Many Miles Under These Stroller Wheels

One year ago, my friend Christi and I decided to start walking every day together. When we started walking, she was 8 weeks pregnant, so little man in the middle there was really little, and she wasn't having to push a double stroller. :)

Somehow, in the midst of crazy busy schedules, a pregnancy, and the general insanity of life, we managed to walk at least four days a week, one hour for each walk, for the past year! And yes, my amazing friend was pushing that double stroller two weeks after giving birth.

I love our walks, and I think the kiddos do, too. Sometimes, it's the only way my guy gets a nap in! In the past year, we have had a near-death experience involving two speeding cars, had a near-death experience involving Cujo (okay, I'm exaggerating), come across a snake, encountered eight deer at once, had a run-in with about 57,000 pelicans, and called the police once. Yes, we now walk with pepper spray--so be warned. :)

But also over the past year, we have laughed hysterically together, cried together, prayed together, and been there to talk through things that are going on in our lives.

And these kiddos? They love each other. Now, they'll hit each other in the face and shove each other into the dirt (baby excluded), but they'll also hug and kiss each other and share their goldfish. :)

And yes, my child did fall asleep with his hand in the goldfish cup. :)

I'm thankful for the many miles I've put on my poor Adidas tennis shoes and my amazing jogging stroller. Here's to many more!



Something Came In The Mail Today

Something came in the mail today that made me cry. Made me cry big old soppy-wet tears of joy. Tears of gratitude.

Don't ask me what it is, because I'm not telling you. :)

But it made me remember something that God has been pressing on my heart lately: God is good. In the midst of whatever we go through, God is faithful. Life is about trials and challenges and growth and perseverance, but it is also about surprises that come in the mail. And about ice cream dates. About watching our child take his first step or say his first word. About birthday parties. About blessings that we could never fathom.

A little something came in the mail today, and I am humbled and reminded to rejoice in the Lord always.

"For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge —that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."
-Ephesians 3:14-21

Water And Fire

Yesterday afternoon, when the temperature hit 90, I made an announcement to my little family of three: "We're going swimming!" We all put our bathing suits on, I stuffed the pool bag with the usual necessities, and we headed out the door.

I thought that this summer, all the little nugget would need were arm floaties. I think they're perfect! He is so comfortable in the water, and I knew he would be. He puts his head under the water in the bath tub, so I figured the swimming pool wouldn't be any different. In fact, he took the liberty of jumping into the pool when neither of us were in the pool. Needless to say, the hubbs jumped in 1 second later. But, the toddler had his floaties on, and he came up with an enormous smile on his face! :)

The torpedoes, which were immediately renamed "rockets," and the "doodles" (noodles) were his obsessions.

 

Then today, in honor of Cinco de Mayo (and the fact that the hubbs is on call this afternoon), we decided to go grab lunch at Cozymel's. Yum!

After lunch, we swung into the Best Buy parking lot, where Fire Engine 21 was just waiting for my son to get in the driver's seat.

Yep. He was in Heaven.

And the captain let him put on his helmet!

But then, some other little boys walked up with their mom. And I knew. I knew it was going to get ugly. In case you don't have a toddler, the words "taking turns" and "sharing" don't generally go over very well.

 

Yeah, it's nap time over here. Happy Cinco de Mayo! :)



Time For Bed

Let me break down this pallet for you.

• Layer 1: Thick quilt (Mommy's bedspread in college)
• Layer 2: Fleece blanket (Daddy's bedspread in college)
• Layer 3: Scrunched up quilt, face-planted kitty puppet, and two old pillows

Let me explain why these items are on the floor in my son's room.

May 2nd, 2012, 3:48 PM

I enter the toddler's room in defeat. "Fiiiiine," I say as I open his door, "you win. I get it. You're not going to take a nap today or let your poor mother take one, either." And then I look up and see . . .

. . . my child hanging over his crib about to flip onto the hardwood floor.

And I think, Daaaangit, time for a big boy bed.

[Side note: I think it's ridiculous to put your kid in a big boy bed because of his/her age. Sorry, I just do. I personally wanted to keep my son in that prison cell crib for as long as humanly possible.]

May 2nd, 2012, 6:05 PM

The hubbs comes home.

"Babe, guess who's ready for a big boy bed?"

"No way. Did he fall out of his crib!?"

"Just about."

Husband trudges out to the garage to get his tools and take apart the front of the toddler's crib.

