Staying Cool in September

     Well we never did lose power last night though the number of people without power increased after I posted yesterday. It was hot again today and I was happy to beat the heat in any way possible.

     I decided to load up our water table and take it to work so that the kids could play and cool off before lunch. It was a hit but I wish we had a bigger water table so that there was less fighting over the toys and water. Regardless, everyone got the chance to cool down. Work in and of it self is nice and cool which keeps teachers and kids happy. This isn't always the case, some of the local schools have had to result to ice packs and fans  and even evacuating early due to the heat! 

     When Froggie and I left work/school (Big Brother was still asleep so Hubby picked him up when he got out of work) we headed out to do a little shopping. By shopping I mean we wandered around and looked at potential birthday present options for a party we will be going to in a few weeks. It was nice to be in the air conditioning and we came up with some pretty awesome ideas. 

     In an effort to avoid the heat as long as possible we headed to Cracker Barrel for dinner. In the past 6 1/2 months eating out has been fairly easy; we put Big Brother in a booster seat or high chair and took Froggie into wherever we were in her carrier. Now that we've transitioned out of the carrier it's a little more difficult. 

     We went in today and had our little table with a booster seat on one side and a high chair on the other. Froggie and Big Brother did great! Since it was an impromptu dinner out I didn't have Froggie's dinner with me so I ordered an extra side (baked sweet potato) and let Froggie eat away. I fed her a few bites because I did have a baby spoon in our bag but then I wasn't really able to eat my dinner. We had an extra roll plate so I put some sweet potatoes and some of my green beans on it and gave it to her. She did a great job feeding herself.  She ate A LOT tonight and was very proud of herself!

    Well, we're still trying to beat the heat and the best way to do that is to sleep through it - g'night!

Sitting like a big girl!

Mmmm cornbread!

Big Girl! Sweet potato and green beans.

Sweet potato and green beans were a hit!

She did such a good job

Mmmmm sweet potato!

Mini Me

     I don't have much to share tonight. Summer is visiting for one last day with temps in the 90's and 20,000 people in our area are without power because of some issue between here and Cleveland. We're trying to stay cool here but I thought I'd share a picture of my mini me (Big Brother) helping me carry my things out of school/work this afternoon.

Making "Puffs"

     I decided to be brave and try my hand at making puffs. (I feel like I should mention the last time I tried making baby snacks they didn't turn out well at all) So I checked out a bunch of posts online and decided on the recipe that required the fewest ingredients. This recipe also didn't require sugar while most of the others did (and if you look at the ingredient list on puffs there's sugar in those too).
     So I'm using the recipe from The Happy Lil' Homemaker which calls for Rice cereal (2 cups), pureed baby food (2 table spoons) and water (1/4 cup). I chose to use a fun flavor and picked Apples and Cherries.

     As I started working on my concoction I quickly realized that there was not nearly enough liquid to mix everything together. I ended up doubling the water and using an entire jar of baby food. 

     This made a pretty nice dough and I decided to attempt to spread my dough out on my wax paper lined cookie sheet and then take a pizza cutter to it. The dough was pretty sticky and a lot of it collected on the cookie cutter so I'll have to see how it actually worked when they came out of the oven. (If you have the time or tools to do tiny dots of dough do it! I'm sure it'll save you the work of trying to cut everything apart once it comes out of the oven but I'm impatient.)

     Well, here's the bad news... my "puffs" didn't turn out. After 40 minutes in the oven the top was baked but the inside looked a little like oatmeal still and EVERYTHING was stuck to the wax paper. In retrospect I suppose you have to follow the directions exactly to know if it's going to work and I may try it again in the future (or a different recipe). Honestly though, I didn't think these were very flavorful. Good for a baby who doesn't have a real understanding of flavor maybe but I don't think Big Brother would have been happy with these. 

Are You Ready for Some Football?

     It's that time again... that's right, football season is back in full swing!
     This is Froggie's first football season since she and I were still in the hospital to watch last seasons Super Bowl. I'm sure that at 3 days old she got a lot out of that one football game anyway...
     With the exception of Hubby, we are a house of Steeler fans so the kids and I geared up in our football finest and waited for the game to start. I raced the kickoff to finish Froggie's tutu and I even messed around with glitter. (If you know me you know that I LOATH all things glitter! I blame working Christmas holidays at craft stores...)

Tutu in progress

     At half time during the Steelers game we took Froggie outside to do a mini photo shoot and then came back in and watched the rest of the game. Big Brother woke up from his nap during the second half of the game and snuggled with Hubby for a bit. After the game I took some more pictures of the kids while Big Brother was antsy to run around.

