Toast 2 Mom

Snacks, yes please!

I can't believe I've never talked about snacks before and the obsession my girls have with snacks. Maybe I have talked about snacks before. Even if so, they are such a major aspect of our days that it is worth mentioning again. In fact even Cheekers marches around the house barking the word, "schnacksss" at me!

I'm not quite sure what is so powerful about that word, "snack," but I can prepare lunch and say, "let's eat lunch," and my girls (especially Sydney) will not be interested. I can prepare the same lunch and say, "let's have a snack," and it will be gobbled up.

I often struggle to find a way to creatively and nutritiously prepare three meals a day for my children. I get so trapped in the "kid menu" that I feel like I'm not providing good variety or using any creativity. In fact, I've put together numerous menu plans to try and shake things up, but I always fall back on the basics mainly due to time and because kids like what they like (my kids anyway).

Snacks, I guess, are the way to break that boredom with the day in, day out breakfast, lunch, dinner menus. For some reason I feel like snack food is cuter and therefore more interesting to kids.

The biggest key to our snack success is variety. Ironically they will eat the same breakfast every day but I have a pantry full of multiple snack options. And the place that provides all of these options.....drum roll....Costco. I basically have a membership to Costco to fill my pantry like a multiple option snack vending machine.

So this week I've been with challenged by making sure I have enough snacks packed for our trip. We're taking a little (long actually) road trip. And with car boredom comes passing of the Ziplock bag filled with yummy goodness. Let's hope we can make it out of the state of Texas before my supply runs dry. It's a big state, you know.

By the way, if you have any snack ideas (or meal ideas for that matter), please share! I'm always willing to have more options!!

Say It Ain't So

 
Today this little munchkin of mine turned seventeen months. I know seventeen months is not the traditional month to comment on milestones. But to me it seems that it is around this age that babies start to take that turn, the turn toward no longer being babies...

I know every Mama out there loves their babies. I know that for many it is so hard to even articulate how crazy your heart can ache when you think about how blessed you are to have a child. And they way they make you feel...how it creates a feeling more than your arm hair to stand up or your heart to feel warm or your eyes to well. There just aren't enough words to describe the joy these little stinkin' boogers can bring!

As Cheekers is my second born, I thought I might be more familiar with the stages they go through. I thought I would remember how they are at nine months and at one year and at eighteen months. I do to an extent remember what they are like at what age. But I guess I thought I would be saying, 'oh, I can't wait until Natalie turns X age.' However I still just seem to be in the mindset of loving every single stage we're currently in, just as much as the last one. Contradictory to that, though, I am beginning to grow more and more weepy as I see my baby disappearing.

Many people cannot wait to interact with their child and can't wait for that communication to begin. And I love that too. I love to hear all the things that come out of my first born's mouth. I just love being a nurturer best. Which is kind of odd for me to say because I never really believed I had those instincts in me. Even with the people I love the most, I struggle a bit to display nurture. Maybe it just comes naturally with your children?

Well this couldn't be a milestone post without a "brag paragraph". At a now wee-age of seventeen months, my baby girl is already identifying her colors. Tonight in the bathtub, my little Miss Einstein handed me the red squirty piggy when I asked her to. Then she handed me the green squirty piggy when I asked for green. Then the yellow. I even mixed them back up and asked again later....and she mastered it again. I have told her the colors of these pigs once. How do they do this??! Amazed, I am.

My little turkey pants likes to walk around the house asking for "apples". She also is fond of "flowers," "ducks," "r-flys" (butterflies), "dogs," "cats," "Dora," and yes, "Ariel". Her favorite song is Old MacDonald - sung best by big sis. Her favorite things to do are sit down and look through her books, play on the Barbie computer, carry the yellow ball from room to room and try to pretend she can color just as well as her "Sissy".

The neat thing about my baby (babies) growing older is the show I get to witness daily between the two of them. I'm not quite sure what I'd title this twosome skit yet...

Happy seventeen month Cheekies! It's going fast...sigh.

***By the way, on another note, I know there are issues seeing the video from yesterday's post. I'll work on this....more fun with technology!

Splash!

Hey, guess what?! I have a way to add video to my blog now! See below link for the first video post!

So, sure it's almost the Fourth of July. That means it's pretty hot just about everywhere in the U.S....from each person's own perspective. Our first summer in Texas is proving to have its own definitionof hot. We've been sitting in the 100's every day for well over three weeks now. The other day we picked Daddio up from the airport and it was 106. I said, "pretty much after it hit 100, I haven't noticed a difference from 101 to 108.

The good news is we've been taking full advantage of the swimming pool. Our once timid little minnow is developing into quite the nautical princess. She went from not even wanting to get her face wet about six months ago to going underwater, kicking like crazy, jumping in the water and just start wanting to dive!

To see a little clip of our most recent splash, check out the link below!

Click here for the big splash!

Swimsuit Model

Cheekers has taken it upon herself lately to "swipe" items from her sister's room. I've been finding books, animals and figurines stashed here and there. Her most recent attempt was to swipe "Sissy's" swimsuit. I didn't think they'd be fighting over clothes so soon?!

Little Sister seems pretty happy about it though.

Fitness, Then and Now

A year ago today I began my Mommy's Summer Fitness Challenge. The purpose of my fitness challenge was to lose the baby weight I had gained from two pregnancies, get energy, look better to ultimately feel better.

When I hit the scale publicly for my challenge, it looked like this:

(Oh heavens I can't believe I'm displaying those horrible looking toes again!)