May 2nd, 2012, 7:15 PM

Read bedtime story. Say prayers. Start to sing a song and before I can hit the third word, the inevitable, "Night-night, Mommy" lets me know that I suck at singing and my child would rather toss and turn than listen to me sing one single song.

I lay him down, turn to exit the room, and thud. He's already fallen on the floor. But he's completely encased in his blankie, so all is right with the world. I tell my son, "You cannot leave the bed. It's a no no." He obeys and doesn't leave. After a few minutes, he falls asleep.

May 3rd, 2012, 1:45 AM

I'm asleep. The hubbs is just coming to bed, when we hear it over the monitor:

THUD. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

I grab my glasses, and go flying down the hallway right behind my husband who gets to him first. He picks him up and holds him.

"Give him to me, "I say, because duh everyone knows that mommas make everything better.

The hubbs hands the little chicken nugget to me. And just as he does. . .

"Oh my gosh! He's got blood on his face!!!"

"What!?" I screamed. And just as I pull him away from my chest, I notice blood in his hair and all over the side of his face.

[Go into serious mom mode.]

I hold him back and scan. Relief. A busted lip. A badly busted lip. His teeth nearly went all the way through. There is blood everywhere.

May 3rd, 2012, 1:56 AM

"Come on, sugar bear, you wanna sleep with Momma?"

He can barely nod he's so tired.

As we make our way back to the bedroom, I say what my husband is just about to ask--"Put the crib back together." Once again, he trudges out to the garage and reassembles the crib.

May 3rd, 2012, 2:29 AM

Just put angel back to bed in his crib.

In our bedroom:

Husband: "Did we just--"

Wife: "Go from a busted lip to a potentially broken neck? Yes."

Husband: "Well, you better get him as soon as he wakes up in the morning."

Wife (who has an extremely important meeting at work today): "Yep."

---------------

And here we are. The problem isn't my child getting out of bed. If I tell him something sternly enough and threaten time-out, he 100% of the time obeys. The problem is that my child is hell-bent on breaking something. Here's to hoping the pallet prevents anymore bloodshed.

Geeeesh.

There Are Tears At The End

Last night was Senior Night at my brothers' soccer game. My brother Nathan is graduating this month and attending Baylor University in the fall. It was a very special night for my family. Watching both of my brothers play together on the soccer field has always tugged at my heart strings. I've always been especially close with my brothers; and out of all my siblings, my brother Nathan and I have the most similar personalities.

Thus begins the four tear-filled months leading up to Pudlumps (what I've called Nathan since he was little...because I thought he was "a puddle of big, fat, hairy, ugly lumps"....it stuck) moving to Texas.

It was a great night. The hubbs and the toddler came, I ate a hot dog for dinner (bonus!), and my brothers both played great! My brother Mitchell is the goalie.

And of course my guys looked adorable while they cheered on my brothers. The toddler kept shouting, "Soccer game! Go, go! Yay Nathan! Go Mitchell!" It was precious! When I told him we were going to a soccer game, he ran around the house shouting, "SOCCER GAME!!!!!" I've seriously never seen him so mesmerized.

I mean, do you think he could have been any closer!?

I'm so proud of my brother Nathan. I am going to miss him like crazy! I remember when he was 12 years old and he hopped on a plane to come visit me at Baylor. I took him to a football game, he stayed at my apartment all weekend, we talked about how one day he would attend Baylor, and we drove back to Little Rock together for Thanksgiving. We stopped at Sonic for lunch in some small Texas town, and the whole way back we laughed and talked about how cool college is.

And yes, I am crying now.

Baked Ziti

I was lucky enough to get a ton of recipes from my friend Christi (who, aside from my momma, is the greatest cook in the world). I was scanning through her recipes the other day and I came across one that called for FOUR ingredients. Uh, yes please, duh. I halved nearly everything (except the pasta) and put it in an 8x8. But the recipe calls for a 9X13, so I will give you the recipe for that.

You will need:

• 1 lb. of ground beef, browned and drained
• 4 cups of mozzarella cheese
• 2 jars of spaghetti sauce
• 1 lb. of mostaccioli or penne pasta, cooked and drained

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. In a large bowl, combine pasta, 2 jars of spaghetti sauce, meat, and 2 cups of cheese. Spoon mixture into a greased 9X13 dish. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes.

3. Top with remaining 2 cups of mozzarella cheese and bake uncovered for another 10 minutes.

Okay, and how easy is that!? And we l.o.v.e.d. it! This one is definitely going to become a regular around my house.