Happy Birthday Papa Cliff

Hope you had a great one, eat some cake for me!


Learning to laugh:

WEEKEND FUN

Well Dad put the kibosh on going to the fair I was irritated at first but it turns out it was a good thing as the animals dont arrive til this week

So Saturday Logan and I got to spend some alone time at the park and daddy & Ronan got some bonding time. Although I think we got back just in time to prevent a nervous breakdown. Ronan just refuses to take a bottle. We gotta start trying it everyday til he gets it. Logan showed me the proper way to swingroll down hills
Ride motorcycles

We also finally planted my Valentine's day present as you can see Logan did most of the work!




Sunday Logan got Daddy bonding time at the park. And I'm happy to report for the last 3 days Logan has slept in his big boy bed. This weekend we are going to remove the crib. Yah!

TGIF

Yah 2 days of help with the screaming masses.

We are going to try and go to the fair sometime this weekend although its supposed to be in the 100's over there.

I also promised Logan I'd take him for a bike ride.

Ronan's rash is getting better on his elbows. Not sure how his neck is ever going to clear up considering the set of jowls he's got on him. Did I mention he was 16 lbs?

Logan starts "water exploration" classes Tuesday. Should be interesting. I also got the bomb dropped on me by Jami, she's stopping her daycare so now I have two weeks to find something else. One big drawback of a small town, limited access to childcare! Whats a working mom to do?

Deliver me

from screaming at bath/bedtime! I'm so at the end of my rope with it. You would think that a kid who remembers in the afternoon that mommy promised that morning to take him to the bike shop/park would remember that screaming does not get him more stories at bedtime nor does it delay bedtime. It actually makes bedtime come early!

And my baby is crabbier than usual as he has the start of a skin infection. He is a little oven to start with and with the hot/humid (for us) weather we've ben having he gets super hot & sweaty in his carseat. And since he's such a chub, his double chins collect sweat, milk & barf all day long. So what started out as a simple heat rash quickly turned into a hideous scaly, bumpy weepy mess. Its the worst on his elbows where they are in constant contact with the carseat. He's got a little patch of really dry skin on his neck and cheek. So now we have 10 days of antibiotics to deal with and aquaphor for the dryness and hydrocortizone if the rash comes back after the 'biotics are done. I also have to keep an eye out for what causes the reaction once this clears up.

Sigh, mommie is a hard job

Brotherly Love

For a few moments at least!




The proper way to eat raspberries



My new obsession: Lightning McQueen!

We've been having some weird weather here. Yesterday it was humid and ended up actually raining. Not alot of rain like we need, just enough to get things damp. today it was cloudy like more rain was coming but ended up being a really nice day. That is until I picked Logan up. He totally remembered all the things I promised to do this morning " bike shop mommee?" Smooooothie mommie? walk boarwalk? Ok Ok will do. So we go to the bike shop where he proceeds to try out (aka move) everything. Then to the Rainbow Bean for a smoothie, then to the board walk for a walk. Of course as soon as we get out at the ranch, gale force winds start. Logan was running down the boardwalk with an extreme list to the left from the gusts!
Then when we go over the bridge he goes "grumpy ol troll unner the bridge" (another Dora-ism) Where Troll mommeee? Ummmm he's sleeping! yah sleeping.

Spot of Bother

Was what I was in yesterday (if anyone is watching the Tour, you know what I'm talking about). I decided to try out hauling the trailer to Jami's to see how long it would take. Its only 2.5 miles to her house but 1 mile of it is a gradual uphill. Now keep in mind its been almost a year since I've been on my bike. It took me 20 min at a whopping 5 mph up the hill! I can't fib I did have to stop once on the way home to put the fire out in my lungs and the spot of bother occurred on the final hill home. I had to get off and push. Guess it will take a few more practice runs before I actually attempt it with Logan in the trailer!
As much as I love my lil munchkins, it was sure nice to be out alone if only for 37 minutes. No one touching me, no one needing something, just me and the sunshine and my burning lungs! BLISS

$20 well spent

Look at my big boy hair! Am I a stud or what?
However getting the big boy cut involved alot of little boy screaming. Boy howdy, you'd have thought we were cutting his head off with a dull knife! Not even watching Cars subdued the shrieks. The stylist was awesome. Never lost her cool and managed to give him a great cut even with the screaming, kicking (my shins may never recover) and squirming. He absolutely refused to sit in the chair, so he sat (if you can call trying to scale me sitting) in my lap. She totally earned every penny of that $20.



