Baby boy joy!

Christmas eve as we made out our card for Santa to leave with the plate of freshly baked cookies, we jokingly said, "ho ho ho, bring us a bro'" and Santa didn't disappoint. We had our ultrasound yesterday and were delighted to hear and see that we are indeed having a bro' for little man to play with and boss around. So now we are working on teaching him that he is a big boy and mama is having a baby. So many decisions to be made. Do we buy another crib? Try to get him ready for a big boy bed? The thought of him being able to get up and around on his own is slightly terrifying. He is too smart and totally knows how to open doors as it is. Decisions, decisions. Luckily all the other stuff gets to be recycled without concern for pink or blue.

My bump, my bump, my lovely lady bump

So seriously my stomach popped out this last week. I swear I look way more pregnant than I am. Right now, it feels like my belly walks into a room long before I do. Only 17 weeks, how can this be? Also, am still wearing regular pants, just a size bigger, but need the room of the maternity tops. Crazy. You'd think it was twins if we hadn't already seen that it's not. Can't imagine how soon you pop if you are on 3, 4, 5 or more.

Snow Day x 2

So we were off yesterday as I hoped so I didn't need to burn another sick day while we waited for little man to be 24 hours fever free. He took 2 gloriously long naps yesterday and I was able to get some much needed cleaning done as well as took stock of holiday treat ingredients needed for a weekend of cooking.

Today we are off again. The snow is blowing something fierce and the pond has a nice coating of ice on it. The blizzard of 09 is a welcome blessing here. Who knows what tomorrow will bring, but I am expecting to be back at work.

Sick day

While the traveling weather was great and he played like a champ with his 2nd cousins, we did not escape unscathed. Little man picked something up and has had a fever for the past 2 days. So we are home sick today and he is working on a two hour marathon morning nap. It is snowing and we are due for a mid week storm bringing even more snow and even rain. Snow day later in the week? I'll keep you posted.

Doh!

So in between baby 1 and baby 2 the local Old Navy got rid of their maternity section. That leaves Target and Kohls as the only places in town to get any maternity clothes. Severely limits my options as Target doesn't carry short length anything nor does Kohls. Plus the style is a little lacking in the Kohls line anyway which is disappointing since they usually have something cute in regular sizes. So I have sucked it up and ordered some stuff online, but I hate doing this with maternity as more than ever you don't know how it is going to fit and reshipping is a biatch! Mildly irritating!

Too tired

Been too tired to post anything in a while. Hope this ends soon. It's been a while since I've made it past 8:30. We had Halloween at our house this weekend and little man totally got into the pumpkin carving and acted like he knew what to do. It was cute. Trick or treating didn't really work out since our prearranged neighbor didn't end up being home after all. Due to the extreme winds we quickly came back in. The best part for him was borrowing his cousin's monkey feet which he wore around as slippers. He really liked those, so we will have to look for something like that for Christmas.

Bite me!

So we knew little man liked to bite us from time to time- usually when teething, but yesterday he bit his friend at daycare. Uhhohh. Not good. I feel like a bad mommy. But seriously, other than saying no what more can we do? Too young for time out...What to do?

You lie!

To all the baby books, mags, and yes even drs. and dentists- you lie! You do not need to take your toddler to the dentist despite them having a mouth full of teeth including four molars. If you do they will scream and cry and crawl all over you and it will be an embarrassing waste of your time. We did get a free baby Einstein toothbrush out of it though and we all got to sleep in late due to the appt. time. But seriously he wouldn't even show them his teeth.

Where do we get this kid a helmet?

I thought crawling was hard enough, but this walking thing is hell. I cannot tell you how many bruises have been caused by trips, falls and tumbles usually on the face or head. Tonight randomly while playing with dad he bit his tongue and it bled a lot. Mom and dad were freaked out but he was better quite quickly. May have chipped that front tooth some more. Good thing these ones fall out anyway.

That's a rap!

