Wordless Wednesday

Not Me!! Monday

Not Me! Monday was started by MckMama, it's a therapeutic (and highly amusing) way of admitting imperfections and laughing at some of the moments we'd rather forget. This is my first Not Me! Monday. If you want, you can check out her blog for more info about Not Me! Monday. Or you can stay here and laugh at how ridiculous I am; I'm pretty sure it will make you feel better about yourself. :)

Here are some things I did "NOT" do this week. :) Enjoy.

I did NOT go test drive cars with my hubby this weekend just for fun.

On our test driving trip I did NOT meet and fall in love with a an outrageously expensive and environmentally irresponsible vehicle. I did NOT spend a good half hour crawling through this vehicle -- inspecting and revelling in every bell and whistle known to man. I did NOT sit in the driver's seat imagining with great joy filling this vehicle with happy children and driving over mountain passes to spend blissful weekends romping through the wilderness and swimming in the glacial waters of Eastern Washington. And I most definitely did NOT spend the rest of the day trying to think of everyway possible I could justify owning such a vehicle. No, I did NOT think of buying carbon offsets, planting my own vegetables, homeschooling my child, raising my own meat, never buying new clothes and composting everything in my home that could ever be composted. Ahem. No, Not Me!

On this same trip, I did NOT sit in a brand new Dodge Challenger with my husband and dream of racing off into the sunset to lands unknown. No, I am a devoted mother who NEVER dreams of life without children. In fact, I am NOT right now sitting at the computer blogging as my child runs about the house with filthy face and hands looking for his daddy because Daddy went to work before we got out of bed.

I have NOT been extremely nauseous and throwing up for no reason for the last month. I have NOT been to the doctor several times for this and have certainly NOT taken an unreasonable number of pregnancy test in the last month. And last night I did NOT take another pregnancy test, even though it had already been confirmed by several sources that I am indeed not pregnant.

I definitely did NOT spend two days last week in the fetal position on my bathroom floor due to this pesky nausea and vomiting. And I definitely did NOT, now that I'm feeling better, but not good, eat waffles and potato chips for breakfast this morning. Because I would NEVER EVER do that to myself and justify it by thinking: "if I'm going to be nauseous all day today I would like to at least have a reason for it!!" Ummmm, no. Not Me! I definitely NOT insane.

And because I am such a good and responsible mother, NOT because my child is threatening to throw a tantrum that will bring down the house, I am going to end this post.

Have a nice day!

Sweet Chicken

I was thinking about it the other day and I have a lot of nicknames for Seth. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I've always been a "nicknamer." Friends, pets, family members, other people's children; it seems that no one in my life is safe.

I don't know where these nicknames come from or most of the time, what they mean. They tend to just fall out of my mouth and hang around for a while. Some stick around longer than others, some get abbreviated you know, because creating nicknames for nicknames is totally normal, some get elongated and some of the ones I call Seth get a weird look from the hubs and then go away forever.

I'm kind of concerned that one day soon I'm going to notice that my son will respond to anything anyone calls him. That's not currently true so I'm hoping my concern is totally unfounded.

Just so you can get an idea of what I'm talking about...here's an assortment of the names my son is likely to be called (by his mother) on any given day:

Bubba
Buddy
Bubs
Doodle
Noodle
Doodlebug
Bug
Stinkerbug
Macho Man
Baby
Babes
Beebop
Beebopareebop
Snoodle
Rerun
Goose
Peanut
Little Man
Chicken
Sweet Chicken
Chickapee
Chickanoodledoodle
Sweetums
Sugar
Sug
Mix Master P
oh and, Sethy

I'm sure there are more, but that list is what's currently on rotation. A few of these names are on pretty heavy rotation, but I'd say that all of these will get used within a three day span. Identity crisis in the making? Perhaps.

But I'm going to try not to worry about it. I think I'll focus on enjoying my Little Man for the Sweet Chicken that he is.

And friends I'm curious...did your parents have nicknames for you growing up? Do you have nicknames for your children or pets? Or am I alone? :)

Beating the Heat

In case you haven't heard, it's been hot here. And not just we live in Pacific Northwest and whine whenever the mercury rises above 80 degrees hot...but honest to goodness record breaking you can fry eggs on the pavement or roast marshmallows over my smoldering skin hot.

