Father's Day Fun

Hellooooo =)

Hi there! Long time no blog.  I do not like blogging this seldom but for now it's just going to ebb and flow.  So, how was everyone's Father's Day?  My Dad was in Kansas for a family wedding so I sent him a text and will hopefully catch up with him soon.  He is a super-hard-working Dad. No one will ever convince me that there is a better Daddy than MINE.  Go ahead and try. I won't be persuaded.  He is the best.

This year for Jason's gifts I knew that Rylie couldn't help me pick his gifts out but she did help decorate the wrapping paper.  Here she is decorating the paper.  Maybe the In N Out hat makes her feel creative?  LOL.

She also helped create a picture for Jason, she just didn't know that she did.  I went through my phone and found every single pic I have in the past few months of Jason with the kids.  Wow. I had quite a bit.  Jason is SUCH a fantastic Daddy.  He is so involved and loves our kids so much.  My heart is happy when I see him with the kids and I feel very fortunate that he not only CAN spend time with them, he WANTS to.  Here is his picture gift, an 8x10 collage print.  We found a frame for it later.

I also made a little craft for Jason's card.  I can't wait until Rylie is old enough to help me with this type of thing.  I made dynamite from red tissue paper and Rolo's candy, tied it together, and made a little card that said "Daddy, You're the BOMB".

Seriously, how cute is this?

Here are Jason's gifts all wrapped up in the paper that Rylie decorated.  I think he had a fun day.  We went out and did some shopping as a family, I cooked a yummy dinner and we enjoyed some sinfully delicious gelato we picked up from Fresh Market.

This week we don't have much planned.  I am trying to get a handle on my health and fitness lately though. I started another food journal and have planned my workouts for the week.  I used to be fat, then I was skinny...now I'm in between but I'd like to lose about 15 or 20 lbs and just tone up.  I've been trying to take a few habits from when I was so skinny and weed out the unhealthy habits like negative self talk and obsession over calories like I did when I was skinny.  Those are SUCH bad habits and very destructive.  A good habit for me is a food journal though. I like to see when my hungriest times are or where I can improve.  It makes me accountable without being obsessive.  I'm REALLY enjoying my gym though.  Julianne and I tried RPM (spinning) which I love and tonight we're doing Turbo Kick (kickboxing). I think group exercise is just what I need to get me motivated.  

SO, what is YOUR favorite workout?  And time of day to workout?  Right now I'm loving 6am workouts. I'm always stoked to be done by 7am!  Have a good Monday ya'll!

Five Things I Love Right Now: Summer Edition

Whew! Can you feel it?  Summer is here and it is hot hot hot in Georgia!  When I was little we spent from dawn until dusk outside all summer long.  I doubt I'd let my kids to the same these days because it's just too hot!  As much as I dislike the sweltering temperatures and the mosquitoes that invade my yard, I do love summer.  I thought I'd share the top 5 things I love right now that are ALL about summer.

1. Loreal Sublime Bronze Spray

Last year I decided I was no longer going to go to the tanning bed.  I love the tanning bed but the risks for cancer are FAR too high and I want my kids to grow up with a Mama!  Last year I tried the Jergens lotion and wasn't pleased at all! This year I tried this.  It's a light as air spray and I apply a light mist all over everyday and it's perfect! I actually look a little tan and I've gotten NO streaks and I don't look orange!  I admit I do like to sit out in the sun for about 20 minutes a few time a week, so that little bit of natural sun combined with this, I don't look ghostly anymore!

2. Fresh Fruit (and lots of it).

I think that fruit is THE perfect snack all summer long! It's cool, refreshing and filling.  Lately I cannot get enough watermelon, cantelope, strawberries and peaches.  I buy some fruit on Sunday and cut it up and eat on it all week long.  What's your favorite summer snack?

