Merry Kissmas!

Most of you have probably already received the hard copy of our Christmas card in the mail by now, but I thought I'd share it for you here as well. (Oh, and kuddos once again to Jackie Petersen Photography for the ah-mazing photos and card design. She's ridiculously good.)

And in case you missed it from our message above...

Merry Christmas to all!

J-O-Y to the mantle

(Or, the exciting transformation of my fireplace mantle over 5 days time.)

Here is my ho-hum mantle on any given day.

Sorry for the crappy picture. This was taken before I ever considered doing a blog post about my mantle (because why would anyone do that?), and was supposed to just be a reminder to myself on how to put things back once the Christmas decorations come down. Although, upon a recent close inspection of the framed wedding photo, I realized that both Ryan and I totally have double chins in that pose, so it will probably not be making a return appearance after the holidays. And the whole thing really is pretty bland and one-dimensional, so maybe I'll work on spicing it up a bit more in the future. Anyway, in the meantime...

Here was my mantle upon emptying the contents of my Christmas decoration bins.

Not bad, not bad. Just not quite Christmasy enough...

And here is my mantle now, after several (completely out-of-character for me) super-Christmas-spirited enhancements.

I love it! Of course, the most obvious change is that I took down the somewhat boring, but pleasant-in-color-palate picture that we normally have hanging above the mantle and replaced it with "JOY!" But I think that the garland adds a little extra touch of something special and makes me grin whenever I glance that way.

And I would actually prefer to have our stockings hung by the chimney with care, instead of from the bookshelf near the fireplace, but because of some super heavy-duty snowflake hooks holding them in place and a grabby toddler roaming around these parts, I fear a concussion and a subsequent trip to the emergency room by doing so.

The JOY canvases were pretty simple. I got the idea via pinterest (of course) from here. I bought three 16x20 canvases at Hobby Lobby, along with a yard of gold decorator's fabric, wooden letters, craft paint, and ribbon. I simply staple-gunned the fabric around the back side of each canvas and, after painting the letters (I used three coats of Folk Art Metallic Bright Red [493] acrylic paint) and allowing them to dry, I attached the ribbon with flat thumb tacks (both to the letters and to the top of the canvases). Donezo. I — a certifiable math dummy — managed to figure out the simple calculation for hanging them even and level (I'm pretty proud of that) and just used Command hooks to do so, so as not to put permanent nail holes in the wall. I completed the entire project off-and-on throughout the course of one day. That's some kind of project record for me, I think.

How about you guys? Have you had any unexpected bursts of holiday decorating pizzaz? Implemented any new pinterest ideas for the holidays? Here's another very simple idea that I implemented in my home for displaying all those Christmas cards that have been rolling in already. How am I so behind on that this year? I guess I need to apply some of that Christmas pizzaz into getting our cards done now.

Guess who peed in the potty???

I'll give you one hint. His name starts with O and rhymes with "goin'." That's right. We had our first actual pee in the potty chair last Wednesday. Of course, it was totally by accident. When I removed his diaper before his bath, he just started to go, so I quickly shoved him down on the potty (but not before he wet all over Elmo's smiling face! Ha!)

(Here's a photo of the day Owen and Potty Chair Elmo were first introduced, from this overly optimistic post back in March.)

Despite my obnoxiously enthusiastic excitement, Owen was less that thrilled about the whole thing. I don't think he quite grasped that he actually DID that. That he made the pee come out, that is.

We've been putting him down on the potty before his bath for a while now, but without any success. I was hoping that the day it happened by accident, he would finally see what it was that he was supposed to do whenever I say, "just go pee-pee, buddy." But so far, he's only done it one other time and I think that was completely by accident, too.

So, I'm not holding my breath that we're actually "there" yet or anything. But at least it's a step in the right direction!

In the meantime, check out my little bug looking cute as ever. (Photos courtesy of Jackie Petersen Photography.)

Brain dump

I think one of the big reasons why I have gone so long between posts (besides the crippling fatigue of the first trimester of this pregnancy) is because I don't feel like I have any "big" news to share. But there are always things going on around here — things of varying degree of "interestingness" (a word I just made up — you're welcome), especially depending on your relationship to me and my family. But since I have a moment this afternoon, I thought I'd jot a few things down.