This is the last official day of summer vacation. Monday mom returns to work and bebe begins full time at daycare. Thought I would summarize all of the great things we did this summer.

Farmers Market every Wednesday to replenish our stock of strawberries, blueberries and raspberries. We took part in a music class, saw angora rabbits, sheep and goats, played with bubbles and of course people watched. While downtown we often stopped at Tip Toes baby store and other local shops.

A guys weekend while mom went to Windsor to be in a wedding.

Swim Lessons at the Hamilton Community Pool. This was a blast. Can't wait to do it again when he is older.

Pool party with the ladies from Mom's work.

Visits from friends from Wisconsin, Chicago, Windsor and Colombus, OH.

Visits to Troy and Manchester.

Umpteenth visits to the grocery store and errand running.

Discovered Red Robin as an excellent family friendly place to grab an early lunch with friends. They have excellent grilled cheese and lots of cheesy decor to capture the little one's attention.

Survived a week without daddy while he and his buddies played survivorman in Yosemite.

Tried out some new neighborhood babysitters with pretty good success and visited daycare a few times to practice the old routine.

Our last summer adventure takes place this weekend with a visit to the Binder Park Zoo near Battle Creek. Grandma and Grandpa will meet us there Saturday for what we hope will be a very fun day despite the weather forecast.

Dog days of summer AKA Marley and me

So pretty much each week day this summer bebe and I and the dog have gone for a walk. Many of you know that our dog is not the most obedient but has been mellowing out lately. Today on our way back to the house something caught his attention as we passed a wooded lot. He started to go for it, the bite collar kicked in and we began to struggle. This is usually tense, but something I can manage fairly well. Not so much today. The gd bite collar came undone and he took off. Most days I take my cell with me but not today so I was out of luck as far as calling a neighbor to come get the baby in the stroller while I search for the gd dog. We wandered around trying to coax him to come back and finally I began walking back towards our house. The dog followed- I use the term very loosely- and thankfully at one point while we were totally in someone else's yard a car pulled up and I was able to do the whole "look who's here" bit and get him to come over. I put the collar back on him and we made it safely home. Some days I hate this dog, please someone tell hubby we don't ever need another one.

Sweet Seven

Now that summer is almost over and work is just around the corner, little man has slept in until 7 am 2 days in a row. Why? Oh well, first practice day at daycare and work went well. He didn't even look back at me once he saw the other little kids. Yes!

Mom2Mom Sale October 10, 2009

News has been posted about this year's expanded sale and new location. Should be bigger and better than before. Admission is free too.
www.hollandmom2momsale.blogspot.com

Bring socks

We had our first adventure at a mall play center today. Since the mall was not actually open yet it wasn't too crowded. Little man was the youngest one there but held his own pretty well. I tried not to worry too much about the germs and just enjoy it but we did make a side trip to the meijers across the parking lot for socks once we realized that you can't wear shoes and aren't supposed to go barefoot. Moral of the story: make sure you have a pair of socks in the diaper bag- you just might need them some day.

Errybody in the club get Clunk

Finally got an upgrade with the new cash for clunkers deal. Said a sad farewell to Black Beauty last night after 11 awesome years and hello to a new black Escape. Big ups to the crew at RE Barber Ford for the excellent service and Pres. Obama for the CARS program that helped get us there. Mommy actually upgrades to the Hybrid while Dad sports the new ride for his long commute.

Spagetti Nos!

Last night my son tried Spagetti-Os for the first time. He didn't seem too excited by them so we tried them again today for lunch. No dice. His whole body gave a shudder once he had a spoonful in his mouth. I am secretly happy as this is such a messy food. I was dreading the clean ups to come if they were a hit. Unfortunately the can claims there is a serving of veggies so that kind of sucks, no secret helpings of veggies for us thanks.