See? That was Thursday. It was even hotter earlier in the week.

Aaaaaaaand, as the mother of an indelibly adorable and heat sensitive small creature...



Yes, yes that's my creature....I made it my mission this week to STAY COOL (much like Seth is doing in the picture above...what with his cool dude glasses and all).

How did we do it? Well here's a partial list of our cool seeking adventures....basically the ones I took pictures of. Please forgive the quality of these pictures: they are from my phone.

Our regular camera had a rather unfortunate encounter with a toddler....and such toddler will remain nameless, as will the mother who handed him the camera allowed said toddler to play with the camera. But that's another story.

Costco

Ah, Costco........Jesus knew what he was doing when He created Costco. What better place to spend a HOT Summer morning? Seth and I spent a couple of hours at Costco the other day....just sampling. Sampling the juice, the burritos, the pizza and teriyaki veggies...not to mention we took several books and a recliner for a lengthy test drive. It was lovely....and cool.

Birdbath

Seth loves nothing more than to push a chair up to the kitchen sink and play with the running water, cups, (clean) sponges and anything else he can sneak into the sink when Mama turns her head. This week we took it a step further. We filled up the sink with cool water and stuck him in it. He loved it. In fact he loved it so much that since then, he's been seen in the kitchen, pointing at the sink, saying "Beebah Beebah."

Commandeering a Friend's Pool

My parents have a pair of fabulous friends....J & M....we've known them for over 20 years and I love them like family. And I'm not just saying that because they let us come over and swim in their pool a few times this week. I swear.

Staying Up Past Bedtime and Rolling Around in Freshly Watered Grass



Ummmm, yeah....have a I mentioned that it's hot here? It may be going to our heads.

Hanging out in the Basement and Playing Dress Up

Our basement is approximately half a million degrees cooler than the main level of our house. Which honestly, is not saying much considering it has been close to two million degrees Farenheit upstairs all week. Nevertheless we hang out downstairs when we have to be home. And wear Daddy's clothes, because it's better than prancing around in Mama's high heels. Not that my child would ever do such a thing...Sigh.

Jungle Playland

Jungle Playland has been added to my list of "favorite places on the planet." Seriously. It's clean, air conditioned and crazy fun! Hours of climbing, sliding and ball pit fun. All in stocking feet and for a great price. A very cool adventure indeed.

I am somewhat sad that we don't have photographic evidence of our other cool seeking adventures. But do I savor the memories --- of the library, the kiddie pool, taking cool showers then chillin' under the ceiling fan reading our favorite stories, lingering at favorite restaurants, taking naps in other people's houses, spending time with Gram Gram and Papa and driving nowhere in particular. We spent many hours enjoying the sweet sweet relief of water, shade and air conditioning. Despite Because of the heat, it has been a wonderful week.

**Gulp** Did I just say that?

Then and Now

I stumbled across this blog the other day and I have to share, this woman has put my heart into words. You can read her post here. What follows are my thoughts after pondering her words...

I know my baby (little man!) has to grow up and I honestly delight in every milestone, or even pebble of development that he achieves. I absolutely adore the person he is becoming. He has a fantastic sense of humor, a helpful and playful nature, he is sweet and tender and adventurous and rough and tumble and loves to explore. But when I hold him lately, I want to keep him there. I want to keep him just barely 20 months old...sitting in my lap, giving me slobbery kisses, his sweet tiny fingers grabbing my own, asking me to name each object in his picture books, begging for one more story, one more game of piggies. I want to keep his body pressed up against my chest to feel our hearts beating together, to keep our breath close together......for he is my soul, my most precious treasure and there is nothing that brings more peace to my whacked out little heart and mind than spending 30 seconds with his little body pressed against mine.

Alas, I cannot keep him small, nor would I ever truly want to; children are made to grow. The bittersweet truth of parenthood is our children will always be changing. With all my heart I want to take advantage of that truth...I want not to waste a second of my life with Seth, for who he is today is not who he will be tomorrow.

I pray that I will embrace Seth's changing nature, that I will recognize each unique moment in each unique stage of development and treasure Seth's journey for each step he is on and each step he will take.