     After I tortured my kids with my camera we let them play outside. Hubby pushed Froggie in the swing while I let Big Brother ride his bike around. He then decided he wanted to run around in the field up the road so we ditched his bike and walked back up the street so he could run around a little more. We headed in and prepped dinner and ended our weekend with breakfast for dinner! Froggie has spent some time "contained" with her toys in the Pack and Play so that she can't eat everything she finds on the floor (I can't tell you how many times a day we take Big Brother's cars away from her). She's gotten  really good at pulling herself on the side and peeking around the room at what everyone else is doing.

     So here are today's pictures:

Even football's littlest fans need to have game day snacks

Football photo shoot 1

Football photo shoot 2

Football photo shoot 3

Football photo shoot 4

Football photo shoot 5

Football photo shoot 6

Football photo shoot 7

Football photo shoot 8

Football photo shoot 9

Check out those teeth!

checking out the great outdoors

Happy Grandparent's Day!

     Today is National Grandparent's Day. So from my munchkins to all you grandparents out there - Happy Grandparent's Day! Here is a little something from them to you:

Beware the Bottomless Pit

     There are several people in my family who are bottomless pits. Hubby, Big Brother (if it's something he wants to eat) and now... Froggie!
     Because sometimes my "mommy brain" is worse than others I frequently forget things. Usually it's something like where I put my phone/keys/kindle/etc. Well, today I left Froggie's wet bag full of today's diapers on the counter at work. Since today isn't a wash night it wouldn't have been an issue if it weren't a Friday because I'd of just used the same bag tomorrow and then brought it all home. However, it IS Friday and I couldn't leave 3 dirty diapers sit all weekend. I couldn't ask any of my coworkers to take them home either, simply because I would have felt horrible for sending them a bag full of smelly diapers.
     I also didn't realize that I had left said wet bag until we were getting out of the car at home, 15 miles away from work. Hubby (very awesomely) volunteered to take Big Brother and head back up to pick up the diapers.
     While they were out Froggie joined me at the table and enjoyed a snack while watching clips from Disney movies while I pumped. It's been awhile since we had offered her any "snacks" but she's pretty good at picking stuff up. I'm also a big believer in "if you don't let them try they'll never learn" (also you'll never know what they're able to do). So I stuck a couple yogurt bites and some puffs on her tray and let her play away. She concentrated pretty hard but quickly got the hang of picking them up. She didn't get the idea of putting them in her mouth quite as quickly and a bunch ended up all over the table.
     I guess this means we will have to buy some more snacks and have them readily available and in the diaper bag. Maybe I'll hunt out some recipes online and see if I can make any of my own.

checking out what was on the tray

Taste of success

Mmmmm snacks!

it's official - Froggie can feed herself!

Outtakes

     So this evening I decided I wanted to take pictures of the kids together since the weather was pretty nice and at any moment it could snow. Not really, but I feel like months of nasty weather is quickly approaching.
     I got some nice shots and I'll share those at another time; however, I thought I'd share some of the "outtakes" tonight since I laughed a little about them. My kids are pretty goofy.

Not the worst but a funny face

silly Big Brother

Hubby trying to keep the kids from eating sand!     

Adventures in Grocery Shopping

Things I had forgotten about switching from an infant carrier (carseat) to a “regular” car seat:

You seem to lose both hands to one squirmy baby

It’s nearly impossible to transfer a sleeping baby

Baby has to sit in the shopping cart or be carried

     Ok, so these really weren’t things I had forgotten but I had been living in the bliss of being able to cart Froggie around with one hand along with her blankie, binky and toys.

     Like I said, on Monday we removed Froggie’s car seat base from my car and moved her “big girl seat” in. It’s huge and purple and swallows her up but it keeps her safe. I survived going into work on Tuesday with the normal Monday armful of bedding, lunches, milk and the diaper bag. I, unwisely, thought that was the most difficult thing I had to do in the transition.

     Well, tonight we went to the grocery store…

     Big Brother decided he wanted to go in the Ergo so Hubby put him on his back and we figured Froggie would do just fine sitting in the cart. She loved it! She held on and swung her feet while she looked all around.

     This, of course, only lasted half of our shopping trip and then I ended up having to carry her. Every time I tried to put her back in the cart she cried. I don’t mind holding my Froggie though and the shopping got done regardless.

     After Big Brother went to bed Hubby baked cookies. It was an experience to say the least (he normally cooks while I do the baking) but the cookies are pretty tasty! Time for some cookies, milk and Duck Dynasty!

Checking everything out

Check out those swinging feet!

How Froggie slept this morning, just because it's cute

Happy Labor Day!

