Mom Challenge

At the beginning of the month I posted about a fun 30 day mom challenge. Visit imom to find your printable 30 day mom challenge. Did you join in? It has been 30 days( I seriously can't believe how fast time goes)!! It was so nice for me to have a small challenge each day to focus on. I love checking things off a list. It was great to have something on my to do list that focused on doing nice things with/for Jake.

Over the last 30 days we have done things like, Leave a sweet note for your child, calculate how many weekends are left until your child graduates(696 on the day it was the challenge & now only 693), Todays mom focus: Joy or on another day it was love, and laugh with your child to name a few.

A little embarrassing to admit, but the hardest day had to be day 29. Almost the last day & the challenge was turn off your phone, computer, or tv today while your child is with you. Well Jake is with me from the time he wakes up(6:30 or 7) to the time he goes to bed at 7:30(love that he is). We don't do too much tv during the day. I let Jake watch a little, but never have it on anything for me so that was no problem. But then there was the computer & phone part too. I usually get on the computer a couple times a day while Jake is awake, but occupied with other things(Monday's post was auto scheduled). And my phone is always somewhere near.  I check it several times throughout the day. Because I wanted Jason or anyone else to be able to call if they needed I didn't turn my phone completely off. But I did set all my notifications to silent so that I wasn't drawn by the sound. I really make an effort to be totally present when I am with Jake. But there are times regularly when he is doing something else and I am checking my phone. It was great to not have the temptation & just be with Jake.

I loved having the 30 day challenge. I am going to be leaving it on my fridge. Some days won't really apply any more like the number of weekends, but it will still be great to have a reminder to focus on Jake or be patient & loving. Would love for you to share how it went for you. And if you didn't do it the 1st of September is tomorrow & would be a great time to start fresh!!

**as I typed this I was reminded I never did a recap on my 30 day hairstyles in June. Yes it was a while ago. So sorry I left that hanging. I did my half way recap & that is basically where I stopped. The rest of the month there were no new hairstyles. Guess we can mark that challenge as a fail.**

Menu Plan (8/29-9/4)

Another week of meal planning. By far breakfast & lunch are the most difficult to plan. It is so easy to want to fall back on cereal & sandwiches. Those don't take much work or thought. So I am really trying to plan better breakfast & lunches with some variety.

Breakfast- eggs, toast, & fruit(x2), cereal & fruit(x3), english muffins & fruit(x2)

Lunch-Turkey ranch pinwheels(x2), grilled chicken on salad(x2), macaroni & cheese...all lunches served with fruit & veggies

                                                                {source}

Monday-marinated chicken, veggies & brown rice

Tuesday-tacos & black beans

Wednesday-left overs

Thursday-Baked ziti,(a family favorite) bread, & salad

Friday-out

Saturday-leftovers

Nothing...

Just a little check in. I feel like I haven't been posting very regularly. How often do you check the blog for new posts? Ideally I would like to post about 4 times a week, but just haven't been good at that lately. And then I wonder is anyone really visiting...or reading what is posted? I can check stats so I know you have been by to see what is new, but not much has been posted.

It isn't so much that I have nothing to share...just not so much feeling like writing.

We have been busy soaking up the last of summer, although, summer doesn't feel like it is going anywhere soon. We are still having temperatures in the 90's. But I definitely don't want it to be cold yet. Jake would stay outside from morning to night, but with it being so hot we do have to come in during the middle of the afternoon for a little break.

Pregnancy is going great & it has been great to be feeling good. I have been much better at keeping up with the house work & spending lots of time with Jake. Enjoying being pregnant & not wanting it to go by too quickly.

We have a ton of changes with Jason's job coming up in the next week. We are super excited about it. And I am so proud of my super hard working husband!!

My camera is still broken...so annoying!!

So there you have a small update from us. And hoping to get to some more regularly posting.

If you stop by be sure to leave a comment. Let me know you were here!!

