Author: A Mama's Blog

Fun Day

The boys and I had a fun day today. The weather was very nice, so I packed a picnic lunch and we went on a 3 mile walk by a park and a lake.

Ryan was SO excited to go- picnics are one of his favorite things right now. He helped me make peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, and made sure I cut the crusts off his. 🙂 He reminded me to bring some bunny crackers (Annie’s white cheddar crackers), and to bring lots of apples.

Yesterday I found a really neat popsicle mold at Bed Bath & Beyond. It holds 4 popsicles, but there is a little built in straw in each one, so when the popsicle starts to melt- as it always does with a three-year old, instead of it dripping down his arms, and legs, he can suck the juice out of the popsicle holder with the straw. Before we left for the picnic / walk, we made a batch of popsicles with strawberry-lemonade.

After we got done eating, we walked over to a pond, and Ryan had a blast throwing rocks in, and Cole did great, standing up, holding the stroller, and watching his big brother. When it was time to go, I put Cole back in the stroller, and we chased Ryan. Cole *loved* it. He was laughing and shrieking with delight. As we were walking back, Ryan started singing a song from a book we have, “The Train They Call the City of New Orleans,” at the top of his lungs. Everyone we passed by on the trail back, smiled at him.

When we got home, Cole had crashed out, and I was able to move him from his car seat to the floor in the living room, and he stayed asleep. First time that has ever happened. I cleaned up our stuff, and then moved Cole to his crib, and got Ryan down for a nap.

I had a massage therapy appointment this afternoon, so I went to that, as soon as Joe got home. Then he had one, so I made the boys dinner, and then Joe got home.

I am dismayed to discover that I have a very stubborn milk blister that seemed to get worse this afternoon. I have had it for two weeks now, and can’t get it to go away. It hurt a lot and was starting to swell, so after dinner, I soaked it with some Epsom salt, and pumped.

Cole saw me pumping and got ‘jealous’ of the breast pump. He kept trying to pull it away, and then he started crying-little monkey! I ended up just nursing him more- baby is usually more effective than a pump anyway- and he seemed happy to get some extra nursing time in. I am going to have to be more diligent on soaking and pumping / nursing this blister, and will probably go see the doctor next week if it doesn’t clear up. I had a BAD case of mastitis in January, and don’t want to another case.

Ryan came in from outside, and we broke open a popsicle. He looked like he had never had anything quite so good before. He started licking his lips, and he savored every lick. He really wanted to use the straw, but kept running off to play. Finally, before bed, enough of the juice melted and he got to use the straw. He said, “that is really neat, mommy.”

Tomorrow morning, I am off to a free skin cancer check, a local dermatologist is having. I haven’t been to a dermatologitst in about 2 years, and have a few freckles that have been changing, and need to get them looked at. I hope I like a doctor there, and can find a new dermatologist I can see more regularly.

Then we are going to look at a few houses, and see if they look as nice inside as they do from the outside…:-)

We don’t have anything planned so far, for Sunday, so hopefully we will just be able to get a few things done around the house, play, and relax.

Ryan

The Baby Factory

“Mommy, where does (insert anything from ) come from?”

I get asked this about 50 times a day from Ryan. He wants to know where everything comes from- from popsicle sticks to wheels. Interestingly, most of the things he is asking about, can be answered by, “from a factory.”

When he asks where his bunny crackers paper, glasses, clothes, etc. come from, I say, “from a factory.” Then he asks where the factory is- we have settled on it being ‘far away.’

Yesterday he asked me where babies come from. (I didn’t think this was supposed to happen until he was much older- like 4), so I told him “from their mama’s tummy’s.” He thought about it for a moment and then asked, “where did I come from?” “From my tummy,” I said.

I was waiting for the next question, that he has asked before, “how to babies get in their mama’s tummy’s?” but instead he said, “No. I came from a factory.” (he pauses and then says,) “The Baby Factory.”

Uh, I guess that would be me! I am an official baby factory in my son’s eyes. 🙂

Cole Family & Friends

Let’s Eat Cake!

