Happy 16 Months

Happy 16 months sweet boy. I didn't really do a 13, 14th or 15th month post so I thought I would throw one up now. You have changed so much since turning a year old talking all the time and walking nonstop. You are a very busy little man who still has a sweet side that could melt any hearts. The favorite part of my day remains to be when I pick you up from school and you see me come into the room. The pure happiness you exude makes my heart flutter as I know our bond runs deeper than anything.

At your 15 month appointment you were about 25 and a half pounds so you're probably just under 26 about now. The level of learning you are doing each and every day catches mevoff guard sometimes when you repeat or say something new. It's impressive how smart you are and how easily you catch on.

Just know that you are the highlight of our family and that we love you so very  much.

My Little Helper

Child labor?

Park Pics

First I have to post a few more pictures from our Legoland adventure on Sunday! My brother-in-law, Matt, captured some great shots and here are a few of my favs:

Last night we took a ride in the wagon to the subdivision park and enjoyed the wonderful weather. Both myself and Drew's grandpa have been sick and it was nice to get out of the house for a bit.

And my fav taken with the Instagram app...

Thanks to the best in-laws ever, I'm feeling much better today! I was able to get to sleep early these last few nights while they take care of Drew. Fingers crossed these new meds zap the rest of this nasty sickness!

Weekend Fun

Drew is loving being in KC and getting tons of attention from his families on both sides!

We started the trip off right with some incredibly messy, but delicious spaghetti from Garozzo's at Mimi and Grandpa's house.

The next day we had our favorite grilled cheese from Panera followed by a ride on a carousel and a chocolate chip cookie with Grandma and Poppa!

We ended the weekend with a trip to the new Legoland Discovery Center with Mimi, Grandpa, Uncle Matt and Matt's girlfriend followed be lunch at Fritz's! I honestly think Drew could have spent hours longer at Legoland he was having so much fun. A couple of rides required his height to be 3 ft so we'll have to wait until next year for those, but he had SO much fun with what he could do! It's definitely worth the cost for all our friends in KC!

Best moment? Falling head first into a pit of legos...

Stacking Man

So I was reading another friends blog about how easy it will be to forget little quirks about our children someday unless we write them down. My blog is a perfect way to keep track of the small things as I hope Drew will enjoy reading this Journey down the road.

So the 'little quirk' for today is how Drew LOVES to stack things. From blocks, to books, to his stacking cups, watching his little face concentrate is just precious. He has a great attention span with toys, but when he's stacking items, he sits even longer thanks to his fondness for the task. 

As he carefully selects which item goes next on his stack, he often will change his mind and switch to another item. These rings pictured can stack in whatever order, but his stacking cups have to be in the correct size order. He knows this, and will take all the time in the world to get each cup in the next correctly until they are all in. 

I'd say that's one smart cookie. 

WE SURVIVED

Drew and I flew to KC all by ourselves and survived!! I had TONS of gadgets, toys, snacks and milk, but still was SUPER  nervous about flying on the 2 hour flight with him. He's flown so much, but only with Derek and I both around to help. This time I was solo. AND he is a walker. AND fighting sickness along with 2nd molars coming in.

I looked on a lot of websites about ideas and items that would keep a kid busy and ended up spending about $30 at the Target $1 bin for little trinkets.

What's funny is that he really didn't spent too much time with anything I brought, rather just loved watching out the window and flipping through the Sky Mall Magazine! I did have to whip out the pacifier though as it really helped keep him calm. He currently only gets it for sleeping, but a mom's gotta do what a mom's gotta do to keep her baby happy right?!

He was definitely getting antsy by the end and took a huge poo right when we landed, so I'm glad we didn't have to make it farther, but we made it nonetheless. Although we will miss daddy tons during our visit to KC, we're relishing in time with the grandparents, aunt and uncles!

A Kid & A Dog Cage

I'm sure a lot of my readers prefer to just look at pictures rather than read what I've written. In this case, however, I really hope they read this. For the record, all of the pictures below were snapped of Drew doing this completely on his own! Although I'm sure there will be time outs when he's older that I'd love to just stick him in there for a bit, that was not the case. (j/k people.... I'd never stick my kid in a cage....)

Anywhoo- Drew has become obsessed with Lacy's cage in our bedroom. I mean crazed. Despite having tons of toys in every room around the house, he insists on speed walking straight to her cage once it's in sight. His little wheels begin to turn in his head as he opens the door for the first time and thus begins the process. 

Open the door. Climb inside. Close the door. Look around. Open the door again. Climb out and slam the door shut.

I must say that it's adorable watching him perform these feats. It's such a repetitive but somehow interesting process for him and the looks we get mid-act from inside the cage are quite funny..

Whatever floats your boat little man! 

Zoo

So yesterday we went to the zoo as our first trip as official members! Although there was still a bit of a chill in the air, the sun and 57 degree temp made for a fun time.

Each time we have gone to the zoo with Drew, it's a whole new experience! The very first time that we took Drew was in July of last year with my parents and have since been to the KC and Akron zoo's as well. But this time, he's walking. And by no means at all did he want to sit in his Bob and watch the animals. Nope, he wanted to be walking around and going where HE wanted to go at all times. I have to admit that we bribed him a few times with food and snacks so that we could get him quickly up some long stretches of path.

I'd say his favorite animals this trip were the lemur's (again) and the elephants. But then again, he loves fish and small mammals that move quickly like monkey's.

And guess who was bad at pictures again?

This has always been, and always will be, on my bucket list. I MUST touch a koala before I die. I just can't handle their cuteness and how soft and furry they look. 

