It just got real

I still can't believe we're having another baby!!!!! My body sure believes it but I go through days where I can't quite wrap my mind around how in the heck I'm going to do this! I know many many many woman before me have done it..my mom for one has and well I like to think that I turned out pretty good :)

This baby has been giving me a run for my money since day 1! Way more morning sickness (all day sickness) than with Jackson, I popped this last week at 9 weeks and I've been fighting exhaustion like I've been hit by a tranquilizer gun daily! Of course this time around I don't just have to take care of myself, I now have a wacky 2 year old that has taken up whining as his favorite hobby and won't let me sit longer than 5 seconds without needing something. Oh how I miss the days when I was pregnant with Jackson and besides work all I had to worry about was gaining the energy to get up to use the bathroom every 10min :)

This past week I was able to breathe a huge sigh of relief when we saw the baby for the first time and heard that beautiful (very strong!) heartbeat! My blood pressure is also doing VERY well compared to what it was with Jackson so that's a huge positive :) Sure I knew I was pregnant, i took like 10 tests, nausea, hormonal...all the classic signs. BUT it didn't get "real" until I heard that thump thump thump and saw the baby doing cartwheels in there! That's when the mixture of joy and panic took over. "How am I going to do this?!?"

Good thing I have quite a few months to try and figure it out!

It's getting hot out here

After living through our first Colorado Summer last year we know that it's going to get hot out here! We've recently been in a trend of high 80's during the day, storms at night and then back to hot the next day. While we do spend most of our time at our favorite playground, sometimes when it's just too hot out we hit up another one that has spray fountains and Jackson has such an awesome time!

look at the air he's getting :)

Crazy about Playgrounds!

Jackson is a very active kiddo! He does have a pretty good attention span and gets quite passionate about things but in general he is an outdoor, running around, climbing, exploring type of kid! Playground are his domain. A typical day for us includes at least one trip to the playground which usually lasts at least an hour. He loves it and is super happy when he's there :)

Friends...

Clearly I have been slacking...April 9th! Really!?! April 9th was my last post??!! Sad....

Anyways...

I've always been one to have a few very close friends as opposed to a bunch of acquaintances. Growing up in Oregon this meant that the few close friends I had were people that I've known for many years and that know my story. Moving to Colorado has proven to be difficult in the friend department. You'd think that I have a built in friend maker with Jackson in tow...common interest with another mom by having children around the same age so it'd be a piece of cake to meet someone at a park or museum or something. Not so much...

Sure it's awkward but not that difficult to start a casual conversation with someone..perhaps about something funny your kid just did or asking them how old their kid is...yadda yadda yadda. But to take it beyond that is excruciatingly difficult for me!  How do you ask someone for their phone number so you can hang out with them after having a 10minute conversation with them without coming off like you're "interested" in them?!? I feel like I have to throw in "I have a husband!" Ugh just so awkward! So I had gone 10months here without meeting anyone! Jackson and I were in our daily groove so I guess I just let time pass us by...we got comfortable.

Until!!! Jesse and I took Jack to a playground to play one morning and Jesse said something about the weather to this mom who had a boy that Jackson was playing with and boom! FRIEND! We chatted for awhile and I asked for her number and we have become good friends! YAY!

Awhile before that Jackson was in a preschool aged playgroup at the rec center weekly and I had stricken up a conversation with a really nice mom who's son was Jackson's age. We chatted weekly and then we went back to Oregon for awhile and that was that. A few weeks after we came back I ran into her at the playground and boom! FRIEND! YAY! Now we meet at least once a week to let the kiddos run around at the playground and they are best buddies!

So I guess it just takes time and a wee bit of confidence! While our hearts are always in Oregon with our friends and family it does make it easier to be here for the time that we are if we have a few friends :) I am so thankful for these two woman and their kiddos for helping Jackson and I feel more comfortable in a place that still doesn't really feel like home.

Bye Bye Paci

Jackson has been a tried and true Paci user since birth. As a baby he had it in his mouth the majority of the time because it was the only thing that seemed to have a small chance of calming him down. As he got older we knew we needed to start using it less and less. We waited a good few months past moving to Colorado to start weaning him down to just nap & bedtime use and it went pretty well! With our few trips back and forth to Oregon and all the change he's gone through I wanted to wait till around 2 to start the process of saying bye bye to paci.

