all morning because they didn't find him until just before lunch time! They helped him along and sure enough he went down the plow steps and crept across the field! Raccoons are soo funny! 

Noah has been super obsessed with climbing up on his chair all by himself since the weekend! He is just soo proud of himself!!

Mothers Day Weekend Recap

What a fantastic weekend with amazing weather spent with the ones I love!!

Friday night I made it to our first ball game of the season - I missed the official first game because I was with Luke Bryan... But Noah and I went to this past weeks, which I was a bit nervous about how Noah would be as the game is at bedtime. But he went in his pjs after his bath, fussed while we were leaving the house because his routine had changed, but once we were all loaded up he was fine! 

We got to the diamond, I gave him his bottle, did a lap around the outside of the diamond and he was out for the night. He woke a few times when the game got rowdy, but settled back to sleep with rocking of the stroller! It was a great game, they lost by one run with a score of 30-31. Noah settled In bed good after we got home too, so over all it was a win and we will try it again next week! 

Saturday M was working, but it was too nice out again, so we were back outside! 

Noah is just loving his new pool and is swing set! I also added more water to his water table, but he hasn't quite figured out how to do anything other than splash in it, but that's ok! 

Daddy got home around 2:30 and took Noah out when he woke up from his nap. When the came home Noah brought me this sweet bouquet of flowers:

Daddy headed out to the movies shortly after dinner, so Noah and I took the dogs for a nice walk and got home just before the mosquitos got bad! He was in bed just before 8 by the te we finished the bedtime routine. 

So I enjoyed some cake, watched 50 Shade of Grey while beading for my sister! The order I am working on now includes strands longer than Noah! 

Sunday I slept in until 9 AM, which I never do, but it was soo nice! Noah brought me my card that he 

picked out- it was really for an older son to give to his mom, but he liked the pop out flower! He had also made me a craft at the library this week! My gift was money to go on a shopping spree with to get some clothes that fit! My post weight loss/ pre-pregnancy clothes all fit now, but it's slim pickings, so now I can get some clothes that fit. 

Love this proud mama shirt, but it is not long enough for my long torso. Crazy to think this was last year:

We did some use work, played outside, but once again the mosquitos were horrible!! We tried again in the afternoon and had luck! 

I napped while Noah did and he actually had a long nap for the first time in a week! Mikes parents came over for dinner and we had steak, baked potatoes, kale salad and I made a new recipe for biscuits and they were super yummy! We had chocolate cake for dessert! 

It was a perfect low key weekend, granted we didn't get much accomplished, but we had time together, and that is all that mattered. 

Excuse the puffy eyes, pollen is floating around like crazy here, to the point of my patio table being yellow (after I just washed it) 

I didn't get to see my mom on Sunday, as she is busy packing for her move to her new apartment she gets Friday, so I am going on Saturday to help her move! 

I hope everyone had a great weekend spent with those you all love!