Daily Moments (8/14-8/20)

I said last week that I would do better with pictures this week...well not so much! Wish I would have had some foreshadowing before making that statement. On Wednesday my camera broke. It is a tiny little Nikon and didn't cost very much, but now all I have is my camera on my phone. Not the best for taking pictures of a super active boy. Not to mention that I still can't figure out how to get the pictures from my phone to the computer. I used to be able to email, but the last couple weeks that hasn't been working. When Jason gets home today I will make sure to have him show me so I can at least have a few pictures to share.

But here are the 3 pictures I have from this week before my camera broke.

 Sunday-August 14th-My parents recently got a floating poker table for their pool with water proof cards & foam poker chips. We had so much fun playing in the pool this weekend. Of course for no money, but it was still fun.

Monday-August 15th-I realized when I was getting ready for bed I hadn't taken a picture for the day. So here is a picture looking over to the empty side of the bed. Jason spent 2 nights on a house boat this week leaving his side empty. I don't do well with him being gone over night.

Tuesday-August 16th- Enjoy a great lunch with some super sweet friends at Chick-fil-a today. You can't really see, but they were passing out these Chick-fil-a hats to all the kids that were there. Not sure about Jake's face in this picture, I think it was "I just smiled for the last picture & now you want to take another one."

So there you have it. I am so lost without my camera. I know I hadn't been great with our Daily Moment post, but I still take a million pictures. Stinks to not have a real camera.

Menu Plan (8/22-8/28)

Once again I will be linking up with Desiring Virtue & sharing our menu plan for the week with her Menu Mayhem. A great place to get ideas if you are stumped for dinner ideas. I know it really helps me because sometimes it feels like we have eaten the same things for months. I really do enjoy cooking and like to try new things, but we fall into the pattern of eating the same things. I notice this more as seasons come to an end. Summer is ending & I feel like we are just circling our summer meals. Because some of the things I am ready to eat are too fall to eat in summer. Do you have foods you only eat during certain times of year? I know I could make them whenever, but something about soup that is just right for cool nights & so wrong for super hot summer evenings.

                                                                {source}
Ok on with the meal plan for the week. Changing it up a little. I am just going to list our plan for breakfast & lunch together not a specific day. As it seemed last week we just ate what we felt like not paying attention to what day I had assigned it. Dinner I mostly stick to the day it is planned, although you will see a couple things repeated this week that we didn't get to last week.

Breakfast-
eggs, toast, & fruit (x2), blueberry muffins(x2), breakfast burritos(x2), & cereal

Lunch-
leftovers, chicken salad(x2), turkey sandwiches, blts(x2), all with fruit, & veggies

Dinner-
Monday-Enchiladas, spanish rice, & corn(carried over from last week)
Tuesday-chicken tetrazzini, veggies, & bread
Wednesday-Left overs
Thursday-Chicken strips, potatoes, & veggie(carried over from last week)
Friday-pizza & veggies
Saturday-left overs
Sunday-dinner at my mom's

Avocado

16 weeks...hard to believe we are at 4 months. Wondering why avocado? Every week I get an update on our baby and each week they equate the size of our baby to some type of food. This week our baby is around the size of an avocado. It is always fun to see what food will be for that week.

I am feeling great these days which is a huge blessing! Jake & I have been able to play. I feel like a much better mom when I am not just lying on the couch.

Had my regular check up last week and everything looks great. Heart beat was in the 150's. Signed my consent for a vbac...so exciting to be in a practice that is going to at least give me the chance to try. I know it may not end up that way, but I checked with several other practices who said "no" for no reason.

Dying to know if we will be welcoming a boy or girl. The next time I go to the doctor will be for the ultrasound. I can't wait to name our baby & start decorating the nursery.

I am at the in between stage. Not looking pregnant, but questionable. At the point of feeling kind of fat & not pregnant. My pants are starting to get tight. I tried on a pair of maternity pants and they are still too big. Again the in between stage. Plus since being passed the sickness(thank God) and not really having any movement(I have felt a few flutters here and there) I have found myself questioning if I am really pregnant.

All 3 of us are still over the moon. It is so much fun to hear Jake talk about all the stuff he is going to do with the baby or show the baby once it gets here.

One Fish, Two Fish

Jake started asking for a fish a few weeks back. He really wanted a gold fish.

