today is pretty good day to post this video as tomorrow morning i leave for san diego to go to BlogHer thanks to my wonderful sponsor Mott’s. like i said in the video, you guys can participate as well by uploading videos of your own munchkins answering the question “what is the best advice your mom ever gave you?” to the Mott’s facebook page. simply click here, like the page and check out the Mom Knows Best tab!
i’m off tomorrow morning so this place will be pretty quiet. with the exception of a super fun guest host for Steppin’ Out Saturday (don’t miss it just because i won’t be here:)), the Haps will be on lock down. you can follow my tweets of course, but a lot of it will just be squee’s and junk. if that is your sort of thing, join me! otherwise i will see you guys next week with lots of stories and photos.
today my pal Jamie from Grumbles & Grunts is here! i get the pleasure of hugging her very hard in less than two months at BlogHer and you get the pleasure of enjoying her wit and adorable kiddo right now. please enjoy and then head over to her blog. i know you’ll lub her as much as i do.
It’s no joke that in a household with a toddler you can expect at least one of the following three things: mess, screaming, and more mess. Plus maybe some broken stuff and some cute thrown in there as a last ditch survival tactic against… more screaming. Yeah, we’re in that phase. So it shouldn’t be at all shocking to learn that our own beloved toddler, the Jude, is sassy and stubborn and yells a lot. He sounds uh… exactly like his wayward sailormouthed mama. Heh. Whoops?*
*awesome whoops.
Our house? It’s the yelling house. We’re LOUD people, loud like chicken wing hats on fire loud. I dig it, it’s totally our cup of tea. We’re high-deciblers. One of the craziest and most stressful parts of our day though is getting out the door in the morning. Since both adult people have to get to work and we scoop the Jude off to his amazing babysitter’s house there is a ton to get ready and never enough time. Well, there would be enough time if I actually got out of bed when the alarm goes off. But who does that, who?! Let me at ‘em, I’ll punch ‘em in the neck. Each morning we’ve got bags to pack, lunches to prepare, diapers to stuff (clothies like whoa!), a crazy dog to feed and a groggy little cutie to dress.
In all that rush it’s proven to be one of the LOUDEST and quite frankly, hardest times for Jude. Everyone is running all over without much time to play and holy bananas what the hell is going on! At times he’s taken to just wandering aimlessly between the kitchen and the living room yelling, “MYYY SHOOOOOES, WHER MY SHOOOOOEES!” … all while wearing his shoes. Of course.
But here’s where I get to share our amazing discovery. The house has been eerily quiet during those crazy morning minutes for the last few days and I owe all the peace in the world to… banana bread.
Who knew bread could save the day like that? Bread, the saver of mornings. Banana bread, or as the Jude likes to call it, nanaba bra, has turned our morning chaos into something a lot more pleasant. (Or at least less noisy, that counts right?) We bake a loaf on Sunday night, it’s shockingly easy, and wrap it up for the week to come. On weekday mornings before Jude and I get downstairs Jon cuts a slice and leaves it on the counter. By the time I’ve wrangled the jammies off and the clean clothes on over those wily squirrel limbs the Jude trots right into the kitchen get his breakfast.
You thinking about crying, little dude? Ho ho HO, don’t you want your precious BREAD?
And wouldn’t you know it he stands oh-so quietly in the kitchen and signs Please, please! and once gifted with his slice of heaven he takes a seat at the table and happily munches away. Well hot damn. That’s some magic ass bread.
Dear bread, I love you even more now, even the kinds without garlic.
– regards, Jamie.
It’s been a game changer for our morning routine. Jude has something to look forward to besides chaos and I can feel halfway good about what he’s munching on. It’s easy to whip up from at home and save for snack time all week. I get to feel like super mom while… not really being all that super. Plus we cram as many fruits/veggies as our pantry will hold into the batter. Zucchini bread? Strawberry banana? Blueberry banana spinach? LET’S DO THIS. Get your healthy bits into my child, bread vehicle!
Sometimes life’s so good you just gotta throw out some flamenco dancing arms to celebrate.
In honor of bread.
Well, to be honest, bread is pretty awesome.
Especially when your dad makes it with strawberries.