One Sweet World

Tuesday night, mommy got to go see Dave Matthews Band with her sister in the D. Little Man stayed with his grandparents. Since he is working on cutting a molar the leaving part took a lot of tears and a little longer than we hoped. All in all it was an awesome experience, great show and the grandparents got to babysit. Our drive home was great with a stop at our favorite Biggby Coffee in Portland, Mi to recharge and change dipes. Always friendly service and the bathroom ain't bad either. Mommy came home tired yet recharged too! Nites out with sisters are the best!
Prior to the show beginning we talked up a Tom's rep selling the shoes Dave designed as he was sporting an all access pass. Unfortunately despite our best smiles, fluttering eyelashes, etc he wasn't buying and neither were we. The shoes retail for 60 bucks and though the mission is good- for each pair the company sells they give a pair to kids in need- they remind me of prison shoes frankly or old men's slippers.
Love ya Dave!

Farm Aid 09, well not quite

Most Wednesdays, my son and I head out to the Holland Farmer's Market to get some fresh fruit. This week the blueberries had finally arrived. Before kids, I would pick my own each July and freeze them for blueberry pancakes all winter long. Probably won't get to do that anytime soon. The Farmer's Market was the next best thing. The blueberries were huge, just like I would pick them myself. They are a favorite food and are never turned down. Below is a recipe I found in a mag this month that I made with the rest of the blueberries and some strawberries too.

Topping:
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 cup quick cook oats
1/4 cup flour
5 tbsp butter, melted
1/2 tsp cinn.
1/4 tsp. ginger
1/8 tsp. salt

Filling:
5 cups fresh fruit, chopped (I didn't chop the bbs)
3 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp flour
1 tbsp oj
1/2 tsp. orange zest (optional, did fine w/out it)

Heat oven 400
Combine all topping ing. in med. bowl- should get crumbly
In a 8inch square combine all filling ing. sprinkle topping over it
Bake until the dish is bubbly and topping is crisp about 40 min.
Serve with whip or ice cream

Next time I make it, I would up the quantity of topping as I like more crunch, but otherwise it was easy and excellent!

Anyone up for a trip to the ER?

A climbing adventure led to a trip to the Holland Hospital ER on Tuesday evening. Luckily, mom overreacted and it was just a scrape and didn't require any staples. That noggin sure is tough! We were in and out in an hour, literally back on the road 60 minutes later. Gotta love livin' in a small town.

Sink or swim

This week we are finishing up our swimming lessons at the Hamilton Community Pool. Ducklings meet every day for 2 weeks for 30 minutes at a time. The Red Cross recommends only 30 minutes for little ones as the water temp is a refreshing 82 degrees. We sing songs to help teach some swim basics and get comfy in the water then practice hanging on to the wall, climbing in and out using the ladder, trying to blow bubbles in the water, floating on our backs, getting our ears in the water and then the biggee- going under the water. Not my favorite though my son has yet to cry over it.

In Holland you can take classes at the Holland Aquatic Center, but the time they had for their version of parent/tot class was right at dinner time so we chose our local school district instead. Links to both below.

http://www.hamilton.k12.mi.us/pool/index.html

http://www.hollandaquaticcenter.org/

Garagesaleapalooza anyone?

Check out the information on this blog to learn more about a local garagesaleapalooza here in Holland. I haven't been to it, but plan on going to the next one in the fall. Could it be the mecca of resale?

http://hollandmom2momsale.blogspot.com/

Rolls Royce of security blankets, sign me up

Looking for the Rolls Royce of security blankets? Look no more. DaniLane Designs has got your back. They are so fantastic my son has two. One to use and one to wash. They are available at Tip Toes in downtown Holland, or via their direct website http://www.danilanedesigns.com/

A little about Holland

Holland is a wonderful mix of of people from traditional Dutch heritage, Latino culture as well as a dash of Asian flavor from Laos and Cambodia. It is a great place to live, work and raise a family, an awesome vacation spot and a top retirement destination.


http://www.holland-chamber.org/

And away we blog

I am creating this blog to write about being a young parent in the Holland, Mi area. I hope to share interesting info about shops, products and stories about my own journey into motherhood.