We let a couple weeks go by of him still asking for a gold fish. We went to the pet store to look around. I thought getting a gold fish would be so simple. A small tank with some gravel and a fish...how difficult could that be?

                                                The fish getting used to their new environment
Our first trip to the pet store left us with a lot more questions and nothing purchased. We did find out that a tank needed to be set up for a few days before you could add fish. So home we went to talk more about this fish. That I really thought would be such a simple thing.

Another trip to the pet store & our 2nd warning that gold fish were a lot of work. That they needed a lot of space and a lot more cleaning then most other types of fish. Because Jake was so set on a gold fish we weren't real sure what to do at this point.

                                                            Adding the fish to the tank

While Jake went to spend the night with his grandparents Jason & I went and bought a tank. We had it all set up in his room when he came home(minus the fish).  He was so excited to see the tank set up. And a couple days later we made yet another trip to the pet store.

At this point we had decided on platy fish. We could get at least 3 since they are schooling fish & according to the pet store were fairly easy to care for. Plus a fun aspect for Jake a couple of them have 3 black spots in their tails that look like mickey mouse.  Of course after deciding on 3 platy fish, we also picked up a black molly, & an algae eating upside down catfish.

We all love the fish tank after 2 days of a couple of causalities(2 fish dies within 2 days). We were able to replace those fish & thankfully Jake wasn't too upset with the fish dying. Thankfully since then all fish have lived.

Daily Moments(8/7-8/13)

Another Daily Moments post, but not very many pictures. I am hoping to do much better this week with pictures and have a full week to share next Tuesday. Enjoy the couple pictures I have this week.

 Monday- August 8th- Jake loves washing dishes!! He would stand at the sink for hours washing dishes. It is great when I am working in the kitchen & there isn't much cooking he can help with.

 Wednesday-August 10th-Jake had his 1st sleep over with his cousin Caleb. It cracks me up how kids can sleep. When I checked on them and found this I had to snap a picture.

Ok...that is all I can share now. I have another picture on my phone, but it won't seem to go to the computer. If I can figure it out I will update with that.

Menu Plan(8/15-8/21)

I am going back to sharing my menu plans for the week and will be linking up with Desiring Virtues, Menu Planning Mayhem. If you are looking for menu ideas check out her link party for some great ideas.

Monday-
B-Sausage, egg breakfast casserole & fruit
L-Turkey sandwiches, pretzels, & fruit
D-rotisserie chicken, peas, & fruit

Tuesday-
B-sausage, egg breakfast casserole & fruit
L-Chick-fil-a with friends
D-Weeknight enchiladas, spanish rice, & corn & black bean salad

Wednesday-
B-waffles & fruit
L-chicken salad & fruit
D-Crock pot bbq sandwiches, coleslaw, & beans

Thursday-
B-waffles & fruit
L-turkey sandwiches, veggies, & fruit
D-leftovers

Friday-
B-breakfast casserole or waffles(whatever is left from earlier in week)
L-veggies & dip with fruit
D-chicken strips, veggie & potatoes


Saturday-
B-eggs, toast, & fruit
L-chicken salad & fruit
D-Leftovers

Sunday-
B-cereal & fruit
L-out after church

D-at my mom's

Pinwheels & Pompoms...details

I threw my sister a baby shower over the weekend. We had a great time celebrating her and her 2nd baby boy.
I chose pinwheels & pompoms as the shower theme and have been busy at work making tons of pinwheels and several tissue paper pompoms.

Here are a few pictures of some of the details.

I used this tutorial to learn how to make the paper pinwheels,  but just hot glued them to sticks instead of using the pencil...I didn't need them to be able to spin.
I used a combination of a few homemade body scrub recipes, but here is what I went off of mostly.
The invitation is made my me!
I used this recipe for the pinwheel cookies, but used colored sugar instead of cinnamon.

A Mom Challenge

Erin of In Between Laundry recently posted this 30 day mom Challenge. After reading over the list it seemed like fun.  It was a few days before August began I decided to give myself the challenge too. We are now 8 days in and it has been great to have a small challenge each day to focus on for my relationship with Jake.

So far it has all been pretty simple things, but special at the same time. And some of this is stuff I want to be doing all the time, but sometimes the busyness of the day makes me forget.