Carb-o-loaders anonymous, anyone?
happy monday! i know, that is uber annoying. monday’s are totes icky. but after the past 2 weeks i’ve had, i’m ready to start a new one. so for me, it is a happy monday.
i’m back for week 2 of our week in phone photos, linking up with amy. my neck was feeling a LOT better last week so we were able to enjoy more things and get out of the house a lot more. the sun showed it’s face a few times! and of course it’s raining as i type this. i send heavy sighs in washingtons general direction.
monday – we went out to fondi’s for a belated mothers day with my mama (that is the yarn wreath i made for her!). tuesday – my husband has some pretty bad ass t-shirts, cuddles, puglife. wednesday – went to discovery village and did the wiggle wednesday class where H made a birdhouse. upon arriving home, we played dress up and i was forced to wear leopard print butterfly wings and fly around the house. true story. thursday – teriyaki. the end. friday – epic playdate with good friends, mustaches were involved. saturday – sushi, martinis, best ladies birthday. sunday – soup. hot soup.
last week i needed a break from the internet. i love blogging and definitely can’t imagine my life without it, but sometimes, homegirl needs to step away. it was a good chance for me to think about lots of things (without then spewing them on the net), reflect (alone, without the opinion of people in my computer) and make decisions about where i see this part of my life heading (because i do consider blogging a big part of my life and something i find a lot of happiness in doing). i’m not saying i have it all figured out yet, but stepping away did help me clear the internet cobwebs (i feel like there is a pun there i’m missing) and i feel refreshed and excited about a lot of aspects of my life.
anywho! here’s what we were up to whilst we were gone:
1. i personally did a happy dance when i heard the news that the AAP changed the guidelines for rear-facing your kiddos. Harper, at almost 2 1/2 has still never faced forward a day in her little life and i am really passionate about keeping the nuggets rear facing as long as possible (until the seats height or weight MAXIMUM is reached as opposed to flipping them forward at the seats height or weight minimum). i could literally write an entire post about this, but i will just say for today that i was thrilled to hear the news and hope that all parents of little ones will realize the safety benefits (which are undeniable and cannot be ignored) of extended rear-facing. {side-note: after reading some of the comments on that article it seems there are LOTS of people who think this is an issue worth discussing (or disagreeing with) – for me personally it is not: the safely of my child is the most important thing and if making her as safe as i can when we are driving in the car is something i have control over, then you bet your sweet bippy i’m gonna do it. bottom line.}
2. we had a super awesome playdate with emily and poppy! the girls are in full on toddler mode lately (hitting, tantrums, generally expressing their feelings as little people do – with little to no regard for others ) man, these girls are a handful! luckily, they are the cutest little biscuits so the toddler behavior is easily discounted when they hug each other or hold hands. hello, adorable.
don’t you find it nearly impossible to believe these two are ever anything but perfect muffin baskets filled with rainbow kisses?
3. i got a stomach bug. that blew. pun very much intended. do with that what you’d like.
4. i took some photos for Opal of some vintage pretties that i thought people may want to see on a model that actually has arms. i definitely plan on photographing all future clothing items on myself (um, as long as they fit) so y’all can get a more realistic feel before you buy. as you can see, i take myself really seriously.
5. Harper peed on the potty twice. i know! it was very exciting. she also peed lots of other places, like on 3 pairs of yo gabba gabba undies, the kitchen floor and the bathroom rug. but hey, she made it in the potty two times and for that, i’m so proud of her. i’m personally not in any hurry and obvs, she isn’t either. if she’s doing most of her bidnis in the toilet by the end of summer i’ll be pretty stoked!
6. planned a get together for the peeps walking for March of Dimes next month so we can meet up and get to know each other before the day of the walk. again, if you are anywhere in the area, PLEASE consider joining us to walk for babies. you can join our team here, and if you’d like to know more about the meet up before hand, be sure to email me asap. and stay tuned for more info here on the blog regarding the giveaway i posted about last month. also? thanks to every one who is walking, donated and started Bloggers for Babies teams around the country!
there’s more but i will spare you (and myself because typing this has made me tired). hope you all had a great week last week and if you’ll excuse me, my google reader is threatening to explode. i hope you guys missed me because i have a lot of things to do and therefor blog about coming up – you know, important stuff like thrifting, crafting, toddlers and food.
thanks for keeping us classy over at the tee bee bee whilst we were away! you guys are the best.
) man, these girls are a handful! luckily, they are the cutest little biscuits so the toddler behavior is easily discounted when they hug each other or hold hands. hello, adorable.