3. Maxi dresses

Yes, I admit, I'm VERY late to this fashion trend.  I'm not really a shorts person.  I wear jeans or dresses and lately it's just too hot for jeans, so I've been opting for dresses.  I cannot have enough maxi dresses!!  I've found them at Walmart, Ross, TJ Maxx and Plato's Closet.  They're light and airy, they cover a multitude of sins and I think if I had 50 of them I'd still want more...it's a problem =)

Just an example of one of my favorite maxi-dresses lately.  I found this one at Walmart!

4.  OPI Hot and Spicy Nail Polish!

(source)

Before I went to the nail salon yesterday I tried my best to think of what were the summer nail color trends and couldn't come up with a thing.  I stood in front of the polish and instantly gravitated towards anything with a coral, orangey tone!  I decided that this is my summer color!  Hot and spicy!  I got my toes painted and came home and ordered my own bottle on Amazon!  What summer color do you love?

5. Contigo Water Bottle

I bought this water bottle a few weeks ago at Barnes and Noble and I absolutely love it!  It holds 24oz of water (the oz are labeled on the side of the bottle) so I have a goal to drink 3 of these a day, which is over my 8 glasses of water a day goal!  Another cool feature is the fact that you press a button and drink, release a the button and it's closed.  No screw on tops to worry about!  Finally there is a latch that you can use to hang the bottle from your bag or do what I do and latch my keys onto it when I'm at the gym.  With the weather as crazy hot as it's been lately, we need to hydrate!

So, what are some of your favorite things right now?  I'd love to know.  I think when you find something you love you should spread the word =)

*Also, to update ya'll my surgery went fine.  I was shocked at how much pain I was in though. I'd much rather have a baby again than have surgery again.  The pain was much worse with surgery!  Everyday I'm feeling better and better though and I'm really grateful for all the help I had while I was recovering (thank you to my family and my sweet sweet friends).  I'm hoping I'll be back at the gym next week, yay!  Ok, I'm going to get ready and head to hang out with my sweet friends this afternoon.  I love summer playdates because they're so laid back!

I Have a Confession...

...I feel like a blogger bore lately.  I'm not sure what to write about and I really don't have much time to write anyways.  I really really miss blogging though.  I miss sharing my life with ya'll and just getting my thoughts out there.  So here is my new plan.  Blog.  Several times a week.  It will make me feel better (and lately it would be nice to feel good...I've been a little down).

First off, let's get caught up.  Summer is finally here! Can you feel it?  It's been SO hot around here.  We've been doing a little of this.

We let this girl play in the little pool or sprinkler at any given chance!  Who wouldn't want to hop in there with her?  Rylie is out of school for the summer and I'm on the hunt for some fun crafts for us to do.  Any suggestions?  No more school until August means tons of free time and we need to fill it up!~

Last week went to Atlanta for Rowan's post-op appointment with the neurosurgeon and it went great!  His doctor thought that he was NOT a candidate for a band or helmet and that the stitches looked amazing.  He wants us to see the plastic surgeon for a follow up in 4 months and back to see him in a year!  This boy truly amazes me.  He is SO sweet and smiley and loving.  He's such a little sunshine in our lives.

Lately everything has gone right in his mouth...ohm nohm.

Besides time with the kids and coffee/play dates with my girlfriends, I do have one other even looming on the horizon.  Without going into too much detail, I'm having minor surgery on Wednesday.  For about a year now we've known about a cyst on one of my ovaries.  We monitored it all throughout my pregnancy and decided not to take it out while pregnant but now, it needs to come out.  My doctor will take it out through laparoscopy first thing Wednesday morning.  If need be, they may take the whole ovary out (which is completely fine with me).  It's outpatient surgery and I should be home that afternoon but I will have 3 small incisions on my abdomen.  I've never had surgery and I'm a bit worried, but I keep reminding myself that my 2 babies have had 3 surgeries between them and so if THEY can do it, I can do it.  Just keep me in your prayers please?  I'm SO blessed to have my Mama, Aunt Pam, sisters and husband to help me out but I'm hoping for a super speedy recovery because I JUST got back into a routine at the gym (yep, I'll be there at 5:45am tomorrow).  