Don't forget the mini stud muffin!


MMMMMM fingers. Paci? I don't need no stinkin paci.

Happy Birthday!

Ronan is 12 weeks old today! Where has the time gone?

He is smiling, cooing, sort of laughing and has discovered the joy of sucking on his hands. He slept for 6 hours last night, too bad I didn't do the same! Hopefully that is a new trend!

Shake Rattle & Roll

Well I thought we were having another series of earthquakes yesterday. However it turns out they were playing war games at Vandenburg and they were only sonic booms. Sure turns your heart rate up anyway.

Since its summer and berry time I thought I would share this "healthy" recipe with you all. Seriously if you have heart trouble don't make this. Its an artery clogger for sure.

Creeping Crust Cobbler
1/2 cup butter
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1 tspn baking powder
1/2 cup milk
2 cups fresh berries
2 tablespoon sugar (or less for tarter taste)
1/2 cup water

Preheat oven to 350.
Melt butter in 10 in baking dish in oven.
Mix flour sugar and baking powder; stir in milk and blend.
Spoon batter over melted butter.
Heat berries with sugar (as needed) and water just till hot.
Pour over batter in baking dish.
Bake for 30 min or until golden.

Enjoy! (really yummy with vanilla ice cream!)

Uh Oh

PPUUUUUUKE!! As Logan says. (even if the uh oh in question has nothing to do with puke). The "challenging" two's (as Dr. Bravo calls them) have hit in full force!

Give me a J-E-A-L-O-U-S! Boy I hope this passes QUICKLY or I may be fitted for a straight jacket soon. I feel bad for Logan but Ronan just needs more time now and you certainly can't reason with a 2 yr old. Sigh, this too shall pass

Ugh Monday

Why is the weekend so short? Somebody needs to change that.

We did a bit of shopping and had quite an adventure in Target. Ronan dropped the bomb on us in the middle of the store. So I had to abandon ship and take him out to the car. Usually he's pretty mellow during a diaper change as he loves to be nekkid. (I think he takes after his Uncle Clay in more than just body type) However this time he somehow sprouted a couple of extra arms and another leg or 3 all of which were windmilling madly. I quickly gave up on the thought of getting the dirty diaper and dirty clothes off of him without spreading more of the mess around. I just got him naked and gave him a wipe bath afterwards. Who would of thought so much gook could come out of a bum that little? Bleck!

Anyway we got back relatively intact. Put together one of the bookcases for my sewing room. Hopefully I can get that set to rights next weekend. Although when I may find any time to sew will be another thing entirely but by gum I'll have a place to do it!

whaaaaaa

Ronan's eyebrow hair finally came out. As you can see from the pic, he has(had) a crazy eyebrow hair. Everyone would try and get this "stray" hair off of him and we'd just laugh and say No its attached. I was hoping it would stay on till 3 months but we are a week short. Boooo
Anyway when I went to pick up Logan from Grandma's today she was holding Ronan and said "his eyebrow hair is gone" WHATTT? It was there yesterday! DANG IT. I was totally bummed.
Fast forward to this evening. Ronan was on the boppy nursing and I was cleaning out his lint pickers (his hands) and lo and behold what is clutched in his teeny tiny fist? His eyebrow hair!! Hurrah!!!!! So I immediately taped it to some paper so I wouldn't lose it and someday it may end up in his baby book. It measured 3 and 1/4 inches!

I wonder if it will grow back?