I pray that my heart will be as this mother's and not focused on the chaos of my messy house and distracted life...but on the man my little baby will too soon be.

Song for a Fifth Child

by Ruth Hulburt Hamilton

Mother, oh Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing and butter the bread,
Sew on a button and make up a bed.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She’s up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I’ve grown shiftless as Little Boy Blue
(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
(Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo).

The shopping’s not done and there’s nothing for stew
And out in the yard there’s a hullabaloo
But I’m playing Kanga and this is my Roo.
Look! Aren’t her eyes the most wonderful hue?
(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,
For children grow up, as I’ve learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.
I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.

Sweet Seth, Mama loves you...yesterday, today and forever. For who you were, who you are and who you will become. I pray you will know this deep in your heart, for your Father in Heaven has taught me to love and He too, will teach you.

Then

Now

*Sigh*

SMILE!!!!

Not too long ago Seth decided this is what the people in his life look like when they smile.

So whenever a camera is present he smiles.

It's one of those melt your heart make you silly with love smiles.

And I ask him to do it ALL THE TIME.

I mean really, can you blame me?

Special thanks to Uncle Nate for the great photos!!

I fed Seth what?

I've recently begun following this blog.

And recently this recipe fascinated me. I'm always looking for new ways to incorporate veggies into Seth's diet. So I made Raw Cereal for breakfast this morning...and fed it to Seth. Yes, I fed my son a cereal made of broccoli, cauliflower, pecans, apple, carrots, cinnamon and soy milk. Ew, right? But guess what?

He loved it!!

He and I each ate 2 bowls of it; it was delicious!

See? Seth wants to share with you!! (as for me....I'm keeping my portion to myself!!)

Good Fortune

I had my first 29th birthday last week. To celebrate we went out to my favorite Chinese restaurant. It was a delicious dinner with good company and I enjoyed myself immensely. One of my favorite parts of a Chinese meal always comes at the end --fortune cookies!!! Now that Seth is able to eat fortune cookies I find it especially entertaining to read his fortunes.



I'm assuming that by "wisdom" they mean "parents."

After Seth had finished eating his fortune cookie he asked for more, and in typical toddler style threw a fantastic fit after being told that there wasn't any more. I chose to give Seth another cookie instead of spending the rest of my birthday dinner engaged in a power struggle. (The staff of the restaurant was more than happy to provide a large bag of cookies for Seth, but he only got one from the bag. We have the rest in our pantry.)

Here is the fortune from his second cookie; please note the tear.



How appropriate!!

A Couple of Suckers...

They may be a couple of suckers, but they're my suckers....and I love them!!

Mechanic

Do you have a mechanic living in your fridge?

We do.

He takes care of all sorts of things for us.

Like organizing the condiments.....


And painting the inside of the fridge


We are lucky indeed.

Genius?

How to Make Breakfast

Step One: Pour the Cereal

Step Two: Eat the Cereal

Step Three: Throw the Cereal into the air in celebration

Step Four: "Enjoy" confinement while Mommy cleans up the mess


For the record: Yes, I took pictures when I could have been cleaning. But no, I did not let him dump out the cereal....he climbed up to the table and dumped the cereal while I had my back turned. Ah, life with a toddler! :)

Chicken Broccoli Cheese Nuggets

My son Seth is a super picky eater. He wont touch food unless it is not messy or squishy or feels like anything other than a piece of bread or a cracker. This makes it extremely difficult to make sure he eats enough meat and/or veggies. Sooooooo, I adapted a Broccoli Cheese Nugget recipe I found online to include chicken and spinach. Miracles of miracles he eats them! I don't eat them because of the cheese but my husband LOVES them. I have a hard time keeping them in the house because Nathan will eat them before Seth gets a chance!

Chicken Broccoli Cheese Nuggets

Ingredients

2 cups of cooked chicken puree.

1 16-oz Package frozen broccoli, cooked, drained, and pureed in food processor

1/2 cup cooked spinach puree

1 1/2 cup Seasoned bread crumbs -- I use Mrs Cubbins Seasoned Stuffing Bread and put it in the food processor: 7 oz of stuffing mix makes about 1.5 cups of crumbs

1 ½ cups Shredded cheddar cheese

2 large eggs

Directions

Pre-Heat oven to 375

Lightly coat a baking sheet with olive oil or cooking spray and set aside.

