Picasso

So I am a little jealous of Evan's daycare and all of the finger painting that goes on in that place.  I decided that Evan and I needed a little finger painting adventure of our own.  

 

He was a little skeptical at first and preferred sitting on the artwork. 

But, after watching mommy for a few minutes, a little Picasso was born. (Nanny - can we please come to art camp this summer?)

Relaxing retirement style

We are vacationing this weekend in Hot Springs Village this weekend, which is a retirement community minutes away from Hot Springs, Arkansas. I keep telling Bill I could live here and he keeps responding that this is a retirement community and I have to keep working, so that probably will not work out. Such a party pooper.

Bill's mom rented a lake house for a long weekend and we are really enjoying our time here relaxing, fishing, playing games, and of course, eating lots of food. I was able to run today. Just so you know, Oklahoma is flat; Arkansas is not. :) Really, the run went well, but I will no doubt be sore in the morning. Anyway, here are a few tpics from our little adventure.

Forks over Knives

Veggies over meat. Candy over veggies. Coffee over everything. Now you know my diet over the last 21 days.

You may remember (you may have forgotten because you are worried about more important things than my self-imposed rules and challenges), but going vegetarian for a month was one of my 30 under 30 challenges and September was the lucky winner of this insane challenge. Why September you ask? Well, in October I'm going to St.Louis, which I hear has great BBQ, so that was out. November, don't be ridiculous, I intend to be full of turkey that month. No one should kid theirselves about food restrictions in December. So that leaves January through April. But lets be honest, its been four months. I've completed less than five challenges (including one I have cheated, I mean changed the rules, on); it was time to get busy. So, here we are. Day 21 of this crazy bean challenge.

I guess you are all wondering if I have gone crazy. Or maybe you are wondering if my dad plans to shoot me in the rear with his bow and arrow. I spent one weekend at their house and came away unharmed, so I think he is OK with my little experiment, as long as it isn't permanent. :)

I have no intentions of giving up meat. I love meat. But, I also love veggies. I mean really really love veggies. I have always wanted to cook veggies. I mean really cook veggies. Not open a can or bag and throw it in the microwave, but complete meals made exclusively from plant-based sources. So, I thought what better way to do it than put it in my 30 under 30 challenge and commit myself.

So far things are going really well. The first few days were tough because we didn't go grocery shopping. I think the first three dinners were spaghetti, mac & cheese, and chocolate milkshake. Turns out, when you want to cook vegetables, you have to go to the store and buy vegetables.

Once the fridge was stocked, cooking at home hasn't been a problem at all, and actually is quite enjoyable. I haven't missed meat in any of my meals and have learned a lot. Did you know you can cook dry black beans in the crock pot with rotel and water? They are delicious (thanks mom!).

The difficult part is lunches and events that include meat. I have went to a couple of these this month and have failed both times at not eating meat. I ate Salmon and crab, so that hardly counts right? I justified it because the purpose is to cook meatless meals, and I am doing that, so all is well.

So there you have it. I am almost finished with another 30 under 30 challenge. Come on over this weekend and I can cook you black bean, quinoa, arrowroot, arugala salad with cilantro lime dressing. Or, I can order you a cheese pizza. :)

No shoes, no shirt, no problem

Every night, Evan and I have a routine. Play, eat, bath, lotion and comfy clothes, bedtime. I stick to this routine religiously. I think Evan likes it.

But I'm pretty sure he prefers Bill's bedtime better. A lot more splashing in the bath time, a lot less lotion. Pajamas optional.

Food for thought..

As you know, one of my thirty under thirty challenges is to go vegetarian for a month. I will explain my reasons for doing this later (perhaps when my brain is better nourished with steak and chicken), but for now I wanted to share what I have been pondering all day: is vegetarian really healthier if it causes me to eat an entire cake because I'm so hungry??

8 months

Little munchkin turned 8 months on the 20th. Yes I realize that it's September 1 and this post is way overdue. To me, these are just minor details. Besides I swear that the 20th seems like yesterday. In the three weeks, we vacationed to Florida, TJ (bills cousin) visited, then his mom and sister came to visit and help out when the daycare closed for training, then his dad, other sister and her two kids came up for a visit, and now we are driving to visit my parents and meet my newest nephew. So please forgive me that this post is a little late. You people are lucky I have had time to shower.

You know what would be cool? If blogspot would write post telepathically. Not a day goes by that I don't think about blogging. Most days it's on the way to and from work. I thought about blogging while driving but then decided I like my life a little too much for that. But if this silly little blogspot app would just take down my thoughts, correcting all my spelling and grammar errors in the process, that would be awesome.

On with the point of this post -- the most adorable baby on the planet. Seriously, I should be making money off this kid.

Some things have changed over the last month, a lot has not. Evan is still tiny, doesn't have any teeth, loves to be nursed at night and sleeps in our bed at some point every night (no complains from me). He still wears 3 - 6 month clothes and size 1 shoes.

But, he's growing rapidly in other ways. He says mama, dada (although not as often, yay me!), hi, bye and shakes his head no. I'm not sure if he knows what any of those actually mean other than the shaking head business he learned from daycare. He will let you know when he doesn't want to do something - imagine a bobble head on a little body (his head is rather large) shaking back and forth ferociously. I try to get him to do something, he shakes no, I start laughing, he starts laughing. Clearly discipline is going to be a problem in this house.

He is a champ at standing up and is beginning to act like he wants to crawl, taking one to two scoots on his knee before giving up.

And finally the biggest new of all, and what I was most afraid of for the past 8 months, he is now on formula at daycare. It started when he had a nasty ear infection and fever for 8 days (have I even had a chance to write about that? I cannot remember. If not, stay tuned for the cutest leapersy baby in the world). I was so busy taking care of him and trying to get work done that I didn't have time to pump, so he had to have formula twice while home with Bill. And you know what, it wasn't that bad. At least nothing to be afraid of. I am still in the breast milk is best camp, but I do appreciate having my life back a little. Besides, Evan holds his on bottle and feeds himself, which is about the cutest thing ever.

Anyway, that's what we've been up to for the past month. Hopefully I will be able to upload his 8 month pictures when we get home. Until then, feast your eyes on this little cutie:

Labor day weekend

We are finally driving to my parents to pick up the dogs, who have been with them for over a month. We are excited to see them but I would be lying if I said I haven't enjoyed the last few weeks. Those little monsters are a mess. It's amazing how much attention two little fat dogs need.

We left yesterday after work and five hours later we still were not to Dallas. Traffic and construction can make you go mad, trust me. So after stopping to eat at cracker barrel and realizing that we wouldn't arrive at my parents until 3 am with a child who wakes up at 6:30 am, we decided to go all crazy and do something we have never done before -- we split the trip and stated the night in Dallas. Holy crap I feel like a million bucks this morning. I am not sure it is something we will do again, especially on shorter weekends or when we have the dogs because they add another element of stress to hotel staying, but it was perfect for this weekend.

It is now 9:00, we've had our Starbucks and we are probably an hour and a half from our destination, life is good.

According to the cracker barrel peg game, my son's a genius.