And so, I present to you, a random sampling of my memories from the past few days, weeks, etc.
(These really are random. Sorry about that.)

Yesterday at the park, Owen came over to show me an acorn he had found on the ground, but he accidentally dropped it before he made it to me. I told him to look right behind him on the ground where he dropped it. He looked for a little bit (although it seemed he looked everywhere but the spot where he actually dropped it) and eventually picked up something else and brought it to me. I was horrified to see a petrified (thankfully) piece of animal poop in his palm and immediately smacked it away. A chorus of "Eww, dog poop!" accompanied us on the immediate stroller ride home. That'll teach me to carry hand sanitizer in the stroller at ALL times from now on.

I've started jotting down some of the funny things that Owen says, as I know I will forget most of them much too soon. He really says all kinds of things now — some funny and butchered, others perfectly pronounced — and I haven't been very good at writing them all down. But here's one I like a lot. Ryan recently returned from a business trip to New York City and brought Owen back a little, yellow, toy taxi car, which he looooves. He calls it his "New Yor City tapseap." I LOVE how "New York City" comes out nearly perfect, but "taxi" is the part that gets slaughtered.

Last night during his bedtime prayers, I asked him what food he was thankful for and his answer was, not surprisingly, "ice cream." (We had just snacked on ice cream earlier that evening.) I also asked him what drink he was thankful for and, not nearly as expected, he replied with "coffee." Hmmm. I had to chuckle!

He also recites both the "God is great..." and "Come, Lord Jesus..." prayers quite well before each meal. I'm constantly amazed at how much he is capable of absorbing — his brain is such a sponge!

I bought him a DVD from the $5 bin at Wal-Mart that has a bunch of classic Christmas songs from classic children's Christmas movies. (Think, those claymation versions of Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, etc.) The very last song on the disc is "The Little Drummer Boy" from a similarly cheesy claymation movie I've never seen. The first time we watched it, I took some time to describe for him who the characters were in that particular song — Mary, Joseph, the Wise Men, and of course, Baby Jesus. Well, after that song ended, the DVD was over. And, because he wanted to see more, Owen started screaming/chanting, "Baby Jesus! Baby Jesus! Baby Jesus!" Too, too, TOO darn funny and cute! Now, he refers to the entire DVD as "Baby Jesus," and we watch it pretty much every single morning (and some evenings, too).

For Halloween (see, I told you this post was random), we borrowed a bunch of costumes from friends because we really had no clue what to dress Owen up as. That, and we're cheap. Here are a couple that I managed to get him to try on...

Buzz Lightyear

Police Officer

But the winner was this adorable monkey. So cute!

As for how I'm doing (which I get asked all the time), I feel great. I have finally started to feel some movement from the baby, though it's still just that faint, fluttery stuff right now. I've also had some unpleasant hip pain that I don't remember having this early with Owen. I'm not sure if it's just my hips widening to make room for the baby or if I actually maybe injured myself. (I first started noticing it immediately after walking in a 5K race several weeks ago.) It's not a constant pain, but man, when I try to get up from certain positions, I feel about 85 years old!

I have broken out some of my maternity wardrobe, though most of it is really still too big for me. I'm in that awkward stage where my regular jeans are WAY too tight to wear comfortably, but my maternity pants seem to fall off of me with every step I take. So, I spend most days in sweat pants or yoga pants, which, really, is just fine with me. It's so different this time around not spending my days in an office cubicle, surrounded by co-workers. I'm enjoying being able to just lounge around in comfies!

Well, that's about all I've got for now. I hope you enjoyed the spewing of my brain on this fine fall afternoon. I have a feeling this might be how my posts are constructed for a while. You're welcome. 

Big news!

I'm not exactly sure why I've waited as long as I have to make this announcement on my blog, but here goes...Owen is going to be a big brother! Ryan and I are expecting baby #2 in April 2012 (April 24, to be exact.)

Maybe I put it off because most of the people that follow me on this blog already know this news. Or maybe it's because the excitement of a second baby is (regretably) less enthusiastic than with the first. Or maybe I'm just lazy. Most likely, it's some combination of the above.