I hope ya'll are having a fantastic summer so far and I promise that the next blog post won't be as heavy. SO, any craft ideas for a 2 year old? I'd love suggestions.  Love ya'll!

I'm Not Dead

I'm just busy with two little kids.  Lately I've been 100% consumed with my R&R.  Rylie wants my attention all the time and so does Rowan, it's getting...interesting.  I often worry that I'm not doing enough housework, but if it's a choice between playing on the floor with the kids or having floors we could eat off of, I'll choose my kids.  Here are some pictures that capture what our life has been like lately.

Lots of time in the sprinkler!

Sitting on the front porch soaking up the shade.

Tons of time playing on the floor.  Rowan has mastered the 

tummy to back roll and he's close on the back to tummy roll.

Baking cookies together!  I'm trying to research some fun

crafts and activities to do together this summer. 

Tummy time!

Lots and lots of hugs!

Friday will be Rylie's last day of preschool.  I cannot believe how far she's come from the beginning of the year.  The child that cried nonstop when I left her actually loves going to school.  I will miss all the fantastic artwork she has come home with and her amazing teachers. I'm SO proud of her  =)

So, what have ya'll been up to lately?  Also, any suggestions for summer crafts/activities to do with a 2 year old?  

5 Things: Playing Catch Up

My girl loves flowers!

Yay. I finally made it to the weekend. Some weeks fly by and others seem to drag on SO slow.  We have a fun Mother's Day planned with family and I'm excited to just relax and visit.  I figured it would be easier to catch up if I just had a list.  So here goes, 5 random things just to catch you up on our life!

1. Rowan is healing SO well!

We're almost 3 weeks post op and his head is healing SO wonderfully.  He never experienced any of the sleep problems I worried about (not really) and his 3 incision sites look fantastic.  I put a hat on him sometimes but lately I've forgotten.  I was in Target today...with him on my hip...wondering why the woman at the checkout kept looking at my baby.  LOL. I totally forget he has 3 huge incision lines with stitches.  Ooops.  Sorry folks, if you wonder about it, ask please.  A nice lady at Rylie's school did today and I actually appreciate it!

2. We're joining the YMCA

She's the Y in YMCA =)

The local downtown YMCA is virtually brand new and very affordable for a family membership.  There is no contract, they have brand new equipment, group classes (like body pump and Zumba) and childcare.  I have realized that unless I have childcare I'm probably not going to workout.  Working out just puts me in a better mood, and when Mama's in a good mood, everyone is, right?  I have a date with my sister first thing in the morning at the gym. Whoo hoo.

3. Two kids is 10x harder than one.

Oh, I'm NOT supposed to lick the whisk while helping you cook?

It's our reality.  It may not be that way for some couples, but this is the realization that we've come to.  Neither kid on their own is hard, but together it's really hard.  The past few weeks have been tough for me, I think they're just growing pains.  Rylie has realized Rowan's here for good and Rowan wants to do things but really can't do much yet.  This results in everyone needing my attention all the time.  Plus the house and the dog need my attention too.  This leads to Mama being spread SOOOO thin.  I've read several great blog posts this week about not having to do it all...but wanting to do it all.  It's a struggle I think all of us Mama's face.  How did our Mama's do it with such grace?  Mid week I made a point to adjust my attitude and it all changed.  It doesn't have to ALL get done everyday.  Some days it will all get done, and some days nothing will get done.  I'd rather have my sanity than spotless floors.  I'd rather have happy kids than dinner ready at 6pm.  I'll get the hang of this eventually, I know it.

4. My husband got a new job!
I'm so proud of him!  It's local and it's even closer to our house.  I really think that it's the best decision for our family at the time. I hope he loves what he does at his new job (starting in a few weeks).  He has so much education and experience and I think it's finally paying off for him.  He makes me a proud wife.

Plus he's a great Daddy!

5. I feel SO blessed that this is my 3rd Mother's day (not counting the one where I found out I was pregnant with Rylie).

I love getting Mother's Day gift's from Rylie's school!