A typical day in my life a year ago went like this... I woke up around 5:45 a.m. I got dressed, woke my daughters up, got them dressed. We piled up all of our bags and headed out the door. I dropped off my girls at daycare and arrived at my job around 7:30 a.m. I sat all day long in my cubicle working on a computer (usually daydreaming of ways to escape). Occasionally I would get up to visit the vending machine. Around 4 o'clock, I collected my gear and drove fast to pick up my daughters. We usually walked through the door at home by 4:45 p.m. I spent the first half-hour playing with them, books, toys, unwinding. By 5:30 p.m some form of dinner began. I prepared something out of a box. Following a quick chow of din-din, the bedtime process began. Because I had a five month old at the time, her bedtime was around 7:00 p.m. I gathered the girls, jammies and bubble bath and they hit the tub. By 6:45 p.m. it was time for books, then bed. After both of my girls were asleep, I spent time picking up stuff, doing laundry and gathering things for the next day.

Prior to my fitness challenge, my day ended around 8:00 or 8:15, as that's when my bottom hit the couch. After the fitness challenge began, after my chores were done, after the girls went to the sleep, that is when I incorporated a workout into the day. I went for a walk or had a yoga session. My bottom didn't see the couch until after 9:00 p.m.

So that was then...and this is now. A LOT (a lot, a lot) has happened since a year ago. Today I have a different job, a different home, live in a different state and definitely have a different schedule every day.

During my summer fitness challenge last year, changes started to take place in our lives. My husband was in the process of accepting a new job. We were deciding whether we wanted to leave our home, our state and take our family to a whole new world.

Today my job is one of a stay-at-home-mom. My day begins around 6:45 a.m. By 7:00 a.m. I am dressed in my workout clothes for a 3.4 mile walk/run. My husband doesn't need to be to work until 8:00 a.m., so he looks after the girls until I return home from my morning sweat. At 8:00 a.m. the girls and I get dressed for the day. These days, each day is different. Some days we run errands in the mornings. Other days there is a class to get to. We eat breakfast, lunch and dinner together. (This is still a rather scattered process!) Instead of spending a half-hour playing with my girls, I spend most of the day interacting with them.  And along with play comes managing the messy house - a result for spending all that extra time in the house.

You would think my couch time would begin earlier these days than it used to, but it's actually later. I have later sleepers now. And despite the fact that I am home all day, I still manage to have chores going ALL DAY LONG!

When my 12-week challenge ended last summer, I ended up losing six pounds. It was a good achievement for me at that time. I found it challenging to promote my health publicly and even more challenging to keep it up during our life transition. I mentioned at the end of my last fitness post that I would do a follow-up in the future. I mentioned maybe a Thanksgiving post or a Christmas post...but that didn't happen.

So what better than a year follow up? I have worked hard since that time to continue fitness, balanced eating and smart habits into my life. As a result I'm managed to have some more success. Without further ado...

 

I feel like I'm at a pretty good weight now. I certain am pleased to be back into my pre-pregnancy clothes. Though any mom out there can understand that no matter how much weight you might work hard to lose, there is still change to the body. I'm still not quite so eager as those Hollywood moms to hit the cover of People in my bikini - yikes! However, I am trying to talk the Hubby (beg) into a Hawaii trip. Maybe that would give me incentive to do the dreaded sit-ups?!

P.S. I think another contributor to weight loss is the sweat from the heat of the south. Did I mention how hot it gets down here?!

Can I Buy Sweetness for Life?

As a parent, most of us feel it is our job to teach our children to be kind, courteous, respectful and patient. Throughout the day, I find ways to introduce these lessons to my children.

I encourage my daughters to use their manners. "Say please if you want something." "Say thank you when you receive it."

I remind them about the importance of taking turns. "Your sister had the doll first. You need to let her play with it, then it is your turn."

I discuss the need for privacy and "quiet time". "Sometimes people need to be by themselves. Privacy is a time to be alone and think about things by yourself. If someone needs some quiet time, then you should respect that."

I demonstrate to them the way to conduct oneself around people that may not be using their manners, like while driving or out shopping or in restaurants. "Sydney and Natalie, that car seems to be in a bigger hurry than we are, so we're going to just let them pass us and that's OK."

And being that children are like sponges, it's often these lessons that I teach them that then come back to be lessons for me!

Children may show their true colors at an early age. They show anger, frustration and fear just as every other human being does. The difference with them is that their anger is short lived, not weighed down by every other memory of disappointment they've dealt with before now.  

Somewhere along the way down life's path our sweetness becomes a little sour. For instance, while driving down the road the other day, a very fast car cut over into my lane leaving me to behave angrily. My daughter responded, "it's OK Mommy. If another driver wants to get by, we should let them pass. That's OK, we're in no hurry." And we weren't in any hurry. But Mommy recalled the dozens of other incidents from the past where cars thought it was OK to cut me off.

With my girls, I want them to be angry. I want them to get sad. I want them to be frustrated and disappointed. It's all of these emotions through experience that allow us to learn. But I do have to admit, if there were a way for me to buy a bit of sweetness, a bit of pureness, to have them drink up and help them retain that innocence and kindness, I'd buy it.

Happy Bouncers

We joined some friends today at one of those inflatable jumping places. Yes typically I assume these places to be a sweaty, germy, hyper, drug-for-kids location....and that's because that's pretty much what it is. However, today we just wanted to stay cool and have some fun. Fun we did. After fifteen rounds down the steep thirty foot slide, the girls and I made our way to the bouncy pirate ship - rrrrrrrrr. Despite the fact that Cheekers could not take two steps in that ship without falling, she still managed to enjoy and giggle a LOT.

We have a birthday party on Saturday at another bouncy place in town. This was just a nice trial run... went well!