But I am really excited! We've been "trying" for a while now, so it's definitely a blessing. Officially, I'm 16 weeks along and feeling great. (Gotta love that 2nd trimester!) The first was pretty good, too, though I'm glad to bid farewell to that overwhelming feeling of fatigue. I also had a little more nausea than I recall with Owen, but never anything too severe. (I never actually got sick, that is.)

I'm not sure yet how I will document my growing baby bump this time around, but I probably won't be as diligent as I was the last time, taking a picture every week. I did go back to my posts from February 2009 just this morning to compare how big I've already gotten to where I was back then and I'd say my progress is pretty similar so far.

Looking ahead...I'm excited to start feeling movement (hopefully any day now). We're planning to find out the baby's gender this time (so exciting!!!), but more on that in a few weeks. I am also planning to try to deliver via VBAC this time around. (Look it up if you don't know what that is — I can't bring myself to type what it stands for.) And I'm immensely anxious about introducing a new baby into our current lives with a very active (and very dependent) toddler. But, on the other hand, I just can't wait!

(Oh yeah, and I designed the decal on Owen's t-shirt in the photo above. Cute, eh?)

He calls it his "bird shirt" and he hates putting it on. Is that a bad sign?

Happy birthday to you, Daddy...

Owen loves to sing the Happy Birthday song. He really got into it a few weeks ago for his cousin Brody's first birthday. Ever since then, whenever he sings Happy Birthday, it's always to Brody. Until yesterday, when I had to inform him that it was no longer Brody's birthday; in fact, it was Daddy's birthday! He was so excited to get to sing to his Daddy, we sang it all day long.

Here he is "helping" me mix up the birthday cake.

And, of course, licking the spatula. Notice the batter dribbling down the front of his Buzz Lightyear PJs.

He even picked out little Cars candies to decorate with, though he was more interested in eating those than placing them on the cake. And that smudge on the "D" is, of course, from him poking his finger in it when I wasn't looking.

And no, I didn't go all fancy on Ryan's cake this year. Just a plain 'ol yellow box cake with canned frosting. But, I did make him his favorite meal for dinner.

Tater-tot casserole. Recipe found here. It was ok. Not sure that the addition of red pepper flakes was quite as worth it as the author of this recipe suggested, but it wasn't bad.

Happy birthday, Ryan/Daddy! We love you!!!

Happy 1-month birthday, Easton!

Another spectacular thing that happened during my blogging hiatus — my older brother and his wife welcomed the newest member of the Betts family, Easton Philip. I can't wait to meet him in person (they live in Houston), but will probably have to wait until they visit at Christmas. But he's an adorable little bug and I just love him so much!

He's already a month old today, but here's the homemade portion of the baby gift I finally sent them earlier this week. (See, blogging isn't the only thing that's fallen off my radar lately.)

Got this idea off Pinterest (here), but decided to design and iron-on my own decals. I ran into a few snafus that I was planning to elaborate on here, but think I will just let you all believe that they turned out perfect and that this project was as super simple as it appears. (Sadly, it was not.)

Anyway, I hope these 12 onesies will inspire the new parents to take monthly photos of little E (beginning today!) during his first year. I found those monthly photos of Owen to be such a fun way to track how much he had changed during that time and love to look back on them.

And these birth stats (idea also found on Pinterest, here) were fun to replicate, too. I found this super cute frame at Target (even picked up a couple more for O's room since the color will look perfect in there) and used some scrapbook paper I had on hand as a matte. I am pleased with how it turned out and hope the new parents will love it, too.

Photo dump

Oh my! Did I really go the entire month of September (and the beginning of October) without a single blog post? Um, whoops! Not sure what to say to explain myself...just haven't been feeling the urge to blab on about life, I guess.

A friend suggested that the best way to get back into the swing of it (rather than trying to recall each and every blog-worthy thing that's happened in the past 40 days) was just to go through the pictures on my camera. So, here we go. Here are a few things that we've been up to lately (in no particular order).

Cheering on the Hawkeyes during the big Iowa v. Iowa State game. Too bad Mommy's Cyclones beat those Hawks! Heh, heh!

Owen now sleeps in a "big boy" bed. Really, it's a toddler-sized bed, but he has the freedom to get out of it as he pleases. I really expected this transition to be a huge nightmare since he is often so restless when he first lies down for naps and bedtime. But he took to it right away and — although very recently we've had some issues with him not wanting to nap at all — the past month or so has gone remarkably smoothly.