     To many today is the unofficial end to summer. School is officially back in for those who go to school and around here it's gotten busier since we live in a college town. We started our weekend off with our jam packed Saturday and then any other outdoor plans we had went south when it rained both Sunday and Monday.
     Hubby got the kids up and let me sleep for a little longer this morning. After a little bit I felt like I was wasting my extra day and came down stairs to find everyone hanging out in the living room. it was cloudy again and the weather was predicting rain. This morning was pretty low key, then Big Brother had lunch and Hubby prepped Froggie's new carseat to go into my car.
     Froggie has upgraded from her infant carrier to a stand alone carseat. We had picked up a new purple Graco carseat a few weeks ago and had just not moved it into the car. When Big Brother laid down Hubby finished adjusting the straps to fit Froggie and work rear facing.

     Once Big Brother was up and out of bed and I had got up on publishing posts on  here we loaded up the car to test out Froggie's new car seat and go get some ice cream. Big Brother got his very own cup of ice cream but insisted upon eating everyone else's. Some days I wonder why we order him his own food instead of just sharing ours with him.

     Froggie also has gotten another tooth! Her other top tooth has broken through. It actually broke through Saturday morning but swelled back up a bit yesterday. I don't think they're going to swell over again though so I'm saying it's official! This could have been the reason she would randomly wake up screaming for the last week or so. However, Froggie has adopted a bad habit now that she has top and bottom teeth. She has been grinding her teeth together so that they make a clicking or popping noise. It's almost as if she lines her top teeth behind her bottom teeth and then pops them up over the bottom teeth to make the noise. She pretty good about stopping if you say something to her, give her a toy or shove your finger in her mouth but I'm not so sure she always will be if it becomes habitual. Anyone have any experience getting an infant not to grind/click their teeth?

Well tomorrow we're back to work for our 4 day work week. We're also supposed to have a break in our hot temperatures as well. Hoping for a good week.

Recovery Day

     Yesterday was our recovery day. We were pretty lazy all day but when it got too hot to be in the house comfortably we moved out to the porch. It had drizzled earlier but was just cloudy so Froggie got to go in the swing and Big Brother played with his train table.

     While we were out there a storm rolled in and it got pretty dark and started to thunder. Big Brother, who sometimes gets pretty anxious about thunder, did really well with the incoming storm. We stayed out and watched the rain come up to the house and enjoyed the air as it cooled off. Once the storm started to die down Big Brother went and ran through the rain in his shirt and underwear. He then decided that he wanted to take his shirt off and jump in the puddles in his underwear. He’s such a goofy kid!

Before he lost his shirt

     Because of the rain today Big Brother also got to play his first video game today. Hubby and I had bought the Cars racing game a little while back and had put it away. Yesterday seemed like a good day to bring it out and he had a lot of fun with it. He loved to see his favorite characters and be the one who drives them around.

     This of course will not be an every day or all day thing but every once in awhile it will be nice to be able to let him drive Lightening around in Radiator Springs. 

Driving!

Racing with Hubby!

Froggie with her taggies!

6 Month Check Up

     Friday was Froggie's 6 month check up. We got in on time settled and weighed in and waited for the doctor. He checked her out and said everything looked good!
     We looked at her growth curve and it's continuing to progress. She has gotten an inch longer and her head has gotten about an inch bigger as well. Most importantly she has leapt from the 9th percentile to the 22nd and has gained 3 pounds since her last appointment!
     I had read that growth was slowed down while children were in the harness and wasn't really sure if that was the case with Froggie or if she was just going to be tiny forever. Apparently the harness was keeping her from her full potential!
     She was also a trooper about getting her shots! They were out of one of the vaccinations she needed so we're on a call list for it when it comes in and at that point she will probably also get her flu shot. Over all Froggie got another clean bill of health - no we wait for our next hip check up in October!

Bag Full of Bargains

     Twice a year there is a huge consignment sale at our local convention center and normally we go opening night to have the best opportunity to get what we may be looking for. They let the event volunteers shop an hour and a half before the doors open to the public are able to shop. This year they let military in half an hour before the sale started so we were able to get in and get a jump start on our searching - which is amazing since toting a 6 month old and a 2 year old through that kind of event once EVERYONE is through the doors gets tough!

The sale before the doors opened to everyone

The other side of the room

     We went in seeking cloth diapers, a toy for each kid, nursing covers, a few outfits and whatever other good deals we came across. There was a TON of stuff, most of which I would have loved to get for the kids but was not truly necessary. Hubby and Big Brother walked on one side of the table while Froggie and I walked on the other looking through the toys and baby supplies. Big Brother got a bag full of mini Cars (19 of them for $6! He has been carrying them around since we found the bag!). We then snagged a Little Tykes baby doll stroller for froggie to cart her baby dolls around in once she starts walking in a few months. I found a nice "new" nursing cover, a Taggies book and a Cars quilt for Big Brother. We struck out finding any cloth diapers but I think overall we got some great deals and a lot of fun stuff!

Racing his cars to our car!

The 19 new mini Cars

Nursing cover

Froggie Princess gloves and Taggies book

Big Brother's new quilt

Froggie's new shoes!