As hard as this job is, as much as I want to just run away some days, I LOVE being a Mama.  There is no better job in the entire world than MY job.  I get to teach, love, guide and play with 2 darling kids all day.  I only hope that I do it with an ounce of grace and patience like my Mama did/does. I'm so excited to celebrate Mother's Day with my babies, my husband and my family who is full of fantastic Mama's.  Cheers to all of you wonderful Mama's that read my blog. Ya'll inspire ME!

 I love my babies!!

Have a great weekend!

Jalapeno Cheddar Hummus

I have a recipe you need to try.  Even if you don't like hummus, you'll probably like this hummus.  One good thing about this hummus is that there is no tahini involved.  I love tahini in hummus but I haven't bought any in ages and the ingredients to this are simple and cheap.  I used THIS recipe from the website Eat Live Run and added a few changes to it.  What you'll read here is my edited recipe but feel free to use the original recipe, either way it'll be delish!  This time I tried peeling my chickpeas beforehand.  Do not do this if you're short on time.  It takes awhile.  Next time I do, I'll sit down in front of the tv and do it when the kids are in bed.  It's oddly fun and results in a much creamier hummus.  Just squeeze them and the peel comes right off!

Peeling them is oddly cathartic 

Jalapeno Cheddar Hummus

Ingredients:

2 14.5-oz cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed and peeled (if you so wish)

1 jalapeno pepper, chopped and seeds removed

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 T warm water + more to make it as creamy as you want

2 tsp salt

1 1/2  tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp chili powder

1 cup freshly grated sharp cheddar cheese (I used Cabot 50% Light Cheddar)

Directions:

Peel chickpeas, set aside, throw away skins. Combine the chickpeas, jalapeno pepper, olive oil, water, cumin, chili powder and salt in a food processor. Process until smooth (adding more water if you desire to thin the hummus out a bit, I added about 1/4 cup more.

Add the cheddar cheese and cumin and process again until everything is well combined.

Aaaaaahhhhmazing

Perfect slathered on crusty bread w/ a big salad (I had 2 little pieces actually). 

Let me know what you think.  I doubt you'll be disappointed with this recipe, I'll definitely be making this often!  Have a great Tuesday ya'll!

On the Road to Recovery

Good morning! I've been meaning to write an update on Rowan and our hospital experience but I've been SO busy (as you can imagine). I have to figure out how to streamline this blogging thing because I DO love it.  First off, Rowan is doing amazingly well, now let me tell you a little bit about our journey.

Jason, Rylie, Rowan and I went up to Atlanta on Monday because Rowan had a pre-op appointment for blood work and paper work.  The blood work was NOT fun.  Apparently this kid's veins are hard to find.  The good part was that when we were done we went to my Aunt Amy and Uncle Stan's to stay the night.  They really spoiled us with delicious, healthy homemade food and tons of hospitality.  Rylie loved it there.  Here she is riding in Stanley's chair and "helping" Aunt Amy do the dishes.

Rylie playing at Rowan's pre-op appointment.

Washing dishes with Aunt Amy

Jason and I slept about 3 hours that night.  We had to get up and feed Rowan near midnight because he had a midnight cut off for formula.  We got a little sleep and then woke up at 4 because his cut off for pedialite was 4:15am.  We drove 40 minutes to the hospital and started admissions.  I was scared that Rowan would wake up starving and mad but he slept until they started taking his vitals and even after that he was sweet.  Amy and Julianne (my sister's) were there and he cooed and smiled at them both.  All the doctors came in for a chat (anesthesia, neurosurgeon and plastic surgeon) and prepped us on what they were doing and then they took him back. We even had a GA Tech student ask if we'd donate the bone that they took out for a study they're doing on the cells in children with this condition.  Absolutely!  I have to say, as much crying and worrying as I did before his surgery, on the day of I felt calm and confident that it would all be ok.  

Still sleeping when we got to the hospital at 6am!