This weekend concluded a series of birthday celebrations with family and friends, for Cole turning one, on May 22nd.

I have lots of pictures now to share of him enjoying his cakes and parties. The first set of pictures is from the BBQ at my dad’s house a few weeks ago:

The next batch of photos is from when we went to Joe’s parent’s house for cake:

Last but not least, we had a birthday party this weekend at a park, with a friend whose son, also just turned one- eight days after Cole. We had a lot of mutual friends come from our parenting group. Both birthday boys must of had a great time, because when it came time for their cake, they were BOTH fast asleep in their daddy’s arms.

We were going to have the brothers blow out the candles (this friend also has another son, just two months older than Ryan, so both our boys are very close in age), on their cakes, but it was rather windy, and we couldn’t get the candles lit, so they just pretended to blow out the candles. Here is the final picture of Cole from yesterday, which probably sums up how he feeling about all this birthday stuff! 🙂

Fun Stuff

Eight Things You Don’t Know About Me

Post author By A Mama's Blog
Post date June 3, 2007
6 Comments on Eight Things You Don’t Know About Me

I’ve been tagged by Amy at Crunchy Domestic Goddess to tell you 8 things you don’t know about me:

1. I am ambidextrous (I can use my left and right hands the same).

2. I was raised in a very strict, religious sect, and followed it until I was 24. I am not comfortable saying what it was, but only two members of my family remain in it, and they aren’t as “strict” with it as they used to be. Because of this, I didn’t really have a “normal” childhood, and felt like I was starting life as a normal person at 24.

3. I marched down Main Street in Disneyland, in a parade when I was a junior in high school. My high school’s marching band got selected from a few bands to participate in a Disney parade.

4. For eight months, when I was in high school, there was 11 people living in our house. Six members of our family, and my parents let their friends, a family of 5 (the parents and 3 kids) live with us, while they were going through a rough financial time, and had no where else to go. All of us were in a 4 bedroom, 1 & 1 3/4 bath house! It was crazy, having that many people in a house. Interestingly, I still was the only person in my room, and didn’t have to share it w/ anyone.

5. I graduated high school a semester early, so I could devote more time to the “religion”, but still came back in the spring to participate in the graduation ceremony.

6. My dream / fantasy career would be to be an actress.

7. I was a model in a teen fashion show at our local mall when I was 15.

8. I am a “Little House on the Prairie,” TV series, junkie / trivia buff. I LOVE that series, and have probably have seen every episode at least 5 times, throughout the years. I meticulously taped the episodes off TV, several years ago…now I have to upgrade to the DVD’s. If I ever was on a game show, where everything lingered on knowing the answer about something on Little House on the Prairie, I’d be taking home the grand prize. 🙂

I tagged Julie, Sonja, and a friend who has a private blog-you ladies are “IT!”

Cooking

Sesame Brown Rice Salad w/ Chicken

Post author By A Mama's Blog
Post date June 1, 2007
1 Comment on Sesame Brown Rice Salad w/ Chicken

(Photo: Randy Mayor; Styling: Cindy Barr)

Yesterday I made another fantastic and easy recipe from Cooking Light. It is Sesame Brown Rice Salad w/ Shredded Chicken and Peanuts.

I used some frozen pre-cooked natural chicken that I purchased from Costco, so it was super fast to just defrost the chicken in the microwave. But this would be a great recipe to use left over chicken in.

One thing I wish I had done was to double it, or even triple the recipe. Joe and I shared the rest for dinner tonight, and it tasted even better the second night, after the flavors had a chance to blend together.

One tip from the magazine article was to cook the brown rice in plenty of water (or broth), and this prevents it from becoming sticky. I also noticed the more water I cook it in, the “softer” the rice becomes. I use Lundberg Long Grain Brown Organic rice, and if I don’t cook it in double the amount of liquid, it stays really hard and firm. We like softer rice, so just adding extra liquid to the rice does the trick.

Happy Eating. 🙂

Tags sesame brown rice salad with chicken and peanuts