Here he is the morning after his first night in bed. I snapped three of these photos (with flash) and he still didn't wake up!

And here he is helping Daddy take down his crib. (We left it up for the first week or so just to be sure there wouldn't be any set-backs.)

We planted a tree! We live in a neighborhood full of beautiful, mature trees, however the original owners of our property were apparently not big fans of them because there was only one tree in our yard and it is about as far away from the house as it can be. It actually looks like it belongs to the neighbors. So, we've been hoping to get a few leafy beauts planted and finally, that day arrived. Well, for one anyway. (There's more to come...)

Here's Owen helping Daddy dig the hole...

...and discovering worms! Shortly after this picture was taken, he tried to taste the worm with his tongue. Ack! Gross! I flipped out. But then laughed heartily at my tough little boy who loves to dig, play in dirt piles, and touch worms. I've been dreaming of this day, actually.

This one, taken today, is him standing in front of the new tree — an Autumn Blaze Maple. It will be fun to take a photo of him next to the tree every year to measure how both of them grow. (That's the neighbor's house in the background; maybe I should take this facing the other direction so you see our house instead.) You can see how much the weather has changed in the past week. Pants and sweatshirts in the photos above. Shorts and t-shirts today. Gotta love Indian Summer!

Our day at the zoo with some friends. Funny how playing in the fallen leaves was even more fun than all the animals!

My sister, Rachel, and I traveled to St. Louis for my youngest cousin's wedding. Here's a very blurry cell phone picture from the reception.

And the following day we visited the St. Louis Arch, just for kicks.

Owen enjoyed his very first lollipop. (Photo courtesy of Jackie Petersen Photography.)

And, although he kind of messes up at the end in this video, O knows — and can perform — all the words to Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. He does it often. Love!!!

"The garage door is open."

Have I mentioned how often I hear this phrase...every day? Or, better yet, how many times I hear just the words, "garage door" (which actually comes out as, "garagey door")?

No? Well, let me tell you.

Two days ago, I decided to count how many times those words (that is, "garagey door") escaped Owen's lips for the duration of an entire day. My guess was 100.

I gave up at about 10:30 a.m., mid-way through grocery shopping, because I could no longer simultaneously concentrate on my grocery list, keep track of what count I left off on, and remember to pick out all the random occurrences of "garage door" smattered throughout O's constant yammering. I decided to just call it right then and there.

Any guesses?

The correct answer is — wait for it — 80. Eighty! That's in only three waking hours. Mind you, when he says one of his beloved phrases, such as, "the garagey door is open," he typically repeats it no fewer than 10 times, presumably waiting for me (or anyone, really) to acknowledge that "yes, in fact, the garage door is open. Great observation, buddy!" Only after you've affirmatively repeated it back to him will he stop his repetitive declaration.

Here he is watching from our back door as the neighbor's garage door opens...and then closes. Fascinating stuff!

It's cute. Don't get me wrong. He's a smart boy and he can identify which garage doors are open and which ones are closed as you pass them by (either on foot or in the car). And, if asked, he will tell you what color a given garage door is. However, outside of those two things (and possibly the shapes — i.e., square vs. rectangle), I just can't think of anything else to say about garage doors. In the meantime, he doesn't seem to mind. Garage doors are fascinating...simply fascinating to this 2-year-old.

7 Links Challenge

Today, I was invited by my friend and fellow blogger, Abby at R is for Ronnebeck to participate in something called the 7 Links Challenge. After clicking back through the chain of blogs that led her to this challenge, I learned that it was created (I'm still not sure by whom) to connect bloggers from all over the world to share old and forgotten posts that deserve recognition. I thought I'd give it a whirl.

The rules are this:

1. The blogger who is nominated (me, in this case) must publish 7 links from his/her own blog; one for each of the categories below.
2. The blogger then nominates 5-7 more bloggers to take part, and the beat goes on...

Are you ready? Get set! Here I go...

1. Most Beautiful Post

Of course, it has to be the blog announcement of my precious baby boy, Welcome to the world, Owen! Probably my most favorite picture of all time lies on this page (albeit in a much too small collage of other memory-inducing photos). Here, I'll let you gaze at it again, this time bigger. Ah-mazing!