Rowan just before going off to surgery

We went down to breakfast and after breakfast my friend Karen stopped by with her husband Paul and little Patrick (who had the same surgery 5 weeks ago!).  They could not have stopped by at a better time.  What a bright spot in our morning.  Sitting there waiting to hear from the doctor's and boom, we get to see how happy and well adjusted little Patrick was just 4 weeks after surgery.  They also gave us great comfort and reassurance and 2 venti coffees!!!  It was a bright spot in our stressful morning.  Being the great bloggers we are, we forgot to get a picture together, LOL.  I'm sure it's not the last time I'll see her though, next time!

After taking Rylie outside to play and downing even more coffee we went up to the room and the doctor's starting coming in to let us know how things went.  The anesthesiologist had to put a central line in because they couldn't find a vein (and now he's bruised from head to toe where they kept trying to find a vein).  When Dr. Reisner came in (the neurosurgeon) he explained that they got into surgery and decided that the best option would not be an ear to ear incision, but 3 incisions that they could take the bone out endoscopically and then the plastic surgeon could also work to reshape his head that way.  It was a little less invasive, yay!

Rylie playing while Rowan was in surgery.

When we finally got to see our baby he did not even need to go to the PICU as expected, he went straight to a regular room.  He looked really good and was chugging pedialite as the nurse was wheeling him in.She took him off the gurney and handed him straight to me!  He had an IV in his foot, a central line on his chest/shoulder, a turban on wrapped head and a drain coming out of it.

Rowan fresh out of surgery and drugged up.

Thankfully we got a sleep room every single night we were there.  One night my Aunt Amy even stayed with Rowan so that Jason and I could both sleep.  It was amazing!  He still did pretty well despite all of the interruptions. On the third day they took the turban off and the drain out and unhooked everything. We could finally see the incisions. It was horrific for me, but he did fine with it.  He only took morphine the first day and then the rest of the time only tylenol!

Day 2, a little more swollen, but still lookin' good! 

He even grinned and "talked to me(day 2).

The bandages came off and this is what we saw!

Being sweet right after they took the turban off and the drain out!

The nurses and doctor's were amazing.  Very sweet and patient.  At one point Rowan woke up while Jason and I went to grab coffee and the nurse was walking him around the nurses station while he flirted with all the nurses there  when we got back.  There were playgrounds, little outside garden areas, a koi pond and some little nooks to just sit outside and take a break when you needed it.  And we needed it at times.  As horrific as an experience as I expected we did have highlights.  Playing outside with Rylie at the koi pond, my sweet friend Karen stopping by to bring the MOST amazing basket of goodies for us (trail mixes, fruit, chocolate, magazines, gourmet popcorn and a balloon and stuffed animal for Rowan...that Rylie is obsessed with).  I am SO glad to have met Karen and her family, they are very dear to us.  I also got to meet another Twitter friend, Kelly, who was nice enough to stop in for a visit!  The time I got to spend with my Aunt Amy was wonderful. The kindness we were shown over the past week has been unreal.  We felt all the love. Rowan's speedy recovery, lack of swelling and resilience is amazing. To God be the glory =)

Taking a breather outside with some coffee.

The basket of goodies (minus the balloon) that Karen brought us.
We named the dog Choa (Children's Healthcare of Atlanta) and Rylie takes him everywhere!

Happy, sweet and delicious even after skull surgery.

Since we've been home Zande my MIL has been here and she has been amazing.  She's gotten up with Rowan every night (twice a night) and Jason and I have slept better than we have in years.  My parents and sister and brother-in-law have helped me more than I can even write about.  My grandmother and Aunts too. I don't have enough space or time to say thank you enough.  I'm sorry if this post is a bit of a mess.  I've been trying to have time to sit down and write it for days and haven't had time or I've been too tired.  Thank you all so much for your prayers and support.  I'll keep ya'll updated on our buddy and please keep him in your thoughts/prayers.  He's doing amazingly well but SUPER clingy (and 15 1/2 lbs).  I'm SO blessed and happy that the surgery is over and we're on our way to recovery!

Have a great day ya'll!