I've been spending tons of time lately researching tips and tricks on how to get rid of paci. I decided to get the Elmo video "Bye Bye Pacifier" because Jackson digs Elmo and I thought if he saw Elmo say bye bye it would make things a little easier. With Jackson's spirited personality I was SURE that this process was going to include screaming, fits and a few weeks of little sleep and naughty behavior.

2 days ago I decided to put the video on just to give ourselves a break from the obsession of curious george that has taken over our house. We talked a little bit about what was happening in the video and that Elmo was a big boy now and didn't need his paci anymore. That night...without even thinking about it I picked up Jackson to go rock him for bed time and realized half way through my rocking that he didn't have the paci in his mouth! I thought well...let's see what happens. And to my amazement he simply rolled over and fell asleep and slept all night! He hasn't mentioned the Paci since and goes down without any issues.

HE BLEW MY MIND!

Many stages that we've gone through with Jackson have been HUGE struggles. He is quite a strong willed and spirited child and constantly provides us with opportunities to work on our patience :) I am so thankful to my child for providing us with a mini break in a big change in his life! I am thankful to him for finally not fighting me on something and being the Big Boy that I know he is becoming.

Thank you Jackson from the bottom of my exhausted mommy heart!

My child...the food monster

Right around Jackson's 2nd Birthday (one month ago) he went through what I thought was a huge growth spurt. He was eating tons at meals and always asking for seconds! However, that was NOTHING compared to the growth spurt he's going through right now! This kid is a BEAST! I swear he is going to eat us out of house and home!

Here is what he's eaten so far today....and we haven't even hit dinner yet!

Breakfast - 2 cups of cheerios with milk
                  Half an eggo waffle
                  Cereal Bar

Snack(s) - 2 cups of Blueberry/purple sweet potato organic puffs
                 2 cups of strawberry/beet organic puffs

Lunch - 1 container chobani yogurt
              5 huge strawberries
              2 handful blueberries

Snack(s) - 2 cups strawberry/beet organic puffs
                 1 Banana
                 1 bowl ritz crackers
                 1 bowl of cheddar bunnies

(I clearly need to sneak some veggies in him at dinner!)

He's currently working on the cheddar bunnies and already asking for MORE!!! He's a food monster! I am in no way complaining as this is VERY positive for us...it's just so dramatic from the amount that he normally eats. Just blows my mind!

Sneaky Cookies!

Jackson is a 2-year old and of course that means he makes disgusted faces and runs from the dinner table when something that he doesn't recognize shows up on his plate. Now he does have some internal problems that prevent him from eating certain things but these things would not be such that would prevent him from eating any vegetable beside green beans and peas. He is a child that doesn't like his food mixed together so casseroles, lasagnas and pasta type food (besides mac n' cheese) are out of the question. All of this leaves us with chicken nuggets and other such items.

I just had to share this recipe for the mom's out there that are struggling like I am to get their kid to eat something that's good for them but they just refuse. I must say though if the food in question makes your child ill or he has NEVER liked it than maybe don't make the recipes with that food in them but in the case of this recipe Jackson has eaten carrots before and loved them as a baby so I know he likes them...he's just being a 2 year old :) I found this recipe in the magazine, Parents.

We're also in the process of trying some recipes out the book, Deceptively Delicious!

Here's the recipe for the sneaky cookies! (they are actually super yummy so you may want to make extra because you may want to have a few also)

Ingredients:
1 cup White or whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp. Baking powder
1/2 tsp. Baking soda
1 tsp. Pumpkin pie spice (i just used cinnamon)
1/4 tsp. Salt
1/2 cup Canola Oil
1/2 cup Packed Brown Sugar
1/4 cup Granulated Sugar
1 Egg
1 cup Regular Rolled Oats
1 cup Finely shredded Carrots ( about 2 medium) - i think you can even add more and the kids won't notice - they are THAT good!
1/2 cup Raisins

Make it:
* Preheat oven to 350F
* In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin-pie spice, and salt; set aside
*In a large bowl, combine the oil, sugars, egg, flour mixture, oats, carrots and raisins.
* Drop dough by slightly rounded spoonfuls 2 inches apart on prepared cookie sheets. Bake each sheet for 10-12 minutes or until cookies begin to brown.
* Place on cooling rack
*ENJOY!!!