2. Most Popular Post

This one was easy. I just went through my post stats and found the one with the most comments. This Disney "Dream" Vacation post was the big winner at a whopping 6 comments! I'm so popular.

3. Most Controversial Post

Just a few weeks ago, I wrote this post, Highs and Lows, which sparked quite a bit more discussion (and controversy?) than I ever anticipated. It began as a mere journal of how emotionally draining it can be when you get so personally invested in your child's achievements — both positive and negative not-so-positive. But by the end of it, I was going on about all my "worry/guilt/doubt/fear" issues, which, evidently, struck a chord with some other moms out there. I always appreciate feedback, and — even though my original intention for this post got misconstrued somewhere along the line — I am so blessed to have such supportive family and friends.

4. Most Helpful Post

For me, the most "helpful" post I can recall writing was this one, titled 37 weeks (5:00 a.m.) Nearing the end of my pregnancy (and little did I know just how near I was to the end — I delivered Owen only 4 days later!), I recall waking in the wee hours of the morning in a sheer panic. Even during my pregnancy, when sleep could be disruptive, I have never been the type of person to have such trouble sleeping that I actually get out of bed. (My bed and I have always been dear, dear friends, you see.) But on this day, I was on extreme red alert and, fortunately, jotting down my thoughts in this post helped me to feel a little more at ease. I followed it up with another post a few hours later — after going back to bed, of course — where I recorded feeling "a bit less overwhelmed." Whew!

5. Most Surprisingly Successful Post

Perhaps this one, 18 Months (warning: long post), which, sadly, was given a wildly inappropriate title considering its fairly heavy content that was so difficult for me to share. In it, I discussed a somewhat life-altering episode for this relatively new parent, providing the details of Owen's fall down the stairs and the immense guilt and shame that I dealt with in the days and weeks following it. I didn't even really go into just how harrowing an experience that was for me and how desperately inadequate I felt as a mother. (Let's just say, it was a very rough time for me.) But the comments I received as feedback on this post helped me to heal. One comment by my sweet brother, in fact, made me tear up even as I re-read it now. Touching. And I have moved on, of course. But it was definitely life-altering.

6. Post That Didn't Get the Attention It Deserved

I was a bit surprised that the post titled, What once was lost, but now is found didn't receive a single comment. I know it's not earth-shattering news or anything, but I thought it was pretty remarkable that my missing pair of glasses turned up the very.next.day after getting a new pair (and that was after waiting months for them to turn up.) I mean, that's odd, right? And I think the word that I was looking for in this post to describe this scenario was maybe irony?

7. Post That I Am Most Proud Of

Hmmmm...this one was a little tough. But after reviewing a few options, I have to go with this one, A few thoughts on the past year. Documenting my thoughts on my first year of motherhood was good for my soul. So was going back and re-reading it just now.

On that note, here are the 5-7 bloggers that I am nominating to pay this challenge forward. I won't be offended if you choose not to participate. It is a little narcissistic to bloviate about your own past posts, after all. (Yes, I did just channel my inner Bill O'Reilly.) But who among us doesn't like to go back and revisit our own personal history?

1. Jackie — My baby sister and author of P's And Their Pod. I love this woman like crazy and am so impressed by her newfound talent in photography. Lucky for her she has the most photogenic and adorable baby on the planet as her muse. Watch out for this local up-and-comer!

2. Rachel — My next-in-line sister and author of dot.dot.dot. She is such a strong, giving, and charismatic woman and I am proud to love her! I can't wait to see what the future holds for her as she embarks on a new life journey. Of all the people I know, this tough lady can do whatever she puts her mind to!

3. Mary — My former Muscatine soul-mate and author of Blessed in the Midwest. I was shocked when I discovered how much younger she is than me because I kind of tend to look up to her as a mom who seems like she knows what she's doing (a lot more than me, anyway). I miss having her closer, but look forward to reading her blog and catching up when we can.

4. Rebecca — Another local momma that inspires me by what she can manage on top of having two more kids than me. I love reading her blog, A Beautiful Life and always get a giggle out of her charming way of sharing those all-to-familiar mommy moments.