Combine all ingredients (except for 1/2 c bread crumbs) and mix well.

Shape mixture into nuggets or fun shapes.

Coat nuggets in remaining bread crumbs and place on baking tray.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes (or until golden brown) turn nuggets over once during baking.

Serve warm

Nuggets freeze and reheat well in the oven.

Enjoy!

i like food

I made a delicious and I mean DELICIOUS salmon dinner last night.

Nathan and I both have been thinking about it all day today. Seth has been thinking about PB&J, but what does he know? :)

I will give you the recipe as found in the Taste of Home Healthy Cooking magazine followed by my notes. YUUUUUUUUMMMM!!


Salmon with Dill Sauce

6 salmon fillets (4 oz each)

1/2 tsp plus 2 Tbsp fresh dill (just the leaves)

1/4 tsp pepper

4 tsp cornstarch

2/3 cup reduced sodium chicken broth

1/3 cup evaporated milk

1 Tbsp dijon mustard

2 tsp lemon juice

Place each salmon fillet on a double thickness of heavy-duty foil (about 12 inches square). Sprinkle with 1/2 tsp dill and pepper.

Fold foil around salmon and seal tightly. Grill, with the cover closed, over high heat for 5-10 minutes or until fish flakes easily with a fork.

In a small saucepan, combine the cornstarch, broth, milk, mustard, lemon juice and remaining dill. Bring to a boil over medium heat; cook and stir for 1-2 minutes or until thickened.

Open foil packets carefully to allow steam to escape. Serve salmon with dill sauce.


Juli's notes -- I used an 18 oz fillet of fresh Atlantic Salmon and cooked it whole in foil on the grill. It took about 20 minutes to cook. To make the sauce dairy free I boiled 2/3 cup of soy creamer down to 1/3 cup and substituted that for the evaporated milk. I served the salmon with plain white rice and steamed asparagus. This simple meal was one of the best dinners I've had in quite a while!

Enjoy!!

Made my day

I was in a public restroom today -- enjoying a sliver of privacy in my stall when a little voice popped up from the stall next to me.

"Mama. I like going to the bathroom."

Judging from the acoustics of her response, Mama was not in the stall with the little voice. She replied sweetly but with a hint of disapointment that she wasn't going to get just a minute of silence while the owner of the little voice was in the stall alone.

"That's nice honey, I'm glad you like using the bathroom."

Encouraged by Mama's response and obviously excited the little voice then exclaimed "Mama Mama I don't have diarrhea any more!"

"Oh honey that's good. I'm glad. Please wipe and we will finish our shopping." What was a hint of disappointment in Mama's voice had at that point turned into more than a hint of embarrassment.

"Mama! I'm having regular poops!"

"Good. Now please wipe your bum and come out to wash your hands."

"Mama come in here. Come see my regular poops!"

"I don't need to come in honey."

"No Mama, come see so you believe me!"

"I believe you."

"No Mama! Come now! Come see them!"

The little voice is getting louder and louder, the tone of Mama's voice is becoming less embarrassed. I can only imagine that Mama is standing outside the stall resigning herself to the inevitability of acquiescing to the voice's demand.

I am quietly giggling as I wash my hands, and fully smiling as Mama and the little voice emerge from their stall.

Mama, a pretty woman with shoulder length blonde hair looks at me and smiles. She looks down and shakes her head, shrugs her shoulders, telling me with her eyes that she can't believe what she just did.

I laugh out loud and say "That just made my day."

She looks at me in disbelief "Well I'm glad that made your day."

"It did. My son is 16 months old and is just starting to talk. I can't wait to see what kind of things he's going to say."

She laughs. "Whatever they say, it's always at the best time."

As if on cue the little voice pipes up once again. "Where is your son? Did you leave him in the toilet?"

Mama and I share a knowing look and laugh. "No," I say "He's not here. He's at his grandma's house."

I leave the restroom with a smile on my face, I love it when strangers can make my day.