Over the last 8 days it has been: Go the whole day without yelling at your child, hug your child 3 times today, kiss them while they sleep, or remind yourself they are only "3" years old & treat them that way. Along with some others too.

Do you want to join in with the 30 day mom challenge? We are only 8 days in and most of the first 8 days you could do all in one day and be caught up.

Go to imom to print a copy of the 30 day Mom Challenge. 

If you decide to participate or even decide to wait until the next 1st of the month I would love for you to comment and let me know you are joining in.

Would you add anything else to the 30 day challenge? What are some things you struggle with in your daily life as a mom.

Tomato, Tomahto

You might remember in my last garden update I had mentioned things seemed to be coming along slowly in our garden.

Well, sure enough only 2 weeks later and all the green tomatoes we had have now turned red.

This week we have picked several red tomatoes. So many that we can't simply eat them as they come in any more. We have a huge supply, and I can't be happier.

Lined up this week is several jars of delicious homemade salsa. And if we have enough tomatoes after we may even can a few jars of tomato sauce.

And the good thing we still have several more tomatoes on the plants. Some are starting to get a little orange and some will be ready in just a few days.

Mud Bath

I don't have a Daily Moments post this week, but I thought you all would enjoy this.

It started raining in the early afternoon. It wasn't a hard rain and with temperatures near 100 degrees it definitely wasn't cold outside. Even with the rain.

I was cleaning bathrooms and getting ready to start dinner. Jake asked if he could go play in the rain. Knowing that I was preoccupied I said "yes."

I checked on him every few minutes and he had been running around in the grass. Having a good time soaking up a summer rain.

A few minutes later I checked on him again and he was driving his truck in the mud...but only his feet were covered in mud. I asked him to try not to sit in the mud so that his shorts didn't get covered.

Again I go out to check on him, but this time I don't see him out the back door. I call his name and this is how he came walking around the corner...

After I could get my laughing under control I asked, "umm...Jake what are you doing." As if it was as normal as day he said "just taking a mud bath mommy." My only response was "I am glad you took your clothes off before you covered yourself in mud.

He was having the best time and thought it was the best thing to play in the mud. I asked him to knock on the door when he was ready to come in so I could hose him off before walking in the house. After all he was already covered what would have been the fun in yelling or telling him to come in.

It amazes me the messes he can get into with just a few minutes.

Nursing

I must say I am so excited to nurse a new baby. It is such a special time with a mommy & her baby.

It is also no secret I often joke I will nurse my next baby until they are 5. Jake stopped nursing all on his own. Which really is the way you want it, but it was too early for me. It was a week before his 1st birthday and all of a sudden he refused to nurse any more. I tried for about 2 weeks after, but he wanted nothing to do with me. It was pretty sad for me...I thought I had a couple more months at the least. It was just over one day without any thought of weaning or stopping. This is why I have often say my next one will be nursed forever. I really am hoping the next time will be on a much more mutual decision.

Have you heard of all the recent controversy on breast feeding? A mom was recently asked to leave American Girl for breastfeeding her baby. She moved to the fitting room to continue, but could hear the employees talking about her. This link shares some of the story & also has a response from American Girl in the comments.

The saddest thing of all is this is not the only story like this. I could probably give you half a dozen links of moms being asked to leave wherever they are for simply feeding their babies. Really? Is nursing a baby in public that offensive for people?

I have seen a lot of moms nursing their babies in public & have never once seen a mom that you could see too much of her breast. Mom's typically aren't sitting around with their breast out in the open waiting for the baby to nurse. It might take a minute or two for the baby to get started, but still you don't see very much. Maybe if moms started walking around topless waiting for the moment their baby was ready to nurse I could see a small issue with the "public nudity."

This week kicks off World Breastfeeding week(Aug 1-7). My challenge for you...if seeing a nursing mother in public makes you feel uncomfortable...remind yourself she is simply feeding her baby. And she is choosing to do so in what is the best way for her and her baby. If you are a nursing mom, get to know your states laws on breastfeeding in public. You can find details on the laws at National Conference of State Legislation.