5. Chuck — Who I know will not be participating, as he is anticipating the arrival of his first child in a few short weeks. Plus, he hasn't posted anything on his blog, Made in Texas, since Memorial Day, so I know what to expect here. Still, I love this guy and am so impressed by who he has become. His wife Randi has had such a tremendous impact on him — their joy for life is evident!

Ah, well I would have liked to have continued the "7" theme going on here, but alas, those are all the bloggers I know personally, so there you have it.

Little Leaky Lion

The absolute, most very favorite toy in this house has a name, and it is "lion."

Owen LOVES lion. Lion is his lovie. He sleeps with him every night (and at nap time) and occasionally carries him around with him during the day, too. There was a time when he had two lovies — "lion and Mickey" (Mickey being a stuffed Mickey Mouse that we bought him during our Disney trip). But really truly, lion has always been his main squeeze.

Oddly, the best part about lion seems to be his paws — specifically chewing and sucking on his paws.

It's gross. It's unsanitary, I'm sure. But there's not much I can do about it. It must be a comfort thing. I wash him at least once a week and just hope for the best. But the really unfortunate thing is that all that chewing has led to little lion "leaking." A few weeks ago, I started noticing these little plastic white beads in Owen's room.

Eventually, I realized that they were coming from lion's crinkly little paws. I identified the tiny hole in his paw and did my best to sew him back up.

But every couple days or so, a new little hole gets created. I can't even count how many holes I've sewn up now.

Since this seems to be a problem with no foreseeable conclusion, I decided to see how O would do if I just got rid of lion for a night. We put him to bed without lion and he actually fell right to sleep. (He was pretty tired the night that we attempted this.) But about 12:30 a.m., I woke up to my little man crying out, "LION! LION!" so I raced in there and reunited him with his friend. He immediately nestled right back to dreamy sleep.

I've considered draining all those beads from each of lion's paws as an alternate solution, but that just seems like it would take an awfully long time. Plus, I have a feeling that the reason Owen loves chewing on his bestie's feet is because of the way those little beads feel and sound when crunched on.

Since I can't stand the thought of the O-man having to part ways with such a treasured pal, I guess I'll just commit to stitching him up as often as is necessary. After all, that's what moms are for, right?

Banana Pops

Lately, I have been having some trouble getting Owen to eat foods that he used to gobble up. He will hardly touch a vegetable anymore, which I suppose is pretty typical for a toddler. But now even fruit, which he used to love, is receiving the cold shoulder from him, too, including bananas. There was a time when he was consuming an entire banana a day. I had to start buying bigger bunches just to keep up with him, in fact.

These days, however, I am typically stuck with at least one — often more — banana from the bunch at the end of every week. Never one to throw away perfectly (albeit a bit brown) food, I usually just pop them in my freezer for some rainy day down the road when I'm in the mood to bake a batch of banana bread.

But since my freezer stock is getting a little outrageous, I've started trying something new. Something I'm calling, banana pops. I was first inspired to try them after seeing them in a Parents magazine.

I guess this is pretty much the same recipe that I've been following, but I've also seen some others recently, like here and here. Anyway, here's how I did it.

What you need:

• Bananas
• Popsicle sticks (or I used candy sticks that I had leftover from the Peeps Pops I made at Easter)
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 1 1/2 tsp vegetable oil

First, you cut your bananas in half (I actually cut them in thirds this time because half a banana was too much for me the first time I tried it) with the peel still intact. 

Stick the popsicle sticks in the center of each one and peel away the peel.

Place in the freezer for at least an hour, until hardened.

Next, combine chocolate chips and oil in a bowl (I used a glass measuring cup) and microwave for 10-second intervals, stirring between each, until melted. Place whatever coating you prefer (I happened to have on hand some Rice Krispies and granola) on a dish.

Remove bananas from freezer and quickly dunk in melted chocolate, and then roll in coating. Place back on the dish and return to the freezer just until completely hardened (which should only take a minute or two).

Enjoy!

I would love to say that this is how I've managed to get Owen to eat bananas again, but sadly, despite calling it "ice cream" in his presence, he's figured out how to munch on all the chocolate and cereal and, once that's gone, he abandons the frozen banana on a stick. Stinker.

Oh well, more for me I guess!