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And in other news, please be thinking of me on Thursday morning as I'll be flying with Drew BY MYSELF for a work visit to KC. I'm nervous, scared, excited and anxious all together and just hope I can entertain Drew for the 2 hour flight.  Fingers crossed!

First 5K of 2012

I rather enjoy race times that start at 9am as opposed to 8am. For some reason, that extra hour to wake up and get motivated really helps! But also, in the early spring, it's another hour for the weather to warm up a bit. Yes, I'm a weenie about cold runs. I'll be the girl with the fleece headband, pants and running gloves in the 45 degree weather when professional runners are in shorts and tank tops. Don't judge.

A couple weeks ago we were starting to see 60-65 degree forecasts for race day and I was excited to finally run with Drew in some sunny weather. If you remember, last year we signed up for two races with Drew only to be stormed or frozen out of both of them.

And then 8am came. And it was only 38 degrees.

We pulled the trigger yet again to not run, especially since Drew has been sick for a bit now. It was sunny, and looked like it should have been 67, but it was a chilly 43 when race time hit. We still bundled Drew up and went to the site knowing there would be hundreds of pups. The race was to benefit a local rescue group and it was fun to watch him squeal in delight seeing all of the doggies.

I didn't snap a single picture and Derek only snapped a couple of me showing Drew the firetruck.

More pics to come later of our outing to the zoo this afternoon. It warmed up to 57 and was nice out so we decided to take our first trip there as official zoo members!

Turkey Burgers

So Derek has been craving a burger. And I've been craving something other than chicken or fish. But then you have to keep in mind that we're still calorie counting and have to be creative. In an effort to cut out red meat, I've been substituting 99% lean ground turkey for hamburger in some recipes and it's WELL worth the extra few bucks per pound.

That led me to making my own turkey burgers! I found quite a few recipes online, but changed out ingredients here and there leading me to the below. It was low-calorie and tasted even better with a piece of melted swiss cheese.

Ingredients (Makes about 5 patties)

1 lb. ground turkey

1/3 cup seasoned bread crumbs

1 egg white, lightly beaten

1/8 cup finely diced onion

1 T. chopped fresh parsley

1 clove garlic, peeled and minced

1 tsp. salt

Dash of pepper (optional)

1 T. extra virgin olive oil

Directions

1. In a large bowl, mix all ingredients. Form into 5 patties (or 4 if you like them fat!).

2. Cook the patties in oil in a medium skillet over medium heat, turning once, to an internal temperature of 180 degrees F.

Each patty (if you make 5) works out to be about 165 calories or so and they are quite yummy! Enjoy!

Masterpieces

Can you see it? The feeling. The raw emotions that are reflected in these pieces of art?

This is just another reason as to why I love Drew's school. Almost every other day they are sending him home with drawings and crafts made while he's there. It makes me smile when I look at these pieces. I can just see his concentrating face that he makes when coloring. But the best part? It's how the teachers tell me often that he loves finger-painting and crafts and how he grins from ear to ear during art time.

My little turkey loves art and that's awesome.

The Tongue

Starting a few weeks ago, we noticed that Drew was sticking his tongue out more. Generally, it accompanies deep concentration when coloring or playing and is quite funny. It's definitely not a trait passed down by Derek or myself and I've honestly never seen any of his grandparents stick out their tongue either. A facebook friend said it's pretty much a trait that all boys carry, so does your little boy do this as well?

Either way, it's cute.... it just adds even more slobber to his shirts!

Master Shower Makeover

So we all know our house is old. Like really old. Like 1930's and we have an original nuclear attack 'to do' sheet listing what to do with women and children within the household. And when it comes to showers, they were sparse back in those days meaning we were lucky to find a house with a good one. Sure it's only about 2.5 feet wide, but it's in great condition and we LOVE our rain shower head.

The problem that we faced when we moved in was some mold on the grout and behind the clear caulking. It's been over 2 years now and that mold has grown. (Mostly because we're lazy, but I'll blame it on our hard water). I decided it was time for a nice shower makeover. I called the Grout Medic and set up an appointment to get that baby cleaned and they were out within a couple of weeks. The total process only took about 3 hours and we just had to wait to shower for about 24 hours due to the technician applying all new caulking.

Here are some before and after pics:

Honestly, I'm not even going to go into detail as to what all they did. You can tell by the pictures how well their machines and chemicals worked. Our shower is now sparkling clean and so much better than before!

It was SO worth the money to feel like you're showering in a brand new shower again!

(Grout Medic did not endorse this post, nor do I have any personal affiliation with the company)

An Evening Outside

Sunday night was one of those evenings that we finished dinner, put our phones away and ventured out back. After a few cold and rainy days, it was gorgeous weather and we played out there for quite a while before bedtime.

Derek and I really want Drew to love the outdoors and not be one to prefer a TV show or a video game. He currently doesn't watch any TV and although I know this will change as he grows, I like his love for being outside. It was just nice to enjoy nature. We watched birds, we played in the dirt, pointed at airplanes and more.

But mostly, we played on our slide.

At times, Drew would just sit in the grass and watch the trees sway or an old leaf scurry across the blades of grass. He would occasionally look up at me and smile and I could tell he enjoyed just relaxing there soaking up the fresh air. 

We got out the bubble gun and as he pointed, screamed with joy and kept repeating 'bubba', I knew that was a good idea. He giggled as he would pop a bubble and would sign that he wanted more once they were all popped. 

My hope for the future is that he really loves playing outside. I know that all kids love playing outside, but I want it to go beyond that. I want him to prefer it over other indoor activities and really love mother nature. 

She is a beautiful beast that has so much to offer if we all just take the time to see it.