PB&J

Peanut Butter & Jelly, Logan style:

Step One: Open sandwich, lick contents from each piece

Step Two: Use finger for big globs that you can eat witha flourish

Step Three: Wipe hands on shirt or nearest parent

Thomas vs the Crib

So we bought a Thomas the Tank Engine bed for Logan thinking that since he is so enamored of Thomas it would be a breeze to transition him into the "big boy bed". Ummm no. He has slept in it maybe 5 times.
When my parents were here, the day we went to see the elephant seals, we got back about an hour after his regular naptime so he was sacked. I put him in the Thomas bed and he slept fine. (he sleeps in a regular bed at daycare by the way) Then the Friday night they left he slept overnight in the Thomas bed and did it on Sat and Sunday too. Monday night rolls around and Holy Smoly he pitched an absolute fit when it was time to go to sleep. No Thomas bed, sleep crib. So back in the crib we went for a week. Then last Thursday he slept in Thomas and in the crib every night since. So we've got about 3 months to get him over the crib. I guess we could just be mean and take it out and force the issue but I really don't want to do that. Ronan still fits the bassinette fine so we will just wait it out I guess.

Happy belated 4th!

Hope you all had a safe and happy 4th of July. We took the kids to the parade in Cayucos. It was a really nice day and we had a great time. Logan did not like the fire truck sirens and horns at first nor did he like the crowd cheering. There were a few tears but they soon dried as he watched the bands and floats go by. We also ran into my friend Cheryl and her expanding family (she's due in Sept). We were in Lamaze together with our first boys and Aidan is Logan's first friend. We also saw Uncle Clay and his girlfriend Nikki & son London. London and Logan go to daycare together, when they left he said "wher Lonon go?"






After the parade was over we went to look at the sand sculptures. Its amazing what people can do with sand! I can barely make the sand stick together.







So then we went home for naps and after that went down to the park to see what there was there. Unfortunately we were too late for the bounce house but we got some smoothies and Logan played on the playground for a bit.

Home for dinner then into jammies and we headed up to the top of Highway 46 to see if we could see the fireworks. The marine layer had fogged in Cambria and with Logan freaking out about the sirens at the parade we figured he would really wig at the explosions. The spot we picked turned out to be great. We could see the fireworks from Morro Bay, Cayucos and Cambria, the ones that made it through the fog anyway. Logan would say "look mama sparkles". He also got his first real view of stars and proceeded to sing "tinkle tinkle lil star" 20 times.

It was a long day but very fun.

What a week!

Ok so Monday my internet started to get a little freaky, Tuesday it was worse and it went totally toes up on Wednesday. Being as I remote into work that REALLY put a dent in my ability to do anything. At first I thought "no problem I can just go down to my office and at least do emails and print checks" but noooooo, when we changed servers no updates were done on my computer so I was dead in the water. Both computers were dust catchers.

While my family was here they went to Hearst Castle,we also went to see the Elephant Seals, went tide pooling, went to the park and ate alot! We had Mexican, Pizza, Deli sandwiches, hamburgers and Italian. I also made a Creeping Crust Cobbler with some fresh raspberries from Dad's garden. It was simple and very good. He also brought me some homemade raspberry jelly and canned pears. Dad's the greatest!






Logan was in hog heaven having James to play with. Every morning he would ask "Auntie James here?" He got a little confused with Auntie Jaye and Cousin James.



Ronan was a super hero with his appt. He's a lil chubabub, 13 pounds. He gained about 2 pounds and 2 inches in a month. Dr Bravo said "hmm I see he has no trouble with eating!" He was 90% for weight, 75% for height and 50% for head. He had to get 3 shots. He shrieked when she was sticking him but as soon as I picked him up he was fine. He did get really fussy about 4pm, crying nonstop for about 1/2 hour. I gave him a dose of Tylenol and he was fine after that. All in all not too bad. I asked about the barfing and he told me I have a "happy spitter". Since he is gaining weight fine and does not seem to have heartburn we just have to wait till he outgrows it... at about 7 months (ACKKKKKKK) Only 5 more months of barfin. Whoo hoooo.